82 The Beginnings of Television

Are your parents old enough to remember watching “Howdy Doody Time”? Can your grandparents recall dramas they saw on “Studio One”? These are some of the better-known shows from the very earliest days of television.

The capacity to send and receive moving pictures via airwaves was developed years earlier, but television only began showing up in people’s homes in about 1947. (World War II, which had halted their production, ended in 1945.) These very early TVs had screens that were only a few inches wide, but people snapped them up as fast as they could be made.

What kinds of shows were available? “Howdy Doody” was a children’s show with puppets, live characters, and a host named Buffalo Bob. “Studio One” featured full-length dramas in which such stars as James Dean and Warren Beatty made early appearances. Both of these shows debuted in the 1940s. So did an early version of the news show “Meet the Press.”

Most pioneering television programs were live. This meant if actors forgot their lines or a prop got knocked over, the audience got to see it anyway. Since some of the most popular early shows were comedies, the mistakes could make the programs even funnier. Did Milton Berle in “The Texaco Star Theater” really mean to fall off that piano bench? Was Imogene Coca’s hat in a “Your Show of Shows” skit really supposed to catch in a closing door? Since the stars laughed right along with the audience, you could never be sure.

82 电视的起源

你的父母年纪够大，能记得看过《豪迪·杜迪时间》吗？你的祖父母能回忆起在《一号演播室》里看到的戏剧吗？这些是电视最早时期一些比较知名的节目。

通过电波发送和接收动态图像的能力在此前数年就已研发出来，但电视直到1947年左右才开始进入人们的家庭。（第二次世界大战曾中断了电视的生产，战争于1945年结束。）这些早期的电视屏幕只有几英寸宽，但人们一生产出来就抢购一空。

当时有哪些类型的节目呢？《豪迪·杜迪》是一档儿童节目，有木偶、真人角色，还有一位名叫布法罗·鲍勃的主持人。《一号演播室》播出全长戏剧，詹姆斯·迪恩和沃伦·比蒂等明星都在这档节目中早期亮相。这两档节目都在20世纪40年代首播。新闻节目《会见新闻界》的早期版本也是如此。

大多数早期的电视节目都是直播形式。这意味着如果演员忘词或者道具被碰倒，观众还是会看到这些状况。由于早期一些最受欢迎的节目是喜剧，这些失误会让节目更搞笑。米尔顿·伯尔在《德士古明星剧院》里真的是故意从钢琴凳上摔下来的吗？伊莫金·科卡在《你的表演秀》小品里的帽子真的是故意卡在关门的门缝里的吗？由于明星们会和观众一起大笑，你永远没法确定。