The Queen's Messenger

The Queen's Messenger was the first

The teleplay starred retired actress Izetta Jewell. It was noted by the viewers that in the television receivers she appeared trimmer than in real life and that television made a person look slimmer and younger. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper in an article at the time observed that even the heavy set opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink would look like a charming slender woman if on television.^[4] The co-star of the television play was Maurice Randall, appearing as a John Bull-type Englishman.^[4]

Plot

A

Special techniques had to be devised to show the action movements on a three inch television screen. One was where the likeness of a character was shown to the audience instead of the real person. The facial movements of this figure were then presented in sync with the sound of the spoken parts. This sound part came from a separate radio receiver, that was placed under the television receiver.[14]

To show the action parts of the play, special effect props were developed. One example was where the Queen's messenger took a drink of wine – a wine glass appeared and a liquid poured into it from a long-neck bottle. Other props used for the play were watch dials, keys, revolvers, and stacks of documents. The stage for the play consisted of three spotlights, three scanning machines, three microphones, background scenes and other apparatus. The stage coordinator for these props was Mortimer Steward.^[4]

Drawbacks

The transmission was a test of