When old media was New – And TV Was Invented
Posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 by BobThere’s a new play on Broadway at the Music Box theater, The Farnsworth Invention (here is the listing in Playbill). It’s still in “trials”, which means it hasn’t had its formal opening yet, and last night was its first performance on a Saturday night. It was the usual NYC theater crowd, a vast array of all kinds of different people — veteran theater-goers, young people, models and ordinary souls. And last night, Bill Gates and Bono. Just the usual crowd.
The summary might go something like this: Sarnoff’s family fled Russia in the early 1900s and as a young boy, Sarnoff became part of the “radio revolution” — ultimately founding and leading the Radio Corporation of America and the National Broadcasting Company (perhaps today known better by their initials). Philo Farnsworth is a real person. As an Idaho farmboy, a brilliant young man, but a farmboy, he invented television. He moved to San Francisco (an early Silicon Valley type?) and found backing from William Crocker (son of the founder of Crocker National Bank — and perhaps last century’s first big name venture capitalist?). Sarnoff saw that television would replace radio in the home and he wanted to own it. Arguably, he stole the invention. (One wonders what Mr. Gates was thinking as the plot unfolded.)
Here’s another view of what would be the key art if this were a film release! And the play’s web site is here.
The play is propelled by an extraordinary sense of loss: Sarnoff’s family’s books are burned by the Kossacks in Russia and their house is destroyed; Sarnoff’s dream for the uplifting power of the new electronic media is lost to the commercial imperative of advertising; Farnsworth’s son dies from a strep throat. Ultimately what is lost is the vision of Philo Farnsworth.
During the round of standing ovations for Hank Azaria (who played Sarnoff) and Jimmi Simpson (Farnsworth), Gates and Bono were quickly escorted to a line of 3 black Cadillac Escalades, waiting outside the theater door, and they were whisked away down 45th toward 8th Avenue. Interesting. What did they take with them?
Good drama is scarce on Broadway today, which has always loved its musicals. And if you like to decipher Broadway production credits like those at the end of indie films, you’ll enjoy reading the Playbill carefully before the performance starts. If you have a chance to see this play, it’s worth it.
