[Dave A]

The Philco Corp was the first owner of what became KYW in the early 30's operating as W3XE with Philo Farnsworth on the staff in 1931 with his image dissector camera and transmitting from their plant. No mechanical ever used. Philco and Farnsworth fell out in 1933 and he soldiered on with his own W3XPF in Chestnut Hill, PA until he left for Fort Wayne, IN.

Philco continued on as W3XE from their plant in NE Philadelphia with their own developments. They moved over to the RCA tubes in cameras of their own design and put programs on the air for a short time in 1941/42. Possibly earlier in experiments to be seen on their early sets. Philco sold W3XE/WPTZ to Westinghouse in 1953 to be named WRCV and later KYW to this day.

Which leads me to the real part of this post. About 15 years ago while having dinner with an old girlfriend at her parents house, her dad, one Don Solenberger came in carrying a flat package of two brown-paper grocery store bags tucked in to each other covering something inside. He gave it to me and I was stunned to see what was inside. Being in television, he decided I should have this bit of history he had saved. The photo is attached.

Inside was what in tv we call a camera card. A simple bit of artwork on construction paper with the title of the show, the writer and director and the cast. It would be thumb-tacked to a nearby wall and shown for a few seconds as the opening credits at the start of the show. And maybe at the end if time permitted. Don was a star in this program and saved the card as a souvenier.

I had it framed and it hangs quietly in my living room. Until a few weeks ago. As a member of the local Broadcast Pioneers, our band of broadcasters had a luncheon honoring KYW for their 80 years last week. And in attendance was the same Betty Kellner from the show I have. Don was away on a family trip to Michigan. They are both in their early 90's.

Betty was a delight and thrilled to see the card. I had lunch with her and found out much about these early shows. Philco did them in the fall of 1941 until the spring of 1942 when Philco went to the WWII effort.

This show, "20 Stars" was a short jewelry store robbery mystery probably only shown locally in Phila. We think it was in December of 1941. She did several other shows in 1942 including one which became a multi-episode soap opera called "Last Years Nest" shown in Phila/NY/Washington on the early NBC net. And she has original Philco publicity photos of each of the shows. I am trying to get copies.

All the actors were local college acting troupe players that answered a call from Earnest Walling, the Philco director. No pay, just the experience. They did the shows on Thursdays late in the evening. Betty said she left U Penn after classes around 4pm and took the train to the Philco plant and studio. They saw the script for the first time when they came in. Some readings and rehearsals and they went live somewhere around 9pm. Remember, these were short programs that were 15 minutes to 30 minutes. A lot of characters on stage meant fewer lines to remember. To them, these were just another theatre play with something called television cameras on the edge. And after the show, Walling would take them to the local Shake Shop for hamburgers and malts. Eventually, Philco gave everyone a radio.

Betty became a hurry-up war bride and in her moves, all her scripts she had saved vanished. She later became an early female executive of Bambergers department stores. Don became a general insurance agent with Roy Neal of NBC as one of his clients.

Betty is a delight with a sharp memory and Don is tooling back from Michigan in his 2011 Mustang. We will have lunch soon so I can tell him this story. The card is back on the wall and is my favorite item hanging over the early sets I am proud to own. One-of-a-kind with history I can touch.