Is The Ethel Waters Show lost media?

The Ethel Waters Show was a 1939 NBC variety special starring actress and singer Ethel Waters, in what reportedly may have been the very first appearance of a Black person on TV.

I’d love to see the special, or at least some part of it, as it’s such a history-making endeavor (although possibly dampened somewhat by the fact that it was so early presumably very few people saw it). However, I’m having no luck finding it online. Notably, nothing I could find specifically says that either the video or audio is lost, but neither can I find any of either.

So my question is as follows: is The Ethel Waters Show lost media? And if not, is there a way to find it to watch it?

Best Answer

I approached this from the opposite direction.
Rather than trying to find if one specific broadcast survived, I instead looked for the earliest method of recording a live broadcast.

Other than some very early mechanical systems that were not in widespread use, and one or two surviving attempts to film a TV screen, the first system capable of recording live TV was the Kinescope.
This was introduced in 1947.

See : Television Recording The Origins And Earliest Surviving Live Tv Broadcast Recordings

This really means there's almost no chance that any live show from 1939 would have been preserved.

To put the show into historical perspective, NBC started broadcasts on 30 April 1939. Her show was broadcast a mere 6 weeks later.

Pictures about "Is The Ethel Waters Show lost media?"

Is The Ethel Waters Show lost media? - Young African American male tourist pointing away while searching for direction with diverse fiends standing in railway station terminal with paper map in hands

Is The Ethel Waters Show lost media? - From below poled signpost placed near lush green tree and showing direction to city facilities in daylight

Is The Ethel Waters Show lost media? - Black and white crop unrecognizable male hand with bracelets and ring spreading fingers against black background

What was Ethel Waters TV show?

BeulahSince\xa01950Something SpecialSince\xa01966General Electric Guest HouseSince\xa01951Hold That NoteSince\xa01957

Is Ethel Waters still living?

Ethel Waters, (born October 31, 1896, Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.\u2014died September 1, 1977, Chatsworth, California), American blues and jazz singer and dramatic actress whose singing, based in the blues tradition, featured her full-bodied voice, wide range, and slow vibrato.

Ethel Waters | Heatwave of Stage and Film (Biography)

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: William Fortunato, William Fortunato, Ethan Wilkinson, Dayvison de Oliveira Silva