Finally, after another 18 months, Philo's creation produced an image the size
of a postage stamp. When news of his achievement broke, Hollywood flocked to
meet the 22-year-old inventor who might challenge cinema. But his investors
were still nervous: to take the fragile prototype to the next stage would
require another significant influx of cash. Perhaps Farnsworth's idea could be
sold, and inventor and investors alike could get a modest profit out of the
deal.
At that time, RCA president David Sarnoff was determined to control emerging
television technology as tightly as he did existing radio technology. In the
spring of 1930, Sarnoff sent Vladimir Zworkin to the West coast to investigate
the maverick inventor who held more than a dozen television patents--and the
potential to ruin RCA's plans. Zworkin, a Russian emigré, was also
working to develop electronic television.
"Zworkin was in here just to find out anything he possibly could," says Rom
Rutherford, who worked in Farnsworth's lab. "And Phil was the other way
around--`Here's some ideas.'"
After his visit to Farnsworth's lab, Zworkin sent a 700-word telegram back
East, describing Farnsworth's disssector tube in detail. When he returned, a
copy of Farnsworth's camera awaited him.
Over the next few years Sarnoff and Farnsworth would battle in the laboratory
and in the courts. In 1939, Farnsworth's hopes were raised when the courts in
the patent dispute sided with him. For the first time in its history, RCA would
have to pay royalties to an outside inventor. With only seven years until the
patents expired, Farnsworth worked to capitalize on his invention. But, just as
sales were set to take off, the government declared a blackout for commercial
television as part of the World War II defense effort.
Farnsworth had pursued his dream of electronic television for most of his life.
When he realized that his patents would not outlast the war, he was despondent.
"I think my father was very much of a racehorse," says Farnworth's son, Skee.
"He saw obstacles and he cleared them. And when you take a racehorse, no matter
how good it is but you keep jumping higher hurdles, eventually you come to a
hurdle that the horse would jump except this is not a jumpable hurdle. And I
think in my father's case, this was coming smack up against corporate America
of the '30s."
Production Credits
Written and Directed By: David Dugan
Executive Producers: Frederick Zollo and
Nicholas Paleologos
Producer: Alison Trinkl
Editor: Paul Shepard
Original Score: Wilfred Josephs
