Before watching the documentary I'd never thought much about Philo T. Farnsworth. I had known that he was the inventor of television, but I figured the only use for that nugget would be in case I ever get on Jeopardy. I was really surprised by what i learned watching the show.
Philo was a smalltown guy who happened to be a genius. He realized his dream rather early and bent all his energy toward making it a reality. The show did a good job of showing how this project was really his entire life - there was a good story of him leaving his wife on his wedding night just to go and mess with his television. It made what happened next all the more tragic.
After scrounging for investors and working himself into the ground trying to complete it on time...Philo finally got the machine to work. And then came the patent wars. The large company he was working with, RCA, decided it would be much easier on their bottom line to not have to pay this smalltown tinkerer for his great invention. It didn't much matter whether he was white or educated or not so long as money was involved. They tried to take control of the idea from Farnsworth and it wasn't until a great legal battle and most of his resources were spent that he was able to gain a patent.
Finally, commercial television was banned. It was decided that the technology should only be used for military purposes, and soon Farnsworth's patent was up. In the end, he had turned to alcohol to ebb the stress and finally died, a much changed man. This film was a great testament to the struggle of the little guy, and the hard truth of just how much power the gatekeepers have.
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I assume you mean "Big Dream, Small Screen" produced for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS.
He left his wife on their wedding night to return a car he had borrowed, and it took longer than he anticipated. At that point in time there was no television lab, nothing to "mess with."
He was funded by a group in San Francisco and began work in 1926, on September 7, 1927 he demonstrated the first all-electronic system for television.
There were people who filed interference against Farnsworth, the largest of which was RCA. It was a long battle, and eventually Farnsworth was awarded the patent rights and RCA was forced to pay him a lump sum, not a license. RCA was known for stealing patents. Read about Edwin Armstrong who invented about everything used in commercial radio all the way up to FM stereo, he fought all his life to get credit for countless patents on radio systems, and eventually committed suicide.
The advent of WWII caused the government to discourage further development of commercial television because of all the manufacturing and development that would require, and this resource was needed for the war effort.
You can read books on this, it is an amazing story, and a list of books which do a great job of getting the facts straight can be found at http://philotfarnsworth.com
Kent M Farnsworth
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