Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr.

Chief of Research, DuMont Laboratory
View Full Interview


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

Tab

About
About this interview

In his four-and-a-half-hour interview, Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. (1910-2009) talks about his early years and his earliest awareness of the impending invention of television. He describes meeting Allen B. DuMont and going to work for DuMont Laboratories, where soon after the progress of television was halted temporarily by World War II. He recounts in detail his time at DuMont Laboratories including the various types of television sets produced and cameras used. Goldsmith discusses the rise and fall of the DuMont Network, and its subsequent sale to a company that would eventually become MetroMedia. He outlines his later career, going to work for Fairchild Camera and then becoming a teacher. He concludes by speaking of the then-future of television, including HDTV, and the integration of the television viewing experience and computers. Eric Bremner conducted the interview on November 14, 1997 in Lacey, WA.

All views expressed by interviewees are theirs alone and not necessarily those of the Television Academy.

"What's down the road? Digital technology, computers, students going to school, going to graduate school via computers and television. They are going to invent things that we don't even have an idea what it might be."

People Talking About ...
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr.
Highlights
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont founding the DuMont Laboratories Inc.
03:55
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the advent of color television broadcasting
07:21
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the early programming from DuMont and on adjusting signal strength
04:47
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont getting into manufactuing television sets and getting into broadcasting
05:49
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the proposed merger between ABC and the DuMont Network involving Leonard Goldenson and Ted Bergmann
02:20
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on watching an early baseball game on television with police outside the Lincoln Tunnel
02:26
Full Interview

Play Full Interview

Chapter 1
On his early life and influences; on some of the early names involved with the technological aspects of radio and his early interest and awareness of television, including his experimenting with the cathode ray tube and microwaves
On seeing television at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair; on Allen B. DuMont founding the DuMont Laboratories Inc., and on the kind of person DuMont was; on what he and Allen B. DuMont were working on when he first started at DuMont Laboratories

Chapter 2
On the working conditions at Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories when he was hired in 1936, and on DuMont working with David Sarnoff; on Allen B. DuMont getting funding for his DuMont Laboratories, and on the competing British experiments with television; on Allen B. DuMont's vision for bigger tubes for early television, and on British "Cossor tubes"
On developing an in-house broadcast system at DuMont Laboratories, and on early test patterns; on his wife, Helen Wilcox; on working with inventor Lee De Forest at DuMont Laboratories
On Allen B. DuMont getting into manufacturing television sets and getting into broadcasting; on World War II interrupting and delaying the development of television; on the television sets that Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories manufactured before World War II

Chapter 3
On having his newborn son come home on the day he got his first television, the Model 180; on the Allen B. DuMont Foundation; on selling the DuMont Model 180 television set
On the early programming from DuMont, and on adjusting signal strength; on watching an early baseball game on television with police outside the Lincoln Tunnel; on the early development of the kinescope and videotape
On participating in the National Television System Committee and setting the technical standards for broadcasting television

Chapter 4
On why the NTSC made it so televisions do not have a channel one, and on how the NTSC impacted sets that were already sold; on Paramount acquiring a substantial portion of DuMont
On the reasons for selling part of DuMont to Paramount; on DuMont Laboratories' activities during World War II; on the use of DuMont Laboratories' Electronicam to film Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners

Chapter 5
On DuMont's Electronicam and the advent of Ampex magnetic videotape; on setting up an experimental local station (WTTG) in Washington, D.C. right after World War II; on DuMont's competition in putting out television receivers and camera equipment just after World War II
On DuMont dealing with FCC regulations in the wake of the FCC freeze on the granting of new television licenses in 1948; on the creation of ABC due to FCC regulations, and DuMont shedding its broadcasting operations; on the advent of color television broadcasting

Chapter 6
On the industry push toward color television in the 1950s involving David Sarnoff and Allen B. DuMont, and on the NTSC setting standards for color television; on competitors working together to arrive at standards for color television; on Kenneth A. Hoagland developing a computerized system pixels for full color television
On the achievements of the DuMont Network and on dealing with both the technical and the programming side of DuMont; on Paramount's detrimental involvement with the DuMont Network, and on the reasons for the end of the DuMont Network

Chapter 7
On the dissolution of the DuMont Network due in part to lack of channels available from the FCC allocation plan; on the coaxial television cable connecting San Francisco to New York; on DuMont having only three owned and operated stations while other networks had four
On the proposed merger between ABC and the DuMont Network involving Leonard Goldenson and Ted Bergmann; on the creation of the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation which later become MetroMedia run by John W. Kluge, and on how Allen B. DuMont took the failure of the DuMont Network
On the work he did with Fairchild Camera and on going into teaching; on his personal thoughts on Allen B. DuMont and DuMont's successes and failures; on his greatest career achievements

Chapter 8
On his own achievements, and the achievements of DuMont Laboratories and of Allen B. DuMont; on the then-current state of television and the then-future of television from a technological standpoint
On various people with whom he worked in his career

Chapter 9
On various people with whom he worked in his career
On b-roll pictures from his career- with Allen B. DuMont circa 1937; Iconoscope television camera; Iconoscope camera for military television circa 1938; the Joint Technical Advisory Council; Radio Club of America with Lee deForest, David Sarnoff, and Allen B. DuMont; Allen B. DuMont with an early television tube; with Allen B. DuMont with Stanley Cook at WABD television; WDTV cameras and microwave disk on a bus; Empire State Building drawing from Empire State Television Guild; an original DuMont television

Chapter 10
B-Roll- eating breakfast and chatting; tour of his broadcast studio; in the control room at his studio; walking and talking on a parking lot; behind the scenes of the Archive interview

Chapter 11
B-roll- behind the scenes at his Archive interview; looking though pictures; picture of Allen B. DuMont and Goldsmith
Shows

Honeymooners, The

View Show Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the use of DuMont Laboratories' Electronicam to film The Honeymooners
03:48
Topics

1939-40 World's Fair

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont's Model 180, their first television set, and demonstrating it at the 1939 World's Fair
01:43

Historic Events and Social Change

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on World War II interrupting and delaying the development of television
02:55
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont's Model 180, their first television set, and demonstrating it at the 1939 World's Fair
01:43
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont Laboratories' activities during World War II
04:55

Media Consolidation

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the proposed merger between ABC and the DuMont Network
02:20

Network Creation

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont having only three owned and operated stations while other networks had four
02:42

Technological Innovation

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on some of the early names involved with the technological aspects of radio and his very early interest and awareness of television, including his experimenting with the cathode ray tube and microwaves
04:02
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on seeing television at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair
02:13
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on his work on hearing aid devices, and on meeting Allen B. DuMont
06:10
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont founding the DuMont Laboratories Inc.
03:55
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on what he and Allen B. DuMont were working on when he first started at DuMont Laboratories 
03:14
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the working conditions at Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories when he was hired in 1936
04:58
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont getting funding for his DuMont Laboratories, and on the competing British experiments with television
02:31
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont's vision for bigger tubes for early television, and on British "Cossor tubes"
01:34
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on developing an in-house broadcast system at DuMont Laboratories, and on early test patterns
04:19
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on working with inventor Lee De Forest at DuMont Laboratories 
02:24
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the television sets that Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories manufactured before World War II
01:01
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont's Model 180, their first television set, and demonstrating it at the 1939 World's Fair
01:43
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the early development of the kinescope and videotape 
04:36
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on why the NTSC made it so televisions do not have a channel one, and on how the NTSC impacted sets that were already sold
04:44
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the NTSC authorizing the start of commercial broadcasting in July of 1941 and where the entire industry was at that time
05:29
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the use of DuMont Laboratories' Electronicam to film The Honeymooners
03:48
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont's Electronicam and the advent of Ampex magnetic videotape
02:40
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on setting up an experimental local station (WTTG) in Washington, D.C. right after World War II
07:52
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont's competition in putting out television receivers and camera equipment just after World War II
03:45
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont dealing with FCC regulations in the wake of the FCC freeze on the granting of new television licenses in 1948
04:50
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the creation of ABC due to FCC regulations, and DuMont shedding its broadcasting operations
03:56
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the advent of color television broadcasting 
07:21
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the industry push toward color television in the 1950s involving David Sarnoff and Allen B. DuMont, and on the NTSC setting standards for color television
09:03
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on competitors working together to arrive at standards for color television
01:31
Thomas T. Goldsmit,h Jr. on Kenneth A. Hoagland developing a computerized system pixels for full color television
04:12
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the achievements of the DuMont Network, and on dealing with both the technical and the programming side of DuMont
08:21
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Paramount's detrimental involvement with the DuMont Network, and on the reasons for the end of the DuMont Network
07:15
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the dissolution of the DuMont Network due in part to lack of channels available from the FCC allocation plan 
04:09
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the coaxial television cable connecting San Francisco to New York
02:22
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on his own achievements, and the achievements of DuMont Laboratories and of Allen B. DuMont
07:39
Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. on the then-current state of television and the then-future of television from a technological standpoint 
09:26

Television Industry

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont having only three owned and operated stations while other networks had four
02:42
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the proposed merger between ABC and the DuMont Network
02:20
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the creation of the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation which later become MetroMedia, and on how Allen B. DuMont took the failure of the DuMont Network
04:16
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont licensing its television set division to Emerson and DuMont Laboratories merging with Fairchild Camera in 1960
04:01

War

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on World War II interrupting and delaying the development of television
02:55
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont Laboratories' activities during World War II
04:55

World War II

View Topic
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on World War II interrupting and delaying the development of television
02:55
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on DuMont Laboratories' activities during World War II
04:55
People

Allen B. Du Mont

View Person Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on his work on hearing aid devices, and on meeting Allen B. DuMont
06:10
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont founding the DuMont Laboratories Inc.
03:54
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the kind of person Allen B. DuMont was
01:13
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on what he and Allen B. DuMont were working on when he first started at DuMont Laboratories 
03:14
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the working conditions at Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories when he was hired in 1936, and on DuMont working with David Sarnoff
04:58
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont getting funding for his DuMont Laboratories, and on the competing British experiments with television
02:31
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont's vision for bigger tubes for early television, and on British "Cossor tubes"
01:33
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on developing an in-house broadcast system at DuMont Laboratories, and on early test patterns
04:19
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont getting into manufactuing television sets and getting into broadcasting
05:49
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the television sets that Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories manufactured before World War II
01:00
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Paramount acquiring a substantial portion of DuMont
04:52
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the reasons for selling part of DuMont to Paramount
04:29
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the industry push toward color television in the 1950s involving David Sarnoff and Allen B. DuMont, and on the NTSC setting standards for color television
09:03
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the creation of the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation which later become MetroMedia run by John W. Kluge, and on how Allen B. DuMont took the failure of the DuMont Network
04:16
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on his personal thoughts on Allen B. DuMont and DuMont's successes and failures
06:57
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on his own achievements, and the achievements of DuMont Laboratories and of Allen B. DuMont
07:39
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Allen B. DuMont and Bruce DuMont
01:19

Barney Balaban

View Person Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Barney Balaban
00:24

David Sarnoff

View Person Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the working conditions at Allen B. DuMont's DuMont Laboratories when he was hired in 1936, and on DuMont working with David Sarnoff
04:58
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the industry push toward color television in the 1950s involving David Sarnoff and Allen B. DuMont, and on the NTSC setting standards for color television 
09:03
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on David Sarnoff
01:16

Frank Stanton

View Interview Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Frank Stanton
00:35

Jackie Gleason

View Person Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the use of DuMont Laboratories' Electronicam to film The Honeymooners
03:48

Leonard H. Goldenson

View Interview Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the proposed merger between ABC and the DuMont Network involving Leonard Goldenson and Ted Bergmann
02:20

Ted Bergmann

View Interview Page
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on the proposed merger between ABC and the DuMont Network involving Leonard Goldenson and Ted Bergmann
02:20
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. on Ted Bergmann
00:39

All Interviews

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z