Evening star., 1954-01-14
On the Air

the first man ever to steal the
Presidents eyeglasses. He at
least Is the first man who ever
stole the Presidents eyeglasses.
admitted it and got away with it.
Mr.. Hildreth is technical di-
rector at WNBW and he did
not go to the White House that
night bent upon pilferage. He
was part of the crew there to
put President Eisenhower on
television.
This is a considerable opera
ton. 1t involves a bit more
than a phone call from the
White House saying. Hey, the
boss wants to be on television
tonight at $50" When the
President delivered that Is
minute talk just before Con-
gress returned. for instance, the
wheels were put in motion when
the White House let the net
works know it was planned.
This was about two weeks in
advance. The first problem was
clearing the requested time. The
networks could usurp it for
something like this but they
like to be polite to clients and
ask. which they did. Then fol-
lowed the network agreement on
which Of them would do the
work on the pooled telecast.
NBC was elected (probably by
a three-to-one vote) to make
the pickup at the White House
and feed the other three webs
through the telephone company.
This meant that WNBW also
won. Its immediate problem
was the reassignment Of staff
members on the day of the pres
idential telecast. Cameramen
and other technicians assigned
to the White House would have
to be replaced on shows from
which they were removed.
Three days before the telecast
WNBW platoon headed by
Producer Bob Doyle appeared
for a conference with the White
House press staff. There were
number Of questions for which
Mr.. Doyle wanted answers.
Would the President broadcast
from his Office or the radio
television room? Would he re-
main seated at his desk or walk
to a chart or map? Would he
read from a typed script, from
large hand-lettered cue cards,
or would he use a Te1eprompter?
(This is device which unreels
a magnified script beside the
camera lens. so a man can try
to appear to be looking at you
while he is reading.)
Mr.. Doyle's questions were
telephoned to James c. Hag-
gerty. the Presidents press sec
retary, in Augusta with him.
The replies were back the follow
ing morning.
AT noon on the day Of the
telecast the WNBW crew moved
three cameras into the RADIO
television room at the White
House. where the President had
decided to speak. Lights were
placed in position and the micro
phones set up. An engineer was
Impressed into service at the desk
as stand-in, or sit-in. while
this was done.
In the old or pre-TV days the
job was done by one engineer to
hook up the wires and one an
nouncer to say Ladies and
gentlemen. the President of the
United States" Mr.. Doyle's crew
included Technical Director Hill
dreth, two audio engineers, an
associate director to cue the
President, three cameramen. a
lighting man and a TV an.
nouncer.
Some half-dozen newspaper
photographers also were on
hand, along with a newsreel pool
crew and a Tv newsreel pool
crew. Just outside the room
stood announcers of the various
radio and TV networks sched-
uled to carry the speech.
During the afternoon, Presi-
dent Eisenhower stopped by
ana expressed his surprise at
nnding all in readiness. He
cnatted with the technicians
and listened attentively as they
explained camera positions and