Brattleboro Union High School - Colonel Yearbook (Brattleboro, VT)

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IVY ORATION Television HO wants television? Will television serve any useful purpose, become popular as a source of en- tertainment, or will it, having been perfected, serve a very narrow field? These are a few of the questions which have arisen as a result of the continuity of the line of de- velopment which has already given us the talking movie and the radio. Incidentally, when the talking movie first made its appearance, the word soon went around that this was only a passing fancy, and that it would soon com- plete its run. This statement was also applied to the au- tomobile, to the airplane, to the radio fall of which are still herej, and is now being heard in relation to tele- vision. Television is not the result of a sudden fancy on the part of mankind, but it is the realization of a desire that has existed in man from his very beginnings. The auto- mobile, giving man the speed he wanted, has stayed, the airplane, giving him the wings he sought, also has stayed, television, giving him the distant sight he has longed for, is here to stay. The desire to see and to hear things at a distance is as natural a desire as is eating. The Indian put his ear to the ground to hear the approach of enemies who were too far away to be seen with the naked eye. And what is the modern newspaper but an instrument to enable us to see and to hear beyond the horizon? The printed page offers us a chance to visualize what has happened-but, would we be content with printed material if we could see the actual occurrence with sufficient clarity as to make us seem actually to be present at the event? Certainly we would not. Television is to be the means of our accom- plishing this end. Without delving very deeply into the technicalities of the subject, let us suppose that here sits the object to be televised. Light rays are directed upon the subject, and, since they obviously cannot penetrate, they are refracted. These rebounding rays are picked up by photoelectric cells, which convert them into varying electrical im- pulses, which are in turn sent out on the air. At the re- ceiving end, these electrical impulses are captured by a catbode-ray tube, and are transformed back into light rays, which are flashed onto a screen-and there it is- television! Television is no longer just around the cornern for several million people. It is actually available today to those who live in the vicinity of London or of Berlin, and will soon be offered to several other millions living in or near New York City. One Berlin station is transmitting daily programs, mostly speeches, the receiving sets picking up both the words and the features of the speakers. According to present plans, Germany will have ten other sending sta- tions, which will be connected by wireless and cables which can be used for telephone traffic when not in use for television. Receiving sets are being built to sell for iilJOut 35200. One rather unique method of transmission is in opera- tion in Germany. After sound pictures of an event have been taken, the film is developed in a very few minutes aboard a truck. The film is then submitted to a scanner, and the beams of light are changed into radio waves with the aid of a photoelectric cell. These waves are then broadcast. This method makes it possible to take sound movies of such events as baseball or football games, and to transmit the pictures within a few minutes after the ac- tion has occurred. Broadcasts from a London station, covering a radius of about thirty miles, have been highly successful. This is a ten-kilowatt station, and it is believed that when its power is increased to thirty kilowatts, the range of ef- fectiveness will be considerably increased. In London, the greatest interference to clear reception was the effect of the electrical equipment upon automobiles. This trouble has been greatly remedied by increasing the power of the stations. Another remedy is to place receiving aerials at least seventy-five feet from heavily travelled streets. There are three methods in general use in England. One is the direct pickup, whereby the television camera is trained upon the scene. The second method, called the intermediate film process, was developed in Germany. This is the method used by the trucks, in which films are developed and televised. In the third type, the film is de- veloped and printed as in talking pictures, and a device called the telecine picks up both the scene and the sound of the film, and televises them. For a short time the Baird engineers, in England, have been working on a system for reproducing television images on full-sized moving picture house screens. Heretofore, the average screen did not exceed twelve inches on a side. Of this new development, Captain A. G. D. West, technical director of the Baird Company says: This new development will bring television of news events to all the cinemas, and will result in enor- mously increased revenue for them. Only a few years ago movies were revolutionized by the advent of talking pictures. Within a short time we shall see a further revolution with the advent of television to the cinema. Instead of crowding around a loud-speaker to hear the result of the derby, people will be able to go to their local theatre and see the event as it happens. He also states that a new cable development makes possible a thing which previously has been regarded as impossible fC0n1inued on page 101

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8 THE DIAL life, she was herself her greatest poem. Beautiful, spon- taneous, courteous, and gracious, she was cast in the mould of Vermont's mountains, regal yet friendly. Turning from poetry to prose, we find Dorothy Can- field Fisher heading the list of Vermont novelists. Al- though Mrs. Fisher was not born in Vermont, but in Kansas in 1879, she is classified as a Vermont writer, and Vermont is proud to own her. What state wouldn't be proud to own such a famous novelist and such a brilliant personality as Mrs. Fisher? She now lives in the ances- tral home of the Canfields at the foot of Red Mountain in Arlington, Vermont. Her books have been many, among which are The Squirrel Cage, The Bent Twig, Understood Betsey, and The Brimming Cup. All Mrs. Fisher's books are guideposts to a full, rich life. She tries to make the world understand its own and she attempts to point out a better way. She has an understanding personality, and this knowledge of human nature is echoed in her books. They are full of common-sense philosophies-philosophies which can be easily understood. She is a modern writer -not radical, but conservative, an idealist at heart. She writes of the modern American, the person whom you meet every day on the streets of our cities and towns. Her books are concerned with their family lives, with their complexities, with their joys and sorrows. She analyzes the situation, and explains the way in which they meet the petty catastrophies and the major tragedies. Psychol- ogists explain that it's always interesting for a person to read about himself-perhaps that is the reason for the tremendous popularity of Mrs. Fisher's books. Her books are your lives analyzed, they are so real, so applicable to the modern American. Probably Mrs. Fisher has received many inspirations for her books from Vermont, and Vermont is proud to be worthy of this honor from the hand of one who can say: Not to envy other people is an inheritance rich enough, but Vermont adds to that treasure the greater one of not being afraid. It seems incredible, in our modern world, so tormented with fears about its safety, that a whole stateful of people have no ground for ap- prehension, but that is true. The Vermonter is so used to the moral freedom of not dreading anything that he is hardly conscious of it. It is the breath he draws, this lack of fear, it is the marrow of his bones. Without a doubt, one of the greatest poets of America is Robert Frost, who lives in Vermont. Frost, like Dorothy Canfield Fisher, was not born in Vermont, but in San Francisco in 1875. However, he has lived in New England since he was a small child, and in Vermont for many years. He, too, loves Vermont, for in his collected poems titled New Hampshirei' he says, New Hampshire is one of the two best states in the union, Vermont's the other. His collections of poems are many, his first, North of Boston, sold over twenty thousand copies. His as- cending popularity is registered in the increased sales of his poems, until, now, his newest collections have tre- mendous sales. Among some of his latest volumes are New Hampshire and West Running Brook. His latest collection, called A Further Range, came out on May 29th, of this year. Frost's poetry is like an open door to a nature which few people have ever glimpsed. His description is explicit, and this is a surprising fact, for he writes very simply and in very plain language. Many of his poems are a conversation with the reader. You sense instantly that he is a part of that which he writes. He loves it, whether it be an empty cellar hole, a birch tree, or a stone wall. Frost is a realist in his poetry, yet he is a romantic realist, if such a thing can be. He loves reality, the common, every-day things, like mending a wall, or picking apples, yet he loves beauty too, and it is in these things that he finds beauty. There are, said Frost, two types of realist: the one who offers a good deal of dirt with his potato to show that it is a real one, and the one who is satisfied with the potato brushed clean. I'm inclined to be the second kind. To me, the thing that art does for life is to clean it, to strip it to form. Frost does not write entirely of Vermont, his poems could apply to any part of New England-and this quality makes a poet greater. The thing which makes his poems doubly interesting is that there is no sermon to them-the moral is barely implied-they are beauty in simplicity. What could be more beautiful, and yet so simple, as Frost's The Birthplace. A dozen girls and boys we were. The mountain seemed to like the stir, And made of us a little while- With always something in her smile. To-day she wouldn't know our name. fNo girls, of course, has stayed the samej The mountain pushed us off her knees And now her lap is full of trees. One of Robert Frost's contemporaries, Walter Hard, also lives in Vermont. Walter Hard is perhaps truer to the type of native Vermonter. Unobtrusive yet friendly, unsophisticated and unaffected, Walter Hard is just plain Walter Hard! His poetry is just what he thinks-there is no sham to it-itis all there in simple language. He captures in words the emotions of the Vermonter-his smiles and his tears. He pictures anything from the meeting of the Ladies' Aid Society to the dance at the Grange Hallmpictures them vividly, sparing all necessary details. Hard's poetry is beautiful for its sim- plicityg it is only the skeleton of the real thing, yet you understand at once everything he wants you to know. The titles of Hard's books smack of Vermont- Salt of Vermont, Some Vermonters and A Mountain Llfl- fCan1inued on page 421

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Class Poem TUNE: Love Lei UJ Wafzde1 ' We think of earlier days, Memories we recall so clearly, And we shall never forget Guidance now cherished so dearly, Childhood and youth are past, Joys no regret can allay, We can't stay behind, We've new worlds to find, The pathway ahead doth wind. Upward we'll ever strive, Seeking the highest slope, Armed with courage and faith, We'll march up the hills of hope, Knowing the world has need Of that which we each wish to give, Thoughts which still seem But a youthful dream Before us a torch shall gleam. CHORUS Dear School, we pledge each heart, Trusting that we may impart All the ideals which in each happy year We have aspired to keep sacred and dear, And as we go our way, Our future begins this day, We'll strive to excel 'till our goal we attain, While ever fond memories remain. -eBe!lie Tanker Ivy Ode TUNE: The Heart Bowen! Dawn The ivy mounts the red brick wall, And leaves a glossy sheen Of tiny tendrils stretching tall From depths of jagged green, And walls which once were bare are hardly seen, The shiny, pointed, verdant height Is ruffled by the breeze, And golden grows beneath sunlight, Then cools 'neath towering trees, Which cast a spotted shade On darkening ivy frieze. With each new class of graduates, More ivy starts its upward climb, And each moves high nor hesitates, But strives on, enduring time And reaches the goal which makes each life sublime, For life without desire is bare, And hope is all we need To make our lives grow full and fair, And by each word and deed Our goal draws slowly where Our paths more quickly lead. -Dorff H e yer Television KCom'inued from page 9j -the transmission of more or less distant events. These new cables will carry television signals without any loss in quality, and they will make it possible to transmit news pictures for at least 700 miles. An interesting quality of the television camera as used in England, in Germany, and in the United States is the idea of perspective which it gives. It goes even beyond the movie camera, in that it gives an object a third di- mension. For instance, a face does not appear flat, but one can actually see its round contour. This, as well as other rapid developments, was considerably speeded by the exchange of patents between an American and a Ger- man television company. The United States has probably outwardly shown the least progress of the three countries under considera- tion. It is not that our engineers and inventors have not made as much progress as have the German and English workers, for they have done so. But just look at the dif- ference in the geography and in the populations of the countries! For instance, England is a rather small island, with its population fairly well centralized, while the United States is a large country, with its population spread over its entire area. Until about two years ago the Co- lumbia Broadcasting System conducted on experimental television station with indiderent success. At that time it was a rather difficult proposition to present an act to be televised. In the first place, since the apparatus was not nearly so far advanced as it now is, very strong, glar- ing lights were used. The artists had to use heavy make-up. Since the photoelectric cells used were not sensitive to red, the players used eye shadow for lip- stick. One performer who, along with many others, regarded the studio as little more than a chamber of hor- rors, exhibited considerable nervousness as the minutes passed. About three minutes before program time he could not be found. This was one of the first cases of television fright on record. fC0nlinued on page 182