Editing 1938 in television

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{{Year nav topic5|1938|television|radio|film|music}}

The year '''1938 in television''' involved some significant events.
Below is a list of television-related events during 1938.

__TOC__

==Events==
*February 11 – [[BBC Television]] in England broadcasts the first ever [[science fiction on television|television science-fiction]], a 35-minute adaptation of a segment of the play ''[[R.U.R.]]'' by the [[Czech Republic|Czech]] playwright [[Karel Čapek]].
*March 12 – First news bulletin aired by BBC television, in sound only. Previously, the service has broadcast [[British Movietone News]] cinema [[newsreel]]s.
*April 1 – The [[Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race]] is first televised by the BBC.
*April 19 – The first televised [[association football]] match, [[England national football team|England]] vs. [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]], shown by the BBC.
*April 30 – The [[FA Cup]] Final is televised for the first time by the BBC.<Ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/april/fa-cup-final/ | title=The FA Cup Final first televised }}</Ref>
*May 12 – W2XBS telecasts the 1937 film ''[[Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel]]''. The staff projectionist accidentally plays the last reel out of order, ending the film 20 minutes early. [[NBC]] is unable to obtain the rights to first run movies for many years to follow.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jeff560.tripod.com/chronotv.html|title=A U. S. Television Chronology, 1875-1970|website=jeff560.tripod.com|accessdate=November 3, 2022}}</ref>
*May 14 – The first quiz show, ''Spelling Bee'', is televised by the BBC.
*May – Communicating Systems, Inc. of New York introduces the first electronic television sets available to the general public in the U.S. Model with {{convert|3|in|mm|adj=on}} tube is $125–$150, 5-inch tube is $195–$250. Image only; sound apparatus is $15 more. Sets become available in department stores in June.
*June – [[DuMont Laboratories|DuMont]], an electronics company, introduces television sets in the US, receiving both pictures and sound. $650 for a 10 by 8-in. screen, $395 for 8¼ by 6½ in.
*June 7 – An excerpt from ''[[Susan and God]]'' is the first Broadway play with its original cast to be broadcast on television. Station [[WNBC|W2XBS]] uses exact replicas of the stage sets, with [[Nancy Coleman]], [[Gertrude Lawrence]] and [[Paul McGrath (actor)|Paul McGrath]] appearing on the broadcast.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kane |first1=Joseph N. |title=Some Television 'Firsts' |url=https://archive.org/details/variety137-1940-01/page/n87 |access-date=11 July 2019 |work=Variety |date=January 3, 1940 |page=88}}</ref>
*June 24 – [[Test cricket|Test Match Cricket]] is broadcast for the first time by the BBC, with coverage of the second test of [[The Ashes]] series between [[England cricket team|England]] and the [[Australian cricket team|Australia]]n team, live from [[Lord's Cricket Ground]].
*September 29 – License for [[W9XAT]] [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]], Minnesota, granted in 1929, expires. Television does not resume in the area for a decade.
*October 26 – The first televised [[ice hockey]] match, [[Harringay Racers]] vs. [[Streatham|Streatham Redskins]], shown by the BBC.
*November – Due to freak atmospheric conditions, a BBC TV broadcast from London is received in New York City. A film camera was used to record the silent images which included the performance of a play, a cartoon, and other matter. A four-minute excerpt from this filmed recording survives and is, as of 2014, considered the only surviving example of a pre-war BBC television transmission.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/BbcTelevisionReceivedInNewYork-1938|title=BBC Television received in New York - November 1938|author=Alexandra Palace Television Society|access-date=2017-02-11}}</ref>
*November 12 
**NBC's W2XBS broadcasts what is the first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire on [[Wards Island]] near Manhattan.
**[[John Logie Baird]] gives the world's first public demonstration of a colour television broadcast (previous demonstrations of colour television in the UK and US have been via closed circuit). The 120-line image is projected at the [[Dominion Theatre]], London on a 12 by 9 feet (3.7 by 2.7 m) screen in front of an audience of 3,000 people.
*December 12 – Start of daily television broadcasting in Moscow (USSR).
*December 31 – 9,315 television sets are sold in England.

==Television shows==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Series
! Debut
! Ended
|-
|rowspan="2"|''[[Picture Page]]'' (UK)
|October 8, 1936
|1939
|-
|1946
|1952
|-
|rowspan="2"|''[[Starlight (TV series)|Starlight]]'' (UK)
|November 3, 1936
|1939
|-
|1946
|1949
|-
|''[[Theatre Parade]]'' (UK)
|1936
|1938
|-
|''[[The Disorderly Room]]'' (UK)
|April 17, 1937
|August 20, 1939
|-
|rowspan="2"|''[[For The Children]]'' (UK)
|April 24, 1937
|1939
|-
|July 7, 1946
|1950
|-
|''[[Sports Review]]'' (UK)
|April 30, 1937
|1939
|-
|rowspan="2"|''[[Telecrime]]'' (UK)
|August 10, 1938
|July 25, 1939
|-
|October 22, 1946
|November 25, 1946
|}

==Debuts==
*August 10 – ''[[Telecrime]]'' (UK), the first television crime series, debuts on the [[BBC]] (1938–1939; 1946).
*December 31 – the first television adaption of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' is broadcast

==Programs ending during 1938==
{| class="wikitable"
! Date || Show || Debut
|-
|Unknown
|''[[Theatre Parade]]'' (UK) 
|1936
|}

==Births==
*January 2 – [[Ronny Hallin]], actress
*January 8 – [[Bob Eubanks]], game show host
*January 13 – [[Billy Gray (actor)|Billy Gray]], actor (''[[Father Knows Best]]'')
*January 14 – [[Bill Plante]], veteran journalist (died 2022)
*February 1 – [[Sherman Hemsley]], actor (''[[The Jeffersons]]'') (died 2012)
*February 20 – [[Richard Beymer]], actor (''[[Twin Peaks]]'')
*February 23 – [[Sylvia Chase]], American broadcast journalist (died 2019)
*February 24 – [[James Farentino]], American actor (died 2012)
*March 1 – [[Aart Staartjes]], Dutch actor and television presenter (died 2020)
*March 9 – [[Charles Siebert]], actor and director ''[[Trapper John, M.D.]]'' (died 2022)
*March 31 – [[Joel Godard]], American television announcer and voiceover artist
*April 6
**[[Paul Daniels]], English magician (died 2016)
**[[Roy Thinnes]], American actor (''[[The Invaders]]'')
*April 20 – [[Tamási Eszter]], Hungarian television announcer and actress (died 1991)
*April 28 – [[Madge Sinclair]], actress (died 1995)
*May 11 – [[Judy Farrell]], American actress (died 2023)
*May 13 
**[[Anna Cropper]], English actress (died 2007)
**[[Buck Taylor]], American actor
*May 24 – [[Tommy Chong]], American-Canadian actor and comedian (''[[That '70s Show]]'')
*June 2 – [[Ron Ely]], actor (''[[Tarzan (1966 TV series)|Tarzan]]'')
*June 5 – [[Howard Platt]], actor (''[[Sanford and Son]]'')
*June 20 – [[John Johnson (reporter)|John Johnson]], reporter
*June 24 – [[Charles Howerton]], actor
*June 27 – [[Ene Riisna]], Estonian-American television producer
*June 30 – [[Jeri Taylor]], American television producer
*July 9 – [[Brian Dennehy]], actor (died 2020)
*July 20 – [[Diana Rigg]], English actress, ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' (died 2020)
*July 28 – [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]], critic (died 2012)
*July 29 – [[Peter Jennings]], journalist (died 2005)<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Lipton |first1=Mike |last2=Lynch |first2=Jason |year=2005 |title=Peter Jennings: 1938-2005 |url=https://people.com/archive/cover-story-peter-jennings-1938-2005-vol-64-no-8/ |magazine=People |volume=64 |issue=8 |access-date=May 28, 2018}}</ref>
*July 30 – [[Michael Bell (actor)|Michael Bell]], actor (''[[G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1985 TV series)|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'', ''[[Rugrats]]'', ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'')
*August 6 – [[Peter Bonerz]], actor and director (''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'')
*August 8 – [[Connie Stevens]], actress (''[[Hawaiian Eye]]'')
*August 19 – [[Diana Muldaur]], actress (''[[L.A. Law]]'', ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'')
*August 28 – [[Marla Adams]], actress (''[[The Secret Storm]]'', ''[[The Young and the Restless]]'') (died 2024)
*August 29 – [[Elliott Gould]], actor
*September 1 – [[Alan Dershowitz]], lawyer<ref>{{Cite web |last=Banks |first=Axl |date=2024-01-04 |title=Alan Derschowitz Net Worth 2024: What Is The Lawyer Worth? |url=https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/750361-alan-dershowitz-net-worth |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=HotNewHipHop |language=en}}</ref>
*September 2 – [[Mary Jo Catlett]], actress (''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'', ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'')
*September 11 – [[Don Quine]], actor
*September 12
** [[Michael Leader]], English actor (''[[EastEnders]]'') (died 2016)
** [[Patrick Mower]], English actor (''[[Emmerdale]]'')
*September 17 – [[Paul Benedict]], actor (''[[The Jeffersons]]'') (died 2008)
*October 1 – [[Stella Stevens]], actress (died 2023)
*October 8 – [[Sonny Barger]], actor (died 2022)
*October 18
**[[Marilyn Miglin]], American entrepreneur (died 2022)
**[[Dawn Wells]], actress (''[[Gilligan's Island]]'') (died 2020)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Adam |title=Dawn Wells, wholesome castaway on 'Gilligan's Island,' dies of covid-19 at 82 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dawn-wells-dead/2020/12/30/c7546744-b84a-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=January 2, 2021}}</ref>
*October 22 – [[Christopher Lloyd]], actor (''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'', ''[[Cyberchase]]'', ''[[Over the Garden Wall]]'')
*October 27 – [[Lara Parker]], actress (''[[Dark Shadows]]'') (died 2023)
*November 19 – [[Ted Turner]], network executive
*November 24 – [[David Newell]], actor
*December 6 – [[Patrick Bauchau]], actor (''[[The Pretender (TV series)|The Pretender]]'', ''[[House (TV series)|House, M.D.]]'')
*December 14 – [[Hal Williams]], actor (''[[Sanford and Son]]'', ''[[227 (TV series)|227]]'')
*December 18 – [[Roger E. Mosley]], actor (''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'') (died 2022)
*December 29 – [[Jon Voight]], actor (''[[Ray Donovan]]'')

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Years in TV by country|1938}}
{{Years in television}}

[[Category:1938 in television| ]]