Alexandra Palace Television Studios

Transcription

1 Alexandra Palace Television Studios Simon Vaughan Archivist Alexandra Palace Television Society October 2014

2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION... 2 BACKGROUND HISTORY PRE- WAR BBC TELEVISION SERVICE... 5 Studio A (Marconi- EMI System)... 9 Studio A Control Room & Producer s Gallery Producers Gallery STUDIO B Baird Television Ltd Baird Spotlight Studio & Scanner Room Central Control Room Baird Telecine ( ) Baird Control Room Mezzanine Floor UPPER SCENE DOCK & TELECINE AREA STUDIO CORRIDOR Floor Plan Appendices First Floor Room Summary Room layout Room Layout Room Layout Room Layout Pre- War Floor plan - from personal memory Post- War Floor Plan to accompany contemporary article Open University Floor Plan Baird Area Marconi- EMI First Floor Room Summary Room layout Room Layout Room Layout Room Layout Pre- War Floor plan - from personal memory Post- War Floor Plan to accompany contemporary article Open University Floor Plan Baird Area Marconi- EMI Room Allocation BBC Tower BIBLIOGRAPHY ON- LINE SOURCES:... 47

3 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to document the room usage of the BBC Television Service from the opening of the service, in November 1936, through to the end of programme production in By the very nature of daily operations it is not possible to account for every room and its usage, however, it has transpired that the longer a room was used for a specific task the more likely it is to have been documented. Contemporary accounts of the establishment of the BBC Television Service have proved an invaluable part of my research as well as documents from the archive holdings of the Alexandra Palace Television Society. These include personal accounts of working life at Alexandra Palace, both pre and post-war, which provide vital information on working practices many of which set the standards that are still evident in the television industry today! The various occupations of Alexandra Palace by the BBC can be broken down into five distinct periods; Two system trial Pre-War Television Post-War Television BBC Television News Open University However, at times during these periods other events were taking place. For example; the first three months of the pre-war period saw two companies competing for acceptance of their system, while during the era of TV News, the BBC were conducting colour television experiments on 405-lines from Studio A Each era will be outlined with a description before discussing in greater detail the room layout and usage at that time. Simon Vaughan Archivist October 2014

4 BACKGROUND HISTORY I found an old tyre, no roof, no doors and could see the sky. The smell of cat in the old banqueting rooms nearly made me sick and the whole thing looked the most dreadful mess. 1 In less than two years this dreadful mess became a thriving centre of modern electrical entertainment television was to become the entertainment medium of the masses, yet in 1935 television (as we know it today) had yet to be born. Its birth took place at Alexandra Palace, where two competing companies took turns to provide television programmes. The early pioneers foresaw the potential of television and a year before the service closed down due to World War II the slogan of London was Television is here - you can t shut your eyes to it! 2 The first inspection of Alexandra Palace was not inspiring - it was dark, dank and bleak. The damage from housing First World War internees was all too evident and the general neglect of maintenance had led to the almost dereliction of the southeast wing. However, not to be deterred, the BBC signed a lease on 55,000 sq feet of the sprawling palace and conversion work began in early Responsibility for the conversion of the building into the London Television station fell on the shoulders of Douglas Birkinshaw, engineer-in-charge, and senior engineer, Terence MacNamara. To convert that part of the Palace to something for which it was never intended was a structural undertaking of some magnitude. Birkinshaw and MacNamara set about determining the size of the studios; the areas required for equipment, offices, dressing rooms, make-up and wardrobe - their job was immense. There was no convenient article to consult - no one had built a high-definition television station before, anywhere in the world! As well as the premises (and its conversion), the BBC supplied all the facilities such as the sound transmitters, the mast and aerials. Each company Baird and Marconi- EMI supplied their own equipment for installation into the two separate studios. The choice of Alexandra Palace as the site for the London Television Station was partly due to the existing room layout of the south-east wing, with its private dining rooms on the first floor and banqueting and tea rooms on the ground floor. The former were of equal sizes (eminently suitable for each company to have a studio each, while the dining room between them could be sub-divided to form rooms to house all the necessary apparatus for the two competing companies. 1 Norman, 1984, pg Swift, 1950, pg. 104

5 The two banqueting rooms on the ground floor provided suitable accommodation for each company s vision transmitter, while the tea room that separated them housed the film viewing room, projector room and sound transmitter. Fig. 1. Alexandra Palace south east tower during building of the transmitting mast. APTS. Each corner of the building held a tower of brick and stone construction. One of these would be ideal as a base for the transmitting aerial. First the Victorian cupola roof was removed from the top of the south east tower, followed by several of the upper floors. They were then reconstructed with fireproof materials. The four legs at the base of the mast were built into the tower, each embedded in 17 tons of concrete to act as counterbalance to absorb any stress on the mast structure due to high wind speeds. To accommodate office space a tall bay-window addition was built into the tower, providing the occupants with a commanding view over London. The locations of the legs of the mast are easily visible within offices in the tower. Indeed, they provided several secretaries with a fright during a bad storm in 1947, when lightening hit the mast. The electrical charge travelled down the mast and arced between two of the legs in the same office. The result was two very frightened secretaries who jumped back as the electrical arc appeared across the desks in front of them! It was about this time that office accommodation was also being sorted elsewhere in the Palace and two mezzanine floors were created each side of the entrance into the East Court. These offices, now derelict, were home to secretaries as well as the telephone exchange, and duplicating machines. Additional offices were fashioned from the former dressing rooms in the disused Victorian theatre for both Producers and Secretaries.

6 PRE- WAR BBC TELEVISION SERVICE Fig. 2. Layout of the south east wing in November APTS A date of 2 nd November 1936 was arranged for the official start of the BBC Television Service. The announcement was made in August 1936, allowing the newly appointed staff to become accustomed with the layout of the building and the technical apparatus they were expected to use. This all changed when the recently installed staff received notification they would be expected to provide television programmes for RadiOlympia, the National Radio exhibition at Olympia. Trial programmes began to RadiOlympia on 26 th August 1936, two transmissions per day for ten days. There then followed a period of occasional test programmes before the launch of the service at the beginning of November. Even before the service started it was evident the area leased by the BBC was fast becoming inadequate. As the service developed and expanded over the following three years space was of an absolute premium, to the point where eventually the BBC had acquired the whole eastern-end of Alexandra Palace, yet even that was not enough. The Alexandra Palace Theatre was put into use for the storage of scenery, while the stage was used for its construction. The theatre s dressings rooms, behind the stage, were converted for use as offices for the production staff. An elaborate plan to convert the former theatre into a super studio, complete with 12 stages, a central control room, and viewing area were proposed as early as The scheme was discussed over the following years, but eventually dropped in about mid This was partly due to three factors; the cost (estimated at

7 90,000) 3, the length of conversion (estimated to take 12 months), and the fact that this outlay would only allow for an additional hour of television programmes per day. A description by a trainee Producer on his arrival at Alexandra Palace in January 1938, provides an insight into the ground floor layout at Alexandra Palace at that time, and the extent of the BBC s occupation of the building: The entrance to the BBC s premises were reached from the esplanade by a flight of stone steps. Above them were polished bronze doors of the sort that, as the years passed; I came to associate with the BBC all over the country. And beside them, equally ubiquitous, would be the dark uniform of the sergeant s commissionaire. On entering you found yourself in a small lobby, facing the door of an elevator, beside which the foot of a staircase rose and, circling behind, disappeared. A reception counter was tucked into a corner and the woman asked me to wait. There was a bench along the wall on which a man of my own age sat reading. I sat and the receptionist phoned. Feet were heard rat-tatting down the stone stairs and a man came to us across the lobby. He was stockily built, below medium height and strode briskly. A no-nonsense glint in his eye was contradicted by a romantic s mouth. He introduced himself as DH Munro, the Production Manager, and the other waiting figure as Desmond Davis, a newcomer like myself. He intended, he told us, to show us our offices. This sounded very grand. We followed him, out again through the bronze doors and round to the east abutment of the building, where there was a lofty, unguarded entrance to what seemed the main body of the Palace. We had a glimpse of vast and neglected interiors before turning once more into a region of fresh plaster and paint. Munro led us, still on the ground floor, to the base of the north-east tower, a space that had been divided into cubicles with neither doors nor ceilings. Above the hardboard partitions stretched infinity. Each cubicle was furnished with a varnished office table, a matching chair with a green seat, a clean blotting-pad, a telephone and green, japanned correspondence trays. Munro appointed us each a cubicle and suggested we should settle ourselves in. He would, he added, return later to show us round, and then he strode purposefully away. I left my cubicle office to explore. The other cubicles were similarly furnished, but all were empty, only one showed signs of occupation. The distant sound of carpentry led me through an opening into a large space where scenery was stacked. An aisle between high blocks led to a proscenium arch framing a stage upon which the carpenters were working like gnomes in the magician s palace. It was the old auditorium of the Alexandra Palace theatre. The seating was gone, the roller-curtain hung awry, the plaster was broken and paper was shredding from the walls. But two eyeless figures still held the niches on each side of the stage opening, one thigh nudging the other and hands clutching plaster drapery to their bosoms. On the stage the remains of the gas-lighting system was still in place. Back in my cubicle, which was occupying what must have been the original foyer and box-office space, a messenger carrying a tray had just dropped a foolscap sheet into my in-tray. 4 Barry goes on to describe his first impression of the studios: 3 Burns, 1986, pg. X. 4 Barry, 1992, pp. 1-3.

8 DH Munro re-appeared and took us back through the bronze doors to the main part of the BBC building. The principle offices are here in the tower he told us, but led the way out of the elevator at second floor level and turned right into a long, high corridor, bustling with activity. Men and women were moving things here and fixing things there. Groups stood in earnest conference. There was a purposeful walking about. To our left, large sliding-doors opened upon what seemed to be a great lighted space. Studio A, said Munro, striding on and pointing right, Dressing rooms, make-up lavatories... Oh, Mary! He stopped an attractive woman in a long white coat, Mary Allen, in charge of Make-up. Barry, Davis two of my recruits. And we were off again, following the proprietorial stride past Studio B, Not in use now stuff s all down below. [Following the demise of the Baird system the studio apparatus was removed and stored in the unused transmitter hall and basement. This allowed the old Baird studio to be used as rehearsal space or as an extension of Studio A until it was re-equipped towards the end of 1938]. The end of the corridor faced the open door of a smaller scene store and property room and turned right to a flight of stairs [this area is no longer part of the south-east wing. It was sacrificed to allow the building of a staircase and light-well beside the Great Hall, following the rebuild after the 1980 fire]. Down below was another region of stores and workshops [former Baird transmitter hall] and the transmitters. 5 At the bottom of the stairs and the end of the ground floor corridor was the canteen. This room was large enough to contain about twelve small tables along with a serving counter and was the sole provider of meals and refreshments to the Television Service. Following the first few months after the official start of the service this was found to be inadequate and a second source of refreshments was provided, in the form of a Snack Bar, following the division of the film viewing theatre during Opposite the canteen was the former Baird transmitter hall, as described above. Further along the ground floor corridor (walking towards the tower and mast), and situated beneath the studios on the second floor above, was the film viewing room or cinema (as marked on the original 1936 plan), along with its film projection room (complete with metal door, a precaution against highly-flammable nitrate film). Behind the viewing room and projection room was located the sound transmitter. The sound transmitter hall had originally been a tea room, with its windows opening onto the southern terrace, with its views over London. Next along the corridor was the vision transmitter for the Marconi-EMI system. Following the adoption of this system in early 1937, this remained the transmitter hall until 1956, when the newly built transmitting tower at Crystal Palace was bought into service. After the commissioning of the Crystal Palace transmitter the original 20-year old transmitter at Alexandra Palace was removed and this area became the location of the BBC Club. 5 Ibid.

9 The original façade of the south-east wing included an open colonnade with large windows looking out from the banqueting rooms across London. During the conversion for television four of the arches on the first/second floor were in-filled to create rooms along the colonnade. An additional floor of offices was introduced in the tower during its conversion, between the original ground and first floors. This making the studio level correspond to the second floor in relation to the BBC tower. Most of the open colonnade on the ground floor was in-filled to create rooms for the coolers for the transmitters. In both the studios soundproof shutters covered the original windows. From the outset of the service two competing companies, one electro-mechanical and one purely electronic produced the television signal. Both systems were pushing technology to its absolute limit, and in some cases, even beyond limits. This competition only lasted several months, but the legacy of John Logie Baird at Alexandra Palace is still evident today.

10 Studio A (Marconi- EMI System) Fig. 3. Area of the south east wing occupied by the Marconi-EMI television system Floor plans of 1900 show this area of the first floor being given over to private dining rooms with windows along the colonnade giving diners a spectacular view of the Park. This room and the identical room further along the corridor (which formed Studio B) were 70 ft. long, 30 ft. wide and 26 ft. high, providing a total floor area of 2100 sq. ft. The walls of the studios were covered entirely, except for the door and window openings, with sheets of asbestos, which had a high degree of sound absorption. This material had a rough surface and so it was covered up to a height of 10 ft. from the floor with a layer of plaster. The ceilings of the studios were covered with building board, while the floor was covered with black linoleum over which could be laid any type of floor covering as may be required. Ventilation of the studios was provided by means of fans, which extracted the air through a series of gratings fixed in the ceilings and connected with the fans by trunking. With the removal of the false ceiling in the studio corridor much of this original trunking is now visible. Originally the colonnade was not bricked-up completely along its length, as now, and so the windows that were part of the dining rooms were utilised as part of the ventilation system. The upper part of the windows, fitted with filters to clean the air, provided the intake for fresh air, while the lower part of the windows were covered by sound-proofed shutter during performances. Lining the studio on two sides were hanging velvet curtains running on two tracks, one set black the other white, to allow for interchange of backgrounds. High up in the west wall of the studio is a large plate-glass window, which indicates the position

11 of the producer s gallery in the control room. This is still very much in evidence today. A lighting bridge was installed across the centre of the studio, which could, if required, accommodate spot and floor lights similar to film lighting in the studio. This was supplemented with scaffolding around the walls creating a walkway above the height of the large scenery doors, which allowed for engineers to place overhead lighting. On the studio floor were outlets for additional lights and microphones. The lighting bridge present now in Studio A is not the original but a replica installed in 1986 for the 50 th anniversary celebrations. The studio was equipped with the Marconi-EMI (all electronic) television system from the outset of the service and was always seen as the main studio out of the two. In the post-war era the studio was equipped with experimental colour equipment, and was the studio where the local news programme Town and Around was produced, and which was also used for the Open University. Following the departure of television from Alexandra Palace this studio was used as a storage area by the Alexandra Palace Management Team and in more recent years has been home to a temporary (and ever changing) variety of displays. This studio has fared rather better during the passage of time than its counterpart further down the corridor. Studio A is dry and despite a few holes in the ceiling material is in good condition. The walls have a rough and dilapidated appearance due to the removal of the asbestos sheeting (used for soundproofing). In the last two years the wall dividing the studio from the main central corridor, running the length of the south-east wing, has had MDF sheeting applied to the original lathe and plaster which was exposed following the asbestos removal. This has greatly enhanced the appearance of the studio, so too did the recent addition of studio lighting, making use of the lighting bridge across the studio. The huge studio doors with their distinctive brass viewing portholes are original, as are the control chains for the studio ventilators, which run from the wall of the studio down through the floor to the dampers within the ducting. Fig. 4. Plan of Studio A showing additional studio space gained by bricking-up colonnade. The layout remained in place until the mid 1950 s, when the original studio wall was reinstated and the extension to the studio was converted into office space. By 1938 the colonnade was bricked-up in its entirety and this provided additional studio space. Producers were then able to incorporate this additional floor area into their productions. Using this extra space could accommodate several additional sets.

12 During the era of TV News this extension into the colonnade space was no longer required, and so Studio A reverted back to its original [1936] size. The original archways (in Studio A) were filled-in and production offices were created in the remaining colonnade space. Adjoining Studio A was the control room with the producer s gallery above on a separate platform that hung over the racks of equipment.

13 Studio A Control Room & Producer s Gallery Constructed in 1936 this control room was still being used when the Open University left Alexandra Palace in This room housed the large volume of equipment necessary for controlling the cameras in the studio. Four operators (one for each camera) sat on stools of varying heights continually making adjustments to their camera s output. This was necessary due to the angle of the electron gun to the signal plate in the camera (it produced a keystone effect), and the spurious electrons present in the camera tube, which produced a strange glow at the bottom of the television screen. The large volume of equipment in this room, with upwards of 100 thermonic valves, produced an enormous amount of heat. There are anecdotal accounts of staff gradually removing layers of clothing whilst sitting on the Producers Gallery due to the excessive heat produced. During refurbishment work in 1938 the ventilation was greatly increased in this area, to the benefit of the staff working there. This is also the control room that housed the first colour television equipment during the early 1950s when the BBC was conducting experiments from Alexandra Palace. Fig. 5 Studio A Control Room, showing the racks of equipment that required constant adjustment. In the background can be seen the iron ladder to the Producer s Control Gallery above the control room. BBC Fig. 6 Studio A Control Room, The photograph was taken as the Open University were leaving Alexandra Palace. The door in the right hand background leads into Studio A. Roger Wilson/APTS. Alexandra Palace Television Society Page

14 Producer's Gallery Fig. 7 Producer George More O Ferrall in the Gallery. His view into the studio is through the window to the left. Behind him sits the vision mixer. unknown. Hanging above this equipment, and accessible by means of a vertical iron ladder was the producer s control gallery. Allegedly, it gained the name of gallery as it is reminiscent of a minstrels gallery. Here would sit the Producer, Senior Engineer, Lighting Engineer, Producer s Secretary, Vision Mixer, and Gramophone Operator. It is hard to imagine how this number of people plus desks, chairs, television monitors, gramophone turntables, and control panels were accommodated on such a small platform. From here all the productions in Studio A were directed and if necessary any outside sources linked into the programme. Fig. 8. Opposite view, taken in 1936 before the start of the service. The window in to the studio can be seen on the right-hand side. BBC. Adjoining this room, in the bricked-up colonnade, was located the telecine machine and its associated equipment. From here all films, either inserts to programmes, newsreels, of the occasional feature film were linked through to Studio A Control Room, and from there to the transmitter. Following the re-equipping of the old Baird areas the M-EMI Telecine was relocated in the former Baird Telecine room. Although having had a variety of uses over the years all the area originally occupied by the Marconi-EMI Television System is highly significant. Fig. 9. One of the two telecine machines installed by M-EMI in The brickedup colonnade can clearly be seen in the background Alexandra Palace Television Society Page