The Queen's Messenger

The Queen's Messenger
Play scene set with actors
Genre	Drama
Developed by	Ernst Alexanderson (consulting engineer)
Story by	J. Hartley Manners
Directed by	Mortimer Stewart
Starring	Izetta Jewel, Maurice Randall
Original language(s)	English
Production
Location(s)	Schenectady, New York
Camera setup	multiple-camera setup (3)
Running time	40 min
Production company(s)	General Electric
Distributor	WGY Television
Release
Original network	W2XAD
Picture format	48-line black-and-white
Audio format	Mono, AM
Original release	11 September 1928 (1928-09-11)

The Queen's Messenger was the first television drama. It was a 1928 radio drama adapted for television and broadcast both sound and moving pictures. These were received by 3 inch televisions that were set up in various places in the New York City area. There were special effect props for this broadcast to enhance the actors' performance and their sounds.

The 1928 one act play written by J. Hartley Manners was the first television drama. It was a radio drama adapted for television. It was made for television in 1928 by New York station "WGY Television" (W2XAD) using a multiple-camera setup and was broadcast at 13:30 and 23:30 on 11 September 1928. The cameras picked up the stage action and microphones picked up the sound. The television signal was received at several points throughout New York City and was believed to have reached the Pacific Coast. The broadcast received much publicity.

The teleplay starred retired star actress Izetta Jewell. It was noted that in the television receivers she appeared trimmer than in real life and that television made a woman look slimmer and younger. A newspaper article of the time pointed out that even the heavy set opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink would look like a charming slender woman if on television. The co-star of the television play was Maurice Randall, appearing as a John Bull type Englishman.

A British diplomat has a romantic encounter with a mysterious woman. She is secretly trying to obtain the documents he is carrying.

The televised play was received on televisions that were octagonally shaped. The television set was about fourteen inches high and ten inches in depth. The front panel upper part had a three inch square aperture through which the moving picture was viewed. There were knobs on the lower part which controlled how the radio signals for the television part were received.

Six televisions were set up around the W G Y studios for the newspaper reporters that were connected by closed circuit television. There were television receivers set up in the transmitting control rooms that received the signal from the air that was transmitted several miles away.