Proctors Theater in Schenectady, New York was the site for the first public demonstration of theater television. Dr. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, one of General Electric’s most prolific inventor-engineers, conducted the experiment. On May 22, 1930, before a live audience and witnessed by scientific writers from around the country, an orchestra in the theatre was led by the image of a conductor on a seven-foot screen that was being transmitted from a GE lab. A plaque commemorating this historic event is located in the theater arcade.
