LEE DE FOREST - DOCUMENT SIGNED 04/06/1954 - HFSID 251715

LEE de FOREST
The vacuum tube inventor signed this document in 1954 to give Ken Murray permission to photograph him and record his voice for the TV series Where Were You?
Document Signed: "Lee de Forest" in blue ink.1 page, 8½x11, on letterhead of Ken Murray Enterprises. April 6, 1954, dated in de Forest's hand.Addressed to Mr. Ken Murray, Hollywood, California. De Forest signed this document to give Murray his permission to photograph him and record his voice for the TV show Where Were You?. KEN MURRAY (1903-1988, born in New York City) was an actor and vaudeville entertainer who hosted a TV variety show on CBS, The Ken Murray Show (1950-1953), as well as the TV series Where Were You? (1954-1957). During World War II, he hosted another variety show, Ken Murray's Blackouts, in Los Angeles. This show featured risque humor, starlets, music and novelty acts; it ran for seven years and 3,844 appearances. In the late 1920s he began filming home movies of Hollywood personalities; these have great documentary value today. LEE de FOREST (1873-1961, born in Council Bluffs, Iowa) patented more than 300 inventions in wireless telegraphy, radio telephony, sound-on-film talking pictures, high-speed facsimile transmission, television, radiotherapy and related areas. One of his most important inventions was the vacuum tube that was used in radios and televisions. He titled his autobiography Father of Radio, but de Forest did not generally receive that recognition. He is regarded, however, as a major contributor to the development of broadcasting. Lightly toned and creased. Discolored along left and top edges. Three binder holes along left edge. Small piece missing from top right corner. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise, fine condition.