1939 in television

Events

• April - television demonstrations are held at the World's Fair in New York City and the Golden Gate International Exhibition[?] in San Francisco, California
• April 30 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, appearing at the World's Fair, becomes the first President of the United States to give a speech that is broadcast on television
• May 17 - The first baseball game (Princeton - Columbia) is broadcast on television, from Baker Field[?] in New York. Bill Stern[?] is the announcer
• May 19 - The Walt Disney cartoon Donald's Cousin Gus[?] airs on NBC's experimental station W2XBS (later WNBC) in New York. This marked the first film cartoon to be televised.
• June 1 - The first heavyweight boxing match is televised, Max Baer[?] vs Lou Nova[?], form Yankee Stadium.
• June 14 - Blues singer Ethel Waters' variety show airs on NBC. Waters becomes the first African-American to perform on television.
• August 26 - The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field[?], in Brooklyn, New York.
• September 1 - The outbreak of World War II brings television broadcasting at BBC to an abrupt end at 12:10pm in the middle of the Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey’s Gala Première. The last words broadcast are of a Garbo caricature saying "Ah tink ah go home". (The BBC would resume its broadcasting at that same point after the war in 1946)
• The DuMont company begins producing consumer television sets
• September 30 - The first televised college football game, Fordham[?] vs Waynesburg College[?], at Randall's Island[?], New York.
• October 22 - The first National Football League game is televised. The Brooklyn Dodgers vs Philadelphia Eagles at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn.

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