In-Flight Entertainment
In-flight entertainment dates almost as early as commercial aviation itself. The tedium and boredom of long-distance flight was soon apparent once airlines began scheduling flights over greater distances. It did not take long for entrepreneurs to seize on the idea of in-flight movies and later on radio and television broadcasts to entertain the passengers.
Controversy still exists today about the exact date when in-flight entertainment was first introduced on an airplane. The fact is ... in-flight entertainment for passenger enjoyment was not the prime motivation of the earliest air-borne presentations. As a matter of record, the term "in-flight media event" is a much more accurate label to describe the purpose of the first onboard entertainment efforts. In an era when air travel was highly romanticized, the general public eagerly grasped every detail about the fledgling aviation industry. Clever ways of directing attention to this new industry abounded. Enterprising airlines, press agents, and public relations firms devised a number of events to take advantage of the public's unquenchable hunger for news concerning this exciting and glamorous new form of transportation.
The earliest known instance of in-flight entertainment
occurred on an Imperial Airways flight between London and Paris in 1925.
A twelve-passenger Handley Page was fitted with a movie screen and showed a
black and white silent film, The Lost World, during the 30-
minute flight.
Early in-flight entertainment included live singers, musicians, fashion shows, etc. All performances were designed to become media events within themselves, not specifically to entertain passengers. The press was invited, flash bulbs popped, and newspapers and magazines throughout the world held their readers in rapt fascination with news of these events in the sky. The presence of the steady drone of noisy aircraft engines did not affect the media's raving reviews of these early innovative forms of air-borne entertainment. In one recently instance, archival photographs from 21 May, 1932, show an early television set receiving pictures aloft on a Western Air Express flight. The airplane was a Fokker F-10 and the presentation involved the young starlet, Lorreta Young. One of the key engineers behind this dated event was none other than Mr. Herbert Hoover, Jr., the son of the then U.S. President.
Film showings were soon added as another onboard media event to attract attention to the growing industry. Records of the earliest films shown on aircraft are validated in airline archives around the world and date from the early 1930s. Early photos show a film projector set up in the aisle of the airplane, and the film projected on a home movie screen erected in the forward section of the cabin. One memorable BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) photo from 1933 even shows a non commercial type projector sitting on an antique wooden coffee table. Multiplex or hard-wired sound distribution systems were unheard of at that time, so the sound was blasted from strategically placed loudspeakers that matched the roaring propeller driving engines decibel for decibel.
The following dates highlight the important developments in in-flight entertainment prior to 1940:
1925
Aeromarine showed the first in-flight movie during the Chicago Pageant of
Progress exposition in August, 1921, beating Imperial Airways that showed a
movie in 1925.
(From Aerial Age Weekly of 29 August, 1921)
(click on image for larger view)
6 April, 1925
Imperial Airways shows Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World' produced by First
National Pictures, during a scheduled flight 30-minute from London to Paris.
The film was almost as long as the flight.
April, 1925
Deutsche Luft Hansa shows a single-reel short silent film. Silent
films were ideal on most early airlines because of the ambient noise from
wind and engines. (U.S. News & World Report. July, 2003)
In-flight movie aboard Deutsche Luft Hansa flight - 1925
17 February, 1929
Universal Air Lines shows its first in-flight movie, a ten-reel film on
scheduled flight from Minneapolis to Chicago.
October, 1929
In-flight movies are shown on a Transcontinental Air Transport flights
between New York and Los Angeles. The feature film (in 16mm)is
entitled: "Ford Transport" -- several shorts are also shown including a
Universal newsreel.
July, 1931
Northwest Airways introduces in-flight radios for passengers enjoyment.
A brief article describing this new service from the February, 1932 edition
of Aviation can be read HERE.
Northwest Airways airliner with passenger headphones
1932 - First In-Flight Television Broadcast
Western Air Express introduces the first live in-flight television
broadcast onboard a Fokker F-10.
First in-flight television broadcast - 21 May, 1932
Note: I'm still trying
to verify several of the dates and claims cited above. Historical
Firsts are often erroneously ascribed and poorly documented. It
requires a great deal of research to get at the facts in many cases.
