Televising à la Russe

Last winter the British Broadcasting Corporation had an exciting idea. To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution, BBC would program the week beginning November 6 as Russian Week. There would be lots of opera, ballet, circus, parades, orchestras, and choruses. No trouble about these: Moscow had plenty of tapes on the shelf and would be happy to make them available. But BBC’s idea was to include something more than reruns of the familiar standbys; in the spirit of Helsinki, it would “promote the improvement of the dissemination of filmed and broadcast information.”

The BBC staff came up with a slew of proposals. One BBC team would enlist two workers from British Leyland (Britain’s largest auto manufacturer), have them work for a week on a Soviet production line, and film the factory as seen through their eyes.

JB

About the Author

James Burnham

Featured Tags

Last winter the British Broadcasting Corporation had an exciting idea. To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution, BBC would program the week beginning November 6 as Russian Week. There would be lots of opera, ballet, circus, parades, orchestras, and choruses. No trouble about these: Moscow had plenty of tapes on the shelf and would be happy to make them available. But BBC’s idea was to include something more than reruns of the familiar standbys; in the spirit of Helsinki, it would “promote the improvement of the dissemination of filmed and broadcast information.”

The BBC staff came up with a slew of proposals. One BBC team would enlist two workers from British Leyland (Britain’s largest auto manufacturer), have them work for a week on a Soviet production line, and film the factory as seen through their eyes.