ABSTRACT
Early and quickly, the television tube evolved into the shape of the proscenium arch, probably to accommodate motion pictures. It thus took its place in the history of public performance, going back at least to when Greek actors played on raised platforms before the painted walls of tents. Hearings came long before television, of course, and some still lived in memory, like Teapot Dome, the prewar sessions of Texas Congressman Martin Dies' House Committee on Un-American Activities and, during World War II, the Senate's inquiry into peculation by suppliers of military equipment. The big hearing after World War II played only to still photographers and newsreels, but they established forever the value of pictures. In the spring of 1951, when the hearings—having shaken up the Chicago Democratic machine and set some of its stalwarts on the road to prison—were headed for New York, the networks judged Kefauver's committee to be worth their attention.
