Via Wireless
| Title | Via Wireless |
| Year of Publication | 1908 |
| Publication Type | Playscript |
| Language | English |
| Authors | Armstrong, Paul, Smith, Winchell |
| Tertiary Authors | Thompson, Frederic |
| Keywords | blast furnaces; steel industry; steel mills |
| Abstract | Two men battle at a Pittsburgh steel mill to control rights to a new, large-caliber, naval-gun contract and the affections of the steel magnate’s daughter. The core of the plot is the new Marconi radio transmitters that made possible ship rescues at sea. |
| Notes | Frederic Thompson—the “Walt Disney” of American amusements—first created the idea for a wireless technological show called “Via Wireless” at his Luna Park on Coney Island. Its 1908 summer success inspired Thompson to hire two playwrights to expand it into a four-act play for Broadway, where it ran from November 1908 to January 1909, and then traveled the country. |
| Author Biography | Paul Armstrong (1869-1915), born in Missouri, worked steam ships on the Great Lakes in the 1890s before becoming a playwright. He died in New York. Winchell Smith (1871-1933) was an actor, director, and playwright from Connecticut. He was the grandnephew of John Brown, the slavery abolitionist. Frederic Thompson (1873-1919) was born in Ironton, Ohio, the son of an English immigrant who managed steel mills, including a stint in Johnstown. After a short career in steel, he promoted world's fairs and carnival shows, then Luna Park and Manhattan's Hippodrome Theater. His huge success as an amusement park entrepreneur earned him the moniker “the boy who never grew up.” |
| Time | 1908 |
| Published | unpublished |
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