No one expected that Saturday, October 25, 1952, would go down in the history of Polish television. The day before the elections to the Sejm of the People’s Republic of Poland, at 7 pm, the first half-hour TVP program was broadcast. At first, viewers saw an attractive young woman with a dazzling smile and perfectly styled curls. Maria Rosa-Krzyżanowska faced quite a challenge – she was chosen as a Polish TV announcer. One small mistake, however, caused the woman to disappear from the studio before she could prove herself. What was the reason?
Nothing foreshadowed such a beginning of the first Polish announcer. What mistake did she make?
The beginning of the 1950s was a turning point for television in Poland. It was then that the first television sets began to appear in Polish homes. However, even before this happened, the programs were initially viewed at an exhibition under the then-familiar slogan “Radio in the Struggle for Progress and Peace” in January 1952. The aforementioned exhibition could be seen in Warsaw, in the building of the Polish Teachers’ Union.
An important step forward related to the development of Polish television was a program broadcast publicly by the Experimental Television Station of the Institute of Telecommunications – today’s Telewizja Polska. On October 25, 1952, the first half-hour program was broadcast, which could be watched on 24 Leningrad brand receivers located only in workplaces. That’s how many TV sets there were in Poland at that time.
What mistake ruined her career? Nobody expected this…
The first television program was ballet-musical. It consisted primarily of music tracks performed live in the studio. A young, beautiful and promising presenter – Maria Rosa-Krzyżanowska got a chance to lead it. It was assumed in advance that after the first appearance of the woman on the screens, the press would write about both her talent and potential in the profession. However, everything was ruined by a minor slip-up, or more precisely, a simple slip of the tongue.
Maria Rosa-Krzyżanowska made an important statement completely unconsciously. At the end of the program, she was instructed to use the phrase “at the end of the celebration of the month of Polish-Soviet friendship, we broadcast …”, but instead she said “to end the Polish-Soviet friendship …”. Immediately after the broadcast, she was ordered to appear at the head of the station himself. In the unfortunate situation, she was not helped by explaining that it was only a mistake. The young presenter immediately lost her job and never appeared in front of the cameras again.
Despite everything, however, she did not give up the profession of a journalist, towards which she was educated. Immediately after that, Maria decided to return to the radio with which she had worked before. It was here that her journalistic talent was revealed.
Source: Gazeta
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
