Rudy Bretz
1914-1997

Biographical Information:

Rudolf Challis Bretz was born on July 14, 1914. In 1939, the Columbia Broadcasting System hired him as one of the first television cameraman in New York City. There he drew some of the first weather maps and painted the first scenery. He also became a director, producer, studio manager, control room engineer and an editor.

Bretz helped launch many public television stations and networks such as KCET (Los Angeles, CA), WQED (Pittsburgh, PA), WBIQ (Birmingham, AL) and the Alabama Educational Television Network.

From 1954 to 1958, Bretz was the dean of the School of Radio and Television Technique in New York. In 1956, he became the head of the Television division of UCLA's Theater Arts Department. During his career, he taught workshops, extension courses, and regular curricula in more than twenty colleges and universities."

From 1965 to 1972, Bretz served as a senior consultant for the Rand Corporation. There, he developed projects directed towrd implementing innovative uses of communications technology.

During his career, Rudy Bretz wrote many articles and books focusing on television production, educational television, and instructional television. These publications are cited below.

Rudy Bretz died on June 1, 1997.

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Bibliography:

• Bretz, Rudy. "The Camera with the Picture on the Front," NAEB Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (March-April 1960): p. 34-36.
• Bretz, Rudy. "Closed-Circuit ITV Logistics -- Comparing Hagerstown, Anaheim & Santa Ana," NAEB Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4 (July-August 1965): pp. 71-85.
• Bretz, Rudy. "Director, ETV," NAEB Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2 (March-April 1961): p. 13.
• Bretz, Rudy. "ETV: Teaching of Showmanship," NAEB Journal, Vol. 18, No. 5 (February 1959): p. 16.
• Bretz, Rudy. "How to Prepare an ITV Lesson," NAEB Journal, VOl. 23, No. 4 (July-August 1964): pp. 47-54.
• Bretz, Rudy. The Limitations of Television, Hollywood Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Spring, 1951): pp. 251-163.
• Bretz, Rudy. "A Primer of Lighting for the ETV Station," NAEB Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2 (November 1958): pp. 13-15.
• Bretz, Rudy. "Public-Access Cable TV: Audiences," Journal of Communication Vol. 25 (Summer 1975): pp. 22-32.
• Bretz, Rudy. "Self-Directed Television," NAEB Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2 (March-April 1961): p. 12.
• Bretz, Rudy. "Simultaneous Audio-Video Feedback for the ITV Teacher," NAEB Journal, Vol. 26, No. 2 (March-April 1967): pp. 88-92.
• Bretz, Rudy. "TV as an Art Form," Hollywood Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Winter, 1950): pp. 153-163.
• Bretz, Rudy. "Video Tape: A TV Revolution, " Hollywood Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Summer, 1957): pp. 399-415.
• Bretz, Rudy and Ken Winslow. "Compatibility in CCTV -- How Important is It?" NAEB Journal, Vol. 20, No. 3 (May-June 1961): pp. 58-65.

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• Bretz, Rudy. Handbook for producing educational and public-access programs for cable television. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications, 1976.
• Bretz, Rudy. The selection of appropriate communication media for instruction: a guide for designers of Air Force technical training programs. Santa Monica, CA: 1971.
• Bretz, Rudy. A Taxonomy of Communication Media. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications, 1971.
• Bretz, Rudy. Techniques of television production. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953
• Bretz, Rudy. Techniques of Television Production. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962
• Bretz, Rudy. Two-way TV teleconferencing for goverment, the MRC-TV system: prepared for the Metropolitan Regional Council under a grant to the Council from the National Science Foundation. Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 1974
• Bretz, Rudy and Russell H. Ewing. Educational-instructional television and closed circuit TV : a manual, directory, and bibliography. Beverly Hill, CA: National Institute of Leadership, 1960.
• Bretz, Rudy and Edward Stasheff. The television program: its direction and production. New York: Hill and Wang, 1951.
• Bretz, Rudy and Edward Stasheff. The television program: its direction and production. New York: Hill and Wang, 1962.
• Bretz, Rudy and Edward Stasheff. The television program: its direction and production. New York: Hill and Wang, 1968.
• Bretz, Rudy and Edward Stashff. The television program: its writing, direction, and production. New York: A.A. Wyn, [1951]
• Bretz, Rudy and Edward Stasheff. The television program: its writing, direction, and production. New York: Hill and Wang, 1956
• Bretz, Rudy and Edward Stasheff. Television scripts for staging and study, with a guide to creative camerawork. New York: A.A. Wyn, 1953
• Bretz, Rudy and Michael Schmidbauer. Media for interactive communication. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1983.

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