As a young boy we had a tv with a 9" round CRT.
The photo shows a wood-grain, I remember it being cream-colored "Bakelite".
Quite honestly, it wasn't worth watching because I couldn't see it very well. It was Pops 'toy' and usually only got turned on after we kids went to bed.
But in 1959 things changed and Pops bought a new television set from Monkey-Wards.
Our front room furniture was rearranged to make the tv the focal point of the room instead of Pop's over-stuffed chair...how symbolic for the impending sixties.
Although there is still some question among my brothers and me about the year it actually happened. I remember distinctly using the cardboard box for part of a tree house with one of the neighbor kids. That kid actually moved in spring '60...so I know I'm right. I don't care what Holden says.
The Cash boys were baptized with the "flickering blue light of home". We became just as knowledgeable about the tv schedule as our folks were with their radio programs. For the first year or two it never got turned on until Pops got home. It was NEVER turned on in the morning until Nov. 23, 1963. For those of you that don't understand that date, go look it up.
Just the other day Holden and I were reminiscing about our favorite programs. One of mine was The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin. An impossible story line about a young boy, orphaned by an injun raid, and raised by the cavalry at Fort Apache. I loved it. I think I even got a hand-me-down Rin-Tin-Tin comic book or two from my oldest brother, Cole.
Now I was able to remember the boy's screen name, Rusty. Holden was able to recall the fact that the name of the place was "Fort Apache". Neither of us could remember the actor's real name. Holden thought it was the same kid that did "Circus Boy". I had to remind his that Mickey Dolenz became one of the "Monkees".
So I decided to Google it and discovered the actor's name was Lee Aaker. He apparently tried to stay in tv and films but became another child actor "washout".
The most disturbing thing about Googling his name was the pic that came along with the article. I now know why it's said you really shouldn't ever meet your childhood heroes....:-(
I have been feeling really, really old all day.
Uh, Paden, the big news was one day earlier on November 22, but I can understand how the first MORNING watching occurred on the 23rd. I was in school when all heck broke loose in Dealey Plaza and they closed early and sent us home on the buses without telling us why.
That first TV did not look familiar but the second one matches up well with those of several neighbors at the time. Ours was more of a cube-shaped metal box resting on a stand formed from metal rods maybe 1/2 in diameter. 1958 I believe.
Lassie, I Love Lucy, The Real McCoy's, Captain Kangaroo, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, 800 other westerns despite only have two TV channels, Dragnet, The Garry Moore Show with a very young Carol Burnett, The Naked City, Ed Sullivan Show, Make Room for Daddy and Howdy Doody. Popeye and The Three Stooges were my favorites. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!
> As a young boy we had a tv with a 9" round CRT.
>
>
>
> The photo shows a wood-grain, I remember it being cream-colored "Bakelite".
>
> Quite honestly, it wasn't worth watching because I couldn't see it very well. It was Pops 'toy' and usually only got turned on after we kids went to bed.
>
> But in 1959 things changed and Pops bought a new television set from Monkey-Wards.
>
>
>
> Our front room furniture was rearranged to make the tv the focal point of the room instead of Pop's over-stuffed chair...how symbolic for the impending sixties.
>
> Although there is still some question among my brothers and me about the year it actually happened. I remember distinctly using the cardboard box for part of a tree house with one of the neighbor kids. That kid actually moved in spring '60...so I know I'm right. I don't care what Holden says.
>
> The Cash boys were baptized with the "flickering blue light of home". We became just as knowledgeable about the tv schedule as our folks were with their radio programs. For the first year or two it never got turned on until Pops got home. It was NEVER turned on in the morning until Nov. 23, 1963. For those of you that don't understand that date, go look it up. My oldest son was 10 days old. I remember..
>
> Just the other day Holden and I were reminiscing about our favorite programs. One of mine was The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin. An impossible story line about a young boy, orphaned by an injun raid, and raised by the cavalry at Fort Apache. I loved it. I think I even got a hand-me-down Rin-Tin-Tin comic book or two from my oldest brother, Cole.
>
>
>
> Now I was able to remember the boy's screen name, Rusty. Holden was able to recall the fact that the name of the place was "Fort Apache". Neither of us could remember the actor's real name. Holden thought it was the same kid that did "Circus Boy". I had to remind his that Mickey Dolenz became one of the "Monkees".
>
> So I decided to Google it and discovered the actor's name was Lee Aaker. He apparently tried to stay in tv and films but became another child actor "washout".
>
> The most disturbing thing about Googling his name was the pic that came along with the article. I now know why it's said you really shouldn't ever meet your childhood heroes....:-(
>
>
I wish, that I hadn't seen the second picture.
> I have been feeling really, really old all day.
I have been feeling really, really old every day.
Fury (The story of a horse and the boy who loved him). Sky King (I think I had a crush on Penny). Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Frog Millhouse, Andy Devine, The Cisco Kid and Pancho.
Saturday mornings were for TV, then work and play.
Andy
I remember how excited we kids would get when the static, on the TV would turn into a test-pattern ... meaning that a program would be coming on soon.
We were glued to that test pattern, and we often watched the test pattern after the show, until the TV became static again.
Even worse news
Especially for any boys who went head over heels for Zelda Gilroy on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0473861/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
I remember going next door in the evening around 1952 because the neighbors had a TV in the basement rumpus room. Around 1953 my dad paid to have a big antenna put on the roof so we could pick up more stations. And then in 1955 we moved to Florida and I was fascinated by the UHF antennas everyone had on the roof. Ha, the good old (primitive) days.
Ours looked like this - a Hallicrafters T-54, first manufactured 1947-1948 in a metal cabinet similar to other Hallicrafters radios. I think it is the same tv posted above but with a different brand name.
cool.
Pops was a ham radio nut. I still have one of his receivers in the garage. I thought it was a Hallicrafters, but I was wrong. It is a Hammarlund HQ110A. I should find somebody to get it working again...before all the folks that know how pass away.
I use to have a couple of his transmitters. They were old WWII surplus, SCR-522 (??) if I remember correctly. They went the way a long time ago.
Strange and wonderful things would happen in the house when he would key up one of those toasters. I had a '58 Chevy with an AM radio. You could listen to Pops talk on his ham radio through the car speaker sitting in the driveway....with the car OFF.
I remember our 50s tv picking up the radio transmissions from the fuel delivery trucks in thevmiddle of the day.
My father after ww2 thought of doing tv repair as an extra job. He took some course and the basement had sets, tubes etc.
Even though I was a city kid, I liked Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger and other westerns and Davey Crockett.
But I also liked Abbott and Costello (remember Stinky) and the Honeymooners with Ralph and Norton.
We were one of the last to get color TV because Dad could fix any old set that he came across.
I would have no idea how to fix a Tv nowadays except to send it to a recycle center.
A few of my favorite shows from back in the day.
Sea Hunt
77 sunset strip
rawhhide
The Rifleman
The Real McCoys
Adventures of Superman
Wagon Train
Amos 'n' Andy
Dennis the Menace
Cheyenne
Hopalong Cassidy
Zorro
Gosharootie! I don’t understand why, when reminiscing about the grand old days of early TV, nobody but me ever remembers Rootie Kazootie. Nosirootie, I sure don’t.
Lots of TV stations had their own special kiddie show with people who became local celebrities. I used to watch Ranger Ed ride up on his horse in full western attire, get off, tie his horse to a hitching post, then push the cabin door open, then we were inside watching him finish coming through the door. He told lots of wonderful stories and introduced the cartoons for the half hour kiddie show. When that show ended, Captain Kangaroo came on.
Yes there was Howdy Doody in Nyc. I do have a toddler memory of going to the show because my older brother was going to be in the peanut gallery or whatever they called it. I was too young to be part of the show but I do remember being at the studio at Rockefeller Center and some post show meet and greet stuff. I didn't like the show that much. Probably had a fear of the puppet and Clarabelle the Clown.
I do remember Farmer Gray cartoons on Sat mornings in the 50s. They were silent film era relics.
Yep, except the memories are in black and white and very fuzzy.
In the DFW area making appearances in BigTown and would broadcast from the State Fair and in studio on local TV Mr Peppermint had a family and kids variety show.
Don't remember the one out of Tyler Texas that kids could invite friends and family and hold their birthday.
An uncle was TV repairman and dad was often trading for one with a better screen. When a tube would blow he would be there within the hour with a couple of suitcases full of replacements.
These new TVs have a couple of computer and circuit boards and when they run out on the assembly line they go with a new design and set of boards. No replacement boards are available to repair them. Had three 24in monitors sitting under a computer workstation too long that need a new board about the size of a postcard that left the building last week.
" TV Mr Peppermint had a family and kids variety show."
Yep, I've still got my postcard from Mr. Peppermint in the bookcase in a room here in the office. Better yet was Slam Bang Theater with Icky Twerp and his gorilla helpers, Ajax and Delphenium.
