File puptcrit/puptcrit.1004, message 60


Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:57:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: Charles Taylor <cecetaylor-AT-verizon.net>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Speaking of early television


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Speaking of early television

Dear puptcriters,=C2=A0=C2=A0 I have been having a nostalgic running e-mail dialogue with my older brother of childhood memories. The following had to do with our grandparent=E2=80=99s television. Since we didn=E2=80=99t have one, we visited them to watch theirs.=C2=A0 In the nineteen-forties people with a television would put a sign in their windows letting neighbors know they were receiving guest for television viewing.=C2=A0 Otherwise those of us without televisions would go to the downtown shopping districts and watch T.V. through the windows of the hardware stores.=C2=A0 If you are too young to remember, you just have to take my word for it that it was great entertainment to walk a few blocks to the center of town and stand outside with neighbors watching.=C2=A0 Being young and short, I had to squeeze through the crowd to press my face against the window to watch Milton Berle, Red Skeleton, and=C2=A0 Kookla, Fran and Ollie. It was kind of miracle that they could get those little people into a box and it was ALL =E2=80=9Clive=E2=80=9D!=C2=A0 Anything could happen and it sometimes it DID!

Dear Charles,
=E2=80=9CA good question.=E2=80=9D is what I usually say when I don=E2=80=99t know the answer. What I mostly remember is that it (our grandparent=E2=80=99s television)=C2=A0 had the lozenge-shaped picture (circular, with top and bottom cut off) that they all did back then. Actually, what I mostly remember is that we got to watch kids=E2=80=99 programs there, instead of wrestling. I stared at the screen more than its enclosure.

I don=E2=80=99t think it was the Motorola 19CK1; that lattice-work in front of the grille cloth is very distinctive. Can=E2=80=99t be sure I remember correctly, but I think the cabinet had a blonde or cherrywood finish.
-gene

Dear Gene,

Well, I DO remember watching wrestling with Grandpa; particularly Gorgeous George with his long curly blond locks!=C2=A0 But the MOST memorable occasion when we were there for a family dinner.=C2=A0 It could have been Christmas, Grandpa and grandma's anniversary on Christmas Eve, or Thanksgiving.=C2=A0 It could have been a Sunday and on this particularly occasion everyone walked into the kitchen except for me. At seven or eight years old,=C2=A0 I was watching Ina Ray Hutton and her all girl band. The adults had discussed on previous shows that Ina Ray Hutton was wrapped in a brand new product called "masking tape" so that she could fit into her very tightly waist fitting gowns that barely covered her ample breast and NEVER her shoulders.=C2=A0 She had the habit of=C2=A0 holding the baton and waving her arms in conducting while facing the band and then turning and smiling in the camera. Sometimes she whipped around very fast so her back wouldn't be to the camera.=C2=A0 The illusion was this was a vast ballroom with draperies behind the band.=C2=A0 Suddenly, Ina Ray Hutton turned quickly and her arms went high up with great flourish as the front of her dress fell exposing to enormously plumb breast!=C2=A0=C2=A0 I got an eye full!=C2=A0 I started calling for everyone to come in while the camera started swinging from left to right letting the audience see that it was a very small room with undecorated and unattractive walls on each side of the band. Ina Ray turned her back to the camera as she held the baton and pulled her dress up as she wiggled and finally turned back to the camera with a nervous smile proving that she believed "That THE SHOW MUST GO ON!"=C2=A0 I was the only one in the family that saw it.

Before those T.V. days when we listened to the radio, I have many memories: It seemed like
no one ever listened or responded to me; For instance: like the time I was four and=C2=A0 the back fence covered with honey suckle caught fire. I ran in to tell everyone what was going on and no one flinched or responded. I put my hands on my hips, stomped my=C2=A0 foot and yelled, "Well I guess you don't care if the neighbor=E2=80=99s baby burns up!"=C2=A0 At that moment fireman ran past our kitchen window into the back yard and I felt vindicated.=C2=A0 But not for long.=C2=A0 No one ever listened or believed me.=C2=A0 All these years later I realize that I had latent speech development!

I found photos of these 1940s televisions on this site:=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0 http://www.earlytelevision.org/

For many varieties, scroll down on the following site:=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0 http://www.earlytelevision.org/postwar_american.html

Happy Viewing,
Charles Taylor
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