Saturday, January 7, 2017

Sentimental Sunday: Don't Touch That Dial!

Recognize this giant piece of furniture?
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Yes, it's a black and white TV/mono record player/AM radio console. Every living room had to have one in the 1950s, the height of furniture fashion and entertainment technology. No, really.

And who are those little double-trouble urchins, reaching out to change the channel?

Guilty as charged: Me and my twin sis. Often we'd get up before the crack of dawn and turn the TV on to watch the crackly test pattern until "Modern Farmer" showed up on the tiny screen at 6 am. A fascinating programming decision for a TV station based in the heart of New York City, don't you think?

Amazingly, I know exactly when this TV arrived in our Bronx living room because of the meticulous minutes taken at the Farkas Family Tree meetings every month. My grandma, Henrietta Farkas Schwartz, was a co-founder of the tree, which held its first meeting in March, 1933 at the apartment of her parents, Moritz Farkas and Lena Kunstler Farkas.

Excerpted from the minutes of one December meeting during the 1950s: "The Burks are getting a television set for their anniversary." (Sis, I'm respecting your privacy and not revealing the year. You're welcome!)

Today's Sentimental Sunday is courtesy of my captioning frenzy while snowbound, going through my archival boxes and coming across this fun snapshot.

4 comments:

  1. Our early tv was not that grand. I believe it had legs though. My memories of tv shows are dim except for watching the Mickey Mouse Club (I even wore MM ears).

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  2. MIC (see ya real soon) KEY (Why? Because we love you) MOUSE. Thanks, Wendy, for the memories!

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  3. Marian, we had a TV set like that too. I remember how the picture would 'roll' or be fuzzy and we would 'fine tune' it. We only had three channels but I feel like we had more good choices than we do today with dozens of channels. Good times!

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  4. Colleen, I remember the picture rolling too! And then a few years after this photo, do you remember Winky Dink? We kept writing on the TV screen until finally our parents bought the quote official unquote Winky Dink screen cover and marking pen.

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