Televisions

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide (probably late 1950s). This pipe-smoking fellow reminds me of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs of Church of the SubGenius fame. In another slide (see The Silence in the Room Was Deafening , below), this same man is holding his pipe as he sits in a chair. A third slide (see Birds at Home , below) shows the same room from a different angle (compare the lamp, table, and floral-print chair).

Because it just doesn't look right sitting there on top of it. -------- Thanks to Angelica's sharp eye (see her comment below), I've confirmed that the image on the television shows the first moonwalk in July 1969. For more info, see Live Coverage of the Moonwalk! (below).

Or at least it was live back on July 20 and 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first astronauts to walk on the moon. The TV screen on the left (above) is an enlargement from a photo ( Don't Give Your Television the Boot --see below) that initially attracted my attention because of the distinctive boot-shaped vase that was on top of it. I couldn't determine what was on the screen, however, and didn't give it a second thought. Thankfully, though, when I posted the original photo, Angelica Paez noticed the date printed on the photo (August 1969, reflecting when the photo was developed) and suggested that those might be astronauts walking across the screen. After searching on YouTube, I located a video, CBS News Coverage of Apollo 11 - Moon Walk 06 , which shows the scene on the right (above) at 6 minutes and 57 seconds. Although the image on the left is faint, the white areas where sunlight is striking the lunar lander, flag, and astronaut seem to match up nicely with the corresponding parts of the image on the right. I'd like to thank Angelica for spotting this!

An slide, circa 1959, from Pipe-Smoking Man's family .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of television sets in the living room . Handwritten note on the other side of this photo: "George Vogt & Housekeeper, 1960." Printed on back: "This is a Kodakcolor Print made by Kodak, January 1960 - RC." The woman on the sofa is holding a glass in her hand, and there's a second glass on the tray that's on the coffee table. A small basket on the tray probably contained snacks of some sort. Wallpaper with a distinctive design surrounds the television in the corner. For some more TVs, see my album of Televisions .

A Kodachrome slide dated December 1968. Although there doesn't seem to be anything playing on the television, I doubt that the kids would be that transfixed by a blank TV screen.

A television photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For another interesting television photo, see Don't Give Your Televison the Boot . A Kodachrome slide dated August 1962. If you look closely, you can see the reflections of the photographer and his camera on the TV screen (mouse over the photo above for an enlarged view of the reflected image ). The photographer appears to be kneeling or sitting in front of the television in order to take a photo of what may have been his brand new TV set. The bright flash from the camera stands out at the top of the reflected image, the photographer's illuminated fingers are visible at both sides of the camera, and his disembodied pant legs (from the knees down) eerily appear by themselves at the bottom of the TV screen.

Detail from Reflections on a RCA Victor Super Color Television, 1962 , showing the TV screen with its reflected image of the photographer and his camera. The photographer appears to be kneeling or sitting in front of the television in order to take a photo of what may have been his brand new TV set. The bright flash from the camera stands out at the top of the reflected image, the photographer's illuminated fingers are visible at both sides of the camera, and his disembodied pant legs (from the knees down) eerily appear by themselves at the bottom of the TV screen.

Written on the back: "12/29/67 - Bo." Bo on the floor and Tennessee Ernie Ford on the TV. I'm not sure whose legs those are on the couch. For another dogs-TV-legs combination, see Fuzzy Dog (below).

Slide dated October 1959, location unknown. Hilarity ensued as these two men carried the woman through a doorway into a house. Judging by the corsage that the woman was wearing and the flower in the one man's lapel, I suspect that they may have been celebrating a wedding anniversary. Note, too, that a television set is partially visible behind the doll on the left.

. . . or lyrics to that effect. 8-)

"Greetings from the Philco Convention, Atlantic City." An undated real photo postcard. As far as I can determine, the convention took place in 1953.

A young boy sits on the floor between the RCA Victor television set and the Christmas tree as he plays with the Fred Flintstone punching bag he received for Christmas. See some additional photos of Fred stationed in the middle of the living room and the boy posing next to his punching bag .

Fred Flintstone the punching bag stoically guards the room as Christmas turmoil begins to swirl around him The little boy who received Fred for Christmas is barely visible at right as he stands next to his dad, who's seated in a chair--those are his legs protruding halfway into the room. An aunt (or maybe grandma) has come to the rescue and is holding the boy's baby sister as she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Perhaps she's already grown tired of her new baby doll, who now sits forlornly all by herself. Take a look at some happier snapshots showing the boy posing with Fred and the boy playing with his punching bag .

A photo of outdated technology (typewriters, record players, etc) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a photo of a Philco 48-1001 television set, which was manufactured in 1948 and had a 10-inch television screen. I bought this along with a second photo showing 1948 Republican presidential nominee Thomas Dewey and his wife at the Republican National Convention , which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June 1948. The image of Dewey and his wife is actually a photo of the screen of this TV set taken during the broadcast of the Republican convention, which was the first nationally televised presidential convention . See also a cropped version of the second photo.

Handwritten caption: "Taken on our 10" television screen - June 24, 1948. Dewey nominated for pres."* This snapshot of 1948 Republican presidential nominee Thomas Dewey and his wife is actually a photo of an image from the screen of a Philco 48-1001 television set tuned in to the broadcast of the 1948 Republican National Convention , which "was the first presidential convention to be shown on 'national' television". In 1948, according to Wikipedia , "there were 27 television stations in full operation in the US and an estimated 350,000 TV sets in the whole country." For a better view of the televised image, see a cropped version of this photo. *Although the handwritten caption below the photo gives the date as June 24, it's possible that it was a day later, on June 25, 1948.

This is Thomas Dewey , the 1948 Republican presidential nominee, and his wife in an image from the televised broadcast of the 1948 Republican National Convention . The image is a photograph of the screen of a television set that received the convention broadcast in 1948. See also the full version of this photo and a snapshot of the actual Philco 48-1001 television set that was tuned in to the convention broadcast.