>> Sounds like we are the same age however I think my family must have been richer than yours...We had color TV!! <<
I almost said, 'COLOR tv? I must be MUCH older than you!' Then i saw the bit about the "blue, red and green cellophane sheets." I would NEVER have remembered that, had you not literally "brought it up!"
No, our TV was not larger than yours. The TV cabinet and the record/radio cabinet were separate -- a matched set (like today's washers and dryers) -- mahogany.
That TV lasted for years. I was in high school before the 2nd picture tube finally went out and the old set was replaced by a table-top model with a rectangular screen. The 10-incher lasted so long because my Dad did the maintenance. He had a tube tester at home, and a back-up supply of all the likely-to-burn-out tubes.
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The shows, of course, were in black and white. Once, with my Blue Bird group (i was older by then, about 7, and now there were over a dozen shows per day), i went to a
tv studio to see a show being filmed. I went expecting high technology and elegance. What a surprise.
We could see the show on a monitor, but it looked NOTHING like the live scene.
The clothes the actors wore did not match at all. In living color, the props did not work. What was supposed to be a menacing metal globe was really a blown-up latex balloon, with the string taped to the back, out of sight. However, on the black-and-white monitor, the illusion worked! In retrospect, i think that this is where it came home to me that things are not always what they seem ....
The sets and props were a far cry from the perfection of today. But the ad-lib, no-cut acting, the off-the-cuff stand-up comedy was thrilling. From the audience corner, we could see things go wrong, gasp, and watch the cast roll with the punches and save the day.
I still prefer live theater to most anything on the screen (tho there are exceptions -- it IS a different medium). But i miss drama like Sid Caesar's, and was glad to see the work he did in his old age. Loved the interviews he and his writers did -- discussing the art and freedom of infant television.
Cheryl |
