EARLY TV

 Every night I sit down to watch TV there are endless number of cable channels and I have my choice of several hundred movies and tv shows. Between Netflix, Prime, You Tube, and You Tube TV I am sure to find entertainment to my likening. That was not always the case. When television came first on the scene there were only 3 networks NBC, CBS and ABC. My neighbor downstairs was the first to purchase a tv on our block. It was a Dumont, a large piece of furniture with a 14 inch black and white cathode tube in its center. That was around 1948.

The popular show at that time was The Texaco Star Theater starring Milton Berle. It was basically a vaudeville show with slapstick comedy, dancers, singers etc. Our neighbor would invite us to watch the show. The adults sat on the sofa and chairs and we kids on the floor. We were thrilled with the novelty of having entertainment in our own homes. It was this show which caused thousands of tv’s to be purchased and earned Berle the title of “Mr. Television”.

I remember television was only shown during prime time. For the remainder a pattern was televised to allow adjustments to the tv. Foolishly we even watched that because we were so thrilled to have television in our homes.

PHONE PARTY LINES

 

Our household didn’t have a phone in my early childhood. My father didn’t apply for a phone line until 1945. Although WWII had ended materials were still in short supply and as a result, we had to share our line with 3 other parties. AT&T was the company that supplied the line (the only company since they had the monopoly). It wasn’t until 1984 that the US Government broke them up into 7 smaller regional “Bell” systems.

We were assigned certain rings so we would know that it was our call. It was an honor system where conversations were meant to be short in duration and no one was supposed to listen in on the other parties’ calls. In my young persons’ mind (I was 10 at the time) those were the rules for adults not necessarily for children.

I would wait until one of the other parties picked up the phone then gently pick up the cradle covering the mouthpiece with my hand. I felt like a detective listening in to other peoples’ conversations. I wasn’t good at it since before long I would hear (“Get off the line this is a private call. The nerve of some people”) I hung on anyway until their anger got so that they stopped talking.

Within the year we got a separate line which pleased my parents no end. For me I

lost a form of entertainment.