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Black and White was a no-brainer
My family was an early adopter of television. We got our first set in 1949 after we moved to the farm my father managed. Our first set was a large mahogany cabinet with a small screen of maybe 12 inches across. It sat in the center of the living room where it was clearly visible to all. We had one channel at first and we watched everything – even the test pattern. Ten years later when color was introduced, my parents were having none of it. Initially there wasn’t much color broadcasting, just special shows here and there and it just seemed extravagant to pay all that money for a set that wasn’t any better than the old one 95% of the time. The color was funny too. I was invited to see color at a friend’s house and I wasn’t impressed. The color didn’t look real. Skin tones were always wrong. There were either too orange or too green. The other colors were either wishy-washy or garish and the color seemed to fuzz and blur around the images.
Color was a harder sell
Color TV was certainly a marvel. We had gotten used to expecting color at the movies by this time but most of the folks I knew were not willing to shell out the big bucks for color TV. Things were just fine in black and white.
It happened in the 60’s
The big shift happened during the 60’s when I was in college and not watching much TV. Gradually more and more shows were produced in color until you could watch color TV all day long if you wanted. The color got better too as the engineers refined the picture tubes. The colors were more realistic and easier to tune. But the sets were still expensive. In 1960 $500 was real money. Not everybody could come up with the dough. Fast forward to 1970 when I started working, however, I had no use for TV at all, black and white or color. My wife changed all that but even then, we started with black and white and only stepped up to a huge 21 inch color set in the mid 70’s. If I remember right, our first set cost about $500 also which was still a lot more than $500 today.
Looking back from our current 46 inch HD set, it is hard to imagine how we survived with the primitive images, color or black and white but we did and we were happy with them to boot.
I got my parents old 20 inch black and white zenith when I was about 10 in 1985. I watched that thing all of the time even knowing that the shows were in color. Luckily some of my favorite shows at that time were Gilligans island and the Addams family. They were black and white anyway. Color was great but I will always have fond memories of that old black a white set. I had nightmares for 3 days after I watched the Elephant Man on it. I still remember it clearly. Some of those older shows are available on DVD now and the high def screens make some of them look funny. Gilligan looks better on an older tube tv we have in the basement than on the High def. At least my kids don’t mind black and white. You just can’t colorize the classics. Can you imagine The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in color? Or the older Hitchcock stuff?? I feel a color vs black and white rant coming on
.-= Justin Matthews´s last blog ..Dreaming, what’s it all about? =-.
Rant away.
Notorious would suck in color.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..On Literary Pranks & Other Forms of Gentle Mischief =-.
As would Rashomon
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..60’s Nostalgia – Color TV =-.
I’m lovin this ad:
“This is today’s common-sense investment in TV.”
Investent. Gotta love those copywriters!
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..On Literary Pranks & Other Forms of Gentle Mischief =-.
It worked.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..60’s Nostalgia – Color TV =-.
Ralph,
This post certainly brought many memories back. Back to the old TVs with valve technology; my dad loved to show his technical skills and spend time repairing our TV yet again and again.
When the colour made an appearance I remember watch football matches (UK) and noticed how the players colored kit seem to be slightly out of align.
Thanks for the reminders.
Regards
Paul
.-= Paul´s last blog ..Keeping up with your homework =-.
Paul,
Some things about the good old days were not so good but it was nice when your could fix things like TV’s yourself.