Television

I remember when we first got a television. We were not the first in the neighborhood to have one. A family down the street had one for nearly two years before we got ours. I can remember people going to their door and asking if they could come in and watch it with them. I think our family even did this a time or two.

Then the day came when my Dad brought ours home. It was what they called a “portable”. It actually was pretty large but it didn’t have legs. My Dad made a stand to put it on. The cabinet wasn’t small but the screen itself was only 21”. It was made by Hoffman and had a green tinted glass screen. This was supposed to be better on your eyes.

We only received two television stations at that time which were Channel 8, WISH from Indianapolis and Channel 6, WFBM from Indianapolis. Ch. 8 was a CBS station and Ch. 6 was an NBC station. About a year later Channel 13 came on the air. I do not remember their call letters but it wasn’t WTHR as it is today. It also was an ABC station at that time. In future years Ch. 6 and 13 traded their network affiliation. Channel 4 was added before long but it was a weak station and hard to get sometimes. As the years went by other stations were gradually added.

I can remember some of my favorite shows growing up. I remember watching Howdy Doody, Captain Kangaroo, and Mickey Mouse cartoons. Then a little later my favorites were Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club, Sky King, Roy Rogers, Davy Crockett, and Superman. Then a little after that American Bandstand was a must. My all time favorite of these was Superman. I used to dream of flying like he did. I also jumped off a lot of high spots. Ha!

In my early teen years I loved to watch “Frances Farmer Presents”.  She hosted a local program where she would present different movies. She would offer insights about the stars in the movie during the commercials. You might recall Frances Farmer from the movie “Francis” starring Jessica Lange. If you ever watch that movie you will see that she had a very difficult life. But when she was hosting FF Presents, she was a beautiful woman. It was a favorite program of mine.

Another favorite was the Loretta Young Show. She would always twirl her dress when she entered the room.

There were many other favorites of that era. There were so many great personalities that added a lot to our lives. No wonder I was so impressed with this new television.

By the way, our TV was a lot like the photo of the Pacifica shown at the bottom left of this Hoffman brochure. The only difference being our stand was a square box that my Dad made for the television.