Oldie and goodie

When I was ten years old, my parents aquired a television set. It had two knobs or dials on it. Just two. You turned the one on the left counterclockwise to turn the set on (there was a distinct click) and then to adjust the volume, just like you did for a radio. You turned the one on the right up or down to the twelve available channels, 2 through 13. Only 2, 4, and 7 were actually used, however. Each of these setting produced a grainy or snowy picture in black and white, accompanied by sound. It was sooooo coool.

Up to this time, we had watched TV by standing on the porch at the neighbors and peering in their window. The drawback to that program was that we could not hear the sound. I do not know if these neighbors objected to the presence of four or five small children peering in their front window. They could have closed the curtains, of course, but that would not have advertised so well the presence of a television set in their living room.

That was it. Just two buttons, on/off, sound up or down, channel selection - any one of three. No start and stop, no mute, no menu, you didn't even need a college degree to run the thing. I recollect we did it just fine with only a fourth or fifth grade education. Of course, the buttons never got lost either, being attached rather firmly to the TV itself.

The TV itself couldn't get lost either. It was larger than the one we have now. Not the picture part of course, that was a small screen about 10 inches across. But the box it came in was a regular piece of furniture about the size of a footstool around, and as tall as a short bookcase. It lived mainly in our basement, along with the porch furniture which was stored in the "play" side of the basement for the winter.

We rarely watched TV in the summer anyway, since it was mostly reruns. One notable exception was the summer of 1952, when we watched the Republican National Convention which nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Republican candidate for president. I'm not sure how much interest I took in the proceedings, but we were allowed to WATCH the TELEVISION, so we watched. We also watched the test patterns which were run before the TV station actually started broadcasting, so this may indicate our level of interest.

My mother was preparing for our annual vacation, two weeks at a summer cottage in Northern Michigan. Her major preparation that we were aware of was an intense ironing compaign. Everything we owned was ironed, including sheets and pajamas, as well as all my dresses and my brothers' shirts and pants. In order to pack for vacation she washed everything we owned, ironed it all, and then we were allowed to pack it carefully in the suitcase for the trip. All of the ironing I remember from that summer seemed to take place in front of the television set, now residing for the duration of the Republican Convention on the back porch, as it was more comfortable for ironing than the empty basement.

I seldom iron anymore without thinking of the nomination and election of Eisenhower. Actually I seldom iron anymore.