Black and White TV-The 50's

Remember black and white TV? Here's a poem I wrote. Hope you enjoy the memories!

The 50’s

Neighbors come from miles around!
See the pictures, Hear the sound!
Gather ‘round black and white
Hollywood fashions, gadgets, sights!
Cowboys and Indians on TV;
Roy, Lone Ranger, Zorro with a Z!
Lassie always saves the day!
King Kong carries Faye away!
Howdy Doody, Mousekateers!
Magically they all appear!
Girls in blue jeans scream and swoon;
Everly Brothers and Nelson’s croon,
Do the Twist, dance to the beat,
Hully Gully, shuffle your feet,
Sock hops hoppin’ Friday nights!
Spin the bottle! Kill the lights!
Penny loafers, poodle skirts,
Side burns, leather; Boys! What flirts!
Hoola hoops, Dilly bars,
Pageboys, Beehives, Groovy cars,
Sodas at the five and dime
Root beer, Cherry, Lemon lime.
Neighbors come from miles around!
See the pictures, Hear the sound!
Behold the 50’s in black and white!
Before stereo, color, or satellites!

© 2002 SMJ

What a great poem word. Brings back memories.

One of my fondest memories of B & W TV is that my Dad would wake me at midnight on Friday nights to watch midgit wrestling with him and mom. Gee, What a great Dad I had.

chick

wcharmer, please s=ubmit this to the site for inclusion. I'm getting ready to launch a sction titled, "Our Voices" and this is perfect.

I am able to post a wider variety for the site since there is no page restriction.

I remember my small b&w tv that I had in my bedroom. I thought I was really "high tech" because it was on an extention cord that had an on/off switch. I didn't have to get out of bed to turn my tv off.

Our first Tv was round and black and white, the screen was porobably 15 inches but am not sure....That was a time when parents didn't have to worry about blocking channels because they were all wholesome and family oriented. Those were the good old days in that situation. As I was writing this the new Carls Jr. commercial came on with the half naked Paris Hilton girating around on the floor to sell burgers, my GOD. I hate to see what Oscar Myer might to to sell a hot dog, picture this!!!!YUK!

Remember how the B/W T.V.s had tubes that always seemed to have a knack of blowing out when something you had been waiting to watch was going to be on that night and you would have to wait for the T.V. repairman to show up?

Funny about black and white TVs: my husband-to-be thought I was peculiarly "quaint" when he first met me (in 1977) because I had a tiny b&w television stuck in a bookcase and had no plans to get another one. Of course, when we married, he brought into our marriage one of those huge, ugly faux-Mediterranean style floor consoles, color, of course. We've now compromised: have what I think are far too many televisions, but each of them is hidden behind closed doors. He's happy, and I'm happy that I don't have to look at those stupid blank screens. Guess I really don't watch much television anyway--some things never change.

Nancy, we also have too many televisions. Our two youngest would like them in their rooms, but I'm not doing that. They'll have to wit for college for that.

I went to a baby shower at a cousin's home yesterday. You should have seen the television in her great room. I don't know how they got the darn thing in there. It looked like a movie screen.

I didn't know the Wizard of Oz was in color until I was a grown up. I saw it at a cousin's house, 'Wow! What'd they do to the movie?' They thought I was nuts. (well, I am, but....)Television is the topic of one of my favorite bumper stickers:

Theatre is ART
Movies are ENTERTAINMENT
Television is FURNITURE

"Television is furniture!" Ha! Love that thought. Guess there's just nothing on television I would want to see on a big screen (except for some shows on The History Channel, of course).

We finally caved in and let our sons have TVs in their rooms when they were in senior high school--I'd retreat to our room and read, my husband could fall asleep (er, rest his eyes) in front on the TV in the den. Silly how families end up with more television sets than cars. I sometimes think I was born in the wrong century.