# Watching TV in the 50s & 60s.



## fuzzybuddy (Sep 16, 2019)

When I was a kid (50s & 60s), everybody watched TV together. My mom & dad sat on the couch opposite the TV and I laid in the floor infront of the TY. And when, he was old enough my little brother, did the same.  There were TV ads where the kids were laying in front of the TV. That was kind of like the family thing back them. My mom used to yell at me that i was too close to the TV and it was going to ruin my eyes. My dad thought it was great, I could  easily change the channel for him. Now, I happened to notice that in TV ads, etc., the kids are watching TV alone and the parents are watching TV alone .


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## hollydolly (Sep 16, 2019)

We only got to watch TV after 5pm, and then only until my father got home from work. TV wasn't allowed on at all during the day except weekends.. , so we'd watch Dr Who , or Flipper, or Skippy the bush kangaroo, or follyfoot..  around tea-time

 On Saturday afternoons we got to see shows like Gunsmoke or Willam Tell or Bonanza, or the wrestling ,  etc. only .because the old man was  already watching them but we had to be quiet or there would be beltings . If he wasn't in the room,  actually watching the programme that was on , he'd switch it off, so we couldn't watch it..

We were always pleased if he was working an all day Saturday  and we could watch what we wanted..


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## LulyR (Sep 16, 2019)

My brother and I were "Star Trek" fanatics, but my dad hated the show.  My mom (who worked at Zenith) got so tired of all the crying and yelling that she bought TVs for our room, the rumpus room in the basement along with the one in the living room.  So in the mid-60's we were a 3 TV household.  My brother and I were the envy of the neighborhood kids.


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## Sassycakes (Sep 16, 2019)

My Dad loved watching television and he had a TV in every room. He even had one in the kitchen and when we would be having dinner he loved watching "The Life of Riley"but in every show Riley would say "You dirty rat" and my Dad would get soo mad and say "Does he have to say that". I also loved watching Howdy Doody and The Lone Ranger and so many others,and Of course Bandstand every day.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Sep 16, 2019)

We watched TV as a family also. We just put up with the shows other family members wanted to watch. My Dad loved Lawrence Welk , Mitch Miller and the westerns. Mom and I loved the comedy's,especially I Love Lucy. I'm sure they would have preferred not to watch Lassie or Rin Tin Tin but watched because I loved those shows. I was allowed to watch Howdy Doody on a Friday afternoon while I ate my dinner on a snack tray as a special treat. I don't think I saw much of it because every 15 minutes she would yell from the kitchen, "Are you eating?" I was a poor eater back then. You would never know it now.


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## Aunt Bea (Sep 16, 2019)

We watched television as a family and we also had appointment television where the television would be warmed up a few minutes before a favorite program was about to begin and then it was turned off shortly after the program ended.


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## Sassycakes (Sep 16, 2019)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> We watched TV as a family also. We just put up with the shows other family members wanted to watch. My Dad loved Lawrence Welk , Mitch Miller and the westerns. Mom and I loved the comedy's,especially I Love Lucy. I'm sure they would have preferred not to watch Lassie or Rin Tin Tin but watched because I loved those shows. I was allowed to watch Howdy Doody on a Friday afternoon while I ate my dinner on a snack tray as a special treat. I don't think I saw much of it because every 15 minutes she would yell from the kitchen, "Are you eating?" I was a poor eater back then. You would never know it now.



I forgot all about "I Love Lucy". The show would come on at 8pm and I loved it,but my Mom insisted that me and my sister had to go to bed at 8:15pm,so I wouldn't be able to finish watching it. I would try to stall by asking her if I had my milk,or did I eat my cookies etc. She would get angry so I never got to watch the end. My sister didn't care because she was always ready for bed !It's funny because now my 9yr old granddaughter tries to stall before going to bed just like I did.


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## moviequeen1 (Sep 19, 2019)

I grew up in the 50's &60's,when my siblings&I were younger,our parents would let us watch on Sun nights 'Lassie'' then a bit of 'The Ed Sullivan Show'
I do remember my parents liked to watch'What's My Line'.If I couldn't get back to sleep,I would come into the TV room,watch with them,not really understanding what the show was about
My favorite show I always looked forward to watch was'Leave It to Beaver''57-'63.At the time,I thought that was the best show on TV


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## Seeker (Sep 19, 2019)

Back then we could only afford one TV and parents ruled.

I remember Red Skelton, Wild Kingdom, Lassie, all in black and white.


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## Lc jones (Sep 19, 2019)

We thought that anybody that had more than one television was wealthy but to tell you the truth we never even knew anybody that had more than one television this was in the 60s, We didn’t watch television during the day it was not allowed I could watch one program early in the evening after homework was done And we were not allowed to watch anything that was not appropriate for young people I’m thankful that my parents had the television under control We played outside we read books we played imaginary games with our toys and to this day my sister and I have great imaginations.


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## Sassycakes (Sep 19, 2019)

Thinking about this now and the commercials that are on now reminded me that my Dad would get so upset when a commercial would come on about a Bra. Even though the Bra wasn't on a woman but on a mannequin he would still get out of the room.


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## Knight (Sep 19, 2019)

Like most here watched shows like Lassie & Ed Sulivan. Sex can't remember anything more than a kiss that lasted a little bit. Violence was in the form of Lucy on I love Lucy getting frustrated in one episode with the speed of the production line she was on. To the moon alice on Jackie Gleason another exhibition of violence. That was pretty much what went for violence back then. The rifleman did have some shooting but instead of the bad guy being riddled with blood splattering everywhere it was usually a small hole and the bad guy falling down. 

At the time Buck Rodgers space thriller was really something. Seeing the string making it possible for those rocket ships rise up into the sky with that lit sparkler providing thrust was ignored in favor of imagining flying into space.


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## Lochkelly (Sep 19, 2019)

We had been watching Star Trek for over a year when one evening, out of the blue, our dad piped up and said, of Deforrest Kelley (Bones), "Oh, we used to play together as kids when he'd come to Conyers to say with relatives."

What?  You're just now telling us this?  It was so cool.


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## Olivia (Sep 19, 2019)

Sassycakes said:


> My Dad loved watching television and he had a TV in every room. He even had one in the kitchen and when we would be having dinner he loved watching "The Life of Riley"but in every show Riley would say "You dirty rat" and my Dad would get soo mad and say "Does he have to say that". I also loved watching Howdy Doody and The Lone Ranger and so many others,and Of course Bandstand every day.



Oh, forgot about "The Life of Riley". And I Love Lucy and The Gail Storm Show, and The Honeymooners, and so much more. That's really my favorite time of life with TV. And because there were no DVD's to purchase, when the shows came on that you liked and knew the family liked, there would be shouting saying "Come quick, I Love Lucy is on!!" When I see those shows, it reminds of my mom and how much she loved them.


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## jujube (Sep 19, 2019)

My mother once turned the TV to the wall (I can't remember what we had done but it must have been *major*) and when she found out we were turning it back around when she wasn't home, she cut the plug off.  

It stayed that way for almost a year until she relented.


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## toffee (Sep 20, 2019)

I remember our first tv box lol all wood case' small screen ---but it was good then ' aloud to see it after 
school - but was not much on then ' loved lassie' cisco kid' play school' and any pop show that happened to be on , and now we sit on different sofa's ' to watch it ' kids rather be doing x box games' all that family togetherness has vanished 'different era ;


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## Aunt Bea (Sep 20, 2019)

I remember the local children's programming where all of the people that worked in the television station played some small part.


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## Seeker (Sep 20, 2019)

Aunt Bea said:


> I remember the local children's programming where all of the people that worked in the television station played some small part.



Bozo the Clown..cartoons and games I went once to the TV station, I barely recall it I was so young.


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## debodun (Sep 22, 2019)

After I did my school homework, I could watch the afternoon cartoons. I had a very early bedtime, so didn't get to watch much prime time TV until I was about 12.


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## Marie5656 (Sep 23, 2019)

*Just got this on my FB feed...thought this thread is a good place for it.

*


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## Ruth n Jersey (Sep 23, 2019)

Wow,Marie. That list certainly makes me feel old. lol


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## Fyrefox (Sep 26, 2019)

My parents had only one television set for many years, an old black-and-white model bought in the late 1940's with a small screen by today's standards housed in a large piece of wooden furniture.  It ran on vacuum tubes, so you had to wait several minutes for the set to "warm up."  The TV repairman was a frequent visitor, and if he couldn't fix the set on site he'd have to take the guts of it "to the shop," which meant no television for up to a week, a kid's worst nightmare!

In those days of long ago, I can remember watching Howdy Doody on Saturday, Captain Kangaroo weekdays, and my much loved B&W "Superman" show!  There were a lot of westerns on TV back then too, like The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Rin-Tin-Tin...


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## Pecos (Sep 26, 2019)

We did not have a TV at home when I was growing up. My folks did not get one until 3 years after I joined the Navy. In the Navy, I had intermittent access to Armed Forces TV, which was rather limited and we had no commercials at all.
I am pretty sure that I didn't miss anything important.


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## Getyoung (Sep 29, 2019)

I remember when the tv sets were actually a piece of furniture, solid wood with a maximum screen size of 26 inches. Still remember seeing a color tv for the first time, it was the "Jetsons" cartoon, is was surreal to see it in color.

I used to watch Bonanza, and the Sunday night Walt Disney show. Later watched all those teen shows like; the Brady Bunch, I dream of Genie, etc.

Loved the original Hawaii Five-0 and Mannix and Columbo. Ooops just realized some of these were in the '70's


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## Rich29 (Sep 29, 2019)

Saturday Morning 1950's TV for me included:
Lone Ranger
Wild Bill Hickok
Sky King
Buster Brown Show (remember Andy Devine and Froggie?)
Cisco Kid
Captain Video and his robot "tabor" (robot spelled backwards)

We could only watch one or two each Saturday


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## Rich29 (Sep 29, 2019)

I meant Tobor not Tabor on my previous post. Also one more show; Watch Mr. Wizzard


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## RadishRose (Sep 29, 2019)

Rich29 said:


> I meant Tobor not Tabor on my previous post. Also one more show; Watch Mr. Wizzard


I vaguely remember Watch Mr. Wizard


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## jerry old (Sep 29, 2019)

Rich 29"
Further back than that, Radio: B-Bar B Riders, 15 minutes, Clyde _Beaty?)______ real person, lion tamer, African explorer...
Sky King (on radio) and one more 15 minute program... Two other kid radio programs, cannot recall names.

TV before or after National News, 15 minutes of Doris Day, Jonathan Winters and others...54-55
Grandmother old, feeble, grandchildren drafted to spend weekend with her.  She was crazy about Liberiace, drama Playhouse 90
 grandmother insisted grandkids watch tv with her; " Grandmother I don't want'a watch that junk."

San Antonio, 1955 (?)  second TV station started broadcasting-  Wow!

Early 50's Western Auto Hardware store rolled TV set to window, turned up volume as loud as possible,  left it running after they closed.
Those without this 'new thing,' would arrive, watch tv, it was a mini-drivein 

Before parent's had tv, went to friends house saw a episode of "Howdy Doodie (sp?)" 
 Run, Flee! the square planet is going to hit earth.  That was around 65 years ago, still remember it, did  the square planet collide with earth  ?


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## debodun (Oct 3, 2019)

I WAS on TV, back when locally produced shows were rampant in the 4 to 6 PM time slots. There were several kid-orientated shows. I was on "The Freddie Friehofer Show" twice and "Satellte 6" once. The Friehofer show was sponsored by a local bakery and of course, promoted its products. Childern taht were celebrating their birthdays were the guests. The host would tell stories about characters (Freddy and his friends) and draw simple illustrations to go along with the tales. "Satellite 6" has a female hostess named Glendora and the show was basically a vehicle for Felix the Cat cartoons, although between the cartoons, Glendora might tell a very short story or demonstrate a simple craft. One time they had a Felix look-alike contest so all the kids that had cats and entered were guests on the show.


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## jujube (Oct 3, 2019)

Remember the Pinky Lee Show?  He was a former burlesque comedian and had a live kid's show on TV.  Lots of slapstick and tom-foolery.  I was watching the day he had a heart attack during the show.  He fell to his knees, clutched his chest and rasped, "help me, help me."  Of course, everyone thought he was fooling around.  He lived but I'm not sure he came back to TV.

I loved, loved, loved the Soupy Sales Show.  He was a genius.  It was a live show, of course, and once there was a knock on the door of the set. He went over to open it and, out of sight of the camera, there was a naked woman wiggling around.  He had to stand there pretending to talk to one of the show's characters while the woman pranced around where he could see her.  It was a prank set up by his coworkers to see what he'd do.  

And then there was Ernie Kovacs.  Once again, pure genius.


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## Ken N Tx (Oct 4, 2019)

How about...
.


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## fmdog44 (Oct 4, 2019)

Remember when the weathermen were on and the silly stick em' symbols they had for rain and sunshine and tornados and the like? Sometimes the symbols would fall off the walls during the broadcasts.  
The history of television is packed full of funny stories related to mistake made by the production technical people as well as the personalities. A lot of them are on YouTube.


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