Nice to meet Sara and her vintage Philco television set. What a find, to be sure!

Hi Pam,

My name is Sara, I just signed onto your site as a member yesterday, although I have been reading your blog for the past year now! I have to say that I just absolutely LOVE your blog and I think you are doing a fantastic job with it. I finally feel like there are other people out there like me! Ever since I was in high school (mid to late 80’s) I have been really into all things 50’s and 60s.

My Mom had a hard time getting me to wear “normal” clothes, because I always wanted to shop the vintage stores and wear 50’s dresses to school! Even a repairman who came to my house last year asked if this was my house and I said “Yes, why?” and he said “Because of all of this old stuff”!!!! Anyway, I seems I am just as obsessed as you are hunting on e-bay, and going to estate sales and flea markets looking for anything 50s. I really love your kitchen pics, and one day I hope to have a retro kitchen of my very own. Maybe even a retro house too, that is ALL original and that has not been modernized with yucky granite! I feel like all of your other readers, it is really heartbreaking to see all of the home renovation shows destroy all of the great 50s and 60s details. I even saw one renovation show destroying and original terrazzo floor, I wanted to jump through the screen and stop them! Keep up the great work, you are really an inspiration.

I meant to send this pic of my Philco the other day – when you were showing the new Philcos. I saw this set at an Estate sale a while back and I just could not pass it up. It was not cheap at $250, but it is in nearly mint condition with the original stand – and it still WORKS! It is a Philco Siesta from 1960 and probably very modern for it’s time, as there is a clock above the channel knob that you could use to turn the TV on and off when your programs came on. I bought it from the original owners, and they obviously cherished this TV because they took very good care of it. There were a lot of older people at the estate sale, probably friends and neighbors of the sellers, and they were all probably thinking I was crazy to buy this old black and white TV, that only has 13 channels, and no remote – but, you know how it is!!! I love it!

Sincerely,
Sara

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How interesting — editors of the Small Homes Guide in 1948 declared that this was the first house they had ever seen “especially designed for television.” Architect Rudolph A. Matern created the home with a special television alcove where folks could watch “prize fights and ball games” without filling the center of the living room with furniture.

Television was introduced as early as 1928, but it took a while to get the technology right. It was gearing up, just as World War II started. After a delay, TV took off bigtime so that by 1948, you can see why “where to put the TV” started becoming an issue. Hmmm. I think it’s a pretty good guess that Matern’s T-V alcove grew to be – the Family Room!

Some TV history
According to Wikipedia: The FCC issued the first commercial television licenses to NBC and CBS owned stations in New York on July 1, 1941, followed by Philco’s station in Philadelphia, then licensed as WPTZ and eventually licensed again as the present-day KYW-TV. After the U.S. entry into World War II, the FCC reduced the required minimum air time for commercial television stations from 15 hours per week to 4 hours. Most TV stations suspended broadcasting. On the few that remained, programs included entertainment such as boxing and plays, events at Madison Square Garden, and illustrated war news as well as training for air raid wardens and first aid providers. In 1942, there were 5,000 sets in operation, but production of new TVs, radios, and other broadcasting equipment for civilian purposes was suspended from April 1942 to August 1945.

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Mom will not be isolated here….

This 1953 advertisement for wood KitchenMaid cabinets illustrates the effort and innovation that went into making the modern housewife’s daily chores seem easier…glamorous, even.

In fact, many historians now point out that, while ‘labor-saving devices’ indeed made individual chores easier… the cumulative effort of all the chores was as much or more than ever… because in earlier eras, a housewife (or some percentage) had more outside help. For instance, grocers, milkmen and pharmacists used to deliver to your door – one reason that households only needed one car. In addition, the pressure was on, more than ever, for everything and everyone to be 100% tidy and clean – this was part of ‘fitting in’ in America – so Mom was constantly on the go.

All that said, I am not of the school that looks at these 50s achievements as evidence of women’s oppression. Net net, it all reads positive to me. My kinfolk came from hardscrabble – farms and coal mines. They had “enough” but holey moley, they were on the edge. The last 50 years – no question, an amazing leap forward.

The Television Kitchen by Kitchenmaid

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