TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

'We Got A TV!'

ADVERTISEMENT

By DONNA E. GLAUSSER

Special to the Tribune

Published: June 15, 2008

TAMPA - Throughout the 1940s, our house was mostly quiet in the evening. My family lived in a borough outside of Pittsburgh, and I was a small child. I liked to loll on the window seat and look at picture books. My sleepy-eyed dad would be sprawled on the couch, a magazine open across his chest. Grandma was in the wingchair, working the crossword, and Mother would be in her easy chair.

The first inkling of change to our nightly routines came in 1950. One fall evening, my mother said, "Ralphie's going to be on television tonight, at 7 o'clock."
Ralphie was the son of our neighbors, the Polinos. He was on a tumbling team, which was performing at a local television station. The station would broadcast it live.

But few people had televisions then, including the Polinos or us. My mother said the Polinos were going to watch Ralphie at the Gold Triangle and we were invited. The Gold Triangle, an appliance store, sold television sets. It kept them on display in the storefront window. We could watch television from the sidewalk.

After dinner that night, my family hurried out the back door. We walked down the alley behind our house and around the block. An animated crowd was in front of the Gold Triangle. Most were our neighbors. They greeted us with noisy hellos.

The television set in the window consisted of a round screen in a big wooden box. On the screen, a clown was spinning a row of plates on sticks. It was all in black and white.

A commercial came and went. Then one of our neighbors shouted, "There he is!" What looked like a two-inch man in a white jumpsuit flipped over two teammates and landed upright. It was the tumbling team. Other team members, also in white jumpsuits, did a variety of tricks.

When the performance ended, we clapped and cheered. Ralphie's mother beamed. But I had to wonder. Had anyone really recognized Ralphie?

"Isn't that something?" said Dad. He smacked his lips as if he had just finished a piece of Mother's apple pie.

That Christmas, Dad came home with a big cardboard box. Inside was a television set with a gold-rimmed 10-inch screen and five metal knobs.

Dad plugged the TV's cord into the wall and turned a knob on the set. I heard a crackle and a loud "hummmm." He turned a numbered dial to "3." It was the channel for WDTV, the only television station in Pittsburgh. We saw a snowy black-and-white picture. Dad fiddled with the set's rabbit ear antennas to bring the picture into focus. He adjusted the brightness control and turned the vertical and horizontal controls.

It was thrilling.

At school, I told my teachers and classmates, "We got a TV!" Friends clamored to visit. After school, we were entertained by children's shows. On Saturday mornings, we watched puppet shows, outer-space serials, cartoons from the 1930s and cowboy movies.

At night, I watched every offering after the news until my bedtime. My eyes would be riveted on the small, flickering screen as the action and dialogue captured my imagination.

The high ceiling of our living room echoed with the sounds of smooth voices, recorded laughter, advertising slogans and catchy jingles.

My family loved TV. We were never the same.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donna E. Glausser grew up in Dormont, a borough of Pittsburgh. She moved to Tampa in 1976 and was the director of the Head Start program in Hillsborough County for 20 years. Now retired, she is 64. Glausser has two children and one grandchild.

Do You Have A Story To Tell?

I Remember It Well is a feature of the Prime Time page. Send entries via e-mail to

shemmingway@tampatrib.com or in typewritten form to Susan Hemmingway, The Tampa Tribune, P.O Box 191, Tampa FL 33601. Submissions cannot be returned. Be sure to include a contact phone number.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT