Who loves vintage people? Or rather, vintage pictures of people? Raise your hands until I tell you to put them down.
First up is this picture of cute kids from September, 1956. Each one his holding a tiny kitten - the kid to the right is clutching his with a kung fu grip that seems a little excessive. Easy there, pardner! I like the middle girl's colorful shirt. The rocking horse that she is sitting on is charmingly homemade, and it's pretty clear that at least one kid added some artistic touches on the nose. That big green yard looks quite wonderful for playing and exploring.
I love this photo of a fetching young woman posing next to a massive General Motors "Aerotrain" locomotive. But it's her delightful smile and her cute pixie hairdo that are the stars of the show.
She is holding a program for "Powerama". What was that? General Motors Powerama was a “World’s Fair of Power” held in 1955 on 23 acres of Chicago lakefront (at a cost of $7 million dollars), intended to focus national attention on General Motors production of its 100 million horsepower. “Offering a kaleidoscopic array of attractions from earth movers to elephants, Diesels to dancing girls - the giant fair was open to the public from August 31 thru September 25th". Sign me up!
The Aerotrain was introduced to the public at Powerama as “a revolutionary lightweight train” that could carry 400 passengers at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. Wikipedia says, "Although they featured a streamlined design, the Aerotrains failed to capture the public's imagination. Their cars, based on GM's bus designs and using an air cushioning system, were rough riding and uncomfortable. The design of the locomotive section made routine maintenance difficult and it was underpowered".
And finally, a photo from November 1967, labeled "Our new color TV". From Zenith! While technology for color televisions goes back to the 1940's, and limited color broadcasts go back to the early 1950's, Wikipedia says that it was not until the early 1970's that color televisions outsold black and white sets in the United States. So this happy fellow was an early adopter! He'll be watching "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In", "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color", "The Carol Burnett Show", "Lost in Space", "Bewitched", "My Three Sons", and SO MUCH MORE.
I hope you have enjoyed today's vintage people!
Major-
ReplyDeleteOh, those kids-! Butch is merely preparing 'fluffy' for a dental check-up. That appears to be a pressure regulator of some sort just behind the kitten being held by the gal with the red shirt. And what sort of shoes are the sisters wearing-?
Judging from Miss. Pixie's bright expression, it's obvious she hadn't read the rather disappointing description on Wikipedia of the Aerotrain. If true, it sounds like a real clunker, probably designed by "a committee". (Thankfully, Walt had Bob Gurr on-staff to design the snappier Viewliner-!)
I would say if one were an 'early adopter' of COLOR television, that would be back in 1954. Let's just say for those who waited until both CBS & ABC finally went [essentially] full color in the Fall of 1965 - perhaps a more-appropriate term would be a 'delayed early adopter'. However, by waiting until around 1967, most of the television manufacturers offered a rectangular-shaped picture tube for their color sets. (Motorola was first, in 1964).
A Zenith, huh-? I'm not so certain. It bears a slight resemblance to their models of that period, but...
Thanks, Major.
Major-
ReplyDeleteAll right... I guess I'm convinced it's a Zenith.
A bumper crop of shiny, happy people! Love hat the girls have matching shoes, just like my sister and I always did. We always called cats that were striped on the top and white on the bottom "armadillo cats" because the striped top kind of looks like an armadillo's shell.
ReplyDeleteMiss Pixie was originally headed for the Powderama, but she got on the wrong train. Now all her friends are enjoying themselves at the Talcum Pavilion, but she's having a good time anyway because that's just the kind of gal she is.
I remember my Dad having a lot of wallpaper shirts like Mr. Hornrims.
Mr. Kung Fu Kid's cat does NOT look very happy! But now that Nanook has mentioned it, the cat does have sort of the same look as my cats, when I am brushing their teeth.
ReplyDeleteThat was a lovely television set. We had a very similar model, purchased in 1966.
ReplyDeleteIt was life-changing.
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ReplyDeleteAdd the Aerotrain logo to my list of favorite red-and-blue-with-white logos. We have a surviving locomotive shell (without an engine) on display at the Museum of Transportation here in St Louis.
ReplyDeleteI think Bob Gurr did a great job with his miniature version, which relied on his automotive styling experience similar to that of the auto stylists who designed the Aerotrain, but I find the original just a bit more aesthetically-pleasing. I also like tuna 'n' waffles. Your tastes may vary.
That is not a happy cat. The background looks like part of our yard but I don’t know those kids.
ReplyDeleteCute girl, cute train. Horsepower Fair you say? How odd. Let’s go see some horsepower.
I’m pretty sure we had color TV by 1967, our Magnavox looks somewhat like that one. Mr. Hornrim probably knew my Dad, he looks like one of our neighbors. Mom had an arrangement like that on the TV, probably bought at the Main Street Flower Mart.
Major, I like the vintage people theme, thank you.
JG
Nanook, the regulator is attached to a propane tank. It is almost perpendicular to the photo plane and the youngster is blocking it almost completely.
ReplyDeleteJG
Who loves vintage people? I love vintage people. Why? Because I myself am a vintage people.
ReplyDeleteThe vintage kids photo strikes home. I was six in 1956 and had kittens in the house. Hopefully I was easier on mine that my counterpart in the photo.
The fetching girl in the second photo could be the babysitter I had a crush on.
My tech loving dad bought our first color tv in 1967, although I believe it was an RCA. He had the same happy look as the dad in the photo.
Thanks Major for inspiring another trip down memory lane.
I love The Vintage People! "Y.M.C.A....!"
ReplyDeleteI also like how cleverly the homemade rocking horse is made. I wonder if it was a Popular Mechanics plan?
You know what would have saved that train? Rockets! But I wouldn't have wanted to be the first "Test Engineer."
I think we got our first TV about the same time. I'm pretty sure it was Magnavox. For years it had a stuffed malard duck standing on top. My dad had shot it (not while it was stuffed).
Fun times!
Right along with Grant. I was 6 in '56 and we didn't have a cat yet, we had a Dalmatian who could handle both me and my sister, no problem. We got our first kitty in '58 or '59. She got the royal treatment from us. Add one more dog and it was a trio.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind being a vintage person. We got to live those those awesome vintage times. The Wonderful World of Color, Carol Burnett and all those shows were worth the price of growing old eventually, considering what passes as entertainment on the TV now. I'd put our 4 or 5 channels up against today's 500 channels any day, well, most of the time. Of course this
is the opinion of a vintage, close to irrelevant person.
Our first color TV came from Montgomery Wards and I think it was an RCA too.
Great vintage people, Major. Thanks.
TV was so much better in the 50s and 60s. Happy people, funny characters, fun escapism. My heroes were Roy Rogers, Superman (George Reeves of course) and Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt. Good TV, indeed. The Aerotrain, good or bad, was not enough to save the passenger rail service from the Interstate Highway system and the Boeing 707. I always look forward to the vintage people pics. We didn't get our first color set until late in the game. I don't remember what brand it was, but I remember the first color show I saw on it. The High Chaparral, so whatever year that was. Thanks major.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge fan of humans, but a big fan of vintage people photos! LOVE the Aerotrain. The Amtrak Acela is the closest thing I can get to it out here. And the trip from Boston to DC, in the words of the conductor..."unforgiving". It's a little like being on a crack-the-whip ride. Color TV was too fancy for us. We had a black and white until forever. Our best friends had an RCA color. I thought that RCA had the monopoly on Color TV for a number of years. Until then, there was a "color" screen that you could put over your screen to make it appear "color"...blue, red and green...in no particular order. Or, if you had "Winky Dink" where you lived, you ordered a pink plastic screen, a "colorforms" kind of sticky plasticky kind of thing that you drew lines on to make Winky Dinks magic day complete. Look it up. I loved Winky Dink and that plastic smell, which I am sure was toxic, was a smell somewhere between a sharpie and airplane glue. When we finally got color TV we were all wondering why I Love Lucy was still in black and white. It was great to see Marlo Thomas in her Cardinalle wardrobe (starving actor in NYC living in a giant apartment, with couture outfits...totally believable!) or Samantha Stevens as "Serena" in her wild colorful outfits!
ReplyDeleteDrGoat, my brother from another mother. I agree with you, we really are fortunate to have lived in such a great time for tv, music and film. (Freely admitted 50s B-movie buff here.) I'm proud to be a vintage person. Even though we'll soon be part of the old-and-in-the-way crowd ;)
ReplyDeleteJC Shannon, Superman... Roy Rogers... Sea Hunt... Yeah!
BU, I remember Winky Dink. (Hosted by Jack Barry, future host of the game show Twenty One and the ensuing rigged game show scandal. Well documented in the movie Quiz Show.) I guess at the time nobody thought it was a bad idea to have kids sit inches from a CRT screen for 30 minutes a day.
When we finally got color TV we were all wondering why I Love Lucy was still in black and white. It was great to see Marlo Thomas in her Cardinalle wardrobe (starving actor in NYC living in a giant apartment, with couture outfits...totally believable!)
ReplyDeleteBu, it was freaky, the first time, seeing Lucy with orange hair - when they colorized some of the I.L.L. shows. I like her better in black and white.
hahahaha! regarding Marlo's situation! Never really thought about it before you mentioned it. I watched one of her shows with my dad, the other day...she sure was a doll!
Someone needs to tell Mr. Hornrims that he has ferns growing out of his pants.
Thanks, Major! This vintage person loves the vintage people pictures, shared here with vintage people (and Andrew).
And I raise my hand also as a proud member of the vintage people club! I can related to everything everyone has said above. I have no idea anymore when my Dad got our first color TV but I do remember the NBC peacock and also when I finally got to see Wonderful World of Disney (Wonderful World of Color) for the first time. Remember the huge tubes in those sets? I remember Dad being able to fix the TV himself (most times) by taking the tube over to the corner Thrifty Drug Store and testing it and purchasing a new tube. Good times. I think we (meaning I) got our first cat in the late 50's, maybe 1958. Had her for so many years. Kittynipper the third (the other two had belonged to my mom many years before, we just liked the name).
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to take my sister and me out to eat at a local bowling alley lounge most Sunday nights so we could watch Bonanza in color (thus, 1961 or later) and she could smoke and drink. Living it was better than telling it...
ReplyDeleteI'll also join the clan of those who proudly claim themselves as vintage people. I R 1 of U! LOL.
ReplyDeleteWhy do country pictures seem timeless?
The description regarding the reasons for the failure of the train and its cars also set the tone for the remainder of the century for GM automobiles.
1966 was the year of our RCA color TV. It had the rounded tube and was set into a beautiful Scandinavian style wood cabinet. It was a nice piece of furniture on its own...and such a waste to see it go out the door years later when the stand-alone TVs arrived. I remember watching the World Series (Dodgers-Orioles) on it with my friends. They were invited over because we were one of the first on the street to have color. Dad had a smile as big as this fellow. TV was so much better then with fewer channels it seems like we all have said. And yes, I remember placing plastic on the black and white and scribbling all over it tracing what was being broadcast. But that was 1954 and Mom thought it was better than me drawing on the wall!!
Tubes and tube testers at the Drug store...my Dad seemed a whiz at that stuff. I just liked watching the test meters move back and forth. KS
The first color TV program I can remember was "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" episode ""An Adventure in Color/Mathmagicland" which aired in September of 1964. This was at a color TV booth at the L.A. County Fair in Pomona. To my mom and dad's credit they let me sit and watch quite a bit of the program! It made a big impression on me. The color was so beautiful and I loved the animation.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents brought a color TV around the same time and I remember one local Los Angeles station promoting "a full day of color programs!" . As I remember this was mostly old color travel logs, but it was COLOR!
I liked all the pics today. That Areotrain was massive!! God Bless vintage people.
Nanook, I guess that kid wants to be a dentist the same way Herby the elf did. Pliers are his #1 tool. I thought sis was wearing some kind of slippers, but… hard to say! I’m sure your right, Miss Pixie has no idea that the Aerotrain is such a flop. It looks cool, though! I did mention that color went back technically to the 1940s, but even at the 1964 World’s Fair it was enough of a novelty that it was a big part of the RCA pavilion. My guess is that anyone with a color TV in 1954 was mostly watching black and white programming. What in the world was being broadcast in color back then?
ReplyDeleteNanook, I did my research!
Melissa, I’ve never heard the term “armadillo cat” before, but I like it. I can’t help picturing them rolling up into a little ball. “Powderama”, ha ha!
TokyoMagic!, I know, some kids just don’t know how to treat a kitty!
Anon, we didn’t get a color set until sometime in the early 70s!
Chuck, that Aerotrain logo reminds me of the wonderful “script” logos that were created for so many cars back then. It was a real art form. You’re right, Bob Gurr did do a great job. Tuna and waffles, eh? Hey, my dad liked salami and jelly sandwiches.
JG, I remember going over to my friend Ronnie Smith’s house on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons in color because we still had a black and white TV. The effect was so amazing! It was the same show that I watched, only IN COLOR!
JG, regulator? Huh?
Grant, we never had kittens, but I remember going over to see the newborns at my next door neighbor’s home. I had no idea that new kittens looked so unappealing! I also remember watching shows that would say, “IN COLOR” as they started, and I was baffled as to why we were still seeing them in black and white.
Stu29573, the hobby horse reminds me of a Pablo Picasso sculpture. And yes, rockets would have helped, too bad they didn’t have you there. The largest Estes rockets available, that thing would HUM. Now I am feeling like my family was a LATE adopter of color TV… maybe my dad’s Navy salary (and four kids) made it tough to make the switch.
DrGoat, wow three pets sounds like a lot of work! We got our dog after promising to feed it and walk it, and of course my mom wound up doing most of the hard labor. It’s kind of neat to even see old TV shows in their original color – rock groups on “Ed Sullivan” or whatever. The color is surprisingly great! It really did seem like the few channels we had were more than good enough.
Jonathan, some shows haven’t aged as well as others. It’s amazing how watchable things like “The Twilight Zone” or “Gunsmoke” or “Bonanza” still are, all these years later. And don’t forget “The Munsters”, or “Batman”! I’m glad you like the Vintage People pix.
Bu, I only took one long train ride (from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin) when I was a kid, and I recall that it was uncomfortable and LONG. There were kids near us who absolutely would not be quiet. I remember watching some TV show that advertised the Winky Dink set, and wanted it so badly, but there was no way my parents would buy something so frivolous. And Marlo Thomas’ character was just one in a long line of “struggling” young people who live in New York lofts and apartments that would cost millions.
ReplyDeleteGrant, I’m sure that “kids these days” are pretty happy with what is available for them. Looking back, I sure loved so many classic TV shows (but NOT Lucy!!!). Speaking of looking better in black and white, I thought that Emma Peel from “The Avengers” was WAY hotter in the older B&W episodes!
Irene, I also remember seeing the Wonderful World of Disney shortly after we got our first color TV, and they showed a clip from “Mary Poppins” (from the “Step in Time” rooftop sequence). It looked so amazing to me! I remember those tube testers that seemed to be everywhere back in those days.
Anon, it is really telling that people would go out of their way to watch a color program – folks forget what a miracle it was!
KS, I’m glad that you (and everyone else) is such a fan of Vintage People! My grandparents had a small color TV on a rolling cabinet, they’d actually roll it into the dining room so that we could watch things like the Olympics or the World Series during dinner. Which is unheard of, because they were generally very proper about mealtime. But big events were an exception, obviously.
I think that maybe the first color program I remember seeing was “Jonny Quest”! You can watch both of those cartoons that you mentioned on YouTube, which is pretty awesome. I’ll have to do some research to see how much a typical color TV cost back in those days – I’m sure it was a bundle.
For the record (we DO keep records, right?) I am also not a fan of Lucy. I think it was how much she whined. Even as a kid it drove me nuts.
ReplyDeleteMajor, you just reminded me that my grandparents had a small black and white TV that they wheeled around on a cart. The TV was white plastic and the cart was gold toned metal. They had a big console tv in the "den" (converted extra bedroom) but my grandfather would wheel the little one in to watch the Cowboys while we ate Thanksgiving dinner. Very fond memories...
Strangely fond memory
Considering the [comparatively] limited number of television channels back in "the good old days", overall they really were pretty swell-! We tend to forget the clunkers - and there were a number of them.
ReplyDeleteTo put things into perspective, that first RCA color television set (CTC-100), from April 1954, sold for $1,000.00-!!. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $9,800.00 today. An extravagance, no matter how you measure it. RCA needed to get both content and product into the marketplace, as they had the patents and the technology to move it forward. And as much of an asshole as "General" David Sarnoff was (Chairman of RCA), he knew what it took to move that product, and in those days, the stock market 'allowed' such things as losing money in the short term for long-term gains. For awhile, following the initial introduction, RCA lowered prices to do just that. Slowly, but surely, the color TV market grew. Color programming was sparse, to say the least back then but, "The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step". It was almost exclusively NBC who had any color programming - but there were some affiliate stations scattered around the country with color equipment, who were early adopters - in spite of the cost and scarcity of new content. There were always 'old movies', when they could be licensed.
By 1967, color television sets (without fancy cabinetry) sold in the $400.00-$600.00 range - [$3,150.00 - $4,700.00 in today's dollars]. It seems things have flip-flopped: Far too many programming choices - mostly dreck - but 'television sets' of great reliability, producing stunning images, at amazingly-low cost. (Life is often that way...)
After taking a second look at that TV photo again, I just realized that the TV has "doors" that could be pulled across the front, for concealing it. You can see the "knobs" for the doors on either side of the TV. I'm assuming the doors were similar to a "roll top desk," and that they could retract into the sides of the TV cabinet.
ReplyDeleteI remember when we got our first color TV. I believe it was around 1970, and it was a Sears brand. I found the owner's manual for it, when I was going through some of my mom's papers. The original receipt was tucked inside, too, but now I can't remember how much it cost. Sorry....I should have gotten on the ball this morning and scanned those items for the Major, or posted them myself. I'll have to do that in the near future.
Major, Nanook mentioned the regulator in his first comment.
ReplyDeleteYou can see it just to the right of the little girl’s kitten, it is a round rusty colored thing.
It is a pressure regulator for a propane tank, a little of the tank is visible below the kitten, a white metal surface with a rib along the side. It is an awkward angle and the little girl blocks most of the view.
We had one similar on the farm since we were miles from town, there was no piped utility that far out. The gas truck came every month to top it off.
Boy do I remember the tube testers, there was one in the grocery store and another in Longs Drug, near the ice cream counter. Dad used one more than once.
JG
My father-in-law worked for Motorola—all his working career. As a part-time side job, in his younger years, he went to people’s homes to repair their TVs. Now, we just buy a new TV. Times sure have changed.
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