Television 1947

“The first television set I ever saw didn't work. It only presented streaks of light across a small greenish window. “

      I was recuperating from a bad cut on my foot and was totally dependent on homemade crutches for mobility. Mother had crafted the crutches from rough sawmill wood. The armrests were padded with cloth rags and the non-slip rubber tips were fashioned from an old inter tube. I was too naive to be embarrassed.

      I think mother and I had been to the clinic to have my stitches taken out. That part is a bit blurry but I remember well seeing the television set. It was at Hesley's. Mother took me to see it, probably as a treat for not misbehaving at the clinic. She stopped the car out front, we went in and a man came over to help us. Mother said "I just wanted him to see the television would you turn it on please?"

      "It hasn't been working today, but it may be working now, we'll see." He walked over and reached up to the TV setting on a high shelf and turned the switch. He had to tiptoe to reach it. I held my breath, please let it work.. After a few seconds there was a spewing sound and then jagged lines of light on the greenish window. Turning the channel selector changed the light and sounds only slightly. "No, I'm afraid it's still not working. Sorry."

      Although there was no picture, it was magnificent! I was impressed. My imagination filled in all the missing pieces probably with better results than with a real life experience. Voices and music through the air was one thing, but pictures... even moving pictures through the air!... It's truly a miracle.

      My mind raced, how did it work? I wondered if the man at Hesley's knew how this great invention worked. I imagined that Hesley's was a temple of knowledge. Men with great minds worked there.

      I must have asked a thousand questions on the way home. How can pictures go through the air? How do they know where to go? Are they here even if there is no television present? What happens when they stop, do they fall to the ground? Why don't you have to buy a ticket to watch them? Somehow, I believed that the theory of television operation was brief, and its principles could be told to me in a few sentences.

      Listening to my favorite radio programs was never the same. Sky King, Bobby Benson and the B Bar B Ranch, Sargent Preston and his wonder dog King all held the promise of another dimension. I gazed hopefully at the lighted dial and through tiny cracks in the radio to see if I could see the images of my heroes. And I imagined them all as big as life on a tiny greenish window.

Copyright © 1991 Charles Prier

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