[Magdalen] Film puke.

[Don Boyd]

We did not have television until my senior year in high school (1954-55), 
and only one channel (CBS) was availaable.  The TV set most certainly was 
not located anywhere near the kitchen, where we ate except when there was 
Company.  I was allowed to watch certain inoccuous programs if and only if 
my school work for the next day was done.  When I got to college no one had 
TV in the dorm rooms but there were lounges on each floor that had TV sets 
and all three major networks (no PBS then).  I remember the early Steve 
Allen shows on "Tonight," with the "man on the street" sketches involving 
Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Bill Dana, and a couple of other 
repeating characters that I remember but do not remember the names of the 
actors who played them.  The presidential election of 1956 was a major 
highlight, even though my preferred candidate (Adlai Stevenson) had not a 
chance against the incumbent Eisenhower.

I don't remember when Newton Minow characterised TV as a 'vast wasteland' 
(or was he talking only of daytime TV?) but in those years when I had 
nothing but radio to compare it to I thought TV was Wonderful.

Don in Austin
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jay Weigel" <jay.weigel at gmail.com>
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Film puke.


> When our kids were growing up, it was usually the news during meal time.
> That made for discussions, sometimes very interesting ones. My kids were
> always aware of national and world events, unlike many of their peers. The
> way the house we lived in until my daughter was almost through her 
> freshman
> year in high school was set up, the TV was in the living room but could be
> heard in the dining room, so we didn't so much watch as listen. If we ate
> later, the TV was off. After we moved, we had a small TV in the kitchen
> where we ate, and the same routine.
>
> On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 3:41 PM, M J [Mike] Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> wrote:
>
>> >>>Well, it's a different experience for sure. A shared experience of the
>> TV episode rather than direct conversation. I've never had a rule about 
>> it
>> one way or the other.<<<
>>
>> Pop's dinner table was never intended to be silent, but it was also a
>> place to watch one's mouth.  Luckily for me, he never had a problem with 
>> me
>> eating in the living room so as to watch TV.
>> _________________________________________
>> "O perplexed discomposition, O riddling
>> distemper, O miserable condition of man!"
>> - The Rev Mr John Donne
>> (in a not-so-chipper moment)
>>