Thursday, July 26, 2012

Family television set

This is a photo from June, 1963 (or at least, that is the printing date, stamped at the top edge of the photo), taken in our family’s den. I am unsure, but believe it was taken by my brother, who the next month would turn ten. At the time, I was seven.

The photo (which is cropped, here) was probably intended to be a picture of a TV program in progress. I think I can make out the slightest suggestion of something on the screen, but I might be mistaken.

We had this TV set for years, and while I would not have recalled the set’s brand, it appears (if I’m reading correctly, at the lower left of the set) to have been a Magnavox. In the photo, my parents’ stereo sits on top of the set.

Looking at this picture, some time ago—looking at it closely for the first time in perhaps decades—I recalled the following: I remembered what turning the channel dial on the set felt like, the feeling of each channel clicking into place. I remember, too, quite clearly, the feeling of turning the dials on the stereo (which included, as I recall, dials for treble and bass), and hearing the changing nature of the sound, as a result.