MY YEARS AS A TELEVISION ADDICT - WHY IT WAS A FRIEND IN NEED
A BABYSITTER, HOME COMPANION, INFORMATION SOURCE, ENTERTAINER
TO START OFF TODAY'S BLOG, I WANTED TO TELL YOU ABOUT A CURIOUS INFLUENCE OF TELEVISION, FROM MY YOUTH, THAT HAS NOW IMPACTED SON ANDREW IN A RATHER STRANGE WAY. WHEN ANDREW AND ROBERT WERE IN OTTAWA, RECENTLY, FOR A WORKING HOLIDAY, THEY HAUNTED THE CITY MUSIC AND VINTAGE VINYL SHOPS, LIKE THEY USUALLY DO, WHEN THEY HIT THE NATION'S CAPITAL. ANDREW, LIKE HIS POP, HAS A REAL TASTE FOR PROVENANCE, AND HE WILL OFTEN WEIGH A GOOD STORY ABOUT A PIECE, TO BE WORTH MORE IN HIS GRAVENHURST SHOP, THAN JUST SELLING THE NAME BRAND GUITAR….AS AN EXAMPLE.
HE FOUND A 1962 GIBSON ACOUSTIC GUITAR IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE. HE COULDN'T QUITE FIGURE OUT, WHY A FORMER OWNER HAD COVERED THE ENTIRE TOP OF THE GUITAR WITH A NICELY CRAFTED PIECE OF LEATHER. I'VE INCLUDED A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE GUITAR WITH THIS BLOG. MOST GUITAR COLLECTORS GET A LITTLE CONCERNED WHEN THE WOODWORK IS COMPROMISED, ESPECIALLY WITH A GLUED PIECE OF LETTER…..NO MATTER HOW PRETTY WITH FLOWERS IT IS. THIS PARTICULAR GIBSON HAD BEEN PART OF AN ESTATE, AND THERE WAS A NEAT STORY ATTACHED. NOT A LONG ONE. BUT ONE THAT DID INFLUENCE ANDREW TO PAY THE ASKING PRICE. IT'S A THROW-BACK TO ANOTHER TIME, LONG BEFORE THE LITTLE FELLOW AND HIS BROTHER CAME INTO THIS WORLD.
SUZANNE AND I, IN OUR JUNIOR YEARS, FOR HER, IN WINDERMERE, AND ME, IN BURLINGTON, ONTARIO, AT THAT TIME, USED TO WATCH THE CHILDRENS' SHOW "ROMPER ROOM." I'M NOT TOO SURE HOW THIS WORKED, BUT I WOULD HAVE WATCHED IT ON ONE OF THE AMERICAN CHANNELS, COMING FROM BUFFALO, WHEREAS SUZANNE WOULD HAVE RECEIVED THE PROGRAM VIA THE CBC AFFILIATE, WHICH BACK THEN I BELIEVE WAS CKVR IN BARRIE. ANDREW AND ROBERT HAVE OFTEN HEARD STORIES ABOUT MOM AND POP ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THE BEGINNING OF EACH SHOW, AND THE FESTIVITIES OF THAT PARTICULAR MORNING. WE WAITED TO LOOK INTO THAT MAGIC MIRROR, FOR THE HOST TO DETECT ALL THE GOOD "DO-BEES," IN TELEVISION LAND. I KNEW SHE COULD SEE ME, SO I WOULDN'T SCRATCH MYSELF FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE MORNING PROGRAM. ANYWAY, THIS IS WHAT GENERATED INTEREST WITH ANDREW, AND THIS PARTICULAR GUITAR SHOP. THE 1962, WITH THE LEATHER TOP GLUED OVER AN OTHERWISE NICE WOOD TOP, WAS FORMERLY OWNED BY "FRED." WE KNOW THIS, BECAUSE IT IS CARVED INTO THE LEATHER, JUST BELOW THE SOUND HOLE. THE STORY ANDREW GOT, WAS THAT THE GUITAR HAD BELONGED TO A CBC STUDIO MUSICIAN, WHO WAS ON SET FOR THE ROMPER ROOM SHOW. WE DON'T BELIEVE HE WAS OUT IN THE OPEN, AND WAS PROBABLY RESPONSIBLE FOR BACKGROUND MUSIC, WITH OTHER STUDIO MUSICIANS. NOW I BELIEVE THE AMERICAN VERSION, AND THE CANADIAN FRANCHISE OF THE SAME SHOW, WERE DIFFERENT, BUT AS I LIKELY WATCHED THE ALL-AMERICAN VERSION, I PROBABLY NEVER HEARD "FRED" STRUM A CHORD.
NOT ONLY IS THIS A SIGNIFICANT BIT OF PROVENANCE, BUT AS MY BOYS KNOW, BEING IN THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS THEMSELVES, AS TECHNICIANS AND PERFORMERS, "STUDIO MUSICIANS," ARE AMONGST SOME OF THE FINEST, MOST ACCOMPLISHED, EXPERIENCED AND CAPABLE IN THE MUSIC WORLD. SO WHAT ANDREW IS THINKING ABOUT, IS WHAT OTHER WORK FRED MAY HAVE DONE AS A MUSICIAN, AND WHO HE MAY HAVE PLAYED WITH IN THE PAST. MAYBE THE MUSICIAN'S NAME WASN'T "FRED" AT ALL. POSSIBLY IT WAS WHAT THE PERFORMER CALLED HIS GIBSON. WHO KNOWS? WELL, SOMEONE DOES. SO WE'RE PLANNING A LITTLE RESEARCH MISSION TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ROMPER ROOM PRODUCTION CREW, AND MUSICIANS USED OVER THE YEARS, TO SEE, IF BY SOME CHANCE, SOMEONE KNOWS A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN WE DO, AT PRESENT. THE ESTATE THAT OFFERED THE GIBSON WAS PROBABLY NOT ITS ORIGINAL HOME, AND MAY HAVE HAD MULTIPLE OWNERS SINCE ITS HEYDAY OF THE EARLY 1960'S. IF YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THOSE DAYS ON ROMPER ROOM, AND KNEW SOME OF THE STAGE CREW, POSSIBLY YOU COULD LET US KNOW. OTHERWISE WE'RE GOING SHOPPING FOR INFO, RIGHT TO THE CBC…..IF THEY HAVE ANY MONEY AFTER THE FEDERAL CUTS, TO EVEN HAVE AN ARCHIVAL STAFF.
THIS IS JUST ONE OF THE CONNECTIONS WE MAKE, FROM TIME TO TIME, BETWEEN TELEVISION LORE, AND WHAT TURNS UP IN OUR SHOP FOR SALE.
WHILE IT WASN'T ON TELEVISION, WE JUST HAD OUR TIMPANI RESTORED, AND IT SOUNDS GREAT. IT WAS ORIGINALLY FROM THE CHINESE EMBASSY, IN TORONTO, AND WAS SOLD SOMETIME IN THE 1960'S. IT WAS MADE IN CHINA. IT IS A TIME-BATTERED OLD COPPER KETTLE, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE ROLLING THUNDER. IT WILL BE INCLUDED AS PART OF THE MUSIC GEAR IN OUR NEW "MUSKOKA JAM ROOM," WHICH WILL OPEN AT THE BACK OF OUR GRAVENHURST SHOP, BY THE FIRST OF JUNE. MAYBE THE ROMPER ROOM GIBSON WILL WIND UP THERE TOO, BUT WE DON'T HAVE A MAGIC MIRROR TO GO ALONG WITH IT.
THE IMPACT OF TELEVISION ON THE ANTIQUE DEALER
A few weeks ago, I was browsing through the books of a local charity shop, and the manager yelled at me, asking whether or not I could date a small collection of honey-colored colonial furniture, just outside the book corral. A customer, I also know, wanted to know the precise vintage…..and whether it was as old as it looked. I looked up from the books, looked over at the furniture, including a china cupboard, and tried to figure out, how I could describe the pieces as "modern day collectables," without killing the sale for the manager at the same time as being honest to the customer. I gave it a television analogy, for safe measure.
"Do you remember when Lucy and Ricky, Fred and Ethel, moved out of the city, to the country?" Both reacted, that they indeed knew this final chapter of the legendary "I Love Lucy Show." "Well, then think back to the new furniture Lucy got, with her new home (remember it had a "dutch-door"- small upper and lower doors)?" Once again, both knew what I was talking about. So that meant, these pieces were of the same vintage, as the show, and probably from the very early 1960's. Of course, I may be wrong about whether they were from the late 1950's. Point is, I found another use for my many years being in the company of the old RCA, that was repaired several hundred times until we finally upgraded in the late 1960's.
I am always referencing what I call nostalgia furnishings, and collectables, by using television programs an example of where I last saw the subject piece. "The Seventies Show," which I did enjoy, really brought about attention to late sixties and 1970's vintage furniture and household decorations. Shows like this have always helped us in the antique trade, because Suzanne and I, as a case in point, enjoy nostalgia decorating just as much, as collecting primitive pine. We've had several family inheritances, including from a Lake Rosseau cottage, where we got a whack of 1940 to 1960's vintage chairs, tables and ornaments. And we have some small pieces in the store, when we can find the space. We stay away from the large pieces due to space limitations, but my favorite couch in the recreation room, is right out of the 1950's. I can honestly say, "I saw one just like it," on about a dozen of my favorite sitcoms from that vintage……including "Andy of Mayberry," in the home of "Aunt Bea." While I certainly wasn't watching television back then, to educate myself, to one day turn professional as an antique dealer, this background today is a real bonus, because more and more of what is accessible and affordable in the vintage buy and sell, is nostalgia, dating back to the 1920's. I studied those programs, like "Green Acres," "I Dream of Jeannie," and even the soap operas, (yes I did), for their stage designs. Did I mention that I was sick a lot as a kid, and got to stay home and pull myself back to full strength, with the "Edge of Night," and others, including retreats with Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey. I used to watch morning exercise shows with Jack Lalanne, and Ed Allen. I hated school, and I preferred the company of this magic box, that had such great shows coming out of it, every moment of every day, until the test pattern and night…..until it evaporated in its own cyberspace, at the start of the next day's programming.
So here's the thing. It drove my mother nuts, but she was right to worry about me. I used the television as a mate, but it had nothing to do whatsoever with not having friends. I had lots of them. I loved being outdoors, and for a lot of my childhood, I was turfed into the wilds, to bide my time. But if I was going to be alone in the house, I needed the television to be on. The radio did not count. I had become too attached to this wizard of technology, that allowed me to leave this world, while watching "Lost in Space," where I really did come to hate Dr. Smith…..that conniving coward. Throughout my days and nights, I am not much different today, except, if I am working on this keyboard. I won't even have music in the background, because it will inevitably influence content and the mood of the piece. That's dishonest to the work, at hand, but once I leave this office, and hit the livingroom, the television comes on. Even before I visit the bathroom, or grab a beverage. It has been a strange friendship, that is so incredibly nostalgic to me, even now, that I might as well be watching that original Currie family RCA, that used to drive me crazy, when the horizontal hold started to screw up. Today, you know what? With the crappy reception, even with a digital converter and and expensive power antennae, it's just like the old days. I love it. It takes me back to when my father used to bribe me with money and treats, to hold the antennae when the NHL playoffs were on Hockey Night in Canada.
I watched a few minutes of a media-tech show, before dinner, and saw a new limited wire speaker for the "surround sound" experience. The way the young fellow was describing this unit, when watching a James Bond flick, it was like all the shooting and mayhem was in the same room. A bigger, more powerful, engaging, full surround sound. I was watching it on another old set, we were given as part of an estate, and I started laughing about all the crappy reception we've had for decades now……and somehow survived on a tight budget. Instead of spending every nickel and dime on making the viewing experience more realistic, we invested out money for our retirement leisure. As the young folk weigh it all buy the honking big sound, and the massive jumbotron screen, maybe even with scent technology, if that exists, back in our olden days, for gosh sakes, we knew what a television was……and what it could do for us, in respect to entertainment, and news. I watched with my parents as Lee Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby that day…….and the coverage of JFK's assassination. But it was a television. A small unit, that we couldn't mistake for being reality. The only measure of reality I ever got, around that television, was when my mother Merle would scream at me, for setting down my drink of pop, on the top of the set. "Get that drink off the television Teddy…….how many times do I have to tell you……the bottom will leave a ring that I won't be able get rid of!" She'd look at my father, shaking his head, and say, as was custom, "That's why we can't have nice things." Bet you heard that one before!
Whether I'm watching DVD's of "The Wizard of Oz," "Peter Pan," (the one with Mary Martin only) "A Christmas Carol," (only with Alistair Sim), "Christmas Story," "White Christmas," or "It's a Wonderful Life," I want my television, to remind me of the days when by golly, we'd sit there with that burnt jiffy pop popcorn, tasting like charcoal, and hitting the set on the top, every ten minutes or so, to stop the horizontal flutter. Good times. Simple times. We yelled at each other, cursed the television, spilled the pop, dropped the popcorn, and had tears at the end, the same as we would have had, inside a movie theatre. I like having the television around, and I'm mad as a Canadian, about what the federal government is doing with cutbacks to the CBC. I don't like them tampering there whatsoever, to be honest. But bless those kind television folks at CTV in Toronto, and CHCH in Hamilton, for giving us Canadians something for free……which is pretty rare these days.
There are psychologists out there, who upon reading this story, will want to capture me for testing, to see why it is, I don't buy the products advertised on television (because they separate me from my shows), and I haven't shot, attacked, or acted out any television-garnered scenario, on the general public. I know the difference, you see, and always have, between the reality of the television, at my beck and call, and the reality when it is shut off. Marshall Mcluhan couldn't have predicted someone like me, surviving to tell the story, of continuous daily television since the late 1950's, and outside of some quirks about collecting stuff, and if the cat is sleeping on my favorite chair, I'm pretty sure my case would be anti climatic, and unremarkable. Not quite the remarkable tale of media survival, researchers might expect, of being bombarded with shows liked "Happy Days," and "The Munsters."
Seeing as I won't likely be hauled in for mental dissection, I will expose a little more of my media obsession, in future blogs. Believe me, my antique industry has been substantially influenced by my exposure to television…..so thus, yes, it has been a profitable relationship…..maybe just a little hard on the eyes, and the hydro bill. See you again soon. Thanks for dropping by for a visit. It means a lot to me.
Please visit my other blog at http://muskokaaswalden.blogspot.ca
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