There are no pictures of our television set that I can find anywhere. As much as the 50's were known for being the golden age of television and shows about families, our TV wasn't even set up in the living room. It was located in the den, which is behind the door behind the two of us in this picture. There aren't any photographs of the den. Or the kitchen. Or our bedroom. Or the parents bedroom. I see pictures of the living room, especially at Christmas. And the dining room in a couple of birthday shots. That's it.
Television did not seem to be that important to us back then. We would go outside and play with the neighbor kids. But on that particular evening, Georgann came home and announced that there was this show about to come on the TV, The Mickey Mouse Club. Mom turned on the set and switched the channel, and we sat mesmerized. I remember Victory At Sea. And Men of Annapolis--1957-8. And The West Point Story on CBS 1956-7 and ABC 1957-8. But I don't recall that we ever spent too much time glued to the set.
I do remember watching one show with my dad. It was a drama set in WWII on a sinking aircraft carrier. Four men, I believe, were trapped in the ship and could not get out without help. Rescue crews were doing the best they could. The four men played cards while they waited. Unfortunately, the rescue teams could not reach them in time and had to abondon the four men. The scene shifted to the near future, to an new aircraft carrier being constructed that would have the same name as the sunken carrier. A couple of crewmen were walking past a room where they could hear the sounds of men playing cards. When they opened the hatch to join them in the card game, they saw that no one was there. The show disturbed me so much that I could not sleep. Dad took me for a drive in the car until I tired enough to finally all asleep.
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