Follies of the Madmen #302

Ok, kids. Get out your inflation calculators and let's see why the T.V. service man no longer exists.

In general the average console television seemed to be priced around $200.00 with a 19 inch screen in the mid 1950's. Adjusted for inflation, in 2016 dollars that comes to $1820. I recently saw a 53 inch screen color t.v. at the local Wal-Mart for around $600.00. Obviously it is more cost effective to throw a broken set away and buy a new one. And that is why the RCA television repairman is extinct.

In the late 1960's my parents purchased a General Electric 21 inch color console set with a fancy little electric motor that drove the channel selector. That thing was in the repair shop more than in our living room. Finally dad just took it out back of the barn and put it out its misery with his shotgun.

That jingle is stuck in my head now. Damn you, Don Draper!!

Back in the 60's, that how I made some extra spending cash, by fixing tube type TV's. That was before everyone had solid state. Just another future career shot down in my youth.

When I was about six or eight years old, I was at work with my dad at the Chevy garage on a Saturday morning when a guy came in needing a bearing and someone to install it. There wasn't a mechanic around, so we went with him to help. It wasn't for a car -- a traveling carnival show was working the county fair, and their skirt-blowing machine had broken down. I was fascinated by the thing. I didn't care about what it did, just how it worked.

Both my older sisters wrote in their diaries about how annoying I was for several days talking about the 'twirly pump' and how I was going to run one when I grew up.