Do any of you remember RCA's first color TV-the CT-100 'Merrill'? I still remember our family's first color set,an Admiral Color Console that had a 25 inch screen and cost my mom and dad a small fortune!We got this TV in 1965-I wonder if old Admiral color TV's still exist?BTW,I wish I could get my grubby hands on a "Merrill" and restore it to viewability! That TV was absolutely GORGEOUS!

I own one of those CT-100's in working condition. It can be viewed on my web page. http://community.webtv.net/stevetek/StevesCT100

Wow,those are some big TV sets,Steve. :o

BTW,nice web page you have there. :)


Howard

Am I the only one who hates the fact that MOST televisions out today look so stark and supermodern,cabinet-wise? Oh yeah,nowadays you have to buy an expensive TV/entertainment center to get your TV to match the furniture.....First color set my family ever owned was an Admiral console that had Early American style cabinetry,absolutely gorgeous! We got it brand new in 1965. Our cats liked to snooze on top of it!

today's televisions really are humongous in size and cost about $3000 dollars but back then Our family owned a Zenith black and white the one with a channel changer knob that hurt your hands. :P


Howard

I own one of those CT-100's in working condition. It can be viewed on my web page. http://community.webtv.net/stevetek/StevesCT100
I know this might sound silly...But I wonder...what is it like to watch the Merrill?..Does it take time to warm the set up?..IMHO,today's sets are not as nice,cabinet-wise.....people would not have to buy TV 'Armoires' if RCA,Sony,Panasonic,blah blah blah...woud put as much PRIDE and CRAFTSMANSHIP into how their product LOOKED in someone's living room or den..as well as how it performs!

The first color TV I ever saw was when me and my friend were walking home one night, I think it was in 1957, and there was a house with it's front door open and the people had a big 21 inch screen color TV in it's parlor and you could see from the sidewalk! This was the most spectacular thing that we have ever seen in our lives, that we stood there for almost an hour looking at this TV from the sidewalk. I think NBC was the only station that broad cast in color and only on certain shows and at different times of the week. It must have been a Sunday night because we were watching the "Wonderful World of Disney", we couldn't hear anything, but we didn't care, we were so mesmerized by that color TV that we learned how to read lips and enjoyed every unbelievable moment of it and our peeping tom experience.

Our first TV was a 9 inch black and white RCA cabinet model. We were the first to have a TV on our block back in 1950 in Newark NJ. Since it was it was the only TV on our block we always had neighbors over that house watching the shows offered at the time. I remember Uncle Milty, the first I Love Lucy show, Wrestling was real big then, about a dozen of the men would come come over every Wednesday night to watch it. Watched Joe Di Maggio play center field and Micky Mantle take his place. Watched Elizabeth become the Queen Elizabeth on that TV, and President Truman after winning the presidential race held up a newspaper saying that Dewey won! the Korean War news clips, Howdy Doody, Junior Frolics, Kukla Fran and Ollie. Ding Dong School the first Superman show, and my mom watched "As the World Turns" soap opera and the Kate Smith show and the Colgate Comedy Hour And everyone watched the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis show on Saturday nights after the Jackie Gleason "Honeymooners" and Jack Benny show on Sunday.

Wow! I'm sorry to go on like that but it was like a time warp in my head. All in all that 9 inch B&W TV made many people very happy and until we bought our first 25 inch RCA Color TV in 1968 we were happy with our 21 inch B&W TV that replaced our old 9 incher and it's 13 channels and didn't know from not having remote control or cable, we changed channels by hand and only about three times a night not like now with my remote three times a second and with 121 channels there's still nothing on to watch!

Hot Wax

Well,with 500 channels and Direct TV,we don't need old TVs anymore. ;D



Howard

Well,with 500 channels and Direct TV,we don't need old TVs anymore. ;D



Howard


500 channels? I'd wear out the batteries in the remote every night flicking through all those and most likely watch my same three or four channels anyway, or put on my old albums and listen to them while I writing to you guys!

500 channels? I'd wear out the batteries in the remote every night flicking through all those and most likely watch my same three or four channels anyway, or put on my old albums and listen to them while I writing to you guys!



Do you have DTV hotwax? ;D



Howard

I have a confession to make....I actually miss the old,animated NBC Peacock.....those were the days when television was actually GREAT and not just mindless fluff brain-numbing 'entertainment' that people just sit and stare at,all the while ignoring their kids,their spouses,any kind of exercise....

In 1966 I found one of the Merrill CT-100 sets in a thrift shop in Bronxville, NY, with a price tag of $5.00.  I turned it on, but did not get a picture.  I thought I could take out the tv chassis and put in a tropical fish aquarium, and thereby have a color picture.  When I got the set home I tried it again and got a nice color picture!!  It took a long time to come on--maybe two minutes.  I found a repair tag in the back with the phone # of the original owner.  They said they had donated the set because they bought a new one, that it worked fine, and they originally paid $975.00.  We used it for several years.  I bought the Sams manual, replaced tubes (it had 36).  There was a bit of a problem with convergence.  It finally quit working properly and I (regretfully) sold it to someone who thought they could work on it.