My first memory is ***a ***moon landing, but I’m not sure which one. I was not quite 2 in July of 1969, so I doubt I remember Apollo 11.
Refer back to the cited quotation that this was a response to.
My first memory of a TV show is from '56 or so. I was laying on the couch watching Liberace on a tiny (early '50’s style) b&w screen. Years and years later I learned that Liberace was famous for wearing outrageously flamboyant outfits on his show. This was news to me, as the resolution on that old TV screen was about .000001 of the res on my iPhone.
Also, I’m not sure I understood fully the concept of “sequins” at the age of 3.
Yup. I wish I was able to experience the truly momentous moments caught on TV - the moon landings, the Queen’s coronation, Cronkite announcing JFK’s assassination…Princess Di’s death and 9/11 on TV didn’t make as much impact because of the net.
Howdy Doody, on a very small screen. A neighbor with the only TV in the neighborhood used to let the kids come in the afternoon once or twice a week to watch, must’ve been 1947-ish since I was around 6.
I watched somewhat more regularly, still at neighbors’ houses, after we moved several years later, but we didn’t own a set till the mid-50’s. One family even had a “color” TV early on: a plastic overlay with broad tinted strips of, I think, blue, red and green. Folks with sets invited those of us without over to watch Elizabeth’s wedding, and— thanks for the memory, Sam Clem—I even vaguely recall that first fellow having lots of people in for the Truman inauguration.
A couple of decades later, I watched the original Doctor, William Hartnell, on telly during a visit to England, and subsequently got a kick out of a Candid Camera episode in which temporary secretaries were startled/terrified when a Dalek burst into the room demanding their extermination… nobody I knew here was familiar with our favorite Time Lord.
This is my 1st distinct memory.
I remember Beany and Cecil, the Flintstones, Top Cat and JFK’s assassination, all from around the same time. I think that Beany and Cecil is the first.
When I say I remember the JFK assassination, I mean I remember bits and pieces of news reports after it happened. I was about four or five at the time.
I do remember that I hated Top Cat, but I don’t know why. All I really remember is that when it came on TV, I stopped watching.
I also have a vague memory of Art Linkletter, probably “Queen for a Day,” but I’m not sure.
After researching, I see that if I have a memory of Art Linkletter, it would have been “House Party,” not “Queen for a Day.”
The Twentieth Century with Walter Cronkite in the 50s at my uncle’s place which we visited every Sunday. He had a tv long before our family.
Oh wow, Oliversarmy. That brings back memories.
Seeing the mention above, I realize that I just about remember Beany and Cecil as a cartoon before it went off the air. My brother had a Beany and Cecil board game that we played until it fell apart. Literally.
Farmer Gray, on a neighbor’s TV early mid fifties.
1955: Peter Pan (Mary Martin) Short but pretty clear memory of PP “floating” down from window to floor.
1956: “A Short Vision” Animated short film that ran in prime time on Ed Sullivan Show. In spite of TeeVee warnings to parents about children seeing it, I was in the room and watched it with them. I was five and a half. See it on YouTube and you’ll understand why I vividly remembered selected moments for the rest of my life. (Until I finally saw it again just 2-3 years ago.)
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Now I’ve read everyone else’s posts. What memories.
Miss Frances!
Wow. I can remember some Indian Princess singing “Let Me Go, Lover” to a bad guy who had her in a cell. She sang “Pirate” instead of “Lover.”
Yep. “…Mickey Mouse,* Donald DUCK!*…” Also had me a coonskin cap.
You have now. I was six when it first broadcast on TV, and although I don’t remember that event, I’ve hated it all my life. I’ve never been able to sit through more than a few minutes of it. Can’t explain why.
My grandfather watched “The Fights” religously. I’ll never forget him leaning forward from the couch, shadow boxing involuntarily.
Gale Storm. Was that before or after “My Little Margie”? ("That’s My Little Margie!) I can still hear that 50’s style theme music.
Other memories you all have stoked: “Queen For A Day”, “The Twentieth Century”, “Waterfront”, “Arthur Godfrey” and his moronic chuckling, “Art Linkletter’s House Party.”
Please continue.
Another vote for Star Trek when I was about… this many [holds up three fingers]. I was too young to follow the stories but I liked the pretty colors (the yellow, blue and red uniforms) and the blinky light across the bottom of the viewscreen.
I remember the opening notes of the theme came to be very exciting, and I used to try to find the Enterprise in the stars, and then I’d see it… and it very quickly got bigger and bigger and SWOOSH and it was gone. Here it comes again… SWOOSH and it was gone again.