View Full Version : Identify these sets from the rear


old_tv_nut
02-03-2017, 08:30 PM
Press release picture from the Henry Ford museum, captioned:

"Dancers from the Moiseyev Dance Company of Russia are fascinated by a display in the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich., which enables visitors to see themselves on television. Specializing in folk dance, the 93-member Russian troupe is on a tour of the United States. The museum display features a new portable camers[sic] devloped by Radio Corporation of America which is connected to a television receiving set. The camera, only 2 1/2 inches high, 3 inches wide and 8 1/4 inches long, permits coverage in close, restricted areas."

The camera is out of the picture, apparently on a tripod of which one leg shows. The two TVs are very likely RCAs, since RCA is the camera maker, and appear to be a Mahogany upright console (I'm guessing the black and white mate to a CTC-5 or CTC-7) and a blond horizontal console, which seems to be connected to rabbit ears rather than the camera. The people seem to be looking at the upright console rather than the blond one.

Eric H
02-04-2017, 12:42 AM
RCA for sure, on the blonde set you can make out the Panoramic Speaker logo like the one in this picture, the other set looks like a CTC 7 or 9 and the date of the paperwork is May 1958.
I wonder if that little camera was capable of color? If not then why have a color set?

https://antiqueradio.org/art/RCACTC-7ModelNumber.jpg

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=193632&stc=1&d=1486190717

MadMan
02-04-2017, 02:26 AM
If that one is RCA, then both are. The bags stuck to the backs contain papers with the same design.

old_tv_nut
02-04-2017, 09:17 AM
In the dark console, the vent holes in the back don't extend as far down as they do on my CTC-5. It also seems a little odd to use a color set to demo a monochrome camera (although people don't always do the logical thing!). Those are the two reasons why I speculated it might be a black and white set with the same cabinet style as a color set.

It would be very strange if RCA allowed a competitor's set in a display with their camera, so I'm not surprised at the brand ID on the blondie.

old_tv_nut
02-04-2017, 09:20 AM
An ideas on what the dark panel at the upper right back of the blondie is for?

benman94
02-04-2017, 09:24 AM
I'll have to show this to my father. He'd be old enough to remember a TV demo at the Henry Ford in the late 50s or early 60s.

old_tv_nut
02-04-2017, 09:29 AM
This (or similar) could be it
Thanks to tvhistory.tv

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1957-RCA-21D7446.jpg

Eric H
02-04-2017, 12:26 PM
I think you may be correct about the darker set being a B&W, I just checked my 21D7487 and it has that triangular cutout in the lower panel.

radio63
02-06-2017, 04:43 PM
It sure looks like an all-RCA display. Notice the early Radiolas in the right background. And the "Victrola Phonograph" display book on the left.

old_tv_nut
02-06-2017, 09:13 PM
It sure looks like an all-RCA display. Notice the early Radiolas in the right background. And the "Victrola Phonograph" display book on the left.

You're right. I didn't pick up on the fact that this whole area seems to be walled off into a special display.