RCA Announces Color TV (12/1953)
 

Here's a link to a very interesting kinescope: RCA announcing the introduction of "compatible color" on a December, 1953 episode of Your Show of Shows. I transferred this for a friend of mine about 25 years ago, and the piece survived on VHS, now bumped over to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJCJIaDp9Q

Hope you guys get a kick out of it. (I still chuckle at the "as low as $295" price for the sets, which is a couple of grand in 2011 money.)

That was a pretty cool video, here's one which I have a feeling was posted another time on this site, but I haven't dug through a lot of things in here yet. I would love to have this entire show on DVD, commercials and all! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng_NV...eature=related

G'day. Yep that clip has done its rounds in the forums, bootleg copies of all 3 Fred Astaire specials from 1958 to 1960 can be found in Ebay auctions from time to time, so keep your eyes out on the Ebay auctions.

I wonder who would have had money to buy an $800 to $1,000 color set back in those days,especially with only two color shows being broadcast per week!

It must have been exciting to see a color tv in a store back then.

Early color TVs were a major purchase, like a car. I have seen a 1957 dealer ad that offered 3-year financing for a new RCA color TV. They also offered to pay original list price for most trade-ins. In 1957, the price of a low-end color set had been brought down to $495, but that was still a lot of money for the average person.

Phil Nelson