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Old 10-13-2017, 02:24 PM
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The Development of Color Television -- 1956 RCA Film

I'm quite certain this has been posted about before, but I never tire of watching it. Definitely looks like a CTC-4 at the end. The 21AXP22 shown at 2 minutes, 20 seconds doesn't have the red aquadag, so it's an earlier tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIFMVcIZSJM
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Old 10-13-2017, 03:45 PM
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Just watched, first time. Thanks for posting. Do you have any theories as to why the 21CT55 was not given a name?

The rich and well connected could purchase one in time for Christmas, 1954.
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Old 10-13-2017, 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by etype2 View Post
Just watched, first time. Thanks for posting. Do you have any theories as to why the 21CT55 was not given a name?

The rich and well connected could purchase one in time for Christmas, 1954.
Simple, the 21-CT-55 is the bastard child of RCA color roundies. It was rushed to market. CBS and Motorola were building 19 inch receivers, whereas RCA was still pushing CT-100s. RCA was loosing the size war, which must have been embarassing considering that they did a lion's share of the work in getting NTSC-M approved and on the air.

The 21-CT-55 is essentially just a CT-100 modified to drive, sweep, and converge the bigger 21 inch jug. That's it. It was a stop gap measure; a proof of concept for the 21AXP22. The CTC-4 was the first "real" 21 inch set from RCA, in that it was designed from the ground up around the new CRT.
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Old 10-13-2017, 06:38 PM
matt.caputo matt.caputo is offline
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Ben is correct about the 21-CT-55. Nothing original with the design of that set. I believe the cabinet was also pulled from an existing 24 inch black and white product line. For that reason, I was never a fan of that model.
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Old 10-13-2017, 07:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by etype2 View Post
Just watched, first time. Thanks for posting. Do you have any theories as to why the 21CT55 was not given a name?

The rich and well connected could purchase one in time for Christmas, 1954.
I vaguely remember someone on this forum finding and posting an RCA? photograph with the name "The Spectacular" on the back. The post suggested that was the 21CT55's name.

Dave
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Old 10-14-2017, 10:56 AM
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I vaguely remember someone on this forum finding and posting an RCA? photograph with the name "The Spectacular" on the back. The post suggested that was the 21CT55's name.

Dave
A few quick searches of the forum, ARF, and the ETF webpage turned up nothing about the 21-CT-55 being named "The Spectacular".

Have a link to a source?
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Old 10-14-2017, 06:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benman94 View Post
A few quick searches of the forum, ARF, and the ETF webpage turned up nothing about the 21-CT-55 being named "The Spectacular".

Have a link to a source?
Nope, I can't find it either. Maybe I'm just having a senior moment.

Dave
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Old 10-15-2017, 11:45 PM
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Neither my RCA field service manual nor Ed Reitan's web site have a name for the 21-CT-55.
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Old 10-20-2017, 09:50 PM
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Yes, it WAS called the "Spectacular"

The 21-CT-55 was, indeed, given a name -- "The Spectacular" -- as seen in this posed shot from the Bloomington, Indiana production line. But no one knows exactly why that name never stuck.

[IMG]M0962_BOX13_FOLDER15_SPECTACULAR by David Arland, on Flickr[/IMG]

At this time, of course, NBC was staging "color spectaculars" to show off color TV to the very, very wealthy who had it at home.

I found this shot in the RCA archives at the Indiana Historical Society -- and Ed Reitan and I used it in an ETF Presentation about the first year of color receivers a few years ago. RIP, Ed!

-Dave Arland
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Old 10-21-2017, 12:18 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RCAGuy View Post
The 21-CT-55 was, indeed, given a name -- "The Spectacular" -- as seen in this posed shot from the Bloomington, Indiana production line. But no one knows exactly why that name never stuck.

[IMG]M0962_BOX13_FOLDER15_SPECTACULAR by David Arland, on Flickr[/IMG]

At this time, of course, NBC was staging "color spectaculars" to show off color TV to the very, very wealthy who had it at home.

I found this shot in the RCA archives at the Indiana Historical Society -- and Ed Reitan and I used it in an ETF Presentation about the first year of color receivers a few years ago. RIP, Ed!

-Dave Arland
Dave,

Thank you for posting this. What a great find and piece of history. I’d be curious to know the date of this photo. I’m guessing about early December, 1954. The two RCA executives are posing with “the first” off the line. I found evidence that a very few of these sets were delivered to buyers just prior to Christmas, 1954.
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Last edited by etype2; 10-21-2017 at 02:36 AM.
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  #11  
Old 10-21-2017, 06:18 PM
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Thanks, I have saved a copy of your picture this time for my 21CT55's (shown in my avatar) picture album.

Dave P.
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Old 11-17-2017, 10:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by etype2 View Post
Dave,

Thank you for posting this. What a great find and piece of history. I’d be curious to know the date of this photo. I’m guessing about early December, 1954. The two RCA executives are posing with “the first” off the line. I found evidence that a very few of these sets were delivered to buyers just prior to Christmas, 1954.
I've found evidence that the first 21-CT-55 prototypes were being delivered to dealers and RCA branch offices mid-November of 1954.

See this blurb from the Detroit Free Press, November 21, 1954:



Here's a September 1, 1954 article from the business section of the Detroit Free Press announcing RCA's intentions to unveil the 21AXP22 on September 15:



And here's a short article from the December 6, 1954 Free Press stating that RCA had officially started production on the set:



Here's an ad for the local Detroit RCA dealers. March of 1955; the only RCA color sets commercially available would have been the 21-CT-55 and CT-100, with the CT-100 marked down to $495 IIRC.



And finally a contest to win a 21 inch RCA color set from February of 1955, again, the only RCA 21 incher commercially available was the CTC-2B.

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Old 11-18-2017, 11:59 AM
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A 21-CT-55 early adopter gives a testimonial in this 1957 RCA ad.

-Steve D.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 1955 TV Guide ad.jpg (120.1 KB, 34 views)
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  #14  
Old 11-18-2017, 07:52 PM
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Zenith6S321 Zenith6S321 is offline
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Production date?

My 21CT55 (SN B8802628) has a date written under the chassis:



Maybe its the production date of 2/4/1955? There was a replacement capacitor soldered to the chassis next to it.

Dave
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File Type: jpg ChassisDate.jpg (77.4 KB, 52 views)
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