Trying to figure out what TV Betty White had in 1954, you can only see a bit of it but the screen seems way to squared off for any CRT in 1954, possibly a projector set?

What set would you have in 54 if you could afford any set made?


http://www.shorpy.com/node/22806?size=_original#caption

On second look I think that's just a door that looks like a screen?

Looks like a door to me.

If I could have any set in 1954 .... 30" DuMont.

jr

A small post-war radio-phono combination.

im with stromberg67 on that one ,one of though's small tv -phono, maybe radio combo's.

im with stromberg67 on that one ,one of though's small tv -phono, maybe radio combo's.
Being it's faced away from the seating area, I go with a radio/phono only combination. No TV.

I'm about 80% convinced that it is indeed a small combo or just a radio, but I am bothered by a couple of details.... the cabinet is quite deep for a radio... it is placed away from the wall and at a slight angle in the corner, these would be more consistent with it being a tv. :scratch2:

jr

Old Zenith radio-phono.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=196015&stc=1&d=1512519487

.

I got to meet her in the 70's when she was on a MTM/CBS star tour to do promos for local stations in Chicago. When she finished doing our promos she was running early and hung around with us pulling out her knitting and hanging with us. She is the best and just like you think she would be. She asked me how to hook up a new Betamax she had bought.

Old Zenith radio-phono.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=196015&stc=1&d=1512519487

.

I'd put my money on that bet.

For a second there I was like 'JESUS, Betty White ALWAYS looked old!'

She really does look like her mother apparently, but man was she hot back in the day.

To append the conversation at hand, I'm going to say that set is a radio-only variant of that Zenith. Why, you ask? Just look at the wall. Even if that doorway on the left was at an odd 45 degree angle, there's still not enough room for that combo set.

O_o now that I've been staring at it for a while... there's all sorts of weird things going on in that corner. A lot of the shadows are wrong.

The very large lamp is sitting on top of the side you think isn't there.

This photo shows nearly the full width of the Zenith, seen in the shadows of the adjoining room with the same lamp on top. A new CTC4 now occupies the odd corner* and the drapes have been pulled back to reveal a doorway.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4576/27099193269_5575eaa3c6_z_d.jpg

*perhaps a corner in a different room? :scratch2:
jr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4576/27099193269_5575eaa3c6_z_d.jpg

*perhaps a corner in a different room? :scratch2:
jr

I think different corner, possibly different house

CTC-4, early Betamax-she kept up with the latest & greatest! I had my first chance to catch an episode of Life With Elizabeth recently & was very impressed.

Different corner. But the chair, carpet, lamp, and drapes are the same, probably rearranged the furniture.

I still just don't see it in the first picture. The set would have to be going through the wall. Weird corner.

I'll take a stab at a sponsors gift that was just dropped off. They can drop one here too.

The more I look at that first picture, the more I don't see a corner there at all. Judging from the shadows being cast, I believe a very strong light source is coming from the far right side of the picture. So it's possible the shading we're seeing behind the combo unit is actually the drape edge casting a long shadow on a straight wall. Also the lamp shade casting light on the wall does not appear to be bent by the apparent corner, it looks nearly symmetrical on both the right and left sides.

You might be right. Considering the way the lamp is casting light on the wall... the wall must be flat behind it...

Ah, I figured it out. Immediately right of the door frame, I was thinking the door casing had a very wide prominent molding around it. But going by the second picture, the molding should actually be a very skinny fluted molding, which you can just barely make out if you look at the very top of the picture. But the shades and shadows were making the door frame molding and the door frame's wall look like one piece and not seeing any indication of a corner in the room until we move far enough right to get to that vertical shadow cast by the drapes.

So the space between the door frame and the corner of the room looks to be about only 8 inches, which explains why the lamp shade could cast a shadow over the inside of the door frame, and why the combo unit would be placed so far forward to intrude into the door's walking area.

Told you it was a weird picture.

Anybody got a way to rotate the picture so that the drapes and walls are at a square 90 to the edge of the picture? It's a very weird illusion how the walls are tilted so far and yet Betty and her mom appear to be perfectly vertical. There's something fishy about that whole photo arrangement. :D

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=196021&stc=1&d=1512625049

Jim that's much better, now tilt it back a bit at the top. You need to remember the picture was shot from a quite hi angle, probably in an attempt to show the fan mail in the basket on the floor. I believe it's the high angle of that's throwing the walls and drapes out of alignment. "it's all smoke and mirrors"

edit Sorry, the fan mail is in a box not a basket. That picture is driving me crazy. :D

Maybe the only "wrong" thing is assumption that the corner is a 90 degree angle. My grandparents' house sat at a corner intersection at more or less a 45 degree angle and several interior walls came to together at a wide angle because the garage directly faced one of the roads at the corner. Betty's house could have been similarly designed.

Here's a crude approximation.

Jim that's much better, now tilt it back a bit at the top. Kevin, I have no tilt feature in my program.

.

Here's a crude approximation.Yes, that shows exactly what I believe we have here, a very short wall that supports the door frame (the upper hinge is visible).

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=196023&stc=1&d=1512651502

We know this to be true because we can tell the radio unit sticks out from the back wall much farther than the short wall itself. This can be told by the shadow of the lampshade behind Betty's mom's head, and the shadow of the radio itself behind her upper arm produced from the same lighting that is casting the drapery shadows.

If the drapery shadow line disappeared, there would be no distinction on the wall just to the right of the lamp shade which is what is making the image confusing.

.

Here's a crude approximation.

I'm 99 percent confident that's it.