Hazel, Color episode

[JB5pro]

I looked closer and now I wonder if that blur over Don Defore's right hand could be the remote control?

Sorry for the extra posts,
John

[jpdylon]

as far as i know my set does not have remote capability. the channel selector is just a strange one.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by JB5pro

After looking at Hazel's set again I see it must be a remote as it has no channel selector knob.

That set could well have been one of RCA's top-of-the-line color consoles for 1965 with remote, power tuning, the whole nine yards. Those TVs did not have manual channel selectors on the front panel, although most if not all motor-driven power-tuning systems (not just on RCA TVs) did have a manual selector on the back of the set in case the motor drive failed for any reason.

BTW, NBC was telecasting nationwide in full color by the mid-'60s. I well remember the announcement they used just before a color program began and while the peacock was fluffing its feathers: "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC." The network also had localized versions of that announcement for its owned stations in New York, Chicago, Cleveland (at that time), Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, to be used when those stations were telecasting local programming in color (I mean actual locally-produced programming such as NBC-owned [at the time] WKYC-TV's acclaimed Montage series in Cleveland and public-affairs shows the likes of Open Lines, decades before infomercials). Many color TVs of that period also had color indicator lamps on the front panel near the channel selector, which illuminated when the station to which the set was tuned was telecasting a color program--not unlike stereo indicator lights on stereo FM radios (the small red lamp on the panel of the Zenith MJ1035 in my avatar is the stereo indicator). There were several variations of the color indicator as far as front-panel appearance went; some sets, particularly Motorola, had the color light behind a multi-color lens, while RCA had its color indicator mounted (on some roundies of the '50s) so that it illuminated the three color controls on the set's front panel when a color program was on. I don't recall when that started or ended, but it must have been in the '50s as my 1964 Sears Silvertone 21" roundie, a CTC12 clone, did not have such an indicator.

[Steve D.]

That color episode of Hazel was titled What'll we Watch Tonight?" It was first telecast Nov. 2, 1961. Hazel was sponsored by Ford Motor Co. Here's a tidbit on the episode from the IMDB database:
"This episode about Hazel getting a color TV was the only color episode of the program during it's first season, reportedly filmed in color to promote RCA TVS."

-Steve D.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by JB5pro

I hope you got a picture with him or driving his car. I bet he was kind enough to have let you do so. I would bet he was much like the character he played.
It's really neat to know of and imagine such a happening.
Could you tell us what TV's he had?

I didn't get a picture of the car, but I did get his autograph on a picture of him for my collection of TV repair celebrity customers. And yes, he was probably the world's nicest man in the acting business. Most aren't that cordial. The other "true down-to-earth" TV personality I knew, who stood out from the rest, was Martha Raye. She had a CTC-44 console on legs, and a Sony KX-2501.

I think the first set I worked on for Don & Marion DeFore was a Chromacolor II 25" metal table model which was set in the wall, then later the one I mentioned from the early 90s. I think he & his wife had a 19" Zenith plastic table model from the late 70s in the bedroom. No vintage or antique sets, though.

Charles

[Dan Starnes]

We watched Hazel faithfuly. Thanks for all the memories!
Dan

[Eric H]

I used to watch Hazel back in the 70's, I really haven't seen it since then until the DVD's came out.

I have the same Emerson as Hazel, 45+ years later it's in better shape than hers was then!

[Oldstuff78]

The one thing I laugh about in that episode is Don DeFore has a line where he say's something like " You can't just throw TV's out like used cleaning tissue"

[JB5pro]

I think Martha Raye would have been a great person to meet. I wish I had met her before another young man did a few years ago. I heard her on The Howard Stern Show and she had a much younger husband. I know many dislike that show but I found that sometimes there were great people as guests who hould share much more personal things than I would expect.

Being a big fan of many older TV shows has me thinking it would have been incredible to meet the stars. However, I would have been disappointed by the less than cordials.
Thanks for the memories!
John

Originally Posted by kx250rider

I didn't get a picture of the car, but I did get his autograph on a picture of him for my collection of TV repair celebrity customers. And yes, he was probably the world's nicest man in the acting business. Most aren't that cordial. The other "true down-to-earth" TV personality I knew, who stood out from the rest, was Martha Raye. She had a CTC-44 console on legs, and a Sony KX-2501.

I think the first set I worked on for Don & Marion DeFore was a Chromacolor II 25" metal table model which was set in the wall, then later the one I mentioned from the early 90s. I think he & his wife had a 19" Zenith plastic table model from the late 70s in the bedroom. No vintage or antique sets, though.

Charles

[wa2ise]

I vaguely remember a TV show, maybe an ep of Hazel, where her employer bought a color TV for her use, and the punch line was that she turned out to be colorblind...

[David Roper]

I think you've confused Hazel with Mr. Ed.

[julianburke]

What great pictures! I have always wanted to know what those TV's were.

I remember watching that episode but you couldn't see what kind of TV's they were then on a B&W. My early years were growing up in Arlington, Va. My uncle who was in congress had a CTC9 and I remember watching a Hazel episode on it in 1964. I remember the vivid color and that was a really big deal back then!

[kx250rider]

A lot of TVs were fake props in early TV shows (early-mid 50s), I guess due to sponsorship. I Love Lucy had all fake sets, except for one Westinghouse console that showed up for a couple of episodes. By the 60s however, most TVs seemed to be real. Then in the 70s, I saw a lot of B&W TV sets with color pictures inserted

Charles

[julianburke]

There were several variations of the color indicator as far as front-panel appearance went; some sets, particularly Motorola, had the color light behind a multi-color lens, while RCA had its color indicator mounted (on some roundies of the '50s) so that it illuminated the three color controls on the set's front panel when a color program was on. I don't recall when that started or ended, but it must have been in the '50s as my 1964 Sears Silvertone 21" roundie, a CTC12 clone, did not have such an indicator.[/QUOTE]

I have had or possess every RCA color set to 1966. I worked on them for over 30 years. Which ones had a color indicator of which I have never seen before?? And where was it? Motorola had a little star on the tuner panel but never paid any attention to it if it did work.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by julianburke

There were several variations of the color indicator as far as front-panel appearance went; some sets, particularly Motorola, had the color light behind a multi-color lens, while RCA had its color indicator mounted (on some roundies of the '50s) so that it illuminated the three color controls on the set's front panel when a color program was on. I don't recall when that started or ended, but it must have been in the '50s as my 1964 Sears Silvertone 21" roundie, a CTC12 clone, did not have such an indicator.

I have had or possess every RCA color set to 1966. I worked on them for over 30 years. Which ones had a color indicator of which I have never seen before?? And where was it? Motorola had a little star on the tuner panel but never paid any attention to it if it did work.[/QUOTE]

All I was trying to say was that every '50s-'60s color set with a color indicator had the lamp mounted slightly differently and/or in a different location on the TV. I am really not sure which of RCA's color roundies of the '50s had an indicator that illuminated the color controls when a color show was on; I remember reading that somewhere years ago (I don't recall where at the moment). RCA probably didn't use that type of color indicator very long, perhaps one model year or less. They probably put the color lamp on the front panel in later sets, perhaps because the lamp that illuminated the color controls was too difficult to see (if anyone ever paid much attention to these indicators, which I seriously doubt; after all, one didn't need an indicator lamp to tell when a color show was on--the color picture itself was the indicator, and NBC, until 1976, continued to announce that its shows were being presented in living color while the peacock opened its feathers; CBS had a similar announcement before its color shows, as did ABC).

The "star" you mention on the tuner cluster of early Motorola color TVs was what I was referring to when I mentioned Motorola having its color indicator behind a multicolor lens. Other manufacturers mounted the indicator in different places on the control cluster, although Zenith never used a color indicator on their sets that I was ever aware of. The color lamp disappeared when all three major networks were telecasting in full color, I would guess around 1972-73.