I am a Child of Television's Golden Age

I was born in the early 50's back in the days when TV was still new and you were lucky if you could get more than one channel.  That Magical Box was the greatest thing in the world where my friends, Howdy Doody, Bozo the Clown, The Mouseketeers and many others came to keep me company in the mornings and afternoons.  Saturday mornings were especially wonderful because that was when cartoons were on at a very early hour.  I remember getting up early before my parents got up just to sit glued to the set, watching Popeye, The Three Stooges, and Merry Melodies cartoons.  This was my standard routine until it was time to go OUTSIDE and play, wandering all over the neighborhood with my friends.  Yes, we actually went outside and played back then while our mothers cleaned house and watched thing like "Queen for a Day" and soap operas.

For many years, the only time I ever got too see a Color Cartoon was when we'd all go to the local Drive-in or Grind House where they always showed a few short  subjects before the main feature. The world was Black and White on the magic box.  As I got older, my tastes became more sophisticated when I would join my folks as they watched "Dragnet", "Perry Mason", "The Defenders", "Wyatt Earp", "Roy Rogers", "The Adventures of Superman" and "The Lone Ranger".

In 1964 my World changed forever.   We were visiting my Uncle Walt in Fort Thomas, KY and after dinner the kids were  sent to the living room to watch TV.  They had a new  television that didn't sit on a table and had a bigger screen than I had ever seen before. 7:30 rolled around and "The Flintstones" came on,  in COLOR!!!  This was the most fantastic thing I had ever seen in my short life of 10 years!  You have to remember that TV's were considered a luxury item back then and not cheap, so you  can imagine what a Color TV cost. I ran to get my  Dad and said we HAD to get one! NOW!  It took a year, but we finally got one.  Now we could watch all kinds of programs in GLORIOUS COLOR along with the old Black and White shows.  I almost died when  I saw "The Wizard of OZ" in color for the first time.

These are just a few of my fondest memories of my childhood and I hope you readers got a kick out of them.