Reflections "Growing up in the 50's" Chapter 4- Remote Control before it's time

Nostalgia Tidbit: In the 1950’s and for many years to come there was no such thing as remote control for TVs. You were lucky if you had more than a couple of channels to watch. Channels were changed by turning a channel knob on the TV. The knob was about 3-4 inches in circumference allowing for 12 or so channels. As Jeff Foxworthy once said…Can you imagine how big that channel knob would have to be nowadays to accommodate all the available channels…Humongous!

Chapter 4

Remote Control before its time

We were  the second family in our neighborhood to 

have a television. The first family was our next-door 

neighbors, Billy and Oran. Their Mom and Dad 

worked until after midnight most nights at the local 

citrus plant, so, especially on Saturday nights my two 

older brothers and I would be invited over to their 

house to engage in the amazing pleasure of watching 

their TV. We would stare at it without conversation or 

any other type interruption until their Mom and Dad 

came home. 

Nowadays, how spoiled we are with cable TV, satellite 

TV, DVDs, and movie theaters galore. Back then we 

had one choice of what to watch on the one and only 

channel piped into Central Florida. 

It was Channel 2 out of Jacksonville. It really didn’t 

matter though. Just being able to be in front of a TV 

was a treat of indescribable proportion.

The biggest thrill of my lifetime, which by this time 

had only been about 8 years, was when we had our 

very first TV delivered. As I mentioned earlier we 

became the second household on

Webb Lane

to own a 

TV. Dad had it delivered much to our surprise. I still 

remember the thrill I felt. I couldn’t believe it had 

happened to us.

I know it sounds kind of silly nowadays, especially 

when even the majority of the poorest households in 

this country have at least one TV, if not two or three. 

I’m telling you, to have a TV in 1955 was a big deal. If 

you don’t think so, ask our neighbors. I can remember 

so clearly on a Saturday night having an overflowing 

living room full of neighbors with all eyes peeled to 

front and center watching every move on that TV set. 

Gunsmoke was the greatest!  We thought they would 

never go home. Finally they did!

It was a Hoffman brand console TV with kind of a

green tinted screen. Dad bought it from our 

neighborhood Western Auto. I wonder what it cost. 

It was no doubt a major purchase for the time! It had 

only been about a year before that I had stood with the 

family gazing in to the window at the Western Auto at 

a TV for the first time in my life. People were gathered 

around in amazement. All you could see was a snowy 

screen and shadows of movement within the garble 

and clear sound. Still, at that time it was unbelievable

to see such innovation. I’m thankful Channel 2 came 

on the scene before we bought ours; otherwise, it 

would have really been weird for the whole 

neighborhood to be sitting in our living room on a 

Saturday night watching a snowy screen.

We had that Hoffman TV for over eight years. After a 

few years it began to have a few problems and needed 

some adjustments. My two brothers became experts in  

adjusting the screen when it would jump around or go

 a
lmost completely black. We had those knobs in the 

rear of the TV figured out for the most part anyway. 

As the Hoffman got older, it took on a life of its own. 

I’m not kidding. Sometimes, we would be sitting there 

watching. All of a sudden the picture would start 

bouncing around. It really got irritating to have to 

constantly get up and adjust it from the rear. Leave it 

up to three boys to find a decent solution. Keep in 

mind our house had wood floors and not real solid 

ones at that. 

We learned that when the picture started bouncing, one 

of us would stomp the floor real hard from wherever 

we were sitting. The jarring of the floor made its way 

to the TV and how about that. The bouncing picture 

would straighten up. 

We had remote control way ahead of its time.

 Between the three of us we stomped the floor from 

about every position imaginable. We knew we had 

done a good thing when before long mom and dad 

began stomping the floor to correct the picture as well.

 Finally the old Hoffman wore out. The excitement of a 

color TV followed. Still to this day, I cannot 

remember what ever happened to our Hoffman. It sure 

brought a lot of joy and entertainment to our family. 

I’ll never forget that wonderful feeling of togetherness 

as we all gathered in the comforts of our living room 

and allowed Mr. Hoffman to entertain us.

Even to this day, I can still visualize Dad stomping the floor.