Memoir Group Homework-Our First Television

Here is the second installment of Memoir Writers Homework,based on the memoir group that I used to attend while living in Toronto.This topic was one I contributed some time ago and the writers wrote on it at their May 7 meeting.I am trying to undertake at least some of their writing topics though I now live in Calgary and no longer meet with the group.So here is installment two,entitled "Our First Television".

To my way of thinking we must have gotten our first television sometime in 1964.It was sometime after we moved from Goose Bay to Moncton.That is to say,there was a period of time we lived in Moncton in which we had no television,so the year 1964 strikes me as about right.But it strikes me as being right for another reason as well.Some of the first images I can recall seeing were associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the American South.Today some of that footage troubles me deeply,but at the time it was just something that was happening and that we could watch.People being sprayed with water cannons,politicians proselytizing the virtues of segregation now and forever,policemen,who we were taught to respect using using words we were not permitted to use-"nigger!"I Didn't fully understand  the difference between the term "nigger"and "negro" at the time.I knew one word was forbidden and the other was alright,that they had similar though different meanings,but I didn't know for certain which word was witch.So our first television brought controversy to our household almost immediately

Television also brought fun,harmless entertainment.There was "The Beverly Hillbillies","Gilligans Island" and the "Flintstones",not to mention evening cartoons which always conflicted with supper time.And we used to love the show "Get Smart"that always aired on Friday night just before bed time.Of course now I understand the show,but at the time what I liked most about it was the show intro with the doors opening and closing in front of and behind Don Adams the shows star.I guess I was a bit young for the story line.

On Saturday evening we watched the "Don Messer Show"Everyone in Canada seems to have enjoyed this iconic show.Nearly everyone of my age says that their parents watched this country music show,and  nearly all of them  relate that it was a very good idea to be quiet and well behaved while this show was on.I can hardly think of anything on television either then or now that was more distinctly Canadian.

Our first television was a huge, very heavy box that could not be eaisly lifted or moved.Many people had Television antennas on their roof,but our television had rabbit ears which were adjusted to tune in reception.It didn't always work especially well.Neither did the vertical hold.Eventually the set had to be taken next door to Mr.Cormier,who worked at the railway shops,but who also repaired televisions in his basement.I tried to look through his basement window once,where he repaired the televisions but I didn't see our set.Just a room full of a bewildering array of glass tubes that I knew went inside televisions which caused them to work.Televisions of that day were crammed full of ghostly glowin tubes and it was nearly as interesting to peer into the back of them as it was to watch the front.Except,of course that it was very difficult to gain that vantage point because of the sets size and weight and the fact that it was always pressed hard up against the wall.