RCA COLOR TELEVISION 1961 CLASSIC TV SHOWS & COMMECIALS on DVD at TVDAYS.com

[BlueBetaPro]

Those tv´s have better sound then our generation´s flat screen tv´s (TRUE)

[carlsm95]

Wow color TVs were that big of a deal back then. Now the hype goes to 3D televisions. I wonder if in the future 3D Tv will become the norm too.

[Buffalobigboy69]

The school bus commercial was very cute. The set shown looked just like the one my grandparents had in danish modern. That TV set worked for many years. RCA made very good products years ago. Now that's all in the past, how sad. I miss console televisions too!

[Watcher3223]

@Buffalobigboy69

IMO, Zenith made superior televisions back then.

[visor109]

Kind of ironic, isn't it? RCA making TV's?

[goofermom]

See all that radiation coming off the tv screen at 1:13. Mmmmm toasty!

[johnnynoirman]

wonderful

[monxanderlu]

ok ok..Where can I buy 1?waaa

[serg16512]

ja is fake 1:22

[ardvarkkkkk1]

@ontheroof99 Since you mentioned CDs and and DVDs, I know that it was in the outsource period. Your right, don't mess with them. Stay Japanese.

[JsgHair71]

I love the mid-century design of these TVs-I can't remember the commenter's name but they said something about putting out models that look like these but with the elements and technology of today. The only thing I would change from the old ones is to make them LIGHTER-those old sets were heavy.

[ardvarkkkkk1]

@ontheroof99 Sounds like you have personal experience. Sorry to here that. You are quite right. I do like to buy American when I can but no one makes TVs in the US. If you see an American name on one, you can bet it was made in China. In this case, buy Japanese. They make the best.

[ShLo16]

So real you;d think you were there. I want to bring a HD 3D tv in to the 1960 and see what they say about their RCA

[noacronym]

I see this--the civilization, and remember those times fondly. Now we live in the state of Liberalism due to the misguided idealists that ruined the civilization. And it is miserable.

[ardvarkkkkk]

@ontheroof99 RCA is just a name of made in China crap. When it was American, it was top of the line.

[texasghost]

Tried to explain to my kid that there was a time long ago where when you turned the TV on..you had to wait for almost a minute for the picture to warm up so you could watch what you were already hearing on the TV. Needless to say..my kid didn't believe there was such a TV.

[baneskrbic]

Man those 50s commercials.

[rubysson57]

One day the 1950s will be seen as a museum for the dead white European. And an era when everything was most sane and normal. The last age of morality. Despite what the liberal progressives like to think of as 'progressive'. Nowadays there is far more mental illness, more anger and destructive hatred, wars, religious strife,child poverty and abuse, division and prejudice everywhere. Even the ancient Greeks were more iintelligentt and civilsed than todays pool of humanity.

[joesphx19]

@rubysson57

I get the usual filthy talkback when I post about the same message as yours. Still, don't ever wonder for one second that the world doesn't know this, it's just that the world has lost it's collective mind. And another thing, we must preserve what has been, not just for the museum but just on the off chance enough people may wish to follow the breadcumb trail back to sanity. These old reels of film and tape are evidence of one of humanity's biggest crimes.

[jmen4ever]

@rubysson57 You beat me to it! very well said, and an opinion that many have, from what i read on numerous youtube posts.

[nyratk1]

@rubysson57 That's because in the 50s, people had their heads in the sand isolated in their segregated Levittowns. Mental illness and poverty were ignored (look how slummy the NYC outer boroughs were compared to today), anger and deadly hatred was funneled at the left (one thing hasn't changed), wars/religious strife still happened (even more so), and division and prejudice were de facto law (Jim Crow/redlining). Take your rose-colored glasses off and take your conservative fantasies elsewhere.

[eddy909100]

@rubysson57 Go kill yourself already!

[airsoftmp5a4]

@rubysson57 liberals are fools and the conservatives are greedy theres no winning

[fromthesidelines]

EXACTLY, 'Watcher'! In fact, RCA co-sponsored "WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR" on NBC from 1961 through '69, primarily because they were counting on the appeal of kids seeing Mickey and company in "Living Color"- the better for them to convince their parents to go out and buy a new RCA Victor color set.

[altfactor]

The spots for the rectangular-tube RCA Victor Color TV were probably circa 1965, as I don't think they (or anyone else) had rectangular-tube color TV's until then.

And of course, you got your best enjoyment from your RCA Victor Stereo by playing RCA Victor Stereo Records.

Keep your RCA Victor Color TV Set running properly...........use ONLY genuine RCA Victor Tubes!

[tukularwanawong]

If they see just an iPad, probably they gonna shit brix.

[fromthesidelines]

RCA was virtually the only manufacturer "pushing" color TV set sales in 1961- they were also behind the ONLY TV network [NBC] scheduling color series on a regular, yet somewhat limited, basis at that time (CBS wasn't interested {they didn't want to help RCA sell more color sets}, and ABC had yet to gain the financial and technological resources to do so).

[Watcher3223]

@fromthesidelines "CBS wasn't interested {they didn't want to help RCA sell more color sets"

More importantly, they may still have been miffed when the FCC chose RCA's color-compatible system over CBS' color TV system.

[Watcher3223]

@fromthesidelines

Forgot to add: a reason for RCA being behind NBC for color programming could also be that RCA owned NBC back then.

[VTMCompany]

what's 'rare-earth phosphors?'

[davshaw5]

The bus driver in the last commercial is the guy who played Jerry's dad on "Seinfeld"(I think).

[jonathanman111]

i have an rca!!!!! :D

[Sheri451]

If you,ve ever saw a movie called The Lady In White, the little boy Frankie's father had one of those tv,stereos with the record player. It was in the scene where the little girl ghost put on the record Have You Ever Seen A Dream Walking. I think we always had a color TV at my house. I was born in 63, and can only remember color TVs. My mom had a stereo like that you could stack records on the top and it would drop a record on the turntable? And play one, then another.

[glenn799]

Back when the workers in the USA made televisions and stereos they last forever and worked wonderfully. Not like the China junk they sell at super-slave-mart :(

[ardvarkkkkk]

@glenn799 You skipped a couple. Japan was the China of the 1960s. They built crap but they built it cheap. Threw the 70s, Japans quality went up along with their prices. In Americas quest for cheap crap, Taiwan was next. Their quality (and prices) eventually went up so the search was on again. Now it's China. With each new country, American companies sent their engineers there to teach them how to make these products, thus giving away our technology and jobs. We're the future China

[glenn799]

@ardvarkkkkk Amen, when I was young the only things made in Japan were cheap toys and badly made transistor radios, Our engineers of the RCA Victor went over to Japan and created JVC; I have some of those Delmonico Nivico radios made by Victor of Japan. We would never do business with the Communist Chinese they were supposed to be our mortal enemy. But the international bankers got control of this nation and now all the factories and plants are over in China making really cheap crap.

[Watcher3223]

@glenn799 "Our engineers of the RCA Victor went over to Japan and created JVC"

I'm sorry, but this information is in error.

JVC was established in the late 1920s well before RCA's buyout of the Victor Talking Machine Company.

JVC cut ties to RCA Victor at the start of World War II, creating an independent company.

[glenn799]

@Watcher3223

Thank you for the correction ;just goes to show you what you have been told is not always the truth

[AbraaCadaver]

@RBAILEYY Japan makes better cars, stereos, and televisions.

[fbmarz]

Vintage Plug 'n' Play!

[stevekosareff]

I have a related video on YouTube you might be interested in about how television sets were sold from the 1950s-1970s entitled, "TV MAN: THE SEARCH FOR THE LAST INDEPENDENT DEALER."

[jenzeppelin]

ira, we heart you!

[lambchopxoxo]

I'm so grateful for what he does i think i would have sex with him!

[thesixtiesguy]

At 1:30, showing the picture tube, they fail to show the x rays that are generated when high energy electrons bombard the metal oxides on the surface of the screen.

[HerbWalker]

WE BE JAMMIN MAN!!!!!!!hahahaha

[floooky1]

Those TV's looked just like the Zenith I watched when I was little. You had to sit on the floor right in front of the TV so you could change the channel. "You'll ruin your eyes!" was heard often. Even in the NY metropolitan area all there was to watch was the three networks and PBS "Channel 13."

[floooky1]

@floooky1 Oh yeah, and we had to walk miles in the snow to school, up hill both ways.

[peugeotrider2012]

Televison has come a long way as a kid we had an RCA tv.that had a record player,a stereo,8 track player

[jenzeppelin]

i'd love to have one of those!

[jgoudeau207]

Space-age rare Earth phospheres& the circuts of the space age:)

[327caprice]

3:27 No guns in the house....Godammit!

[marcostar57]

Great ads but my family got our first color TV in 1967 .... I didn't think color sets were out in back in '61.

[roscodawg]

Color televisions had been out since the early 1950's in the United States. However, the RCA color television commericial here wasn't from 1961. It was from sometime after 1965 because it was of a television with a rectangular tube rather than round. And that type of tube wasn't available until after 1965.

[hebneh]

Others have pointed out that these ads aren't from 1961 because of the types of TVs. I'll add that go-go dancing (which those kooky kids are doing in the parking lot, and even atop the bus) was done from 1965 onwards.

My family got a color TV in 1963, and that was a big deal. Most shows were still b&w; when watching a color show and you changed channels, or a new show started, you had to manually re-adjust the color again. This required turning the "color" knob as well as the "tint" one.

[ardvarkkkkk]

@hebneh Change channels, tune the receiver then tune the color. Once you got good at it, you could do it in less than a minute. Speedy!

[TOPOFFMAN]

The dude that got kissed by the tv girl was the music director for the Mayberry choir. When Gomer Pyle took Barneys singing part.

[bottle2lip]

jesus christ it blows my mind how fast things have changed since even i was born which was 1980.

[jenzeppelin]

i think about my grandmother who is still an active 96-year old... imagine all of the technology she has lived through...and continues to experience every day. we were taking movie clips of her with a cell phone....

[JoshuaTaylor]

Back then, no one knew that RCA was one of the least dependable brands on the market.

[roscodawg]

not really. RCA quality was good back then but didn't cease to be a major quality brand until the 1990's when it was acquired by Thomsen.

[jenzeppelin]

i have an ancient RCA floor model that still works fine. it's the retro basement family room tv.

[ardvarkkkkk]

@jenzeppelin My RCA console finally gave up about 15 years ago. Bought it new.

[1FOXYSPIDER]

I'm only 1 minute into the video and I'm SOLD!!! They sure knew how to talk with their heads up their asses back then...and it sounds like it!

[hippee77]

Fabulous t.v.s! I wish they would make t.v.s with style nowadays.

[inkey2]

to hippee77: ya know I have often thought the same thing as you. One of the major TV companies should reissue "retro looking sets" but with all the modern componants. I just have a gut feeling they would sell alot of them.....even black & white ones.

[thesixtiesguy]

I put a 19 inch monitor into a 1956 RCA tv a couple of years ago. It worked fine. I would like to find a Philco Predicta to modify.

[bigcarguy69]

LMAO

[WWE2K9X]

Why does it have to be "color" television? That's racist!

[bigcarguy69]

Would full color spectrum illumination via photon tube be more politicly correct?

[hippee77]

Give it time, that will be politicly incorrect too. Geeez!

[YensidSrevol]

The bus driver in the stereo commercial is also the same guy that played Morty Seinfeld in the Seinfeld series.

[RowdEman]

The bus driver in the stereo commercial was 'The Cheeseman', who dated Rose in one of The Golden Girls episodes. He put a hit on Rose's boyfriend, who was a government witness and testified against 'The Cheeseman'.

[PinkSilverWolf]

My First TV was a RCA from 1978

it was great TV

But the CRT Tube Messed up

[tbear4pa]

Notice the guitar lamp hanging on the wall in the background, which has a fiberglass shade that's whipstitched to the metal frame and a light inside of it. They were popular at that time.

[1952kid]

HEY ,next time your near the tv you have, feel the heat over the top of the set. My bedroom air conditioner is having a battle with the tv, and i think the lcd is winning.

[49MikeM]

MY DAD LOVED RCA LOOKS LIKE THE SAME TV

[JTPolo101]

Isn't it ironic? Since 1961 the television sets have gotten better and better , but the SHOWS have gotten worse.

I miss those days

[tbear4pa]

That's very true, The Golden Age of television had lasted just through 1960 as it had changed dramatically in 1961 when most of the 50's shows were discontinued that year and at the same time, TV sets have changed as well, where the tube had became more square(with sharper corners) and more modern looking, the electronics did get better while the exterior started to get cheaper and plainer looking, much like the cars did then.

[BeatleBangs1964]

What a beautiful voice he has! This makes the commercial worth watching.

The Ford Falcon Era - it is interesting to see what was considered State of the Arts in those days.

[bctvguy]

The mechanical CBS color system had more accurate color when approved by the FCC in 1950. However CBS color had fewer scan lines, less sharp pictures and the noisy spinning wheel made for double wide cabinets. Frames per second were 24 vs 30 in the prevailing B&W systems.

RCA's Sarnoff was a relentless self-promoter but he had the right idea in developing a compatible electronic system - however it took several years to get it right - even after it was out on the market - bctvguy.

[ladyping]

Wow, I feel bad, because im not a baby boomer, but im always hooked into all these vintage videos! But honestly thanks for salvaging and posting these gems online! How did you ever amass such collection?!

[bctvguy]

That color TV at 2:37 cannot possibly be from 1961 because in 61 all the color sets stil had the round picture tubes.

[spottydog4472]

Whats a tube?

[miamivicepastels83]

alright for the Swingline being "Compact" lol...that thing like luggage compared to now

[cuteycindyhoney]

Where do I get the giant black CDs to play on the RCA swingline?

(^_^)

[TheRCABoy]

I Heard The Original RCA logo

appeared on disney movies.

[mediamadman747]

I was half expecting to see Jimmy Stewart witness Robert Merrill bludgeoning his wife from across the courtyard.

[justme632]

Oh BOY! We got a color TV! LOL

[oscarmacaroni]

the clown @ 2:54 is scary looking ...... creepy the clown ....

[Gerogiancounty]

I've been searching for this picture tube for years, plasma and LCD sucks !

[1952kid]

I remember in the 1960's people always had a table or TV lamp on at night . Theres a ton of old TV LAMPS on ebay, a classic one is the long black ceramic panther with a bulb in back. We had a big green deer with a bulb in it. I think Panasonic offered a backlite panel that diverted light to the wall behind the tv.

[werksdesign]

Yeah, I remember the ceramic black panther light, my great aunt had one of those on her TV. Brings back some memories.

[tagete4ever]

Don't forget, in those days, RCA tv's were considered to be the new breakthrough in media entertainment. Just think in about 100 years, people may have the same thought about plasma tv's, that they are a joke or even primitive!

[michaelXXLF]

Your grandchildren will sure have a good laugh about your oh so great plasma TV!

[deviliciousangel235]

Oh how times pass.

I wonder what my kids will be watching and think of when they see commercials of t.v sets from my age

(I'm 18)

[julianblonde]

Both color sets and the portable stereo are from 1966 & 67.

[magog1138]

Color so real, you'll think you are there? Wow, isn't that how we market HD and Blu-Ray now?

[stopthemachine]

The man on the second to the last clip looks like actor Olan Soule.

[roon41]

it is! Good eye...

[indianhead66]

No one cared about accuracy. It was a much simpler time! Not like today with 60-120hz refresh rates, 1080i/1080p versus 720p,

It was an inferior RCA colour system that won. Kind of like Betamax and VHS. RCA won because people could still watch Colour TV without throwing out their old B/W sets. CBS had a superior system ready, but all B/W sets in the US were not compatible! Guess who won!

Google it!

[tripjet999]

Let the kids play with the old picture tube. What could happen?

[1952kid]

My parents didnt get a color tv till 1972,because there was nothing wrong with the old b/w set. My dad would take the tubes to the corner candy store and test the tubes,and kept that thing going for 15 years, so by the time i was 20 all i ever watched was b/w. When i got my own place all i could afford was a b/w tv. Sometime around 1982 i finally got a 25 inch color tv. FINALLY!

[supremes1964]

we got a color TV in Dec 1973.....cause the old b&w was too expensive to repair. Yet only had one TV set.......my dad ruled on what we watched (like the Lawrence Welk Show' haha)........until I got a hand me-down B&W set in 1980...and. finally in 1986 my first "stereo" TV color from Macy's no less LOL.

[6motion6]

Robert Merrill, Metropolitan Opera star really should not have been a shill for RCA,. The Met should have stopped his career after seeing him on that ad.

[peace2baby]

You too can watch frightening clowns in living color!

[bctvguy]

Those RCA color TVs are NOT from the first half of the 1960s. At that time, all RCA color sets still had round tubes.

The more rectangular shape color tubes shown here came out around 1966 or 67 although Motorola had it earlier but their color was not at all as good as the RCAs or Zeniths of that time.

[Cocainetheclown]

similated tv pictures

[gregusjay]

Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena a Mexican National is credited as being the inventor of color television.

[fmbroadcast]

Wanderful

[NicksPlace555]

It was a colored man who invented the first color tv.

[rainydaywoman1957]

why are they watching a parade on tv in the middle of the week in obvious summer clothes? even then day time tv was all soaps and game shows.for better accuracy, what should have been on was american bandstand.

[rainydaywoman1957]

wow just like mr whoopie described.

[ALABOUTBBH]

does anyone know WHO invented the first color tv??? help!

[renofirvine]

here's a thumbnail sketch--rca invented what we know today, while cbs(columbia broadcasting system)invented a spinning disk which broke the shades of grey into the proper colors..

[martybhoy72]

John Logie Baird also had a tv in the 1940's which did the same thing. His tv still exists and is in a museum.

[laurdy]

John Logie Baird had a colour tv in 1928!

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

RCA record players were pretty cool. My brother-in-law had one of the ones that only played singles.

[fromthesidelines]

These ads vary from the mid-'50s through the mid-'60s: there's Vaughn Monroe, RCA's "super salesman" (and under contract to their record division, as was Robert Merrill) in the first ad (circa 1956); the announcer in the second spot was "The Voice Of RCA" in their many TV ads during the '50s, Stan Sawyer. Next three ads date from around 1965-'66; the "painter" in the fourth ad is veteran character actor Olan Soule; the "bus driver" in the fifth ad is Barney Martin...

[Discoimperium010]

Oh how i love that RCA swingline 'portable' system ! :-).

Thanks for all these clips btw .. i still have to convert about 400 videotapes myself so i know what you've been through !.

Cheers.

[jazznjava]

I love the way men dressed in the late 50's and early 60's!

[Cinemajig]

WOW! These are great. Were these originally on 16mm or 35mm film?

[slay63]

Groovy baby!! Cool commercials, does RCA make electronics anymore? Im 45 and grew up with RCA products, all of which gave outstanding service.

[jazznjava]

RCA SmallWonder. pocket sized camcord. Everything on my channel is made with one. And the SmallWonder is a top seller.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

They also have the Lyra mp3 players.

[soremongs]

Now with "rare earth phosphors"!!

[peugteobike]

Iwould love to have a tv like that

[Shniki2000]

hehe I remember when my mom told me when she got a colour Tv she was so excited :P

[rivest266]

These Color TV cost $4,000 in 2008 US Dollars.

[visor109]

"Solid copper circuits"?

"Perachrome"? LOL!

Great video! Thanks for posting!