Zenith Console Color TV Commercial - 1965

[harveysuperboy]

R.I.P Dick Tufeld.

[kee8484]

They really showed the build of the tv..lol they just don't try as hard as they use to anymore

[JhonathanFree]

I don't think it would have weighed 400 pounds. That's a joke right?

[inkey2]

@JhonathanFree maybe they weren't 400 pounds but those old console sets sure were heavy. In 1974 a neighbor gave me their huge RCA console TV. She gave it to me because she said it did not get our Boston channel 7 very well....LOL....she didn't know that nobody in the city got that station well so I got a free TV...well anyway....all I had to do is get it from her house to my house just across the street. I had help but it was so heavy I developed a hernia from it

[monny287]

My grandparents had a Zenith. I'm positive it was made after the 1960's (more likely the 1980's), but I remember thinking it was an odd name for a TV company as a kid. They just replaced it a few years ago.

[bcbk93]

wow that guy sounds like the narrator from the old "lost in space" show from the 60s...hehe

[jrocco36]

I miss the clink of the Space Command Remotes.. We had one of the TV shown in this ad..

[texasghost]

Anyone recognize the guy doing the announcing for this commercial? It's the same guy that narrated the Lost in Space episodes.

[casey3234]

We had one of these sets which my parents purchased in 1967 for around $699.00 if my memory serves me right. It had a great picture and sound too.

[endriolazaro]

the remote control, operate in high frequency waves, and cause distub in some dogs and cats

[smbschrader]

Our family watched the color TV ads throughout the 60s & well into the 70s. It never occurred to my dad to buy one. I was stunned when I went to college and saw "The Wizard of Oz" in the dorm. Until that day, I had no idea that Kansas was in Black and White and Oz was in color, having watched the whole thing in black and white every year of my childhood. I was 17 years old that day, but I flipped when Dorothy pushed open the door of the farmhouse and I saw the Technicolor Land of Oz. Wow!

[BrentAudi]

Giant 25"!!!

[rhblakeman]

The Quality Goes In Before The Name Goes On changed to The Name Goes On Before Julio Goes Home when they changed production of Zenith to Mexico years ago. Things sure have turned to crap since the hand built quality days of US made.Now I don't think a TV gets 5 yrs before it dies and most have proprietary components and no suppliers.

[inkey2]

@rhblakeman hmmmm every TV I have ever owned I have gotten ten years easy out of them and I watch TV all the time

[user92126]

no printed circuits? do that mean all tubes?

[1L6E6VHF]

@user92126 No, it means that they connected components with wiring and made connections at terminal posts, as opposed to soldering components on on printed circuit board(s) (look that up in Wikipedia).

Printed circuits were more susceptible to corrosion and mechanically more fragile, but the old way left more chances for human error, was labor intensive, and lost in the end.

This set, as any 1965 color set, is CHOCK FULL of tubes.

[rfrover]

I have a feeling that nostalgia might be getting the better of some contributors with comments along the lines of "you won't find quality like that today". My family had a 1969 Zenith color console and, as several people have pointed out, it required an extraordinary amount of maintenance. We saw the TV repair man quite often. I sincerely doubt people today would put up with the sort of aggravation that Zenith caused us. My Samsung LCD is on its 6th year with nary a hint of trouble.

[inkey2]

@rfrover your right....TVs back then did not last that long...as proof In my collection of vintage TV guides from the 50s & 60s there are about 3 ads per tv guide advertising replacement picture tubes. Also the mechanical channel selector dial...the componants became stripped and worn after a few years of turning that dial back and fourth....especially if kids were changing channals. Also everything was manual....manual focus etc, constantly had to mess with them

[EricandDish]

I am writing a novel in which the female hero (who lives in San Francisco in 1967) owns a brand new 1966 Zenith color TV: 25 inches with rectagular screen, Space Command remote control, and the set was flat with two inch legs (saw that version I told you about in a vintage advertisement).

[jrocco36]

I can still hear the clink clink of the Space Command Remotes.. We had this very tv featured in this ad.. my Father was a TV man in those days.... Its true "Zenith, the quality goes in before the name goes on!".. Made in Chicago USA..ya cant get that kind of quality ever from china..

[jpete3027666]

Finally got my first nice tv after having a 25" Sharp for the last 10 years (great tv by the way). I got a 52" Sharp LCD 1080p last year. It will be obsolete when these 3D tvs become mainstream. I don't care, I don't think I'll ever buy into the 3D hype.

[bidonpenn]

Nice! Buying myself a 42" Zenith plasma for Christmas:) I think it will be a nice nod to the Zentih Console TV my family had as a kid!

[clemsonbloke]

I bet those sets really glowed at night with those rare earth phosophors, Rare earth has thorium and uranium in it. Yep pretty much a radioative TV!

[jagman31]

@clemsonbloke I didn't know that. How cool!

[MovieTech]

@clemsonbloke thats not true. Most Rare Earth elements are not radioactive. The only one that is radioactive is Promethium, and that isn't used in making CRT phosphors. Europium (red and blue) and Terbium (green) are the primary rare earth elements used for CRT phosphors.

[confuse]

i leik it i would have one for my sega

[PornStar650Biker2012]

"A giant 25 inch picture" "A space command remote control" LMFAO

[supremes1964]

my dad (RIP) always repaired the B&W TV ...when the TV salesman finally conviced him to upgrade to a 20" Color TV $367.00 on December 1973. It was huge money then.

[S0lidState]

I need me one of these units, sure to get years of enjoyment from it and impress all my girlfriends !

[mmangum4444]

back in the day, when we manufactured our own stuff......

[Watcher3223]

@mmangum4444

And back when electronics were considered investments instead of commodities.

[BeachguyNL]

btw, the original purchase price in 1966 for my zenith console was 1125.99! I still have the original receipt.

What is that in today's money??

[NothingButLetters]

@BeachguyNL

$1,225.99 in 1966 equates to $7,653.36 in 2011.

[BeachguyNL]

I still own it; runs like a charm.... including the remote.

All original tubes including picture tube.... never find this stuff today!

[acedaface954]

lolololololol aw man our forefathers...lolololololololo­lol

[elmhall]

lolololol aw man our forefathers...who actually INVENTED tv...lololol

[acedaface954]

@elmhall lol tell me about it.

[jeanmarcARG]

It looks great..I collect old radios here in Argentina my country...Do you have that TV?

[n1uvu]

Had our first one in '68, every 3 mos. our repair man would be at the house , changing tubes, Got to know him quite well as a 5 yr. old kid, maybe thats where my interest in TV started....

[Oldbmwr100rs]

@n1uvu Oh man, aint that the truth, our 67 magnavox had the tv guy out so often he was almost part of the family!

I loved watching chuck take off the back of that set and begin working, setting up his mirror as he fiddled behind that console while i bugged the crap out of him..

[acedaface954]

@n1uvu wow. a tv repair man. i never saw one in my lifetime. or a milk man. :-l every three months??? jesus.

[jasonlava]

I bet it was expensive too. Like the HDTVs were when they started out.

[acedaface954]

@jasonlava actually...no lolol. retail value was probably about 20 bucks. then again that 20 was probably equivalent to our 1000 today lol. i could be wrong of course.

[glennmillerfan]

@jasonlava

They were like $300-$400 in 1965, down from $1200 for a color set in 1954.

[drh4683]

GREAT commercial! Thanks for posting this!

[BeachguyNL]

very cool... I own the largest model of the 1965 zenith line with remote control since it was new... still works beautifully and has never been repaired or restored. Love to see that quality today!

[acedaface954]

@BeachguyNL lololol no way. now that is amazing. truly.

[64098]

@BeachguyNL I could have had the French Provincial model in this ad, it was in an antique mall basement, it was there for years and then it went away. Still kicking myself! It had that greenish affliction on the edges of the picture tube though. I'll bet yours is a joy to watch!

[welkcirswe]

@64098 I have the French Provincial model Zenith from 1965 that is in this ad. Got it last year.

[acedaface954]

@BeachguyNL good lord. what have you been doing keeping it preserved and away from dust particles??

[fromthesidelines]

Yes, that's Dick Tufeld as the announcer.

[apachette07]

Nice cool commercia!

[fortiesnutcase]

Fabulous vintage commercial. And that great LOST IN SPACE robot guy narrator. lol Thanks for posting!

[umajunkcollector]

Our family's first color TV (with UHF I might add) was a 67 Zenith with a 25" tube. I watched the first man on the moon on that TV a couple years later. Kewlness!

[owlydog]

wow how cool we didn't have color

dad was to cheap.. if I remember the first color TV I seen was in the store but to have one was when I got marryed 74

[owlydog]

mom and dad got one after I moved out