[Jeffhs]

The statement that this Philco TV belonged to someone who never threw out anything reminds me of my late grandmother (my father's mother). She never threw anything away either, if she could help it. She had a 1951 GE 16" TV and a 1948 Sears Silvertone radio-phono (not to mention other relics of the 1950s and earlier) for years, until she moved to our house (long story and OT) in 1972. The reason she kept all this antique stuff was because she lived through the Great Depression, during which, I am told (I'm 66 and hadn't been born yet at the time), people kept everything they could as long as the stuff worked or could be repaired. My grandmother finally replaced her GE 16" 1951 console with a color TV in, IIRC, 1969, but until then, as I said, she kept her GE set as long as it worked.

I had never seen anything like it before in my life. The VHF tuner's channel knob had the letters "UHF" printed on it between channels 5 and 6, and the tuner itself had two RF amplifier tubes, great for use in fringe areas miles away from the nearest TV station. This wouldn't have been necessary where my grandmother lived until 1972, as the area was suburban Cleveland which received all three [at that time] Cleveland television stations, and an outdoor antenna wasn't necessary either, at least in that area, as the set pulled in great pictures with just a pair of "Spico" rabbit ears.

The TV also had a focus control on the front panel, behind the trap door between the volume control and the channel selector, but I don't remember ever seeing that control being adjusted, even at the end, when the set was replaced.

I inherited that GE TV when my grandmother got her color set, but the GE set stayed in our basement for years (again, long story and OT). The set worked well for the next two years, until my dad and I moved (once again[!], long story), but before then, I remember sitting downstairs in our basement with the TV on, enjoying a program. This wouldn't have been anything to write home about, except when a commercial came on and I reached around behind the TV. I'll never forget it. I was greeted by a large spark near the junction of the power cord and the interlock plug; obviously, the insulation was crumbling at that spot (and likely elsewhere on the cord as well, as those old cords were insulated with material which eventually deteriorated).

BTW, today's AC line cords, for televisions and for everything else, thankfully, are now made of material which will not crumble under normal circumstances. To this day I am amazed the crumbling insulation on the interlock cord of my grandmother's TV did not cause a fire when the cord eventually put a dead short across the AC line. The only thing I remember seeing was a huge spark, but somehow the cord still worked after that.

I didn't take any chances, of course; I immediately replaced the crumbling old cord with a cheater cord, which allowed me to use the TV until I moved. The set was rather unceremoniously put out for the trash at that time, along with every other old TV I had except two; one was a color set which eventually quit in '73, the other was a Sharp 12-inch b&w portable, which also gave up at the same time.

An interesting side note: When my dad and I were getting our house ready for my grandmother to move into, we were throwing out old TVs from the basement right and left. I couldn't help wondering what our neighbors must have thought, seeing all those old televisions being carried out our front door; looking back on it, it wouldn't have surprised me if our neighbors thought we had been running a TV repair shop in the basement at the time.