[Phototone]

I'm old enough to remember seeing Color TV in the late 1950's in my town. However, there was so little programming, and especially during daytime hours when the department stores were open, that it was hard to see a color show on a color set. No local color from our 2 local stations, but the NBC affiliate could pass thru network color. I do remember one Christmas season seeing a 21" roundie in a store window at night showing a Perry Como Christmas show. It was very nice as we drove by. I also remember one time staying at a motel in Tulsa, there was a big roundie color TV in the lobby, and I sat and waited for "some" color..but alas all I was able to see was the station call sign with the number in color. I was a child very eager to experience color TV, but found it very very hard to see any. My families first color TV was the Motorola 23" rectangular model..the first rectangular model from a US manufacturer, AFAIK. Its kind of ironic that I'm seeing vastly more color images from 1950's TV's than I could ever dream of seeing in the 1950's.

As far as comparing different brands and models, well just forget it. If a store had a color set, they had ONE on display. No multiple models to choose from. But I am from a fairly small town. Probably under 60,000 people in the 1950's.