Elvis's RCA color TV at Graceland
 

Saw this in Sunday's travel section. Looks like The King could watch TV while playing the piano.

if elvis would live in our time he would shoot flatscreens now:D

Hi,

If Elvis still lived, he'd be shooting lots of flatscreens when watching reality TV. He'd keep RCA in business by himself! <G>

I don't suppose anyone has restored that set. It probably just sits there idle, never turned on. Think that it's a CTC5.

Right you are. It's a CTC-5 "Westcott" Super series model in Limed-Oak finish.

_Steve D.

King's tv
 

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I don't remember what they call the room. Its in the lower level, has three tv's of similar era. They are all in one cabinet along with a custom sound system that distributes sound to other rooms as well. The room has the TCB on the wall. If I remember correctly.

Here's a little more info on Elvis'TV room which is separate from the room where the CTC-5 is found.

"While the house was, on the whole, homely and unpretentious, it had its moments of rock-star madness. And just in case there wasn't enough going on in the TV room, Elvis had three televisions installed. He got the idea from President Johnson, who enjoyed watching three news broadcasts at once. Not content with watching one football game, Elvis could keep up with three at the same time. These days, the TVs show Elvis's favourite movies on a loop. On the audio tour, Priscilla doesn't comment on the room, which was decorated after the couple had divorced, and she had moved to California. Red and yellow aren't exactly the most restful colours, but it is pure, unadulterated, late-period Elvis."

-Steve D.

Cool! Elvis had the same TV I just got a couple of weeks ago. See pictures in the New Guy with CTC5 thread.

If they are showing movies on a loop than they must have been gutted. Seems like the King would have sprung for the Deluxe model instead of the Super, but then maybe he just picked whichever cabinet he liked best.

Cool! Elvis had the same TV I just got a couple of weeks ago. See Pictures of my TV in the "NEw Guy Here with CTC5"

Elvis purchased the CTC 5 when he bought his first house in '56.
It can be seen in photos taken by a magazine photogropher.
It was moved when he purchased Graceland in '57.
Elvis kept most everything, even when he bought something new, the old was put into storage.

Pray they don't restore it to working, for a set that's on public display that would most likely mean stuffing a modern set inside.

Elvis was on the RCA records label, and it's likely that Elvis got as gifts from the record company various RCA consumer products, including TV sets.

Elvis Color set
 

There's a CT-100 in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame located in Cleveland, Ohio
that , if memmory serves, is reported to have been a set owned by Elvis.

Unfortunately , it has a new set of electronics stuffed in the case.

I couldn't find anyone on the staff of the museum who could tell me if the original electronics and CRT are preserved or not.

Does anyone know of its' existance?

Bob H.

Grrrr!

I agree, Fuji- "Grrrrr!", indeed, but for a WORKING museum display, a roundie stuffed w/modern guts prolly makes more sense than going w/the original. Roundies ARE kinda prone to breakdowns due to their age, & I'd say most general museums DON'T have a good roundie mechanic on premises. WE know what kind of good pictures a well-set up roundie is capable of, but yr typical museum curator, or more likely, the grad student that sets things up is NOT likely to really know-or care-the proper care & feeding of a 50 yr old funky TV. Helluva shame, but that's the way it is.

Yep, I'd agree. It's really not practical to leave a fully-original vintage TV constantly running in a typical museum situation, no matter how nifty that might be. As someone mentioned in another thread, even the Smithsonian doesn't do that, including the couple of prewar sets they perpetually have on display (which were fitted with "guts" from modern B&W TVs, as of the last time I was there).

Now, of course there are some specialized museums that do have such things on display. BTW, one I haven't seen mentioned here before is the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting ( http://www.pavekmuseum.org/ ). It's in the Minneapolis area. I've been there a few times, and they've got a pretty fair range of stuff, ranging from acoustic spring-wound phonographs, to early battery radios, to televisions-- including radio/TV broadcast-related equipment. The specific items on display tend to rotate from time to time, and most (but not all) of it is kept in operating condition and they'll gladly demo most of it for you..! They even used to have a CT-100 on display, but I don't think it has been on the floor for some years now. However, one reason they can keep these things going is because the equipment is not on 24/7, and there's always someone from the museum nearby to supervise/watch the equipment when it is running.

They do have some odd/interesting stuff there though-- when I was there once a few years ago, they even had an old radar unit on display (running and operational) that had been used as the weather radar by one of the local TV stations.

oh, well I know THAT... it's just..... what gets done with the guts? :(

I did the Graceland tour (one of life's must dos btw) and do not recall seeing that set, although it is obviously there. I do remember his three tvs in a row in his rec room or whatever he called it. They were working and had prerecorded stuff from the 70s on them. I noticed that intro that used to precede all CBS specials such as Charlie Brown played on one.

Now were the three in a row the same as that one in the pic? I do not recall that either.

The blonde CTC 5 is in the music room that is visible when you
look across the living room.

tv appears original
 

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I'd say either this is a seperate TV from what folks have seen playing video or else this is an old photo taken before changes were made.

i have seen the set it looks all original to me. it is right next to the piano. you see it as you walk in the front door to your right. music room next to the living room. steve

[QUOTE=rcaman]i have seen the set it looks all original to me. it is right next to the piano. you see it as you walk in the front door to your right. music room next to the living room. steve[/QUOTE

and i would love to own that set. yea right so would everyone else

bgadow, no video is ever played on the CTC 5, the videos are
played on the three later model non-roundie RCA's built into the wall of the rec room. Those TV's have had the insides
updated, the CTC 5 is original and not used.

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A recent interview with Priscilla Presley had her located with the music room behind her. The CTC-5 was easily visible in nearly all her shots. So, as of earlier this year, the set is still there. Some friends who toured Graceland said that the tour did not go into that room, so I don't know how much attention they paid to anything in there.

i know dick clack has a ctc 5,its at his warehouse in burbank,my dad use to work there and (dick used his coaster group alot and dad needed work when there were no gigs)its in good condition,i dont know if it works but at least it looks good.the last time i saw it i wasnt too intrested in it,i was more intrested in his jukebox he had in his office,and would you belive when i asked him if hed give it to me he said no.but yea dick dosent throw away anything.

charlie