I agree with you guys,its great to watch the old shows with the commercials intact,it would be great if they did have home video back in the 40's and 50's.
Someone on youtube posted some old episodes of Total Televisions "The Beagles" a virtually forgotten cartoon done by the same folks that brought you "King Leonardo and his short subjects", "Tennesee Tuxedo" and "Underdog" and they have some of the original commercials from the '60's.
Heres a link for those who may be interested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzF0...eature=related
On the subject of videotape,I am amazed that tapes as far back as 1980 have survived,I remember reading that the lifespan of video tape was 20 years or so.