The first all elctronic color tv

Mike, that's the exact picture I was speaking of in a previous post! It's also on one of the many old TV sites but just can't recall which one, maybe someone else does.

Anthony

[Steve D.]

An article from the Dec. 31, 1953 N.Y. Times reads as follows:

FIRST ADMIRAL COLOR TV

"Admiral Corporation introduced yesterday it's first color television receiver. It has a fifteen-inch tube and will retail for $1,175. Also added to the company's line were several new black-and-white receivers, including a twenty-one-inch model to list for $179.95. Joe Marty Jr., general manager of Admiral's electronic division, said the company expects to turn out 30,000 color television sets next year."
I have researched this announcement from Admiral and have yet to come across a single Admiral ad or other promotion for the sale of these sets. I think it was more hype then happening. At least one 15" Admiral color set does still exist. There is no record of when it was first sold. Or how many were produced. There was also a "Little fuse" co. ad that pictured the Admiral 15" color. Many companies produced prototype color sets for demonstrations and testing. Westinghouse still, IMO, marketed the first consumer color set in any volume in Feb. 1954.

Well, you have to consider the source of the Zenith claim of being the first to "sell" a NTSC color set....Zenith! They certainly weren't available to the public. Zenith was involved in color tv development for many years, and were involved in lawsuits with RCA at the time, and I think Cmdr. McDonald wanted to steal some of RCA's thunder with the claim of being the first to sell a color set, so they "sold" one to a local broadcaster! (Do you think it came with a service plan! ) I have heard this story from more than one source.

Unfortunately my Zenith is a LONG way from working. It is in fact missing the secondary chassis , which houses the power supply and the high voltage . I've never had the shrouding off of the CRT, so I don't know if it has a Rauland or RCA tube (I've been told that Zenith discretely used some RCA tubes because of manufacturing difficulties at Rauland), but the tube seems to be intact. My set is in storage, and I don't have any close-ups of the controls right now. Plus, there are supposed to be controls on the secondary chassis (missing on my set) that are accessed behind the flip-down speaker grill.

Knock the neck off that old tube for safety's sake and remove it.....install a fish bowl instead.

Anthony

[John Folsom]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Si, in fact it wasn't Westinghouse, it wasn't RCA, it was Admiral.

I would like to see some documentation to the claim that Admiral beat RCA and Westinghouse to market with a NTSC color TV. Certianly, there were other sets produced before the RCA and Westinghouse were marketed, but they were not for sale.

Coments??

[Steve McVoy]

I think everything that has been uncovered is on Tom Genova's site:

http://www.tvhistory.tv/advertising3.htm

It doesn't prove that Admiral actually sold sets, but they had a model number and advertising brochure.

Was a Sams published for the Admiral?

[Steve D.]

I contributed some of the material on Tom's color tv page. And I believe there is no argument that Admiral produced a color receiver early on. I'm sure in somewhat limited quantities. Most of the sources that claim Admiral's Dec. 30, 1953 "first" take it from the newspaper article I posted above. An Admiral Corp. press handout. But when was the public able to go into a store and purchase one? Since Admiral was located in Chicago, perhaps they offered the sets for sale there. If a Chicago area fourm member wants to take up the challenge and check out the Chicago Sun-Times or Tribune archives at the library, for Dec.30, 1953 to perhaps Feb. 1954 and see if Admiral advertised color receivers for sale, It will settle the question. There is no SAMS listed for an Admiral color set until the 1957 models. In response to a previous post, RCA demonstrated all electronic color tv with a shadow mask picture tube as early as 1950. See Ed Reitan's site. http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/

Steve

[Telecolor 3007]

@Steve D. But www.earlytelevision.org says taht "Westhinghouse" was sold in NYC. Maybe you must look on New York newspapers.

[Steve D.]

Telecolor,

There is no question that Westinghouse sold color sets both in New York City and Los Angeles in early 1954. I have ads for both areas. I think the primary question was the Admiral 15" color set and the fact that no ads were seen in the New York or L.A. metro areas in late '53 or early '54. and perhaps they were only marketed in Chicago, Admiral's homebase.


Steve

[Pete Deksnis]

This thread prompted a new page on the subject at my CT-100 site:

http://home.att.net/~pldexnis/input/who_was_first_1.htm

Perhaps a slightly different angle.

[Steve D.]

This is one of those questions that can have several answers depending on which formula you use. Pete knows I am an avid CT-100 fan. However, my criterion for which company produced the first consumer color set, is still who first had a set in the stores for sale to the public. That was Westinghouse in Feb. 1954. Even though RCA Victor produced 10 times as many 15" sets, they were't available for sale until April '54. As for Admiral, I haven't seen proof yet as to when their sets,if any, were actually offered for sale. RCA, Westinghouse, Stromberg-Carlson, Sparton, Arvin ect. all have SAMS folders. This suggests that they made at least a large enough run of 15" color sets to warrant the SAMS coverage. Westinghouse had an extensive advertising push for their H-840CK15. Including a full page color ad in Life mag. And many local dealer newspaper ads in the larger TV markets. RCA also had several national and local newspaper ads for their CT-100. I'm not sure if the CT-100 was ever pictured in an RCA brochure. I would also like to see the CT-100 production tour brochure that Pete refers to in his post. Anyone have that in their collection? Also, I have read that Gen. Sarnoff of RCA, was absolutely livid when he was beat to the punch by Westinghouse which used the 15GP22 tube. This after RCA spent milions developing the 15GP22 tri-color picture tube and the chassis that ultimatly became the CT-100. The General cracked the whip and got the CT-100 lines rolling well ahead of planned production dates. He then scrapped the planned 19" color models and a crash program was instituted for the 21" color set. He would not be denied the first large screen color tv.


-Steve

[RVonse]

I'm just curious, does anyone know what a color set of that era normally goes for? I know these are pretty rare sets so I doubt you would ever see one on ebay. But how much would an RCA ctc-100 be worth today? I'm just curious.

[andy]

The last few I've seen on ebay have gone in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.

[Telecolor 3007]

@Steve D. Why don't you try to get in tuoch with the people that today are owning the "Westinghouse" H840CK15. Maybe them or the poeple from whom they bought the sets still have the original recipts, with the date when they bought the tv.

[Steve D.]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

@Steve D. Why don't you try to get in tuoch with the people that today are owning the "Westinghouse" H840CK15. Maybe them or the poeple from whom they bought the sets still have the original recipts, with the date when they bought the tv.

Telecolor,

The question is still, what company first offered color sets for sale to the public? Not when customers purchased those sets.

Marlin Mackley is the go to guy on the Westinghouse H840CK15: http://studio4-17.com/westlist.htm

-Steve D.