blossoms without petals

rose hips by garage wall
September 2006

Toronto. I am truly blessed having so many post ideas sent to me. This one came in Thursday from Goldie. In November 1954, two manufacturers took out ads in LIFE magazine but neither company used cameras in their ad.

On page 53  of the November 8th issue, Kodak elected to tout their Christmas card prints. As you may recall in the days when you used a post office and stamps as a slower and cheaper option to long distance telephone calls, it was fashionable to select a print and have many copies made with a cheery text message.

The copies were sent to friends and family as Christmas cards. The Kodak ad for B&W prints was a welcome respite from their many ads featuring, cameras and colour photos.

On page 113 of the same issue, Capehart-Farnsworth announced their special television set  (with a screen up to an amazingly wide 21 inches diagonal including the part under the opaque bezel). Their fresh egg was to use a polaroid filter on the CRT to eliminate glare and reflections. Room lights could be left brightly shining, No need to pull the drapes, you could even watch television in daylight!

Naturally the idea failed to gain traction. Their set had to have an extra bright CRT to compensate for the loss of illumination through the filter, shortening the life of the most expensive component in a television set. Besides, day-time television was crummy in 1954.

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