Does anyone remember remote controls like the one that he had? Was it wireless?
This movie was supposed to be in 1959 right? I didn't realize that they had remotes back then.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett
I watched this film again last night and took note (again) of the TV.
My uncle had a set with a remote control (circa 1960) connected by a long wire to the set.
In those days, you needed to turn the knob to change the channel (no digital tuning). This set actually had a MOTOR built in to physically turn the knob.
In addition, there was a little button near each number on the knob (2 to 13). Pushing one would again physically spin the knob to the desired channel.
I don't recall if the remote had volume control or on and off. But, I do remember what I described. I think my uncle's was a Zenith. I can still picture the blond wood floor model cabinet.
Lemon looked like he was twisting a knob. My uncle's had channel up and down buttons. So, the thing Lemon was using is based on some technology of the day.
A "Google" search can tell you much more.
This is an excerpt from Wikipedia's lengthy article on "remote control":
"The first remote intended to control a television was developed by Zenith Radio Corporation in 1950. The remote, called "Lazy Bones", was connected to the television by a wire. A wireless remote control, the "Flashmatic", was developed in 1955 by Eugene Polley. It worked by shining a beam of light onto a photoelectric cell, but the cell did not distinguish between light from the remote and light from other sources. The Flashmatic also had to be pointed very precisely at the receiver in order to work.
"In 1956, Robert Adler developed "Zenith Space Command", a wireless remote. It was mechanical and used ultrasound to change the channel and volume. When the user pushed a button on the remote control, it clicked and struck a bar, hence the term "clicker". Each bar emitted a different frequency and circuits in the television detected this sound. The invention of the transistor made possible cheaper electronic remotes that contained a piezoelectric crystal that was fed by an oscillating electric current at a frequency near or above the upper threshold of human hearing, though still audible to dogs. The receiver contained a microphone attached to a circuit that was tuned to the same frequency. Some problems with this method were that the receiver could be triggered accidentally by naturally occurring noises, and some people could hear the piercing ultrasonic signals. There was an incident in which a toy xylophone changed the channels on such sets because some of the overtones from the xylophone matched the remote's ultrasonic frequency."
I think the last paragraph describes the ones I remember Grandpa having.... although, probably the earliest I remember was around '66, since I was born in '62.
I really like the bit about the xylophone. I can just see some little kid driving Dad nuts until they figure it out (maybe he thought it was the neighbor's clicker...) Or, a wife who wants to watch a different show figuring out which 'key' to hit... tee hee hee.
I, also, seem to recall the rare set that had a rudimentary remote - on, off, and channel-changer, nothing else. I remember a friend's family had one, also circa 1960. I seem to to remember their remote being wireless, making it all the more mystifying to an 11-year-old. It was big, like two packs of cigarets attached side-to-side, and had to be carefully aimed at the sensor - and from only a few feet away, at that. I remember that the numbers, 2 to 13, seemed to be on a round disk behind the glass panel on the TV set, with only the selected channel-number showing.
I was so amazed by the convenience of it that I rigged my own Rube Goldberg arrangement on my own TV at the foot of my bed, with Tinker Toy knobs glued to the control knobs on the side of the TV set, and other round Tinker Toy hubs nailed to the window sill by my pillow, with 6' loops of strings connecting the two sets of Tinker Toy knobs, such that a turn of a knob by my pillow would (with a little give in the connecting length of string) adjust the corresponding control knob (volume, horizontal hold, vertical hold, contrast) at the foot of my bed. For the on/off function, the TV set was "on" at all times; the TV was plugged into a Radio Shack socket that was plugged into the wall, with an 8' cord running to the bottom of the nailed row of Tinker Toy knobs, providing a remote on/off switch to complete the set of "remote" controls.
All pretty frivolous & unnecessary, of course, but for a kid it was kind of neat.
That's awesome!
shareYou were an ingenious kid!
sharethat's how it's done!
The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.-James Madison
After the first Baxter he uses the remote control there is a cut away to the TV. I think that wire running down the left side was the wired connection for the remote.
shareYep that one was wired. I remember the first remote control I ever saw was in a hospital (visiting a relative). It was a sonic device and actually made this pinging sound when you clicked it.
shareI remember my grandfather having an old TV with a remote that was a squeeze bulb like on a blood pressure machine. If you squeezed it, it went to the next channel and you could only go up.
shareWhen I was a sophomore in college (1976) my dorm roommate had a TV with a pneumatic remote like that. I remembered the squeeze bulb as being like a cylindrical bellows, with a long plastic tube going to the TV. And yeah, it would only change channels and go up to the next one. If you wanted to go from channel 5 to 4 you had to do a whole lotta pumping!
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