Recently, Normadesmond published a photo (click here) of her family's living room during the holiday season in 1959, back in the days of yore. Atop their Zenith television set was a clock, a vase of flowers, and a menorah - with room to spare.
If you're une femme d'un certain âge, you'll recall that all television sets of that era were the size of tanks. The wide, flat surfaces on top simply begged for knick-knacks and tchotchkes.
Let's time-travel to see how other folks made use of their TV tops.
The household below managed to fit their Christmas tree atop their telly! ...
One of the most common "objet d'art" in mid-century North American homes was the ceramic panther; usually in black or green. The panther might take the form of a lamp (with glowing eyes), a planter, or a simple standalone figurine, as seen below ...
Panthers weren't the only animal-themed ornaments at that time. Pink flamingoes were ubiquitous ...
This lady will take no bull from you, aside from the one she's placed atop her telly ...
Like Norma's family, this woman has chosen a clock, with the addition of some framed photographs ...
This household's gone full-on with pink flamingoes and a clock! ...
This couple chose a clock too, as well as a big-ass floral arrangement to complement their tabletop big-ass floral arrangement ...
Speaking of floral arrangements, it appears that flowers atop the TV still held sway in the 1970s ...
Here we see the trifecta of animal ornaments (deer), a framed photograph, and a plant ...
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| For those not old enough to remember, the device on the far right of the TV top is an antenna, used to improve the TV's picture reception. They were known as "rabbit ears" because of the long, pointy bits that stuck up from the base. |
We here at Infomaniac leave you with this parting shot. We are unsure what is atop this lady's television set but we hope it puts you in the mood ...
Television sets? Knick knacks? With some of that fashion I was blinded! I never had a flamingo or a panther on my TV set, but there's been more than a few cocks.
ReplyDeleteMISTRESS MADDIE: And your little red rooster is the stuff of legend.
DeleteDear Mistress, Thank you for the stylish and inspirational "domestic decor" tips. I shall cancel my subscription to Woman's Weekly in favour of your far superior journal. Yours, Betty Swollocks (Miss)
ReplyDeleteJON, er, MISS BETTY SWOLLOCKS: Your Woman’s Weekly cancellation request has been forwarded to a Mr. Hugh Jarse.
DeleteMy quizzing glass was raised in amazement at those wonderful whimsies. I remember in the 80s my grandma had an abundance of hideous ornaments perched on top of her TV including a ceramic bowl of fruit, the fruit lifted off to reveal a dish, where she kept her spare set of teeth, a soda syphon wearing a knitted poodle cover and a fibre optic lamp.
ReplyDeleteBack then, no home in the UK was complete without a Murano glass trout on the sideboard.
MITZI: Thank you for this window into the British telly-top. Heretofore, my knowledge of English household décor was limited to the plaster flying ducks on Hilda Ogden’s wall.
DeleteOh, lordy! Only artificial flowers allowed in case water spilled and caused an explosion! I do know people who had Jesus figurines on various items of furniture...
ReplyDeleteAnd does anyone else remember the sheets of cellophane draped over the screen? Supposed to counter the snow effect, and there was great argument between blue and green!
DINAH: The water in that telly-top vase is making me antsy even though decades have passed and it’s dried up. Like me.
Deletep.s. I’ve been told that before my time, my family had a transparent, coloured plastic sheet they held up to the screen of their black and white TV to make it look like colour TV. I am not making this up.
DeleteI've heard of that, too. I worked after school in a stationery shop and I think cellophane sales paid my wages!
DeleteMy gran had some sort of executive toy on top of the telly - all silver balls that shimmied and knocked.
ReplyDeleteMum’s telly was adorned with school photos (me looking adorable) and the ubiquitous rolling pin ornament with the words: Your supper is on the hearth dear, a pipe and book that’s new, your slippers are by the fire dear, but where the hell are you?
When I was a child I considered this to be exquisite poetry.
Sx
MISS SCARLET: Those silver balls were known as Newton’s cradle. You couldn’t go into an office in the 1980s without seeing one.
DeleteI’m guessing you have Pam Ayres’ oeuvre bound in Naugahyde?
I am so flattered to have been inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI recall neighbors having that sleek black panther TV lamp atop their set. We had nothing so stylish, so current.
I'm going to dream all night about Venus deMilo, prior to her arms being severed standing next to her pride and joy.
NORMA: My neighbours had the sleek black panther, too. And a big-ass chrome ashtray with an airplane on top, and a fabulous 50s-style bar in the basement where we kids pretended to drink cocktails (early training for adulthood.)
DeleteApparently we were deprived or depraved as we never had anything atop the TV. I don't think anyone ever posed nekkid with it, either, but who knows what Mother and Daddy got up to when we were asleep?
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Welcome to Infomaniac, JANIE JUNEBUG! (Janie is the current winner of The Freakin' Green Elf Shorts competition to those not in the know.)
DeleteDeprived or depraved? If you're hanging out with Infomaniac Bitches, you're definitely depraved.
The only thing on top of our tv was a set of rabbit ears, until my Grandpa set up an outside aerial! xoxo
ReplyDeleteSAVVY: Our roof aerial was often coated in ice.
DeleteMy great-grandmother gave one of those black panther lamps to my grandfather (her son-in-law) which they used on top of their tv. I claimed it as my inheritance in the 80s and still have it. Allah is great.
ReplyDeletePEENEE: That’s your retirement fund settled.
DeleteIn the 60s, when TV arrived in New Zealand, many people adopted a form of aerial known in Maori as kotanga. Saved a fortune on having a chap climb on the roof and afix a proper aerial!
ReplyDeleteMinicabs were well-known in the UK for having a "kotanga"/coathanger as an aerial as well. Jx
DeleteDINAHMOW and JON: Canada seems to have missed out on the kotanga trend.
DeleteSo in decades of yore if a car aerial (and presumably in some cases a TV aerial) broke, here you'd often see a makeshift replacement made out of a wire coathanger. Obviously in NZ the Maori word and the English word either coincided or it's someone's elaborate joke... Jx
DeleteJON: Kiwi ingenuity.
DeleteI wonder if I can find a picture of my Aunt and Uncles house where we had Christmas every year. It was 1964 in their house for over 30 years! I must also remember to get a picture of my flamboyant 80's frog lady. Mother was not happy about that time I helpfully watered the plastic plants atop the tv. Oops!
ReplyDeleteProximaBlue: Please share if you do find those photos!
DeleteWe didn't have anything on top of our telly when I was a child, but my aunt (The Father's sister) had one of those fabulously fascinating fibre-optic lamps (well, I thought so back then).
ReplyDeleteMR. DeVice: It seems that as far as fads go, those fibre-optic lamps replaced lava lamps from a previous decade.
DeleteAs long as I can remember there was nothing on top of the TV, simply because it was set within a bookshelf, a Regalwand. It sat on a tray that could be pulled out.
ReplyDeleteI once saw at neighbours a gorgeous gondola, must have been made from glass, with electric lights - I always wanted one. The thing was larger then the telly ! But here were no panthers in sight. Some people had large figurines of animals sitting in their living rooms, usually made from porcellaine or some other ceramics.
I well remember those glass fibre lamps, late seventies ?
MAGO: Yes, the glass fibre lamps were popular in the late 1970s. I think that the panthers were strictly a North American decor trend.
Delete