My usually very frugal father went shopping for a new TV in1961.....and came home with an RCA color TV. We instantly became the hit of the neighborhood on Sunday night.... for friends to watch.... BONANZA!

Tried to explain to my kid that there was a time long ago where when you turned the TV on..you had to wait for almost a minute for the picture to warm up so you could watch what you were already hearing on the TV. Needless to say..my kid didn't believe there was such a TV.

I liked it when tv’s were a beautiful piece of furniture.

I remember the day we got our first color TV. It was an RCA console model. I got to watch cartoons in color that morning. That was the coolest thing ever!!

My grandmother bought my parents a color TV as a wedding gift in 1958, two years before I was born. So when I was growing up, we were the only people in the neighborhood who had a color set. We always had people over on weekends to watch whatever was on in color, and I always had a lot of friends over Saturday mornings to watch the cartoons in color.

I love the way men dressed in the late 50's and early 60's!

I was young but I sure miss those days 😕 😪 😔

When Sony came along with the Trinitron cathode ray Tube everything changed. Trinitron was the supreme CRT . I worked on Televisions for 40 yrs and nothing could beat the Trinitron picture tube in sharpness, brightness, contrast, etc. I love to watch TV on a Sony Trinitron!!!

How sad that things are not as simple as these days 🥺

This brings back memories, dad bought us our first color tv in 1968, it was an RCA, and at the store we were watching the Summer Olympics and it was so amazing, dad bought it and brought it home.

My family bought a RCA color TV in 1966 and back then quite a few programs were still in black and white. so we would flip through the channels until we found a program in color. We had quite a few neighbors come over to watch the programs in color like the parades it was a big giant TV walnut wood with stereo and Hi-Fi system as well. Very expensive for that time. After 3 years it started breaking down constantly calling the repairman I think what my mom liked most about it was the nice Walnut Wood on the on top that she used to wax. She kept it for 20 years and finally junked it. Oh such fun memories

People who weren't around back then don't realize how huge an American company RCA was.

In the 1950's, we were one of the last in our neighborhood to even have a TV and, of course, it was black and white. Years went by and others had color TV's we could not afford. One day my father comes home with a flexible clear plastic sheet with three bands of color - blue at the top, green in the middle, brown at the bottom. (The brand of this thing was Eastmon.) It statically clung and laid flat on the front of the TV. And you know, it wasn't that bad. Tons of shows were westerns back then and the three colors really did have a useful effect with all the outdoor shots (although I suspect our brain activity helped out). For other scenes, like in the "saloon", you just ignored the colors.

I love the mid-century design of these TVs-I can't remember the commenter's name but they said something about putting out models that look like these but with the elements and technology of today. The only thing I would change from the old ones is to make them LIGHTER-those old sets were heavy.

My dad bought our first color t.v. in 1966 when I was 17 and my little brother was 12. A 21 inch screen Zenith...with remote control...My brother and I would lie on the floor to watch t.v. while my dad sat back in his recliner. After a program had ended my dad would say to one of us, "Turn to channel 7...or 12 for whatever show he wanted to watch. LOL!! Luckily we only had ABC, CBS, and NBC back in those days. In our part of the country, (New England) ABC was channels 5 & 6, CBS was 7 & 12, and NBC was 4 & 10, so you basically had 6 stations to choose from. BTW, I remember the TV Guide cost .10 cents and the color programs were so rare that each one was marked with a 'peacock' and the word 'color' next to it. I remember my brother and I watching the news just so we could see something in color on our new set!

EXACTLY, 'Watcher'! In fact, RCA co-sponsored "WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR" on NBC from 1961 through '69, primarily because they were counting on the appeal of kids seeing Mickey and company in "Living Color"- the better for them to convince their parents to go out and buy a new RCA Victor color set.

I was 5 years old.... and my only thoughts were what for Christmas would be my toy..... so long ago..... and yet sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday.....😏

I can’t say I remember this, that’s because I was born in 61 Really cool to see what it was like back then👍🏼

The comments here in this post are so touching! We have so much in our hearts in common thanks God communicating IS vital

I'd do just about ANYTHING to get back our familys tv from 1969...not a similar one, the EXACT one that stood in our livingroom. I would treasure it forever♥️

Others have pointed out that these ads aren't from 1961 because of the types of TVs. I'll add that go-go dancing (which those kooky kids are doing in the parking lot, and even atop the bus) was done from 1965 onwards. My family got a color TV in 1963, and that was a big deal. Most shows were still b&w; when watching a color show and you changed channels, or a new show started, you had to manually re-adjust the color again. This required turning the "color" knob as well as the "tint" one.

These ads vary from the mid-'50s through the mid-'60s: there's Vaughn Monroe, RCA's "super salesman" (and under contract to their record division, as was Robert Merrill) in the first ad (circa 1956); the announcer in the second spot was "The Voice Of RCA" in their many TV ads during the '50s, Stan Sawyer. Next three ads date from around 1965-'66; the "painter" in the fourth ad is veteran character actor Olan Soule; the "bus driver" in the fifth ad is Barney Martin...

Those crazy kids and their go-go music...

Remember in then 60's and grandpa fiddling with all those dials in the back of the color TV trying to get the color perfect for each individual TV show especially when cartoons were on.

My parents didnt get a color tv till 1972,because there was nothing wrong with the old b/w set. My dad would take the tubes to the corner candy store and test the tubes,and kept that thing going for 15 years, so by the time i was 20 all i ever watched was b/w. When i got my own place all i could afford was a b/w tv. Sometime around 1982 i finally got a 25 inch color tv. FINALLY!

Nicely done.Thank you!

We had an RCA television when I was growing up,it was color too because I remember watching The Wizard Of Oz when I was about five and wondered where the color went after Dorothy said "There's no place like home." Somewhere, there is a photo of me as a toddler with a bottle in my hand and I was smiling, in the background was this old brown television, I guess it was a black and white because it was in 1964. I believe it was an RCA too. My dad liked RCA televisions. I believe we got a Zenith when I was older. When I was a teenager, we went camping and my dad bought a 13 inch black and white television to take with us. That little television probably cost fifty dollars in 1979. Anyway, when we stopped going to campgrounds, I inhereted this television because I wasn't old enough to work. When I went to work, I bought my first television, I think it was an RCA. Hey! that television lasted for twelve years, we gave it to our church to show christian shows to the children on VHS tapes. As for the black and white tiny TV, It finally broke down in 1990. We still watched it before it broke down.

We had a "New Vista Color" RCA in the early 60's with an almost round picture tube. The top of the wood cabinet near the channel changer got totally worn out due to us leaning on it with one hand while twisting the dial with the other! Try explaining that to a young person these days and they will probably be shocked that you didn't have a remote.

....GEE.. THOSE WERE THE "GOOD OLD DAYS" ...AND I ENJOYED EACH AND EVERY ONE!

My grandfather was the first to have a color t.v. a Zenith, in his house. It was a big ol' console. A piece of the furniture. I was fascinated! I don't remember if it was remote controled or not, but I always loved going to visit my grandparents! Not just for the T.V. of course.... that was a bonus!💕😉

The woman embracing Olan Soule in the fourth commercial is Edy Williams, who was in "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and who was also Russ Meyer's wife during the early 70s.

We had the first color TV on the block. There were not a lot shows to watch in color, except Bonanza. Neighbors would come over to watch. LOL

The RCA 'Swing-Line' portable unit was introduced more in the Mid-60s, (1965ish) not 1961. I know... small detail. ;)

We had an RCA when I was young, then went with a Curtis Mathis when the old RCA went out. Just 2 channels, CBS and NBC. Pissed me and my brother off because we couldn't get Monday night football. Had an antenna on top of the tv and we would wrap aluminum foil all over the antenna trying to get the ABC channel to watch Monday night football.

4:32 the bus driver was like "Here we go with these fucking kids and their bullshit" lol

In the uk our family had black and white TV until about 1977 as my dad was too tight to pay for the colour tv licence. Back then, you would still have to get up from your sofa to switch to one of the three channels. BBC1, BBC2 and ITV Funny to think we had TV detector vans that would combe through the streets in the UK searching out homes that were watching tv illegally if they found you you would get a fine. i pay about £13 pounds a month currently to have my licence. This is what funds the BBC so no adverts.

I love this old stuff, thanks.

Nobody we knew had a color set back in '61. We got our first in maybe '69 or'70.

I was born in 1955 and remember all these commercials but I never saw a tv get assembled in the living room. I supposed they did but I never saw it.

I was alive in the 1950s. Every era has it's good and bad points but for those who were actually alive to experience it, "the majority", it was considered a golden era. An era of low unemployment, low murder rate (murder rate in usa sky rocketed after the 50s), illegal drugs had not yet permiated the main stream of American society, no foreign terrorist attacks etc. As for mental illness ignored? It is far more ignored today....how many mass shootings happened in the 1950s....virtually zero

Those were the best commercials to see. The older ones. I like those because they have comedy to them.

The spots for the rectangular-tube RCA Victor Color TV were probably circa 1965, as I don't think they (or anyone else) had rectangular-tube color TV's until then. And of course, you got your best enjoyment from your RCA Victor Stereo by playing RCA Victor Stereo Records. Keep your RCA Victor Color TV Set running properly...........use ONLY genuine RCA Victor Tubes!

I really want an RCA colour console

I really like your videos. I have a interest in the 50s and 60s

Yeah, I remember the ceramic black panther light, my great aunt had one of those on her TV. Brings back some memories.

We had an RCA Black & White portable when I was growing up in the early 1960's. It was terrible. Constantly breaking down. Not to mention the cabinet used to get so hot that stuff would melt on top of it. It was probably a fire hazard. Then we got a Zenith. It rarely broke down and when it did all it needed was a replacement tube. Plus although it got hot not nearly as hot as the RCA. When i got older I inherited the RCA. I kept it running into the mid 1970's. In fact I learned electronics by fixing the thing. Also, it didn't get blazing hot anymore because I never had the back on it because I was always tinkering around inside.

We had an RCA Swingline stereo in our house when I was growing up in the 60s. It had good sound. I can't say the same for my parent's record collection. Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Stevens and Jim Nabors My parents idea of hard rock was The Fifth Dimension.

Those TV's looked just like the Zenith I watched when I was little. You had to sit on the floor right in front of the TV so you could change the channel. "You'll ruin your eyes!" was heard often. Even in the NY metropolitan area all there was to watch was the three networks and PBS "Channel 13."

I remember T.V. repairmen. They were just like doctors making home visits. LOL!

It was a great outing when I accompanied my dad to the store to have the tubes tested.

Remember when they displayed the TV in the store window. Had a timer come on at night after hours to turn on TV. I remember a speaker wired from TV so people could hear the TV.

They certainly had color sets before 1961. But they were very expensive. And not much contemporary broadcasts were done in color unless they were showing a movie that was shot in color...my aunt bought a new color set with remote control. In the late fifties. She had it for years. .it cost almost as much as a new car when purchased. They were more status symbols then

RCA was virtually the only manufacturer "pushing" color TV set sales in 1961- they were also behind the ONLY TV network [NBC] scheduling color series on a regular, yet somewhat limited, basis at that time (CBS wasn't interested {they didn't want to help RCA sell more color sets}, and ABC had yet to gain the financial and technological resources to do so).

John Logie Baird also had a tv in the 1940's which did the same thing. His tv still exists and is in a museum.

Looking back at all this stuff although nostalgic, you can't beat modern technology. The stuff we take for granted today would have been mind boggling back then.

I remember my family had a VCR in I think 72? First one I ever seen..I remember I broke around the early mid 80s..a do It yourself guy I repaired it....quite a job....wasn't easy

I found a RCA Victor tv on a curbside and all I had to do was replace a few tubes and rejuvenate the color tube and is working order

My parents repaired cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs when I was a kid. And let me tell you, the CRTs in larger TVs were heavy as all get out. A two-man job to get it out of the chassis and put a new one in. And you risked instant electrocution if your hand even brushed against a component called a flyback transformer inside TVs of that era.

Wow a bus before its time,120v outlet!!

Your grandchildren will sure have a good laugh about your oh so great plasma TV!

to hippee77: ya know I have often thought the same thing as you. One of the major TV companies should reissue "retro looking sets" but with all the modern componants. I just have a gut feeling they would sell alot of them.....even black & white ones.

I remember the old color tv record player combo units of the 60s. We never had one of those. My parents just bought the tvs.

Remember the NBC Peacock? It would come on screen in black and white and then spread it's tail feathers in color.

Best time to be born

I remember in the 1960's people always had a table or TV lamp on at night . Theres a ton of old TV LAMPS on ebay, a classic one is the long black ceramic panther with a bulb in back. We had a big green deer with a bulb in it. I think Panasonic offered a backlite panel that diverted light to the wall behind the tv.

I want to put my RCA picture tube in my flat screen TV . Those were the days .

Iwould love to have a tv like that

of the 4 LCD televisions 2 used for computer monitors 1 being a Philips 50" and a RCA 42" the RCA is the oldest got in 2008 and is the most watched still has the best picture the clearest 1080P the Brightest led backlit and the most vivid even today RCA blows the competition out of the water

3:08- Olan Soule and Edy Williams (1966) 4:08- Barney Martin as the "Bus Driver" (1966)

The great days of yesteryear. They are sorely missed. We must always keep alive the way things were then so we aren’t swallowed up in modern mayhem.

Great ads but my family got our first color TV in 1967 .... I didn't think color sets were out in back in '61.

Those tv´s have better sound then our generation´s flat screen tv´s (TRUE)

The last commercial featurde young juvenile delinquents dancing and listening to rock and roll, a gateway to smoking grass, thinking you can fly and jumping out a window to your death.

I can’t wait to get one of those someday

It's hard to understand today, but these early 60's color TV's were definitely prestige items. The equivalent of several MONTHS of an ordinary working man's wages. Also very expensive to fix when they went down, which was common back then. A tube-type color TV back then was basically three Black and whites in one chassis. You could heat your living room when you turned one of these puppies on.

Awesome !

When colored tv first came out and we still had a black and white, I was young, so when I saw the peacock saying it was broadcast in living color, I couldn’t understand why I didn’t see any color 😂

Found a 1962 RCA New Vista color console with stereo / phono in mint shape with original manuals and sales receipt about 20 years ago at an outdoor junk auction. Didn’t even bring a $2 bid. They just hauled it into the back woods to let it rot. Would have loved to had it… but it wasn’t going in my Ford Escort at the time.

My family didn't get a color TV until 1973 I guess we were poor folks.

You think these kids are swingin in 1961..... just wait about 3 years when 4 guys from Liverpool, England turn their world upside down!

It's a RCA VICTOR color tv! Our family's first color tv was a PHilco. Owned by Ford.

I liked being 9 and not 70. life in 1961 America was pretty good.

I’ll take the TV programs of back then over the programs of today

solid copper circuts didn't mention the fact how the high heat from the tubes were drying those c ircuts out

And that is how it was in the mid-1960s

Wow color TVs were that big of a deal back then. Now the hype goes to 3D televisions. I wonder if in the future 3D Tv will become the norm too.

Jerry Seinfeld's TV Dad at 4:30, the bus driver.

The bus driver in the last commercial is the guy who played Jerry's dad on "Seinfeld"(I think).

In my neighborhood owning a big color set was huge status symbol

Back then, no one knew that RCA was one of the least dependable brands on the market.

The actor in the 4th commercial was Olan Soule.

Jeez... 2001, My parents had a Sony for some odd reason, then switched to the flat screen market with a Samsung TV. Largest TV? A Toshiba. And Its in my room.

The last couple commercials were pretty funny, Ira!- Steveo

In 61 color tvs were very expensive

I'm with you. Not only that but one of the real reasons that people of that age didn't talk about anger, strife, hunger, racial inequality, sexual inequality, physical and mental disabilities, war, mental illness, child abuse, domestic violence, and prejudice was because although these problems were going on, -in many cases much worse than they are today-people just turned their backs on these problems, pretending they didn't exist. The media was-and still is-notorious for that!

Thats the year I git into the TV business.

How prescious !!!

In my day, we didn’t have any of these fancy color sets, or a TV set for that matter, or electricity even. We slept in the dirt and ate it too. And we loved it!

Ok that explains why Ray’s color TV has a clearer, sharper picture than our color TV 😂 : his picture tube is an RCA picture tube 😂! We got to replace our picture tube with a new RCA picture tube! LOL 😂 😝

Bill Nye the Science Guy. Always kew he was a bad guy!