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Tale #6.
A friend from another island in another ocean writes to remind us of the "color filter" which was sold as a means to convert black and white TV to color. This was before real color TV. These things usually consisted of a strip of cellophane, green across the bottom third, pink in the middle third and blue on the top. You taped this cellophane over the black and white tube of your television set and (hopefully) the green would cover grass, the pink people and the blue the sky. Somehow it just didn't work out. Jeremy Rogers writes: I have an advertisement from 1961 when they were selling for 19/6 (97.5p for the LSD-challenged). It goes: "Doubles the Pleasure," writes one thrilled customer ... "Trebles it," writes another, " ... "perfect blend of colours, especially on outdoor shots such as WESTERNS" ... and so the testimonials pour in. If YOU haven't seen the colour filter in action, you've never seen T.V. at its best. Just fit the screen to your set (a few minutes' work) switch on and look in. You'll be amazed! No glare. More LIFE! Your family will be thrilled. Your friends will envy you... For only 19/6 (and money-back guarantee) you can have years and years of new excitement and enjoy colourful television hour after hour. Only the Colour Filter Screen brings this new pleasure into your home. Fill in this coupon TODAY and send with 19/6 Postal Order.
Another advert I have relates to 'Telesurance' who used to insure TV tubes. Supposedly said by Tony Hancock: "Has YOUR tube gone again? Mine has. Half way through Rawhide this bloke pulled out his gun just as the arrow hit him. His legs went one way, his head went the other, he let out a gasp of agony and disappeared out of the bottom of the screen. I thought, 'allo, either the adverts are coming on, or my tube's gone. Fortunately I was lucky. My tube had gone. Well, I've insured it. It can go every night as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't cost me a bean. It's the best day's work I ever did. Ah! This is the life. Laying on the floor in front of the telly, a packet of crisps in one hand, a bottle of Spanish Burgundy in the other, and a new tube coming round in time for Emergency Ward Ten. What more can a chap want."
Jeremy Rogers jeremy.rogers@zetnet.co.uk

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