Let's Give Away a Big Screen...

I remember one time in maybe the early 80s I had a good friend who purchased a large wood cabinet Curtis Mathes color TV. My friend was doing well, had some money to spend and this brand of TV was advertised as the most expensive TV set in America and "darn well worth it." Curtis Mathes made TVs in Athens, Texas and in the 1940s had developed the radio as a centerpiece of the American living room. No reason this idea should not work for TV. 

Thanks to info from Wikipedia we know old Curtis developed a modular electronic component design. His service men carried all 10 electronic parts on the truck. A service call was designed to last 20 minutes and cost $20. In shop service was free. A great idea but things went downhill. 

The second chairman of the company, George Curtis Mathes was killed in 1983 in the Air Canada Flight 797 fire, The Canadian fold singer Stan Rogers, on his way back from the Kerville Folk Festival also died. A great singer was lost and the TV company began to decline. 

All this brings us to what I do. I take photos of junk big screen TVs that are abandoned on the side of the road and I raffle them off to raise money to keep this blog in operation. I don't mind bragging that I have raised millions doing this so it's not really all that necessary that I do it anymore but looking back through the blog I note that the last big screen give away was in 2009. I know some of you have missed the excitement so here is a couple for you. 

I don't know if Curtis was doing a good thing making the TV the centerpiece of the American living room but for a company that made wood cabinets starting in to 20s and furniture in the 40s and stood behind a repairable product I don't think the modern big screen is what he had in mind. All I can go by is what I see in the stores. Walls of plastic at what ever price point you can afford. 

I know you like it so here it is. Send in your raffle tickets. I'll be glad to come over, I'll bring the tuba and I'll install these in your yard. 

Click the big screen tag to see what fun we have had in the past.