Television

When did we get our first TV set? I can't remember, but I do know someone bought it for my mother. When? After my father died. Who was living at home? Get back to those questions.

I remember the television was turned on only after supper, for my mother while we (Lily and I, and perhaps Charlie) cleaned up and did the dishes. She would watch the news for a little while, then someone would switch on an early show for her, probably Leave it to Beaver, My Three Sons, I Love Lucy, or perhaps Major Bowes Amateur Show with Ed Sullivan. There was always something to watch and usually we would watch too, after the kitchen was cleaned up, and usually if we had a project to work on, or some ironing to do, or maybe sewing, we'd work that in somehow, to keep her company while she watched her favorites, and Archie Bunker was definitely not one of her favorites. She sometimes watched Little House on the Prairie with John and Murder She Wrote with Jessica later on in the evening.

Before TV, my mother used to listen to the radio shows, like Amos & Andy, and The Newlyweds with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. And we would use that time in our own games unless she wanted to play Chinese Checkers; she liked cribbage but after my father died, she had no one to play with.

After my mother died, we found ourselves watching the shows she liked but very often did not watch until Murder She Wrote came on but sometimes, after the news, we waited until Alfred Hitchcock's threatening music or we'd look for Miss Marple in an English mystery show. Sometimes after my mother died, we rather lost interest in those repeated shows that she enjoyed so much. And very often, after the news, we'd spend the evening having a game with world countries and capitals, lakes, rivers, in the U.S. or perhaps just words. Tommy, Charlie, Lily and I used to spend hours at this type of thing and when Charlie was not at home, the three of us continued.