1951: EARLY BROADCAST TV IN THE TRENTON AREA

The Glover family got their first television set from Bond's Electric on Hamilton Avenue back in 1949. The cost was a then astronomical $489.00 for a ten inch screen. I remember going with my brother and seeing many other sets. One in particular caught my eye. It was a little "portable" set with a 6 inch screen. As an accessory, you could purchas a magnifying glass on a stand that clipped on the set to give a bit more magnification. The operating word here is "primitive!"
Looking back to those very early years of commercial television, and looking forward to this year of 2010 reveals an incredible leap in communication technology. Here in the Trenton area, Most consumers of the relatively new television technology were given the option of channels, 3 (WPTZ), 6 (WFIL-TV), and 10 (WCAU-TV) If you happened to be affluent enough to purchase a "double yagi" rooftop antenna, along with an "Alliance Tenna-Rotor" you might even be able to pick up some "DX" from New York. Back in those years, the basic New York stations were channel 2 WCBS-TV, 4 WNBC, 5 WABD, 7 WJZ-TV, 9 WOR-TV, 11 WPIX, and just across the river, 13 WATV. Our first television was an Admiral with a humongous 10 inch screen! It was advertised as an Admiral "Consolette." Very early television went on the air around 2 PM, and ceased operation at around 10 PM with the playing of the National Anthem. During the off hours, a "test pattern" was transmitted which was used by technicions to adjust the various controls and give definition to the normal broadcast. Test patterns usually had horizontal and vertical lines in the pattern so the tech could delineate the image. WHAT A LEAP IN TECHNOLOGY!

JoeZ said...

Tom this is so nostalgic and interesting to read about.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Tom Glover said...

IT SURE IS, JOE. ...TAKES US BACK TO MORE INNOCENT TIMES. TOM GLOVER

Thursday, November 11, 2010   Mack said... The 26 inch wood frame color TV was the one most familiar to me growing up..seems everyone had one from the late 60s to the late 70s:)

Saturday, November 13, 2010

2010: PENNY CANDY AGAIN!

I drew this graphic with pen and ink 21 years ago, way back in 1989 for a column I did on one of my favorite subjects, which happens to be penny candy. The graphic following this came from the home page of  Old Time Candy, a company who is keeping the tradition alive. The link was sent to me by visitor  Joe Lind. As you can see, there is a definite interest in those simple and innocent times when a kid could plop down a nickel and nearly fill up that little tan paper bag with candy that actually cost a penny.....indeed, there were a number of penny candies that were two for a penny! Wow, am I getting old!

NOTE: ADDITIONAL PENNY CANDY POSTS can be found by searching in the upper left SEARCH BLOG area. Type in PENNY CANDY, click on the magnifying glass,  and look to the bottom right of the page and wait for the green progress light to finish. Then, page down. 

Michael said...
Tom:

I'm abashed you failed to draw the easist one of the all time favorite penny candies;

The paper strip with the candy button you bit off along with a piece of the paper. And don't forget the wax bottle of colored water. You bit off the top of what looked like a coke bottle, and drank down pure joy; Yuck!!!
Regards
JerseyMike Kuzma

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Don't be "abashed," Mike.  Anyone who remembers penny candy realizes that there are hundreds of other penny candies sold during that era. It took me some time to sketch those few samples. I never did illustrate "Licorice Passas," "Mary Janes," "Sugar Daddys,""Jaw Breakers and.....I could go on. By the way, those wax bottles were a delight. I usually doubled up with them, along with those pinwheels that only a true penny candy gourmet knew how to eat!

Tom Glover

1950's: REMEMBERING "LOCKWOODS"

I may have posted this in an earlier post, but right about now I have one of my frequent obsessions with the 1950's as I work on my next Kuser Farm Mansion music program on October 6 at Kuser Mansion. I will be bringing the music of Perry Como, Guy Mitchell, Patti Page and all those wonderful vocalists of that golden decade to those of us who still treasure good music. We will be remembering Pete's Steak House and other local teen hangouts.

I and my buddies went to Lockwoods on a few occasions, but with us it was Betty and Bill's on Route 33 adjacent to Cedar Gardens, or Carl DeAngelo's Del Rio on Hamilton Avenue and last but far from least, Pete's Steak House on Chambers Street near Cedar Lane. There are many wonderful memories of car hops, "malteds," cheese fries, hamburgers, and of course steak sandwiches which were every bit as good as the highly publicized "Philadelphia Cheese Steak." Indeed, that same, famous "Pete's Cheese Steak" is still available from Pete's Steak House on White Horse Avenue in Hamilton and North Olden Avenue in Ewing. 

Quality and tradition will never die.
SPEAKING OF PLACES TO EAT, GO TO TODAY'S "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY" COLUMN
http://www.nj.com/columns/times/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1284788721156150.xml&coll=5%20
AND SIT DOWN WITH ME AND ENJOY AN OLD FASHIONED ICE CREAM SODA. YOU PROBABLY HAD A DIFFERENT SODA FOUNTAIN STORE THAN I, BUT I WOULD BET A DOUBLE DIP FRENCH VANILLA CONE THAT YOU HAD YOUR VERY OWN ICE CREAM "FOUNTAIN" IN YOUR AREA. I WOULD EVEN BET THAT ONE OR TWO OF MY VISITORS EVEN SHARED ONE OF THOSE ICE CREAM SODAS THROUGH A SECOND STRAW WITH THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE!

Ralph Lucarella said...

HI AGAIN TOM....YOU MENTION THE 50'S AND ONCE AGAIN IT WAS A PERIOD OF GREAT ACTIVITY FOR ME. MEMORIES OF BUILDING THE HAMILTON BOWLING LANES ON ROUTE 33 ALONG WITH MY BROTHER AND THE HELP OF MANY OTHERS WERE EVENTS THAT WILL FOREVER LINGER. I CAN ONLY SAY "ONLY IN AMERICA" SURELY APPLIES TO THAT ACCOMPISHMENT. BEST REGARDS.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

SJBill said...

I remember the Lockwood brothers very well. One was named John, and I cannot recall the quieter of the two.They also had a boating and marine supplies business behind the drive-in called Mercer Marine. In 1964, my Dad bought me a 17 foot Dixie sport runabout, originally equipped a 90 HP Evinrude outboard. The following year we upgraded the boat to a 100 HP engine. The boat did about 45 MPH, and could it guzzle gasoline and oil (it was a 2 cycle engine). They were just wonderful for service. They even replaced a "lower unit" for the engine on a holiday weekend after we hit a submerged obstruction in the Delaware River by the Marine terminal.I see Hamilton Square in the background. There was an old glass type filling pump sitting out next to Rte 33 all by its lonesome back then. BTW, I surely miss Carl DeAngelo's DelRio restaurant as well. The smell of the inside just came to mind with all the wood smoke on the open fire. Almost as much fun as Dirty Bill's.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

JoeZ said...

Tom: My favorite place was Del Rio's on Hamilton Ave. On a winter's night with that fire going a nice drink and a great cheese steak basket. Sorry to see those places go.

Monday, September 20, 2010

1934: RECORDING ON PAPER; WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?

I have been involved in media matters for many, many years. Way back in the mid 1940's, I recall  when our Hamilton High choir journeyed over to WTNJ on Bellevue Avenue and recorded "You'll Never Walk Alone" on a plastic phonograph disk. Then, in the late 1950's I bought a wire recorder from a Lambertville flea market dealer, along with little spools of 35 millimeter film which were all a part of a Nash automobile sales campaign. Then with the advent of the successors to the paper tape recorder above, I began a quest to find a tape recorder for my extensive collection of old radio programs like "The Lone Ranger," "Your Hit Parade," "The Paul Whiteman Show," and hundreds of other then- "hi-tech" electronic appliances. So here we are in the 21st century. I have numerous MP3 players with hundreds of hours of radio programs which are absolutely free for downloading. My old time radio collection sits in my basement, stack upon stack of now out-dated reel to reel tapes. MP 3 players can also record those old 33-1/3, 78, and 45 RPM records and convert them to MP3 "on the run." Time Marches On!

2010: TOM GLOVER'S "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY"

The above screen shot is what you will see if you click on the link to my TRENTON TIMES "Sentimental Journey" column at the top of my home page. The first two or so are complete, but as you go down the list you will find that there is a surcharge for receiving the complete column, and only the complete first page is visible.

2009: HAROLD VAN DYKE IS A SILENT KEY

One of my friends on the old DVRA 2 meter radio net was the gentleman above. "Van" was a dedicated radio man and a true gentleman. How I miss those guys and gals who were so much a part of the DVRA "Commuter Net" back in the 1970's. Rest in peace harold, and best 73's.

Tom Glover
WA2RVU

MY RECENT "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY" COLUMN RESULTED IN THIS FASCINATING LOOK BACK AT THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOVIE THEATERS IN TRENTON.
THANKS, ELMER!

Dear Tom:

I was born in 1930 and grew up on the other side of Hamilton Township
in Colonial Manor and White Horse. I, too, have Saturday afternoon
movie memories, some a little different from yours.

It all began with my brothers and I taking the long walk down South
Broad Street toward the Broad Theater. It was like a caravan of kids
as more friends kept joining the group along the way, and the
laughing and horsing around were the first joy of the day. When we
got there, the crowd divided into two groups, one stayed at the
Broad, the other headed for the nearby Bijou (always pronounced By-
Joe, never Bee-Zhoo).

The Broad, which we always chose, was a big theater with a balcony,
so the first decision was whether to head for the orchestra or the
balcony, the latter being a place where more rowdy behavior was
tolerated. (I notice that your column has been sanitized of any
rowdiness.)

The Broad always had a double feature in addition to all the things
you mention (cartoon, serial, coming attractions, shorts) and a
newsreel as well, especially after the war started. The Broad kept
showing the same material over and over until midnight. We never
stayed that long, of course, but if the main feature was great we
might stay to see it twice, or at least the juicy bits. Then there
was the walk home, chattering about what we had seen -- a time to
decompress before returning to the bosom of the family.

Another thing I remember well is the way the audience, especially
kids, talked back to the screen. Such warnings as, "Look out behind
you!" and, "He's got a gun!" were signs that we were part of the
show, not just spectators.

You give eleven cents as the price of admission, and that is correct
for the summer of 1941. But do you remember how another cent was
added to the tax after the war started? We groaned at first, but soon
became proud of doing our bit for the war effort.

Regards,

Elmer L. Sullivan

2009: MY "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY" COLUMN IS. ONLINE

Talk about "hi-tech!" As I was writing this post, I recalled with bittersweet memories how as a lonely and homesick soldier, serving two and a half years in Italy and Germany, I was starved for hometown news, I asked Mom and Pop Glover to send me the Trenton Times. It took upwards of two weeks to cross the ocean and be put in my barracks mailbox, but I savored each and every paper. Now, those lonely G.I.'s and others who yearn for the news from home, can just click on their computer and journey across the miles to read their hometown newspaper. Incredible!

Online newspaper readership is growing rapidly and a portent of things to come in this digital age. Personally, I don't think anything will ever replace my first-thing-in-the-morning cup of coffee with my favorite morning newspapers spread across my breakfast table. Most of my fellow senior citizens prefer reading the morning paper as they have been for decades. Conversely, most of the younger generation are computer users, and reading the local news online. Realizing the changing demographics, Times Editor Brian Malone has brought the "Times of Trenton" (known to we old timers as the "Trenton Times") into the digital age with a much easier to negotiate website. The Times is the oldest daily newspaper in Trenton, and among the oldest in the Trenton-Bucks-Burlington-Delaware Valley area. The website is very attractive, and those who prefer to read their local news via the online newspaper, along with those who live anywhere in the world can now read comprehensive daily hometown news in brilliant, living color.
My bi-weekly "Sentimental Journey" column, along with all of your other favorite Times columnists, is now available online and quite easy to access. The graphic above is a cut and paste of today's "Sentimental Journey" column. Bookmark the website below for your daily online read of the Times of Trenton, and thanks for being a reader!

Go to:

http://www.nj.com/times

Arrow down to "COLUMNISTS" and click on my name, along with any of the many Times columnists.

2009: WELCOME SWEET SPRINGTIME

Join us today (Sunday, March 22) from 1 to 3 PM as I bring the program, "Welcome Sweet Springtime" to those of us who remember the golden years. The program will be presented in the main dining room-theater of Kuser Farm Mansion on Newkirk and Leonard Avenue in Hamilton. I will be recalling those wonderful years of our youth as we played sandlot baseball, the first girlfriend, the story of the old boiler, and of course, the main feature of our program, singing along to the songs we all loved. Come on out; based on past programs, I can assure you that you will spend a very happy two hours.

1355 "Hits" from my Saturday "Sentimental Journey" Column

My "Sentimental Journey" column on page A2 in the January 10th edition of the Trenton Times has resulted in an incredible increase in the number of visitors to my website. A hearty welcome and an equally hearty "thank you" for visiting! I hope you return often. With over 3,000 posts, you may be looking for a specific subject. If so, go to the upper left of the home page and type a key word in the "SEARCH BLOG" space. Your screen will blink, and any and ALL appearances of the keyword will come on the screen. The INDEX is also a convenient option, but is incomplete and a work in progress.

Basic "How to" information is located
at the top of the home page.
(How to save graphics to your computer,
the guest book, etc.)

TO NOTEBOOK COMPUTER USERS:
AS I AGE, I AM BECOMING MORE AND MORE "OPTICALLY CHALLENGED." I HAVE FOUND A DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE IN THE PAGE WHEN IT IS VIEWED AT A DISPLAY RESOLUTION OF 800 X 600 (LARGER IMAGE) INSTEAD OF THE STANDARD 1024 X 768. (SMALLER IMAGE).
Click on START on the bottom left of your computer screen, click on CONTROL PANEL, find and click on DISPLAY, click on SETTINGS,
slide the resolution setting to the left
from 1024 x 768 to 800 x 600.
Your screen will blink and the new resolution will appear. Click Click APPLY, or click on OK.
Simply reverse the process to return to the
original screen resolution.

2008: TOM GLOVER'S TIMES OF TRENTON'S "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY"

For those who are scattered all over the globe, I am listing two of my recent "Sentimental Journey" columns which are published bi-weekly on the Times of Trenton website, http://www.nj.com/mercer. Below are two links to the Times' website. Clicking on either one will take you to recent "Sentimental Journey" columns. (One wherein Tom Glover and Don Slabicki have fun with the incredible novelty products of the Johnson Smith Company, Racine, Wisconsin. The Other a bittersweet recollection of my very first car, a 1938 Ford Business coupe'.)

Clicking on each link will bring you to the URL of the above columns.

NOTE: WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE FIRST LINK BELOW, YOU WILL SEE THAT IT OPENS ON PAGE 2. ("NOVELTY ITEMS"). IN ORDER TO READ THE COMPLETE "NOVELTY ITEMS" COLUMN, GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND YOU WILL SEE A LINK TO PAGE 1. CLICK ON "PREVIOUS" OR "1," AND YOU WILL
BE TAKEN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE COLUMN.

http://www.nj.com/living/times/community/index.ssf?/base/news-5/122793515343890.xml&coll=5&thispage=1

http://www.nj.com/living/times/community/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1226725527182740.xml&coll=5

2008: THE "ROYAL BLUE;" THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION

I have met the nicest people in the world in the 27 years I have been writing for the local press, and also on this website. This week's "Sentimental Journey" Column in the Times of Trenton wherein I wrote about my lusting for an American Flyer "Royal Blue" train set when I was 10, resulted in the exquisite photo below which was sent to me this afternoon. I also received and email wherein Ron Mapps wrote and told me he still has the same cardboard trains set I got for Christmas '43 as related in my column. To those visitors who are not in the circulation area of the Times, Google TOM GLOVER HAMILTON TRENTON and when the Times gets around to publishing my Christmas Shopping in Downtown Trenton, 1943, you can read about the creaky wooden floor at Goldberg's Department Store. Currently, my last column relating to the Saturday night Canteens at Hamilton High is posted, and will be replaced with the more recent column.

2008: WBUD AND JACK PINTO, YOU ARE MISSED!

Many years ago, a fellow by the name of Newton Minow made a public statement that television was a "vast wasteland." In my humble opinion, he should have included broadcast radio in that statement as well. However, when he made that statement, radio was still broadcasting music for everyone, rather than targeting the younger generation. With only few exceptions, Minow was right on the money. Today, more than ever we are seeing, hearing and subjected to some of the most tasteless, vulgar, anti social programming in history. Sadly, much of this garbage is being watched and assimilated into the minds of our children and grandchildren. Senior citizens are depicted as complete buffoons. (Check out the old gentleman trying to play basketball with those younger guys; bony knees, bald head, gray hair, completely and hopelessly inept. Thank heavens for the Hallmark Channel. Their programming is spiritually uplifting, no sex, or vile language. Their nightly Christmas movies are as refreshing as an icy oasis in a very dry desert.
Radio? forget it! Unless you are within the "demographic target area" of 18 to 49 years of age, you can tune across the A.M. and F.M. band and find only talk radio, rock music in all categories from "soft" to acid, and everything that the younger generation prefers. Below is an article I wrote in one of my Times of Trenton "Sentimental Journey" columns a few years ago. It was well received by those of us in the "mature listener" demographic domain.

**********===========**********
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
Tom Glover, Trenton Times

I spent a very absorbing hour or so recently watching an interesting discussion on C-Span3. The subject was "The Future of Radio." One of the topics was a discussion of the numerous high-tech alternatives to broadcast radio. The featured guest was Mark Mays, president and CEO of Clear Channel broadcasting. During the conversation, Mays was asked about what impact high-tech advances have had on broadcast radio. I wish I could have put my two cents into the conversation, but it was taped and re-broadcast from an earlier time. I was probably one of the most loyal listeners to broadcast radio until the industry began to cater to their "target" audience. I think it's the 18-to-45 age group, but whatever it is, I'm too old to be eligible to listen. If you tune your radio to the lower range of the FM band around 88 megahertz and dial through the spectrum to 108 megahertz, you will hear the music of the "target" audience; nary a mellow sound to be heard. Don't try to find the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby or other vocalists from the 1940s and early '50s. They, and their contemporaries were dropped when those of us who loved that music reached the age of 60, 70 and older. Today, the oldies are the music of the '60s and '70s. I smiled a sad smile when Mays took a question from the audience. "Mr. Mays, some of the lyrics to the `music' on the radio is crude and even borders on the obscene . . ." The young lady went on to ask if it was necessary to play that type of music. Mays answered, "We focus on what listeners want to hear." I wondered to myself why I, and countless others in their 60s and 70s can't find the music WE want to hear.
The answer is painfully simple: the target audience. Frank Sinatra's music is heard on a couple of radio stations, and has been for years. I have always loved the music of Sinatra, and frequently listen to my favorite old-time disc jockey, Jack Pinto, on WBUD while having breakfast or dinner with Frank. I find myself wondering why love songs, beautiful ballads, and the other uplifting music of Don Cornell, Eddie Fisher, Julie Andrews and literally hundreds of Sinatra's contemporary vocalists are gathering dust on the studio shelves. Why not breakfast with Joni James and Patti Page? Or perhaps dinner with Eddie Fisher and Bing Crosby?
When broadcast radio closed the door on me, another very exciting door opened - satellite radio. Along came a medium that has rendered the target audience of broadcast radio irrelevant. No more straining to hear a far-off AM station playing the easy-listening music. My son gave me a satellite radio for my birthday, and for a minuscule monthly fee, I can listen to the stations geared to my generation. The antenna on the amazing little receiver is the size of a 50-cent piece. There are more than 100 commercial-free outlets broadcasting classical, jazz, Broadway and country. I can listen to the music we listened to before commercial broadcast radio abandoned us. Channel 4 is music of the '40s; Channel 5 is the '50s, and on to the '90s.
My personal interest is on channels 4 and 5, with the wonderful music of Sammy Kaye, Dick Haymes, The Platters, Gogi Grant, Julius LaRosa, Frankie Laine, Guy Lombardo, and yes, even Lawrence Welk! There even is a station devoted to old-time radio 24 hours a day where we can hear all the radio programs from the golden age. That's when the target audience catered to boys, girls, teenagers and adults. I really do miss it, and I'm willing to bet my Lone Ranger Silver Bullet key chain that I'm not the only one who feels abandoned by broadcast radio. Hey, I have to go now. Channel 5 is playing my favorite Joni James song, "Why Don't You Believe Me?"

2008 My "Sentimental Journey" Trenton Times Column

A number of people who are located in various places around the country have contacted me and said they have not been able to access my "Sentimental Journey" column on the Trenton Times website. In contacting the Times, I was told that they would check to see what the problem was and re-post my columns. I just checked, and my last column (Nov. 15) wherein I recall Canteen night at Hamilton High School has been posted. Here's the link.

http://www.nj.com/living/times/community/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1226725527182740.xml&coll=5

FOR THOSE WHO ARE "COMPUTER CHALLENGED"

A NUMBER OF FRIENDS WITH WHOM I AM IN CONTACT SEEM TO HAVE PROBLEMS ACCESSING MY SITE, PROBABLY DUE TO THE LENGTHY URL, WWW.GLOVER320.BLOGSPOT.COM.
AN EASY WAY TO GAIN ACCESS IS TO GO ON LINE, ACCESS GOOGLE, AND TYPE IN THE FOLLOWING STRING IN THE GOOGLE SEARCH BLOCK:

TOM GLOVER HAMILTON TRENTON.

THE FIRST FEW ENTRIES WILL BE LINKS TO MY SITE. JUST CLICK ON IT. THOSE WHO ARE OUT OF THE AREA AND READERS OF MY "SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY" COLUMN IN THE TIMES WILL ALSO FIND THE LATEST COLUMN BURIED IN THERE SOMEWHERE. LOOK FOR A LINK WITH NJO.

Farewell to my childhood "shortstop," Alex Bencivengo

Back in my teens, our neighborhood hosted a group of boys who regularly played baseball over in Plaag's Grove. Don Cook, Don Slabicki, Ernie Plaag, Don Dilts, Don Glover, Tom Glover, and our star shortstop, fellow Yankee fan Alex Bencivengo. Alex could have gone on to be a professional ball player. He was an extremely talented infielder. Alex and I were avid Yankee fans; in fact, the only two fans in the neighborhood. Alex passed away this week, and he has been in my prayers. So long Alex; save me a place up there in the dugout.

And thank you, Tony Tozzi, for the photo.