1950s Blond Furniture

My daughter Kay’s blog about the 1950s era alarm clock my parents used, which matched their blond bedroom set, reminded my brother of the blond TV. Our mother was always a modern woman who adapted to and loved the newest appliances and conveniences. Though I had forgotten the specifics of the TV, other than the fact it was blond, Mickey remembered it also had a radio and phonograph player hidden within its cabinet with doors. It was a Hoffman and I found a 1950s era Hoffman television ad that, if not identical, would have been similar to what Mickey was describing (the ad was larger but I just selected the pertinent one).There were doors to close when not in use, radio and television controls on the right and the phonograph, which played 78’s, 45’s and 33 1/3’s was in the bottom left drawer.

Mickey talked about listening to the Snow White album as narrated by Dennis Day, which came out around 1950. I do still have the record (picture below),  though the front of the album cover is gone (cover photo from Internet below) as well as the 24-page color booklet.

Snow White Soundtrack 1950 release, Dennis Day narrating

I, too, loved that album and listened to it for perhaps 15-20 years or more – the records are almost slick. I particularly enjoyed “I’m Wishing [Snow White’s duet/echo from the wishing well] and One Song,” “Someday My Prince Will Come,” “Whistle While You Work,” and “Heigh Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go.” I have to say, some of the Disney songs shaped my positive outlook on life and my work ethic, including these from Snow White, but also tunes like “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Song of the South.

Snow White Soundtrack Front Cover

As I entered my teen years, I used that phonograph to play rock ‘n roll songs as well as continuing to play Mother’s opera, operetta and pop recordings of the 1930s and 1940s – a couple of favorites being “Donkey Serenade” and “Pistol Packin’ Mama”. Mother coped with most of the music of my teenage years, with the exception of my Jackie Wilson songs – as a musician, she hated the repetition of phrases that were a part of his style. I do still have all Mother’s records that survived [she said one of my cousins laid out a number of her records and walked on them to break them, as well as breaking several of her figurines]. At some point I disposed of all my 50’s era 45’s – so much for maintaining what would have been a valuable collection!

Update December 2014:  The record is now in Kay’s possession