Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

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Mother (Marion Gunderson), me (Louise Gunderson Shimon), and our television sometime between November 1955 and February 1956. (Click on photo to magnify the dial.)

After reading Jerry Farlow’s comments (two posts ago) about watching television in 1950 with Gary (or Greg?) Kaiser at Rickards’ store in Rolfe, Iowa, I called Gary Kaiser* and asked him, “Do you remember that?”

Gary: Oh, sure. I visually remember Rickards’ hardware store and that television sitting in the middle of the store. One channel was WOI and then they would try to get Mason City. I don’t remember the name of that station in Mason City. Those were the two stations that would come in. It was Saturday night and we would watch wrestling that was just pathetic. That’s what you watched. They would turn the dial trying to get a better picture. It was snow and then you might see visions of what it was. That‘s about all we got to see.

Gary: Here in Sioux City we have on Channel 4 a Breen. His grandfather, Ed Breen, owned the Fort Dodge TV station. Ed was a very distinguished man. I remember him as having a moustache that would look so debonair. Ed’s grandson is currently a newscaster here for Channel 4 in Sioux City.

Gary: I don’t remember when it came on the air but I remember on the Fort Dodge station they had a Barndance show. It aired on Saturday nights and it was so amateur that it was pathetic.

Louise: I remember Barndance. There was a girl a year older than I am, from Rolfe. Her name was Rania Kuchenreuther. I remember Rania singing “Tiny Bubbles” on Barndance.

Gary: There was also an elderly lady…remember this is live television. She was on on a regular basis. I don’t believe she should have been on television. It was that amateur.

Gary: I do remember Ed Breen as being so distinguished with his moustache and a blazer. And everything was live. Ed owned the station and, of course, when you owned the station I believe you were “on.” I remember him being on most of the time. This was not big production. This was, “I own, it. I’ve got to run it.”

Gary: Barndance was on Saturday nights at I think about 6:30. This would be in about 1955.

Louise: Was the Uncle Dick show on at that time?

Gary: I don’t remember that one. I do remember Jim Henry’s [Canyon Kid**] show coming in from Sioux City. The guy is still alive. He’s about 90 years old and he had cartoons every afternoon.

Louise: Are you meaning Floppy?

Gary: Oh, no. Floppy was on WHO out of Des Moines.  That gentleman is no longer living.

Gary: In Sioux City it was all local. Jim Henry’s model was…he had a vest that had every type of button you could think of on it. And that vest is in the museum here in Sioux City. That’s history of television in its earliest days.

Louise: So, when there was that television set in the middle of Rickards’ store, was that the first you had seen television?

Gary: Oh, sure.

Louise: Did you go there repeatedly?

Gary: On Saturday nights we’d go there, or Saturday afternoons. It was one of those things that…I think they had wires hanging in the store to get better reception. They kept moving the antennae trying to get better reception. It would fade in and fade out. I remember about the snow. You’d look at the picture and you could almost see something but you weren’t sure. That’s what it was at that time.

Louise: When did you get a television in your home?

Gary: Oh, I’m trying to think if it was ’53 or ’54. They were round…the picture tube was round when you looked at it.

Louise: Do you mean as round as a circle?

Gary: It was as round as a circle.** That was the picture in the tube.

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My intent is to post by tomorrow night (Sunday) about the next project endorsed by the Rolfe Public Library board.

*This transcript is posted with Gary Kaiser’s permission.

**This Canyon Kid YouTube video was produced by IPTV.

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These images from the April 3, 1924, issue of The Rolfe Arrow aren’t nearly as juicy as the 1914 Arrow ad I included in the last post. Yet, in this day and age it is hard to believe that once upon a time a brand new automobile could be purchased for $295.

Click on this photo to read who bought new Fords in 1914, and to get a glimpse of how taxes were of concern.

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From the April 3, 1924, Rolfe Arrow. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

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Does anyone know who owned the Rolfe Auto Co.?

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In case you didn’t see already see this article, and in case you remember paying a dime to attend Al Bell assemblies when you were in school, check out this March 21, 2010, Des Moines Sunday Register story.

At some point the article will no longer be available online. When that time comes, and also now, you’ll at least be able to see him in this photo from the Rolfe, Iowa, THE RAM 1964 yearbook.

Do you remember which, if any, of your school years (either as a student, teacher or administrator) Al Bell presented at your school, and do you have any particular memories from his visits? Also, in your yearbook(s) do you see any photo(s) of Al? (If you do and want to email them, I’ll post them. mariongundersonart@gmail.com)

Also, there is a Facebook group called “I Remember Al Bell.”

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