postcard written to Edna on visit to Lynn and Mary in Piru, California
to: Mrs. J.D. Spennetta
Box 429
Orange, California
Dearest folks:-
Lynn is busy around the house today, mowing etc. He has been coming home about 11 o'clock to watch ball game and having his dinner on a tray* beside the TV. They surely make good use of it. Turn it on about 3 every afternoon and it is not turned off until bed time. Have not had radio on since I have been here. I wrote to Mrs. Sherrill but as yet have not heard from her. Wrote to John that I would stay with them for a couple of days if they would like me to. Mrs. Eccles and I spend most of the time on the porch to keep warm. It has not been hot. Lynn has just come in for his game. Wish I might have gone to the funeral this afternoon. Wrote to Harold & Betty. Love Mama.
[pictured: tv of the same vintage mentioned here]
1 comment:
This card is evidence that Lynn Chuning missed out on a great patent opportunity!
Who Invented the TV Tray?
In her book As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s, Karal Ann Marling writes that national advertising for TV tray tables first appeared in 1952, a full year before Swanson introduced the TV dinner in October 1953. But though the invention of the TV dinner has been mythologized all the way to the Smithsonian, the inventor of the TV tray has been forgotten.
However, it's not a difficult guess to imagine how TV trays originated. The drive-in restaurants of the 1950s served food on trays that attached to and extended out from a rolled-down car window. A food order would be given over a two-way walkie-talkie, and then a car hop, often a young woman wearing roller skates, would deliver the order.
The collapsible design of the first TV trays bears a definite resemblance to these drive-through food trays. Clips mounted on the backside of an aluminum surface connected to tubular aluminum legs. The legs had rubber tips on the bottom, and were collapsible for easy storage.
The convenience of eating in the car made an easy transition to the convenience of eating in front of the television, where families could watch hit shows like I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan Show together. When TV dinners became a smashing success a year later, the place of the TV tray in the American home was secured.
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