Short and Sweet

I and my 6 year old son went to a 50s-style hamburger joint this evening to pick up burgers and hot dogs for the family for dinner. We’ve been there a few times over the six months or so it’s been open. The food is decently good when you want such food but don’t want to hit McDonald’s again.

The restaurant blares old 50s and 60s music through the overhead speakers. There are two big-screen monitors that look like old, wood television sets, silently showing old TV shows like The Andy Griffith Show and The Johnny Carson Show. My son was mesmerized by the TVs. As he watched, I explained it to him: a long time ago, TV was only black and white; there were no remote controls—we had to change the channel by turning a knob; there was no Animal Planet channel—in fact, there were only three or four channels, total.

Without taking his eyes off the monitors, he asked, “Did TVs have volume back then?”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com