Evening star., 1951-05-20
On the Air

IhIS Man S IeIe
.Defies Experts '
By Harry 4
Life was simpler in the old days.
1t was electronically simpler, att
any rate. If you wanted a radio
you took an oatmeal box. a length
OF copper wire, few parts bought
at the five-and-ten and you were
in business. You built your own
and when it failed it was because
of some obvious disaster that was
recognizable by a child Of 8
All you had to know to fix it was
how to plug in a soldering iron.
Television is different. as you
well know. With television you
have to have a serviceman. Even
this does not simplify matters,
however. Television sets are per-
verse and have willful personali-
ties all their own. They sit in the
living room and sneer, haunting
you with underhanded behavior.
They snarl and they make their
pictures either dance or disappear.
So you call the serviceman, and
what happens? He walks into the
room and the television set starts
acting like Little Lord Fauntleroy.
It folds it's hands in its lap, smiles
sweetly and does anything asked
Iof it.
If there is a serviceman within
block. the TV set gets Baltimore
better than it ever got channel 4
when it was alone with you. So
the serviceman gives you or your
wife a condescending look, twists
the knobs back and forth several
times and walks out. The sound
of his truck fades in the distance
and your picture fades with it.
If you want to hire a television
'serviceman to sit in your living
room every night this is all right,
but some Of US can't afford the
expense.
1t Was No Problem
With a Genius Handy
The television editors receiver
began acting moody awhile back,
which. of course, was not entirely
unexpected at its age. 1t did not
follow any normal misbehavior
patterns, however. It took to go
ing out of "sync," which means
out of synchronization, which
means that the picture wouldn't
sit still where it belonged.
This seemed at first to present
no problem to an ingenious man.
Television sets are like television
cameras in that a light rap in
the proper place often cures their
ailments. A rope fastened to the
dropleaf of a table and stretched
across the room worked just fine
in this case. A tug at the rope
brought the leaf up. gravity took it
back against the table and the
picture would fall back into place.
| Housewives. oddly enough. take
dim view of lengths of rope
stretched across their living
rooms. no matter what feats of
scientific genius they represent.
To bring peace to the household
it finally was admitted that the
TV set could stand some profess
sional attention. The rope came
down and the set went out.
Now, several weeks later, there
is one Washington housewife
who is beginning to think maybe
that rope wasn't so bad after all.
| The television set came back
latter week that first time, with
a lot of new tubes. 1t had not
only new tubes. but new set of
ailments added to its old one.
A second serviceman was sum-
moned and he took a screwdriver
to "the Thing" Soon it was act
ing as if brand-new.
You said it goes out of sync," :"
he said. "When?" That was a
tough one to answer. Man was
there for an hour and a half and
nothing untoward happened. The
set behaved for a whole week
like that. deceitfully, then it took
to believing suddenly like ferry
boat meeting its mate in mid
stream.
This Servieemon Hardly
Got Out of the House
The third Serviceman was
summoned. He walked in, snapped
the switch and waited. That's all;
Just waited.
There's nothing wrong with
that set" he said finally and went
away. If he heard the receivers
triumphant below as he hit the
sidewalk, he paid no attention. It
continued to howl like stuck
lnog ana snow nothing but pic
lures Of new herringbone tweed
designs, so it was sent away to
see if it was worth fixing or
should be replaced.
Make no remarks about bad
pennies around our living room,
please. The TV set came home
the other night to take up it's
overbearing pose in its accustomed
spot. It was turned on and
seemed in excellent health-for
the first half-hour.
Then John Cameron Swayze
suddenly was cut in half by a
thick black line. The right-hand
side of him was on the left and
the left side of him was on the
fright. The proper adjustment was
Imade-and the picture tore of in
the other direction. A slight turn
lof the control "a loosely used