RCA CTC-4 assembly line.
 

Rows of RCA Victor CTC-4 "Director" models on pallets and waiting for shipping cartons. Then on to RCA distributors and a dealer near you. Suspect this is a publicity photo taken at the Bloomington, Ind. plant. Notice the sets in foreground & near background assembly line have labels across screens. Those in far background do not. Probably early 1956.

-Steve D.

I think you're right about the banners, the set on the right is just getting it's chassis installed so it would be hard to do convergence and setup with the banner in the way.

That's an awesome photo! The sets in that picture seem to go on forever!

Hmmm. The sets on the floor have the banners tilted down on the left side, and the sets on the line have them lower on the right side. I wonder what that means?

Aah, consistency!

Perhaps it means it was free beer day at the cafeteria on the day that was taken...

Good observation. Maybe the photographer thought it made for a better photo??

How wonderful! If I ever finish restoring my CTC-4, it would be fun to make a big repro banner for the wall.

It looks like it says "Another BIG SCREEN" inside the sunburst. Any idea what the small lettering on the bottom says?

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Phil,

I enlarged the banner as much as I could. I'm sure you did the same. "Another BIG SCREEN" is correct The resolution simply isn't there for the fine print. At least on my Mac.

-Steve D.

Yes, you could probably make an educated guess about the colors by looking at other RCA signs & banners from those years. The little words at the bottom are not so important, and they're likely some boilerplate similar to what's seen elsewhere.

I like that Director ad with the colors shooting through the TV. Do you happen to know what magazine that's from? I have seen another Director ad with a family dressed all in white standing by a white Christmas tree -- and of course the TV is displaying glorious color.

Phil Nelson

Phil,

I changed my previous reply. Didn't think it would be helpful. Looks like you were able to see it. The CTC-4 ad was from LIFE Magazine a mid 1955 issue if I recall. I see them on e-bay often.

-Steve D.

Thanks. There is a second-hand store around here with piles of old Life mags for about a buck apiece. Maybe I will leaf through them the next time we're in the neighborhood.

Phil Nelson

Phil,

Not to go on and on about this ad. If you have the patience, go thru all the 1955 & into 1956 LIFE and possibly LOOK magazines, if available. RCA advertised the CTC-4 models in both. Some double page color ads as well. Sorry, I don't have the exact issue date for the "Rainbow" ad, I do have issue dates for other LIFE CTC-4 ads: Aug. 1, 1955, Dec. 5, 1955, Jan. 23, 1956 & May 7, 1956. Good luck.

-Steve D.

You guys think convergence was set up with the mating chassis....?

I would think testing the tube, all would be done before its mounted, then final
adjustments in the home.....

Cool. I found those issues in Google Books. The rainbow ad is probably lurking in there somewhere.

Phil Nelson

Phil,

Found, in Google Books, The CTC-4 "Rainbow" ad Nov. 14, 1955 LIFE Magazine w/IKE on the cover.

http://books.google.com/books?id=zVQ...2%20ad&f=false

-Steve D.

That rainbow picture is pretty cool... dont think I've seen that one before.

IMS, you will find the Motorola 21CT2M color set in the Life 1956 (April or May). It's a full page ad. I think it's the one with the freaky looking clown.

Wonder how many employees actually bought color sets since they worked around them all day long? The typical dealer mark up was around 40% back then.

THAT is THE set I've always wanted. It says "COLOR TV" more than any other style I've ever seen.

That's a very good question.:scratch2: Living close to the CRT factory, when I see an obituary for someone who worked at RCA (its always noted), I wonder if they had bought a color set in the 50s. Unfortunately, I see nothing RCA and ROUND at estate sales here. It seems that when XL-100 came out, everyone dumped their old sets fast, even the RCAs of the late 60's.:sigh:

As a commercial photographer with 40 years experience, I have shot promotional shots like this of products in "assembly line" conditions practically all my life. There is no relation to reality in this type of shot. It is all staged to make a good photo. No doubt the building is correct, but the arrangement of sets, and banners and people is ALL FOR THE PHOTO.

Succinctly stated. And so, so true. :yes:

Pete (long-time editor of consumer publications and other stuff)

Mentioned this as a possible publicity shot setup in the initial post at the start of this thead. I would have hoped the photog had used Kodachrome in the original photo. Much as in the well known obvious RCA CT-100 publicity shot. Notice the sets are turned almost 180 degrees from the mirrors that should be reflecting the screens & the CT-100's are canted toward the camera on the assembly line.
Very few pictures of RCA's color production line in the 50's have surfaced.

-Steve D.