Andrea Clock

[blackstone]

I just finished cleaning this clock, which had hung in our TV/appliance store for many years. My father stamped the date on the back--Sept. 1963. Real piece of glass on the face. Two light sockets inside, so thankfully I can put in CFLs, using only 9W apiece. I don't recall selling too many Andrea products, or maybe it was just before my time. Now to find the perfect place to hang the clock.

 

[112561]

Andrea put out a really classy product

Here's a 1963 color television ad:

 

[petek]

Interesting. I've never heard of that brand before now. The bookshelf unit was certainly something.

 

[whirlcool]

 That set looks a LOT like the Heathkit color tv that they sold as kits.  To tell you the truth, I hadn't heard of Andrea before either.

 

[qsd-dan]

Love that clock!

 

[circlew]

Must say I've never heard of that brand of TV & radio either. Perhaps distribution was limited to the east.

 

[tolivac]

Nice clock-never heard of Andrea TV until now.

 

[112561]

Andrea Sharp-Focus Television

I found four pages of a Boston newspaper one year, dated June 1957, they had an ad for a neat looking black and white console, with the owner of the company featured with it. I've never seen one in person but I always wanted to find one someplace. In the movie, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" there was a console in Rock's apartment, with a color image, it's not a color model although they did offer it from 1955 on.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/tdBPb5HAw6E?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/tdBPb5HAw6E?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[this post was last edited: 12/31/2010-05:50]

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Andrea was one of the pioneering TV producers in the U.S., before WWII.

Ken D.

 

[rp2813]

I think Andreas are well-respected by the collector community. I've seen mention of them and the occasional picture posted to the television forum on the Antique Radios web site.

I thought they made the Wards Airline set pictured below, but it turns out that it was manufactured by Sentinel.  I really like these sets and would love to have one.

 

[kevin313]

I never heard of Andrea televisions here in Detroit, but when I was growing up my dad always purchased Curtis-Mathes televisions. They were pricey, but came with five-year picture tube replacement and my mom loved the beautiful cabinets they came in.

 

[nurdlinger]

I never heard of Andrea televisions here in Detroit

Neither did I.  When we got our first TV in the early 50s, we went to some place on Joseph Campau and got a Muntz TV.  This was probably because the price was right.  I remember driving home with it in the trunk of the '46 Mercury and me being all worried because the lid would not close over it.  That TV got nursed along until around 1966 at which time no one would repair it any more. 

 

[whirlcool]

Muntz TV

 There was a company in Chicago that used  Muntz TV's in a "pay as you view" program. If you wanted to watch TV, you put in several quarters in a box at the back of the set. This allowed you to watch your television show(s) for a predetermined amount of time. Then the set would turn off. If you wanted more TV, you put in more coins. 
 
 I read a book once about Earl Muntz. He was an engineer turned car salesman with a sideline in radio & television.  He always looked to see how he could make a television set with the least amount of parts (less to go wrong, you know) even if circuits had to do double duty. I believe he ended up selling cars on the west coast.

 

[112561]

Andrea and Curtis Mathes

I had never heard of Andrea until I found an old piece of newsprint backing a pastel drawing I found in a thrift shop. I think they were more of a luxury brand, that's why most people had never heard of them.

I have a link to a fascinating blog with a lot of feedback from a man who was with Curtis Mathes back in their heyday. The whole thing bears reading:

http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums...&start=0&sid=3ef320a8e699c94d864fff621597d7f3

 

[rp2813]

a television set with the least amount of parts

Oh yeah. Open up a Muntz TV and you'll see just how empty it is inside.

Similarly, switch on any TV, new or old, and it will display that same trait.