It was not uncommon at the time
TO go to the cinema to enjoy the air conditioning, the movie being a secondary pleasure.
These days, given the gore of the average movie, if the A/C were to break down, the last place I'd consider is a cinema.
Greg, I love the record player! During the days I was gnawing on fudgesicles watching Howdy Doody, we owned one of those behemoth "entertainment centers" which was this hyooooooooooooge piece of furniture made by RCA Victor. A small green LED glowed at the bottom left of the left side speaker panel indicating a stereo broadcast on an FM Station
or to announce stereophonic needle was in service on the record changer. It even had two remote speakers before the days of RCA jacks, for a total of 4 speakers! My mother, a true music afficianado would play classical records, or liturgical pipe organ music (she was an accomplished organist) on this magnificient device while doing housework or the family budget.
I have got to find the picture of that thing. Stereo record changer, AM/FM-Stereo, the auxillary inputs used for input from a studio quality reel-to-reel tape recorder, and 25" of color picture tube for the NBC Peacock to fan his tail and us to be told the next program was In Living Color.
There are a few, but significant purchases my parents made that began with the words, "Once in our lives, we owe it to ourselves..." and this set was one of those purchases. At the time, a new car was desired as well, the old one long past its prime. It was to be replaced before this, but my sisters wedding wiped out that budget.
After serious and somber review of the budget, it was decided to purchase a used auto, and go ahead and get the RCA -- it would, after all, "outlast the car" and they had been saving for it for years. Yes, years! We children were shooed to our rooms when it was delivered to give the workers a free path. Along with the grunts to move this tank was a Mr. Wooten -- he was introduced as the man who would connect the two speakers, and was our Service Manager in fufillment of the service contract. Mr. Wooten was The Only Person who ever serviced that rig the entire time it was owned by my parents. He was the first person to be given a key to a new house my parents purchases -- why to install the antenna and bring the cabling for it into the new home, of course! He also was brought in as an advisor during the build -- construction was contractually stopped on the home until Mr. Wooten could lay in the wiring needed for the antenna, as well as the underfloor wiring for the remote speakers. Only after Mr. Wooten was finished with that, was the ranch plank flooring laid in the family room. Again, the construction was ceased -- by the contract -- so Mr. Wooten could drill the holes in the appropriate planks to bring the wiring to the main unit and remote speakers.
Not to derail your thread, it's just RCA/Victor record player triggered a stream of happy pleasant thoughts of days gone by where such a device as you have acquired was sold by humans who made their living doing so, where "service" was genuine, tangible, and incarnate, not just words promised on a box, the promise forgotten upon failure of the item, but promised by a real live person who had a name, who introduced himself to you as the committement to that promise.
Enjoy your record player! I'm happy for you! Another old appliance to make and tell stories finds a home to sing its song!
Cheers,
John
