Steve Kosareff
AUTHOR

Steve Kosareff

Biographies & Memoirs
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
"THE GLASS EYE INVASION--TELEVISION SETS INVADE THE MIDCENTURY HOME" can be traced back to a paper I wrote in college for an American history class about the early days of commercial television. As a child who grew up with television in the US the medium was part of my DNA. I have always been interested in its cultural history investigating it at every opportunity and book store and library I came across. Once the Internet came along I discovered others who shared my passion. I began to plan an American television museum, a facility that would celebrate, not the medium's programming nor its technology, but its culture. The museum developed into a book manuscript, one that I sold to Chronicle Books and was published in 2005 as WINDOW TO THE FUTURE--THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION [SET] MARKETING AND ADVERTISING. Shortly thereafter I began to plan a second book about the cultural impact of the first television sets in American homes. With side trips to other projects, including a documentary and a true crime book, I finally began to develop THE GLASS EYE INVASION in earnest three years ago. I began designing immersive layouts for the interior pages, a first for me, putting my graphic design capabilities to great use. I also decided to use only original research to write the manuscript, drawing on first-hand accounts from archival newspapers and magazines. THE GLASS EYE INVASION tells the story of the cultural impact of seeing television for the first time at fairs and exhibitions and all its attendant hoopla. The book looks at the explosion of sales when, at its peak, there was more desire that sets to be had and the shady sales practices incorporated to put a set in a family's home. I look at the planning and execution by a family for moving a television set into a home for first time. Where would the family place its set? What effect would it have on family members, particularly children? What would happen when a family was the first in the neighborhood to own a set? How would a set owner control those living nearby who just happened to drop in every night to watch television? How would television viewing impact children? How would one plan a television party when they wanted the neighbors to come over? I did a deep dive to tell the untold stories of television at the 1939 New York and San Francisco World's Fairs and other exhibitions across the country. I tell the untold story of the 1947 RCA Television Caravan which crisscrossed the country with twelve men and women in six Jeep station wagons over bumpy two-lane roads. I fully reveal the 1950 Television Manufacturers Association's infamous "There Are Some Things A Son Or Daughter Won't Tell You!" ad campaign which raised such a hue and cry across the country that Eleanor Roosevelt weighed in. Since television sets of the era relied on tubes that frequently burned out, I discuss infamous repair practices and scams that television set owners faced. Would poor old Dad (who knew little about electronics) take a crack at repairing the set or would the family let a repairman take a crack at them? Finally, what did the future hold for television? None other than RCA Chairman David Sarnoff who started the commercial medium, weighed in with his predictions bringing the story of THE GLASS EYE INVASION full circle. Whether you were alive during THE GLASS EYE INVASION or reading about it for the first time, everyone will enjoy taking the trip back in time when television sets first set foot in American homes.
Read more Read less
You're getting a free audiobook


You're getting a free audiobook.

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Try for $0.00

Best Sellers

Product List
  • Satin Pumps Audiobook By Steve Kosareff cover art

    • Satin Pumps

    • The Moonlit Murder That Mesmerized the Nation
    • By: Steve Kosareff
    • Narrated by: Zach NeSmith
    • Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
    • Release date: 04-28-21
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

    Regular price: $19.95 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $19.95 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
Visit Amazon Author Central
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup