Readers Remember

In June 1946 I graduated from high school in Belleville, N.J. A group of us went to a party at the home of a well-to-do friend.

It was the night of the Joe Louis-Billy Conn fight and we watched it in awe on a small television set. It seemed like magic--truly a miracle.

When the fight was over our friend’s father said to us, “Someday you’ll all have one of these television sets.” None of us believed him!

LYN YEOMANS

Whittier

The year was 1951, I was 11 years old, and I so badly wanted my father to buy one of those newfangled objects--a television set!

Now, my father was an inveterate reader of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and was a walking “book of knowledge.” His argument was that, if we allowed that into our house, he would never read again!

Not to be deterred, I nagged and nagged and finally won him around. So the TV entered our home--that huge monstrosity of a piece of furniture which dominated our living room and, thereafter, our lives!

We sat and stared like zombies until a program appeared, and then watched while it jumped up and down on the screen--enough to give you a headache! My dad was right, however. He hardly ever picked up the encyclopedia after that.

JEANNE SILVER

San Diego

What do you recall most about the 20th century? In 200 words or less, send us your memories, comments or eyewitness accounts. Write to Century, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail century@latimes.com. Letters may be edited for space.