Shining Examples of Early TV Whimsy

A new exhibit at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum casts a nostalgic light on a bit of mid-century American popular culture.

It’s a collection of 70 TV lamps, the small appliances that waltzed into the nation’s living rooms in the wake of the bulky, black-and-white television sets that were being introduced as a new entertainment medium. When doctors warned that sitting in the dark and watching the flickering screens might damage eyesight, accessory manufacturers, making vases and lamps, retrofitted and began to create the television lights.

At the advice of medical experts, the lamps cast only 25 watts of indirect lighting, but the low-key voltage was offset by flamboyant shapes and sizes. Art Deco flamingos, owls, panthers, elephants, flowers and faces sprouted on TV sets for a brief but colorful period.

“This collection of TV lamps shines a light on one of the true phenomenon of the 1950s when television was so young and viewers were obviously skittish about the medium’s physical impact,” said Phyllis Caskey, president of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

“The fears of ruined eyesight passed into oblivion along with the manufacturing of TV lamps, but it’s whimsical and fun to visit these artifacts again,” she said.

The TV lamps, on loan from collectors Francine A. Phillips of Los Angeles and Joan Stacke of New York, will be on display through August. “We’re partners in the collection in L.A., and she [Joan Stacke] has another one in New York,” said Phillips, who began collecting in 1995 and admits to getting obsessed with the process. Jointly they own more than 600 of the lamps, she said. “They’re fun--they make you smile.”

The Hollywood Entertainment Museum, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Wednesday. Information: (323) 465-7900.

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If you don’t know an Eero Saarinen from a Paul Frankl but wish you did, drop by the Los Angeles Modern Auctions’ showroom, 8057 Beverly Blvd., Sunday at 2 p.m. and watch the bidding. The firm’s monthly auctions are a primer on 20th century design, aimed at beginning collectors and dealers.

They feature lower-end designer pieces, high-end items that may need repair, and anonymous but well-designed items. The auction list includes pieces by Saarinen, George Nelson, Florence Knoll, Charles Eames and others. The furniture may be previewed at the store this week or online at https://www.lamodern.com.

“We have an amazing Eames black leather lounge chair and ottoman with a rosewood frame,” said co-owner Shannon Loughrey. “It’s a perfect 10.”