As Seen On Tv: The Visual Culture Of Everyday Life In The 1950s

From the paint-by-numbers fad, to the public fascination with Mamie Eisenhower's apparel, to the visual explosion that was Elvis Presley on stage, As Seen On TV explores what Americans saw and what they looked for during television's first golden era, the 1950s.

America in the 1950s: the world was not so much a stage as a setpiece for TV, the new national phenomenon. It was a time when how things looked--and how we looked--mattered, a decade of design that comes to vibrant life in "As Seen on TV," From the painting-by-numbers fad to the public fascination with the First Lady's apparel to the television sensation of Elvis Presley to the sculptural refinement of the automobile, Marling explores what Americans saw and what they looked for with a gaze newly trained by TV. A study in style, in material culture, in art history at eye level, this book shows us as never before those artful everyday objects that stood for American life in the 1950s, as seen on TV.