JFK's Console

[TheRed1]

I have been trying to track down the identity and whereabouts of the console in these two pictures:

Oval Office 8/23/1962
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb275/irwinbay/JFKBW.jpg

Oval Office 10/31/1963
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb275/irwinbay/JFKColor.jpg

I have tried the Kennedy Library and the Curator of the White House and no-one seems to know much about it. The White House Curator said it was a TV/Radio console and that the White House doesn't retain electrical devices in its collection.

I have read that there is an interview with Avery Fisher in which he mentions installing some stereo equipment in the White House in 1961 but I have yet to track that down. Does anyone know where I might find that interview?

Fisher's 'Living Theatre' did come out in 1961 but the console in the Halloween picture doesn't appear to have grill cloth on the left side. I suppose it might be a custom job, made just for the White House but I'd sure like to know more about it.

[spartanmanor]

Great photos and a worthy project figuring out what he had.

[jblmar]

LBJ had everything 'Kennedy' removed from the Oval Office after the assassination. No sense of history. In fact, no sense of anything.

I saw a picture of Ted Kennedy ca. 1969 in his office. In the background was a Marantz amp.

Ron

[pmsummer]

LBJ had everything 'Kennedy' removed from the Oval Office after the assassination. No sense of history. In fact, no sense of anything.


<cough>Voting Rights Act<cough>

[jblmar]

<cough>Voting Rights Act<cough>

Should have read "no sense of anything Kennedy." Kennedy's console is the issue here, not LBJ. Let's keep politics out of this discussion.
My bad.

Ron

[Argyle]

That's a very cool thing to track down info for. I'd be really interested to see what you come up with. Good luck and by all means - keep us posted!

[wa2ise]

I imagine telephone equipment collectors would also have fun figuring out what phones are seen on the Prez's desk on the color picture above.

[jblmar]

Perhaps the Kennedy Library has a listing of what was in the Oval Office durning the Kennedy administration.

Ron

[TheRed1]

Perhaps the Kennedy Library has a listing of what was in the Oval Office durning the Kennedy administration.

Ron

Yeah, I emailed them and they were very quick to reply but no luck as far as the console was concerned.

LBJ had everything 'Kennedy' removed from the Oval Office after the assassination.

I found this article about that in the Washington Post but still no mention of the console:

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb275/irwinbay/1-1.jpg
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http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb275/irwinbay/2-1.jpg
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http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb275/irwinbay/3.jpg

I've also looked at the items that Evelyn Lincoln, Kennedy's private secretary, squirreled away without any luck. Most of the furniture that was in her possession is now at the Kennedy Library. Here's a link on that angle:

http://www.sptimes.com/News/111199/JFK/Lincoln_devoted_her_l.shtml

[orthophonic]

I have that Avery fisher interview in audio magazine somewhere. I remember him saying that the kennedys
had a fisher stereo console in their private quarters and that
Fisher built some special travel cases for some fisher components that JFK could use when traveling as he always liked to take his music with him.

As far as the console in the oval office picture, it looks like
a RCA color roundie tv, CTC 12 or something. It had double doors and a large (panaromic sound) speaker section on the right.

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

The JFK Stereo Console was definitely a custom built Fisher. Fisher built them until 1971. I would likely say it had a Garrard record changer, Fisher monoblock amplifiers and a preamplifier/tuner.

[TheRed1]

I have that Avery fisher interview in audio magazine somewhere. I remember him saying that the kennedys
had a fisher stereo console in their private quarters and that
Fisher built some special travel cases for some fisher components that JFK could use when traveling as he always liked to take his music with him.

As far as the console in the oval office picture, it looks like
a RCA color roundie tv, CTC 12 or something. It had double doors and a large (panaromic sound) speaker section on the right.
Orthophonic, I sure would be interested in seeing that article if you ever run across it. And thanks for the RCA suggestion - I'll see if I can find some RCA ads from the early 60s to try to verify the model.

[TheRed1]

Hi,

The JFK Stereo Console was definitely a custom built Fisher. Fisher built them until 1971. I would likely say it had a Garrard record changer, Fisher monoblock amplifiers and a preamplifier/tuner.
My first guess was some kind of customized version of this 1961 Fisher in the Provincial cabinet. But why would it be missing the left side speakers?

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb275/irwinbay/5-1.jpg

[ManFromPorlock]

FYI: tarted up view.

[Brian]

I too remember Avery's promotion of the Fishers in the WH. After getting the contract he came out with the President label that he used for console components. He also did an ad campaign based on being the choice of Presidents.. The plural was not an exaggeration as Ike was reported to have had a 500 (mono) radio/receiver.

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

There was a second speaker cabinet with this model of console. This was done for improved stereo separation. The wire hanging out in the picture likely went to that speaker.

[orthophonic]

Looking at your blowup, I still believe it is a RCA color console.
Notice the two wires, One for power, the other is the antenna lead.
Also in the first picture by the ladies legs it looks like the RCA victor emblem on the grill cloth.

[orthophonic]

I found it, I was close, not a CTC 12 but a 1959-60 RCA CTC 9
The corinthian aniversary model to celebrate five years of
color tv.
Do a web search for "RCA CTC 9 color receiver gallery" and you will
find a brochure listing that model.
I think it is Ed Reitan's site.

[schwarcw]

I couldn't find it, a link would be nice. Thanks!

Carl

[schwarcw]

Ah! Found it! It's at the 7:00 position in the brochure. Look Here (http://novia.net/~ereitan/Gallery/CTC9_GalleryV2.html)

[stuwee]

Looking at your blowup, I still believe it is a RCA color console.
Notice the two wires, One for power, the other is the antenna lead.
Also in the first picture by the ladies legs it looks like the RCA victor emblem on the grill cloth.

Most excellent slueth work folks! And I can't resist: "Hey lady, get your butt off the console! I called a cabinet meeting, this is not a cocktail lounge":D
Craig

[TheRed1]

I found it, I was close, not a CTC 12 but a 1959-60 RCA CTC 9
The corinthian aniversary model to celebrate five years of
color tv.
Do a web search for "RCA CTC 9 color receiver gallery" and you will
find a brochure listing that model.
I think it is Ed Reitan's site.
Excellent. That certainly looks like the one. When even the White House couldn't help me, the good folks at AK come through. Thanks. I was kind of hoping it was a Fisher, though. I wonder what became of it.

[zenith2134]

WAY cool thread. Very good read.

I am surprised to see that Fisher built TVs... I suppose they are rebadged RCA's like many color sets of the time were.

JFK must've had a great taste in music to need a portable unit in those days!

Nice consoles BTW I'm going to keep an eye out for one

[TheRed1]

While researching the console and doing searches referencing JFK, Avery Fisher and The White House, I came across this tidbit:

From The Washington Post - Feb. 4, 1960:

"The Hi-Fi Show has been ruled out of the Armory this year, but at the Shoreham Hotel on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14, there will be an exhibit of talking machines, phonographs, and hi-fi from the private collection of Avery Fisher, one of the leading figures in sound reproduction equipment these days.

Fisher will be on hand both days, speaking at intervals, and meeting visitors. The machines, all of which will be played, date back to an 1873 Reginaphone which plays 14-inch metal disks, the first Edison Gem phonograph built in 1893, playing wax cylinders, and lots of their descendants.

The two-day exhibit will benefit the National Symphony Orchestra’s Sustaining Fund which will receive the entire proceeds. The show will be open on Saturday from 1 to 10 p.m., and on Sunday from 1 to 8 p.m."

And, from a Fisher ad from the same period:

"On January 31, 1938, Professor Richard Humphrey of the Stevens Institute of Technology accepted delivery on a high fidelity receiver, with a dual speaker system, built for him by Avery Fisher. On December 23, 1960, almost twenty-three years later, Professor Humphrey purchased a Fisher 800 receiver. His original receiver is still working! Today it is in the Fisher Museum of High Fidelity Equipment. (Its older brother, also in perfect working order, has for some time been in the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington.)"

I've known about the 1937 Fisher in the Smithsonian for a while but I didn't realize that Avery Fisher had a Museum that he traveled with. Does anyone know anything about this and/or what has become of the collection?

[Rapidroy]

I heard Nixon had some really nice reel to reel tape recorders.:lmao:

[stuwee]

I heard Nixon had some really nice reel to reel tape recorders.:lmao:

Wecome to AK Rapidroy! :thmbsp::thmbsp::lmao::yikes::lmao:'cept they had this problem ya see!
Craig

[pmsummer]

I heard Nixon had some really nice reel to reel tape recorders.:lmao:

They used cheap tape. Suffered from signal drop-out.