In 1950, only 12 percent of American households had television sets. By the time this photo was taken in 1960, the number was 87 percent and climbing (it’s held steady at 98 percent since 1980). 

This staged photo was taken in Thaine Lyman’s Television Production Workshop class in 1960, according to Truman P. Reed (Theater, ’61), left, and Greg Govi (Television, ’61), who contacted us after seeing the picture in the fall issue of DEMO. “I think we were told to be ‘acting’ like we were planning a TV shoot, so we moved the camera models around,” recalls Reed. Even in 1960, by the way, students didn’t generally wear suits to class. “We would usually wear nice slacks and a sports shirt, unless there was some special occasion, then a coat or tie. Jeans were never worn,” says Reed. On the day this photo was shot, “we might have been told that the college was going to shoot some publicity pictures, so come dressed up.”