Sunday, December 28, 2025

Talking Pictures & TV Come to Shelby County

Well, not in the same year, of course.

Once upon an Internet time there was a marvelous genealogical complex known as RootsWeb that offered vast resources free of charge. I know, the stuff of fairy tales. The early Internet/WWW was like that. Then Ancestry.com bought it in 2000 and has since pretty much destroyed it. But I digress...

I once found on RootsWeb excerpts from the Shelby County Reporter of various dates. One described "Talking Pictures" in Columbiana in 1929; the other television in 1949. I did not find the actual 1929 newspaper online, but here's the text I found via RootsWeb: 

"Shelby County Reporter, February 28, 1929. Palace Theatre Offers Talking Pictures March 5. The Palace Theatre, Columbiana, offers an opportunity for the people of Columbiana and vicinity to hear and see Talking Pictures, Tuesday night March 5. The program will consist of six all talking vaudeville acts on the screen. A special representative from the factory will come to Columbiana to install the machinery and wire the house for the showing of the Talking Pictures."

Sound and films in the U.S. have a long history. Hollywood studios began making sound films in earnest in the wake of the 1927 success of The Jazz Singer in that year. However, as Wikipedia notes, "Yet most American movie theaters, especially outside of urban areas, were still not equipped for sound: while the number of sound cinemas grew from 100 to 800 between 1928 and 1929, they were still vastly outnumbered by silent theaters, which had actually grown in number as well, from 22,204 to 22,544." The article also notes that the studios, uncertain about the ultimate success of sound, were making dual versions of their films until mid-1930. 

I have been unable to find anything on the Palace Theatre in Columbiana in the way of photos or history. However, I did find the article below indicating the venue was operating and showing "the usual program of pictures" in April 1927. 

With one exception as noted, I found these articles and advertisements at Newspapers.com, which kindly offers you a paywall to access. 

And by the way, vast resources available free of charge are still out there at the Internet Archive, Wikipedia, Library of Congress and numerous other libraries and museums, and so forth. 



Found on the Shelby County Reporter 14 April 1927 front page



I did find the actual June 16, 1949 article related to TV sets in Columbiana. I also found various ads from issues of the Shelby County Reporter in June and July 1949. See below. At this time the paper was known as the Shelby County Reporter-Democrat. 

The first television broadcast in the United States occurred in May 1928. Programming and technical efforts continued with various stations through the 1930s. World War II halted TV developments although a few stations remained on the air. After the war the FCC received numerous applications for new stations. That process was halted in 1948 until interference concerns could be worked out. The freeze was lifted in 1952.

No TV stations were operating in Alabama in 1949, although two were on the air in Atlanta. You can read about TV developments in 1949 here. By 1950 some  3,880,000 American households had television, a 9% penetration. I wonder how many of those were in Shelby County. 

The U.S. Census in 1950 counted 1761 people in Columbiana and 30,362 in Shelby County. That's not a large population base, but these stores no doubt attracted shoppers from other rural counties to the south such as Chilton and Coosa. I imagine not many could afford the sets. The GE 12.5" "daylight television" advertised below cost a cool $379. You could also get a GE 10" for $249.50. 




The "Olen Jackson" mentioned died in 2000 and is buried in Columbiana. 










This ad and the one below, like the article, are from the Shelby County Reporter 16 June 1949









Note the "Television Radio" combination from Westinghouse. You could watch it demonstrated "free" from 112 to 2 every afternoon as you shopped for a stove or deep freezer. 

Shelby County Reporter 16 June 1949





Tenen's was a drug store in Columbiana. You could go and get a soda and watch TV all afternoon and night. Buy a novelty gift, too. 






From an ad for Cardwell Furniture in the Shelby County Reporter 23 June 1949














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