Don Danz pays tribute to the Zenith Space Command. This primitive remote control from 1956 used no batteries or laser beams. Instead, it housed a little xylophone. The four buttons struck four tiny aluminum rods, each producing a distinctive note which the TV would hear. (Don doesn’t mention this, but the shows were better then, too.)
You’re right, the shows were much better then. Give me the Golden Age of television over the tripe we have now any day. The Jack Benny Program, Dragnet, the Burns and Allen Show, the Lone Ranger, the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Sea Hunt…those were the good old days!