Hazards of televisions and the installment plan, ca. 1960
The story's so lurid, I have no idea if it's true, but even if not, it's a fascinating piece of historical fiction, like the setup for an early Travis McGee adventure.
Installment Buying Landed Me In Jail (Mar, 1960)I picked out a handsome Zenith priced orginally at $1,500 and marked down to $349. I let my friend make the financial arrangements because I have no head for figures. It worked out that I would get $100 trade in for my set and the balance, $256.47 (tax included), would be paid in installments. Mr. Wright said that a finance corporation would take over my account.
Even though that seemed simple enough, it was as though a shadow had passed over my heart, warning me that something terrible was going to happen. But I shrugged the bad feeling away, telling myself I was being childish.
On the third day the set went bad....
"It'll cost you from $60 to $70 to rewire it and then it probably won't work right. They haven't even started on it yet- Besides, your record player is also on the bum. They want you to make a deposit before they start work on it."
Then the finance company sent a collector to my home.
He was tall and heavy-set and had a coarse voice like a mean tiger. He became abusive and vulgar, calling me vile names and threatening me with bodily harm. He jabbed his thumb at my face and I swear to God, he said exactly this: "I'm warning you, Shary. You've heard of people's bodies floating in the bay, haven't you. Well, they didn't jump in, see. They owed finance companies money and that's how we handle people who give us trouble!"
the latest
latest episodes
Reminds me of when i was a kid and we would have a guy come to the house and repair the TV. Imagine that you used to be able to actually repair home electronics.
"He was tall and heavy-set and had a coarse voice like a mean tiger."
Not exactly Raymond Chandler, but the cast are recognizable.
Must have been Chase Bank.
Reminds me of when television first came out in my country, in 1976. Even though the broadcast system was in colour (this was 1976 after all), my Dad insisted on first buying a b&w set. His reasoning was that he didn't want to spend the money for a colour set, because he first wanted to make sure that television wasn't just a fad that would fade away. LOL!
Wow, not all washed up at 30? Whodathunk it.
If you read the story, it is obviously made up. It is completely sensationalized and ludicrous. You should be locked up for thinking it's real!
Fantasygoat: You've obviously never dealt with Chase Bank...
RE: Photo. Why does the birdcage make her panties visible?
Should be easily verifiable, since we have things like archives for Newspapers.
Still sounds like pulpy bullshit.
The story is essentially the same story as told in the recent film "The Changeling." Well, as far as a female forced into an institution goes. The reasons why are different but the institutionalization and refusal to believe the woman are the same...
I found a citation for "O’HARA v. HOLLYWOOD FINANCE CORP", with the complainant named Shary O'Hara, but it was behind a pay wall, so I didn't get any further.
I believe it. The article is dated March 1960. Public Defenders didn't exist until 1963. So it is entirely possible that without legal representation of any kind, her "finance company" could have used their superior knowledge of the law to brutalize her in a variety of ways using the legal system as described; to have her arrested and then shuttled between mental institutions.
It's true that it does seem sensational at points, but it is entirely plausible for the events to be true in fact. A lot of the mechanisms against abuse that we take for granted didn't exist in 1960.
I am incredibly sad about her pets as well. A woman living on her own very well could be arrested and institutionalized without anyone knowing to take care of her birds - birds and pets that would ordinarily lived many decades dying in a week or so through lack of food and water.
I read the entire article, and I find it a horrifying and completely plausible tale of everyday life in a society without transparency. U.S.A. circa 1960
This story is obviously photoshopped.