Room 103

During the 1950s “The Pick Temple Giant Ranch,” sponsored by the Giant Food grocery chain, was one of the most watched television shows in the nation’s capital. Lafayette Parker “Pick” Temple, Jr., its cowboy folksinger star, was beloved by the children (and many adults) who tuned in every day. In 1979 a local television executive recalled Temple as “The First Washington TV Superstar.” A surprising number of Museum visitors say, “I loved that show, and I was in the audience for one when I was a kid!”

The Museum received a major donation of Temple items, like his personalized Martin guitar, his cowboy outfits, and personal papers. The exhibit (expected to continue into the middle of 2023) includes a 1950s TV set playing videos of his program and Temple memorabilia.

Also in this room are early transistor radios, a 1948 camera/radio, a heat-powered radio, a 45-rpm phonograph unit, and radios in the shape of microphones. One exhibit case features plastic radios of the postwar era and another case tells the story of FM radios.