Seventy years ago today, the May 11, 1953, issue of Life magazine gave Americans this sneak peak at what color television was going to look like. Specifically, it was the compatible color system from RCA (NTSC), which could be viewed on existing black and white sets. The magazine noted that a competing system from CBS had been approved, but was not compatible, and had been shelved by CBS itself. The magazine predicted that approval for RCA’s system would take place sometime in 1954.  The approval actually took place later in 1953, and the first sets were on the market in 1954.

These images were from a demonstration of the system to members of Congress, and show a special production of Kukla, Fran & Ollie.