FIRST IN A THREE-PART SERIES — I was 8 years old when we got our first television set, a 10-inch Admiral. That was in 1952, still early days for the new and exciting medium. It wasn't long before I was glued every week to my favorite program, "Criswell Predicts."
Criswell — or "The Amazing Criswell," as he was known in Hollywood — was Jeron Criswell King, a handsome chap with a blond spitcurl, a deep voice and a stare that looked right through you — presumably into the future. To a little boy with a fertile imagination, his weekly predictions were an absolute thrill.
I can recall vividly three predictions he made in 1953. "By 1963," he said, "we'll all be traveling around Los Angeles in helicopters, men will be wearing capes, and women will wear their lipstick in a rectangular shape instead of just putting it on their lips."