All Talk

One night in October 1952, an electrician named Frank Walsh crept down the stairs of his Long Island home, drew his gun, and blasted a hole in his family’s television. His wife and kids had been watching with the volume too high, keeping him awake, and he’d had enough. His wife called the police, but the cops declined to arrest him: it wasn’t illegal to shoot your own TV. A cheeky newspaper story (headline: “Obviously Self-Defense”) brought the story to the public, and Walsh became a minor celebrity. He even appeared on a television game show where, naturally, he won a new set.