Curtis Mathes Corporation

Lore & Background

The Curtis Mathes Corporation began in 1919 as Connor and Mathes, a manufacturer and retailer of automobile and tractor parts. By the late 1920s, it moved into air conditioning, and during the 1930s and 1940s its leading product was electrical fans. In the early 1950s it added attic fans. After compressors were commercially introduced in the late 1940s, the company's Fort Worth factory began making compressors for cars and buildings. By the late 1940s, the company had diversified into radios. The Curtis Mathes Corporation was founded in 1957 and soon entered the television industry, establishing plants in Tarrant and Dallas Counties and in Athens, Texas, eventually moving most manufacturing to a large Athens facility. From 1968 to 1988 it was one of three fully American-owned electronics firms and manufacturers, along with RCA and GE. In the late 1960s, Leonard L. Northrup, Jr., bought a controlling interest in Donmark Corporation from Curtis Mathes, Sr., as the company moved toward electronics. Curtis Mathes worked to design a modular TV with snap-in connectors and brackets, allowing quick warranty service. By the mid-1970s, the TV consisted of 11 parts: 7 circuit boards, a tuner, a picture tube, a transformer, and the cabinet. A repair person carried all ten electronic parts in their truck, and a repair call seldom lasted more than 20 minutes. Curtis Mathes, Sr., died in 1977; Curtis Mathes, Jr., became chairman and appeared in commercials until his death in the Air Canada Flight 797 fire in 1983. The company declined from 5,000 employees and seven manufacturing facilities to about 50 employees in 1988, when it was sold to Enhanced Electronics. For a time, it sold equipment sourced from Matsushita, Pioneer, Thomson, Samsung, Daewoo, Toshiba, and others. In the late 1990s to early 2000s, the brand became an in-house brand for Kmart. As of late 2007, Curtis Mathes re-emerged with products at discount retailers such as Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Meijer and Target. Beginning in 2013, it expanded into LED lighting.

Reader's Guide

Curtis Mathes Corporation holds a distinctive place in American electronics history as one of the last fully American-owned television manufacturers alongside RCA and GE from 1968 to 1988. Its significance lies in pioneering longer warranties and modular television design, which allowed rapid in-home repairs using snap-in connectors and brackets instead of solder or screws. The company's modular TV, consisting of just 11 parts, enabled repair calls that seldom exceeded 20 minutes, a notable innovation in consumer electronics service. The brand's marketing slogan, 'the most expensive television set in America, and darn well worth it,' became iconic. After ceasing manufacturing in 1982 and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy ten years later, the company survived by reorganizing and using future earnings to pay creditors. The Curtis Mathes name persisted as a private-label brand for Kmart in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and re-emerged at major discount retailers by late 2007, later expanding into LED lighting in 2013. Its legacy includes both a pioneering approach to serviceability and a resilient brand that adapted to changing retail landscapes.

Did You Know?

• Curtis Mathes, Jr., died in the Air Canada Flight 797 fire at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983.
• Curtis Mathes TVs used for rentals were sometimes rebranded 'Rutherford'.

From Auto Parts to Air Conditioning — A Company in Constant Reinvention

Curtis Mathes traces its roots to 1919, when it operated under the name Connor and Mathes as a manufacturer and retailer of parts for automobiles and tractors. Rather than staying fixed in one industry, the company repeatedly reinvented itself over the following decades. By the late 1920s it had pivoted into air conditioning, and it also built wooden cabinets and furniture, even acquiring Hub Furniture in 1942. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, its flagship product became electrical fans, many of which were housed in custom-built cabinets or designed as permanent window installations. The early 1950s brought another innovation: a central or attic fan that drew air through every open window into the attic, cooling the entire home. As commercial compressors emerged in the late 1940s, the Fort Worth factory began producing a wide range of units for both automotive and building applications, while Leonard L. Northrup Jr. developed an add-on air conditioning unit first fitted into Cadillacs. By the late 1940s, the company had also diversified into radios, setting the stage for its eventual leap into television.

The Modular TV and the Warranty That Changed Retail

When Curtis Mathes entered the television business in 1957, it brought a design philosophy that set it apart from competitors. The company engineered a modular television built from just eleven components—seven circuit boards, a tuner, a picture tube, a transformer, and the cabinet itself. Every electronic part connected via snap-in fittings and was secured with brackets rather than solder or screws. The practical result was transformative: a service technician could carry all ten electronic components in a truck and complete a repair call in under twenty minutes. The in-home service fee was a flat twenty dollars, and repairs at the shop were free. This modular approach underpinned a bold four-year warranty covering the picture tube, all parts, and labor—a commitment that effectively introduced longer warranties to the electronics retail industry. By the mid-1970s, solid-state electronics had matured enough for the vision to fully materialize, and the company's reputation for accessible, affordable repair became its defining commercial identity.

Peak, Decline, and the Fight to Survive

From 1968 to 1988, Curtis Mathes stood as one of only three fully American-owned electronics manufacturers alongside RCA and General Electric, a distinction that gave it a unique place in the national market. At its height, the company employed roughly five thousand people across seven manufacturing facilities, with the bulk of television production concentrated in a large Athens, Texas plant. However, the trajectory reversed sharply. By 1988, headcount had plummeted to approximately fifty employees when the company was sold to Enhanced Electronics, around the same period that GE and RCA's television divisions were acquired by French firm Thomson SA. The company's manufacturing of its own-brand televisions in Athens ended on July 31, 1982. Ten years later, Curtis Mathes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization, a process that allowed it to remain operational and service its creditors from future earnings. The leadership transition also proved turbulent: Curtis Mathes Sr. passed in 1977, and his son Curtis Mathes Jr., who had become chairman and the company's public face in television commercials, died in the 1983 Air Canada Flight 797 fire at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

A Brand That Refused to Stay Buried

Curtis Mathes became nationally recognized through its television commercials, which proudly declared its sets the "most expensive television set in America, and darn well worth it"—a tagline that cemented the brand's identity as a premium, quality-focused retailer. The company's legacy extends well beyond its manufacturing era. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Curtis Mathes name was licensed as an in-house brand for the Kmart discount chain, keeping the label visible on store shelves even as the original company structure had changed. By late 2007, the brand had re-emerged with products marketed through major discount retailers including Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Meijer, and Target. In 2013, the portfolio expanded further into LED lighting, signaling another pivot in the company's long history of adaptation. Even during its television manufacturing years, units intended for rental services such as ColorTyme were sometimes rebranded under the name "Rutherford." Today, the company operates from Frisco, Texas, continuing to sell private-label electronics and repair services, a far cry from the five-thousand-employee manufacturing giant it once was, yet still carrying the weight of a name that once meant American-made quality.