A vessel filled at anywhere near atmospheric pressure (760 torr) would not work as a light bulb. The high-grade (for that day) vacuum originally used was eventually replaced with a low-grade vacuum and rarefied inert gas, I think mostly argon with some nitrogen. Even gas-discharge tubes use a rarefied gas (low-grade vacuum) to work. Any gas starting at atmospheric pressure would (1) take too high a voltage to ionize and (2) build up pressure when heated and burst the vessel. There's a reason incandescent and gas-discharge vessel glass is so thin: Much less problem with coefficient of expansion variation between inner and outer walls of the glass. Even Pyrex glass has its limits.
That wasn't a bad idea about the CRT, as long as you recognize how dangerous it would be to try actually to do it.
A few years ago I had occasion to do a few hours research on how the first light bulbs were made. I was surprised to discover just how difficult making a light bulb can be--the high-grade vacuum needed was just one major hurdle that Edison and his contemporaries had to get over. The famous carbon-filament light bulb picture we all see in history books was not the first practical incandescent bulb: It burned for (IIRC) 13.5 hours. It was the proof-of-concept that it could be done.
I don't know what you're going for, alfa88, but if you're looking to make your own incandescent light source from scratch, I would look into the Nernst lamp. It was starting to replace carbon-filament bulbs in the lighting market until tungsten-filament bulbs came along, and it doesn't require a vacuum or even a gas-tight vessel.
However, you might need to invest in a refractory oven and a very short length of thin platinum wire.
