Vintage Audio Advertising

[Katji]

^^Good scarecrow. Quite scarey. ...I'd walk faster, thinking of what other weird stuff the locals might be into.

So many hi-fi brands I don't know... (Because of colonial stuff.) Westinghouse, associated in my mind with airconditioners. So I googled it - very interesting. Railway air brakes! And even electric chairs - which I read about just a few days ago. Very interesting, how they tried different voltages and so on. [I think they tested with measurements, but not scream loudness or emotional intensity.]

 

[KellenVancouver]

From the attic (literally). Chanced upon an old Oregonian (from Portland, Oregon) newspaper dated June 14, 1931. Height of the Great Depression. Here are ads for radios in the classifieds. Little slice of history. Echophone radio? Stewart-Warner? Sparton? Interesting company names from back then. Another classified is advertising "new nationally known radio tubes, speakers, etc." (For ASR folk in the Portland area, that same 14JUN31 newspaper had a front-page splash showing the grand opening of the St. Johns Bridge, built for $4 million.) As a bonus, I also scanned a picture of some movies being advertised at the time. Note the "Maltese Falcon" movie with Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez. Never knew there was a Maltese Falcon that predated Bogie, but apparently for good reason. When the 1931 movie was sold to be broadcast on television in the 1950s it was retitled "Dangerous Female" so as not to be confused with the classic Bogart 1941 movie. ASR members raised in Portland may also get a kick out of some of the old movie houses, and even remember them before they closed, like the Blue Mouse, the Music Box, the Columbia, and The Oriental "where the sound is better." Only 15¢ to get in!

 

[iMickey503]

Sorry for the bad links in the other post. Here are the ones from Playboy.
Google photo images just don't cross post.

Photos Taken from 50th Anniversary issue.
Around year 2004

These should upload properly

 

[Destroid]

 

[mhardy6647]

Dynamically-balanced arms (i.e., those using a spring instead of a counterweight to set tracking force) are (usually) happy to play at most any angle, including upside down -- nothing new there, although it's still a great party trick.

Empire:


DUAL:

 

[KellenVancouver]

Apparently a radio-phonograph combination was all the rage in the 1930s...
"Installation if desired, $4.96"? Was the consumer required to manually install the nine tubes or something?

EDIT/NOTE: For reference, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Inflation Calculator indicates that $64.50 price from the 1930s is approximately $1300 in today's dollars.

 

[Katji]

Day after day, I check these ads for lyrical snake-oil stories and bullshit-baffles-brains pseudo-science. I would've said <10% of what we see nowadays, but now I'm changing that to <5%.

 

[KellenVancouver]

Day after day, I check these ads for lyrical snake-oil stories and bullshit-baffles-brains pseudo-science. I would've said <10% of what we see nowadays, but now I'm changing that to <5%.

That is a fascinating insight... and makes me question modern social norms as much as modern audio advertising.

 

[Neddy]

Huh. As a kid, I used to walk to school via Arch St in Philly, which was where all the 'Used & New' audio and electronics/parts/surplus stores were (as well as skid row). Almost all where 'staffed' by little old guys (to my thinking) all bent over, smoking cigars with smoky/thick accents hawking whatever they happened to have - cheap. Later in the 60s more military stuff started to show up.
A veritable wonderland of mysterious electronics and audio stuff - from WWII tank parts to bomber gun perspex domes...which seemed common for some reason at the time?
I did end up with a good selection of Fisher tube tuner and amps as my 'first stereo' kits - some of which needed minor repairs, and then led to several heathkits.
All these older ads remind me of those days of 'sales and bums' (I did learn to get good at the 'bum rush' tho).
Also not far from the last remaininig Horn & Hardart automat, which I t hought of as 'the robot diner' !

Horn and Hardart Automats: Redefining lunchtime, dining on a dime | 6sqft

In the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s Horn & Hardart Automats were a New York City dining staple for a hard-working lunch crowd.

www.6sqft.com

Cool old stuff - when 'sales guys' were under every counter.

 

[Hiten]

Mullard Radios.

 

[iMickey503]

Huh. As a kid, I used to walk to school via Arch St in Philly, which was where all the 'Used & New' audio and electronics/parts/surplus stores were (as well as skid row). Almost all where 'staffed' by little old guys (to my thinking) all bent over, smoking cigars with smoky/thick accents hawking whatever they happened to have - cheap. Later in the 60s more military stuff started to show up.
A veritable wonderland of mysterious electronics and audio stuff - from WWII tank parts to bomber gun perspex domes...which seemed common for some reason at the time?
I did end up with a good selection of Fisher tube tuner and amps as my 'first stereo' kits - some of which needed minor repairs, and then led to several heathkits.
All these older ads remind me of those days of 'sales and bums' (I did learn to get good at the 'bum rush' tho).
Also not far from the last remaininig Horn & Hardart automat, which I t hought of as 'the robot diner' !

Horn and Hardart Automats: Redefining lunchtime, dining on a dime | 6sqft

In the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s Horn & Hardart Automats were a New York City dining staple for a hard-working lunch crowd.

www.6sqft.com

Cool old stuff - when 'sales guys' were under every counter.

The Automat was said to be the Wet dream of automats by Siskel and ebert. Not sure about that.

Vs.

I don't think I could even get this at whole Foods. I have not seen a pie look like this since I made one from scratch almost 16 years ago.

DANGER DANGER! They are smoking and sitting next to each other having a good time! Oh the HORROR!

To keep this somewhat on track,

(1935): AEG Debuts Magnetophon Commercial Audio Tape Recorder With Low-Cost Magnetic Tape​

National Geographic caption: "This 1916 image of Frances Densmore and Blackfoot leader Mountain Chief listening to a cylinder recording has become a symbol of the early songcatcher era."

1954

MySpace. Circa 1955

Links to all photos on first hotlink and article and others on webpage.

 

[Neddy]

Well done!
I could swear the automat I visited in Philly was actually black and white (and chrome) complete with fedoras suits and skinny ties
My JBL L25s look exactly like the ad photos, cost about half that (in todays dollars!) and work beautifully (woofers redone 5 yrs ago).
Nice ads!!

 

[bkatbamna]

Is this one promoting, Jazz, wine, cigarettes, reading poetry or turntables.
View attachment 174355

I don't care. I'm buying.

 

[KellenVancouver]

Is this one promoting, Jazz, wine, cigarettes, reading poetry or turntables.
View attachment 174355

You forgot sex...

 

[DanielT]

Damn what some are silly, but wonderfully silly I must say....he he.

Tip:
Watch the video, the commercial that begins: 11:40
But come on, what's that?

 

[mhardy6647]

From an old (1978) Tech HiFi catalog.

 

[Robin L]

From an old (1978) Tech HiFi catalog.

*



* Cute gal in bellbottoms not included.

 

[iMickey503]

Damn what some are silly, but wonderfully silly I must say....he he.

Tip:
Watch the video, the commercial that begins: 11:40
But come on, what's that?

Okay. Did some Digging. I wanted to buy the Owl Costume. But you can't anymore. Not the old one.
For some reason? They wanted you to Burn the old Owl Costumes back in 2007 with an official forest service ranger present while setting it on fire to the point where it is unrecognizable.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1251742084026888192

There is actually a US code concerning this:

18 U.S. Code § 711a - Repealed. Pub. L. 116–260, div. O, title X, § 1002(6), Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2155]

www.law.cornell.edu

There is one copy of the costume still present at the forestry service Museum it seems.

Even Wired did an article about it back in 2007. I don't know if this is some kind of joke but they said something about the costume being used for terrorist activity?

Its seems that the creator of the costume passed away at age 90 just recently.

You don't see PSA's like this that often. And even thought they seem really dumb or korny, they sure got the message across to Children and adults alike.

Story about Woodsy the Owl.

Thing is? I never heard of this fellow:

apparently, Parker Brothers actually made a board game out of this but the board game was some kind of chemistry set.

And there seems to be an LP made by the department of Interior? (Land Management?)

So after doing some more digging around? Wouldn't you know it! BLM oregon....
OMG. I LOVE being an Oregon DUCK!

You just don't see things like this anymore. Kudos the Bureau of Land Management for still doing really cool stuff like this. Its keeps the spirit alive of the old times.


About Smokey however... Sad days..

 

[HammerSandwich]

I'm starting to think it wasn't just the bigger woofers that made your pants flap back & forth in the '70s.

 

[DanielT]

Okay. Did some Digging. I wanted to buy the Owl Costume. But you can't anymore. Not the old one.
For some reason? They wanted you to Burn the old Owl Costumes back in 2007 with an official forest service ranger present while setting it on fire to the point where it is unrecognizable.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1251742084026888192

There is actually a US code concerning this:

18 U.S. Code § 711a - Repealed. Pub. L. 116–260, div. O, title X, § 1002(6), Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2155]

www.law.cornell.edu

There is one copy of the costume still present at the forestry service Museum it seems.

Even Wired did an article about it back in 2007. I don't know if this is some kind of joke but they said something about the costume being used for terrorist activity?

Its seems that the creator of the costume passed away at age 90 just recently.

You don't see PSA's like this that often. And even thought they seem really dumb or korny, they sure got the message across to Children and adults alike.

Story about Woodsy the Owl.

Thing is? I never heard of this fellow:

apparently, Parker Brothers actually made a board game out of this but the board game was some kind of chemistry set.

And there seems to be an LP made by the department of Interior? (Land Management?)

So after doing some more digging around? Wouldn't you know it! BLM oregon....
OMG. I LOVE being an Oregon DUCK!

You just don't see things like this anymore. Kudos the Bureau of Land Management for still doing really cool stuff like this. Its keeps the spirit alive of the old times.


About Smokey however... Sad days..

That thing with the owl seems to be a US thing. 27:10 in the video. That in itself had nothing to do with HiFi but concerns environmental degradation, littering in general, if I understood correctly?

Feel free to check out the "HiFi" commercial before at 26:40 ..lol ..