Sunday, January 24, 2010

Between radios and TVs...there were combos

Combination TV/radio/phonographs were popular starting in the 1950's. Some units had only the radio/record player available, but as the popularity of television grew, many units had all three built into one cabinet. Here are some of the ones I am lucky enough to have in my doll houses....

The console on the left is a German music box that plays Kerzenwalzer, or Auld Lang Syne. On today's blog, http://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/ has a catalog picture of Bodo Hennig furniture showing this radio, so it's possible this is a Bodo Hennig product. On the right is a radio made by Lynnfield-Blockhouse during the late 1940's or early 1950's.

On the back row left is a Barton radio/phonograph console circa 1970's. The small dark plastic TV/radio unit was made by Plasco, 1948. The large dark plastic console was made by Ideal for their Young Decorator series in 1951. Marx made the 2 red units, 3/4 and 1/2 scale, while the aqua console is Canadian Eagle. In front is a Lundby radio/phonograph.

In 1947, the Ideal Company produced and sold this dollhouse console as one of their specialty pieces.

The door on the left opens and the phonograph flips down; in the middle the TV flips up; and on the right the door opens to reveal the radio.

2 comments:

  1. dear florine

    what a great collection of radios & tv´s!! i´m from the generation which grew up with tv, but only three chanals first :) i loved to watch the sesame street and also german sandmännchen/sandman. sometimes i think times with just radio must have been the better times, because you could do something else, like knitting or patchwork - i try tod do this together with watching tv, but it´s exhausting to do both.

    i think you are right this german music box looks like hennig. does it really play these songs?? :O i like the modern lundby combination with recordplayer, radio and also cassette tape recorder! i had one of these in real size when i was young. it was sooo big! and the dollhouse console from the ideal company is stunning too, what a cute idea!!

    thanks for the little round tour through dollhouse radios and tvs and all the work you had with the (really good) pictures!!

    *nicola

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  2. Nicola, it sounds like I helped you take a trip down memory lane!
    The music box shows the name of the song as Kerzenwalzer, but the tune is what I know as Auld Lang Syne...we sing it to ring in the new year!
    We had only 3 TV channels also; I remember coming home from school and watching the original Mickey Mouse Club and then later American Bandstand...the good old days!
    Cheers to you! Flo

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