Radios....I have radios, lots and lots of radios!

Children of my generation learned to use their imaginations well because, before TV, the most dominant home entertainment medium was the radio. I remember lying on the floor in front of the radio listening to concerts, musical shows, dramas, comedies, and one that threatened to "catch you in the jaws of a vise". My imagination always made me worry about that one.

These radios were made by Strombecker. All radios on the back row are 1" scale; from the left, the dates of production were 1936, 1938, and 1931. The art deco blue radio, part of their "Modern Design" line, was first marketed in 1938. The table radio was listed in their catalog in 1934.

Other dollhouse radios marketed during that period and later were...

first on the back row left is the US Menasha Woodenware radio from 1934;

US Converse produced this radio as part of their "Realy Truly" dollhouse furniture starting in 1931; the radio last radio on this row was made by UK Barton around 1957.

On the front row is a radio made by US Nancy Forbes circa 1940; US Kage made the second radio from 1938 to 1948; the last radio was  made by US Strombecker in 1942.

Plastic dollhouse furniture became popular after World War II. The 3 radios grouped on the left were made by Renwal. The open drawer housed the phonograph...this is almost an exact replica of the Philco radio that my family had in our living room. I remember when I was old enough to play my colorful cardboard records on the phonograph without supervision. I sometimes see old cardboard records on eBay. :)

The next two radios are almost duplicates...the dark radio was made by US Ideal and the brown one by Canadian Reliable. The only difference is each radio has their brand name posted on the front above the dial. In Zillner's Furnished Dollhouses 1880-1980 she says that "Reliable was licensed by the Ideal Toy Co. to copy some of Ideal's products." That explains the identical radios. The last radio was made by Jaydon during World War II.

Not only did Renwal have a phonograph in the opening drawer, they also had radio tubes and speakers as seen from the back!

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. Skipping the blonde model, the small dark plastic TV/radio unit was made by Plasco, 1948. The large dark plastic console on the end 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.