Life, 1928-12-07 · page 37 of 64
Life — December 7, 1928 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire** — it's a straightforward product advertisement for Atwater Kent radios, positioned as Christmas gift suggestions. The page promotes the Model 52, a compact, all-in-one radio receiver and speaker designed for 1929. The marketing appeal emphasizes its small footprint (30 inches tall, fitting unobtrusively into home décor) while claiming the audio quality of larger models. The photograph shows the radio placed casually in a home office/study, presented as furniture that doubles as a functional appliance. The advertising copy uses domesticity and convenience as selling points — it's small enough to fit anywhere, can serve as a reading table, and requires no installation worry. Several radio models are displayed at the bottom with pricing information (Model 52 costs $117 without tubes). This reflects 1929's radio boom, when compact, consumer-friendly receivers were becoming aspirational Christmas gifts for middle-class households.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
51 The Christmas Gift they won't forget All that a big set could offer you, now yours in a little one Theslimmest, tidiest, daintiest, friendli- est little radio companion you could ever wish for—Model 52, the new all-together set for 1929. Yet it has the tone, power, range, all-round efficiency of a big set. It presents the famous Atwater Kent compactness in a new all-electric form— your receiver and speaker combined in a shielding cabinet only 30 inches tall, 11 inches deep, 18 inches wide. Nowhere near as high as your waist! No brow need be wrinkled over the placing of this convenient radio. Any litle corner—any little niche—is just right. Let it place itself and efface itself. That’s the companionable little thing it is, Lay your book or magazine on the golden top, and it’s a reading table, Fine place for a bowl of flowers, too. Unobsrusive Model $2 in the home of Ellis Parker Butler MODELS2 A.C. Combining electric receiver and speaker in satin-Ginished compact cabinet. Futs-vision Dial. Uses 6 A. C. tubes and 1 rectifying tube, with automatic line voltage control. Without tubes, $117. All four sides have a rippling satin finish. There are two speaker grilles—front and back. Cords for antenna and ground connec- tions are twenty feet long. So you can place your radio anywhere —out in the room, if you like— and hear the music clearly and in full volume from any position. As adaptable as a small chair! The tone is even lovelier be- cause of the blending of all that is best in Atwater Kent Radio in this complete, modern instrue ment. Everything you could hope forinabig set at a big price is now offered in a little one at a little price... And have you tingled to the thrill of easy, instantaneous program-selection with the Atwater Kent FuLt-vis1on Dial? On the air—every Sunday night—Atwater Kent Radio Hour—tisten in! Write for illustrated booklet of Atwater Kent Radio ATWATER KENT MANUFACTURING COMPANY A. Atwater Kent, President 4753 Wissahickon Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. MODEL 40 A. C A powerful, com- ict lklectric receiver in» satin-Gn- fying tube. Without tabes, $77. MODEL 41 D. C. Without tubes, $87, MODEL 42 A.C. Crowned lid, pan- elled corners, ball feet. Futt-vision Dial. Uses 6 A. C. tubes and 1 reeti. fying tube, with automatic line volt ‘hele’ alternating ‘current. Wiiboot cycle a current. tubes, $86, Prices slightly higher west of the Rockies "RADIO'S TRUEST VOICE” Atwater Kent Radio Speakers: Models E, MODEL44 A.C. Extre-powerfal, extre- sensitive, extra-seleetive. Local-distance ewiteh. Futs-vision Dial, Uses 7 A. C. tubes and 1 rectifying tube, with auto- — Hardens control. For 110-120 volt, eycle al current, Without taber, $106. comicbooks.com