The Picnic Portables of the Late 1930s

BY PHIL MacARTHUR

WEB EDITION

By including "picnic" in his title, Phil MacArthur conveys a real sense of the place portables have had in American life. We associate them with times of fun and relaxation in the days before the boombox and Walkman took over the scene. What a marvel of invention portables must have seemed in their day to everyone. (Editor)

In his 1991 work The Portable Radio in American Life, M.B. Schiffer leads us through fifteen years (1923-1938) worth of false starts for the portable radio. The real boom came only after the blossoming of high quality programming during the 1930s, the proliferation of high power stations, the development of Sylvania's low drain radio tubes (1A7, 1H5, 1N5, 1A5 etc.) in 1938, and the growing interest in the events unfolding in Europe in the late 1930s. From mid-1938 to the end of 1939, the number of models of true portable radios grew from perhaps a dozen to over 150.

On the top row, left, is a Sky Chief and a Truetone Four 4BF. On the bottom row is an Emerson EA357 and a Silvertone 290.

The cabinet of choice for these portables was most often airplane or suitcase cloth of a striped tweed design. These radios were used at the beach, on roadside picnics, in boats, or at the camp so they had to be easily cleaned and had to survive the bumps and scrapes of every trip. Cloth-covered and sometimes leather-covered wood worked well, and many of these radios still look nice after 60 years.

The top row, left, displays an Olympic 6A606 and a Grebe. On the bottom row are a GE and a Zenith 5G604.

A tie in my "personal award" winning faces is the Stewart-Warner 9007A (top), and the Stromberg-Carlson 1105 (bottom).

Majestic's 7P420 receives the "best slogan" award. for "Mighty Monarch of the Air."

This Admiral P6 gets my award for the "fanciest face."

Shown in this photo is a 6-tube Stewart-Warner Model 9007F. This luggage-style portable was manufactured in 1946.

One of the "personal award" winners is the brass escutcheon on the Mantola L35XG6.

My collection (I'm blaming Mr. Schiffer here) has about 40 of these gems, mostly of similar size (12" x 8" x 6") and weight (5 lbs, plus another 6-10 for batteries). There is a wonderful diversity of escutcheon design and dialwork, and I have included pictures of the extremes. Many of you will be able to guess the makers with just these clues. The casework is quite varied, with various colors and spacing of stripes overlaid on backgrounds of tweed in dozens of patterns. However, if the Catalins are at the extreme of design impact and color, these picnic portables are the conservative country cousins.

Electronically, there is very little difference with a few exceptions. Several makers included a Wavemagnet antenna (Zenith's trademark) to improve reception in buildings and vehicles. Some included such touches as headphone jacks, a momentary contact dial lamp switch, a front panel battery/line switch, and a shortwave operation (most notably the Trans-Oceanic). Many included the 1700 Kc police band, and most were "universal" sets, allowing three-way operation: battery and 115-volt AC or DC.

The only really different approach to universal operation I found in a Remler Scotty Model 93. Nine tubes are present providing two separate radios on one chassis -- 35Z5, 35L6, 12A8, 12SK7, 12SQ7, and then 3Q5, 1N5, 1H5, 1A7 -- all in a compact 11" x 10" x 7" case. What fun! I wonder if there are any similar examples out there.

My personal award winners are the following: Best Slogan: Majestic, "Mighty Monarch of the Air." Most Serious Radio: Zenith Trans-Oceanic Clipper (duh!). Deco Face: a tie between the Stromberg-Carlson 1105 and the Stewart-Warner 9007A. Grille: the embroidered sailboat on the Zeniths of the period. Escutcheon: the all-brass Mantola L35XG6. Fancy Face: Admiral P6.

This is a Remler "Scottie" 93. Remler radios featured a Scottie dog on the front of their sets.

Here is the typical chassis of the "picnic portable" radios, this one for the Remler Scottie 93.

E-mail me with your entries. Heck, SELL me your entries. I realize the overall beauty contest would be taken by the Radiola 24, but that's another era, not to mention another article!

Reference:

Schiffer, Michael, Brian. The Portable Radio in American Life. Tucson and London: The University of Arizona Press, 1991.

(Phil MacArthur, 701 Spanish Main #71, Summerland Key, FL 33042)

Phil MacArthur, an engineer, teaches mathematics at the Florida Keys Community College in Key West. An antique radio collector since 1955, he enjoys hearing from other collectors at keywestmac@cs.com.

This photo shows approximately 20 of the "Picnic Portables" in my collection. On the top row, left to right is a Zenith 5G401, Admiral P6, Mantola R661, Firestone Roamer S-7426-7, Majestic 7P420. On the 4th row down, at far left is a G.E. Beamascope, which is similar to the one used by Western Electric as the platform for the very first transistor radio. Next to it is an unusual Zenith with the upside down Bakelite chassis (5419) in a tweed case. This chassis is more often seen in a varnished wooden case.