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CHAPTER 6. Throughout the 1930s, Philco radio chassis were used by different manufacturers for different purposes. The most well-known use of a Philco chassis in a non-Philco product was in the products manufactured by the Radiobar Corporation of America, a West Coast manufacturer of the 1930s. The company had been formed by one Earnest J. Krause [sic] in 1931, in Los Angeles, California.1 The firm was also affiliated with a New York company of the same name.2 The idea behind the Radiobar dated back to the days of Prohibition (which was repealed in 1933) – make a functional piece of furniture in which one’s liquor stock and glasses could be stored, out of sight.3
The earliest Radiobars used RCA-built chassis as well as chassis supplied by Philco, but within a few years, Radiobar was using Philco chassis exclusively in its products. The companies were working so closely together by 1938 that Philco did not produce any of its own radio-phonographs for that model year; instead turning the task over to Radiobar for a line of Phonograph with Philco radio-phonographs that included Capehart automatic changers to go along with Philco-supplied radio chassis.4 By mid-1938, Radiobar had merged with Philco, and Philco was once again producing its own radio-phonographs. The higher-end 1939 Phonograph with Philco models continued the use of Capehart changers. What prompted the Radiobar-Philco merger? The manager of Philco’s model shop, Arthur Whitehair, was quoted as saying, “Philco's interest in Radiobar may have had something to do with Radiobar's technology with phonographs. They had an engineer who was pretty good in that area.”5 Philco also brought out a few “Radiobar with Philco” models for the 1939 season, after which the Radiobar name disappeared into the history books. In 1932, the Columbia Mantel Company of Louisville, Kentucky, marketed a unique fireplace mantel which included a Philco Model 80 Jr. chassis. The “Singing Fireside” included a faux fireplace with a light concealed behind its “logs” to give the impression of an open fire. The radio itself was concealed behind sliding doors.6 It is well known that Philco first introduced an intercom unit, known as Philcophone, in 1937 for office and home use. However, you may not be aware that Philco had been building much larger units for some years prior. International Business Machines introduced the first public address system for schools in 1928, which was later known as “Schoolmaster.”7 By the early 1930s, IBM was marketing special intercom units, designed and built by Philco, for use in schools, churches, auditoriums, parks and other institutions.8 These contained one, or sometimes two, modified Philco radio receivers and (usually) a phonograph, with provisions to play the radio or phono through one, many or all of the available rooms hooked up to the intercom, as well as carry speech back and forth through each room. Each unit was custom built to suit the individual installation.9 The “International Philco” units often used a small speaker as a microphone as well as a speaker. This idea was carried over into the Philcophone systems for home or small office use. IBM also sold Philco sound equipment for use on ships. These ship systems were known as “Marine Emergency Loud Speaker Systems” and were intended for emergency use and lifeboat drills.10 Such loudspeaker systems were required by Federal law to be installed on American passenger ships.11 The Philco-IBM systems were installed on ships owned by United Fruit Company, Grace Line, Northland Transportation Company, Pacific American Fisheries, and P & O Steamship Company.12 Often a Philco radio is seen which obviously does not have its original cabinet. Aftermarket cabinets for radio receivers were produced during radio’s Golden Age by various cabinet manufacturers. The Independent Radio Company of New York was one such firm. It produced large, ornate, expensive cabinets in which one’s old radio could be installed. This could explain why sometimes an old radio is found in a cabinet which appears to be authentic to the average person, yet to the advanced collector, is certainly not original. Philco had occasionally offered products other than radios, such as a bookcase in 1931, clock timers in 1931, 1938-39 and 1942, and a record storage cabinet in 1942. As Philco began divesting into other fields such as air conditioning and appliances, they also marketed a window fan. The Philco Ventilator had a wooden cabinet and contained two “squirrelcage” fans which could be set to bring in outside air, recirculate inside air, or to exhaust inside air outdoors.
© 1997-2006, Ron Ramirez. All
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