How About an Orientalist Wireless?

I’ve plugged the great Megan Abbott on this site before and her great Californian noir books. I just happened to be reading her novelisation of the 1931 LA Trunk Case Murders, Bury Me Deep. It’s a cracking read and well worth the effort. However, she has a throwaway line about someone having a top of the range “RCA Victor Electrola with swank Oriental trimmings” – well I had to know if such a wireless had ever existed. And it did – a Chinoiserie radio!!! Limited Edition too!! Here’s the details from an old wireless enthusiasts site:

RCA,GE and Westinghouse were in a partnership running Victor since early-1929. Actually two companies were formed to run Victor, (AudioVision Appliance and Radio-Victor.) In late 1929, RCA-Victor was formed to consolidate everything into one company. In 1930, an Anti-trust suit was filed against the group which broke-up the longtime partnership (cross-licensing arrangement) and essentially put RCA in sole ownership of RCA-Victor. Due to the Depression, expensive machines were no longer a saleable item, so RCA-Victor utilized left-over cabinets from the previous year’s most expensive model, the 9-56 Automatic Electrola-Radiola, ($1750 selling price in 1929) and replaced the 9-56’s problem prone Radiola 64 and notorious automatic changer with the reliable ten-tube Microsynchronous TRF receiver and a simple manual turntable. Standing 65″ tall, the Chinese Chippendale cabinet is decorated with oriental motifs in red, black and gold lacquer. Walnut veneer panels with black, gold and green lacquer trim are used on the exterior. With the doors closed, ten filigree bronze hinges and the filigree bronze door-pull escutcheons are visible. Selling for a mere $595, only 245 of these behemoths were produced.

You can keep your wanky iPods, I’ll have one of these please