In 1939, Tom Carmichael, the manager of the radio and home appliance department of the Hopper-Kelly Music Company in Seattle decided that he needed to sell more portable radios. The shop’s window contained a colorful animated miniature circus, but buyers weren’t coming inside to look at radios. So Carmichael hired a pretty girl and sent her out to lure in the customers. He gave eighteen-year-old Ruth Carlyle a portable set to sling over her shoulder and sent her outside. She would inconspicuously appear near likely prospects and tune the radio to a musical program.

At first, most customers thought the music was coming from inside the store. But when they discovered the source, they “found it easy to learn more about the set from a girl who didn’t strain the eyes, proved pleasant to talk to and seemed just as naturally friendly as if they had known her all their lives.”

In her first three days on the job, Miss Carlyle took 57 customers by the arm and led them into the store, where salesmen on the floor closed the deal.

The radio salesgirl appears to be the same Ruth Carlyle Miller shown in this 2010 obituary.  According to this source, the store was located at 1421 3rd Avenue.

The photos here appeared in Radio and Television Retailing magazine, September 1939.

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