This gentleman’s technique with the canoe paddle leaves something to be desired, but his girl doesn’t even notice, because she is enthralled with the portable radio he had the foresight to bring along on their date.

Eighty-five years ago, portable radios were a hot commodity, and the May 1939 issue of Radio Today carried some pointers for selling them. In addition to the normal ideas of direct mail, window displays, etc., it suggested some other ideas. For example, it recommended to “have a clown or a fairy-story character carry a battery-operated radio playing around the streets, with appropriate signs. Thousands of people don’t yet know there is such a radio.” If the clown didn’t work out, the magazine suggested having a man with a battery-operated portable meet all he trains, or lending a radio to prominent people in the community and taking their picture.