Zenith Oriental console cabinet

[Bruce]

Did Zenith ever produce a console with an inlaid/decorated oriental
cabinet? My wife and I were watching the third "Thin Man" movie made
in 1938 or 1939 and there was a black dial zenith in one of the scenes
in a cabinet with oriental designs.

[Kenneth Scharf]

Another question would be if Zenith ever sold just the chassis for
custom install in a user provided cabinet. Were there any OEM radio
suppliers that installed radio chassis in custom cabinets? I know that
in the early days of TV this was common, the famous RCA 600 series
chassis (620,630, etc) were packaged in many different cabinet options,
some not third parties.

[Scott W. Harvey]

The answer is yes.....and possibly no.

The yes:

Zenith produced a radio in 1927 that had one of the most elaborate
Oriental motifs I've ever seen. Real lacqured hardwood cabinet, none of
that veneer under plywood stuff there. I had one for a month, it's rare,
massive, heavy and worth big $$$. The proceeds from mine made 1/10 of
the down payment of my house.

The possibly no:

I've never seen an orientally themed Zenith Blackdial. Not saying they
don't exist, though. There was a vogue in the 1920s and 1930s for
oriental themed pieces, perhaps Zenith produced one in limited
quantities like the Louis XIV Blackdial consoles that sell for such a
rich premium on eBay when they show up.

The thin man movies were big hits but I doubt they were produced on any
kind of an epic budget that would facilitate building a one-off custom
Zenith as a prop. Either it was purchased that way in a custom cabinet
by a prop guy, or Zenith actually did make something like that.

-Scott

[Bill Cohn]

When I was an engineer at Zenith in the 70s and 80s, one of the places I
worked was the engineering facility in Glenview, IL. Zenith had a
mini-museum in the atrium lobby that had about 30 sets of different
vintages. One of the sets was a 1939 shutter dial chassis in an oriental
motif cabinet. This set included a special amplifier chassis that was
not a for sale product. This radio had been used to pipe radio programs
around the 6001 Dickens Avenue plant during the 40s. This was no doubt a
one off unit made in the prototype shop. I am sure the set is still in
storage with John Taylor, who was the VP of PR at Zenith and now holds
that same job with LG.

Regards,

Bill Cohn - N9MHT

[Buck Frobisher]

---- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Cohn" <bill...@comcast.net>
Newsgroups: rec.antiques.radio+phono
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: Zenith Oriental console cabinet
> When I was an engineer at Zenith in the 70s and 80s, one of the places I
> worked was the engineering facility in Glenview, IL. Zenith had a
> mini-museum in the atrium lobby that had about 30 sets of different
> vintages. One of the sets was a 1939 shutter dial chassis in an oriental
> motif cabinet. This set included a special amplifier chassis that was not
> a for sale product. This radio had been used to pipe radio programs around
> the 6001 Dickens Avenue plant during the 40s. This was no doubt a one off
> unit made in the prototype shop. I am sure the set is still in storage
> with John Taylor, who was the VP of PR at Zenith and now holds that same
> job with LG.
>
> Regards,
>
> Bill Cohn - N9MHT

I remember that lobby, and visited it several times in the mid-80s. I was
in chaarge of buying for a chain of 200 TV/audio stores in Canada at that
time, and we had several trips to Zenith H.O. to talk to the sales people.

I never had a real "guided tour" of the lobby, but I always looked around.
A lot of beautiful sets there.

The only pieces I clearly remember were TVs that had the flip up mirror in
which the CRT displayed the image. Actually, that was the first and only
time I ever saw a set like that. There were two or maybe three different
models like that in the lobby.

[Bill Cohn]

Actually there was only one mirror set in the lobby. It was a 1939
prototype that was never a commercial model. In fact it was originally
set up for 441 line TV before the 525 line NTSC specifications of 1941.
It was also displayed at the Antique Radio Club of Illinois Radiofest
in Elgin when they had a Zenith themed display. I think that was in the
late 90s. Their were many radios in the collection from the late 20s
through the 60s.

The building in Glenview you went to is now the AON insurance company.
Zenith/LG move to a smaller facility in Lincolnshire, IL in 2001.

- Bill