Radio News Hallicrafters Ad, March, 1947
This full-page ad from March, 1947 shows Hallicrafters'
most popular communications radios of the time: Models S-38, S-40A, and SX-42.
Like the cover photo from this issue of Radio News magazine, the ad touts
the Gatti-Hallicrafters expedition. The caption near the top
reads:
Hallicrafters famous radio equipment, sold and distributed around the
world before the war and used with superb effectiveness in every theater
during the war is once again on the move. Watch for latest details of
the Gatti-Hallicrafters mobile radio equipped expedition to the Mountains
of the Moon in deepest Africa—a new and exciting test for the ingenuity
of hams and the performance of Hallicrafters equipment.
The artwork near the top looks almost comical, several decades years later.
No contemporary advertising would feature a blatant ethnic stereotype
such as African natives dancing around a fire. And the garland used to
preserve the dancing girl's modesty (while still exposing as much as
possible) looks more like a Hawaiian lei than anything you'd see
in South Africa. Oh, well, it's still an effective piece of advertising
art, conveying a sense of mystery, romance, and the far-away, which the
ad copy connects to shortwave listening.
I own all of the radios shown in the ad. See Model S-38,
Model S-40B, Model SX-42.
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