Above: Advert image for Motorola audio equipment created by Charles Schridde, 1961.
Whether it is true or just appears so people it seems that people had more home parties in decades past. There were countless gadgets to help the attentive hostess and barware for the cordial host. There were tons of purpose made dishes – only dip can ever go in that bowl – and folks knew their way around the use of more than two forks. Sharing the party stage with food and drink was the home Hi-Fi, filling the air with the melodious strains of Martin Denny, Frank Sinatra, and Dave Brubeck (or, if the party was little ‘cooler’, Thelonius Monk). These sounds were the backdrop of a time when music was a shared social event and not just an instant access, pick-and-choose private insularity. Today we are left poking at iPods and phones that carries more music than an entire suburban neighborhood of 1960. And yes, that is a good thing. It’s certainly more convenient than trying to carry a Motorola console in one’s pocket, but a big, rich and booming console is the soundtrack, if not to better times, then to better social graces. Or at least it seems to be.
Here are a few stereo / Hi-Fi consoles, I’ve not included any standard ‘floor model’ consoles and instead chose the more unusual ones. Enjoy!
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