Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early
electronics. See articles from Radio & Television News, published 1919-1959. All copyrights hereby
acknowledged.
These two electronics-themed comics
appeared in a 1952 edition of Radio & Television News magazine.
In the early days of television, it was common in comedy skits and in cartoons to
have someone on a television show interact, to the viewer's great shock, directly
with the viewer or to reach out of the set and do something, as in the first comic
here. The Three Stooges show did that in a couple shows. One in particular
I remember was when they were doing plumbing in a house and had water coming out
of light sockets and telephones. The homeowners were watching the TV with a film
of Niagara Falls when suddenly water came gushing out of the picture tube (begins
at 13:20 in video below).
Comics
TV personality trimming overgrown plant from inside the picture
tube (Page 90)
"I keep telling you, Madge ... that antenna is a dipole, not
a didy-pole!" (Page 126)
Posted May 24, 2022 (updated from original post
on 7/22/2016)
These Technically-Themed Comics Appeared in Vintage Electronics Magazines. I
personally scanned and posted every one from copies I own (and even colorized some).
275 pages as of 5/13/2026.
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools"
in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide
me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing
my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet)
was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity.
Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line,
and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...
