WHAT HAPPENED TO US?
(re-edited 4/24)
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Is creativity dead? Or are we just consumer robots? I've been pondering these thoughts in recent months while buying 
old radio related catalogs on EBAY.
old radio related catalogs on EBAY. -
Take for instance, the catalog at the right - and it looks like most catalogs you see today with product plastered on the cover. Product-Product-Product.
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Now compare it with the catalog in 1951 - Do you see any product? Nope, you see a work of art, something that makes you ponder on the future, and wonder what is in store for us in the future. These guys were artists, with imagination....the catalogs we see today are, well, about as creative as a reality TV show. Going back even further, the 1939 Lafayette R
adio catalog features some great art about the 1939 Worlds Fair! These guys KNEW what they were doing back then - entice the customer with some great covers just so they would peek inside to see what they had to offer.-
Lafayette wasn't the only one putting out what I would call "Classic Covers". Allied had their fair share of artwork as
well. But first let's look at their 1969 catalog - a young couple, in their living room, apparently having a good time, with ALLIED product dead center, the beginning of the end...
well. But first let's look at their 1969 catalog - a young couple, in their living room, apparently having a good time, with ALLIED product dead center, the beginning of the end...-
Now compare it with the 1959 catalog to the right - Ten years and such a 
difference! I find it sad that artwork like this in gone, and lost, unless we make an effort to save/collect these catalogs of an era gone by (and I just won the cover with the spaceship a couple hours ago!!). But after pondering, re-evaluating the catalog covers, I've come to believe that our catalogs are a historical marker as to who and what we are. The "World's Fair" cover could have been one you saw on LIFE magazine; the1951 LAFAYETTE RADIO, and 1959 ALLIED RADIO cover just abov
e, indicates our growing desire to explore space, and of course the 1942 ALLIED cover mirrors aviation and to some extent, World War II. What happened to great covers in later years we'll never know for sure. Chalk it up to the "Bottom Line", or some ad agency deciding art had no place on an Electronics Catalog cover, or maybe somewhere along the path we just lost our ability to imagine...
difference! I find it sad that artwork like this in gone, and lost, unless we make an effort to save/collect these catalogs of an era gone by (and I just won the cover with the spaceship a couple hours ago!!). But after pondering, re-evaluating the catalog covers, I've come to believe that our catalogs are a historical marker as to who and what we are. The "World's Fair" cover could have been one you saw on LIFE magazine; the1951 LAFAYETTE RADIO, and 1959 ALLIED RADIO cover just abov
e, indicates our growing desire to explore space, and of course the 1942 ALLIED cover mirrors aviation and to some extent, World War II. What happened to great covers in later years we'll never know for sure. Chalk it up to the "Bottom Line", or some ad agency deciding art had no place on an Electronics Catalog cover, or maybe somewhere along the path we just lost our ability to imagine...-
UPDATE
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My next "Meat and Potato's" article (which I've already said would be about International Crystal Manufacturing) is still in the works.....I'm just have a hard time getting the scoop on them, so be patient, because they really had some cool rigs back in the day!
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'Nuff Said
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