If anyone has an old tube radio that they'd like to enjoy, here are a couple of tips. First and foremost, if you acquire an old tube radio, DON'T PLUG IT IN! Old radios have components that can catch fire when power is turned on. Have a PROFESSIONAL give it a once over. You'll need the capacitors replaced with modern ones at the very least.
Now if you want to listen to it (once it's restored) there are things you can do. Some restorers will add a little RCA plug to the back, so you can plug any modern signal source into it.
Or you can get a low power AM transmitter. You can get ones with only a few mili-watts of power, and are FCC legal, that have a range of less than a quarter of a mile. The one I use is the SSTRans AMT3000, available on line. (And I'm definitely not getting a percentage of the profits on it. ;-) ) They're generally considered the best one available.
Then you can put any source, i.e. CD or Internet, through the device and send the signal to any AM radio within range tuned to the correct frequency.
I own a beautiful 15 tube 1938 Philco 38-116 console, that I can listen to the many available oldies internet streams on. Even old radio shows, such as Fred Allen, the Phantom, etc., are available. MUCH fun.

I have that exact same cast metal horse that has been with me more years than I remember. I've never found where it came from and this is the first sighting of another. Anyone else have one?
Mine is just as shiny too.

The exact radio that graced our living room in 1949.

I did buy one of those radios - a Philco 46-1226, to be exact. It cost $80 and it doesn't work, but it's in pristine condition. I've got about 1,300 old time radio shows in my iTunes library and a Bluetooth speaker positioned behind the fabric grille completes the illusion nicely.

Abe Tuttle knew how to live. I was a week old when he was photographed here.

Old-time radio, either downloaded onto CDs or via Greg Bell's XM Radio Classics, has made my DC-Beltway commutes enjoyable for many years. My millennial friends have no idea of radio as a source of that kind of entertainment, and a few have scoffed that it was something for geezers. I keep this old Suspense episode-- there were several versions of this tale over the years, and the one starring Jack Webb is missing some audio in the transcription-- and once they hear it, they scoff no more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sARjY1Gihfk

The episode is called "A Shipment of Mute Fate."

I bought an old floor radio of that type (in better condition cosmetically) just a few years back. Alas, the good old days of Lum and Abner, The Shadow, and Jack Benny didn't come with it. I'm of the TV age (barely) but as a kid spent time out of state summers in a remote area where the radio stations broadcast the old programs all day on a schedule. With no TV there out in the wilds, I learned to appreciate what my parents had loved about radio growing up.

I wish there were some fine programming for that fine old radio now. Still, I listen to the baseball games on it. That's pretty much the same as ever and makes me happy for a few hours now and again.

Abe's view of the world and so many historic events of his long age were doubtless fired by the glow of those vacuum tubes.

I've tried in the past (and tried again last night) to find Tuttle burials on Find-A-Grave, but have never had any luck finding Grace, Herbert, Abe, or Julia. Has anyone else found graves or obituaries? It's like they disappeared. Could they be in a private family cemetery?

[Much biographical info in the comments under our previous Tuttle photos. For example. - Dave]

Abe rocks back in his chair, causing the tassel to come in contact with the back of his neck. Thinking it's a spider, Abe slaps it hard, grasping the doily while suddenly lurching forward in the chair, pulling the potted plant off its stand which shatters the glass on the wedding photo and dumps wet dirt onto the floor, but not before knocking over the floor lamp, which in turn destroys the ceramic pig and chips the top of the radio.

[Actually those tassels belong a butterfly. - Dave]

One thing that aggravated us kids when visiting Granny -- DOILIES!! They were always getting squished up on tables, wet under plants, and the worst was sticking to a sweaty youngster's arms off a chair. After looking at eBay and ads for places like Michael's, they are apparently still used.

Typical worn-through finish around the most-used knobs on the radio. In this case, it's a low-end five-tube 1935 RCA console, Model 214.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/rca_214.html

I finally understand the appeal of the deer camp and ice fishing shanty.

At first not so much, but these are memories from the time I graduated from High school. Thanks!

just behind the plant stand. Julia hasn't changed a bit.

[In the dozen or so photos I have of her, Julia's countenance is possessed of an almost geologic immutability. - Dave]

... but I want that radio!