Think I used to have one of those :)

The mysterious device is, I think, a Trans-Lux or similar opaque projector. There is a faint image on the screen. Trans-Lux, which incorporated in 1915, had a rear-projection product line that included ticker displays for the stock exchanges, a "daylight" movie screen for motion pictures and opaque and slide projectors in various sizes for educational use. The Trans-Lux name lives on in a chain of movie theaters.

Below: 1926 ad for a large Trans-Lux opaque projector. Click to enlarge.

1928? So I'm confused. I was born in 1957, so I've seen some changes in technology.

The "TV' in this photo looks like a portable from the 1970s. The TVs of the 1950s looked much different -- smaller screens, bigger cabinets.

Clearly not a TV. So what is it?

It appears to have a power cord running down from the ceiling.

I know TV was invented in the 1920s, but that's uncanny to the way TV sets would look 40 years later. TVs at this time would have been much cruder and smaller.

What is it, a shadowbox projection screen or something?

That's one of the earliest projection TVs! Okay they've come a long way since, with DLP and such, but that's still pretty cool. At first glance you assume it's a CRT but were they available on the market yet in '28? I don't think so, if so, they weren't affordable and I know they were smaller screens. Sure looks like projector and screen in the full size! Pretty nifty.

I am always amazed by these photos. The screen on the right is what caught my eye here; I wonder, is that an early version of a cathodic ray tube (CRT) like the ones used on old-fashioned TV sets? Here I thought those were invented around WWII. Or is a monitor screen located over the projector, using mirrors and magnifying glasses to project the images on the screen, like the ones still used somewhere on microfilm libraries? In any case, it's fascinating!

Must be a self-contained rear-projection film playing device, for lack of a better term. Never saw one before; nifty.