I'm not sure what make it is, but that set would have been pricey when new. I have a similar one that is a Canadian-made Northern Electric model, and as on this one you can slide two panels shut that cover the speaker and controls.

$5.35 is equivalent to about $100 today. $400 a month for a 4½-room apartment! A real bargain!

... Ralph & Alice Kramden were paying only $15 a month. Of course they only had two rooms on Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, overlooking a Chinese restaurant.

Comparing prices in different eras is tricky, but the CPI suggests that 5.94 in 1942 is $110.83 today, which would make the monthly rent on the Caputos' apartment equivalent to about $450. The 2023 rental market shows 2-bedroom apartments in Red Hook Brooklyn going for between $3500 and $5000 a month.

But if this is the Red Hook Houses project constructed in 1938-39, then paying subsidized rent might be the least of problems. Aside from other urban ills, the area is in a flood zone 1 and was inundated by Superstorm Sandy, losing power, water, and telecommunications for months. Various "resiliency and renewal" and "model community" projects have been initiated, with the usual difficulties.

Mrs. Caputo appears to be crocheting a doily to complement those under the clock atop the radio and under the lamp. When used on a chairback, doilies are known as "antimacassars" -- so named for the thin Macassar oil hair tonics from Indonesia (then colonial Dutch East Indies) popular from the mid-19th to early 20th century. Menfolk applied the hair tonic so liberally that absorbent pads were required to protect upholstery, and were a staple in Grandma Goober's house.

Goober Pea

I guess they just couldn't afford $5.94 weekly for five full rooms.

President Roosevelt made a radio appeal in support of the scrap rubber campaign, held because the Japanese had cut off 92 percent of the U.S. rubber supply.

What exactly is half a room?

[A ro. - Dave]

Why has no one noticed that Tribble on the floor!! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!