A 1937 Emerson Q236 “Snow White” Radio

This little wooden US radio is an example of one of two commemorative models, released at the time of the 1937 Disney movie Snow White. The front of the case is of repwood construction (compressed wood), and then painted. It seems to be much more popular in its original state, that is, the paint work not touched up, as there have been a few fakes of this one floating around from time to time. I have restored the electrics so that it works now, and left the case alone, apart from the grill cloth which was decaying away. One thing that had to be changed, was the old power cord which was nicknamed the "curtain burner”. Many of these old radios had power running right from the outlet into the circuit and there was no transformer to drop the voltage down, so a small resistance wire was built into the power cord to bring the power down just enough to drive the valves. The trouble was that if you sat the radio in a corner and looped the cable behind the curtain, the cord could get very hot, and whoosh, there she goes. This little radio stands about 17cm (or about 6.5 inches) tall, and has great appeal.