"COTS FOR CATS, ASPARAGUS FOR MENTALLY DEFICIENT"

RADIO STATIONS BESIEGED BY REFORMERS & PROPAGANDISTS

Jamaica, Queens, New York (JFK+50) According to a special dispatch to The Evening Star dated May 27, 1922, radio broadcast stations are being being "besieged for a chance to shout...reforms or... protests."

Specifically, New York radio stations, the dispatch states, are victims of "tense" individuals who want to advocate "cots for cats," or "asparagus for mentally deficient."

To paraphrase the dispatch...

"Local thunderstorms and northern lights bother radio broadcasts.  These cannot be helped but the horde of reformers and propagandists who want to distribute their pet theories is another matter."

JFK+50 NOTE

In the movie "Inherit The Wind," Spencer Tracy speaking to Norman Fell, who is setting up a radio microphone in the Scopes Trial courtroom (1925), uses the word 'God.'

Fell, covering the microphone with his hand and grimacing says "You can't say 'God' on the radio!" 

Tracy responds using the word 'Hell.'

Fell, again covering the microphone, says "You can't say 'Hell' on the radio either!"  

Tracy, exasperated, says "This is going to be a barren form of amusement!" 

SOURCE 

"Soap-Box Orators Besiege Radio Hunting Audiences For Hobbies," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., May 27, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

 

 

BMS Home Broadcaster Microphone

Circa Late 1920s

Photo by Joe Haupt from USA

2015