Introduced in 1949 for $7.95, the Man-from-Mars Radio Hat placed a two-tube AM receiver, tuning controls, speaker, and conspicuous antenna on a pith helmet. The battery pack stayed outside the hat, apparently because there are limits even in consumer electronics. The device earned national magazine coverage and came in eight cheerful colors: a wearable-computing prototype, minus the computer and most of the wearability.
Sources: Radio-Electronics, June 1949 · Phil’s Old Radios
Image: Radio-Electronics cover photographed by Avery Slack, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
