June 16, 1969: The gadgets were on display at an annual consumer electronics expo at two Manhattan hotels. “Crowds that jammed corridors and rooms of a total of nine floors in the two hotels were treated to a mass exhibition of the latest in radio, television, tape recorders and other electronic devices as an automobile alarm that blurts out a pre-recorded cry like this: ‘Help! I am a black Buick Riviera, New York license No. XXX. I am being stolen! Help! Call the police!’ ” The Times reported. “Also shown was a Panasonic FM stereo radio headset that makes a listener look like a ‘man from Mars’ with two antennas pointing out.” Photo: Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times















