EASY LISTENING

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31504, 19 October 1967, Page 2

EASY LISTENING

The perfect answer to a nagging wife is now on the market, writes Sheila Kirk in the “Melbourne Herald.” It is also an antidote to ear-bash-ers, and the answer to a student’s prayer.

It is the domestic version of the talking chair, featured in the Australian pavilion at Expo 67 in Canada. The chairs went on sale in Melbourne recently at SA24O each. I tried one out.

By arrangement, people on my left argued football. On my right a transistor radio was blaring out, a portable

television was playing in front of me, and the earphones in the wings of my chair were plugged into a stereo tape-recorder. But I heard only the tape.

The chairs, designed by Grand Featherston, were so popular among visitors to Expo that orders have been received for them from all over the world—including an order from a Saudi Arabian sheikh. Featherston said: “I saw the value of the chair for

home use. Homes are becoming less private—there is usually only one main living room.

“But if each member of the family has his own talking chair, TV fans can watch their favourite programme, pop music fans can ‘get with’ the latest beat, classical music fans can hear their tape-recorded tracks—and the room can still be silent enough for the student to do his study undisturbed.” The picture above shows Sheila Kirk In one of the domestic talking chairs in Melbourne.