Radio Razz by Jack Woodford (1931)
In Jack Woodford’s “Radio Razz,” the narrator enjoys spending evenings in Doc Edwards’s radio shop, not for the radios but for the pleasure of watching the former veterinary surgeon and horse trader bargain with customers. Doc never fixes prices, calls every sale a “trade,” and delights in extracting cash from anyone who enters. He also maintains an eccentric belief that a powerful super-hetrodyne, properly tuned in darkness, can reveal the whole solar firmament in a loud speaker. One evening, a beautiful young woman enters seeking a five-tube neutrodyne set. Doc begins his usual bargaining performance, offering a secondhand set for $109.50, then lowering the supposed special price to $79.75 when she says fifty dollars is her limit. While she tries the set, a handsome young man arrives carrying a shiny three-tube “unnamed circuit” radio that he wishes to sell. He and Doc bargain fiercely over its price. The narrator, captivated by the girl, helps her tune the five-tube set and uses the lesson as an excuse to hold her hands and stand close behind her. Doc notices the apparent attraction between the young woman and the young man and proposes making a match of them, even offering the girl the radio as a wedding present. The jealous narrator angrily tells him to mind his own business. The girl firmly offers fifty dollars for the set, and Doc unexpectedly accepts. The narrator eagerly wraps it and offers to carry it home. Meanwhile Doc pays the young man fifty-five dollars for his three-tube set. The young man then keeps only five dollars and pushes the remaining fifty back to Doc, revealing that the woman is his wife and that he is paying for her radio. The couple had deliberately arranged the transaction to outwit the notorious dealer, preventing him from charging them extra for exchanging a three-tube set for a five-tube one. The young man takes the radio bundle from the stunned narrator, who finds himself dreaming of stars leaping about inside an immense loud speaker, as if Doc’s absurd theory might be true.
By Jack Woodford · First published 1931 · Genre: Humorous Fiction, Short Story, Romantic Comedy · 3,033 words
First lines
I have always liked to hang around old Doc Edwards's radio store in the evenings; not, particularly, because of any great interest in radio, for I have a five tube set of my own with which I can pick up everything from Kahoolawe to Nansen Sound and I could just as well stay at home and try for the Eiffel Tower; but it's the way old Doc Edwards sells 'em that gets me.
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Genres
- Humorous Fiction — The story is driven by comic narration, exaggerated bargaining, witty dialogue, and an ending built on an embarrassing practical joke.
- Short Story — It is a compact, self-contained prose narrative centered on a single evening in Doc Edwards's radio shop and resolved by a final twist.
- Romantic Comedy — The narrator becomes immediately infatuated with the attractive customer and awkwardly attempts to create intimacy while helping her tune the radio, only to discover she is married.
- Slice of Life — The plot portrays an ordinary neighborhood business, its colorful proprietor, customers, sales tactics, and social interactions in an early-radio-era setting.
Tags
1920s America · radio shop · urban neighborhood · early radio technology · consumer culture · bargaining · salesmanship · deception · comic reversal · marital partnership · romantic jealousy · unreliable assumptions
What this Textopian page supports
Radio Razz is listed on Textopian as a short story by Jack Woodford, dated 1931 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Jack Woodford
- Date: 1931 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Humorous Fiction, Short Story, Romantic Comedy, Slice of Life, Comic Twist Fiction
- Length: 3,033 words
- Structure: 1 section, 67 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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