In the 1920s, businesses tricked shoppers by putting fake
television sets in their windowsS  Although television sets
wouldn't be mass produced in the United States until after WWII,
by the 1920s, many Americans were already captivated by the idea
of moving pictures broadcast into their homes. To capitalize on
the interest in this not-quite-ready-for-primetime technology,
some stores would actually set up fake television sets to lure
shoppers to their windows.  Matt Novak of Paleofuture details a
couple of methods for creating fake television displays, from
the August 1926 issue of Science and Invention magazine. In the
example above, a prerecorded filmstrip is broadcast against a
screen in one section of the window, showing an actress making
various movements and expressions. The actress herself sits in
another part of the window, trying to mimic her prerecorded
movements as best she can while seated in front of a fake camera
(actually a lamplit funnel). The hope was that passersby
wouldn't notice any discre