On Thursday, August 3, 2017 at 8:39:43 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The sovereign remedy for a curtain-burner is a unique plug to an external box that contains the resistor and heat-sink assembly. A nice, fat DALE aluminum resistor of the appropriate rating does well.

In this way, the radio does not get plugged into the wall by accident (nor anything else), and the external box can have a fuse, switch and other niceties as well as serve multiple radios.

True, but that doesn't preclude the possibility that someone in the future will find the radio, cut off it's unique plug, and replace it with a standard AC cord. The radio also loses some of it's charm having to be connected to a life support box instead of being independent.

BTW, does anyone else remember the Sanyo/Fisher receivers of the 80s that used LV AC taps off the transformer to power the matching Sanyo/Fisher tuner, CD, and cassette deck? I saw a bunch that had the unique plugs cut off and replaced with regular AC plugs. Feeding 120V into a tuner that worked on 16VAC left a big black smudge inside the cabinet.

The 1930s radio in question was only powered up with capacitive voltage dropping as a triage to assess the rest of the radio. I haven't yet decided whether to restore it. If so, I may keep the capacitors and add a diode, fuse, and zener crowbar to eliminate any possibility of a shorted cap running amok. These things can be safely installed below the deck and produce no heat.