I'm going to try the resistor since I already have it. I did a google search on this radio and found one other example at
http://americanradios.perso.sfr.fr/Gallery.htm
He has a footnote about if anybody has any info on it, to email him. I sent him a email telling him what I know. So this seems like a scarce set.
I'm trying to get a rough date on this thing. By the type of tubes in it, I'm guessing 30's????