Metal Man Comes to Life (1939)

The May 1, 1939 Hammond Times (Hammond, Indiana) ran these images of Elektro, a robot featured at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Elektro could supposedly "speak," distinguish between colors, smoke a cigar and direct an orchestra.

See also:
All's Fair at the Fair (1938)
Robots Will Be Kings (1949)
"I Can Whip Any Mechanical Robot" by Jack Dempsey (1930s)
Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (Fresno Bee, 1934)
The Mechanical Man of the Future (1928)
The Robot is a Terrible Creature (1922)
Mammy vs Robot (Charleston Gazette, 1937)
Donald Duck's "Modern Inventions" (1937)

Comments

[Wutzke]

Smokes a stogie, eh? With apologies to Philip K. Dick, "do androids cough up electric lungs?"

[NicFitKid]

If he smokes a stogie, maybe he's the great-great-great grandrobot of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bender_%28Futurama%29#Origin" REL="nofollow">Bender.