They were popular 1950's and '60's live action centerpieces for a dinner party. Wen you wanted to impress your guests with what you were going to feed them and they could see it as it was finishing on the rotisserie.
Pretty cool tool if you can find one. Just do not leave it un-attended for long, as Savanah Smoker pointed out - they were..."marginal" on the gauge of electric cord - and you would not want to have to use a fire extinguisher around your meat that is cooking...