Did June Cleaver ever have a dishwasher?

[chachp]

There was a Leave it to Beaver marathon this weekend and I watched many episodes I have never seen. It seems in every episode (in the newer home) they would seldom show the side of the kitchen with the sink. You could always see that great GE frig and the mixer was different in almost every episode but that was about all you could see.

It seemed to me that an upscale home such as theirs, even in those days, would have had a dishwasher.

 

[Manoravenue]

June Cleaver & a dishwasher

I recall, though, that in that same era, early 1960's, dishwashers were still considered pretty much a luxury except by those who had homes even a bit more upscale than the Cleavers. Our neighborhood was far from being "upscale," but even so, there was only one home with a built-in dishwasher, and I don't recall any homes in the immediate vicinity even with a portable. I recall my own mother refused a built-in dishwasher in one home he bought because she felt it was an unnecessary burden on Dad's hard-earned salary. And, I think there was maybe one or two other kids at the very most out of all the classes whose homes even had portable dishwashers. More homes had clothes dryers (which my own mother also felt was an unnecessary luxury) than dishwashers. But, if June Cleaver HAD owned a dishwasher, it would have given her an excuse to change from one cashmere sweater, strand of pearls and high heals, to yet another upscale outfit for the purpose of loading the dishwasher!

 

[geoffdelp]

I watched a lot of those shows this weekend too; that was a lot of fun! I had not seen the very first one with a different Ward and Wally before; did anyone catch the date and remember the name of it?

Growing up, our home didn't have a dishwasher, either. Actually, my Dad always dried the dishes with my Mom Monday through Friday; it was their time to talk and we stayed out of the kitchen!

My Mom had a clothes dryer but not until we moved into the city limits in 1964; the same year I started Kindergarten. She didn't get her dishwasher until the early 1970's and it was a built-in one.

Isn't June Cleaver a hoot with her fashion? Gotta love it!!

 

[petek]

Not too many families I recall in the early 60's had a dishwasher. They were probably all saving up to buy a color tv. By the mid to late 60's though they were getting more common and definitely were thru the 70's, lotsa Kenmore portables. Wasn't until the 80's though that they were considered "must haves" in all new built homes

 

[toggleswitch]

A friend of my mother's had a KA DW and sink combo in the 50's. But then again the house had a maid's room and bathroom off the kitchen! The DW was not used once it died. IIRC the room was demolished, the kitchen expanded, and a KA of the time was installed (mid 70's).

My aunts mid 60's house was one of the first in the area to have a DW installed by the builder. It was a WP with the rotary-telephone-dial timer knob. That whole hosue was an anonomaly with forced-warm-air heat and central air. My area is still hot-water-heat territory!

My mother and her neighbors started retrofitting kitchens to have built-in DW-ers in the early 70's

 

[chachp]

Donna Reed had one

But I don't remember when that show was popular. I remember she had a remodeled kitchen with lots o' chrome. Along with the rest of the kitchen the dishwasher was covered with tons of chrome. For some reason I think it was a mid 60s Westinghouse Under counter Roll Out model.

 

[magic clean]

Donna Reed

Here is the lady from Dennison Iowa.

 

[Washinsheen]

The pilot episode was "It's a Small World," and was made in 1957.

Here's a link:

"Leave It to Beaver" It's a Small World (TV Episode 1957) ⭐ 7.1 | Comedy, Family

30m

www.imdb.com

 

[Washinsheen]

"Leave It to Beaver" pilot

The pilot was entitled, "It's a Small World," and was aired 1957.

Here's a link:

"Leave It to Beaver" It's a Small World (TV Episode 1957) ⭐ 7.1 | Comedy, Family

30m

www.imdb.com

 

[Washinsheen]

Sorry about the double post........an error message kept coming up, so I redid it.

 

[appnut]

Donna Reed

The remodeled kitchen was like in 1964 or 1965. They were all Kenmore appliances--the DW was a rotorack. The stove was a Kenmore Flair-wannabe, maybe sourced from Tappan's Fabulous 400. I think the Stone's were portrayed as an average family too, like the Clevers. But, there were subtle differences to have the Stone a little bit higher middle class than the Cleavers because of Alex' character being a pediatrician. The Stone pretty much had the washer & dryer prominently displayed (first the Whirlpool pair) and then the Kenmore 800 Lady kenjore form like 1963 or 1964. In between, there were a couple of episodes with a Kenmore combo as the laundry prop. You saw Ward & June doing dishes together much more than you ever saw Alex and Donna. The Stone's house was also always larger than the Cleavers, partly becuse Dr. office was also in home.

 

[washertalk]

The big question is...

Was June teaching Jive talk to the other neighbors there on Mockingbird lane?

She certainly demonstrated her abilities in the 1980s movie "Airplane".

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0006135/

 

[appnut]

that one scene in Airplane made the whole movie for me.

 

[qsd-dan]

She certainly demonstrated her abilities in the 1980s movie

 

[qsd-dan]

Try that again

.

 

[crevicetool]

The whole gang...

except of course those who have passed were on Good Morning America last week. June (Barbara Billingsly) still had her pearls, is ninety two years old, and repeated her Airplane! jive movie line. Eddie Haskel was on too, a retired L.A. Policeman. He's been shot several times in the line of duty. It was good seeing them all together again. Made me look in the mirror too. The house no longer has any mirrors.

 

[Washinsheen]

"Good Morning America"

Here's a link to that interview on Youtube:

 

[pturo]

June Cleaver was the one who did the Jive on Airplane? Even more brillant now the movie. I dont think she got the credit back then. I'll have to check the RAdarRange.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The dishwasher Donna Reed was loading or unloading in the above posted picture was a Hotpoint with roll out racks. The Stones usually had an all gas kitchen and the American Gas Association was cited in the credits, the same as the Beverly Hillbillies. At least for a while, the Stone family had one of the big gas combos that did not spin (by design), probably the O'Keefe & Merritt since that was the brand of stove they had at that time. The combo was made by the One Minute Washer Company. The Kenmore high oven range was a rebadged Roper Charm. Roper made Sears ranges for decades. Roper electric ranges did not use top heat during baking. That is why the lower oven in older Kenmore electric builtins did not have a broiler element.

We knew a good many people with dishwshers in both old and new homes before we bought our first one in 1959. The Atlanta area has been a huge market for new construction from after WWII on through today. GE had an interesting offer for builders. If they bought a cooktop and oven, GE sold them the dishwasher for $10.00, realizing that having a dishwasher installed in the kitchen created a replacement market and overcame the difficulties of homeowners coping with tearing out a cabinet to install a dishwasher later which could hamper sales. Builders liked the deal since the cost of the dishwasher was less than the cost of a cabinet and the dishwasher increased the price of the home.

The Cleaver's big GE refrigerator was made just before GE's Frost Guard system was introduced. The top of the refrigerated food section had the famous serpentine coil which would freeze milk bottles or anything else that happened to be pushed against it and that was easy to do since the coil slanted down at the back so that the defrost water produced each time the compressor cycled off would drain into the trough under it. Defrosting the rollout freezer must have been a mess. Friends of ours had one and I thought it was neat that it had a pedal for opening the refrigerator door.