Favorite Television Vacuum Cleaner Moments......

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programcomputer

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Ahhhhhhh-

There are a few that pop into my mind...how about all of you? I know that on One Day At A Time they had distinctly 2. On the 1979 season of the show they show Schneider on the opening credits working on what appears to be a TOL Kenmore Canister which is two tone green...but during the series there were several episodes with Ann doin alot of onstage buisness with A Hoover Commercial upright mode 91 or 910 I believe.

This same latter vacuum cleaner went on to be part of the set on most of the "Before california" episodes of Laverne and Shirley. They also had another episode where Laverne was trying to use a 1970's vintage Regina Cyclonic FLow Canister. The Hoover fit the time era, the Regina did not. I can Remember the dialouge where she was using some amalgam of wands hooked to the hose trying to vacuum one of the pink rugs that led to their room. She diddn't accomplish much.

All in the Family had a sucession of Hoover Convertibles, that appeared also on the Jeffersons as well. On one episode in particular I believe that Florence quit and Weezy had to get off her butt and actually clean the apartment. She pulled out a MOL Hoover Convertible...and tried plugging it in, and it kept shocking her, and sparking at the socket...She then pulled out what appeared to be some sort of square canister possibly a Eureka, and had the same results.

Gimme A Break had a TOL Eureka Canister that shows Nell Carter sucking out the contents of the fishtank. I do not remember their being an episode where she was actually using it. But if form follows function, many of the opening credits of the day showed scenes from the first couple of shows that were to premiere that season. Usually with a refreshened word cluster and possibly an rewrite or re - record of the theme song.

Roseanne used Hoovers also...in a couple a late 60's Dial-A-Matic but in several she used a mid 90 Red Three Speed Hoover Quick Broom. Hse also had a set of 70's Maytags ...but most importantly she had a set of 1-18 Frigidaire's in the beginning of the series also. These I can tell you were harvest gold. I'm about 100% on that.

Many times tho on other sitcoms, the vacuum cleaner was implied in use, but you never saw it. Sometimes you might have heard a "soundover" where a vacuum was running in the other room. It was never clear in that "soundover" what make or model it was either.. Your guess was as good as any.

Three's Company had a Kenmore Twin Fan MOL Upright with a floral bag.....I believe that it was two tone beige and brown...that Jack kept dropping on his roomates feet becasue of course he was being a a clutzy clown.

And of course Dick Van Dyke used Hoovers first a early 60's Convertible, then later shows after 1964 show her using a Hoover Dial-A-Matic....and Im not sure if anything else was used.

Well ive blabbed what I can remember... i mean I can think of more...but what do you all remember?????

Let's do a who can remember what??????

Chad

Aren't these late 40's Westinghouse Vacuum Cleaner's beautiful?
 
There were a couple Partridge Family scenes where Shirley is "vacuuming" a rug with an Oreck upright...totally fake since there's lots of motor noise but the bag is totally flat!

I enjoyed seeing Jeanne's Dial-a-Matic in several episodes, especially the one where Jeanne and Tony trap the evil Blue Jinn in it and drop in him in ocean!
 
Jeannie Major Nelson and a vacuum cleaner also.......

Hi,

may63 I was thinkin about your post, and Shirley was probably vacuuming all for nothing because her Oreck's touted "dirt tube handle was probably stuffed with carpet shearings form all that shag that they had to clean. No seriously, in many cases like stated, they used "soundovers" and the character would be pushing a dead machine.

There was another episode of I Dream Of Jeannie, where she had an all too obvious Commercial Canister of some sort that was all chrome looked like maybe it was a Clarke. She was using it "I believe to clean the stairs",but when she turned to meet a general who Tony brought home, who had just taken off his coat to hand to Tony, It was sucked up and shredded inside.

And your very right.... I do remember therir being episodes with a Dialamatic in them. Must be TV LAND neighbors shared alot of things with each set back then....

Come on everyone....tell about your favorite vacuum cleaner moment!!!

Chad
 
Don't forget that Edith also used a Royal upright in an episode of All in the Family. Three's Company also had an episode where they were using a Eureka built canister.

The upright that was on The Partridge Family was not an Oreck, but a Regina upright vacuum cleaner.

The episode where you see the commercial vacuum on I Dream of Jeannie is where Jeannie is training a new genie(Bob Denver). Many of the Screen Gems TV shows started using General Electric vacuum cleaners, then moving into Hoover. First episode of I Dream.... shows Jeannie going into a GE RollEasy. The RollEasy was also seen often in The Donna Reed Show. There is one episode where it could be a commercial for the GE RollEasy. The camera shows Jeff putting the attachments together before vacuuming.

I have plenty more.
 
Phyllis Diller in the Pruits of Southampton. Opening credits where she's battling a Kirby. A while back, I forgot who posted it here, had the opening of the show. It was a real hoot!
 
Carpet shearings from shag...LOL...yes the Partridges' rug was a shag, some yellow or orange thing...

So Regina made that upright vac with the plaid bag? We always had a Regina "Electric Broom" in the '70's...I don't know why we kept buying them since they burned out so fast. At one point we had a hybrid running made from different parts of all the old broken ones.

What did Alice Nelson use? Samantha Stevens?

I remember being upset when the Blue Jinn came out of the ocean carrying the Dial-a-Matic and being mean to it! (Trivia: Barbara Eden later married the Blue Jinn Michael Ansara...ended in divorce)
 
Merlin's shop of Mystical and Magical Wonders..

Watched the Mystery Science Theater episode on the Movie "Merlins Mystical shop of Magical Wonders"Its in Vol#5 DVD set.Portrays a Kirby Classic Omega used to help dispose of the Demonic toy Monkey-Female "exorcists" advises disposing of the "toy" without its knowledge.Leading Man puts monkey on a coffee table in living room-puts paper trash bag in front of the monkey.He vacuums living room floor(Shag carpet no less)Hits coffee table leg with Kirby vacuum-knocking monkey into the trash bag-he puts bag in the trash.Also movie has a cool looking 70's kitchen!-And at the end of the movie a MST Skit reenacts the monkey scene-Brain guy tries to knock "Bobo" off a table with what looks like a Hoover or Eurika vac-Subdued lighting in scene.Movie is halarious.
 
Everybody Loves Raymond

Not vintage, I know, but one of the more hysterical episodes. Ray succumbs to an attractive door-to-door vacuum saleslady and buys what I think is a Rainbow--dirt is sucked into a bowl of water making it murky.
Turns out Marie sent the saleswoman over because she thought Debra needed all the help with housework she could get. Incensed, Debra takes the vacuum to Marie's house and vacuums the living room carpet to show Marie that she's not the perfect housekeeper she thinks she is. Only problem is, when Debra lifts out the clear bowl of water for the second time, it's *still* clear. Marie says about the water "I think it's even cleaner now!"
And then I fall on the floor laughing.
 
GE

I vaguely remember an episode on Dennis The Menace when he tried to use a GE "Roll-Easy" canister vac to vacuum up the leaves on their lawn instead of the rake.Remember the vac tech lecturing his parents about it.Are the DTM episodes on DVD?
 
Good ones Everyone.......

Hi,

To answer close to in order....

Yes, Regina made a stick like upright cleaner in the 60's and 70's that was just too similar to the Oreck of the day in size and purpose. I am really not sure if they were both from the same monster, or were made entirely seperate. The Regina version of this type of machine was called the "Brush-N-Beat" upright. I have only seen one and it's a catalog picture from a 1966 Bennett Brothers Co. Catalog from Chicgo. The machine retailed for $59.95

Im not sure about Alice Nelson's vacuum cleaners. That's a good question, what show was she in. (im gonna kick myself w/ the answer probably).

Mrs Stevens, the great and powerful Samantha used a Hoover Dialamatic pretty much the entire series. The dirt tube was removed so it wouldn't operate properly, that those who are vacuum cleaner nuts are quick to note. I believe this is also the same episode where the machine moves back and forth on it's own to help Sammy get done with her housework faster.

I have never seen the "Merlins Mystical Shop Of Magical Wonders". But It'sw cool that a Kirby was used for the premise described. That's awesome. Kirby's have only been used in a few things of my recollection which are:

A Happy Day's Episode where Mrs. Cunningham was cleaning up Fonzies apartment, she was using a very (out of time period) Kirby Classic Omega. This machine of course dated the early 1970's when the show was filmed, so it's NOT entirely out of place. And I have seen the Pruits OF Southampton.

Phyliss Diller rumor has it, was presented by the Scott and Fetzer Company,which owned both the Kirby name and Douglas brands of cleaners; a solid gold Kirby for her own personal use. This story I have heard from ex-Kirby salesman, and have heard from people who used to work for Kirby, and possibly were in the need to know category. I'm not sure if this had something to do with the Pruitt's movie, but it's a safe bet that it did...

I saw that Episode too of ELR, where Ray buys the Current model of the Rainbow E Series, which debued a few years ago. I did see where someone sucked up a sandwich and some other things that one normally would not. I do know that I looked hard in the credits and it did say: Special thanks to Rexair LLC, for donation of the vacuum used; or like wording. That show airs so often I'm suprised I havent seen it again yet.

Ah, Dennis the Menace- well it's just not playing in my area now in syndication. And that's too bad. I have seen a couple of oldie shows where a General Electric was used. One in particular was Mister ED. They had a mid 60's Swivel-top that Wilbur's wife (Carol I think?), was using to clean the stairs. I'm not sure if that is in the DVD of the series, but I know it happened I saw this episode on TV land a few years ago.

Welll everyone......keep up the replies if you would like too...THANKS

Chad

Here's another vintage Ad for the Hoover from my collection...
 
golden Kirbys

I read in a Kirby sales trade magazine that they still award gold Kirbys to top salesmen.They actually work-but they are VERY rare.Same with Compact-they awarded silver Compacts to top salespeople-and even custom built them for celeberties and rich collectors.
 
Lucy Salesperson episode

Another came to mind-saw it years and years ago-Lucy acts as a vacuum salesperson-and halariously "botches" the demo in a customers home.Can't remember what vac she used in the demo-may have been the Hoover "torpedo" canister-not familiar with the model#.Looking for the episode on DVD.Wasn't in the first season set.
 
The only thing that was similar between the Oreck and the Regina upright was that the bag was in the front of the handle. If you look at Regina uprights from decades before, you will see that was their trademark. The Oreck and Regina upright both have different footprints. Regina would later use the base design of their upright on their canister power team. The Oreck started out as an RCA Whirlpool vacuum cleaner. David Oreck was working for them at the time and took over the vacuum cleaner himself.

Tolivac;

Which series? Lucille demoed in different series. In I Love Lucy, she demoed a Handy Dandy Vacuum Cleaner. In reality, it was a Westinghouse tank vacuum cleaner. Now, what was the other vacuum cleaner she demoed in her other series?

May63;

Miss Nelson used a Hoover Convertible and an Electrolux. There were two other times where you did not see the whole machine. One time you only say the hose and upright handle. The other time you would have seen the hose and attachment. Name the two vacuum cleaner brands from that little visual if you can.
 
In Response To The Regina Canister Brush-N-Beat

Uh Huh,

So GE Swiveltop is very knowledgeable and knows his craft. Very good. For the winner of the prize here is the only known pic that I have of this very machine : it's probably the most rare Canister Vacuum Cleanr that I know of Next to a supposed GE WivelTop Canister which had a powernozzle as well....

Chad

Keep em' comin everyone...memories are good
 
Lucy Vac demo

I only saw one-was when I was little.-My mom liked to watch Lucy.Was there another episode when she acted a a vac salesman?I would like to get them.Watched the entire first season series and none of her demo'ing vacs.Keeping my eyes open-for the other episodes.
 
I know where that picture came from.

tolivac;

The episode where she is trying to sell the "Handy Dandy Vacuum Cleaner" is in season #2. In her next series, The Lucy Show, she sells a vacuum cleaner. It is a Hoover Portable.
 
scarey vacuums scenes

Well I remember Greg Brady using what I believe was an electrolux with a poly-vynil hose to clean, of all things, the engine area of the hulking station wagon. I think he got in trouble for that.

On one episode of Andy Sniffith, lol, They did a street scene and aunt Bea and family, perhaps, had been cleaning, the garage?, attic? basement? I don't know, but the curb or front of this B&W house had a large pile of stuff they were throughing out. and on top of the pile was one of those electroluxs with the skis, and the cloth hose was all rapped around it.

But the thing that really had me upset and in tears as a child, I must have been 4 in 1971, and there was some movie or show I don't know because I got spooked and couldn't watch it. For some reason Dick VanDyke comes to mind. I only seen that show a dozen incomplete episodes, but I know the set. Anyway this house, in the kitchen, was supposedly the "kitchen of the future" and had a dirt sensing vacuum that, when it detected food dropped on the floor would automatically come out of this door, and it looked like an electrolux canister but with a floor nozzle connected directly to the inlet. Anyway, it would come cruising out automatically, suck up the dirt and drive back to its home. The guy demonstrated that for the wife and it was real cool. But then the guy left and the wife was in the kitchen working and the vacuum came out and cornered her. "got" her foot and was apparently "attacking" her. As a child, the prospect that one of my favorite appliances could do something so mean was just too much. I know I cried and got scared, I couldn't watch. lol. It funny. Does this sound familiar. I would love to see this movie or episode of Dick VanDyke if that's what it was.
Anybody know.
 
Roseanne and lucy

Now I never really watched Roseanne or was fond of her but from what I have seen I KNOW she has a poppy colored Frigidaire top mount and the washer and dryer(not sure the color) is Maytag 70s models.

Lucy, I remember her buying this canister vacuum, not sure the brand but I don't think it was electrolux, from a door to door saleman, getting in trouble from Ricki and then he made her sell it door to door. The scam was that as soon as the person opened their door she threw a handful of dirt on thier carpet in which case you had to use the vacuum to clean it up. Unfortunately for Lucy, this persons electric was disconnected due to failure to pay the bill. I really didn't like Lucy either (It was in B&W, and those sets, ugh) but who could forget that.
 
Eight is Enough

Remember when some ladies group had picketed VanPatten for something written in his column anyway toward the end of the episode the ladies had changed their tune and were now helping the family and when Tom(Dick) came home from the paper there in thier odd shaped, avacodo carpeted foyer was one of the ladies using a Electrolux Golden Jubilee, if I am not mistaken (that would have been period for mid 70s)complete with power head. And she was moving really slow and the machine was not making as much noise as it really would have. Perhaps to imply that the turbulent situation that had been prior, was now under control.
Ah, fond memories. I'm sure this scene helped lure me into watching the show in the future.
 
The movie you are thinking about with the robot vacuum is a Doris Day movie called the Glass Bottom Boat.
 
Good Ones Everyone...........

I diddn't think that Roseannes 1-18's were poppy, that color sticks out in even a daft person's mind; wait...am I daft, am I stupid....memories can come and go. I could have swore on a stack that they were either beige or harvest gold in color.

I do remember the premise of the episode I'm thinking of, Rosie was givin Jackie some shit about what she was doing w/ her life, and Jackie wasn't having it, but meanwhile alot of onstage buisness was being conducted with the 1-18.

Jackie and Roseanne, using the laundry room as a conversating point, shows Jackie loading her clothes then puttin in what seemed to be WAAAAY too much Fresh Start Detergent, at least it looked like the old school Fresh Start bottle with the wording blocked out, and had a blueish powder in it....so it must have been that..

As Jackie was crankin the dial and pushing a few buttons, Roseanne says something that torques off Jackie, and she leaves, after tellin Rosey off; with her clothes in the machine. I also could swear on a- that the Frigidaire's were in the laundry early on in the series. And later did they have the late 70's looking Maytag's.

BACK TO VACUUMS- I barely remember Eight as Enough, and that's sad because I'm about the same age as their youngest boy that (Rich?) kid. My interest could have cared less abou that show, although my folks watched it, so I never would have seen the sequence described.

And on the Regina pic, I did download it from someone else who had it on their website. Just as we download the "video's to watch" later. I actually whilst writing that post left writing , and went to search for it. He is a cool Canadian guy, I have talked to him by e-mail, and Im sure that he wouldn't be offended that it was used. It was only used to show the machine as an example of what we were talking about.

I diddn't say that ALL of my pictures were MINE....:-)

Anyway, keep going guys, theres some great memo's here that let us know that we paid attention whilst watching Television and Movies.... An that if for a breif second we get to see something we love, it does stick in our memory for future use.

Chad

PS Check out the MAJOR difference between the older Singer on the left and the newer one on the right. Coincidentally, the one on the right served Singer in the same basic mechanism, looks were changed tho until Singer left the buisness in the early 80's. It still made that design for Kenmore, and then later again for Singer.....
 
Glass Bottom Boat

Here is the link to a short discription of the movie. It had Rod Taylor also and it was his kitchen that the vacuum was in. It was ultra modern (for 1966) and had a microwave in shich she tried to cook a chicken and it but to a crisp and popped out and then the vacuum came out and tried to such her clothes off. Good movie and Have seen it on Turner Clsssic Moives on and off.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0060463/
 
Lucy

Got the DVD set of "I Love Lucy" episodes-second season.They have the episode I remembered from years ago.It started that Lucy ordered a Handy-Dandy Kitchen Helper from the TV informercial-than the machine didn't work so Ricky had her call the Handy-Dandy co. to take it back.She does-the Handy-Dandy salesman sells her the Handy-Dandy Vacuum.Love thge sales method-the salesman throws dirt on her floor and bets $10 that the machine will pick it up in under 2 min.He wins-takes back the money. Ricky won't let her keep the vacuum-so she tries to sell it DTD on her own.She throws dirt on a "prospects" floor-tries the $10 bet-but the customers power was disconnected!Lucy lost her 10 bucks.The other episode shows Lucy getting a new washer and selling her old one to Ethyl.The machine blows up on Ethyl-and the fight begins....They end up accidently pushing the machine off the apartment house balcony.-after the washer tech offers $50 for it!!
 
Roseanne

Roseanne had a gold Maytag set during the early years. The turquoise agitator was seen after Dan "finished beheading the washing machine" in the 1st season Halloween ep. There was an ep where the Conners tried to sell their machines after supposedly buying new (used) ones, and after that they had gold 1-18s. Apparently the dial was missing from the 1-18 washer, because I remember Jackie using pliers to set the cycle.
 
Rhett Butler show

I can't think of the name of the show off-hand, but it starred Rhett Butler, and in one episode, she got a new laundry set and set them in concrete in her floor so the store couldn't take them back. Anybody remember that? The theme sone was "Lady Godiva" as sung by Aretha Franklin
 

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