bendixmark
Well-known member
This past week I saw a frontload washer on the Donna Reed show in their kitchen.I dont recognize this machine looks like it could be a combo.Does anyone know what it is?
Frontload Washer on Donna Reed show
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It was the gas combo sold under several names like O'Keefe & Merritt & Automatic. It was made by One Minute Washer Company in Kellog, Iowa. The machine did not spin, but went from wash to rinse to dry. It had a 100,000 BTU burner, as large as many house furnaces. This was a time when the American Gas Association was equipping kitchen on TV shows.
It was the gas combo sold under several names like O'Keefe & Merritt & Automatic. It was made by One Minute Washer Company in Kellog, Iowa. The machine did not spin, but went from wash to rinse to dry. It had a 100,000 BTU burner, as large as many house furnaces. This was a time when the American Gas Association was equipping kitchen on TV shows.
mixguy
Well-known member
Donna's Kitchen had two remodeling during the show's
The show started out having plain white gas stove, white refrigerator and combo washer. One line of cabinets along the outer wall and a sink in the center under the window. There was a percolator on the stove. The first upgrade added a GE model 25 stand mixer and a Whirlpool washer and dryer and an electric percolator the range was a more deluxe model having chrome trim and clock and a window in the oven door. The final kitchen at the close of the series had a cook top in a peninsula, a wall oven and refrigerator in coppertone cabinets added to the side of the dining room door. There were pantry cabinets and a broom closet along the same wall at the refrig and oven there was always a phone in the kitchen too. A coppertone washer and dryer Kenmore or Whirlpool, were in the kitchen too Singer and Campbell Soup were sponsors of the show. So I guess Singer Vacuums were on the set as well but I am not certain.
The show started out having plain white gas stove, white refrigerator and combo washer. One line of cabinets along the outer wall and a sink in the center under the window. There was a percolator on the stove. The first upgrade added a GE model 25 stand mixer and a Whirlpool washer and dryer and an electric percolator the range was a more deluxe model having chrome trim and clock and a window in the oven door. The final kitchen at the close of the series had a cook top in a peninsula, a wall oven and refrigerator in coppertone cabinets added to the side of the dining room door. There were pantry cabinets and a broom closet along the same wall at the refrig and oven there was always a phone in the kitchen too. A coppertone washer and dryer Kenmore or Whirlpool, were in the kitchen too Singer and Campbell Soup were sponsors of the show. So I guess Singer Vacuums were on the set as well but I am not certain.
bendixmark
Well-known member
Washers
Fascinating,Thank you guys for answering these questions I have wanted to know for years.
Fascinating,Thank you guys for answering these questions I have wanted to know for years.
Laundry appliances
I THINK the order was the WP washer & dryer, then the combo washer/dryer, and finally the Lady Kenmore pair.
I THINK the order was the WP washer & dryer, then the combo washer/dryer, and finally the Lady Kenmore pair.
seeitrun2006
Well-known member
Donna Reed's final W/D
They were Kenmore's. There was a thread on AWO showing a pictures her in the front of the Kenmore W/D.
They were Kenmore's. There was a thread on AWO showing a pictures her in the front of the Kenmore W/D.
seeitrun2006
Well-known member
Thread #33161 Post# 499338 Reply #3
Picture of Donna Reed and her Kenmore's
Picture of Donna Reed and her Kenmore's
passatdoc
Well-known member
There was an episode when an expectant mother and husband stop at the Stones' en route to the hospital and she delivers quadruplets in Dr Stone's office (the couple were not patients of Dr Stone and were unknown to Alex and Donna; they pulled over and stopped at the Stones because they realized they didn't have time to reach the hospital). Donna, who was a retired nurse, used the kitchen as a nursery and kept it warm by turning on the double built in wall ovens and leaving the doors open. This was therefore the final incarnation of the kitchen.
And I'll bet there was no blood or bodily fluids splashed on anyone during or after the delivery. The episode could have been titled The Immmaculate Parturition. Broadcast television, especially then, would never show the messy reality of a birth.
Add to the irony: Dr. Stone was a pediatrician, not even a GP. I remember the show's intro where it said something about Donna's husband who is a pediatrician, the kind of doctor who eats because children won't.
Add to the irony: Dr. Stone was a pediatrician, not even a GP. I remember the show's intro where it said something about Donna's husband who is a pediatrician, the kind of doctor who eats because children won't.
passatdoc
Well-known member
In the later years of the serial, Bob Crane was added as a physician colleague. I don't remember the episode well enough to say for certain, but it's possible that Bob Crane's character came over to the Stone home to assist with the deliveries. If his character was an obstetrician, then it would have made sense.
Bear in mind, early 1960s neonatal intensive care as we know it now did not exist. They had incubators for temp control, but no way to help save infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (premature lung disease due to low surfactant). Bear in mind, the Kennedys' son was born a month premature in 1963 and died of lung disease. Babies either made it to full term, or else they didn't and some babies only a month premature didn't make it. We have to assume for the sake of the Donna Reed episode that the babies made it to full term and the only issue Donna had to deal with (as supervising nurse) was keeping the kitchen warm.
I recall that Donna had help, I think from Bob Crane's character's wife, who was also a nurse, so there were two doctors and two nurses running the show. The episode summary below shows that Bob Crane and Ann McRae (Dr and Mrs Kelsey) did appear in the episode.
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-donna-reed-show/quads-of-trouble-102554/
Bear in mind, early 1960s neonatal intensive care as we know it now did not exist. They had incubators for temp control, but no way to help save infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (premature lung disease due to low surfactant). Bear in mind, the Kennedys' son was born a month premature in 1963 and died of lung disease. Babies either made it to full term, or else they didn't and some babies only a month premature didn't make it. We have to assume for the sake of the Donna Reed episode that the babies made it to full term and the only issue Donna had to deal with (as supervising nurse) was keeping the kitchen warm.
I recall that Donna had help, I think from Bob Crane's character's wife, who was also a nurse, so there were two doctors and two nurses running the show. The episode summary below shows that Bob Crane and Ann McRae (Dr and Mrs Kelsey) did appear in the episode.
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-donna-reed-show/quads-of-trouble-102554/
Hyaline Membrane Disease. I was in Florida with my father and I remember the headline, "Tiny Pat Kennedy Dead" and then just a few months later the President was dead, too.
I also remember an episode of MEDIC with Richard Boone that dealt with the oxygen they gave preemies in incubators causing blindness until they learned to shield the babies' eyes from the oxygen.
Carrying quads to full term would be quite a feat and then delivering them vaginally without running into tangling of cords and other complications, in a house, is even more improbable. As PassatDoc said, there was little that acould be done to support preemies. Even surviving triplets were a rarity, let alone quads and quints. When my brother was cleaning out our grandmother's attic she had a whole box full of news stories spanning decades about the Dionne Quintuplets. On the other hand, a friend's husband was one of a pair of twins that each weighed over 7 lbs at birth.
I also remember an episode of MEDIC with Richard Boone that dealt with the oxygen they gave preemies in incubators causing blindness until they learned to shield the babies' eyes from the oxygen.
Carrying quads to full term would be quite a feat and then delivering them vaginally without running into tangling of cords and other complications, in a house, is even more improbable. As PassatDoc said, there was little that acould be done to support preemies. Even surviving triplets were a rarity, let alone quads and quints. When my brother was cleaning out our grandmother's attic she had a whole box full of news stories spanning decades about the Dionne Quintuplets. On the other hand, a friend's husband was one of a pair of twins that each weighed over 7 lbs at birth.
thor
Well-known member
Edsel
If I recall correct the family car was an Edsel station wagon, which was now and then partially shown through the kitchen's side door which led to the lateral driveway.
If I recall correct the family car was an Edsel station wagon, which was now and then partially shown through the kitchen's side door which led to the lateral driveway.
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