More really really old advertising

[twintubdexter]

I thought some of these ads, most past the 1940's, would be of interest to simpletons like me who breeze through a magazine just looking at pictures. Once again, if all my crazy posts are clogging up this site like an old metal-screen lint filter in a 57' Lady Kenmore, please let me know.

A pre-1900 dishwasher..."No home complete today without this Queen"...how times have changed!

 

[twintubdexter]

Mary Sydney wouldn't lie

They must have been desperate to sell these, they shipped it to you prepaid, let you use it for a month, then you could send it back if you didn't like it and they paid the freight again...such a deal!

 

[twintubdexter]

Electric or water powered

The pic on the left shows the machine powered by a water motor. Looks like the lady is standing between the drive belt with her apron blowing around. Didn't Isadora Duncan meet her end in a similar way?

 

[twintubdexter]

still looks like a lot of work

No wonder the Bendix Automatic was so popular and revolutionary when it came out.

 

[twintubdexter]

all gone, even Apex

These were the leading washing machine makers in 1924? The "Savage" was probably pretty rough on lingerie.

 

[twintubdexter]

don't look too automatic to me

There's an attachment for my KitchenAid mixer that looks just like that agitator.

 

[yogitunes]

keep them coming.....

we like to see more..........

 

[twintubdexter]

that thing is just plain ugly

I guess a skirt would help (someone said that to me in a bar once.)

 

[twintubdexter]

This is nice...

...if you appreciate the art-deco style of this 1930 ad.

 

[panthera]

Neat!

Thanks!

 

[twintubdexter]

high-society dames

You just know those dresses didn't come off the rack at Kmart. In 1934 it was just as important to look poised and smart in the kitchen as it was on Wilshire Blvd.

 

[twintubdexter]

how perfectly lovely

You show off your new refrigerator to the bridge club girls while the maid cooks, serves and then cleans everything up. What a deluxe way to live.

 

[twintubdexter]

the appliance gets the minor role

I like the way this 1933 ad makes a big production out of the girl(s.) Even theatre ushers were stylin back then. Now they walk around in shorts with a can of mace (I go to rough theatres.)

 

[twintubdexter]

1930 General Electric

What very fine artwork in this ad, nice enough to hang on the wall.

 

[twintubdexter]

1947 Bendix

The comic strip type characters don't look as good but they're still fun,

 

[twintubdexter]

nap time...

I'll post a few more later if there's an interest...be good.

 

[polkanut]

IIRC, the 1900 Washer Co. was the forerunner of the Whirlpool Corp. If I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me.

 

[twintubdexter]

you are probably correct

I've only seen it spelled Nineteen Hundred Corporation. They made Whirlpools while they were still called that. Interesting that you would catch that. Did you notice how the electric motor version is plugged into the light fixture?

 

[whirlcool]

Each of these adverts is representative of the times they were created in. Fascinating. It gives you a good idea of what caught peoples interest back then.

That Alcoa Aluminum advert looks like it was designed by Raymond Lowey.

 

[blackstone]

Fascinating to think of all the companies that have come and gone out of business. Each had their own design, then tried to develop it into a profitable product, somehow trying to mass produce them. Just like looking at a small slice of American history. I never even heard of a water motor.

 

[alanlendaro]

OMG. We have the shell for that 1900 washer

It's now a planter - guts were long gone before my partner found it. It still has the name plate.

Thanks for the great ads. Love the Electric Sink one and Frigidaire '34 ads.

 

[twintubdexter]

whirlcool...

Who was more talented than Raymond Lowey? All the wonderful work he did for companies like Studabaker and Frigidaire. There is a wonderful book called "Industrial Design by Raymond Lowey," out of print but you can still find it. Worth every penny and then some.

and Blackstone, who ever heard of a water motor? Not me. My mom had a Blackstone washer for a brief period...red knobs on the front which opened like a cabinet and a super-shiny stainless tub. I posted a fun story about her old Apex dryer in the "Imperial" section (Childhood Memories....)

 

[twintubdexter]

I guess laundry rooms were a lot bigger in 1904

Look at this big thing, and this is a residential unit! People boiled there clothes? Well I guess I've seen things in my hamper that should have been boiled...or burned.

 

[twintubdexter]

sorry...

that was "boiled their clothes"

 

[whirlcool]

twintubdexter

I have that book on our coffee table! My first encounter with a Raymond Lowey design was a 1954 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe. One of my Dad's friends had one, black with a gold interior. What a car! I first saw it in 1957 and I wanted to go inside to see more of it, but my Dad said "It's somebody else's property, don't make a pest of yourself". I asked the owner if I could go for a ride in it, and he said it wasn't running. In fact that car was always in the same place every time we visited. It sat there until at least 1963, then it was gone.
Of course I was only a little kid then, about 7 years old, but I never forgot those cars. I see one now and then at car shows.
Also Raymond Lowey designed the exteriors of locomotives for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Some of the art deco streamliners of the time. He also did the train "The 20th Century" from New York to Chicago.
I'll have to look through that book again. Simply an amazing guy!

 

[twintubdexter]

whirlcool

Hold on to that book because it's pricy. Many years ago I loaned it to someone and never got it back. A very good friend of mine that teaches hotel design at Cornell kept hearing me talk about it and surprised me with a copy last year. I am very familiar with the Studebaker Commander you are refering too. There are a couple of guys in my car club that have Commanders...really such an advanced design for the time. In 1963 (I was 13 at the time) my friend's mother got a new purple Studebaker Avanti. The second day she owned it she got "confused" and put the car right through the back wall of the garage. The fence behind the garage stopped her. She was fine but of course the car was a mess. I really loved the Avanti.

Another book you may like is "Populuxe" by Thomas Hine. It's a wonderful collection of 50's and 60's design, not limited to cars. The 1955 Plymouth was part of Chrysler's famous "Forward Look." How the mighty have fallen

 

[athanasius80]

Water motors...

Are basically little turbines. They were fairly popular with the Victorians for doing light industrial jobs (like running home sewing machines.) Remember in the late 19th century most urban people had running water but not electricity. So electric motors had to be battery operated with their attendant wet cell batteries.

 

[abcomatic]

Meadows washing machine company

Great ads from the past! The ad with all of the washers from 1924. The Meadows washing machine company started business in my home town of Pontiac, Il. and then was moved south, to Bloomington. Later, I believe, the Thor washing machine company took over and then was moved to Chicago.
My aunt's father worked for Thor in Bloomington and was the spokesman for the union that was to unionize that company. (great stories about that one) Happy washing.

 

[twintubdexter]

And I thought my mom's Dishmaster was dumb...

I hardly think spraying your dishrack with this very weird thing would take the place of hand washing. But isn't the name and the script lettering fun? I see a drag queen in a frilly maid's outfit with a glitter coated-bottle brush..."Dishwashette."

this is from 1927

 

[twintubdexter]

another ad from 1927...

I noticed it said that Country Club Manor was in Los Angeles so I thought "well it's probably long gone by now" but no, it's still there.