Movie Kitchen I.D.s, Please!

[danemodsandy]

Hi:

Can anyone identify the refrigerator and range in this shot from Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows (1955)?

I think the range is a Chambers, but I'm not sure. Someone I.D.'ed the fridge a long time ago, I think, but I cannot remember.

The movie is the story of a woman and her Revere Ware; she's in love with it, polishing and polishing and polishing, but it refuses to love her back....

Seriously, it stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, as well as Agnes of God herself, Miss Moorehead. Great movie, much better than Sirk's Imitation of Life. The kitchen set is supposed to be in Jane's house, the exterior of which was on Universal's backlot; the house would later be much better known as the house of the Cleaver family on Leave it to Beaver, and as Marcus Welby's place on Marcus Welby, M.D.. The interiors seen in All That Heaven Allows were the last word in chic when the movie was filmed in 1954 for 1955 release. Even here in the kitchen, style prevails; you should always wear a twinset and skirt matching your woodwork when performing household tasks. With pearls, of course.

I'd appreciate any help here.

 

[turquoisedude]

Hmmmm.... the angle is odd, but by golly, the handles on the fridge make me think 'Servel'....

 

[danemodsandy]

Could Be....

One thing many people today don't understand about Servels was their appeal to the wealthy. Jane's playing a rich widow here, and Servels had one attribute the wealthy found very appealing - they were essentially silent in operation. Then as now, the nerves of the rich jangled easily.

So, could be, in that it fits the character, although Jane eventually gives everything up to marry poor nurseryman Rock Hudson, who presumably had an electric refrigerator that would take Jane's delicate psyche some getting used to.

 

[moparguy]

I agree... I think that it is Servel based on the handles. I have seen several like this in movies of the period... they must have either been very popular in southern California at the time... or there was one on the studio set used in several films!!!

I think that it was a similar fridge in 'The Tender Trap', and also in 'Susan Slept Here' as two movies that immediately come to mind.

 

[luxflairguy]

Range is an O'Keefe and Merritt and the fridge is either Hotpoint or A Kelvy. Count the number of letters across the front...more than SERVEL.

 

[danemodsandy]

Greg:

I blew the pic up quite a bit, and while you still cannot read the lettering on the front of the fridge, you can tell there are two words with a space between. I think the first word could be "SUPER," followed by another word.

So, I don't think that lettering is a brand name. The handles have plenty of space for a brand name on them; maybe that's where it was.

I am persuaded that the O'Keefe & Merritt identification on the range is correct, for which I thank you; here is a link to a 36-inch model that appears to be substantially similar:

http://www.antiquegasstoves.com/pages/okm36c.html

 

[moparguy]

Perhaps an early Servel automatic ice maker with some variation of wording on the front? I had found one of them a few years ago posted in California, and it looked very similar to the one in the photo from the movie...

 

[moparguy]

Ah ha! I think that I have found it!

So a bit of searching of my computer for photos... and I think that I have found it...

 

[danemodsandy]

Jeff:

"or there was one on the studio set used in several films"

Maybe as a rental; lots of stuff on movie sets is rented for the duration of filming and then returned.

But these three movies were all filmed at different studios. All That Heaven Allows was a Universal picture, The Tender Trap was done at M-G-M and Susan Slept Here was filmed at RKO.

So, this one fridge wouldn't have been brought from the same studio's prop department for all three films.

 

[danemodsandy]

Jeff:

You nailed it!

So, the words on the front are "ICE MAKER."

That fits perfectly. Jane would have had an ice maker; her other possessions are in the luxury class as well. She drives a 1954 Lincoln Capri sedan in Wellington Gray, her coat is a swingback in mouton lamb and she has her chimney breast covered in antique mirror to match her coffee table - you could hardly get fancier in '54. Even that Revere Ware was expensive stuff back then - it would still be over a decade before the weight of Revere Ware was cut in half (for starters).

So - Servel fridge, O'Keefe & Merritt range. Thanks very much, guys!

P.S.: In keeping with the season, here's Jane getting ready for Christmas. I miss Christmas trees like this one; they're all so damn perfect now:

 

[danemodsandy]

Something Occurs to Me:

Jeff:

It is just barely possible that the shot you show of the Servel for sale in California is the very same fridge seen in the movie.

That's because appliances were often rented or loaned for movies; appliance manufacturers often had local L.A.-area dealers lend new stuff for sets. The appliance manufacturer would compensate the dealer for the time and trouble; the appliance would be returned and sold to a member of the public. This was also done with cars.

So, hey, it just might be.

 

[moparguy]

Love the tree!

And it would be cool to think that this could be the same fridge... though I would hope for Servel's sake that they sold some quantities of these... in fact, wasn't their pioneering automatic ice maker the reason that (was it) Whirlpool bought them?

I just love the handles on these!

 

[moparguy]

And one more pic...

This time the fabulous interior that greeted Jane when she opened the door to freshen the cocktail ice!

 

[danemodsandy]

Jeff:

That's a very cool handle for 1955 - much cooler than the rounded body of the fridge. Handles like that on a "Sheer Look" era fridge with squared corners would have been positively space-age.

Yes, Whirlpool bought Servel and gutted it for the ice-maker patents. Now there's something that started a trend....

 

[hydralique]

All of those old refrigerators were heavy, but I wonder if the Servel might have been a tad lighter due to not having a compressor? That would have made it easier to deal with as a prop. Moving is one thing working Servels don't like. My great aunt and uncle had one for decades, I'm guessing it was an early postwar unit that lasted until my great aunt got too old to live alone about 1990. I don't believe it ever had any service other than ordinary maintenance but was moved a few miles once. My dad helped and he recalled that it was a royal PITA to get it absolutely, perfectly level - anything less and it didn't work right.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hydraulique:

I may end up standing corrected on this statement, but I think Servels were heavier than electric fridges, not lighter. I think all the tubing inside them added up to a lot of weight.

However, I'm no expert. The last time I was around a working Servel "in person" was the late Summer of 1958, when we were moving from an apartment that had one, to our first house. I remember that Mom didn't like it, claiming it didn't keep things cold enough. That could have been a problem with the unit, but it also could have been Mom - she has always expected appliances to do her bidding regardless of how she uses them.

In Georgia, a Servel couldn't have taken a great deal of opening and closing, and there were some instructions about how food was to be placed within the fridge. If Mom had been presented with anything like that, she'd have rolled her eyes, done as she pleased - and complained bitterly ever after if the result was poor.

 

[goatfarmer]

Maybe it's a different model, but the first fridge pictured is NOT the second fridge. Handles are different, lettering is spaced different.

 

[danemodsandy]

Kenny:

After a fair amount of "blowing up" the first photo, I think you're right about the lettering. I think a five-letter word is followed by a second word with four letters. Perhaps something like "SUPER COLD" or something like that. It seems possible that the fridge in the movie was not an ice maker model, so perhaps the letters needed to say something else.

I don't see anything about the handles in the first shot that couldn't be accounted for by the angle of the second shot, though. If I'm missing something, please fill me in.

 

[goatfarmer]

Handles in the first shot make a "V", with the pivot in the middle. Second fridge, the top part of handle is attached to the door.

 

Otherwise, it's a very similar refrigerator, probably a Servel.

 

[moparguy]

Well I really didn't mean to say when I posted that they were exactly the same fridge... but that given the common design elements that I presume that the fridge in 'All that Heaven Allows' and the other films is a similar vintage/model Servel.

I also had seen a Servel electric that was called 'Style Line', which was on the upper door front...

But I still think the basic design, and most specifically the boomerang handles, appear to be Servel.

Or did other refrigerator manufacturers use these handles?

 

[moparguy]

Although this is a single door fridge (so not the same identical model in the movie), it also appears to be very similar. Love those boomerang handles!

 

[danemodsandy]

Kenny:

I'll have to take your word for the difference - from here in the cheap seats where I'm sitting, it looks like the difference in angle hides the "stalk" on back of the handles, which you can see in the shot from the movie. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

BTW, Jeff, thanks for that scrumptious photo of the inside of that California Servel. The ice maker is not complete (the bucket is missing at least), but at least it's there. That would be a really, really interesting fridge to find in good condition.

Just for grits 'n giggles, here's a shot of Jane's Wellington Gray 1954 Lincoln Capri four-door sedan, seen here in snow, as it is in most shots. In the best tradition of movie snow, the car is miraculously clean no matter what, with no ice buildup in the wheel wells, and Jane pilots this rear-wheel-drive behemoth over snowy roads with complete unconcern. Beautiful car! Jane's is not air-conditioned; you could tell an air-conditioned Lincoln back then by the two Plexiglas air ducts running up the back window. '54 was only the second year for A/C in Lincolns, so perhaps Jane just hadn't gotten the word on the latest car gadget yet.

 

[supersuds]

That model Lincoln was popular with the movie set, apparently. I have a General Tire ad somewhere that shows Cyd Charisse, Tony Martin, and little Tony Martin, Jr. with theirs.

 

[alr2903]

Crosley?

S H E L V A - D O O R ? Just a guess. We need 4 letters.

 

[danemodsandy]

John (Suds):

I think what was going on was that Ford was probably very aggressive at seeking placement of Lincolns in movies. Lincolns appear in a lot of "A" feature films of the time, including A Star is Born, where James Mason has two of them, and Picnic, where Cliff Robertson and his father both drive them. All That Heaven Allows has two as well - Jane's sedan and Conrad Nagel's hardtop coupe.

What was done to put cars in movies was that the automaker would either get a request for cars from a studio, or would meet periodically with studio people to offer cars. When a car was wanted, the automaker would build and ship precisely what was needed to an L.A. dealer, who got a great price on it. The dealer delivered the car to the studio and provided any needed service, with the automaker picking up the tab. When filming ended, the dealer got a "cream puff" used car with a great sales story - "Did you know James Mason drove this in a movie?"

Ford was so good at this kind of thing that they could handle some very special "special requests." On Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, a Lincoln Mark III convertible was needed for both location shooting at Mount Rushmore and studio shots at M-G-M in Culver City, CA. No problem, said Ford. They built two identical cars, delivering one to a Rapid City, SD dealer and another to an L.A. dealer. This meant no hassles shipping a car, and no possibility of damage enroute that could hold up shooting. Onscreen, you think all the shots are of the same car.

 

[jeffg]

"PERMA COLD" was a current feature on Servels in the mid-50's.

 

[norgeway]

I just wish I could find a nice one...

When we went to Omaha to the wash in at Gregs we went to an estate sale where there was a beautiful Servel for 50.00, but of course I didnt have a truck to haul it back to NC!

 

[moparguy]

On Lincolns and 4-letters...

Either 'Perma Cold' or 'Style Line', both apparently used by Servel, would give us the 4-letter second word on the door of a Servel, presuming that the fridge in the movie is in fact a Servel.

Sandy, great photo of the Lincoln, and story on placements. I loved the way they wheeled that Continental around Mt. Rushmore. And the cars are often fabulous and clean like Jane's Lincoln, despite the elements or location. As for her car, as you say, it was often filmed in winter, so perhaps that explains the lack of air conditioning. Maybe we just didn't see her summer car, a Lincoln convertible!

 

[tomturbomatic]

John and I hauled a Servel out of a basement at an estate sale. It landed on my leg for a second or two. They are very heavy with all of that piping to make the adsorbtion refrigeration work. As for domestic refrigeration, the process was entering its last decade or so at the time of this film because it has a coefficient of performance of only about one fifth of vapor compression cycle refrigeration. As refrigerators became larger, the amount of heat input to make the refrigeration systems work became large enough to be like an oven operating full tilt all the time in a kitchen. It is used today when there are vast quantities of waste heat that can be captured to power the refrigeration cycle and in solar applications such as a solar-powered house on the National Mall several years back which had ducts in the ceiling which poured cool air on people walking through the exhibit.

 

[ovrphil]

Another interesting thread. I remember one of my Uncles or Aunts had a Servel, but too long ago to remember which one. Those handle designs are very cool. The lightning bold to broadcast "Electric" is really neat. Wouldn't someone who reads aw.org have one of these refrigerators?
I think Jane Wyman was briefly married to former President and actor Ronald Reagan, but haven't researched it.

Nice car...my dad's Uncle would drive Lincolns and Caddies. Uncle Carl. These threads sure go through a lot of years of wash.