POD 5/21: 1960 Kelvinator

[frigilux]

Oh my god, I have a pasta bowl that looks exactly like the hat pictured on the woman in the Kelvinator ad!

The power of advertising strikes again: The kids in the ad are obviously dressed in togs that mimic uniforms worn at expensive private schools. The message? Upscale people buy Kelvinator washers!

 

[polkanut]

My great-aunt Grace had a couple hats in that style. She may have been a MN farmwife, but she shopped for all her dressy clothes at Dayton/Hudson in Minneapolis. I would love to find a nice Kelvinator, especially a sunny yellow one.

 

[appnut]

Hmm, I just noticed in the fine print below prices and discussion of the clothes/uniforms, Battlestein's of Houston was mentioned. That was a small (local chain I believe) which was somewhat upscale. My mom worked at the one in Sharpstown off & on to make extra money for Christmas. I got for christmas, 1967, a Juliet (???) am/fm 10 transistor clock/radio with real wooden exterior case which I still use to this day. It was quite "the bomb" for its time.

 

[whirlcool]

I noticed Battlestein's too. I used to shop at the one at Sharpstown until they went out of business back in the late 80's. That was before Sharpstown became a gang haven.

The funny thing about that ad is that the only clothes those kids are wearing that are washable are the shirts and socks. Everything else is dry clean!

 

[hydralique]

I had a Juliette radio too!

It was my first transister radio, in a white plastic case with a chrome front and a nice accessory leather pouch that even had a tiny extra pouch for the earphone. I was in elementary school at the time and can't recall whatever happened to it, but I spent at least one summer with it glued to my ear. It would have been purchased somewhere in the Dallas area; we didn't have Battlestein's but probably the radios came out of the same wholesale distributor somewhere.