some real nice ads from 1963

[davy1063]

My wife got me this card for my birthday reflecting things that were happening when I was born. I thought I'd share some of the more pertinent ads with you all.

 

[davy1063]

I think by 1963 they did away with the Swing-Out Shelves that they had back in 1959. My parents still have one of those down in their laundryroom. What a great idea that no one ever picked up on.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I have the GE Spacemaker that we bought in 1961 or 62 in my basement. It works like a charm. The bottom roll-out freezer is very convenient. We did learn very quickly that the cold air vent behind the meat keeper (on the left)had to stay almost completely closed or else vegetables froze in the wide bin next to it. I do not know why they were discontinued, probably more expensive to make, but now that they are being made again, they are selling well. It makes sense to have the fresh food at eye level and the freezer below. GE's roll-out with ice trays and bin on the top rack and the two baskets that rolled out with the door was much more convenient than other bottom freezers where you had to open the freezer door all the way to pull the bins out to search for things.

 

[bajaespuma]

We had the model from the previous year, 1961. Best refrigerator we ever had. Downhill from there, except for more efficient compressing. The manual ice dispensers and storage on this thing were brilliant; even though one had to fill the trays the old fashioned way, it was the most convenient icemaking design I've ever seen.

 

[washertalk]

Thanks Davey-boy for the ad.

I just love that quaint warm orange kitchen. I would consider this.

Some other things I noticed:
the chicken apparently with no Saran wrap, exposed
The bag of wonder Bread- I wonder if they make that any more
milk in Glass bottle
form fitting clothes.
berries in a wood basket
The 'old lady' shopping cart
The kid ,apparently a young alcoholic, grabbing for the bottle of wine ???? (corrupted at a young age) hmmm
and
Oh, the Spacemaker name I thought was originated in the 80s

Does she look dressed as a Stepford Wife?

God it is really weird to look at ads from the 50s and 60s and they are not pictures as we take for granted these days but high detailed drawings. It almost seemed like false advertising but it wasn't of course.
I wouldn't be comfortable buying merchandise that way. But if you were buying something there was no guarantee what you received would be like what was seen in a catalog. It's all in the details.

Tank-ers

 

[jamiel]

That ice cube design was slick. I remember as a kid a neighbor had one and it was so much fun to flip the ice cube tray over. It took care of the only irritating part of ice-making---the filling and (not) spilling of the tray. Wonder why that design died--only thing I can think of was that it was very sensitive to the leveling of the refrigerator.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The middle model of the refrigerator did not have the self filling ice tray, but what it did have was pretty neat. It used the same plastic pan for the ice, with the low side toward the 3 aluminum ice trays. The trays had an unusual "handle" for the grid aparatus that made the cubes. It arched up and back and the wide end of the handle fit into a slot in the rack that ran between the ice storage pan and the 3 ice trays. When the ice was frozen, you just lifted up on the far right end of the tray and as you lifted it, the fixed handle pulled the grid open so when the tray got over the plastic storage pan, the cubes fell into it. Then all you had to do was take a pitcher of water and fill the three trays to start baking more ice cubes.