From the Lucy & Desi Comedy Hour.
Tallulah Bankhead's Washer & Dryer
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pturo
New member
Very cool. Perhaps Westinghouse?
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Does Anyone Else Notice?
I know people's ideas of energy efficiency were a little rudimentary in 1957, but uninsulated laundry-room walls in Westport, Connecticut?
All I can say is that I wouldn't want the repair bills for the plastic parts in the washer!
I know people's ideas of energy efficiency were a little rudimentary in 1957, but uninsulated laundry-room walls in Westport, Connecticut?
All I can say is that I wouldn't want the repair bills for the plastic parts in the washer!
1958
Hotpoint - Lucy had the same set in her laundry room right off the Hotpoint Customline equipped kitchen.
Hotpoint - Lucy had the same set in her laundry room right off the Hotpoint Customline equipped kitchen.
programcomputer
Well-known member
Tallulah's machines.....
I'm sitting here thinking to myself...wow those look VERY Hotpoint'ish to me .So I cracked a nearby magazine. They kinda look like the 1957 Hotpoints in LIFE magazine from June 1957.
Now I know that nothing like that was being made by Westinghouse at that point. They were still on the Program Computer and like model slant front's during the Comedy Hour days. And hawkin the fact that thier "revolving agitator" washers were better than most top loaders.
Westinghouse's top loading automatic came out in late 1963 produced by Easy, and their flat front Laundromat machines debuted in 1964, the same year they released their own automatic design as well..
Deciding to do a little footwork, this pic on here is a crap scan from a flea-bay sale that offers the 1958 Wonderinse washer. In 1960 they went to the "Touch Command" series machines that had the floating control panel. So looks like 1958 Hotpoints it may well be...
Chad
Ann Arbor Michigan
I'm sitting here thinking to myself...wow those look VERY Hotpoint'ish to me .So I cracked a nearby magazine. They kinda look like the 1957 Hotpoints in LIFE magazine from June 1957.
Now I know that nothing like that was being made by Westinghouse at that point. They were still on the Program Computer and like model slant front's during the Comedy Hour days. And hawkin the fact that thier "revolving agitator" washers were better than most top loaders.
Westinghouse's top loading automatic came out in late 1963 produced by Easy, and their flat front Laundromat machines debuted in 1964, the same year they released their own automatic design as well..
Deciding to do a little footwork, this pic on here is a crap scan from a flea-bay sale that offers the 1958 Wonderinse washer. In 1960 they went to the "Touch Command" series machines that had the floating control panel. So looks like 1958 Hotpoints it may well be...
Chad
Ann Arbor Michigan
hilovane
Well-known member
While the Hotpoint "Touch Command" washer with the "floating" backsplash/controls was introduced in 1960, it was actually a '61 model. I know this, 'cuz my mom's Hotpoint was also a "Touch Command" model, but it was a '60 model. The '61 had no rotary timer on its TOL model.
laundromat
Well-known member
The Connecticut home had a Bendix washer dryer combo.The episode where Lucy got the matine' tickets to See a musical and they had to share seats with Fred and Ethel showed the unit clearly as Lucy and Rickey had breakfast in their new home.
We watched the Tallulah Bankhead hour-long episode a couple of weeks ago in Chicago and Lucy's Hotpoints were clearly visible in the laundry room so they must have changed sponsors or swapped them out at different times.
Fascinating
Wonderful challenge. They didn't exactly look like Wonderinse Hotpoints to me at first(I forgot that Hotpoints had opposing Control Dials those years)but that rectangle on the lower dryer door rang a bell:
Wonderful challenge. They didn't exactly look like Wonderinse Hotpoints to me at first(I forgot that Hotpoints had opposing Control Dials those years)but that rectangle on the lower dryer door rang a bell:
Don't put too much work into this...
Our first washer was very similar to the above. The Hotpoint unit didn't have the goofy overhang light, nor the lefthand badge nor the corrugated front decorations. Did we have a 1956 Hotpoint?
Otherwise, our washer was identical. The white translucent top half of the plastic control panel was full-lighted fluorescent backlit.
It had a red coffee-can-like filter that fit over the black straight-vane agitator.
Do you recognize this?
Just baffled a bit. Never saw a picture of the washer we had on this forum. Perhaps Dad took home a prototype or a sample that was on test for a few years. I do know that as a test Hotpoint would rig the timers to never stop, fill the units with towels and run them until they broke. After fixing them the employees could obtain them somehow. Maybe we just had an old sample...
Our first washer was very similar to the above. The Hotpoint unit didn't have the goofy overhang light, nor the lefthand badge nor the corrugated front decorations. Did we have a 1956 Hotpoint?
Otherwise, our washer was identical. The white translucent top half of the plastic control panel was full-lighted fluorescent backlit.
It had a red coffee-can-like filter that fit over the black straight-vane agitator.
Do you recognize this?
Just baffled a bit. Never saw a picture of the washer we had on this forum. Perhaps Dad took home a prototype or a sample that was on test for a few years. I do know that as a test Hotpoint would rig the timers to never stop, fill the units with towels and run them until they broke. After fixing them the employees could obtain them somehow. Maybe we just had an old sample...
Gansky1 the Bankhead Episode was shot in 1957
This is also the epidsode that was being filmed when Desi made the deal to buy RKO studios (which is where he and Lucy met when they were filming Too May Girls which Desi had be in on Broadway). The first episode shot in 1958 is when Lucy had her short poodle doo (sic) ...PAT COFFEY
This is also the epidsode that was being filmed when Desi made the deal to buy RKO studios (which is where he and Lucy met when they were filming Too May Girls which Desi had be in on Broadway). The first episode shot in 1958 is when Lucy had her short poodle doo (sic) ...PAT COFFEY
hilovane
Well-known member
With regard to "swapping out" appliances (per se), Hotpoint never sponsored any Desilu shows. However, during the 1957-58 season of "Make Room For Daddy" (aka the Danny Thomas Show), the Williams' New York apartment house had a Hotpoint kitchen, complete with built-in oven and cooktop. They, too were replaced with Westinghouse appliances when that company began its sponsorship association with Desilu. As a matter of fact, when Jack Benny's old TV show switched its production association from MCA (Universal) to Desilu around 1960, he, too, had Westinghouse appliances.
For the record, Hotpoint sponsored "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet."
Even Bendix sposnored a TV show for a time: it was a Goodson-Todman game show called "The Name's the Same."
For the record, Hotpoint sponsored "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet."
Even Bendix sposnored a TV show for a time: it was a Goodson-Todman game show called "The Name's the Same."
Just wonder what the Wonderinse was?
Wonderinse was Hotpoint's first version of a rinse dispenser. Back then, the rinse additive was as likely to be Calgon Water Softener as Fabric Softener that we're familiar with today. In fact, I don't remember fabric softener being used in our household until the mid-60's and then your only choices were blue: NuSoft and pink: StaPuf. Others followed very quickly.
Wonderinse was Hotpoint's first version of a rinse dispenser. Back then, the rinse additive was as likely to be Calgon Water Softener as Fabric Softener that we're familiar with today. In fact, I don't remember fabric softener being used in our household until the mid-60's and then your only choices were blue: NuSoft and pink: StaPuf. Others followed very quickly.
...and Paul
Anything like this?
Anything like this?
So over the years "Lucy" sponsors changed? I remember the vacuum folks discussing both Westinghouse vacuums (When Lucy was the saleslady) and a episode with a Hoover, where Lucy spent a lot of screen time using attachments, almost to the point of giving a demonstration. Many remember it as an early example of "product placement". alr2903
The History Of Lucy Sponsorship
Philip Morris was "I Love Lucy's" sponsor from the very first episode on October 15th, 1951. (A series of announcers did the PM cigarette spots, as did Lucy and Desi themselves.) By late 1954, it was clear Philip Morris was losing ground in the cigarette race to the up and coming filters, and fast-growing Pall Mall from American Tobacco, and the company decided to phase out its sponsorship of the series.
In January 1955, Proctor & Gamble became "Lucy's" alternate sponsor, pitching Cheer and Lilt home permanents every other week. Philip Morris became a co-sponsor for the remainder of the 1954-55 season, until its contract expired.
Starting with the 1955-56 season, General Foods joined P&G as alternating sponsors (Lucy and Desi would do commercials at the end of the show for the remainder of the half-hour series' run.) The only exception was for a few weeks in early 1957, when Ford Motor Company purchased time on "Lucy" to promote the Ford division lineup, including its new Skyliner retractable hardtop (with a commercial featuring Lucy & Desi).
For the fall of 1957, when the "I Love Lucy" format switched to occasional hour-long programs, Ford agreed to sponsor five "Lucy" specials during the 1957-58 season. Westinghouse, of course, became the "Desilu Playhouse" sponsor from 1958 to 1960.
When CBS began airing "Lucy" reruns on weekends in 1955, Lehn & Fink (Lysol, Hines hand cream, Dorothy Gray cosmetics and other products) sponsored those shows. CBS also aired "Lucy" reruns in prime time from 1957 to 1959; General Foods and Clairol were the sponsors there. And in 1960, CBS aired the final "Lucy" half-hour shows as "Lucy In Connecticut," sponsored by General Mills (Cheerios and Gold Medal Flour).
To the best of my research and viewing (including my own vintage TV collection), that pretty much sums up the "I Love Lucy" sponsorship history.
Philip Morris was "I Love Lucy's" sponsor from the very first episode on October 15th, 1951. (A series of announcers did the PM cigarette spots, as did Lucy and Desi themselves.) By late 1954, it was clear Philip Morris was losing ground in the cigarette race to the up and coming filters, and fast-growing Pall Mall from American Tobacco, and the company decided to phase out its sponsorship of the series.
In January 1955, Proctor & Gamble became "Lucy's" alternate sponsor, pitching Cheer and Lilt home permanents every other week. Philip Morris became a co-sponsor for the remainder of the 1954-55 season, until its contract expired.
Starting with the 1955-56 season, General Foods joined P&G as alternating sponsors (Lucy and Desi would do commercials at the end of the show for the remainder of the half-hour series' run.) The only exception was for a few weeks in early 1957, when Ford Motor Company purchased time on "Lucy" to promote the Ford division lineup, including its new Skyliner retractable hardtop (with a commercial featuring Lucy & Desi).
For the fall of 1957, when the "I Love Lucy" format switched to occasional hour-long programs, Ford agreed to sponsor five "Lucy" specials during the 1957-58 season. Westinghouse, of course, became the "Desilu Playhouse" sponsor from 1958 to 1960.
When CBS began airing "Lucy" reruns on weekends in 1955, Lehn & Fink (Lysol, Hines hand cream, Dorothy Gray cosmetics and other products) sponsored those shows. CBS also aired "Lucy" reruns in prime time from 1957 to 1959; General Foods and Clairol were the sponsors there. And in 1960, CBS aired the final "Lucy" half-hour shows as "Lucy In Connecticut," sponsored by General Mills (Cheerios and Gold Medal Flour).
To the best of my research and viewing (including my own vintage TV collection), that pretty much sums up the "I Love Lucy" sponsorship history.
