The House The 1950s Built

[vacbear58]

Just a heads-up to UK readers of a new four part TV programme which starts tomorrow Thursday 7th June on Channel 4 at 9pm (or for Channel 4+1 Freeview 13 at 10pm or on the internet 4OnDemand) if they have not seen the trailers.

It is based in one house and how it would have changed between 1950 and 1960. Part 1 will probably be of most interest here as it focusses of the kitchen, part 2 the living room, part 3 the bedroom and part 4 the garden.

There will be some familiar faces appearing, more details at the link

Al

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-house-the-50s-built/episode-guide/series-1

 

[rp2813]

That's a program I'd like to watch.  Maybe it will eventually land on BBC America or PBS.

 

 

 

[chestermikeuk]

Or - We Could All End Up On The Cutting Room Floor..!!

"To coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, this new four-part series celebrates the science behind the inventions and innovations that transformed the way we lived and catapulted an exhausted, post-war country into the modernity of 1950s Britain.

Engineer and showman Professor Brendan Walker sets out to discover the ingenuity and life-changing technology behind the inventions that took drab, black and white post-war Britain and launched it, under its new young Queen Elizabeth 2nd, into a Technicolor-drenched world of the future.

Brendan will learn from practical, hands-on experience exactly what it took to bring about the 50s revolution by reconstructing a house. Each programme focuses on a room and fast-forwards it through the 1950s, showcasing how progress in the home triggered a tsunami of social change.

Brendan experiments with everything from how to make a Formica kitchen and using atomic bomb know-how to make a non-stick pan, to how to turn a vat of chemicals into comfortable lingerie that changed women's lives.

The first programme starts with the engine room of the house - the kitchen. Women spent about 70 hours each week on house work and the majority of that time was spent in the kitchen. But their lives were about to be transformed beyond recognition. Out with free-standing units, the mangle and a larder, and in with fitted units, a twin tub, food processor and refrigerator.

We hear first-hand from people who lived through the decade - from the local WI to celebrities like Maureen Lipman and Fay Weldon, as well as modern designers like Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway, Kevin McCloud and vintage enthusiasts in their 20s and 30s.

Episode two of The House the 50s Built focuses on the transformation of the living room, including the television, the Series Seven chair made famous by Christine Keeler, wallpaper paste and vinyl paint."

Director: James Franklin
Series Producer: Michael Douglas
Exec Producer: Jonathan Hewes
Commissioning Editor: Jill Fullerton-Smith

4Press | Channel 4

 

[vacbear58]

Watching it

"Or - We Could All End Up On The Cutting Room Floor" - well we live in hope

This is not airing on BBC so I am not sure if it will end up on BBC America (I have the notion that I have seen some C4 programmes on there before). C4 is the origion of such programmes as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson (early stuff), River Cottage Cookery shows, Grand Designs, Beeny's Restoration Nightmare (and other Beeny stuff like "Help, My House is Falling Down"), The Restoration Man (very sexy Geordie architect commenting on some crazy restorations and conversions) and even Come Dine With Me (dont know if that one ever made it overseas - yes we do have trash TV too! But watchable in a car crash sort of way). I would have thought it most likely crop up on and station airing any of those programmes

Al

 

[ricky5050]

Hello

Hello mike ! Well you can deliver a servis twin tub to my kitchen any time ha ha. ( I have managed to get an Australian one but it's in a long to do list) perhaps just bring your tools and come for coffee. Good to see you and I'm guessing your machine. Shame not a wash shot but did sound good.

Hope things are good

Richard

 

[mattywashboy]

Thankfully we in Australia get a lot of British programmes through Foxtel (Sky). ABC on regular TV also shows a lot of classic British comedies such as KUA etc...

Hopefully this show might make it across to us as Foxtel channels have been going crazy with all the Jubilee celebration programmes. It might show up on Lifestyle which has programmes such as Sarah Beeny Help My House Is Falling Down and The Hotel Inspector (love ALex Polizzi, she's splendidly bitchy! lol)

Can't wait to see who's on the show if i ever get to see it

Matt
x

 

[chestermikeuk]

The Show...

Matty dont hold ya breathe, you`ll only know one person and after 3 hrs filming I only managed 4 words in 3 seconds - Lol, yes we did end up on the cutting room floor...

BUT the star of the show was the Servis MK1 even though after all the work we did on it, they stuffed it full of clothes and switched it on with the lid down, so purring away we didnt see it working......Aaagh!! must admit it did look great in the 50`s kitchen...

 

[chestermikeuk]

Supertwin

Morning Richard, deliveries here we come, yes was disappointed myself for them to switch it on with the lid down, and yes lots of great footage ended up on the floor, the Servis did look rather grand with the colour scheme, the cream and green Servis complimented the red & cream kitchen..

I know they filmed lots of other good stuff like the toasters, like using the first Hotpoint See-Thru models, also with the Swan kettles, and the Belling cooker, alas all filmed and not shown, would love to get my hands on that lot!!

Glad you got the Aussie Servis Supertwin "AutoWash", the only other one know is with me and you have the even rarer exported model...dont forget to start the machine the wash timer is "Pull Out to Start" ....the only one that did!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Here We Are... (or not...Lol)

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[foraloysius]

Clips are not available in my country, not here, not on youtube and not on the Channel 4 site. This happens more often with videos from the UK, more often even than from the USA. You British are a secretive littl bunch!

Ducking and running...

 

[chestermikeuk]

Really...dam & blast!!

Will see what I can do from the recording...

 

[mcduffpth]

Special Delivery

Hi Mike,

Seen the show last night, good looking machine and equally good looking delivey man

 its a shame we didn't get to see more of you, as you say how disappointing they didn't show the twin tub in action. The lady doing the demonstration looked very like a neighbour that lived across the road from us when I was a child, from what I can remember (it was some time ago, lol) her kitchen was all blue formica and she had a single tub Hoover machine with a wringer which she kept in the cupboard under the stair and was wheeled out on wash day... Are you appearing in any more programmes? will look out for you if you are

 

Grant

 

[chestermikeuk]

Washers

Thanks Grant, nothing planned, would rather see the washers than me...LOl although we need more progs like this but with more appliance detail....Am pleased with the Servis, it purrs, Dr Mathew did a great job of replacing the spin mounts which where totally shot, I cleaned up everything else and wrapped the original hoses in black duct tape to avoid any kitchen malfunctions on set,

There was one travesty before filming, one of the badges was missing and I didnt know until I got there but ...AHEM....cough, clears throat!! a replacement was sought, got down there, and just before I delivered it I gave it the once over to check I had gotten hoses, tongs etc inside the tub.....thats when I saw this....Ohhhhh, REALLY!!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

And

Dont forget to watch next week for another member here presenting vacs and we saw the use of his Kenwood Chefs last night!!!

 

[vacbear58]

1950s House

Personally I was very disappointed with it, and Mike, that Kenwood Chef was on the screen a great deal longer than you were!

I was imagining the reaction of your Mum and aunties if they had seen soiled nappies going straight into their Supertwins - whether they were going to be boiled or not. And along with shirts no less!

I remember discussing with one of the researchers about how much detail they were going into about the MR toaster - that too must have ended up "on the cutting room floor" for it was just mentioned in passing. And interesting and all as it was seeing them freezing chickens, our frozen food industry in the 50s was built on peas, fish fillets (and not fish fingers either!) and ice cream! Oh, and the odd pie or two.

Oh well, be interesting to see what happens next week - I can already see from the opening sequence they have a record player from the mid/late 1960s not from the 1950s. Anyway, in a house like that it should have been a radiogram! For, lovely and all as the house was - it would never have been a typical house in any age.

Al

 

[vacbear58]

Link

Here is a link for non-UK members which might work as its EU rather than UK based

Al

http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/The-House-the-50s-Built_32136/

 

[foraloysius]

I had to sign up for that website, put it on my watchlist. I thought that would be it. But now I have to install a downloadmanager. I'm certainly not going to do that, I already have enough rubbish like that on my computer. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[vacbear58]

Sounds like ...

.... its more bother than its worth unless it will give you access to other things you might like to see.

Al

 

[chestermikeuk]

You

Only need to use the download manager and install it once, there are many programmes that use the download technology, Do you use any other Louis??

In which case simply right click & download the video to one of them, I just used this one and it loaded easy!!