Vintage hair dryers and telephones

[petek]

Seniors days can be quite rewarding and inexpensive so I went crazy today
I couldn't resist this GE Debutante hair dryer for the carrying bag alone. And the GE Vari Speed mens hair dryer with sliding fan and heat controls. I like that and I think I'll actually use it for what little hair I have left.

 

[petek]

On the left is a Northern Electric Contempra phone from the 70's with the dial. I've quite a few of these in different colors, touch tone, touch pulse etc. Like all Northern Electric / Western Electric stuff back then they're near indestructable.
On the right another boring Bell deskset or so I thought, look closely and see why it's not so typical. Yes I know the line cord has been replaced to the newer minijack.

 

[63getelevision]

Funny you should mention telephones and hairdryers-I snagged this mint green AT&T Princess at Salvation Army, and this powder blue Presto Mini Dryer at Mustard Seed, about a week apart. Love that GE dryer!

 

[launderess]

I Will Pay Good Money

For picture of PeteK, with his hair up in curlers sitting under a dryer.

*LOL*

Launderess

 

[launderess]

Remember those GE and other bonnet type dryers far too well!
They were a blessing because one could move about instead of having to sit still for ages under the hard hat type of dryers.

Thank goodness for blow-dryers and ceramic irons.

L.

 

[polkanut]

I actually still use my mother-in-law's Oster bonnet hair dryer in turquoise when my hair is longer for the winter. Right now I'm still wearing my summer flat-top.

 

[polkanut]

P.S.

My Mom had a GE Debutante hairdryer, but hers was in a very generic white hard-side carrying case.

 

[red_october]

Vintage Dryers...

The black dryer... my dad had one for years. Don't bother with it, it's strictly a collector's piece only, it's about a 250 watt dryer, doesn't hardly do anything. There was a Schick version of it that came in a nice velvet-lined case with a whole bunch of tools for it, (the one my dad had), even then the game was hardly worth the candle. I've got my grandmother's huge, slightly disturbing Daisy hair dryer (hardhat type), though nobody on earth wants the bloody thing.

 

[petek]

I Will Pay Good Money

Email me for the address to send your check Laundress LOL

 

[polkanut]

Oh Petey, you are going to look like such a vixen after your 'do is perfectly coiffed!

 

[petek]

Alan, nice Princess phone, does it have the lighted push buttons?

Re the GE hand held dryer. Actually this one is quite substantial, 1100 watts, heavy, metal grid and fan and surprisingly it's "Made in Japan" I also used to have one of those early Hot Combs by Gillete when they first came out. I think those are the wimpy type ones you're referring.

Nobody notice the special on the Bell desk set yet huh

 

[mixedup]

My dad also had that men's hairdryer in the velvet lined case with all the attachments. Funny I can't actually remember him ever using it, though he's been going bald as long as I can remember. Recently I was at their house & he said he was going for a haircut, I told him to make sure he asked for a discount! )
Virginia

 

[westie2]

Hand set has the volume control on it.

 

[toggleswitch]

Oh Petie that bonnet and cigarette look fabulously relaxing. All you need is a gaggle of hens, a southern twang and drawl, some sweet (iced) tea and you have a scene out of Steel Magnolias in the beauty shop.

Mother Toggle had that very same GE dryer. We used it as a blow dryer of sorts by just using the hose.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Hair Dryers!

I have a few: GE Superblow (!!) that I got MIB. A Lady Vanity Debutante, a Schick men's hair dryer complete with styling booklet, a Schick Le Salon floor-model and who knows whatall else. Guess I should take some pictures.

If anyone has a Ronco "Tidie Drier" (sic), please send it to David (partscounterman) so he can dry his hair and dainties at the same time!

By the way, Petey, we want to see the finished coif. And where's your copy of Photoplay?

veg

 

[rp2813]

Phones

I really dig vintage phones made by WE or NE. They are as you stated Pete, indestructible! I'll have to try and get some pix posted here once I get my 50's office scene going on my desk at home. I love my antique phones, especially my 1931 202 model that I've retrofitted with the more modern F1 transmitter capsule as Ma Bell was doing with these sets to keep them in circulation into the 1950's. It maintains the look of the first Bell System one-piece handset while bringing transmission quality up to more modern standards.

I think my most exciting find recently was a 70's WE chocolate brown simulated alligator desk phone with rotary dial. This seems to be a rare item as all I've seen on line is touchtone versions of this same phone set.

I read somewhere that the dials on Princess phones will no longer light up due to changes in the switching equipment or other issues around the telco providing the necessary power to light the dials. Supposedly there is a work-around to get the dials to light up again.

That 500 model phone appears to have some kind of volume control on the handset. Other than that it looks like your standard issue phone from the 60's and 70's.

We had the Presto version of that hair dryer. It had a little slot that you could open to divert a small amount of heated air to dry your nails at the same time you were drying your hair.

 

[petek]

Re the Princess phone lighting, I thought they all required a small transformer plugged into the outlet, mine does. Same with the lighted GTE Starlites.

Re the deskset, yes it's the not so often found handset volume control. I'd have left the thing behind in the store cept for that, never had one. Haven't tried it yet to see if it's working or not

 

[rp2813]

Princess Dials

Pete, I believe it's the earliest Princess phones that might have the lighting issue on today's modern telco circuitry or whatever, but yes I think they all required that AC plug to light up.

 

[selectomatic]

I don't know about Princess phones,

But Trimline phones used (white) lightbulbs to illuminate the dial up through the mid-1970s. These required a little transformer to power the lamp.

Later (after some problems with fires because of incompatible phoneline wiring standards), they switched to (green) LEDs for the dial. The LEDs ran on phone-line current, so no transformer was needed.

-kevin