Washing Machines In The Movies

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westyslantfront

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Hi everyone. Washing machines also make it in the movies, alongside our favorite stars. If you have any recollections, please post them here.
Now for mine.
I remember the following:
"Houseboat" with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren there is a laundromat scene with a row of blue Westy Slant fronts just like my 1962 Westy Slant front coin op....only 25 cents a wash

"Letter To Three Wives" with Ann Sothern and in Ann Sothern's kitchen in the background is a Thor Automagic

"Wait Until Dark" with Audrey Hepburn in the kitchen is another Westy Slant front, just like my 1951 Westy Slant front

"Beverly Hillbillies" showed a pair of Maytag Highlanders off the kitchen.

Do you have any recollections of Washing Machines In Hollywood?
 
Hollywood Laundry Equipment

On Bewitched there was a 1966 FRIGIDAIRE JET-ACTION Custom Imperial Washer and dryer.Original Roller-Matic Mechanism, window lid,6 position Fabric Selector controls,Liquid detergent and fabric softner dispensers,lighted coltrol panel,twelve pound capacity solid tub made of porcelain on steel,porcelain on steel top and lid,infinite water level selector,Durable Press care,DEEP-ACTION Agitator,JET-AWAY Rinsing,RAPIDRY 1000 spin,and three agitate/4 spin speeds.The dryer was the matching Custom Imperial Flowing Heat that had sensor drying,2 speed tumble,4 temperatures,6 position Fabric Selector,water dispenser for pre spraying clothes prior to ironing,Durable-Press Care,step pedal door opener,and lighted control panel.
 
Beverly Hillbillies

"
"Beverly Hillbillies" showed a pair of Maytag Highlanders off the kitchen."

The machines I remember in the "Beverly Hillbillies" weren't the cheapie Highlanders but the TOL all pushbutton models
 
"I dream of Jeannie" had some Maytags in the kitchen as well.

Don't remember the brand of gas stove where Major Nelson gets roasted on a spit over open flames in the upper/smaller over-the-cooktop oven.
 
WOOHOO! Congratulations Robert--definitely a must-see!

I'm not sure what I would take first...the pair of '59 Cadillacs, the Western Flyer cruiser bike, or the '55 Slant-Front set!!!

After being moved up the stairs and washing for 10 kids it's no surprise that they needed a little "fixing" when they returned home...;-)
 
There's a Maytag AMP (?) in the utility room in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane."

Mia Farrow ads StaPuf to a window-lidded Frigidaire coin-op in "Rosemary's Baby."

Poor abused Christina does the laundry in two Lady K combos in "Mommie Dearest" (though the action happens in the '50s at this point, the combos are anachronistic '60s models).

Roseanne Barr misuses a GORGEOUS '60s coppertone GE w/ black agitator in "She-Devil." Meryl Streep misuses an '80s-era GE.

As "Dolores Claiborne," Kathy Bates gets to use a Kenmore washer w/ mustard-colored agitator, but has to hang the clothes out in the winter.

A victim in "Halloween" washes her clothes in a gold BD Whirlpool with an economy-size box of Tide.

A victim in "Silent Scream," a slasher flick, uses a white SQ top-loader that, in the world's biggest continuity gaffe, turns into a GE FilterFlo as the shot changes.

"Strays," a godawful TV movie about killer cats, features original '50s Westinghouse Spacemates.

John Waters's "Mondo Trasho" has a laundromat scene with SQ solid-tub coin-ops.

The movie where Angelina Jolie is blonde and has a week to live (can't remember the name of it) features an oversudsed Westy Spacemate washer.
 
Well!

It's about time that movie came out. I've been waiting since last summer for it!

Robert, how does it feel to have your machines be stars? I hope they have a good agent! Wonder if they'll mention the machines are Westys or say they're Wizards, as in the book? Only one way to find out!

By the way everyont--read the book It's fabboo.

veg
 
The movies

I have more questions than answers ! I can't establish the brand of many TL machines 'cos I'm English.

What's the FL washer and dryer in Mr.Mom ? This movie then displays the washer walking about because he overloaded it and used a bizarre mix of Tide, Shout, conditioner etc.....

Uncle Buck has trouble opening a TL, but I don't know the make.

Reference in `The Wedding Singer' to lovely soft sheets - `Did you use Downy on these ?' - `No, All temperature Cheer...'

A classic moment in British made Mike Leigh film `Life is Sweet' shoes a 70s FL Hotpoint on distribute (detergent is Persil liquid)

There is an old washer and dryer and a pack of Bold in the background in the horror movie `The Exorcist'

In `40 days and 40 nights' the couple meet in a launderette and decide they have the `same taste in detergent' - Tide and Bounce

in `Weird Science' you see the contents of a TL washer erupt volcanically and the contents of the dryer burst through the door

In `Jack and Sarah' (a FANTASTIC British movie IMHO, possibly my fave movie, Jack loads a FL Zanussi. He uses Persil non bio :-)

There's a movie with Whoopy Goldberg where she loads a TL and uses lots of `Ajax' powder detergent but I forgot which movie.

In Kramer vs Kramer the little boy encourages his Dad to buy `the detergent with the orange circles on it' because `Mommy says it's the best' while Dustin Hoffman protests that cheap brands are the same

In Terms Of Endearment a guy hides in a utility room while a TL washer spins off the wash water and enters the rinse cycle.

In Home Alone the boy buys Tide liquid (calls it fabric conditioner LOL) and uses it in his TL.

Nick
 
That was a GE set in "Weird Science." Can't really tell what Ellen Burstyn's machines in "The Exorcist" were...possibly Norge or Blackstone.
 
Hi all -

Nick,

I *think* the FL washer featured in Mr Mom is a Westinghouse. Haven't seen that movie since I was about 8, but do remember that scene very well, as well as the one with the souped-up Kirby.

The washer and dryer in Uncle Buck are Whirlpools. At the beginning of the film you'll see this is also where Percy the family dog hangs out; they call out his name and all of a sudden the dryer door flops down, and you can see him standing in the drum barking away LOL. Later on, Buck's ineptness at laundry provides a handy excuse for the local neighbourhood floozy - who you may also recognise as Jackie from the TV sitcom Roseanne - to make her move on him and provide a little "adult supervision" as she puts it.

Whoopi Goldberg's laundry room scene was in Jumpin' Jack Flash, and I think judging by the side-opening lid on the washer it was a Kenmore.

And finally, in Home Alone, the washer and dryer in the McAllisters' basement is a Frigidaire set. Not the vintage GM kind, but the later WCI design with a plastic basket and regular side-to-side oscillating agitator.

Can't think of any others :o).

Cheers,

Kirk
 
I thought the set in Uncle Buck was a KitchenAid set, since the movie was made in 1989. At first I did think they were BD Whirlpools, but the DD KitchenAids had the recessed lid handle as well. The washer in Mr. Mom was a 60's coppertone Westinghouse, and the dryer looked like a 60's Kenmore. Both were somewhat anachronistic as the movie was made in 1983. The vacuum was originally a Kirby Classic Omega...heavily modified by the production crew!
 
Bachelor in Paradise

In this movie (which I think was Lana Turner's first after the, uh, "incident") Bob Hope overloads a washing machine with soap. As you might have guessed, hillarious suds ensue!

It's a really fun movie with some familiar faces. Definitely worth seeing.
 
The washer in Jumpin' Jack Flash is indeed a Kenmore

A Lady Kenmore or a 900 model circa 1968, with a gold agitator AND a Black Scrubber cap. It also has a chrome detergent door right next to the lid. Pat Coffey
 
Rosanne had a harvest gold Maytag washer & dryer pair, until the married couple bought it the day the door-to-door salesman died in their kitchen. Later, they had an eary 70s harvest gold Frigidaire set. We had the same washer, bought new in 72 or 73.

In the later Bewitched episodes, I recall seeing a Maytag washer & dryer pair.
 
Thanks, dangalang! I remember seeing that scene but I couldn't remember the title of the movie.

For anyone who owns a vintage color set, that's a good movie to watch on it. Those early-60s palettes really show up well on a roundie.

veg
 
Disney's Freaky Friday avacado washer going bananas

Anyone remember the Disney 1970's movie Freaky Friday and that avacado top loader washer that vibrates and goes crazy when Annabelle's mom (Annabelle inside her mother's body)uses it? I always wondered what brand of washer that was and how they rigged it to do that.
 
A white Philco set can be glimpsed in "Candy" ('68).

The mother-in-law in "The Burning Bed" had white Maytags and a box of Fab.

"Abby," a very rare blaxploitatoin version of "The Exorcist," features an early '60s Kenmore set, with the washer and dryer at right angles from each other.

The Canadian film "They Came from Within" has a scene in the laundry room of an apartment building, stocked with '70s Maytag and GE coin-ops. A woman comes in with clothes and a little plastic bag of detergent, loads up a Maytag, and starts it up.
 
IN the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" a woman opens her Laundromat to see what aws wrong after the power had died after the spacement were roaming about.
 
if in recall thair is a tv show called siance abuce
whair they blew up a 2 washing machines one is a maytagtl and the other is a westinghouse tl with over loading and over suds ing and puting lit bombs in it
 
In "Jumping Jack Flash," it's actually Annie Potts pouring the Ajax powder while she and Ms. Goldberg talk about the KGB. This is one of my favorite movies and the first "pay-per-view" I ever purchased from cable.

Off thread, but Lana Turner's first movie after the stabbing incident was "Imitation of Life." She was afraid to do it so soon because of her notoriety but it wound up working in her favor and became her biggest movie ever. The "incident" was in 1958, "Imitation of Life" in '59 and "Bachelor in Paradise" in '62.
 
There's a newish movie called "Dark Water", I think. Haven't seen it, but in the commercial, there's a shot of some front loader with a chrome surround around the window. Not sure if it's a coin op or what.

veg
 
star appliances

In the old bw series "Father Knows Best" there is an episode where they buy a new washing machine (1951? Westinghouse Laundromat) and their youngest daughter keeps putting differnt things into it at the same time she is dressed up like a Martian.She winds up piutting her sister's dress inside along with some foreign items that are not supposed to be in a washer and just about ruins it.There are many great shots of the machine in this episode and everytime I have seen it,it took my breath away.
 

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