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Donn Reed

jamman_8 mentioned "I seem to recall an episode in which the Father was facinated with a front loader. I don't remember the brand. I wish I knew which episode too."

Wow, Joe!!! I remember that episode too. It never came on Nick at Night or TV Land, because those were are the black and white episodes and I distinctly remember the episode with the front loader being in color. If I remember correctly, the front loader wasn't just a washer -- it was a combo. (The earlier black and white episodes of Donna Reed featured a matching Whirlpool set.) It was also one of the episodes after "Mary"
(Shelley Fabares) had left the show. I also seem to recall that the husband of one of Donna's friend and neighbors also watched the machine in action.

Now if I could just remember the what brand the combo was ....

I also remember another Donna Reed episode (also after "Mary" had left the show). This episode was in black and white and also never came on Nick at Night or TV Land. (I kept watching for it!) The younger daughter (Trisha? -- I think. She was the real life sister of Paul Peterson who play Jeff Stone) and her friends took in laundry to earn some spending money. Donna and all her friends donated CLEAN clothing and sheets, etc. (right out of the linen closet in the case of sheets!) to the cause. They used an old wringer washer. The only problem? The washer didn't have an agitator, so the kids replaced it with the blades from an old rotary lawn motor with predictable results. At the time, the thing that really fascinated me about this particular episode is that one of my grandmother's had two wringer washers (a Maytag and an Easy. The Easy was used to rinse the laundry) and none of us kids were allowed to touch either machine and I was about the same age as the characters who were using the wringer washer. (Again, it's brand escapes me.)

Thanks for making me take this trip down memory lane!

Mike
 
There was an episode of Dennis the Menace where he and Tommy got hold of an old front loader and tried running a laundromat. Can't remember much more than that--losing brain cells at an alarming rate.

veg
 
and Mrs. Mitchell had the same 1958 RCA Whirlpool washer tha

It was on the service pourch off the kitchen. I remember seeing it in one episode where Dennis and Margueret pretend they are married and somehow end up filling Mrs. Mitchell's kitchen with suds. Here is a little known fact both the Mitchell's and the Stone's live in Hilldale. I know that because I remember an episode of The Donna Reed Show when Donna was painting her living room and who shows up and gets in her way?....you guessed it none other than Dennis Mitchell. PAT COFFEY
 
There used to be an insiped show about a little boy and his pet bear called "Gentle Ben". The little boys mom had a Maytag '06 I think but no dryer as they lived in the everglades. Dennis Weaver played the daddy ; ) I remember thinking that she needed a dryer.
 
On one Dennis The Menance episode-remember he was trying to make a milkshake for all of his freinds on the block--using the washer as a "blender"!Again this was from long ago-need to have some DVD's of DTM to refresh my memory.
 
And Marge Simpson replaced her "walking" washer and dryer with a gold Philco-style set (washer usually shown with side-opening lid, dryer usually shown with porthole door). Considering their car was made in Guatemala, there's no telling where their appliances come from.
 
When Samantha and Darren Stevens remodeled their kitchen, they replaced their Frigidaire Flare with a harvest gold gas cooktop (Shocking!!!) (I don't remember a wall oven, but I'm sure that there was one.). Even worse, they replaced that awesome Frigidaire washer and dryer pair with a pair of harvest gold Maytags. (GASP!!!)

The family in the short lived television series "Please Don't Eat the Daisies", had a white Maytag washer (an A-606 if memory serves) in the basement. (I don't remember them having a dryer.)

Mike
 
If anyone can find a pic (or provide a link) of the Steven' remodeled kitchen, I'd love to see it.

IIRC the Steven's had an indoor gas grill with a Stainless Steel cover o the right of the Flair. For the life of me I have seen them in two different (real) homes and ccna't recall who made them. Anyone have a clue?
 
TV--The short lived series, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" had a 1969 Whirlpool matched washer and dryer. I think that was the first year Whirlpool went to the slant control panel.

Movie--Jerry Lewis is "Whose Minding the Store" (1963)

Near the end of the movie is a scene where Jerry is is put in charge the appliance section of his fiancee's mothers department story (after he bungles in all the other departments)

There is a good shot of a 1963 Whirlpool washer in operation. In the background you can see displays of Insinkerator disposals and Whirlpool dishwashers and refrigerators. There are some ranges also, which I think might be Tappan.

Barry
 
the first whirlpools to come out with the slant pannel were

and at that time they were still considered RCA Whirlpools. 1967 was the only year you could get an RCA Whirlpool with a slant panel because in 1968 they went back to just being Whirlpool. PAT COFFEY
 
In the (I think 1968) movie "Yours, Mine, and Ours" Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda have a number of New Generation maytag washers in their basement. Their combined movie family could have easily been in one of the Maytag ads of that era. Lucy starts a load going while talking to her eldest stepson, complete with the trademark CLANG of the Maytag's lid hitting the timer knob. How they managed to feed all those kids AND buy all those washers (and I think they had two ranges in the kitchen, as well) on a military salary I'll never know. Maybe Lucy and Henry had good life insurance policies on their first spouses.

T.
 
How about Broadway?

I saw the Broadway musical "Caroline or Change" right before it closed. I went with some friends and I had no idea what to expect. It tells the story of an African-American maid named Caroline and the Jewish family that she works for, in small town Louisiana, in 1963 right around the time of President Kennedy's assasination and the Civil Rights era. A lot of the action takes place in the laundry room and the family that Caroline worked for had a 1960's RCA Whirlpool washer and this ancient Sears Kenmore dryer. There isn't a single line of spoken dialogue in the play. Every word is sung. The facinating thing is that when Caroline uses the washer, an actress who played a chracter that was simply known as "the washing machine" appeared above the washing machine and advanced the plot by singing something that was appropriate to the events taking place on stage. When she used the dryer, an actor whose character was known as "the dryer" also sang to advance the plot. I was mezmerized because I had never seen anything quite like it. The other interesting thing was that every time that Caroline used the washer, she put the clothes in, measured detergent and set the controls, etc. She did the same thing for the dryer. (Neither appliance was actually used, because I'm sure that I would have heard them in operation.) The whole thing was facinating.) I'm glad that I saw it -- and not just because it was a good play.

The link will take you to some information about the show.

Mike

 
The Thrill Of It All

In the Doris Day/James Garner film "The Thrill Of It All," her character does a commercial for Happy Detergent; she stands beside--I believe--a Lady Kenmore washer of the period, eight push buttons and all.
Also from the same period, the Baxter home on the first four seasons of "Hazel" had a Philco dryer (and washer, I think). Not a surprise, since Ford was a sponsor of "Hazel" during those years (and owned Philco at the time.)
 
What about Green Acres

All those appliances in the Kitchen...anyone care to take a stab at brands...and just what color are they?
 
Cheaper By The Dozen

In the recent movie 'Cheaper By The Dozen' you get to see quite a bit of their laundry room, first of all when the parents are trying to talk without the kids listening the father turns on the washer and ryer to drown out their talking, the washer and dryer are a green set but i am clueless as to the brand, i was watching it with my 4 year old cousin and could hardly stop and rewind. You also get to see an industrial washer and dryer in the coaches office at the school. Also you get to see their dishwasher which is an electronic panel, once again i am unsure of the brand.
 
Green Acres

Lisa Douglas' kitchen has pink appliances. It had an extremely rare Maytag combo. I believe that the dishwasher was a GE Mobilemaid, but I could be wrong about that one. I'm not sure who made the stove or the fridge.

Mike
 

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