Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Vince's Electric appliance promotion circa 1948. View full size.
The sign advertising the free range doesn't appear to have a date - Sat. Sept. at 8p.m. - September what?
[Maybe every Saturday. Or they hang a tag with the next date. - Dave]
I always wondered why my mother, ca. 1963, called the basement freezer a deepfreeze. Hubby & I still call our freezer the deepfreeze.
I want to know what the double barreled thing with the round covers is. Just in front of the half-man at the far left of the photo? My first guess would be some kind of freezer.
[As per the signs, it's Deepfreeze freezer. - Dave]
I sold Blackstone Washers, among others, in stores where I worked in the 1950s. It was a high end piece, they were competition for Maytag. There was a downside to selling the Blackstone washer, it must have weighed a hundred pounds more than a Maytag or a GE/Hotpoint. It sometimes required four men to deliver. Most laundry equipment had to be delivered into basements and that made it even worse. I'll bet there are non-working Blackstone washers in many basements to this day because it's not worth the trouble or expense to get them out of there. The best selling washer was Kenmore, made by Whirlpool, and available only from Sears.
You are correct sir, I think it was the washer and not the food dehydrator, although it sure looked a lot like that. Now I feel like Rosanne Rosannadanna. I am told I do have a tendency to ramble...Carry on.
The middle man of the three, between the wringer washing machine and a square white object, seems to be leaning on something my Dad brought home one day as an unwanted surprise for my mother. It was an electric food dehydrator that was supposed to preserve almost any food imaginable so that there would be no waste and no spoilage. Not only did it take up way too much space in the small kitchen, but nobody liked the end result. My mom tried drying fruits, jerky, garden tomatoes, wild mushrooms my grandfather picked in the woods, you name it, but they all tasted weird and had a strange texture. I believe they went back to the drawing board with this as they did not really catch on in the 50's. When we emptied out my mom's home of 54 years, we found this monstrosity collecting dust in the attic. Apparently drying food is still happening but it must be an acquired taste. Of course, I may be wrong and this may be somethng else all together, in which case, never mind.
[The sign behind the white cube says Blackstone Automatic -- a Blackstone automatic washer similar to the one below. Or do you mean the man on the right? - Dave]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5