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Thread Number: 308
Never Do Business With Friends |
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Post# 47242 10/17/2004 at 16:56 (7,131 days old) by Unimatic1140  (Minneapolis) |
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The famous I Love Lucy washing machine episode "Never Do Business With Friends" from June 29, 1953 is now out on DVD as part of the I Love Lucy 2nd Season DVD set. For years I wondered what exactly was that washer. Well I know its been discussed here before, but here is the final proof that the CBS Prop Department to a 1940's Launderall Washer and butchered to make it look different... 
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Post# 47243 , Reply# 1 10/17/2004 at 16:57 (7,131 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 47269 , Reply# 3 10/17/2004 at 22:20 (7,130 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 47270 , Reply# 4 10/17/2004 at 22:22 (7,130 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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| Post# 47308 , Reply# 6 10/18/2004 at 12:13 (7,130 days old) by golittlesport (California) | ||
it could have been a Horton washer...
Check out this ad for the "Horton 500"...obviously made by Launderall...the control knobs are on the top of the cabinet like Ethel's washer. The control knobs on the I Love Lucy machine are shaped just like the ones on the front of the Launderall, only in white instead of chrome...just like the Horton version.
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Post# 47311 , Reply# 7 10/18/2004 at 12:59 (7,130 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Wow Rich, you're right! Hmmm, I thought the CBS Prop deparment might have added stove knobs to the top of the "fake washer", but now this throws a little more mystery into it. It is hard to make out the picture of the Horton, do the knobs look like the knobs in the first picture at the top of this post?
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Post# 47317 , Reply# 8 10/18/2004 at 13:30 (7,130 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Just as an aside, Lucy and Ethel had their washer "fight" at the back of the building, not the front. During the episode you can see both women coming out of their back doors (off the kitchens) and onto the terrace where each shoves the washer in front of the other's door. In all my years I've yet to see a NYC walk up/tenament with back stairs,terrances and doors off the kitchen. Fire escapes, maybe but not entire terraces like that. Of course many old tenament buildings were built with some sort of access to an alley/window for hanging out washing. Am amazed when walking about how many times I still see old clothes line pulleys on backs and even fronts of buildings, obviously left over from long ago days when alleys were not built in, certain streets not built. Launderess | ||
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Post# 47318 , Reply# 9 10/18/2004 at 13:31 (7,130 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Just as an aside, Lucy and Ethel had their washer "fight" at the back of the building, not the front. During the episode you can see both women coming out of their back doors (off the kitchens) and onto the terrace where each shoves the washer in front of the other's door. In all my years I've yet to see a NYC walk up/tenament with back stairs,terrances and doors off the kitchen. Fire escapes, maybe but not entire terraces like that. Of course many old tenament buildings were built with some sort of access to an alley/window for hanging out washing. Am amazed when walking about how many times I still see old clothes line pulleys on backs and even fronts of buildings, obviously left over from long ago days when alleys were not built in, certain streets not built. Launderess | ||
| Post# 47319 , Reply# 10 10/18/2004 at 13:42 (7,130 days old) by golittlesport (California) | ||
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Post# 47346 , Reply# 12 10/18/2004 at 20:41 (7,130 days old) by Gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA) |
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Remember watching the re-runs of this show when I was a kid. Original show ran on the night before I was born! An omen for me?!! | ||
| Post# 47382 , Reply# 13 10/19/2004 at 07:42 (7,129 days old) by kenmore1978 () | ||
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Ethel's kitchen And get a load of Ethel's refrigerator as opposed to Lucy's. Same situation as in "The Honeymooners" where Norton's apartment was much more "affluent" than the Kramden's with a TV, electric range, and wallpaper. | ||
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Post# 47446 , Reply# 16 10/20/2004 at 02:08 (7,128 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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The Mertz's Apartment Building
Fred and Ethel(landlords of Lucy and Ricky),had what is called in NYC a "walk up tenament" building. Basically a type of row house with anywhere from four to five stories, maybe six. Such buildings usually were built as priviate homes and converted/divided up later into apartments. Another type of tenament were large apartment buildings which featured many apartments and may have had elevators. IIRC the building (according to the address given during the show) was on East 68th Street in the 400's. That would have put it near Second to First Avenues, which at that time (1950's) was mostly working class tenament apartments and "brownstone" type apartments. Note the El (elevated subway trains) are often referred to and they ran up Third and I *think* Second Avenue. Seeing the "outside" of a TV programme's building does not always help since the layout used for interior shots many times does not make sense based on how the outside looks. For instance in Lucy's apartment there is the large kitchen with a back door and terrace. Some episodes their was a large window always in view during the living room shot (over the piano),from which sometimes Lucy would look out of to see what was happening on the street. In one episode the milkman runs through the Ricardo's bedroom to use the back fire escape to get away from a jealous husband. This would mean either the Ricardo's bedroom faced the back (but the alley off the kitchen faces the back), or faces the street (but the window off the living room faces the street). Seems impossible to have a "real" NYC apartment given true building lots. Even in "Bewitched" the interior shots/layout of some rooms does not make sense with how the home was pictured from the outside. Regarding the Honeymooners: Compared to Trixe and Norton, Alice and Ralph lived in the stone age! Trixe had many of the mod cons of the day, Alice still had an icebox, bare walls and bare sink. Alice's home was what is then known as a "cold water flat". Meaning just that, their usually wasn't hot water supplied with the apartment, and in some cases no bathtub/shower. One either had a small bathtub/sink in the kitchen or hauled a large tub into the kitchen and boiled water for a bath. IIRC the excuse given for the difference between the living standards of the Norton's and Cramden's was Ed was willing to buy things on credit, Ralph was too cheap/would not. Launderess | ||
| Post# 47449 , Reply# 17 10/20/2004 at 03:49 (7,128 days old) by laundromat (Hilo, Hawaii) | ||
Lucy's Address in I Love Lucy | ||
| Post# 47450 , Reply# 18 10/20/2004 at 06:17 (7,128 days old) by kenmore1978 () | ||
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Lucy's address And, if the address was real, it would be in the middle of the East River | ||
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