Inside Zenith Space Commander Remote

An associate snapped this great image of the inside of my Space Commander 400 remote.

One Button Zenith Space Commander

Here is a single button Zenith Space Commander.  This is the first one I have seen and judging from the Zenith emblem it is from the late 1950s.

1960s Mobile Phone

I've been watching quite a bit of ME TV and Antenna TV and with having the opportunity to see some great 1960s/1970s tech on the television programs they carry.   Here is a fine example - while this might not be the exact unit that you would see Cannon using, this is one very cool looking mobile phone.

Now this brings me to my students, who seem to feel that the 1960s were the dark ages or even a time when woolly mammoths roamed the planet.   Apparently, there were no mobile phones, televisions were a rarity and only a few folks had land line phones.

So here is a 1964 Bell System CC56 IMTS mobile phone.  What is the IMTS?  It is the Improved Mobile Telephone System and in 1964 with more than 1.5 MILLION subscribers.

Interested in reading about the history of mobile phones? http://www.privateline.com/archive/TelenorPage_022-034.pdf

Kelvinator Foodarama Side-by-Side

All of this talk about the Frigidaire Flair oven/stove starting me thinking about our kitchen when I was a child in New York.  What was the most striking member of the kitchen appliance stable was the Kelvinator 'Foodarama' side-by-side fridge.  It was avacado green, of course.  What I recall from this fridge is its size, it was HUGE. You simply would not believe how wide the freezer unit was.  When we left NY my mom refused to leave it behind and it lasted another 12 years before she had to get a new one.  So I am guessing it lasted about 18 years.  Looking around on the web for images I came up with these two - the first is a 1966 ad and it is even in avacado green!  The second provide a series of exterior and interior images - it states the unit is from 1955 - this is impossible.  Looking at ads from 1955 for Kelvinator units - they clearly were another generation of the Foodarama line.  

And after all these years - my mom still uses the wire egg basket from this fridge in her current refrigerator.

Mary Margaret McBride

Before Julia Child and the Galloping Gourmet hit the airwaves there was Mary Margaret McBride.  Well, kinda sorta - Mary Margaret McBride really was not a cook. MMM was a popular radio personality from 1935 to 1955.  So why am I talking about her?  Well, to me Mary Margaret McBride is synonymous with the Encyclopedia of Cooking - 1536 pages of recipes, how to carve and how to set a proper table.  This book is THE cookbook to get if you want a glimpse into 1950s/1960s food.  Apparently in the late 1950s and early 1960s you could purchase a section to this vast encyclopedia and assemble it week by week.  Our version is  from 1961, but over the years I purchased the 1959 edition as well.    So why is this book such a bid deal?   The illustrations provide a glimpse into how chickens and turkeys appeared prior to all the engineering in the last 40 years, how marbled beef once was and what was once considered 'exotic' is accepted today.   And on top of it - the recipes really are great.  If you only had one cookbook this is the one to have - forget all the trendy crap you find in books by the Food Network celebrities. 

And if you are fortunate enough to have that Frigidaire Flair unit - then this is what you want next to it. Oh, and she is who the "Mary Margaret McMertz" character was based on in I Love Lucy.

I can't help myself - more Flair

It is getting late and I need to stop surfing and call it a night.  But before I do, this website is a must to note.  You can download the complete 1961 owners manual and 1960  Tech-Talk manual here.

http://obviousdiversion.com/personal/frigidaire-flair/

Training the next generation in style

Remember when your doorbell button welcomed you to an ‘all electric home’?   This Edison Electric ad from 1965 demonstrates the move to electricity and in the process delivers a ‘training the next generation’ of homemakers message.

“Flameless Electric Cooking is a wonderful way to start your family toward the joy of total electric living. With a modern electric range, your kitchen keeps cool. Walls, cabinets and curtains stay clean longer. And, of course, only electric ovens have the exclusive new improvements that make then so easy to keep clean.”

Remember ‘You Live Better Electrically’ and in the process make certain your daughter starts cooking early.

Oh – of course they used the coolest electric range ever made – Frigidaire’s Flair!