DIY tip: Don’t do the twist jerk while using scissors, please
Popular accent colors for kitchens in 1968
First, for the purpose of readers looking for advice on what was popular in 1968 kitchens, let’s capture the colors that Westinghouse was promoting. The decorator panels were available in:
- Supreme Walnut
- Rattan
- Catawba Cherry — Note, Early American, still popular in 1968!
- Astro-Glo Bronze
- Surftex Black
Oh, and there was lots and lots of blonde hair color going on, too, it seems.
In addition, homemakers could make their own panels. The parts of the film meant to generate ideas are the best. Hey: Remember our recent story about Kathy, who made her own dishwasher panel from an enlargement of her grandmother’s Betty Crocker cookbook? Such a great way to add vintage pizzazz — inexpensively and creatively. Tip: Don’t do the twist while using scissors.
Back to the film — 1968 a very bad year
I used to work in the car business, and these kinds of films were commonly created to set the scene for the new product lines being introduced to the dealers. The purpose was to get them all psyched up to sell.
But, oh my: 1968. In contrast to the let’s party mood (although there is a seamy darkness) of this film, the year 1968 was one of the most tragic and divisive (help, I am not a historian, not even sure what words to use) in America’s political history. Martin Luther King was assassinated. Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated. The Vietnam War was under way, with the Mai Lai massacre, Tet offensive, draft dodging and more dividing the country. Richard Nixon was elected president. Hmmm, unemployment was 3.3 percent. Yikes. I am not an expert on film history, but I took a class in college and this Westinghouse video makes me recall the 1966 film Blowup by Michaelangelo Antonioni. Films like this — which are considered “ephemera” and were not really meant to endure — are so interesting. Thank you, Jackie and Todd, for this discovery.
Heidi Swank says
Wow! I was kinda expecting Patrick McGoohan from The Prisoner to show up somewhere in this. Right up the same alley.
I must say that I do love the idea that you can match the fridge to the decor, holiday, your new shoes…
Barb23 says
The music is so appropriate to the times. As soon as I heard the music I automatically thought of The Avengers. Clothes, scene, boots, it was straight out the Avengers (which ended in 1968). I did a fast google, one person’s list had 243 1960s spy movies listed.
Ok, so is my reading of this film as “dark” because I was in high school at the time, and am just keying in to my own subconscious reactions to the music? Is that darkness really there?
Do any of the younger readers find this a strangely dark film? Or merely weirdly period?
I need a reality check! My age is showing!
Janet says
Just weirdly period. At the time few people would have thought it was particularly dark.
IMissLiberty says
Sometimes these things are as simple as, “Who do I (the producer) want to work with?” and the answer, often is, “Pretty girls in short skirts.”
I used to work at a movie studio.
pam kueber says
great point – yes, sometimes we read more into something than is really there!
Lauryn says
Wow. Just wow. Fascinating and yes, kind of dark too (especially the beginning). Thanks (I think!) for sharing.
blissing says
That weird flute music has always affected me–not in a good way, either! I was in kindergarden in ’68, not aware of much, but definitely wanted my hair in a flip.
Cathy says
Jazz Flute!
bux1234567 says
Hmm, I agree: Strange is right. Strange times, indeed.
Laurie V says
Think I’ll light some incense, wash some “bennies” down with a martini, and wallpaper my refrigerator.
Chutti says
We’ve been soaking up loads of great industrial films via Pub D Hub on Roku. Glad to know someone else is as nerdy about this as us!
There are a couple of other wild Westinghouse films. The one for air conditioners in 1966 is pretty splashtactular, but there aren’t any custom panels. But lots more twirling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umXDDeP2hDU
Maybe only Westinghouse appliances make you twirl?
I don’t think they ever made ol Betty Furness twirl, but I could be wrong.
Marie says
Now see? If this was an option today all those women on HGTV shows whining about the perfectly nice white fridge not being “stainless steeeeeel!” could just re-do the front panel and voila! Personally I love this idea and wish we could still redecorate our appliances to match our moods. Simple, inexpensive and fun – though how that woman made straight lines while frugging the whole time is beyond me.
Susan C says
So I saw the “Jam Handy” credit at the end and absolutely had to google it. There is an embarrassment of riches, with this as an example. It’s mainly about car design, but there’s some architecture and daily home life scenes too.
http://bit.ly/PJq3Y3
I also learned that Jam Handy was quite a character, one of the progenitors of marketing as we know it, developing training films and similar stuff, and making lots of the car demo films you mention, may even have started the trend. And he may even have invented the automatic-changing filmstrips we saw in junior high school, as well as producing many of them
http://bit.ly/NxJOgK
Thanks as always for a mind-broadening nugget!