Times were a-changing and things were quickly modernizing. By 1926, many families, especially in the larger towns and cities, had electricity; and, electric refrigerators were quickly replacing the ice boxes which had been considered “modern” earlier in the 20th century.
Frigidaire refrigerators were so popular that people often just referred to their “Frigidaire.” The use of the term “Frigidaire” to generically refer to any refrigerator continued well into the middle years of the 20th century. I can remember my mother saying things like, “Get the food out of the Frigidaire.”
It is also fascinating how modern the woman’s outfit looks in the advertisement. Just a few years earlier, her dress would have been much longer and would have covered her ankles.
I was very surprised that the Frigidaire company was owned by GM at the time. Cars and fridges? Somehow, I don’t associate them.
It was a funny ad. The woman was putting away food, while her husband was getting ready to drink milk. Then, an enormous dog was sleeping on the floor, the dog made me laugh.
Maybe she was getting the food out instead of putting it in. Getting hubby some of what looks like donuts to go with his milk.
Ah, that is more reasonable.
I can remember my ‘elders’ referring to the refrigerator as the ‘Frigidaire’. And some called it the ‘icebox’!
Its fun using advertisements of the past to see fashion trends in home and clothes…. Of course there is no in between cause its either showing the best that it can be or the worse it is so you will use their product to fix it.
It is hard to imagine life without a refrigerator, although I spent two weeks in the Texas heat without electricity.
Who ever said that Americans were not tough!!!
Europeans, ha ha. They said we could not take a heat wave. Every day in TX was a heat wave.
I remember my mom telling me about her childhood when the iceman would come to put a huge block of ice in the icebox and give the kids bits of ice to chew on and how exciting it was when they finally got an electric one. When I was little, we had a refrigerator but we had to manually defrost the freezer and it was a fun thing to do in the middle of summer when it was so hot out because no A/C of course.
I find it interesting the woman is wearing a hat inside the house. Perhaps she/they were about to leave, since there is also a travel bag and blanket on the floor behind them. Also, I am curious as to why the ham (or a big hunk of meat of some kind) is not wrapped, and she is about to place a turkey or hen in the Frigidaire without it being covered. Still, the Frigidaire had to be easier than using the old ice box with a block of ice dripping. My grandmother had one, built of wood with the metal lining, which was quite beautiful. She used it for storage in the kitchen as by the time I was old enough to notice, they had a Kelvinator refrigerator–a big white behemoth!
Another of your delightful kitchen tools!
I didn’t realise that Frigidaire was owned by GM. They’re still available of course but now owned by Sweden’s Electrolux. GM’s marketing for it was amazing, particularly for the time. The advertising picture you have included shows that some approaches haven’t changed much in 100 years. A rather visually idyllic – not practical – scene is presented, which advertisers still try to do. Cheers.
That advertisement could tell so many stories!
Her modern attire really is surprising … times were definitely changing.
As you wrote about a Frigidaire being used for all refrigerators, I thought of Kleenex. Same!