Technically speaking, McDonalds hamburgers were ten cents apiece unless you ordered a dozen. Then you could get a baker’s dozen (13) for $1.00. So, if you had a crowd, it made sense to order the baker’s dozen because you got three extra hamburgers for free. The order of 13 hamburgers also came with four cola drinks and four orders of fries. So two couples could double-date for a movie, then stop off at McDonalds for hamburgers, a coke and fries. Usually, the two guys ate four and a half hamburgers and the girls only ate 2 each.
When my folks bought their first (and only) home in 1949 - they paid $5,000 for it and their mortgage payments were $45 per month. The average family today spends more than that for a WEEK’S worth of groceries!
Also, when I went to High School, our home economics text book had a list of “modern day” appliances and explained how they all functioned. There WAS a notation that a machine known as an “electric clothes dryer” HAD been invented - but went on to theorize that it was highly unlikely that the electric clothes dryer would ever become very popular because, besides costing a lot of money to begin with - the machine was also notoriously bad at guzzling energy. Which, naturally, made the “electric clothes dryer” notoriously expensive to operate AFTER you had laid out a lot of money in order to own one in the first place. In the meantime, it was simple and CHEAP to just string a clothes line in the backyard and hang your clothes out to dry. The text book offered the opinion that it would be highly unlikely that very many people would ever be able to take on the added expense of owning (and operating) an electric clothes dryer. Then the textbook went on to explain how to go about stringing a backyard clothes line, a discussion about the best type of clothes pins to use (the text book was opposed to the clothes pins with springs in them because the springs were inclined to break and you had to go out and purchase new ones all the time). There were instructions on the best system for hanging each piece of clothing on the clothes line and then instructions on the best way to bring the clothes in, fold them and put them away!
Didn’t know if anyone else had realized this or not - but FLINTSTONES - which still airs on the Boomerang Channel - debuted in 1960 - making that FIFTY solid years for Flintstones on the air! If you ever catch any of the old Flintstones episodes, you will notice that, while the “modern stone age” housewives Betty and Wilma had stuff such as “vacuum cleaners” - Betty and Wilma were STILL hanging their clothes (including diapers) out to dry on a clothes line, then bringing the dried cloths inside to fold! I think that Pebbles and BAM BAM were introduced on the show about 1963 and the show only ran until 1966 - so even as late as 1966 - and even in the Hollywood establishment which later came to define what was considered “modern” for most Americans - the average household was STILL seen as being able to function quite well WITHOUT that newfangled apparatus known as an “electric clothes dryer.”
Technically speaking, McDonalds hamburgers were ten cents apiece unless you ordered a dozen. Then you could get a baker’s dozen (13) for $1.00. So, if you had a crowd, it made sense to order the baker’s dozen because you got three extra hamburgers for free. The order of 13 hamburgers also came with four cola drinks and four orders of fries. So two couples could double-date for a movie, then stop off at McDonalds for hamburgers, a coke and fries. Usually, the two guys ate four and a half hamburgers and the girls only ate 2 each.
When my folks bought their first (and only) home in 1949 - they paid $5,000 for it and their mortgage payments were $45 per month. The average family today spends more than that for a WEEK’S worth of groceries!
Also, when I went to High School, our home economics text book had a list of “modern day” appliances and explained how they all functioned. There WAS a notation that a machine known as an “electric clothes dryer” HAD been invented - but went on to theorize that it was highly unlikely that the electric clothes dryer would ever become very popular because, besides costing a lot of money to begin with - the machine was also notoriously bad at guzzling energy. Which, naturally, made the “electric clothes dryer” notoriously expensive to operate AFTER you had laid out a lot of money in order to own one in the first place. In the meantime, it was simple and CHEAP to just string a clothes line in the backyard and hang your clothes out to dry. The text book offered the opinion that it would be highly unlikely that very many people would ever be able to take on the added expense of owning (and operating) an electric clothes dryer. Then the textbook went on to explain how to go about stringing a backyard clothes line, a discussion about the best type of clothes pins to use (the text book was opposed to the clothes pins with springs in them because the springs were inclined to break and you had to go out and purchase new ones all the time). There were instructions on the best system for hanging each piece of clothing on the clothes line and then instructions on the best way to bring the clothes in, fold them and put them away!
Didn’t know if anyone else had realized this or not - but FLINTSTONES - which still airs on the Boomerang Channel - debuted in 1960 - making that FIFTY solid years for Flintstones on the air! If you ever catch any of the old Flintstones episodes, you will notice that, while the “modern stone age” housewives Betty and Wilma had stuff such as “vacuum cleaners” - Betty and Wilma were STILL hanging their clothes (including diapers) out to dry on a clothes line, then bringing the dried cloths inside to fold! I think that Pebbles and BAM BAM were introduced on the show about 1963 and the show only ran until 1966 - so even as late as 1966 - and even in the Hollywood establishment which later came to define what was considered “modern” for most Americans - the average household was STILL seen as being able to function quite well WITHOUT that newfangled apparatus known as an “electric clothes dryer.”