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1954. "Harley Earl, General Motors Vice President of Design, in Frigidaire's 'Kitchen of Tomorrow' exhibit for the GM Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York." Large-format color transparency. View full size.
The cabinets remind me of the kitchen table we bought in 1955 when I came out of the Army. The same ugly Formica although we thought it was quite nice at the time.
It still looks modern today, in my view. And what an upgrade from just 30 years prior.
A lot of people have been called "The Man". Harley Earl WAS The Man.
Looks more like his GM corporate office.
Even before I read the caption, I thought, "That's Harley Earl - what's he doing in a kitchen?" Like Archfan, I see this being like a modern kitchen. On the left we see a water dispenser (though not incorporated into the refrigerator), a small color TV displaying a recipe, and a fully instrumented electric range. And I'm thinking that the brushed gray doors toward the right might be refrigerated cabinets.
[The "color TV" is some sort of microfilm recipe reader. You can see the "horizontal refrigerator" in action in this video. - Dave]
At the time, most of the automakers owned appliance makers. Besides GM's Frigidaire, there was Philco, owned by Ford, and Kelvinator, owned by American Motors. Chrysler's Airtemp made home air conditioning, and even International Harvester made refrigerators and freezers for awhile, targeting the farm families that bought their tractors and implements.
Everything about that kitchen looks like it would fall apart with real use. Sure, it looks nice, but a few teenagers would destroy it in a month. And what's with the color swatches next to what looks like a microwave?
It's amazing how modern that kitchen looks, even today. Like something out of the Ikea catalogue.
Back in 1956, had I known he was the one responsible for tailfins on cars, I would have worshiped this man. My father took me to a GM Motorama at San Francisco's Civic Auditorium in 1955 or 1956; I wish my memories were stronger, but what remains is of being in a wonderland.
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