Living better through electricity

[Matt]

I (think) I remember when I was a kid, some of the houses in my neighborhood had a brass medallion mounted next to the front door that had some sort of picture on it and "living better through electricity", or something similar, written on it. This would have been around '71; with the house(s) probably built in the 50's.

I always thought they were odd, as electricity was guaranteed. When you are 7 you don't think that maybe there are people around that didn't have the things you take for granted. I couldn't understand why someone would be proud of the fact that they had electricity in their house.

Anyone else remember these?

[Colbyt]

I remember the slogan. Through or with, I'm not sure. I never saw the medallion.

Might have been used for all electric homes at that time.

Colbyt

[ADC]

found this... To keep demand high, the electrical industry launched the Live Better Electrically, or LBE, campaign in March 1956. It was supported nationwide by

300 electric utilities and 180 electrical manufacturers. The campaign got then-actor Ronald Reagan, the popular host of "General Electric Theater," to take his television audience on a series of tours of his and wife Nancy's all-electric Pacific Palisades home. An in-house GE sales pitch declared that "by Thanksgiving, there should not be a man, woman or child in America who doesn't know that you can 'Live Better Electrically' with General Electric appliances and television." In October 1957, LBE launched the "Medallion Homes" campaign, which sought to sell 20,000 all-electric homes nationwide by 1958, 100,000 by 1960 and 970,000 by 1970. To earn a gold medallion-a decal affixed to a home's entryway and considered the apex of modern, all-electric living-a home had to have an electric clothes washer and dryer, waste disposal, refrigerator and all-electric heating. The Medallion Homes campaign was a huge success. By some estimates, the nationwide goal of about 1 million all-electric homes was achieved, according to the Edison Electric Institute, although data on the actual number built is unavailable.

[ADC]

[Matt]

THat was it!

hahah thanks man

[Oscar_Lives]

I remember Mom and Dad's home had a medallion with the doorbell at the front door. Funny thing: Their home had gas heat!

[ameijers]

(snip)

IIRC, the gas utilities had a similar program, with a similar door seal. Back then, many local gas companies had an appliance sales floor. Entire subdivisions had gas 'charmglow' lamps halfway down the sidewalk to the front door.

aem sends...

[Matt]

Wow... I've been reading up tonight on the LBE campaign - I'm not surprised that the NG people countered with their own campaign.

The house I grew up in had no LBE medallion, most on the block did though. I always wondered why....

Now I know.

My dad had the house built to use electricity for what it is good for - lighting and small appliances. The oven and stove were electric as well - but that was probably only because his parents' cooking appliances ran on NG or LP.... using electricity to cook back in the

50's had to seem like owning a Pentium 59000 running at 2.5 kabillion giga bazilion khz.

Water heater - gas. Home heating - gas.

Air conditioning wasn't an option........ I think I was in the last generation that relied on an attic fan for house cooling in the summer.

Anyway, from what I read tonight - it sounds like the electricity gestapo had to approve your home to be an LBE home. Electric heat, cooking, laundry.... electric EVERYTHING or, NO MEDALLION FOR YOU.

If I remember my father correctly - it's no surprise my house didn't have an LBE medallion.

[ConcreteFinishing&StuccoGuy]

Lectricity first came to our area of Canada in 1956 and i remember the 30 amp service powering just a lightbulb in the kitchen and many years later a fridge. Dad and grandad put hydro in the log cabins and paid the two or three bucks every 3 months because being modern meant you had electricity. Of course we and everyone around us had kerosene lamps because the supply of hydro was not steady. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!!!!

-- Troweller^nospam^@canada.com

[Steve IA]

Didn"t DuPont or somesuch use "Better Living Through Chemistry"? IIRC, the company dropped the slogan after it was usurped by dopeys cooking there own drugs.

If you remember the 60's you weren't really there. Steve

41N

[Joseph Meehan]

As I recall that was used by developers who put up all electric (electric heat) homes.

[Harry Everhart]

In PA - they were called 4 star homes.

1. electric heat
2. electric AC
3. electric hot water
4. a high insulation standard.

[Duane Bozarth]

...

Well, you were later than we by about 8 years--Mom and Dad begin collecting signatories for the formation of the local rural electric co-op (REA) the day after VJ Day. The power was turned on for a

3-county area in 1948. Dad then served on the board for 50 years until '98.

Grandad had everything wired when he built it on the farmstead (he started here in 1912, not the first but this place had been left idle by previous homesteader). They then put up a Delco "WindCharger" 32V DC system and ran the house lights and appliances from it and a few lights in the barn and other outbuildings. I remember vividly the old radio with the zillion knobs and dials--my cousin the EE has it now and has restored it to working condition.

One last memory is the noise the gas-powered auxiliary generator used to charge the storage batteries when the wind didn't blow exhausted between our house and my grandparent's and was quite noisy. When very young and summertime, I recall waiting until it ran out of gas so I could sleep...

Again, great memories! :)

[Duane Bozarth]

There was also "Ready Kilowat" the little electric bolt figure and TVA had a massive compaign when their first generation became available. I presume Bonneville (BPA) did something similar. There was another major "all-electric" push by TVA in the 70's.

[Hi Ho Silver]

I can remember a large outdoor billboard near our home in 1940 or so that read:

"ICE NEVER FAILS"

This to hold on to sales of ice based home refrigeration via buying the company's ice as opposed to those new-fangled electric fridge contraptions...

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