When I got home from work yesterday, the temperature in my condo was more than 80º, so I caved. Yup, I turned on the old AC. I hated to turn it on so early in the season, but I just don't look good in a mustache – a sweat mustache, that is.
So it's a good time to post this Ohio Edison ad, which ran in the Lorain Journal back on June 4, 1963 – sixty years ago this month. Our old pal Reddy Kilowatt is on hand to promote his cool, clean electric air conditioning. And of course, it's flameless. (I didn't know there was any other kind!)
The ad is definitely of its early 1960s timeframe, by the way in which it shows a woman sleeping better, feeling better and working better with electric air conditioning. I guess she's single (judging by her sleeping arrangement, unless she and her spouse enjoy The Dick Van Dyke Show style twin beds). 'Feeling better' apparently means having a bounce in her step coming down the stairs. And of course, 'working' back then meant kitchen duties, as opposed to a work from home computer or call center job.
Of course, here in the 2000s, nobody needs to be convinced to buy air conditioning – flameless or otherwise. It's one of the few things I can't live without. I'm bummed, however, that Reddy's old employer is about to sock it to those of us who still get our electricity from them with a major rate hike just in time for summer.