FROM THE ARCHIVES:Judy Fallon caught a glimpse of the future at the Ideal Homes Exhibition in London in 1961 and was less than impressed by its laziness. – JOE JOYCE
QUITE FRANKLY – does one want to have everything done by machinery? Is there not some satisfaction in even menial tasks, well done by one’s own hands? Certainly, that is no spirit in which to visit this particular exhibition. The spirit of George Orwell’s “1984” permeates it. [...]
In the bathroom display, I found the new trend towards low-set bathtubs and floor coverings of carpet or matting, absolutely incompatible. Lower rims on bathtubs means more splashing and anyone who’s walked on sodden cane matting, or even sodden carpets, should be able to understand my revulsion. [...]
I found much more to admire in the Economy Room section. Here, various young people were given £50, £75, and £100 and told to furnish a single, all-purpose room with that sum. Here were ideas for all to use: walls papered with the pages of telephone books, for instance. Not at all unpleasant, as one might think, but amusing and (let’s face it) cheaper than any other suggestion.
I also found that the idea of making cushion covers and even lampshades out of those attractive but far too numerous tea towels that everyone gives you for Christmas, an absolutely brilliant one.
Other ideas that ought to be cheaper than they are: the combination of a small cooker and an efficient refrigerator that I found on the Cannon stall. Here, too was a roasting spit attachment for the kitchen that I think we’ve all longed for after tasting the delicatessen roast chickens that have become a regular item on English menus in the last year or so.
There’s also a new-style hood that goes over your cooking stove, absorbs all kitchen smells, smoke and moisture, and returns fresh sweet air into the kitchen. There are washing machines galore, some of which need only to be fastened to a cold tap, and then have their controls set to whatever washing and drying treatment you require – and hey presto: no one can ever make that crack about “woman’s work is never done” again. [...]
Other innovations, in our wonderful labour-saving world of 1961, are “tale-spinner” books for children. These are, of course, gramophone records of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and Bible stories, which come in the rear cover of children’s books.
If the tale of all these labour-saving devices bothers you, I can only say that I came away from the exhibition with a frightening vision of the Ideal Home Owner of 1961. Who is: Too lazy to read (hence television, tape recorders, long-playing records); too lazy to cook; wash up; sweep rooms (vacuum-cleaner attachments in every room); step out of a bath-tub (low-set tubs for lazy people); and even too lazy to teach the children (admonishments on the wall of the nursery, records of nursery rhymes and fairy tales, etc.).
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