PHILCO Famous for Quality The World Over is a short film promoting Philco’s new line of 1950s refrigerators. The film opens with a shot of man and woman in a 1950s living room. The man is worried about a presentation he is about to give dealers on the new Philco fridges. The film then cuts to the presentation in a ballroom (02:50). As the man speaks, a woman unveils the Philco 702 compact refrigerator (05:55) and demonstrates its features, including a horizontal evaporator and a defroster indicator. They next unveil and review the Philco 703 (09:10), with features such as 5-speed cold control and a horizontal freezer locker. Next up is the 704 model (11:44). Then the presenter demonstrates the motor used in the fridges (13:14). That is followed up by presenting the Philco 904 (13:35) and the 906 (14:40), which features beveled lettering on the long-door model, a clear plastic chiller, and adjustable shelving. This is followed by the Philco 1103 (16:40) and the 1104 (17:52) with its giant freezer locker. The final fridge is the Philco 1107 (19:01), the flagship model that combines the features of all the others but also includes a clear plastic inside door for additional storage and organization. The presenter concludes by touting the quality of the new Philco line what it will do for dealers’ sales.
Philco (founded as Helios Electric Company, renamed Philadelphia Storage Battery Company) was well known as a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In North America, it is the Philco brand owned by Philips. In other markets, it is the Philco International brand owned by Electrolux.
In the early 1920s, Philco made storage batteries, “socket power” battery eliminator units, and battery chargers. With the invention of the rectifier tube, which made it practical to power radios by electrical outlets, in 1928, Philco decided to get into the booming radio business. They followed other radio makers such as RCA, Atwater-Kent, Zenith Electronics, Freshman Masterpiece, FADA Radio, and AH Grebe into the battery-powered radio business. By 1930, they were selling more radios than any other maker, a position they held for more than 20 years.
Philco built many iconic radios and television sets, including the classic cathedral-shaped wooden radio of the 1930s (aka the “Baby Grand”), and the Predicta series of television receiver sets of the 1950s. Philo Farnsworth, credited for inventing the first fully functional all electronic vacuum tube television system (patent # US1773980- filed Jan 7, 1927), worked at Philco from 1931 to 1933.
Philco began marketing car radios in 1930 and later expanded into other areas including air conditioners (1938), refrigerators (1939), home freezers (1946), consumer televisions (1947), electric ranges (1949), home laundry washers and dryers (1954), and home entertainment products. Their first consumer television set, the 1948 table Model 48-1000, had a 10 in (25 cm) screen and sold for US$395.
Philco Corporation by 1960 had applied for bankruptcy protection.[citation needed] On December 11, 1961, Ford Motor Company purchased Philco and continued to offer consumer products, computer systems and defense related projects. The company continued to provide Ford with car and truck radio receivers and consumer product investments were made to color television production. Along with color and black and white television Philco continued to produce refrigerators, washers, dryers, air conditioners, stoves, radios, portable transistor radios, portable phonographs, audio console systems with high quality “Mastercraft” furniture cabinets, and component stereo systems. The company branded Philco products as “Philco-Ford” in 1966.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
