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I remember him ...
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:55 pm
by butlersrangers
This guy, Reddy Kilowatt, would show up as a graphic on our Detroit Edison electric bill, when I was a kid.
(One of the first serious jobs, my mother gave me, was peddling my bike to town to pay the Edison bill.
That also involved taking the 'burned-out' light bulbs and exchanging them for free new ones. Big Responsibility)!
The attached images are probably modern commercial 'knock-offs'.
The 'kid warning' one is humorous, but, would probably traumatize my grandkids.
I didn't know there was a Reddy Kilowatt song, until I saw this You Tube video, today.
Gosh we were simpletons in the 1950's and 1960's.
If interested use this link and select (B&W) Reddy Kilowatt Theme Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLcAzYCueAY&t=55s
I think these images are modern fake graphics:
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:06 pm
by FredC
Our graphic "guy" looked very similar, but I think he was Willy Wirehand. I sure do not remember him threatening any kids in our incarnation.
I looked up Willie Wirehand and he looked different than Reddy Kilowatt. I am a little confused now. The book covers we used in school were provided by the local generating plant. I am almost certain the figure looked like your Reddy and was called Willie Wirehand or Willie Wiredhand. Now where do you find a 62 year old book cover, from Yancey Elementary School? I bet elementary students today do not even know what a book cover is.
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 7:56 am
by Dick Hosmer
We had him in CA too, PGE (Pacific Gas & Electric).
Bill used to be separated as "Reddy's Work" and "Reddy's Wages".
Those were the good old days, when everything at least seemed to be right and proper. The 1950s were WONDERFUL!!! Now we are fast becoming a third-world shithole - at least partly due to the fact that we have invited the shit to our table. If you like it, keep on voting blue. And I say that with sorrow. Today's left is NOT your father's honest hard-working Democrats who loved their country. They have sold out to a bunch of lying, crooked, bastards. And don't some wag ask me how I REALLY feel - my answering post would get me expelled, if not jailed by the new SA. If you're too young to know what that means, Wiki Nazi Germany . . .
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 11:33 am
by psteinmayer
Ahhhh... the good ole days when people (as my mother would say) had thicker skin! Now-a-days, an ad or video like that would horrify the censors!!! In our over sensitized world of acceptance, you can't sneeze without someone finding a hidden meaning or agenda in your snot rag!!!
I remember exchanging light bulbs too...
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 2:11 pm
by FredC
Exchanging bulbs? No clue that was ever a thing. I guess that would make the utility company more conscious of regulating the voltage. Our 110/115 volts routinely gets to 127 and pops ordinary bulbs fairly frequently. The bulb on top of the center pivot is so high up and takes a serious ladder to get to I put 130 Volt traffic light rated bulbs in it because of the high voltage and vibration. They will last a couple of years with infrequent use. The voltage on the center pivot it supposed to be 440/480 but I never see it below 495 Volts.
The joys of living out in the country.
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 2:47 pm
by King carp
I remember exchanging light bulbs. That reminded me of going to the rexall drug store with dad with a bag of vacumn tubes and a little while later we could watch "wanted dead or alive" again. Times were a lot simpler back then.
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 3:26 pm
by waterman
Dick Hosmer wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 7:56 am
We had him in CA too, PGE (Pacific Gas & Electric).
Bill used to be separated as "Reddy's Work" and "Reddy's Wages".
Those were the good old days, when everything at least seemed to be right and proper. The 1950s were WONDERFUL!!! Now we are fast becoming a third-world shithole - at least partly due to the fact that we have invited the shit to our table. If you like it, keep on voting blue. And I say that with sorrow. Today's left is
NOT your father's honest hard-working Democrats who loved their country. They have sold out to a bunch of lying, crooked, bastards. And don't some wag ask me how I REALLY feel - my answering post would get me expelled, if not jailed by the new SA. If you're too young to know what that means, Wiki Nazi Germany . . .
Amen, Mr. Hosmer. I grew up in a farm & manufacturing town in northern Illinois in the 1950s. We had Reddy Kilowatt, brought to us by what I remember as CILCo, Central Illinois Light Co. I could see the smokestack of their coal-burning power plant from my bedroom window. But I suspect some of the 1950s politicians were also lying, crooked bastards. We were simply too young and inexperienced to recognize them. Chicago was called "Daleyville by the lake". Joe McCarthy was the mirror image of today's Commies in drag.
Re: I remember him ...
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:34 pm
by Dick Hosmer
waterman wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 3:26 pm
But I suspect some of the 1950s politicians were also lying, crooked bastards. We were simply too young and inexperienced to recognize them. Chicago was called "Daleyville by the lake". Joe McCarthy was the mirror image of today's Commies in drag.
Of course (I DID say "seemed") but they were better at hiding it - now bad behavior is flaunted, and apparently accepted, by far too many among us. The tail is wagging the dog.
We are pandering to the minority - Paul is right.