Could Walter Findlay's Appliance Store Pay for Maude's Life?
TV Life
10,063 views
Maude, Walter Findlay, and Findlay's Friendly Appliances. Could one appliance store in Tuckahoe really pay for Maude Findlay's big Westchester life? The biggest threat wasn't Maude's spending. It was a law Congress repealed right in the middle of the show.
We put real 1970s prices behind the classic CBS sitcom and follow the money from the kitchen to the showroom floor to Washington.
Spotlight Moments:
• Florida Evans, Maude's housekeeper, worked a job the federal minimum wage didn't cover. Household workers were left out in 1938 and weren't brought in until May 1, 1974, the same year Florida left for Good Times.
• New house prices roughly doubled from 1972 to 1978, from about $27,600 to $55,700.
• Nixon's price controls ended in April 1974. Prices jumped, and the prime rate hit 12% that summer, so every unsold washer on Walter's floor cost him money every month.
• Fair trade laws protected small dealers for almost 40 years. President Ford signed the Consumer Goods Pricing Act in December 1975, and the protection came down.
• Crazy Eddie's "insane" prices took over New York TV while cheap Japanese color televisions flooded the market.
• Maude's way out was a seat in Congress at $57,500 a year, when the median family made about $16,000.
Why this matters:
Maude and Good Times were the same story told from opposite ends of the kitchen. One store supporting a big house and a full household was a real middle-class dream in 1972.
By 1978, the whole country was quietly running the small independent dealer out of business. When you put real prices behind these families, the shows we grew up on tell a very different story than the one we remember.
If you enjoyed this, hit like, subscribe for more classic TV money stories, and share it with a fellow 70s TV fan. For the black and white classics like Lucy and The Honeymooners, check out our new sister channel, TV Life Black White.
Tell us in the comments: when Walter came home from the store, did you ever wonder whether that business could really carry that house?
Chapters
00:00 Tuckahoe, New York
00:59 The Big Question
01:23 Meet the Findlays
02:03 Florida Evans
02:46 Florida's Real Pay
05:24 Price Controls
06:41 Fair Trade Repeal
08:03 Discounters and Imports
10:46 Crazy Eddie's Fall
11:12 Your Memories
#Maude #ClassicTV #TVHistory
#70sTV #GoodTimes #EstherRolle #CrazyEddie #1970s
TV Life takes you back to the classic television shows we remember, and explores what life was really like back then.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, we look at the homes, cars, jobs, food, appliances, money, shopping, family life, and everyday routines behind the shows that defined generations.
The shows we remember. The life we really lived.
Subscribe for Weekly Videos = @tvlifeyt
20 Comments
It's pretty clear in the majority of these cases, these folks had purchased at some point, maybe years or even decades before. So the facts you present are based on a false premise.
Could Walter Findlay's Appliance Store Pay for Maude's Life?
TV Life
10,063 views
Maude, Walter Findlay, and Findlay's Friendly Appliances. Could one appliance store in Tuckahoe really pay for Maude Findlay's big Westchester life? The biggest threat wasn't Maude's spending. It was a law Congress repealed right in the middle of the show.
We put real 1970s prices behind the classic CBS sitcom and follow the money from the kitchen to the showroom floor to Washington.
Spotlight Moments:
• Florida Evans, Maude's housekeeper, worked a job the federal minimum wage didn't cover. Household workers were left out in 1938 and weren't brought in until May 1, 1974, the same year Florida left for Good Times.
• New house prices roughly doubled from 1972 to 1978, from about $27,600 to $55,700.
• Nixon's price controls ended in April 1974. Prices jumped, and the prime rate hit 12% that summer, so every unsold washer on Walter's floor cost him money every month.
• Fair trade laws protected small dealers for almost 40 years. President Ford signed the Consumer Goods Pricing Act in December 1975, and the protection came down.
• Crazy Eddie's "insane" prices took over New York TV while cheap Japanese color televisions flooded the market.
• Maude's way out was a seat in Congress at $57,500 a year, when the median family made about $16,000.
Why this matters:
Maude and Good Times were the same story told from opposite ends of the kitchen. One store supporting a big house and a full household was a real middle-class dream in 1972.
By 1978, the whole country was quietly running the small independent dealer out of business. When you put real prices behind these families, the shows we grew up on tell a very different story than the one we remember.
If you enjoyed this, hit like, subscribe for more classic TV money stories, and share it with a fellow 70s TV fan. For the black and white classics like Lucy and The Honeymooners, check out our new sister channel, TV Life Black White.
Tell us in the comments: when Walter came home from the store, did you ever wonder whether that business could really carry that house?
Chapters
00:00 Tuckahoe, New York
00:59 The Big Question
01:23 Meet the Findlays
02:03 Florida Evans
02:46 Florida's Real Pay
05:24 Price Controls
06:41 Fair Trade Repeal
08:03 Discounters and Imports
10:46 Crazy Eddie's Fall
11:12 Your Memories
#Maude #ClassicTV #TVHistory
#70sTV #GoodTimes #EstherRolle #CrazyEddie #1970s
TV Life takes you back to the classic television shows we remember, and explores what life was really like back then.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, we look at the homes, cars, jobs, food, appliances, money, shopping, family life, and everyday routines behind the shows that defined generations.
The shows we remember. The life we really lived.
Subscribe for Weekly Videos = @tvlifeyt