The Good Housewife "In Her Kitchen" (1949)

A curiously self-referential public information film - demonstrating the ideal way to store food items in the home before acknowledging how artificial the setting may seem to its own audience! See more public information films free on BFI Player (UK only).

[@sarahk2722]

This lady is my hero. "I beg your pardon?" "A waste of time?!"

[@Pureimagination200]

I grew up in a house built in 1928. Kitchen was a sink, laundry sink, a few cupboards and a stove. Our refrigerator was in our pouch and we called it an ice box because my old parents called it that . I still call it an ice box today and my kids laugh at me.

[@bunny_0288]

Hahaha I still call it an ice box too, sometimes!

[@princessdumbarton9877]

We called it an ice box. We were still using it in the late 70's.

[@alanduncan1980]

You do know it's possible to put modern amenities inside old buildings? I grew up in a house that was built in the 30s and we didn't have as ice bucket as a fridge.

[@Pureimagination200]

@@alanduncan1980 my parents didn’t have the money for upgrades and they were immigrants from Poland and didn’t care about upgrades. Everything in the house was from 1928. I grew up in the house and it was 900 sq ft. In West Hollywood. Very trendy area now and expensive (1000.00 per sq ft. To start) but the high crime is stilll their so nightly helicopters searching for criminals who would jump our fence and run throughout our backyard to get to another street with four cops chasing them . it was comical. Four kids and two adults and a wayward teen friend here and there living in this little house. My parents paid 13K in 1963. We sold it for one million in 2016 and it was completely flipped. All new appliances, electricity, bathroom, floor, my dads bedroom is now the kitchen and the kitchen is now a second bathroom. Didn’t do anything with the two bedrooom but put in new windows. Flipper removed all the Spanish iron work and put in giant wood planks around the front of the house. I think for privacy. It’s an ugly house now. 😢

[@lomejordelamusicacristiana4474]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who has my kitchen obsessively organized

[@That.Lady.withtheYarn]

You to! My people... How are you

[@alanduncan1980]

And the rest of your house looks like it was hit by a bomb, but that kitchen though.. it's immaculate.

[@kaelaleedaley]

PLEASE upload the whole film! I love it so far but would so enjoy seeing the 2nd half xx

[@mloustalot1]

Right? It was just getting interesting. .

[@dontreadtoomuchintomycomment]

He takes his liberties, it's NSFW.

[@clem304]

I completely agree!

[@alanduncan1980]

Funny how you just assume they have part 2.

[@kaelaleedaley]

@@alanduncan1980 Hilarious, Alan!

[@LinniFight]

My aunt gave up having children and her career to follow my uncle's goals and career which have taken them around the world over their lifetime. He cheated twice and asked for a divorce when he hit a mid life crisis and decided he *did* want kids after all. They were in their 50s by this point. They worked it out and have been seemingly happy for over 10 years now, but that was a MAJOR wake up call for me as a 16 year old. Listening to my aunt cry and ask how she could support herself with no career experience in over 30 years...I decided then and there that I would *always* keep a job and make enough money to keep a roof over my head, no matter what my partner can offer financially. I'll never let myself be victim to that scenario.

[@kollmann-fan4325]

Sad your aunt experienced that. I experienced the opposite: nearly all (except one out of 10) women I know that are wifes, mums and housekeepers are so happy, calm, fun to be with, gentle, feminine and have this happiness around them while most women that work are more easily annoyed and dont have that special feminity around them, I adore so much. These women dont say anything but watching them makes me wishing I had that too. I would give up my career immediately to become a wife, mum and housekeeper 😍

[@Sldoficn]

Exactly. We let ourselves fall into that, not our partner. The issue is ageism in the workforce and everyone at that age have skills under their belt, we can all use the skills we have. But marriage/divorce is a private matter. Separate issue with various factors. When the matter is to provide for oneself when single, only oneself can do so.

[@laceandbits]

Sad for your aunt, but I can't connect your story to a video about storing food

[@SRose-vp6ew]

Be a reasonably intelligent person and you will never have difficulty finding a job and being able to support yourself if needed. There’s nothing wrong with being a housewife. Housewives have more time for intellectual pursuits, connections through volunteer work, and having fulfilling hobbies. You can listen to a lot of podcasts while nursing babies and baking bread. And even as a housewife that doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. Read Proverbs 31. And it’s just a fact that if two people come together in unity by prayer to God who is only good and greater than themselves they have less than a 1% chance of divorce. That’s a statistical fact, feel free to look it up and be blessed if you follow that narrow and rewarding path. Biblically, Scripture says God desires the earth to be filled and also the command both before and after the flood to be fruitful and multiply. My point in saying that is no husband should demand that a woman doesn’t have children. Actually another statistical fact that might be interesting to look up is the percentage of men that force women to abort. It’s awfully high and we can agree forcing women to abort is never right. Not saying that’s how children were prevented, but statistically just not wanting a child at that point in time makes “ convenience” or “birth control” the number one sited reason for abortion. Personally, I’m the result of rape and I love my life, I don’t understand how so many reject the blessing that children are. I now care for my mother, she stroked in 2021. Who would care for her if she never had kids? Government funded nursing homes are not family.

[@alanduncan1980]

And then what happened? I want to know everything.

[@debbiem2146]

Please, please, PLEASE, share the rest of this film... and thank you for sharing this portion!

[@bmviss]

Where's the rest? I'd love to know how his "missus" did it without a fridge!

[@BBC600]

bmviss Exactly right when the film was getting good!

[@MazHem]

I've seen it at the BFI, he uses the cold water and flowerpots method to make a fridge.

[@Therainbowtwins]

Snap 🤣 like come on don’t cut it off 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@dee4174]

Cold stone shelf, meat safe and daily shopping. X

[@tinachandler3091]

Its technically an ice box. Ice was placed in and the door was airtight .

[@anniekochera]

with out the fridge, food was probably stored in a cool temperatured closet/pantry with a marble shelf to keep things cooler. this was back when ladies shopped 6 days a week for daily meals.

[@usacookie8288]

Mommie-Kins, food was stored in an ice box. It had two shelves plus the bottom floor/case. Ice blocks from the ice man were delivered weekly and placed on the bottom floor. Food was put inside, and the door was shut. The ice man either placed the ice inside the ice box for you, or left it on the porch steps, and you brought it in. He used ice tongs. Left the truck parked on the street. 1946-1950.\

[@laceandbits]

@@usacookie8288 Not everyone had an ice box even. If you were hard up, you couldn't afford to buy ice and in the poor areas in cities (in the UK at least) the iceman didn't exist. But if you had money to buy the type of food which needed to be kept cool, you bought it on the same day you were going to cook it and eat it.

[@SRose-vp6ew]

You can actually smoke or can meat if you don’t eat it fresh. Unwashed farm eggs Do not need to be refrigerated in the same way that store-bought, bleached, and radiated American eggs have to be refrigerated. you can also pickle eggs and there’s all sorts of things that used to be done to keep food fresh. Packing your potatoes and carrots in dirt in your basement was another trick. Never put onions with potatoes. Buy things like apples that can last months in a root cellar and a year if waxed. Turning cabbage into sauerkraut with salt or berries into jam with sugar were all ways to preserve.

[@franlooving4203]

Very interesting film!!! I love the 40s and am obsessed with decorating in that style. Well...I try. Thank you very much for this upload. I hope to find more from the 40s.

[@dee4174]

Who had a fridge in the 40's in the UK. My grandad didnt get one till the 1970s

[@rivertwygzbed543]

My Dad never had a fridge till 1980 lol

[@patricias5122]

It's still good advice on how to store food and keep it from spoiling.

[@ryanhilliard1620]

Very soon we all may need to know the info in the second half of this film.

[@scratchdog2216]

Not quite what I was expecting from a film of this age. Rather fun.

[@pattycake8272]

We would have no need for a refrigerator if we bought all fresh produce a day or two before we were going to consume it. Lol.

[@mamarose9926]

Is anyone else feeling super anxious at the thought of not having a refrigerator?

[@MissVictoryRolls1940]

Most people didn’t have a refrigerator then, and they had a much healthier diet!

[@zakosist]

Plenty of foods do not need a refrigerator, but it would be a bit limiting

[@KC9QII]

Around that time a lot of people would have at least had an ice box instead

[@laceandbits]

But they didn't shop for a whole week at a time then. Many women were stay at home house wives even if they didn't have children as firms didn't employ married women. Part of their daily routine would have been shopping for that day's fresh food. Shopping at small shops you could buy just what you needed, none of this problem of prepacked meat in the wrong multiples for your family or fish in packs of two when there are five of you.

[@chanellekirch]

I absolutely love this! Thank you for sharing

[@OrganisedPauper]

A fridge was fancy, especially for then. We didn't even have a fridge in the 70s. We had a pantry and a meat safe.

[@piafbaker6115]

Esas latas de comida,se nota que eran de buen material,muy resistentes.

[@1979phill]

ive just bought one of those kitchens!

[@wendyamericana4829]

Would love to see the second half

[@theaccidentalhousewife]

I swear when she said "I beg your pardon" it looked like she was gonna cut him

[@blue12night2]

😂😂😂 she was about to say, forget the Script

[@petersmith6458]

Marvellous. How we should be!

[@2Sugarbears]

Bull.

[@seachelle7222]

Yes it should be 💖

[@annalawson5601]

I agree:)

[@autumnthomas3923]

Agreed!

[@christine899]

was the actress Ruth Dunning !!! I remember seeing her in one of the first soaps on BBC T.V in the early 50's I think it was called "The Appleyards"

[@usacookie8288]

Keep your meat away from flies. 😍

[@amerwiccanandproud]

Life before disposable commodities, plastic, and styrofoam packaging!

[@butterflyb3716]

Everything was better back then !

[@sharondwyer8513]

I was born in the wrong era 😭

[@AG-wb3db]

Shaz Zahs why? Me too

[@rabbster7]

Ugh. Same 😣 I'd genuinely love to be a housewife.

[@seachelle7222]

Same here.

[@BrandonSeattle]

peep game, I'm black, I aint trying to go back to the 50s. But whats wrong with having June Clever housewife.

[@bunny_0288]

@@rabbster7 I am a housewife in 2020. It is possible in this day and age. It just takes some sacrifices. Living in a smaller home/apartment, driving used cars or sometimes even sharing a car, cooking at home most of the time, and maybe even looking to live in a lower cost of living state. It takes a lot of creativity and being really good with living on a budget, but it is possible to do!

[@streetofdreams4538]

They had plastic wrap back then? I thought it was all paper wrapping!

[@CarmindyOnline]

Yes -- washable/reusable sheets.. comparable to the extra thick PVC clear shower curtain liners we use today.

[@streetofdreams4538]

@@CarmindyOnlineHmm, washable and reusable plastic sheets...so interesting. Seems like we should have them now instead of all disposable.

[@psammiad]

Ha that's funny, where's the rest of it? I was just thinking not many people had a fridge in 1949!

[@fcgkfkrjjg]

My guy mansplaining before mansplaining was a thing.

[@ivabasquill5764]

Could you show the rest of it?

[@youtubeuser1432]

GOOD WOMEN RARELY MAKE HISTORY BUT ALWAYS MAKE DINNER

[@TheresaMarieVisagie]

Very true

[@eddie9420]

Or, they could do both. 🤣

[@streetofdreams4538]

Don't you think we need more Joans of Arc and Deborahs today? They can do both.

[@noona514]

so cute!

[@smokeynewton]

Dang it! Why even post it?

[@karonwalker4082]

Oh Lord, flies can affect fruit & vegetables on the counters, not just meat

[@zakosist]

Fruits are usually best on the counter

[@davids8449]

Where is part two

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

Love it. But i want to see the whole film now.

[@christinad4432]

A bit Confused by the description box 😬🤷🏼‍♀️

[@blissy1]

Half a story!

[@jadedavis822]

Omg where is other part

[@MC-mh2ju]

The way it should be.

[@2Sugarbears]

You do it.

[@seachelle7222]

I agree. 💖

[@icecreamkitty2735]

Too bad live with it

[@fanaticalplel1003]

Ye

[@sharronneedles6721]

And why is that?

[@sarahlouise7163]

oh, i was enjoying that. where's the rest? 😁

[@annmittelstadt2938]

Heeyyyyy wheres the ending? Boooooo

[@7ajhubbell]

Thank you.

[@Bessie66]

Well that showed her! 🤣🤣🤣

[@autumnthomas3923]

I love this!

[@romanrobazza8329]

ahh :) the 1950's, when they got it right. A wife doing what she should be doing - maintaining the kitchen, feeding her family with free money from her husband, money she doesn't have to earn through hard labour or a tedious office job, and resting for most of the day politely knowing the vote is not hers as she has not the capacity for serious logical thought. Pleasant, true, accurate.

[@jojotheoj]

What just happened to that poor woman! “You’re hired to read this script about refrigerators. Psych! Actually we’re gonna teach YOU how to do this without a refrigerator!” Ha. How silly. And odd. I was enjoying the first part though, tell me more.

[@misskate3815]

God forbid the lower classes have their own opinions, right?

[@kristinesharp6286]

Nothing wrong with leaving meat in wrapper.

[@Galloway278]

Why did people talk like that?

[@sharronneedles6721]

Transatlantic accent, used in films that were intended to be used in both America and Great Britan so that neither side found the accent unusual.

[@Galloway278]

@@sharronneedles6721 interesting!

[@occam5052]

Women, know your limits ! 😂

[@jadedavis822]

👍

[@kinetsievarvenfloot1237]

Yeah you stay in that kitchen and make me a goddamn sammitch, BATCH!!!!!!!!! 😡😡😡😡😡

[@Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahh]

TF?!?!?!?

[@Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahh]

If you’re gonna comment like at least make sure your spelling is correct🤣🤣

[@chelseashamim9148]

Sure. But first buy me a diamond ring and a house.

[@SallySallySourScream]

"But it isn't in the script!!!!"

[@pattizayas1051]

dude.......wth?

[@Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahh]

?

[@amandahakes2226]

Some good old fashion 1950s mansplaining hahaha

[@SoloTravelerOffTheBeatenPath]

You know you secretly like it.

[@amandahakes2226]

Not secretly haha very openly. I thought it was beautiful

[@patricias5122]

A fine example of mansplaining.

[@johnsavage5815]

When women knew their place.

[@sharronneedles6721]

Women still do know their place, in the same place as men. This whole "women in the kitchen" thing was thought up in the late 40s because men returning from war found out that their wives had taken their job. Women can work just as well as men, it not better.

[@stronk8107]

When men used to cheat on their wives and domestic abuse was still rampant. Truly a "high quality" men every women should aspire to have.

[@Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahh]

@@sharronneedles6721 THIS!!!!

[@chelseashamim9148]

Yet when women become chefs they still face sexism

[@Iceis_Phoenix]

She's too high maintenance for me 😆

[@user-cy7km4fz2y]

This is bullcrap