Westinghouse Melmac History : A Million Bucks in 10 Weeks

Newport cream and sugar by Westinghouse. Find it at  loves2frame.

Yep, that's right. Westinghouse as in those "appliance folks" that date back to 1886. They acquired the  Bryant Electric Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1901.  Bryant acquired Hemco plastics in 1928.  So, therefore, the whole Westinghouse - Bryant - Hemco - associated thing came to be.  

Oh how cool it would be to mold up your own promo items. These are only $14 at MyRetroStuff.

The plastics division in Bridgeport was big in 1940's wartime production of helmet liners and economy plastics.  On top of that, it made parts for their electrical lines such as housings, switches, and casings. Now add on all the plastic parts for their appliances.  They parts would be for their fans, stoves, washers, dryers, dishwashers, freezers, fridges, just about anything you can think of appliance wise coming out of Westinghouse. From a plastic dishwasher rack to a plastic stove knob. So why not dishes?  Not that far off right?

Backstamp Courtesy and pieces available at Loves2Frame on Etsy

By the 1950's Westinghouse had a good market share for plastic dinnerware between the Westinghouse "Newport" , "Darien" and "Ovation" lines ,among several others. Add that to the fact Hemco, Hemcoware, and Hemcolite were being alternately produced under the Hemco backstamp (these wares ranging from a lightweight picnic ware to heavier melamine pieces.)  I do find it odd that Westinghouse's lines were competing with it's own Hemcoware lines but perhaps that's part of their whole marketing tactic. You can see more photos of products here on my other blog post about Westinghouse.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

My research has led me to a very interesting article published in 1958 by Decker Communications. It appears Westinghouse wanted to sell their melmac in grocery stores. They went to A&P stores ( The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc., which operates A&P--some may still be in operation today.)  With the help of an 8 foot corregated cardboard display unit, also called a "merchandiser", the sets were spot tested in 400+ stores in and around New York City.  Sales hit a million dollars in ten weeks.

Newport Creamer and Sugar at OldLikeUs

That's a lot of dough for plastic dishes, even back then. So  it's safe to say I'm giving Westinghouse a pat on the back. I do have to sit and wonder, if that was the case, and they sold so many darn dishes, where the heck did they all go?   Sadly most of the Westinghouse marked examples I've seen are on the thin side, and have lots of scratches. I suppose it's safe to say the housewives may have really used them to death. 

Did you use Westinghouse? Tell me about it!

Welcome to the Melmac Center : Russel Wright Melamine Ephemera at it's Finest Shows Rarities in Modern Design

Update: January 27, 2012: Mr. Melmac aka Robin Thorne has identified lots of new patterns! 

Not only do I love the Melmac of the 50's but the advertising too.  This ad is from one of my Etsy customers, who is enjoying their melmac dishes I sold them in their travel camper. I must say, they were very smart as they found a perfect match in Boonton's maroon and Meladur's burgundy.  I would not have thought of mix matching the two but they worked!

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SUPERSIZE!

What I love most about old ephemera, is learning new clues.  I don't know what year this ad was from, but I think I' would have estimated it at 1953-1955, but I stand corrected by plastics great Christopher McPherson ! UPDATE: He has one very similiar if not exact from 1957.  So there you have it.

 I do know Russel Wright's Residential was really being advertised a lot in 1953-1954.  There seemed to be a huge campaign by Cyanamid for advertising the super duper Melmac dishes around this time.  I'm sure that companies may have paid to be included in their "Melmac Center" ads, as many different ones exist and sometimes the manufacturers will change.   We can also date the ad around the early 50's due to two other reasons a) the fab colors used and b) the 2 digit zip code. (by the early 60's the zip codes were changed.)

What I'm shocked at is in my opinion a lot of the dishes here are considered rare and hard to find now. Something so plentiful then, is dried up now. Rare in the sense that in my 20+years of collecting I've not seen enough of the below starred items to make an entire set.  To me, that's rare.

Obviously I'm not counting the dishes behind her. Be sure to click the hyperlinks to see "real melmac examples"!

First Row: 

Brookpark Modern Design  Update: Robin aka Mr. Melmac says, "This is the famous TROPICANA PATTERN in orange! This also came in turquoise, tan, red, and yellow although the orange and turquoise were by far the most popular." ( See a set similar here.)

TexasWare

Classic*(by Mallory, this is rare and hard to find,  If you are looking for other Mallory go here.)

Lucent Update: Robin aka Mr. Melmac says "Spring Bouquet by designer Raymond Lowey for Lucent, this is very rare indeed!"  (You may also like  Evening Song which is most often found Lucent also by Raymond Lowey)

Second Row: 

Holiday (by Kenro)

Branchell* (Branchell is common with their Color-Flyte lines, but this pattern, Button Flower is a rare pattern. See it here.)

Harmony House    Update: Robin aka Mr. Melmac says "This is a popular pattern called Woodland!"
 
Fostoria Melmac is hard to find much less this awesome champagne bubble pattern! Update: Robin aka Mr. Melmac says "This is one of my favorites called Kismet. There was a popular MGM musical by the same name at the time references the middle east. These are a little like moque domes, but also abstract and remind me some of the logos of the time like the ones for US Steel and Alcoa! Pure whimsy! "

Row Three: 

Prolon  Update: Robin aka Mr. Melmac says "This Prolon Florence pattern is called "Blue Poppy". I bought a complete set in Palm Springs about 20 years ago for $12--a steal today! It's heavy duty and often you will see this in brochures and articles."


Stetson

Russel Wright (Residential)

Lifetime (Watertown. I have never seen this pattern. Where have I been?)

Row Four:

Newport  (by Westinghouse)

Melmac Tag* these have care and cleaning tips and were included with sets.

Royalon* (Marcrest is common but this pattern isn't. Most often you see Royalon's Corsage. See it here and just for the record, I've always been confused why it says Marcrest styled by Royalon, no doubt just to sound fancy...)

Durawear (not to be confused with Duraware!)


So I consider 8 of these patterns to be rare.

Russel Wright obviously got special treatment. Not to mention a RetroChalet fave!

What's even better is that you could obtain clues by these old ads. For instance, why is the tiny tag on Russel Wright's Residential the only one that has a second name on it....  Everything else just has one line, but Russel Wright's name being associated with his design was imperative.  Note how his card is "special."  I rest my case.

What about the fact you could mail away a quarter and get a little melmac book?  How adorable.  What about the fact you could TRUST sending your "coin" away?  I so want to live back then. The two digit zip code is what I noticed right away.  Sometimes a silly old ad can be our best clues of what existed, and when.  Or clues to what else we may not have found...just yet!