Octopus in the House (1952)

the National Electric Products Corporation the world's largest producer of roughing in wiring materials is justly proud of the part it has played in supplying a vast amount of electrical products to electrical America National Electric have been leaders in the industry since the turn of the century three large plants are steadily engaged in producing highquality materials that comprise the wi ing systems for home farm and Industry National Electric manufactures all types of wires and cables for every requirement rigid steel conduits like sherid duct and flexible conduits under floor duct wireways together with accessories to complete all wiring systems busway systems for current transmission up to 4,000 ampers and surface metal raceways of every type and size including plugin strip the modern system of electrical outlets for the home electrical living has become a basic part of the American home every day and every year more and more home labor saving and convenient electrical equipment is replacing yesterday's methods of running our homes however this steadily increasing use of electric service has presented us with a serious house wiring problem there is a similarity between this house wiring problem and the octopus the slithering dangerous tentacles of the octopus reach out and Destroy anything with which it comes in contact a nasty looking fellow and truly dangerous his history of harming and endangering human life is small compared to another type of octopus the electrical octopus here it is with all its unsightly and dangerous fire breeding extension cords a never-ending menace to comfort venience and safety in the home let's see what happens to Bob and Sally Jones who live with an octopus in the house [Music] hello oh hello hello is this uh Thompson's hardware store yes well this is Mrs Sally Jones you know at 451 Woodland Road yeah have you got any of those C tiies well those those things you screw in the electric box in the basement when the lights go out yeah I know it's late to deliver them but I just remembered we needed some well um have you got any that don't blow out so often well ours are awfully weak well we just have to keep putting in new ones use bigger well it say that 15 amp 20 amp 3 amp you know this amp business is all Greek to me well you mean they come in different sizes and at the same price oh For Heaven's Sake we'll send us the larger ones it's about time you told us about this you know you've been sending us all those weak ones all year yeah and send them as soon as possible please I've got guests coming tonight and just as sure as shooting one of those weak little fuses will blow up there supposed to blow oh you silly man you huh no not you do oh you send a larger one yeah Goodbye Oh This Modern Life you have your choice you can either eat or use the telephone oh 5:30 I got to get on the beam mother never had all these conveniences St come quick coming dear oh you you and your gim Dandy wiring that thing spitting Sparks again oh well it's just the extension cord here you know I uh why don't I put this over the door huh like that down here a this room looks like a clothesline Factory well I'll fix it up now right away I wish you'd let me call that electrician what electrician oh you know the one I called before when you tried to fix the doorbell and blew out all the fuses doing a no how was I supposed to know that thing needed a condenser a Transformer all right a Transformer that's all right that works say I wonder if I've got too many plugs on there well I know one thing if I had done the wiring in this house things would be a lot better uh no wait a minute just whoo just stop everything Mr Einstein now what hot little gimmick are you cooking up in that head of yours now do you know that we could sell half the ideas in this house right now well to the fun house at Coney Island you asked me to do something didn't you don't Bob what don't turn on the television set you know very well we have to turn off the light in the kitchen so the picture won't flip-flop I'm sorry if you want to you can connect my lamps for me thank you very much I want them right here oh listen I almost forgot to tell you Jim and margerie are coming over tonight oh I've got so many things to do oh dear I wonder does one wash extension cords before or after the silver four plus four plus what plus this I suppose this means we're in for more of our booby trap wiring I've got two extension cords I think are just the right length I got the one I used in the Christmas tree and there's an old one down there I used to use in a refrigerator when we lived at Charles Street remember yeah I remember you carved out the door I had to carve out the door dear so that the wire wouldn't get frayed too much always keep in mind dear Safety First daring I am growing old silver r [Music] the gold and you always when the [Music] winds before you will be for for gotten soon and there the day we will forever what a racket these electricians have got I'll have that job finished in just about a minute and a half and you know what they charger five bucks at least better light light Court you got to be handy with tools and and you're going to know what you're doing but baby that's me Sally Sally just a minute soulmate [Music] coming oh mother warned me about everything but this [Music] [Applause] me with more hand than any one woman deserves and I have to buy it and serve it yet damn huh well I got the electrical problem licked all right everything works fine now it's a good thing I thought of getting big fuses character selling us small fuses you know know that burns me up Burns you up Burns you hey Bob don't fuses have something to do with preventing fires fuses mhm no de they're they're just part of the switch box in the basement you know if they wouldn't complicate wiring so much we'd be a lot better off oh [Applause] how you doing Jim well how's our electrical wizard coming along well I don't think anything's going to blow up in our faces anyway we love to live dangerous life goodness s what are all the wires for oh this is a game March what well you see you uh decide which one goes where and which will short circuit what quite a thrill oh yeah I get quite a charge out of it look you budding fire buug why don't you do something about your crazy wiring do something what do you think I've been doing you know what I mean if you don't consider your own house and lives think of your neighbors that mess of extension CT is dangerous a fire here could spread to the house next door oh hey this Burns it happens to be a sprain yeah looks to me like your screw ball wiring has tripped you up already every night I have nightmares about being lassoed by by wires not Jim you're an electrical man don't you know how to De energize his big lug sure the first thing you do I know Mr power company man you can improve my wiring also it's going to cost me dough now look Bob I'm not needing you but here our adequate wiring committee at the electric league has been checking into wiring conditions all over this town and we've come up with some answers for situations just like yours now this is important and it's so important as a matter of fact that our power company gave me the assignment to give group meeting talks on this subject in our area fact is I've um already prepared a talk on the subject Jim dear I'm listening uh you can do me a big favor Bob yeah now I've got some charts out in the car it'll only take me a minute to get them how about letting me try out my talk on you go ahead good and brother you could use some information on how to improve your wiring a bob if you just listen to Jim with an open mind open mind like a Sie we pay taxes to be properly electrocuted by the state and he wants to get in the act too oh Sally it can't be as bad as all that it can't be you don't know your husband's only an expert but mine's a genius very funny well here we are and what a subject and this animated short circuit of mine will listen I guarantee it well I'll just put this chart right here open it up the first one there so you can see it you can see it can't you Bob I don't know how I could possibly miss it good now adequate wiring in the home is the simplest thing in the world to understand once you eliminate the technical side of it and also husbands with screwdrivers and extension cords that's right but remember Sally all Bob was trying to do was to fix things up for your convenience now that desire plus his um Mr Fixit ideas resulted in this um confusion adequate house wiring is simply a safe wiring job which allows you to connect appliances lamps radios TVs anywhere you want them and also allows you to operate everything satisfactorily at the same time without blowing fuses now this plus convenient wall switch controls assures you real electrical safety and comfort switch controls say that reminds me of an idea I've been working quiet please you're to listen remember oh honey now this first chart shows your service entrance and your panel distribution box now any changes to this must be done by a qualified electrician it's um it's really just what we called it an entrance this is where you get power from your utility company now if it isn't large enough to allow sufficient current through to operate everything correctly must be made larger it's uh similar to the entrance of your main water pipe now the best advice on this is to call your power company they will check your service entrance to see if it is large enough to carry the load of your present and contemplated equipment now look there is no charge for this oh Mr Jones just asked you to check our entrance hickey didn't you darling H oh yeah sure I'm asking you jam fine Bob now this next chart shows how electric current gets to your various rooms these Branch wires go to your Outlets of course separate circuits should be installed for equipment such as electric ranges uh clothes dryers and other large equipment now there should be enough of them and the wires should be large enough to allow you to operate all your appliances and lamps at the same time and also to be able to take care of new appliances in the future did you leave out the part um you know where you tell people how they'll know if too many things are plugged in on one circuit oh uh no honey I was just coming to that now if you should happen to plug in too many appliances or lamps or whatever that overloads the circuit now few fuse connected to these wires acts as a safety valve a small element in the fuse heats up breaks and prevents any further flow of current yeah well sure anybody knows that it blows that's right always replace your blown fuse with the correct size new fuse never never replace your blown fuse with a larger sized fuse or pennies and never Place pennies behind your fuses this is as dangerous as putting gasoline soaked Rags next to a furnace and also never try to do your own wiring system repairs it's a technical profession and not to be fooled with how true Bob those larger fuses we got today what do you mean we oh me now this chart shows the Hopeless situation of trying to make too few Outlets Supply the electrical needs of any sized room oh incidentally I uh I used your exact living room as my example because the well because it sort of showed an outstanding situation A me the sorted life of the Jones is exposed you know poob you could sue Jim for this well I know know I like you strictly a rib BP but look there were only three Outlets installed in this room when the house was built 20 years years ago that was all right when you only had a couple of small lamps in the living room and even these Outlets wear out in time today we have three four five lamps burning in our living rooms with far bigger buls and many more electrical living devices are used in our homes today now here is your room as you have it right now now this old original wiring system was never designed for such full use first they're not enough circuits secondly if there aren't enough Outlets like in this room we resort to just what you have been doing here no thought was ever given to the fact that this original wiring was only Built to take care of three outlets and probably only 1/4 of the load you have on it today almost none of the homes built before 1940 have electrical wiring systems which are adequate to meet the electrical needs of today comforting isn't he now the the first step is to install more Outlets so you can plug in everything everywhere you want it without this octopus of extension cord wiring say you could write a book about how to rid your house of octop OCT octopuses we have plenty of printed information on that subject and incidentally U the correct word is octopi oh now here Bob here is an approved material that'll furnish you with enough outlets for all time it's called called plug-in strip this is the perfect answer toward having that spread of outlets all along the baseboards rather than two few and always cluttered up and wrongly located duplex Outlets this plug-in strip gets rid of all those octopus loaded duplex Outlets makes it totally unnecessary to use any extension cords now here are some photo enlargements of actual installations of plugin strip that have been put in around town these were all old wiring jobs that have been mod ized to take care of today's demands of electric usage for any room in your house plug-in strip was the perfect answer for these homes these strips are quickly installed in your living room bedroom or kitchen by your electrician without mess or tearing out plaster you can paint them to match your walls or baseboards with plug-in strip you have a spread of outlets all around the room and no matter how you wish to arrange your room you have Outlets every 18 in for safe venient use your electrician will connect them properly and in accordance with the electrical code isn't that a wonderful idea Sally to Miracle do you know the other night I was so upset about old screw ball here and his wiring I just wish for a baseboard with Outlets all around all the time here it was are you hungry oh I'm starved Bob let me figure out a revamp job of your wiring we'll have an electrician check the work and give you a price and the job job will include plugin strip all around this room on top of the pasteboards well what do you say I don't know Jim it sounds good all right but holy smoke what'll it cost for the amount of safety and convenience you'll experience I'll bet you say It's the Best Buy you ever made and more than that my darling husband if you don't want a divorce on the grounds of willfully creating electrical booby traps thus endangering the life and the sanity of your spouse you'll get with it I Smell Smoke what oh maybe I left my cigarette somewhere maybe the sandwich is a burning no not unless I use shingles for bread that's what I smell fire department please I go down and cut the main switch right this is Mrs Sally Jones at 451 Woodland road now get everybody over here quick certainly certainly it's w i smell well if you think we're toasting marshmallow just bring all the boys over and have some there I guess that'll take care of the short circuit or whatever it is everything all right I must remember who gave me this at my wedding shower that girl knew him better than I did come on kids let's watch this from the [Music] outside come on Junior oh [Music] you finish so soon uhhuh well my electrical emancipation is complete oh look at that lovely base for trim look at those lovely Outlets every 18 in oh yummy maybe there's nothing on my worksheet about emancipation but whatever it is it's done you have stricken the shackles of electrical thromboses from my home you have cut the creeping crawling extension cord Octopus from my life you've made it possible for me to live live live well I don't know about that but uh whoever figured out that wiring mesh you had before figured out a couple dozen ways to kill a wife illegal too you couldn't prove a thing but you don't have to worry anymore that plugin strip will take care of you from now on oh uh by the way you can easily paint that plugin strip to match the baseboard if you want [Music] to yes you Jim I brought this electrician in and I told him this is what I want I want a great big p panel box Jim I told him I want a great big panel box I want more circuits and I want enough Outlets so that wife of mine will stop hollering for more all the time Robert Benson Jones you did no such thing you did and that's exactly what I got too look at that baseb Jim yeah I know full of them yeah I planned the layout so you know people don't realize the necessity for these things not just for convenience but for safe living oh no now darling all my life you know it I've been concerned with safety in the home oh this is too much and as for you I hope this is going to put a stop to your fooling around with electricity from now on those fuses are my concerned but she was only doing that because you were I know but A Woman's Place is in the home not in the fuse box down the basement you know overloading those circuits can be very dangerous it could easily C cause another fire well that'll be just about enough out of you Mrs Jones don't you ever let me cat you plugging more than one thing into an outlet she won't have to that's right why not you have plugin strip remember [Music] all right all right where are you going out in the backyard to bury this octopus [Music]