First toilet on a TV SHOW?

[Bob]

On Quora I've already busted the claim that a certain "Leave It to Beaver" episode had the first appearance (in 1957) on American TV of any part of a toilet. The claim seems never to have been made before the time DVD sales of the series were beginning, and I think they just made up a story of its being held up, so as to boost publicity. The episode air dates and production numbers SEEM to back up the story, until you note the others and see that MANY of them first aired out of production order. Anyway, TV commercials for at least a decade had been showing toilets quite conspicuously, so the claim that network standards and practices had an objection doesn't seem apt. However, someone on Quora suggested standards may have been lower for commercials, which I strongly doubt.

So what I'm looking for is any examples of toilets from American TV PROGRAMS in 1957 or earlier.

Bob in Andover

[danny burstein]

In <d0f7c4b2-28cf-4381...@googlegroups.com> Bob <rob...@bestweb.net> writes:

[snip]

>So what I'm looking for is any examples of toilets from American TV PROGRAM=
>S in 1957 or earlier.

Can't help you with that, but Mad Magazine (back when there
was a Mad Magazine and it was funny..) did a satire of
All in the Family, and made a big point of how toilets
were taboo on tv, so in the magazine Archie Bunker
was flushing away...

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[Michael Trew]

I have always heard that the first reference to "toilet" on television
was the show "All in the Family".

[Snidely]

Michael Trew explained on 5/2/2022 :

AIUI, Bob isn't asking about "reference", but about the first time a
toilet was in view on camera, and being an item in the background would
count.

I'm not sure what shows were filmed "on location" during the '50s, and
a toilet in the background for other shows would require the set
builders to build a bathroom (or a plumbing showroom), and I can't
recall much of that (admittedly, I can't recall much of the shows I
recall, which is the short list of Donna Reed, Father Knows Best, Leave
It To Beaver, and My Three Sons; I think kitchen scenes dominated).

/dps


/dps

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[Lee Ayrton]

On Monday, May 2, 2022 at 7:52:00 PM UTC-4, danny burstein wrote:
> In <d0f7c4b2-28cf-4381...@googlegroups.com> Bob <rob...@bestweb.net> writes:
>
> [snip]
>
> >So what I'm looking for is any examples of toilets from American TV PROGRAM=
> >S in 1957 or earlier.
>
> Can't help you with that, but Mad Magazine (back when there
> was a Mad Magazine and it was funny..) did a satire of
> All in the Family, and made a big point of how toilets
> were taboo on tv, so in the magazine Archie Bunker
> was flushing away...

As Dannyb notes, All in The Family made the papers with a loud but unseen flush from upstairs, to a huge laugh. "30 Something" made the papers with a scene of Mel peeing on a toilet, a first. The Internets claim that Leave It To Beaver was the first TV show to show a porcelain throne, in a shot that was reportedly censored.

https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/21159/why-do-most-movies-series-dont-have-the-i-have-to-go-to-the-toilet-moment

Not TV, but Psycho featured a toilet, as did Clockwork Orange.

[Bob]

On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 6:27:48 PM UTC-4, Lee Ayrton wrote:
> On Monday, May 2, 2022 at 7:52:00 PM UTC-4, danny burstein wrote:
> > In <d0f7c4b2-28cf-4381...@googlegroups.com> Bob <rob...@bestweb.net> writes:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > >So what I'm looking for is any examples of toilets from American TV PROGRAM=
> > >S in 1957 or earlier.
> >
> > Can't help you with that, but Mad Magazine (back when there
> > was a Mad Magazine and it was funny..) did a satire of
> > All in the Family, and made a big point of how toilets
> > were taboo on tv, so in the magazine Archie Bunker
> > was flushing away...
> As Dannyb notes, All in The Family made the papers with a loud but unseen flush from upstairs, to a huge laugh. "30 Something" made the papers with a scene of Mel peeing on a toilet, a first. The Internets claim that Leave It To Beaver was the first TV show to show a porcelain throne, in a shot that was reportedly censored.

Except that there's no mention of that story until about the time that the DVDs of that series went on sale. The story was so obviously made up for publicity's sake, I'm amazed that I'm the first the call them out on it.