Charles’ 
Slide of the Week: June 6th, 2008
The Long, Long Trailer, Somewhere, USA, 1958
Size really does matter! It should be called the longest trailer. Certainly it must be. The highway hog is a rather stylish and very deluxe creation with that smart two-tone turquoise and white paint scheme. Those porthole windows on both the front and back door are amazing. I know!
The enormous home away from home on wheels simply dwarfs a creamy white and light lime green 1956 Oldsmobile four-door hardtop. Can you imagine in your wildest dreams being the captain of this accident waiting to happen? On level ground ok. But what about trying to pull this motion mansion up a hill or worse yet have it behind you going downhill. I smell brakes! And what about baking up? I’d be up for the challenge anytime.
Never mind the stress on the driver think about the stress in the poor car. Oldsmobile’s were notorious in their day for being powerful cars but this haul job would be a bit much for any car of any period. And the whole thing perched on those tiny little tires just waiting to blowout.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the 1954 movie classic, The Long Long Trailer starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. It was during the late seventies when ABC showed movies in the afternoon opposite Dinah and the Mike Douglas Show. I was already a huge fan of Lucy and Ricky and it didn’t take me long to figure out that The Long, Long Trailer is basically a feature length version I Love Lucy in color. And I loved it, of course!
Here’s to the Long, Long Trailer, the longest trailer, the driver and you!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
June 2008
17 Comments on “The Long, Long Trailer, Somewhere, USA, 1958 ”
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June 6th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Aaahhhh that’s too funny. I discovered watching that movie in the same ’70s-afternoon time frame. What a great archetype in this slide! Are those six posts whitewashed?
June 6th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
This is truly a bizarre situation. Was the photographer the owner of this apparatus and took the picture as a sense of pride? OR perhaps the photographer saw the insanity of this rig and wanted to document it because nobody would ever believe it.
Trailers this large were never sold as temporary vacation lodges, rather they were always intended to be a complete home. Towing it with a standard car was crazy. Which is why the Lucy trailer movie was immediately recognized as a comic theme.
In the postwar years their was a belief that a certain segment of the population WOULD live like gypsies and move into and out of trailer parks as the weather and their personal desires dictated. This never happend of course and instead the house trailers were rarely moved again after they were first set up in a park.
The advantages of free spirited living and wanderlust could never eclipse the greater advantages of a stable community, long neighborly relationships, stable jobs and most importantly ecconomic apprication of real estate as opposed to the depreication of a trailer. This of course lead to the pejorative description of ‘trailer trash’.
Historyphiles interested in this period would enjoy the book “Diners, Bowling Alleys, and Trailer Parks: Chasing the American Dream in the Postwar Consumer Culture” by Andrew Hurley
Thanks for the great image Charles!
June 7th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Re: the trailer. All I can say is, “WO.”
June 7th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Wow! I would love to see the inside of the long, long trailer! I bet you it is the beautiful blonde wood that was so popular. What is in the backseat of the car with the touch of red?
Charles, thanks for sharing your treasures!
Donna E.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:50 am
We have one of these trailers, not exactly the same but similar, in our back yard and it’s rotting all to heck from years of sitting outside. Still, when I saw it I wondered what kind of truck it would take to move this thing. Turns out you can move it with a ’50s Oldsmobile - whoda thunk it?
I guess moving it would be one thing but, as Charles said, getting it to stop moving with drum brakes on your car is another issue altogether.
Part of me will be happy when the trailer leaves our back yard on the bed of a scrap truck, but I guess there is a sad side, too. Incidentally, we “inherited” the trailer when we bought the property.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:52 am
There is a great destination for those of us who love all things vintage. In Bisbee, Arizona, the Shady Dell lets you stay the night in one of several restored Airstreams. Each has a theme, like “Honeymoon”, and comes complete with vintage chenille bedspreads,Bakelite plates, yearbooks, wedding albums, coffee percolators, TV sets and old movies to play on the (modern) VCR. The park also offers accommodations on their “Tiki Bus” and even a yacht which has a deck built around it. All things awesome!
June 7th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I LOVE “The Long Long Trailer”. It has been one of my favorites for a very long time. Spreding the night at The Shady Dell? Sounds like pure heaven to me!!
June 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Although as a teen car nut knew the use of a ‘53 Merc was insane. It was still the old flat head with about 110 HP. They should have waited for the new engine in ‘54 with perhaps 140. I really wanted to flatten Lucy for hiding all the rocks and almost killing them. I would have left here there and then!
June 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Charles - thank you for this memory. I too remember the Long Long Trailer with Lucy and Dezi! FYI - that moview was partially filmed in Laguna Beach. The trailer park that they tried to get the long, long trailer into was Treasure Island Trailer Park on Pacific Coast Highway in South Laguna Beach on the ocean side. Today you will know it as the Montage Resort.
Thanks - as always - for the memories!
Jim Foster
June 7th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I live in a beach town trailer park, and my neighbor has a similar trailer that has been here since the 50’s. I can’t imagine anyone pulling that thing around on vacation! PS: I proudly display “Southern California in the 50’s” on my rattan & blonde formica coffee table. It seems so fitting.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
My husband’s grandparents had an old airstream (silver bullet) trailer that they took across the US when they retired and they loved all the attention, but in retrospect his grandmother always is stunned that they survived without air conditioning. Especially since in those days (60’s) people dressed up every day - no ponytails or sloppy shorts. I can’t imagine baking inside while setting your hair…
June 9th, 2008 at 7:47 am
That trailor is outragous!I guess it must have typified the excess of a post WWII America where everything bigger was better!How tmes changed!!I too enjoyed the Lucy-Ricky extravaganza about the Long Trailor…I remeber seeing it on a UHF channel one late-nite weekend in the mid-1970s with some equally unique friends!!Good times indeed.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Brian, my husband of 55 yrs. is 78yrs.old; he has always wanted to ride in the Good Year Blimp. We were born in L.B. CA and have seen it for yrs. I thought that would be a wonderful surprise. I don’t need to go. He was an elem.school principal for 35yrs.& is very generous person w/his time,caring & labor.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
That 56 Olds is a dead ringer for the Pastacio/Cream FO-DO Baby owned by the queen of all Googie, Adriene B. Imagine trying to move that 35′er w/o the assistance of power steering. Hers isn’t so equipped, No wonder she can save buidings in a single bound!
Extremely Cool Photo.
I also remember the days of the afternoon movies on KABC-7 called the 3:30 movie That generally lasted till about 5:30pm.
Lots if Frankie & Annette as well as Elvis,Ann Margaret,Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis & Frank Sinatra.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I can’t believe that I’ve never signed up for this. So sorry I missed the Roller Rink Extravaganza!
June 18th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Charle, this really hits home. I lived in one of these at the Shore Acres Trailer Park in Ventura, Ca. It was adjacent to the River levee on the north end of town. It was a Moon with those round portholes and a small bathroom similar in size to airliner facilities. The railroad trestle and hobo jungle were nearby and one day we came home and found a vagabound using our facility. A note on The Long,Long Trailer, The studio did not want to make it because they thought people would not pay to see Lucy and Desi when they could turn on their TVs and see them for free..
July 4th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Does anyone know where they actually filmed the trailer going up the steep hills? One source said is was Whitney Portal out of Lone Pines, and another stated it was a road out of Lee Vining? Also, how did they get the trailer up those hills? Was the trailer just a shell? ‘53 Lincolns were not designed to pull 6000 lb trailers. Thx