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Re-Think Your FillingJul. 24 2009 12:30am | By Jan - Green House | Permalink
In a 1965 episode entitled "The Case of the Pillow", Dick Van Dyke Show characters, Rob and Laura Petrie, sue a man for selling them a set of fraudulent bed pillows. The sleazy salesman had convinced wide-eyed housewife Laura that she was buying a product filled with fine Eiderdown. Turns out, the things were actually stuffed with chicken feathers. Silliness perhaps, but when the Petries' eagerly plopped their weary heads into what they thought would be the pinnacle of 1960's luxury, they were repulsed by an awful smell. In turn, Rob was allergic to chicken feathers. Unlike Laura, Mr. Petrie was a side sleeper as Mr. Van Dyke's hilarious gesticulations make clear. After having lost a night's sleep, Rob is angry as only the lack of slumber can make a man.
For those of you born unfamiliar, Eiderdown is the soft, fluffy feathers that come from the Eider duck. The female Eider duck plucks these feathers from her own breast in order to line a nest. Once the ducklings leave the nest, the feathers are harvested and used as filling for quilts, coats and pillows. Duck down resides under the harder, surface feathers of the bird and makes for a lofty pillow because down is capable of holding air pockets. Eiderdown is practically unheard of these days because of the prevalence of factory farming. The down used in most pillows is collected in less than kind ways. Either the animal is killed and plucked or the plucking is done while the creature is alive. Continue ->
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