Marty and George hang George's family's clothes on the clothesline.
A clothesline was commonly used for drying clothes until the 1960s. After being washed by hand, the clothes were hung outside of the house on cords stretched between two poles and fastened with clothespins. This technique was used before the advent of electric dryers.
1955
George McFly hung his family's clothes on a clothesline in his backyard.
2015
Marty McFly discovered that the auto-adjusting and auto-drying jacket he wore when he jumped into the Courthouse Square lake did not need a clothesline or electric dryer when it got wet. Pressing a button on the jacket inflated it with air to dry the garment as well as the wearer.
The Blast From the Past memorabilia/antique store had a clothes iron in the front window, since clothing no longer needed to be ironed after it has been dried.
1885
Chester the bartender instructed Marty to put a clothespin on Emmett Brown's nose before pouring wake-up juice down his throat.
1931A
By October 13, 1931, an elderly Edna Strickland rigged up a clothesline with metal objects as well as a frisbee pie plate to serve as an alarm, which was triggered when moving a thick string in front of her door.
Marty and Doc, needing to determine which time period Edna Strickland went to had to help her rembmer through simulating the events that resulted in her current state of mind. When Edna went into the damaged DeLorean time machine, Marty used the clothesline alarm to provide the events of time travel.
Behind the scenes
- Not only was a clothesline set up in the backyard for this scene, but the grass on the ground was added as well.