A Barcalounger is a type of recliner that originated from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, and is named after the company which manufactured it. Like other recliners, Barcaloungers have moving parts to change things such as the

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of the back.

Chair

The Barcalounger chair was introduced by the Barcalo Manufacturing Company of

, which eventually became the Barcalounger Company. The chairs are currently produced in China.

Company

The Barcalounger Company, once named the Barcalo Manufacturing Company, was founded by Edward J. Barcalo in 1896. It is the oldest manufacturer of reclining chairs in the U.S.A. After the company filed for bankruptcy in 2010, it shuttered its facilities in

Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe and Nash County, North Carolina, Nash counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it ...

and Martinsville, Virginia, then restarted manufacturing at the plant in Morristown, Tennessee, in 2011, for manufacture of the Barcalounger chair. It is owned by the private equity firm Hancock Park Associates. Barcalo Manufacturing also made beds in Welland, Ontario, under the Quality Beds name in the first decade of the 20th century.

Development of the "coffee break"

Barcalo, the country's oldest manufacturer of reclining chairs, is reputed to be the first American company to allow its employees

coffee break A break at work (or work-break) is a period of time during a shift in which an employee is allowed to take time off from their job. It is a type of downtime. There are different types of breaks, and depending on the length and the employer' ...

s, in 1902.

In popular culture

In Kurt Vonnegut's ''

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater ''God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine'', Kurt Vonnegut's fifth novel, was published in 1965 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston and as a Dell mass-market paperback in 1970. A piece of postmodern satire, it gave context to Vonnegut's ...

'' (1965), Barcaloungers make an appearance in a reference to Kilgore Trout's novel ''2 B R 0 2 B'', where they provide luxury seating for wannabe suicides, with government encouragement; "

2 B R 0 2 B "2 B R 0 2 B" is a science fiction short story by Kurt Vonnegut, originally published in the digest magazine ''Worlds of If Science Fiction'' for January 1962, and collected in Vonnegut's ''Bagombo Snuff Box'' (1999). The title is pronounced "2 ...

" is actually a 1962 Vonnegut short story in which Barcaloungers do not figure. In the same author's '' Slaughterhouse-Five'' (1969), Billy Pilgrim is strapped to a yellow Barcalounger in the alien's flying saucer as he is abducted and taken to their planet. In John Updike's '' Rabbit Is Rich'' (1981), a Barcalounger originally belonging to Grandpa Fred Stringer looms large in the tensions between Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom and his son Nelson. In ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'' season 11, episode 8, Norm brings a Barcalounger into the bar for Thanksgiving dinner. Joey and Chandler from the hit NBC sitcom ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'' owned a set of Barcalounger recliners, which were often used as a plot device within the show. In the "Call Me Irresponsible" episode of another hit NBC sitcom, '' Frasier'' (Season 1, Episode 7), the eponymous star brings a new girlfriend Catherine (played by Amanda Donohoe) home. They are about to have sex on the vibrating chair belonging to Marty Crane (Frasier's father). Frasier exclaims, "I won't be out-performed by a Barcalounger" before moving to the couch. It is mentioned in the US version of the TV show '' Shameless'', in the Season 5 premiere, titled "Milk of the Gods", as part of a conversation Mickey has with a potential furniture customer. A 7-inch single by

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (often shortened to just Me First or the Gimmes) are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, Fat Mike, Joey Cape, and Dave Raun. Ch ...

was called "In Your Barcalounger". It is mentioned in the cinematic intro of the 1995 side-scrolling platform game '' Gex'' by publisher Crystal Dynamics. It is the chair in which Paul's father always sits in

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

's '' Letting Go''. It appears in the film '' BASEketball'', starring Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It is mentioned and seen in the (2000) drama film, ''

The Family Man ''The Family Man'' is a 2000 American romantic fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Brett Ratner, from a screenplay by David Diamond and David Weissman. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni, with Don Cheadle, Saul Rubinek, and Jeremy ...

''. Jack's ( Nicolas Cage) friend Arnie ( Jeremy Piven) says, “Oh I know, I put the Barcalounger in the center of the room, and it’s throwing everybody off.” There is a mention in the (2003) film ''

Runaway Jury ''Runaway Jury'' is a 2003 American legal thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz. An adaptation of John Grisham's 1996 novel ''The Runaway Jury'', the film pits lawyer We ...

'', making a point that the average juror does not have a vested interest in the court proceeding, but that they would rather sit at home in their Barcalounger watching cable TV. The Barcalounger is also mentioned in the

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

film '' RV'' (2006): "...maybe even a Barcalounger that massages your ass and blows smoke at the same time." In ‘’ Falx Cerebri’’ ''(season 2, episode 6)'' of ''

Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008 to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club ope ...

'', at a SAMCRO executive board meeting about the club’s possible retaliation, Bobby asks, “You think Zobelle is just sitting in his Barcalounger waiting for us to stop by?” It is mentioned in ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagshi ...

'' season 7, episode 8, after Christopher and Lorelai come home from getting married in Paris. Christopher is trying to talk Lorelai into getting a BarcaLounger with a waterfall in the wall behind it. Christopher describes it as “soft leather, button back pad, adjustable footrest.”

Notes

External links