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The most recent episode of the podcast 99% invisible talked about this. Basically anything with a motor needed to be replaced or somehow changed so the motor would run at the right speed.

If you didn't, your electric clocks would run 12 minutes fast every hour (for example).

Incandescent bulbs certainly don't care about frequency, and I can't think of a frequency-dependant component in 40s florescent lamps. The starters and ballast from that era were pretty simple, unless there's some difference for 120V operation I don't know about.

Florescent lamps became really popular during WWII, so there were many around in 1945.

I wish we still had these. I run half my house "off grid", my inverter is putting out 61Hz and my old digital alarm clock runs fast.