Marjoe Gortner, Child Preacher

Marjoe Gortner made headlines in the late 1940s when, at the age of 3½, he became an evangelist preacher. And in 1949, at the age of 4, he performed his first marriage ceremony, marrying Raymond Miller and Alma Brown.

Source: Google Cultural Institute

Daily Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon) - Jan 4, 1949

In the early 1970s, Gortner had a change of heart and collaborated with documentary filmmakers to expose the profit motive of the revivalist industry. The resulting film, Marjoe, won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Film.

Source: Wikipedia

Gortner then went on to become an actor, appearing mostly in B-movies, before finally transitioning into producing celebrity sporting events to raise money for charities.

Read more about Gortner at wikipedia and RogerEbert.com.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 05, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Religion, 1940s

Hoover at Christmas

Does any woman want housework gear and appliances at Christmas? And how do you get the new stove wrapped and under the tree?

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 05, 2015 - Comments (9)
Category: Family, Holidays, Appliances, 1960s

Alaskan Land Train

Built by the US Army in the 1950s, this colossus was designed to transport cargo in the arctic — operating like a train, but without tracks. It was used successfully for over a decade (for the last time in 1962), but was eventually made obsolete by the development of helicopters. Read more about it at Diseno-Art.com.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 04, 2015 - Comments (8)
Category: 1950s, Trains

Mystery Gadget 33

Tamp down fresh asphalt? Transport wounded from the battlefield? Spread DDT in pellet form?

The answer is here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 04, 2015 - Comments (10)
Category: Technology, 1940s

Teacher hypnotizes students, 1958

In 1958, Dr. David Briggs claimed that hypnotizing his students increased their academic performance by up to 15 percent.

Reminded me of the Hypnotizing High School Principal I posted about back in October. The difference being that in the 1950s a professor hypnotizing his students was seen as a quirky but harmless experiment. But a principal who did essentially the same thing in the 21st Century got accused of contributing to the deaths of his students.

Newsweek - Apr 14, 1958

Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) - Apr 3, 1958

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 03, 2015 - Comments (9)
Category: Education, Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control, Psychology, 1950s

In a Long White Room

How this easy-listening, faux-psychedelic ripoff ever avoided a plagiarism suit with Cream's "White Room" is a mystery for the ages. Maybe lawyers were stunned into inaction by the gonzo brilliance of the lyrics

"We will tuck each other in, and dream about trains/You'll call me 'Beauty' and I'll call you 'Brains.'"

Trippy, man!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 03, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Music, Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings, Psychedelic, 1960s

What is the New York Center For The Strange?

WUvians, perhaps you can help me solve a mystery which has been perplexing me for the past few days — what is the "New York Center For The Strange"?

Here's the info I've gathered so far:

In 1972, an organization by this name began an annual tradition of issuing predictions for the following year. It claimed to have obtained these predictions by conducting a survey of American witches.

Year after year, around Halloween, these predictions have appeared in papers. (For instance: 1977, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990.)

Sometimes the predictions sounded serious, such as when, in November 1974, the NYCFTS predicted that "Henry Kissinger will resign as secretary of state before next July" (wrong!). But more often the predictions were just bizarre and seemingly tongue-in-cheek. For instance, in 1974 the witches also predicted "a nationwide shortage of Scotch whiskey, shoe polish and lighter fluid." And in 1978 they predicted "a nationwide shortage of Beluga caviar, earmuffs, bagels and automobile dipsticks."

Throughout the 1980s and 90s the witches' predictions continued to appear in papers. In the 21st Century they become harder to find, but as recently as 2013 the NYCFTS issued predictions, though I can't find any predictions issued in 2014 or 2015.

In all this time, no one seems to have questioned what exactly is this organization. Is it real, or is it someone's long-running joke? Is there really a "Center For The Strange" with offices in New York City?

Various NYCFTS spokespeople have told reporters that the organization's mission is to help correct "the widely-held image of witches as evil, gnarled hags who fly across rooftops astride brooms." This makes it sound like it might actually be a genuine society of witches.

But on the other hand, the NYCFTS officially describes itself as "a non-profit organization involved, basically, in research." This, to me, sounds like a joke.

In 2013, someone created a website for the organization, at www.nycenterforthestrange.org. But they only kept it active for a year. (It's preserved in the wayback machine.)

On this website, an address was listed: 555 Fifth Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017. Currently, this address seems to be occupied by one Himanshu Rajan Sharma, Corporate Lawyer.

I strongly suspect that the syndicated humor columnist Don Maclean was somehow involved in the NYCFTS, since in the early 1970s he wrote about it frequently (such as here and here). He even claimed to have visited its headquarters and knew its officers. Perhaps the organization was his satirical creation and he issued press releases every year on its behalf, to amuse himself.

However, Maclean died in 2005, so obviously someone else has been keeping the joke alive — if it is, in fact, a joke.

And that's all I know about the New York Center For The Strange. I'm hoping someone out there might have more info about it.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 02, 2015 - Comments (8)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations

Geeky Eyeglasses for Sale

Wow, those are some seriously geeky frames!

I had never heard the phrase "corneal micro lenses" before, but apparently that was the original term for contact lenses. Sounds very cyberpunk even today. I think we should all start telling people, "Yes, I have corneal micro lenses in place."

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 02, 2015 - Comments (3)
Category: Technology, 1950s, Eyes and Vision

Her Hair Turned Green

1948: Mrs. Dorothy Dix of Gloucester, England sued her hairdresser, complaining that after getting a permanent wave from them in July 1946, her normally brown hair turned green. A subsequent effort to bleach her hair back to a normal color worsened the situation, causing it to turn a lighter shade of green, become frizzled, and blistering her scalp.

In fact, her hair was not simply green. Various witnesses offered different descriptions of it, saying it was "like a rainbow with green predominating," "like a dirty sheepskin rug streaked with green," "frizzled like a golliwog," and "streaked with vivid red, brown, green and straw."

The court awarded Mrs. Dix 157 pounds ten shillings in general damages and 12 pounds one shilling and one penny in special damages.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any photos of Mrs. Dix and her green hair.

(left) The Ottawa Journal - Feb 4, 1949; (right) The Winnipeg Tribune - Dec 22, 1948

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 01, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: 1940s, Hair and Hairstyling

Captain Tick-Mouse

Original images here.

I am not sure having a rat-like figure as your patriotic icon is the best choice of imagery.

Here is a little background on the character, from this source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 01, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Politics, Propaganda, Thought Control and Brainwashing, War, 1910s