Weird Universe Archive
December 2019
December 6, 2019
Ex-Lax Movies
An 'Ex-Lax Movie' doesn't sound like something I'd want to watch. Actually, it's something I'd actively avoid. And I can't imagine the phrase sounded much better back in 1939 and '40 when Ex-Lax ran these ads in magazines such as Life and Woman's Home Companion.
Betty: I don't know which is worse... constipation or the remedy!
Sally: You're silly to punish yourself that way. Why don't you try Ex-Lax?
Betty: Ex-Lax? You expect that to work for me... a little chocolate tablet?
Sally: Don't let its pleasant taste deceive you. Ex-Lax is a dependable laxative—thorough and effective!
LATER
Betty: No more strong, bad-tasting laxatives for me! That Ex-Lax was just the thing. It fixed me up fine!
Sally: What did I tell you! We've used Ex-Lax in our family for over 30 years.
Mr. A: Whew! I hate the very thought of having to take a cathartic.
Mr. B: You wouldn't if you'd try Ex-Lax. It tastes swell—just like chocolate.
Mr. A: Ex-Lax? That's what we give the youngsters. What I need is dynamite!
Mr. B: Don't kid yourself! Ex-Lax is plenty effective, if that's what's worrying you!
LATER
Mr. A: Boy, I feel like a million this morning! That Ex-Lax sure is great stuff!
Mr. B: You said it, pal! We've been using Ex-Lax in our family for more than thirty years!
Mr. Wright: Gee, Honey, this stuff is awful! Why do all laxatives taste so bad?
Mrs. Wright: All of them don't. Ex-Lax tastes like delicious chocolate.
Mr. Wright: Ex-Lax! That's all right for you and Junior, but I need something stronger!
Mrs. Wright: No you don't! Ex-Lax is as effective as any bad-tasting cathartic.
LATER
Mr. Wright: I sure am glad I took your advice. It's Ex-Lax for me from now on.
Mrs. Wright: Yes, with Ex-Lax in the medicine chest we don't need any other laxative!
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 06, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Advertising, Excrement, 1940s
VARIACIONES 1/113
In the Parque del Retiro (Retiro’s Park) in Madrid, Ines Sastre runs to meet Javier Bardem who is waiting for her with his arms wide open and they embrace one another in a passionate kiss. This only one shot which lasts one minute twenty seconds is subjected to a hundred and thirteen changes for one hour and seventeen minutes. “I wanted to exhaust the possibilities of changing a shot by changing the music, the colours, by burning it, by making some holes…” remembers Aguirre; “sometimes, the heads are not visible, or we can only see her legs, or the image seems to be scrapped off”… /… the variations of this shot are preceded by the ones of another couple taken in the beach of La Concha in San Sebastian that maybe acts as a suggestion of a merely real support for this ideal meeting. The images are accompanied by not only Borges’ voice-over but also Fernando Fernan-Gomez and Francisco Rabal’s voices-over among some not so well-known other voices …/ … disparate prints, sometimes unpredictable, that Borges’ literature proposed to moviemakers of this period and from distant cultures. It is the disparity of Javier Aguirre’s experimentation along with the contradiction that seems us so provocative.
Alas, I cannot find this film online, or even any clips. But I felt WU-vies should know about it, in case any art-house showing appears in your neighborhood, or you find it on disc, or on streaming!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 06, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Annoying Things, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Movies, Avant Garde, Twenty-first Century, Love & Romance
December 5, 2019
Peter Pain Parody
Alex and I never coordinate our posts, but sometimes they achieve thematic synchronicity. Yesterday, for instance, he posted about losing weight and I posted about obesity.But his post from today, about Corporate Icon Peter Pain, happened magically to dovetail with my leisure-time reading of last evening, when I was enjoying THE THING FROM THE GRAVE, a collection of the work that artist Joe Orlando did for the fabled EC Comics. I read Orlando's Peter Pain Parody, and then this morning found Alex's post!
BTW: the whole line of EC reprints from Fantagraphics is worthy of your attention.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Comics, Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings, 1950s, Parody, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Peter Pain
Continuing our ongoing theme of strange corporate mascots: Peter Pain was the villainous mascot of Ben-Gay from 1942 to 1965. He's not to be confused with the British judge named Peter Pain. (or the dentist Dr. Pain).
NY Herald Tribune - 1946 (via Duke Library)
Some more info about him from The Austin American (Oct 13, 1965):
The arch villain with the jaunty black bowler and gnashing teeth made his debut 23 years ago [1942] in a series of comic strips ads for Ben-Gay ointment. He delighted his readers by making life miserable for a succession of poor unsuspecting souls.
Peter Pain's behavior remained steadfast — he was rotten to the core. In his heyday, he threw a kleig light at a television quiz kid, pounded an umbrella into the back of a grandfather celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary, clouted a sweet little old lady with a hammer and spike and turned his pitchfork on the stomach of a nice young farmgirl.
Despite the mayhem, every adventure invariably ended happily. In each strip, someone would reach for the Ben-Gay and in no time the aches and pains of the harried souls would disappear.
"Drat, Ben-Gay," was Peter Pain's frequent lament as the episode came to an end.
Now, with the introduction of a new product (Ben-Gay Lotion), it has been announced, with regret, that the services of Peter Pain will no longer be used.
"We decided Peter Pain is not a fun guy," a Ben-Gay spokesman explained.
Peter Pain's behavior remained steadfast — he was rotten to the core. In his heyday, he threw a kleig light at a television quiz kid, pounded an umbrella into the back of a grandfather celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary, clouted a sweet little old lady with a hammer and spike and turned his pitchfork on the stomach of a nice young farmgirl.
Despite the mayhem, every adventure invariably ended happily. In each strip, someone would reach for the Ben-Gay and in no time the aches and pains of the harried souls would disappear.
"Drat, Ben-Gay," was Peter Pain's frequent lament as the episode came to an end.
Now, with the introduction of a new product (Ben-Gay Lotion), it has been announced, with regret, that the services of Peter Pain will no longer be used.
"We decided Peter Pain is not a fun guy," a Ben-Gay spokesman explained.
Chicago Tribune Magazine - 1953 (via Duke)
Austin American - Oct 13, 1965
Update: After posting this, I noticed that Paul had previously posted a Peter Pain ad in his Follies of the Madmen series (#404).
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 05, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings
The Hazardous Maxi-coat
It's getting colder outside, here in the Northern Hemisphere--but be careful of how you bundle up!
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Fashion, 1970s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
December 4, 2019
Slimming Insoles
Created by Dr. Robert Metz, Slimming Insoles were advertised as “the first and only massage insole in the world which reduces weight and regulates the digestion system.”Here’s a link to the 1997 FTC complaint against Metz and his company. It noted that, “In truth and in fact, scientific studies do not demonstrate that Slimming Insoles cause significant weight loss without changes in diet or exercise."
And yet, Slimming Insoles are still being sold. I'm not sure if Dr. Metz himself is selling them. But you can buy some at Amazon, and they make specific claims about causing weight loss: "These slimming magnets emit magnetic waves which weaken fat cells in your body... Lose weight by walking with magnetic insoles."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Mar 3, 1996
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 04, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Shoes, 1990s, Dieting and Weight Loss
The Obesity of Emperor Maximus
The things you learn from perusing old comics!
Source (page 19).
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 04, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Addictions, Eating, Body, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical, Obesity, History, Historical Figure
December 3, 2019
Chewing Gum Stigma
In Oct 2013, the chewing gum company Beldent gathered five sets of identical twins. In each set, one twin was instructed to chew gum while the other sat motionless. Visitors to the Buenos Aires Museum of Contemporary Art were then asked questions about the twins.Their answers indicated that 73 percent of people had a more favorable impression of the gum chewing twins. Beldent claimed that this disproved the "chewing gum stigma."
Though I disagree. I think gum chewing does turn off some people. What the experiment showed was that there's an even greater stigma attached to being expressionless, showing no emotion at all
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 03, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Experiments, Psychology, Candy
The Magic Egg
State-of-the-art CGI--in 1984, that is!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 03, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Movies, Special Effects, 1980s
December 2, 2019
Beware of Female Spies
During World War I, the U.S. Navy created a sign to warn its personnel of the threat posed by "inquisitive women".By World War II, the sign was considered an odd curiosity, but it inspired a number of news photos of women reading the sign with interest.
source: Temple University Library
Shreveport Times - Mar 26, 1939
The Missoulian - Apr 2, 1939
Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 02, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: War, Armed Forces, Spies and Intelligence Services
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
