Weird Universe Archive
April 2020
April 21, 2020
Magneto and Titanium Man
So far as my researches at ISFDB reveal, Marvel Comics has inexplicably never used this song in a film. WU hereby offers it, gratis, for the relaunch of the X-Men.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 21, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Movies, Music, Comics, 1970s
April 20, 2020
She was boring her husband to death
This ad for Vivarin stimulant tablets ran in newspapers and magazines in 1971. It prompted a complaint from the FTC.
San Bernardino Sun - Mar 28, 1971
Ivan Preston provides more details in The Great American Blow-Up: Puffery in Advertising and Selling:
ads for a product called Vivarin told women their husbands would be more attracted to them if they used it, apparently implying some sort of sexually based arousal which would renew the lagging instincts of tired old married folks. To quote the ad directly:
"One day it dawned on me that I was boring my husband to death. It was hard for me to admit it—but it was true…. Often by the time he came home at night I was feeling dull, tired and drowsy, and so Jim would look at television and, for the most part, act like I wasn’t even there. And I wasn’t. I decided that I had to do something. I had seen an advertisement for a tablet called Vivarin. It said that Vivarin was a non-habit forming stimulant tablet that would give me a quick lift. Last week… I took a Vivarin tablet… just about an hour before Jim came home, and I found time to pretty up a little, too. It worked. All of a sudden Jim was coming home to a more exciting woman, me… The other day—it wasn’t even my birthday—Jim sent me flowers with a note. The note began: ‘To my new wife…'"
All very nice, but but the contribution of Vivarin was to provide merely the amount of caffeine found in two cups of coffee. No miracle aphrodisiac, just good old caffeine at a premium price!
The major allegation of the FTC's complaint about Vivarin concerned this social-psychological misrepresentation... But the Vivarin ads were also alleged to be deceptive because they did not disclose caffeine to be the critical ingredient.
"One day it dawned on me that I was boring my husband to death. It was hard for me to admit it—but it was true…. Often by the time he came home at night I was feeling dull, tired and drowsy, and so Jim would look at television and, for the most part, act like I wasn’t even there. And I wasn’t. I decided that I had to do something. I had seen an advertisement for a tablet called Vivarin. It said that Vivarin was a non-habit forming stimulant tablet that would give me a quick lift. Last week… I took a Vivarin tablet… just about an hour before Jim came home, and I found time to pretty up a little, too. It worked. All of a sudden Jim was coming home to a more exciting woman, me… The other day—it wasn’t even my birthday—Jim sent me flowers with a note. The note began: ‘To my new wife…'"
All very nice, but but the contribution of Vivarin was to provide merely the amount of caffeine found in two cups of coffee. No miracle aphrodisiac, just good old caffeine at a premium price!
The major allegation of the FTC's complaint about Vivarin concerned this social-psychological misrepresentation... But the Vivarin ads were also alleged to be deceptive because they did not disclose caffeine to be the critical ingredient.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 20, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Drugs, Advertising, Wives, 1970s
Follies of the Madmen #474
Somehow this image of a visiting insurance giant is not reassuring to me. He implies more destruction, rather than solace.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 20, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Giant People in Ads, Destruction, 1960s
April 19, 2020
Clean Hands Assured
Claude Davis of Melbourne, Florida obtained a patent for this curious device in 2000. It seems newly relevant in the era of coronavirus.The gadget attached to bathroom doors. Whenever someone turned the handle to open the door, the gadget would spray their hand with dye. This, reasoned Davis, would encourage people to wash their hands, to remove the dye. He imagined his invention might be useful in restaurants and hospitals that have "statutory type hygiene requirements to have their staff and employees clean their hands after using restroom facilities."
Although the invention had good intentions, I can think of several problems with it.
First, I'm sure that most employees would find it incredibly obnoxious to have their hand sprayed with dye every time they went to the bathroom.
Second, wouldn't the gadget also spray dye whenever someone exited the door... spraying into empty air? In which case, half the dye would be wasted. I can imagine employees standing on the inside of the door, pumping away at the door handle until all the dye was used up.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 19, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Bathrooms, Hygiene, Inventions, Patents
Six Minutes of Disco Dancing
So much polyester. So many fly ladies. So many dudes in jumpsuits. So many funky moves.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 19, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Music, 1970s, Dance
April 18, 2020
‘Accident forced him to turn gay’
There's a recurring theme in weird news of people whose sexual behavior changes dramatically following accidents. The most famous case is the so-called Cable Car Nymphomaniac.And then there's Carmon Leo, who suffered a back injury in an auto collision, and subsequently (despite swearing he was totally heterosexual before) "started hanging around gay bars and reading homosexual literature." In 1976, a jury awarded him $200,000, and gave his wife $25,000 as well.
Akron Beacon Journal - Feb 15, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 18, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: 1970s, Sex
Messer’s Inhaling Tube
Essential again in 2020.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 18, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century
April 17, 2020
National Pork Queen
The National Pork Queen contest launched in 1959, with Elaine Steimel of DeKalb, Illinois chosen to be the first Pork Queen.
Marion Star - Dec 30, 1959
It ended in 1988, with Christi Lynn Bentley of Sabina, Ohio chosen as the final queen. A spokesman for the pageant said that it was being ended, in part, because national pork queens “have been subjected to remarks when they were introduced into metropolitan areas to promote pork… More and more, they’ve been thrown comments about Miss Piggy and things like that.”
Dayton Daily News - Mar 31, 1988
Perhaps the most enthuasiastic Pork Queen was 1973 winner Soo Klingaman of Waterloo, Ohio. She legally changed her first name from ‘Sue’ to ‘Soo’ so that she could identify more closely with pigs.
Sioux City Journal - Mar 26, 1973
Kay Eickmeier, 1961 Pork Queen
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 17, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions
Doner Kebab in a Can
Time to stock up the pandemic shelves!
Get yours here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 17, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Food, Foreign Customs, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust
April 16, 2020
Keyboard Cat, 1975
Fatso the cat became famous online as "Keyboard Cat".
And back in the pre-Internet days, Shangai the cat was also known for her skills at the keyboard.
Hagerstown Morning Herald - Feb 7, 1975
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 16, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Cats, 1970s
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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 |
