February 2023
February 3, 2023
Youth-Molde
As opposed to moldy youth.
McCall's - July 1936
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 03, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Advertising, 1930s
Rollerskate Polo
This is a Roller Polo team in the 1890s. Roller skating was big in 1870s USA, and when polo was brought in by James Gordon Bennett in 1876, the two sports quickly blended. Roller polo was played with a ball. Roller rinks were converted to 40 by 80-foot courts with a chicken-wire goal cage at each end. The one-handed sticks were 1 inch in diameter and they played 3 15-minute periods. Players wore team uniforms and goalies wore more pads. Everybody wore Roller Skates.The man at right has a skate key hanging from his belt.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 03, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Nineteenth Century
February 2, 2023
Live Alone And Like It
I posted two days ago about the 1937 book How To Live Without A Woman, which celebrated the bachelor lifestyle. But what about women who wanted to live without a man... or even without another woman? Marjorie Hillis's Live Alone And Like It (1936) was the book for them.Based on the review below, it seems that while Hillis offered some good advice for women living alone, she was less persuasive about them liking it:
You can read the book for free at archive.org.
Indianapolis Star - Oct 4, 1936
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 02, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Books, 1930s, Women
Earth Horns With Electronic Drone
Please share the chronological limits of your tolerance for this "music."The creator's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 02, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Music, Twenty-first Century, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
February 1, 2023
Crisco is digestible
When the best that a company can say about their food is that "it's digestible," it sounds like damning with faint praise.
Better Homes and Gardens - Sep 1956
Better Homes and Gardens - Sep 1954
Better Homes and Gardens - Mar 1957
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 01, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Advertising, 1950s
Harry Bensley and his Unfulfilled Walk Around the World
This first image is somewhat well-known. At least, it often pops up in my searches. But what's the story behind it?
The whole story is here at his Wikipedia page. In short:
He had to walk around the world to fulfill a bet that he lost. It required him to wear an iron mask (a helmet from a suit of armor) to conceal his identity, and he also had to push a perambulator (baby carriage) throughout his travels. He called himself "The Man with the Iron Mask" (inspired by the seventeenth-century Man in the Iron Mask), and the only way he could support himself during his journey was by selling postcards and pamphlets
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 01, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Costumes and Masks, Eccentrics, Travel, Bets, Wagers, Challenges and Contracts, Twentieth Century
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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 |
