May 2024
May 11, 2024
Woodbury Rand, cat lover
When Boston attorney Woodbury Rand died in 1944, he left $40,000 to his cat Buster. Out of a $1,000,000 estate, that's not particularly unusual. But what made his will odd was that he disinherited anyone whom he felt hadn't properly appreciated Buster.Buster was only 8 years old when Rand died, but he died the following year. Perhaps of a broken heart?
New York Daily News - Aug 6, 1944
New York Daily News - Dec 30, 1945
Posted By: Alex - Sat May 11, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Cats, 1940s
Clay Tyson Digs the Beatniks
Clay Tyson was a stand-up comedian and a long time opening act for James Brown and the Famous Flame (and James Brown and the JBs).
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 11, 2024 -
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Category: Humor, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s
May 10, 2024
Nightmare Prevention Mattress
Walter Cleasby was granted a UK patent (GB2263399A) in 1995 for his "nightmare prevention mattress."As far as I can tell, Cleasby believed that infant nightmares were caused by physical factors such as a) the hardness of cot mattresses, and b) pressure on a baby's heart from body weight.
His invention addressed these issues by having an inward slope as well as a recess "to protect the main organ of the body, (the Heart,) from excessive pressure."
Posted By: Alex - Fri May 10, 2024 -
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Category: Dreams and Nightmares, Patents, 1990s
Helmbold’s Extract of Buchu
Read all about the herb buchu and its medicinal merchandising here.One of the most (in)famous protagonists was Henry T. Helmbold (1826–1892), who started his patent medicine business in 1846 as a retail druggist with “Helmbold’s Extract Buchu—cures diabetes, gravel, brick-dust deposits, irritations of the bladder and diseases arising from exposure or imprudence, etc.” and other medicines. He opened his first store in Philadelphia in 1850, the largest and best-known in New York in 1862. By 1865 Helmbold’s buchu was the bestselling patent medicine on the US market. For this, he spent enormous amounts of money on advertising, mostly in newspapers: ∼US$ 500,000 (about 10 million US$ today) each for the years 1869–71. For the distribution of his products, Helmbold had his own 4c postage stamp (Figure 4) (The Historian, 1912; Young, 1961).
The Hottentot ad is for Helmsbold's product. It has three more pages, viewable here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 10, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Africa, Nineteenth Century
May 9, 2024
Arizona Fumigation
Back in the day you had to be fumigated before they'd let you into Arizona.They've still got agricultural checkpoints on the border, but I've only ever been waved through.
Miami News - May 2, 1924
Thanks to Don Griffith!
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 09, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Government, Officials, Farming, 1920s
The Trapp Family
Before there was The Sound of Music there was...Die Trapp-Familie?!? The whole movie is below, with English subtitles.The Wikipedia page for this 1956 German production.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 09, 2024 -
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Category: Movies, Debuts, Christenings, Launches and Reboots, 1950s, Europe
May 8, 2024
Good Waitress, Bad Waitress
Stills from a 1950s-era film made to train waitresses at Krystal restaurants.
Bad Waitress
Info from the Chattanooga Times:
Chattanooga-based Continental Films deployed the Bad Waitress in films and slideshows during the 1950s and early 1960s to teach Krystal employees how to give excellent customer service. (Yes, Krystal once had waitresses.)
The same actress returns as a nonsmoking Good Waitress wearing a spotless uniform. Her hair is swept into a neat bouffant, her eyebrows perfectly plucked and her makeup is modest. She even smiles demurely.
Good Waitress
The film was part of a collection donated to the Chattanooga History Center. But I don't think they've put the film online yet.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 08, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Movies, Restaurants, 1950s
One Little Indian
One Little Indian, Grant Munro, provided by the National Film Board of Canada
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 08, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Highways, Roads, Streets and Traffic, Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, PSA’s, Stop-motion Animation, 1950s, North America, Native Americans, Circuses, Carnivals, and Other Traveling Shows
May 7, 2024
Cookin’ With Dr. Pepper
Take pretty much any recipe. Add Dr. Pepper to it. And then you're "Cookin' With Dr. Pepper".Full text available at the Internet Archive.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 07, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Cookbooks
Fresh Air Breathing Device
Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 07, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Body, Inventions, Patents, Firefighting, Arson, Wildfires, Infernos and Other Conflagrations, Danger, Risk, and Peril, Excrement
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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 |
