1930s
Love lost due to “middle-age” skin
What foolishness to grow older!
1938 - NY Times. Via Duke University
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 29, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, 1930s, Skin and Skin Conditions
Payment in Clams
When the nation's banks closed during the Depression, Leiter's Pharmacy in Pismo Beach, California, issued this clamshell as change.
The 1929 stock market crash triggered banking panics, as people rushed to withdraw their savings before they were lost. In March 1933, President Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday to prevent further withdrawals. To compensate for the currency shortage, communities created emergency money, or scrip. This clamshell was signed as it changed hands and redeemed when cash became available again.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 16, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Money, Nature, 1930s
Metallic Swim Suit
Apr 1938: Ruth Williamson demonstrated that "nothing short of a saw or file" would damage the metallic bathing suit she was modeling.Because withstanding saw and file is an important quality for a bathing suit.
Pittsburgh Press - Apr 17, 1938
NY Daily News - Mar 27, 1938
Posted By: Alex - Fri May 13, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: Fashion, 1930s
Mother Goose Controversy
1937: I don't know how Khrushchev would have felt about the Mother Goose mural painted on a wall at the Glenn Dale Sanatorium outside Washington D.C., but health officer Dr. George Rhuland felt it was "grotesque" and ordered it painted over. I think he was eventually overruled.I'm not sure what he found objectionable about it. Perhaps he didn't like the modernist style.
Meanwhile, the Glenn Dale Sanatorium has since become an abandoned relic, which remains standing, rather than being torn down, because of the asbestos remediation costs.
North Adams Transcript - Nov 19, 1937
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 12, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art, Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1930s
World’s Most Beautiful Blonde
The photo that comes second here represents several of the contestants in this French competition. Not sure if our winner, Helen, is among them.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 12, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1930s, Europe
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 9
These two were "lucky" enough to be immortalized by Weegee.Article source: The Grand Island Daily Independent (Grand Island, Nebraska) 03 Aug 1936,
Mon Page 1
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 10, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crime, Scary Criminals, Stupid Criminals, Family, Photography and Photographers, 1930s
Legs of Tomorrow
In 1939, ice skater Erna Anderson was declared to have the "Legs of Tomorrow" on the theory that "the woman of tomorrow will be more athletic."Arguably this prediction came true. At least, it's common now for women to go to gyms, whereas it wasn't in the 1930s.
Minneapolis Star - June 2, 1939
Erna Anderson. Source: New York Public Library
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 09, 2022 -
Comments (7)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Exercise and Fitness, 1930s, Legs, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Lamp Shade Queen
Pittsburgh Press - Apr 2, 1939
Posted By: Alex - Fri May 06, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Fashion, Furniture, 1930s
Wolfe v. Feldman
Peter Ackerberg, writing in the Minneapolis Star (Nov 17, 1979), described the unusual legal case of Wolfe v. Feldman, which was heard in 1936:Feldman countered that it wasn't his fault, and he told the judge this story:
Wolfe was strapped to the dentist's chair (apparently a common procedure then), and was given nitrous oxide, an anesthesia better known as laughing gas. What happened next was no laughing matter.
The next part of the story is best summarized in the text of the case itself:
So the patient, while under the influence of laughing gas, managed to grab hold of the dentist's testicles, and in the process of freeing himself the dentist fractured her little finger.
Nevertheless, the judge ruled in favor of the patient for $650, saying:
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 26, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Lawsuits, 1930s, Teeth
Cat Boxing
I wasn't aware that there was such a thing as cat boxing. Cats fight all the time, of course. But to box each other at a set time in front of a crowd — I didn't think they would cooperate with such an indignity.
Detroit Free Press - June 16, 1939
Update: Paul revealed to me the existence of this old video produced by Thomas Edison, circa 1894, showing cats boxing. So I guess cat boxing is a long-established thing.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 14, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Martial Arts, Cats, 1930s
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |