Flip the Frog in A CHINAMAN’S CHANCE

Zip ahead to the five-minute mark to see Flip the Frog toking on an opium pipe.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 28, 2013 - Comments (2)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Drugs, Cartoons, 1930s

Farewell To Life Party

In January 1934, at the age of 82, arctic explorer W.J.A. Grant decided he wasn't much longer for this world and had a "farewell to life" champagne party. The centerpiece of the event was a wooden coffin he had specially made. Five hundred people attended, as well as "a bevy of beautiful dancing girls." He instructed everyone to "wear your gayest clothes—don't come in the miserable garb of woe."

The partying lasted through the night. Grant, wearing a boutonniere in his coat lapel, mingled with his guests "and pointed cheerfully to a notice on the wall that said he would die within a week."

But the next day, having had only two hours of sleep, he announced that he now "felt fine." It took him another year before he finally kicked the bucket. [Chicago Tribune - Mar 11, 1935]

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 26, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Death, Obituaries, 1930s

Gogea Mitu

When I first saw the cover of this March 1935 issue of the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, I thought the photo must be fake. But no, it's real. It shows 20-year-old Gogea Mitu, a boxer and the tallest Romanian in history. From wikipedia:


Mitu only lived to be 22, dying of tuberculosis in 1936. In the picture, it looks like he's wearing Converse sneakers. Did they come in his size, or were they custom-made for him?

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 24, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Human Marvels, 1930s

Life in America:  1933

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 20, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Customs, 1930s, North America

Stratos Fear

A cartoon that surely must have produced many nightmares in its day. I'm certain there was much psychosexual damage done when the sexy woman revealed her true identity.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 10, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Dreams and Nightmares, Surrealism, Science Fiction, Cartoons, 1930s

Manhattan Super Terminal

If only this gargantuan structure had actually been built! What a different world we would have inhabited....

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 04, 2013 - Comments (6)
Category: Engineering and Construction, Urban Life, Utopias and Dystopias, Transportation, 1930s

The Six Brown Brothers

Blackface, clownsuits and saxophones: a winning combo in any era!

Learn the whole story here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun May 05, 2013 - Comments (0)
Category: Clowns, Music, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s

Revolver Camera

Paul once posted about a camera that looked like a gun. This does that one better. It's a camera AND a gun. Pull the trigger and it simultaneously takes a picture of and shoots a bullet at whomever you're aiming the gun at. It was created and used in the late 1930s in New York City. [via petapixel]

Posted By: Alex - Sun May 05, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Guns, Photography and Photographers, 1930s

The Jokes of King George VI

Thanks to the recent movie The King's Speech, King George VI is now best known as the king who stuttered. But apparently he also occasionally told jokes. Several of them are reproduced below. They're not bad, for a royal. [Milwaukee Journal — Apr 25, 1937]

• [In response to a speaker who was praising him in extravagant terms]. "I am reminded," he said, "of the woman who went to her husband's funeral service. The couple had never got on well together, but the minister devoted his long sermon to a panegyric of the husband's virtues. So glowing a picture did he paint that the widow completely failed to recognize her late husband. 'Milly,' she nudged her friend and whispered loudly, 'is there another corpse about?'"
• There was a petrol dump where men sent a canary down into the empty tank to see if the atmosphere was safe for them to go down and clean it out. One day the foreman saw a man walking about in the bottom of the tank before the canary had been let down. "Hey, what are you doing there?" he yelled. In all seriousness the man below shouted back: "I'm just seeing if it's all right for me blinkin' canary."

Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 27, 2013 - Comments (0)
Category: Humor, Jokes, Royalty, 1930s

No water for 25 years

On July 4, 1935, Dr. Walter G. Kendall, 81, drank a glass of water. It was the first glass of water he had drunk in 25 years. He reportedly "suffered no ill effects," and followed it by several cocktails.

In addition to being famous for abstaining from water, Kendall was also a well-known dentist, bicyclist, and horticulturalist. That's him in the pictures below. [image source: here and here]

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 25, 2013 - Comments (14)
Category: Eccentrics, Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 1930s, Alcohol