1930s
Miss Unsafe Brakes
According to Railey Jane Savage, in her book We have a winner!, Miss Unsafe Brakes appeared at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show.Miss Unsafe Brakes represents one of the few examples of a "miss" title named for something that's being criticized, rather than promoted. Another example would be Miss Smog America.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 09, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1930s, Cars
Phare du Monde
The Wikipedia page.Source for the illustration, where the text and image may be enlarged.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 04, 2023 -
Comments (7)
Category: Architecture, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Expositions, World Fairs, Celebrations, 1930s, Europe
Visit Gay’s Lion Farm
The Wikipedia page.A very detailed article on the place, with lots of photos.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 02, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Eccentrics, Hollywood, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s
To laugh at Percy isn’t fair
I wouldn't laugh at Percy, but I would wonder why he looks like a mannequin. See the uncanny valley effect.
Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan - Aug 1936
Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 25, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, 1930s, Hair and Hairstyling
Rubber Balloon Storage
The woman is wrapped in a rubber balloon because they're getting her ready for storage.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 24, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Packaging, Wrapping, and other Protective Measures, 1930s
To wives who leave their husbands at home…
Remember his "household helplessness."See the recent post "How to live without a woman" for another example from the 1930s of male household helplessness (aka strategic incompetence).
Marysville Advocate - Aug 6, 1936
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 15, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, Gender, Men, 1930s
The Rigsby Electric Machinegun
Ahead of its time.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 14, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, 1930s, Weapons
Heating Gas From White Clover
The future in which our energy needs were met by white clover never materialized.I wonder if there was something special about white clover that produced more/better gas? Or had they simply succeeded in producing the kind of biogas that can be derived from any plant material?
St. Lous Post-Dispatch - Nov 17, 1935
Lowry City Independent - Dec 26, 1935
ST. Paul, Minn. Nov. 6 (1935) — Discovery of a method for manufacturing a commercially adaptable gas from ordinary clover was claimed today by Dean R.U. Jones, head of the MacAlaster college chemistry department, for two of his students.
Dean Jones attributed "great possibilities" to the discovery. William Mahle and Harold Ohlgren, the latter a football star, said they developed the gas from a secret process, accidentally encountered.
Both seniors, Marle and Ohlgren conducted experiments under the direction of Dean Jones and Prof. R.B. Hastings of the college physics department. They worked with white clover plucked from roadsides.
"I am convinced," Dean Jones said, "there are great possibilities in the boys' discovery, and I believe it can be worked out commercially. I am proud of the boys, for I gave them a problem and they went far ahead of me."
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 07, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: 1930s, Power Generation
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
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
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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, 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 |