1930s
The Internet, 1937-style
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 02, 2010 -
Comments (2)
Category: Technology, 1930s
The Musical Doctor
This is one demented video. Please note how Mae Questal, the voice of Betty Boop, is like a living incarnation of that cartoon icon.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 23, 2009 -
Comments (4)
Category: Humor, Medicine, Music, Cartoons, 1930s
The Hut Sut Song
An explanation from the obituary of the composer:
A native of Towner, N.D., Leo Killion grew up in Minneapolis, where he heard Swedish folk songs that he later spoofed in nonsense lyrics. Written in 1939 by Killion, Ted McMichael and Jack Owens, "The Hut Sut Song" was recorded and popularized by the Freddy Martin Orchestra and the Horace Heidt Orchestra. It was sung by the Merry Macs in the 1941 movie "San Antonio Rose." More than a decade later, it was featured in the landmark World War II film "From Here to Eternity." Sung by such Swing Era and wartime favorites as Dinah Shore and the Andrews Sisters, the song included such lyrics as "Hut Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and brawla, brawla sooit."
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 28, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Jabberwocky, Scat Singing, Nonsense Verse and Glossolalia, Music, 1930s
The Ritz Brothers
This novelty song and alleged "comedy" act is guaranteed to stink up your day, it's so incredibly bad.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 28, 2009 -
Comments (5)
Category: Movies, Music, Cats, 1930s
The Past is Another Country #2
Judy Garland in blackface, one of many such times she blacked up. From EVERYBODY SING.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 16, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Movies, Music, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1930s
Woman in an Ape Suit
It takes a lot of confidence in your sexy image to start your number in an ape suit.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 13, 2009 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Celebrities, Movies, Sex Symbols, 1930s
Dick Tracy Cartoon
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 12, 2009 -
Comments (0)
Category: Comics, Cartoons, Dogs, 1930s
Woody Hockaday
Woody Hockaday (1884-1947) made significant contributions to American history, but he's almost entirely forgotten today. According to the Kansas State Historical Society, he was "the first person to recognize the need for highway marking in the United States." So, on his own initiative, beginning in 1915, he started posting mileage markers on highways. Eventually "Hockaday signs" appeared on 60,000 miles of roads from Washington DC to Los Angeles.But around 1935 he decided he needed to do something different with his life. So he started calling himself "Big Chief Pow Wow" and launched a "feathers instead of bullets" campaign. Dressed in red shorts, a feather war bonnet, sneakers, a painted sunflower on his chest, and carrying a huge bag of feathers, he would pop up at political rallies and pelt politicians with feathers (or sometimes live chickens). He explained that "to attract attention to peace a man must use sensational methods."
In 1936 he broke into the office of Assistant Secretary of War Harry Woodring and scattered feathers everywhere before being hauled away. And soon after that he launched a feather attack on radio priest Charles Coughlin.
In 1940, he combined a Santa Claus costume with his headdress and showed up in Rockefeller Plaza with a wagonload of 600 chickens. He screamed at the crowd, "I'm Santa Claus from Santa Fe. Peace! The whole world will have peace. Here, my friend, have a chicken."
Soon after that he was committed to an insane asylum. He died in 1947.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 09, 2009 -
Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Politics, 1930s
Inventions of Buckminster Fuller, part 1: the Dymaxion Car
This is just one of the many strange inventions that Fuller imagined would improve society. Dymaxion, which is an abbreviation of dynamic maximum tension, was the name he attached to many of his inventions.
More in extended >>
Posted By: fyshstyxx - Fri May 15, 2009 -
Comments (5)
Category: Inventions, Odd Names, 1930s, Cars
African Pygmy Thrills
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 01, 2009 -
Comments (1)
Category: Ethnic Groupings, Movies, Documentaries, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1930s, Africa
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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 |