Bertolt Brecht Before The Committee On Un-American Activities

Want to empty out the dance floor? Just pop this on the turntable.

Player embedded below.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 19, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Hollywood, Politics, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1940s

Atomic Victory Trotter

Seems that everyone called him 'Mike' instead of 'Atomic Victory.' But even so, all his official documents must have had his name listed as 'Atomic Victory Trotter'.

Wilmington Morning News - Nov 17, 1945

Louisville Courier-Journal - Aug 14, 1953

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 06, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Odd Names, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, 1940s

The woman who kissed her goldfish

Mrs. George Wolfe must have been horrified by the goldfish-swallowing fad.

Waterloo Courier - Mar 5, 1944

Des Moines Tribune - Feb 21, 1944

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 27, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Fish, 1940s

Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 44

His Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 03, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, 1940s, Russia

The best defense against an atomic bomb…

"... is not to be there when it goes off."

Advice which remains true to this day.

Manchester Evening News - Feb 18, 1949

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 18, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: War, Weapons, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, 1940s

Games Couples Play, #2

July 1947: Newlyweds Jane and Lloyd Gulledge of Dearborn, Michigan decided to play a couple of rounds of Russian roulette. Lloyd lost. "Police say they had been drinking."

Lancaster Eagle Gazette - Jul 28, 1947

(L) Nevada State Journal - Jul 29, 1947; (R) Palm Beach Post - Aug 3, 1947

Related: Games Couples Play, #1

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 09, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Marriage, 1940s, Weapons

Hen Hop

Hen Hop, Norman McLaren,



We've featured the work of Norman McLaren before on WU, but never this one, I think.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 06, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Cartoons, 1940s, Dance

The Coffee Song

An ode to caffeine. Is Starbucks looking for a new theme song?

My favorite line is: "You date a girl and find out later/She smells just like a percolator."



Lyrics
Way down among Brazilians
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So they've got to find those extra cups to fill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
You can't get cherry soda
'Cause they've got to fill that quota
And the way things are I'll bet they never will
They've got a zillion tons of coffee in Brazil
No tea or tomato juice
You'll see no potato juice
The planters down in Santos all say no no no
The politician's daughter
Was accused of drinking water
And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
You date a girl and find out later
She smells just like a percolator
Her perfume was made right on the grill
Why they could percolate the ocean in Brazil
And when their ham and eggs need savor
Coffee ketchup gives 'em flavor
Coffee pickles way outsell the dill
Why they put coffee in the coffee in Brazil
So your lead to the local color
Serving coffee with a cruller
Dunking doesn't take a lot of skill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 04, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Music, Coffee and other Legal Stimulants, 1940s, South America

Miss Sauerkraut of 1947

Being named Miss Sauerkraut of 1947 seems to have been a high point of Alice Niesen's modeling career.

Ithaca Journal - Aug 1, 1947

The only other example of her work that I could find was a 1948 piece in which she modeled the "sock pocket".

The Frederick Leader - Jan 19, 1948

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 12, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Food, 1940s

The Dinkelsbühl Armageddon

March 1946: Panic gripped the German town of Dinkelsbühl when a rumor spread that "Saturn had jumped its orbit and was hurtling earthward at astounding speed".

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out anything else about this panic, even in German sources.

Montreal Daily Star - Mar 18, 1946

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 05, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Armageddon and Apocalypses, 1940s