1940s
Hilton Tupman’s Pedestrian Horn
Los Angeles auto dealer Hilton Tupman wanted to level the playing field between motorists and pedestrians. So he invented a horn that pedestrians could use to honk at motorists. And he made it loud enough to be heard within a 1-mile radius.
Source: Popular Mechanics, May 1948
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 19, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: 1940s, Cars
Windmill Car
Ecowarriors love 1) electric cars and 2) wind turbines. A stroke of genius to combine the two!
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun May 24, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Environmentalism and Ecology, 1940s, Cars
Your Town: A Story of America
Don't be a "tearer-downer," always causing a "rumpus!"
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 22, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: PSA’s, Civic Duties, 1940s
Judy the Dog: Only Canine POW of WWII
Judy the dog survived internment in a Japanese POW camp. Her story is told in No Better Friend (see sidebar).
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 21, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: War, Dogs, 1940s, South Pacific
Follies of the Madmen #248
Stops spies from sweating during torture.
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 11, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Hygiene, Spies and Intelligence Services, 1940s
Tomorrow: Television!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 30, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Technology, Television, 1940s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Balloon Girl
1947: The entertainment at gunmaker Melvin Johnson's dinner party was a balloon-clad model whom guests (apparently a bunch of old men) shot at with a pellet gun between courses. To the guests' great frustration, the balloons failed to break.
Source: Life - June 30, 1947
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 31, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Entertainment, 1940s
Air Raid Apparel
It's important to continue to be a fashion leader, even when hiding in an air raid shelter.Source: The Valley Morning Star - Apr 30, 1941.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 27, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Fashion, War, 1940s
Follies of the Madmen #245
What was the miracle of "V-line Breez?" Your powerful imagination convincing you that you looked different!
From Esquire for July 1949.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 23, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Body, Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, 1940s
Nagging as divorce cause
The 1947 case of DeWaal vs. DeWaal established nagging as legitimate grounds for divorce (in Nebraska). I assume this was before the availability of no-fault divorce. (A quick google search reveals that Nebraska only adopted a no-fault divorce law in 1972.)Note that Mrs. DeWaal argued that her husband was at fault (and not herself) because he went to motion picture theaters and read "sensational magazines."
(left) The Harrisburg Evening News - Oct 28, 1947; (right) The Lincoln Star - Oct 24, 1947
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 22, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Law, Lawsuits, Husbands, Wives, 1940s
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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 |