1940s
Mairzy Doats
The song "Mairzy Doats," performed by the Merry Macs, became a surprise hit in 1944. The song is probably familiar to some of you, but for those who haven't heard it, it's worth having a listen because it's definitely one of the odder songs to ever become a chart topper. Its appeal was probably that it provided some comic relief during the war.The song had an apparently nonsense refrain:
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
But if you listened to the refrain carefully, it made sense as English. Read more about it at wikipedia.
1944 cartoon from the Ogden Standard-Examiner
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 01, 2013 -
Comments (10)
Category: Music, 1940s
Wonder Bread
So far as I know, Wonder Bread has not yet returned to the shelves, although the rights to make it have been purchased. One can only hope that the new company revives this old ad campaign.
[Click all images to enlarge]
Ad source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 01, 2013 -
Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Sex Symbols, 1940s
Follies of the Madmen #209
Mysterious infinite regress indicates magnitude of the horror of bad breath?
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 30, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Body, Business, Advertising, Products, Hygiene, Surrealism, 1940s
Dieting advice from 1945
I wonder how the phrase 'fatty foolish' would go over in a weight watchers meeting nowadays.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 26, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Food, 1940s
Blindfolded Boxing
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 25, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Sports, Martial Arts, 1940s, Europe
Linguistic advice from 1945
(found on "The Boys and Girls Page" distributed by the NEA Service, 1945)
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 24, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: 1940s, Slang
New York bus driver’s “spring fling”
On Friday March 28, 1947, at 6:55 a.m., Bronx bus driver William Cimillo got into his bus to start his daily route. But then something happened. The open road called to him. He said later that he was overcome by "that old spring-time urge." He started driving, and he didn't stop until he reached Florida, where he was found four days later at a race track. During the entire trip, no one ever asked him why he was driving an empty New York bus down the highway.
"Baby, this is it... I just got the old springtime urge."
The bus company filed charges of grand larceny against him, but the public rallied in support of him, feeling that Cimillo simply gave in to that "yearning for escape" that everyone feels at one time or another. So eventually the company forgave him and put him back on the job, on the condition that he was on probation for one year.
Read more about Cimillo's adventure here and here.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 23, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Mass Transit, 1940s
Crimes By Women
[Click to embiggen]
Read the whole thing here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 10, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Scary Criminals, Comics, 1940s, Women
Miss Typical
I guess it's some kind of achievement to be judged the most entirely average, but still, I don't think "Miss Typical" pageants are often held nowadays. They seem to belong to an age when conformity was thought to be more of a virtue. Rachel Reber here won "Miss Typical Freshman Coed" title back in 1941.
Marilyn Charleston was judged Miss Typical Teen of Nevada:
Reno Gazette Journal - Sep 3, 1948
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 18, 2013 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 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 |