Mystery Illustration 53

What is the pretext for this display?

The answer is here.

And after the jump.

More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 07, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Guns, 1940s

Ada Leonard and Her All-Girl Orchestra

Wikipedia page here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 05, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Music, Gender, Women, 1940s

Zippo Car

The Zippo Manufacturing Co. built the Zippo car in 1947 by adapting a Chrysler Saratoga. However, the weight of the lighters kept causing the tires to blow out. So in 1952 the car was sent to a Pittsburgh garage for repairs and re-adaptation. It was never seen again. To this day, no one knows what happened to the Zippo car.

It reminds me of the tale of the lost Star Wars Celica GT.





In 1998, a replica Zippo car was built — fitted with modern tires that could handle the weight.



More info: post-gazette.com, NY Daily News, Zippo.

Thanks to hotsauce269 for the photo!

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 04, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Motor Vehicles, Cars, 1940s

The Giant Leg Sign for Nylons

Source of foto.



Source of foto.

Judge the likeness for yourself.



Her Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 01, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Body, Movies, Regionalism, Advertising, Giant People in Ads, 1940s

Mystery Illustration 52

What is the secret technique behind this drawing?

The answer is here.

And after the jump.

More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 31, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, 1940s

Road Roller Endorsed by Doris Day

An odd example of a movie cross promotion from 1949. Perhaps fans of Doris Day would also be interested in her favorite road roller!



I'm not entirely sure if this ad belongs here or on the Museum of Hoaxes, because there's some odd things about it. For a start, what is this magazine Asphalt & Macadam Monthly that the ad supposedly appeared in? This ad is the one and only reference to such a magazine that I can find. And did International Harvester ever produce a De Luxe Series 56 roller-compactor? Again, this ad is the only reference to it I can find.

However, print copies of the ad appear to be for sale, which would be odd if it was a fake ad someone had photoshopped together.

But it's possible it was a fake ad produced in 1949. The movie the ad mentions, It's a Great Feeling, was (according to Wikipedia) a "spoof of what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood movie making." So maybe a ridiculous/fake cross-promotion was part of the marketing for the movie?


More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 28, 2017 - Comments (15)
Category: Movies, Advertising, 1940s

The Florida Trio

Source.



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 22, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Entertainment, 1940s, 1950s

The Maid of Cotton Pageant

Continuing our intermittent look at oddball beauty pageants.

The Maid of Cotton pageant began in 1939. The annual pageant was sponsored by the National Cotton Council (NCC), Memphis Cotton Carnival, and the Cotton Exchanges of Memphis, New York, and New Orleans. The pageant was held in Memphis, Tennessee, in conjunction with the Carnival until the 1980s.

In mid-December every year the NCC released a list of contestants. Contestants were required to have been born in one of the cotton-producing states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas or Virginia. They might have also been born in the cotton-producing counties of Alexander, Jefferson, Massac, Pulaski, Williamson or Madison, Illinois or in Clark or Nye counties of Nevada. There were usually twenty contestants each year.

Contestants were judged on personality, good manners, intelligence, and family background as well as beauty and an ability to model. A Top Ten were chosen and then a Top Five, and finally second and first runners up and a winner. Winners served as goodwill and fashion ambassadors of the cotton industry in a five-month, all-expense tour of American cities. In the mid-1950s the tour expanded globally. In the late 1950s a Little Miss Cotton pageant was begun but lasted only until 1963 before being discontinued. In the mid-1980s Dallas,Texas took over the pageant, in conjunction with the NCC and its overseas division, Cotton Council International. In 1986, to bolster interest and participation, the NCC eliminated the rule requiring contestants to be born in a cotton-producing state. The pageant was discontinued in 1993, one of the reasons being that Cotton Inc. stopped contributing scholarship money as well as waning public interest and changing marketing strategies.

More details here.

And also here.

The 1952 winner.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jul 21, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s

Cactus Bikini

It's become a bit of an iconic image — a young woman wearing a cactus bikini. The photo dates back to 1940 when the Tucson Sunshine Climate Club dressed some University of Arizona coeds up in cactus apparel as a publicity stunt. Of course, it wouldn't have been called a 'bikini' back then, since that term wasn't yet coined. It was called a "cactus sun suit." The suits were made out of Saguaro and prickly pear cacti.

The photos then spread far and wide, including into Nazi newspapers, where they were offered as examples of American decadence, "a peak of utter lack of taste."

The model in the top photo is Merri Ciochetti.

Life - Apr 7, 1941

Arizona Daily Star - Feb 27, 1945

Update: One more photo from the photoshoot.

San Bernardino Sun - Mar 27, 1940

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jul 15, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Fashion, 1940s

The King Midget

Wikipedia entry here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 28, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, 1940s, 1970s, Cars