Category:
1940s
1940s
Divorced because of comic books
I'm sure she was better off rid of that comic-book-reading weirdo.
Idaho State Journal - Oct 8, 1949
Wife Asks Divorce Because Hubby Reads Comic Books
SALT LAKE CITY — Mrs. Ida Thompson Thursday sued Henry G. Thompson for divorce because he "frequently bought comic books by the dozens and sat around and read them while refusing to help care for our baby."
In asking for a legal ending to their 16-month marriage, Mrs. Thompson requested custody of their infant child and possession of a table and chair set. Their only other possession, she said in her complaint, was a leather saddle which Thompson had bought with a loan. She said he could have the saddle.
SALT LAKE CITY — Mrs. Ida Thompson Thursday sued Henry G. Thompson for divorce because he "frequently bought comic books by the dozens and sat around and read them while refusing to help care for our baby."
In asking for a legal ending to their 16-month marriage, Mrs. Thompson requested custody of their infant child and possession of a table and chair set. Their only other possession, she said in her complaint, was a leather saddle which Thompson had bought with a loan. She said he could have the saddle.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 31, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Divorce, 1940s
Mean Stranger Gives Eye Test
Perhaps an ophthalmologist in a bad mood?
The Terre Haute Tribune - June 21, 1949
Man Decides Boy Has Normal Vision
LOS ANGELES, June 21 — Harvey Bornstein, a studious 10-year-old, needed a new pair of horn-rimmed glasses today.
Harvey groped his way into Wilshire police station yesterday to report that a middle-aged man came up and snatched his specs while he was playing on the street with another boy. Then the stranger held his open hand up before Harvey and asked:
"How many fingers do you see?"
"Five," said Harvey instinctively.
"You don't need glasses," said the stranger. He threw the spectacles on the street, stamped on them and walked away.
LOS ANGELES, June 21 — Harvey Bornstein, a studious 10-year-old, needed a new pair of horn-rimmed glasses today.
Harvey groped his way into Wilshire police station yesterday to report that a middle-aged man came up and snatched his specs while he was playing on the street with another boy. Then the stranger held his open hand up before Harvey and asked:
"How many fingers do you see?"
"Five," said Harvey instinctively.
"You don't need glasses," said the stranger. He threw the spectacles on the street, stamped on them and walked away.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 26, 2015 -
Comments (9)
Category: 1940s
Funeral Traffic Control
1948: Chicago's Mt. Carmel cemetery sought FCC approval so that it could operate a two-way radio system to direct funeral processions, so as to avoid traffic jams in the cemetery.I wonder if they had to build a traffic control tower as well?
Freeport Journal-Standard - Apr 14, 1948
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 17, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Jobs and Occupations, 1940s
Idleness, Profligacy, and Dissipation
San Bernardino County Sun - Apr 29, 1949
Marriage Fails After 64 Years; Divorce Sought
LOS ANGELES, April 28 — After 64 years of marriage, Mrs. Calogera Cassaro, 85, has decided she wants a divorce.
She sued today for dissolution of her bonds to 86-year-old Sebastian Cassaro and restraining order to keep him from molesting or threatening her.
Sebastian, she stated in her complaint, is able-bodied and she wants him to support her, but she claims that of late he has been living "in idleness, profligacy and dissipation."
LOS ANGELES, April 28 — After 64 years of marriage, Mrs. Calogera Cassaro, 85, has decided she wants a divorce.
She sued today for dissolution of her bonds to 86-year-old Sebastian Cassaro and restraining order to keep him from molesting or threatening her.
Sebastian, she stated in her complaint, is able-bodied and she wants him to support her, but she claims that of late he has been living "in idleness, profligacy and dissipation."
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 14, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Divorce, 1940s
Wrong Date
Leroy Irwin, a 92-year-old farmer living in Allegan, Michigan, decided to have the dates of his life carved on his gravestone before he died, because (having no children) he wasn't sure who would pay to do it after he died.He carved the dates 1856-1950, but it turned out he was a little too optimistic. He died in November 1949, seven weeks shy of reaching 1950.
The Escanaba Daily Press - Apr 25, 1949
The Escanaba Daily Press - Nov 14, 1949
Update: To answer Patty's question (in the comments), the incorrect date wasn't changed. Leroy Irwin's grave (with the wrong date) remains standing in Hudson Corners Cemetery.
Image via Findagrave.com.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 03, 2015 -
Comments (13)
Category: Death, 1940s
Where the heck am I?
1949: Street sweeper Joseph Pistolese, age 74, just keep sweeping until suddenly he looked up and realized he had no idea where he was.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle - July 27, 1949
After coming across the news clipping about Pistolese, I then noticed the birthday card below on sale at the supermarket. Since it reminded me of him, I had my wife snap a photo of it with her iPhone.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 28, 2015 -
Comments (15)
Category: Elderly and Seniors, 1940s
Bond Clothing Sign, NYC
The Wikipedia entry tells us:
Between 1948 and 1954, Bond Clothes operated a massive sign on the east side block of Broadway between 44th and 45th streets in New York's Times Square. The sign had nearly 2 miles of neon and included two 7-story-tall nude figures, a man and a woman, as bookends. Between the nude figures, there was a 27-foot-high (8.2 m) and 132-foot-wide (40 m) waterfall with 50,000 gallons of recirculated water. Beneath the waterfall was a 278-foot-long (85 m) zipper sign with scrolling messages. The Bond zipper was made up of more than 20,000 light bulbs. Above the waterfall was a digital clock with the wording "Every Hour 3,490 People Buy at Bond."[7] Some of the sign remained in place to advertise the Bond Stores location until the stores closure in 1977.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 28, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Signage, 1940s, 1950s
The Life Cycle of the Pin Mould
"If a ripe head is squeezed, an enormous number of little things fastened together in a sticky mess are jerked out."
They teach this filth in our schools!?!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 22, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Boredom, Hygiene, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Nature, 1940s
MacLevy Leg Massager
Image source: Time magazine - April 19, 1948
Displayed at a Beauty Shop trade convention in Manhattan's Grand Central Palace, April 1948.
The machine (the MacLevy Leg Massager) was marketed to beauty shop owners. The introduction of home permanent wave kits in the mid-1940s had caused a steep decline in business for beauty shops, so the inventors of machines such as the leg massager were promising the shop owners that they could lure customers back by installing gadgets such as this, which would allow them to offer new services without having to hire trained masseuses.
The leg massager was invented by Monte MacLevy, who filed a patent application for it in July 1939. From the patent:
[It is] the contemplation of my invention to provide mechanical means for massaging a persons legs and thighs in a manner that has heretofore been possible only by a well-executed manual massage. And in this aspect of my invention it is a further objective to effect a simultaneous massage of the calf and thigh so as to produce most efiective results in a minimum of time. It is also within the contemplation of my invention to enable the massaging operation to be effectuated while the legs are relieved of practically all strain, an objective that I attain by providing such supporting means for the subject as to enable him to recline in a position where the legs and thighs are conveniently supported in natural angular relation with respect to each other so that they may be completely relaxed during the massaging operation. And in this aspect of my invention it is a further object to provide mechanical massaging implements simultaneously and operably movable in different directions so as to be engageable with various portions of both legs and thighs.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 21, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Patents, 1940s
When the Circus Comes to Town
I have no idea of the provenance of this half-hour compilation. Shown at cinemas before the main feature? Whatever the case, it has everything. Cornball music, girly cheesecake, animated cartoon, stop-motion cartoon, narration by a chimp. Also, the highly disturbing image reproduced below. Somehow I feel it relates to the "horse fondling" theme of yesterday.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 16, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Clowns, Dreams and Nightmares, Music, Sex Symbols, Cartoons, Stop-motion Animation, 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 |