Category:
1950s

Meat-Nik

Sep 1958: The National Live Stock and Meat Board's response to the launch of Sputnik was the creation of "Meat-Nik," aka "intercontinental bologna missile."

The National Provisioner - Sep 6, 1958



The National Provisioner - Sep 20, 1958


Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 22, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Food, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, 1950s

Miss Frozen Foods

As far as I can tell, the frozen food industry started choosing a "Miss Frozen Foods" in 1956. Sometimes the winner was called Miss Frozen Food Month (or Week). The last Miss Frozen Foods that I can find was named in 1961.

Dillon Daily Tribune - Feb 7, 1956



Miss Frozen Foods of 1958 (Nancy Moss). image source: USC Libraries



Los Angeles Evening Citizen News - Mar 19, 1959



Tampa Tribune - Nov 5, 1961

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 18, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Food, 1950s

The Language of Handwriting

You know the scene in old movies when the cops or some other authority figure calls in the handwriting expert? The expert examines the sample handwriting and confidently proclaims, "The writer was a sixty-five-year-old widow, who grew up in Romania, and has been a turkey farmer for the past three years." Well, now you too can become such an expert, by studying this volume at the Internet Archive.



Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 12, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Experts and Authority Figures, Movies, Pseudoscience, 1950s

The Yak Yak Contest

Alas, I cannot learn the full roster of contestants, nor the outcome.





Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 11, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Languages, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s, Women

American Vegetable Queen

Newsday - Aug 4, 1952



Tampa Tribune - Dec 2, 1952



Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Aug 3, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 06, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Vegetables, 1950s

Python on the golf course

1952: Finding that her golf ball had come to rest on top of a 10-foot python, Mrs. Bobbie Pritchard shot the python and then continued to play the ball from on top of the (now dead) snake.

I guess that taking a penalty and using a new ball was, for whatever reason, out of the question.

Glasgow Daily Record - Dec 24, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 01, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Reptiles, Snakes, Worms and Other Slithery Things, Golf, 1950s

1999:  Our Hopeful Future

Like most predictive non-fiction, this 1956 volume has both hits and misses throughout. But I was amazed by one page, which predicts flatscreen TVs, a Roomba, and household surveillance cameras, bing-bang-boom!


Read the whole thing here.




Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 01, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, Books, 1950s

Pin-Worms may be a family affair

"Fidgeting, nose-picking and a tormenting rectal itch are often tell-tale signs of Pin-Worms . . . Entire families may be victims and not know it."

I'm imagining the families who thought the tormenting rectal itches were nothing out-of-the-ordinary.

Super Science Stories - March 1950

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 28, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Health, Disease, Advertising, 1950s

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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.

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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.

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