Category:
1950s
1950s
The Singing Ringing Tree
A snippet, then the whole film.The Wikipedia page, where we learn:
The TV series, partly due to its foreignness as both fairy tale and for the unfamiliarity of its German production, was 'indelibly carved on the psyches'[7] as 'one of the most frightening things ever shown on [UK] children's television'.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 26, 2021 -
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Category: Anthropomorphism, Cult Figures and Artifacts, Horror, Movies, Children, Foreign Customs, 1950s
The Philco Overnighter
Those gals! Can't even listen to music without touching up their lipstick!
Ad source.
Photo source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 25, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Cosmetics, Radio, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s, Women
The World’s First Color Commercial
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 17, 2020 -
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Category: Business, Advertising, Television, Tobacco and Smoking, 1950s
Kent, the asbestos-filtered cigarette
In 1952, in response to growing concerns about the safety of cigarettes, the Lorillard Tobacco Company introduced Kent cigarettes, boasting that they contained a "Micronite filter" developed by "researchers in atomic energy plants".Turned out that the key ingredient in the Micronite filter was asbestos. From wikipedia:
Kent widely touted its "famous micronite filter" and promised consumers the "greatest health protection in history". Sales of Kent skyrocketed, and it has been estimated that in Kent's first four years on the market, Lorillard sold some 13 billion Kent cigarettes. From March 1952 until at least May 1956, however, the Micronite filter in Kent cigarettes contained compressed carcinogenic blue asbestos within the crimped crepe paper. It has been suspected that many cases of mesothelioma have been caused specifically by smoking the original Kent cigarettes.
According to Mother Jones, the company is still battling lawsuits to this day.
Chicago Tribune - Apr 1, 1952
Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 14, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Health, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Smoking and Tobacco, 1950s
Grover Loening’s Flying Airstrip
Source.
The inventor's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 14, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, War, Weapons, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s
The invisible will of Beth Baer
On August 30, 1951, Beth A. Baer sat down to write out a will. She died about two months later. But when her relatives found her will, it turned out to be mostly a blank sheet of paper. Her pen had run out of ink soon after she started writing it, and because she was almost completely blind, she hadn't noticed.However, lawyers Charles Gerard and Clark Sellers were able to figure out what she had written by lighting the paper at an angle and photographing the indentations from the dry pen. Based on this, the court accepted the will as a valid document.
This was bad news for her husband, whom she had decided to leave only $1.
Los Angeles Times - May 13, 1953
Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 06, 2020 -
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Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Law, 1950s
“Perfect smoke column from end to end”
The model looks slightly out-of-it as the "Accu-Ray" machine deposits an endless supply of cigarettes into her hand. Perhaps, like James Bond, she had a 70-cigarette-a-day habit that had to be constantly fed.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 23, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, Smoking and Tobacco, 1950s
Beauty Pillow
Patent No. 2,533,526 was granted to Yvonne Bersia Snyder of Forest Hills, NY for a "Beauty Pillow":This invention relates to an article to be worn to prevent wrinkles and damaging of the skin tissues such as on the face. More particularly it deals with a pad or pillow which may be adjustably held against the side of the head to keep the skin from wrinkong or folding when the face is resting against a support, such as a pillow.
During sleep the tissues of the face are usually crushed or folded in the same position for hours at a time. For example, the flesh of the cheeks or face when flattened against the pillow during the sleeping hours pushes the skin forwards and settles in the hollows of the eyes where it produces wrinkles.
It is an object of this invention to prevent wrinkles or damaging of the skin tissues during rest.
During sleep the tissues of the face are usually crushed or folded in the same position for hours at a time. For example, the flesh of the cheeks or face when flattened against the pillow during the sleeping hours pushes the skin forwards and settles in the hollows of the eyes where it produces wrinkles.
It is an object of this invention to prevent wrinkles or damaging of the skin tissues during rest.
Looks like it could also double as headgear for full-contact sports.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 15, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Inventions, Patents, Sleep and Dreams, 1950s
Trim Reducing-Aid Cigarettes
The Cornell Drug Corporation came out with Trim Cigarettes in 1958, claiming that smoking three of them a day would reduce appetite and thereby help with weight loss:Smoke a TRIM reducing aid cigarette and you'll be amazed to find yourself shaking your head as the food is passed around. There'll be no argument, you won't have to close your eyes and grit your teeth, you just won't want!
The FDA promptly banned them. More info: wikipedia
Miami News - May 16, 1958
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 14, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Smoking and Tobacco, 1950s, Dieting and Weight Loss
The pinhead art of Mary Ann Normandin
Artist Mary Ann Normandin used one of her husband's eyebrows to paint pictures on pinheads. During the 1950s, she got quite a lot of publicity for this. But today she seems to be entirely forgotten. In fact, I can't find any pictures of her paintings.
Asheville Citizen Times - Nov 30, 1952
Boston Globe - Nov 11, 1953
Apparently she completed four pinhead paintings — the Old Man of the Mountain, an Egyptian pyramid, an autumn scene, and a lighthouse — then she gave it up because it was too emotionally and physically demanding. A 1977 article about her work in the Boston Globe offered some details:
"It took a total of two years and 5000 hours to complete the four earlier paintings. It took me six months alone to learn how to paint between heartbeats. The slightest movement could ruin a painting."
"I started each one of those paintings about 500 times before I finally got it perfect. It wasn't a simple task..."
Her brush was a hair from her husband's eyebrow, which she still keeps in a small container.
"I would paint one thin line, then let it dry," she explained. "Then go on to the next line. The slightest mistake or wrong movement, and the painting was ruined. You'd have to wipe the pinhead clean, and start all over again."
"I completed four paintings, and tried a fifth. It was supposed to be Lincoln, but the paint blistered, and Lincoln ended up looking like Foodini The Magician, a character they had on television years ago."
"You know, I have a nightmare every once in a while. In it, one of my pins is dropped on the floor and rolls into a crack, and I'm unable to find it."
"I started each one of those paintings about 500 times before I finally got it perfect. It wasn't a simple task..."
Her brush was a hair from her husband's eyebrow, which she still keeps in a small container.
"I would paint one thin line, then let it dry," she explained. "Then go on to the next line. The slightest mistake or wrong movement, and the painting was ruined. You'd have to wipe the pinhead clean, and start all over again."
"I completed four paintings, and tried a fifth. It was supposed to be Lincoln, but the paint blistered, and Lincoln ended up looking like Foodini The Magician, a character they had on television years ago."
"You know, I have a nightmare every once in a while. In it, one of my pins is dropped on the floor and rolls into a crack, and I'm unable to find it."
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 09, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Art, 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. 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 |