Follies of the Madmen #283

"But, Betty, I can't fit the corpse into the upright model so easily!"

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 26, 2016 - Comments (13)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Death, Appliances, 1950s

Jackety Jack

Your language lesson for the day.

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 25, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Languages, Music, 1950s

Elvis and the Hollywood Vice Squad

I wonder what the Hollywood Vice Squad of 1957 would make of many a modern pop music show?



Original text here.



Original text here.



Original text here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 18, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Celebrities, Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1950s, Dance

Follies of the Madmen #282

Chimps improve every product.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 16, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, Business, Advertising, Products, 1950s, Cars

Judo Girls

Posted By: Paul - Sat May 14, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Martial Arts, 1950s, Women

Escape Training

Just in case ISIS captures you on your next Middle Eastern vacation.

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 11, 2016 - Comments (7)
Category: PSA’s, War, Armed Forces, 1950s

Beatnik Fly & Psychedelic Worm

Johnny and the Hurricanes had one shtick: take a public domain tune and give it the yakety-sax treatment. Here are two of the more outlandish instances.

Posted By: Paul - Tue May 03, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Music, Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings, Psychedelic, 1950s, 1960s

Simca Fulgur—Dream Car of the Future

In 1959, the French automaker Simca showed a prototype of the Simca Fulgur (aka "Dream Car of the Future") at various auto shows. It was a concept car designed to demonstrate "the advanced thinking of Simca engineers."

The final car was supposed to incorporate the following not-yet-invented technologies (according to this Dec 1959 article):

• controlled by an electronic brain fed travel instructions by the driver
• Power supplied on main highways through magnetic induction from road-imbedded cables
• On secondary roads, Fulgur derives power from six batteries in the rear which gives it a range of up to 3000 miles.
• The front wheels which steer the Fulgur at low speeds are retracted at above 90 miles per hour and the car will plane along on its rear wheels.

There was also talk of making the Simca Fulgur atomic-powered. And it seems possible that it may have inspired the design of the Jetsons' car, though I can't find any confirmation of that.


More info: banovsky.com, OldConceptCars.com

Posted By: Alex - Mon May 02, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: 1950s, Cars

Wheaton College Mass Confessions

February 1950: During a chapel service, the students of Wheaton College were invited by the college president to come forward and confess their sins. What followed was 38 hours of uninterrupted confessions as one student after another came forward. Many confessed more than once. Classes were cancelled to allow the spontaneous confess-a-thon to continue.

One student confessed that he wasn't sure if he loved his fiancee or God more, another to cheating in Bible class. A somewhat cynical student confessed that she couldn't believe all the confessions were sincere. Then asked forgiveness for doubting their sincerity.

Finally the college president halted the continuing stream of confessions, noting that "outsiders might think the revival has become too showy."

Wheaton students pray and listen to confessions
Newsweek - Feb 20, 1950

Decatur Herald - Feb 11, 1950

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 28, 2016 - Comments (11)
Category: Religion, 1950s

Name Change

July 1959: Upon becoming a U.S. citizen, Turkish-born Haroutioun A. Aprahamian changed his name to Haroutioun A. Abrahamian.

I know this got reported as weird news in the 1950s because it seemed like an odd twist on the phenomenon of immigrants Americanizing their names, but this guy probably just wanted to correct the spelling of his name which perhaps had been misspelled by an immigration official.

When my dad moved to the States from Germany in the 40s, our last name Böse got written as Boese, making it unpronounceable. My sister was smart enough to start spelling it as "Bose" from an early age (actually, whenever possible she insists it be spelled "Böse"), but I never did, so now I'm stuck with the unpronounceable spelling.

The Wilmington News Journal - July 11, 1959

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 27, 2016 - Comments (10)
Category: Odd Names, 1950s