Category:
1950s

Win Power Over Men!

image

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 12, 2014 - Comments (8)
Category: Advertising, Comics, Perfume and Other Scents, 1950s, Women

Are You Ready for Marriage?

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 09, 2014 - Comments (3)
Category: PSA’s, Sexuality, Husbands, Teenagers, Wives, 1950s

Cyrus Eaton III, Runaway Scion

We often hear of folks such as "Clark Rockefeller" who are born poor and masquerade as rich people. But what about a fellow born rich who wants to be poor?

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Original article here.

A picture of Cyrus Eaton III circa the runaway period.

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No doubt it was hard being the grandson of Cyrus Eaton the First, creator of the family fortune.

Here's Grandpa leading the pack in 1958, with Cyrus the Third appearing as the third child behind Grandpa.

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Cyrus Eaton the Second followed pretty much in his father's mode, as we learn from the obituary of Cyrus Eaton II.

And guess what else we learn from that obit? Cyrus Eaton the Third has become "Cyrus Wind Dancer." A little googling finds out he now runs a clock repair business in Santa Rosa, CA.

Free from the burdens of wealth at last!

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 07, 2014 - Comments (8)
Category: Family, Misbehavior, Rebellion, Acting-out and General Naughtiness, Money, 1950s, 1960s

Eva the Kitler Cat, 1951

Kitler cats (aka cats that look like Hitler) are very popular on the Internet. But people were noticing that some cats look like Hitler long before the Internet ever existed.

A case in point is Eva here, who received national attention back in 1951. The image and brief text are from Newsweek - Oct 1, 1951.


"Offered for adoption on a Chicago television show, Eva found no takers because of an unfortunate resemblance. The Animal Welfare League gave her a job, however, chasing mice in the kennels."

Posted By: Alex - Sun May 04, 2014 - Comments (8)
Category: Animals, 1950s

You Be the Electronic Man!

image
[Click to embiggen]

Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 30, 2014 - Comments (4)
Category: Robots, Toys, 1950s

Fumble Parties


Back in the early 1950s, fumble parties became all the rage, according to Life magazine (July 14, 1952), which offered this description of them:

A person is chosen 'it' by drawing the high card from a deck. 'It' goes to another room while the other players add and subtract clothes, put on masks or disguise themselves in other ways.
When everyone is disguised, they all fling themselves down into a huddle on the floor, making a confused tangle of bodies, arms, and legs. Then the lights are turned off. 'It' reenters the room and, by fumbling among the tangled bodies, tries to identify a person. If someone is identified, then he or she becomes 'it'. But if the fumbler makes an error he must pay a penalty decided upon by the group.

So it was a bunch of adults feeling each other up in the dark. Sounds like a swinging good time!

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 22, 2014 - Comments (8)
Category: 1950s

Bug Invasion


In July 1957, Hastings Minnesota was invaded by fish flies. Millions of them. So many that they piled up on roads in enormous drifts and prevented cars from getting through.

From the History of Hastings blog:
The cops were called. The Fire Department was called. State highway sanders were useless against the combined efforts of the millions of fish flies who piled up their little bodies against all human efforts. Meanwhile the deck of the bridge became as slippery and slimy as grease, stalling cars that had to be moved to release the motorists stalled and steaming in cars with all windows closed against the bugs.
For over an hour a group of strong-backed youths, who volunteered their help, pushed and tugged cars through the 2 1/2 ft. bug-drift in the center of the bridge. Some were members of the very commendable teenager Cavalier Auto Club, supported by the Greater Hastings Association. The young men did a terrific job, some wearing bathing trunks, as they waded through the piles of bugs to help motorists. They pushed, advised, sweated with flies in ears, mouths, eyes. Look at those spots in front of the camera lens. They’re bugs…. stacked up on the car hood, piled up in drifts. How prolific-the hatch was terrific.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 06, 2014 - Comments (2)
Category: Insects and Spiders, 1950s

Eat More Sugar

An advertisement run in 1959 by "Sugar Information Inc.", which was an organization created by sugar producers in order to convince Americans to eat more of their product. All indications are that they succeeded. [via Backstory Radio]

Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 20, 2014 - Comments (11)
Category: 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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