Tuck your kids into bed with the "Atom Blanket" and you know they'll be safe from surprise nuclear attacks!
Atom Blanket: An American blanket manufacturer is widely publicizing this lead-lined model ($49.50), said to shield wearers from atomic radiation, fire, and shock 10 miles from blast center. Civil-defense experts have not changed their view that basement shelters are more effective.
Source: Newsweek - Apr 26, 1954
Note: Although Newsweek claimed this blanket was widely publicized, I haven't been able to find any references to it in papers and magazines from the 1950s -- beyond the reference in Newsweek itself. Perhaps it was advertised in trade publications that have never been scanned and placed online.
A number of things puzzle me about this 1955 news story. First of all, why was the washing machine outside beneath a tree?
Second, was the kid really so lazy that he felt the need for an elaborate method of supporting his head while reading? Or was he trying to kill himself?
Finally, what kind of washing machine has a lid that rotates? I found a picture (below) of a washing machine from the late 1940s that may have a lid that could rotate, but it doesn't look like it would have been comfortable to sit on, which would support the suicide theory.
But whatever happened to John Mattson, his death clearly demonstrates the danger of reading comic books.
Gettysburg Times - July 20, 1955
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 06, 2015 -
Comments (9)
Category: Death, 1950s
I can't find any more info on this story, but I'd be curious to know if the woman locked bumpers with the truck while it was empty or being driven (in the latter case, the driver would have bailed when he realized that she wasn't stopping). I'm guessing there was a truck driver originally, 'cause if the truck had been parked and empty its brakes would have probably been on, making it more difficult to pull.
Kansas City Times - Nov 17, 1955
Jonesboro, Ark., Nov. 16 — A woman drove into a service station last night and said to the attendant in a confidential whisper:
"I wish you would check that guy behind me; I think he's drunk."
Police said the "guy" behind was a driverless pickup truck, whose bumper was locked with the rear bumper of the woman's car.
She was charged with driving while intoxicated.
Man Gets Self Fired To Collect Week's Pay
LONDON — The voice on the phone said: "Get rid of that man White — he's a homicidal maniac." Norman White, 29, lost the job he started only an hour before.
The same thing had happened four times in three weeks. Each time Norman was fired within two hours of starting a new job, and each time he collected a week's pay.
Today he started another new job. This one — sewing mail bags — will last longer. The voice on the phone, a City Court was told Monday, was White himself posing as a police officer. The court gave him eight months in jail for obtaining money by false pretenses.
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.