1950s
The Elkhart Tooth Stone
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 08, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: 1950s, Teeth
Rev. Hansen’s Bible Birds
In 1940, Rev. Hansen started touring around the U.S. with his family, putting on a show in which he used trained birds to demonstrate lessons from the Bible. Newsweek (Dec. 10, 1951) offered this description of the act:Other birds ride on a tiny electric train, eat at tables, and climb ladders while the Hansens appropriately quote the Bible. For example, when Tiger the canary sits on Catnip the cat while daughter Sylvia watches (see picture), Mr. Hansen quotes Isaiah 11:6, "... the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the faitling together; and a little child shall lead them."
Mr. Hansen feels that the whole act is "a demonstration of faith. Pete is not afraid of the flaming hoop because he knows I am holding it. Muggs has to stretch out his neck to swallow a sword that's as long as he is, but he has faith in us."
Amazingly, Hansen was able to continue putting on his Bible Birds show for 60 years, until he died in 2002. See Roadside America for some more info.
Hansen makes Boom-Boom eat at a table
Tiger, Catnip, and Sylvia play
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 07, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Entertainment, Religion, 1950s
Johnson Smith Catalog Item #33
Which is your favorite?
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 06, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Johnson Smith Catalog, 1950s
Radar Scanner Hat
British fashion from 1951.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 03, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Headgear, 1950s
Dolphina at Bimbo’s 365 Club
Bimbo's 365 Club is still an active music venue in San Francisco. But, according to news on their own website, they seem to have abandoned a long proud tradition: Dolphina, the miniature live nude woman who swims in a fishbowl with goldfish.
How was this illusion achieved? When Dolphina was profiled in the NY TIMES in 2011, we learned:
IT’S AN ILLUSION A catacomb of tunnels in the bowels of the club leads to a small room containing a rotating platform on which the live “mermaid” reclines, naked. A periscope with angled mirrors projects her image up into the fishbowl where it appears that a tiny mermaid, about six inches long, is floating in an underwater grotto.
One at least hopes that the statue to an ideal Dolphina, erected in 1952 inside the club, still has a place of honor.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 02, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Entertainment, Public Indecency, Fish, 1950s
Ouija Board Inheritance
A follow-up to my Ouija board post of last week. This may be the only case of a Ouija board involved in an inheritance dispute.When Mrs. Helen Dow Peck died in 1955, she left almost her entire estate to "John Gale Forbes," whom she met via Ouija board. Which is to say that John Gale Forbes was not a corporeal entity. Mrs. Peck's surviving (flesh-and-blood) relatives sued, arguing, in essence, that Mrs. Peck was clearly nuts. The court eventually agreed and voided her will. This has established the legal precedent that ghosts can't inherit money. Read more about the case here.
Corpus Christi Caller-Times - Mar 13, 1956
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 24, 2015 -
Comments (11)
Category: Law, 1950s
Gene Vincent’s FLEA BRAIN
"If she wasn't good-looking, she'd be better off dead."
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 23, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Insects and Spiders, Music, 1950s, Brain Damage
Ed Wood’s JAILBAIT
Full movie below.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 17, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Cult Figures and Artifacts, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Stupid Criminals, Outsider Art, 1950s
Follies of the Madmen #241
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 12, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Family, Food, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s, Asia
Oog Bongo Walsco Fringo
Crazy eyes!
Source: Radio Electronics magazine - April 1952
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 08, 2015 -
Comments (4)
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. 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 |