1970s
Marty Snyder, the blind movie censor
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, when asked to define pornography, "I know it when I see it."Marty Snyder couldn't see it, but he figured he would know it anyway, especially if the person sitting next to him filled him in on what he was missing.
Snyder ended up serving on the Clarkstown censorship panel for less than a year because he died of a stroke in 1974.
South Mississippi Sun - Oct 25, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 25, 2023 -
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Category: Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1970s, Eyes and Vision
Chrome
Let us all know if/when you bail.The band's Wikipedia page.
Chrome is an American rock band founded in San Francisco in 1976 by musician Damon Edge and associated with the 1970s post-punk movement.[3] The group's raw sound blended elements of punk, psychedelia, and early industrial music,[4] incorporating science-fiction themes, tape experimentation, distorted acid rock guitar, and electronic noise.[5] They have been cited as forerunners of the 1980s industrial music boom.[6] They found little commercial success as part of San Francisco's 1970s music scene...
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 16, 2023 -
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Category: Eccentrics, Music, 1970s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
The Roman Holidays
Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 11, 2023 -
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Category: History, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Cartoons, 1970s
Dolphin Lair’s anti-smoking campaign
Dec 6, 1976: 21-year-old Dolphin Lair held a hostage at gunpoint for several hours on top of a building in Los Angeles until police agreed to his demand that local radio stations broadcast his anti-smoking message. The message read, in part, "I want my Congress to put a bill before the law that all cigarettes that contain nicotine and tar should clearly explain what the ingredients mean." Once the message was broadcast, Lair surrendered.Lair's father had recently died of lung cancer. He later explained that when he had first tried to get the media to broadcast his message, "They told me it wasn't newsworthy. So I planned this... and it was newsworthy."
He was eventually convicted of felony false imprisonment and sentenced to a year in county jail.
More info: NY Times
Long Beach Independent - Dec 7, 1976
Coshocton Tribune - Dec 7, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 08, 2023 -
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Category: Crime, Smoking and Tobacco, 1970s
Space is the Place
The definitive statement from a master weirdo, Sun Ra. A couple of clips below.The entire movie can be viewed on YouTube (but not embedded here).
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 08, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Aliens, Eccentrics, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Music, Space Travel, 1970s
Cuba Va!
Stoke your revolutionary fervor via the embedded player below!
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 05, 2023 -
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Category: Music, Revolutions, Coups, Collapses and Regime Changes, 1970s, Caribbean
The Birdseed Bandit
Jan 1976: Miklos Petrovics held up a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles, but instead of asking for money he demanded a truckload of birdseed. He also, "demanded the bank landscape its grounds and filter the building's air-conditioning system to fight air pollution that he said was killing his birds." Finally, "he also wanted the people of Los Angeles to 'join hands and march to the ocean to be cleaned.'"After 90 minutes he surrendered to the police. He later pleaded guilty to a felony charge of brandishing a weapon and was sentenced to six months in jail and six months probation.
Shreveport Journal - Jan 7, 1976
Venice Marina News - May 6, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 04, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crime, 1970s
The man who cut his house in half
The story goes that, in 1976, Eugene Schneider cut his house in half with a chainsaw as a spiteful way of complying with the divorce requirement that he split his assets evenly with his wife.But as you can see from the photos below, he didn't actually succeed in cutting the house in half, although he did a lot of damage with the chainsaw. It was all eventually repaired, and the house is still standing, in one piece, today. You can view it on Zillow or Google Maps.
Calgary Herald - Mar 30, 1978
Central New Jersey Home News - Aug 6, 1976
New York Daily News - Aug 3, 1976
Charges were filed against Schneider, but somewhat surprisingly (at least, I find it surprising) a jury cleared him of all wrongdoing.
Central New Jersey Home News - Feb 16, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 02, 2023 -
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Category: Architecture, Divorce, 1970s
Waiting for her husband
Another entry in our ongoing exploration of people killed unexpectedly by falling objects.
Victoria Times Colonist - Jan 21, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 01, 2023 -
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Category: Death, 1970s
Follies of the Madmen #572
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 30, 2023 -
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Category: Advertising, Junk Food, Wimps, Milquetoasts and Cowards, 1960s, 1970s
| Who We Are |
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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 |