Twentieth Century
Election 2020
Expect absurdist acts of political theater throughout the new year, from all sides.
[Mrs. Guilford Dudley of Nashville with ear trumpet, talking into ear of Democratic donkey, played by Mrs. Mary Semple Scott in skit at 1920 National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago]
Photo source.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 03, 2020 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, Politics, Twentieth Century
John Thoburn Williamson, Parsimonious Millionaire
Source for story. (Follow whole text across multiple pages.)
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 19, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Antisocial Activities, Eccentrics, Money, Twentieth Century
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 25
"King Solomon" was the last sculpture that Alexander Archipenko made and the only one that he conceived as a monumental sculpture. Throughout his career, Archipenko experimented with positive and negative space in his sculptures, often using voids or holes to suggest form. In King Solomon, he placed abstract shapes together to create the vague shape of a figure. The tall prongs at the top evoke a crown, and the intersecting triangles suggest an imposing archaic costume. Archipenko captured a dramatic sense of scale, and it is easy to imagine how formidable this figure would be if enlarged to the sixty-foot-tall version that the artist envisioned.
Source.
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 11, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Body, Criticism and Reviews, Russia, Twentieth Century
Charles “Zimmy” Zibelman, the “Human Fish”
Zimmy footage starts circa 1:05
Source.
Source.
Another article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 23, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Human Marvels, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Twentieth Century
Jackson Barnett, “The World’s Richest Indian”
From Wikipedia:
With the discovery of oil on Barnett's lands in 1912, a series of court actions by interested parties litigated the control of Barnett's trust. Barnett was declared incompetent and denied access to his affairs simply because he only spoke the Muscogee Creek language and not English. Barnett was permitted a modest income and was installed in a house near Henryetta. In 1919 the courts allowed the diversion of money from Barnett's trust to the construction of the "Jackson Barnett Hospital" in Henryetta. In 1920 Barnett, then in his seventies, married Anna Laura Lowe (1881-1952), a fortune hunter whom he had met only once before. The couple had to marry in Kansas after a marriage license was denied in Oklahoma. Barnett's guardians were unable to annul the marriage and the hospital plans were never pursued. Instead, the trust was divided between Anna Barnett and Bacone Indian College.[3]
The Barnetts moved to Los Angeles and bought a mansion on Wilshire Boulevard, where Jackson passed his time directing traffic at a nearby intersection. Legal actions continued from 1923 to 1929, which provoked congressional hearings on the role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in establishing and administering the Barnett trust and others like it. The hearings led to criticism of BIA administrator Charles H. Burke's actions, and during the 1930s, to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. In 1927 Barnett v. Equitable again proclaimed Jackson Barnett incompetent in federal court. In March 1934 another federal ruling annulled the Barnetts' marriage and Anna Barnett's rights to Jackson's trust on the grounds that Jackson had been "kidnapped" by a woman of suspect moral character, but allowed Anna to act as Jackson's caretaker. Jackson Barnett died on 29 May 1934 of natural causes: allegations that Anna had poisoned him were found to be false.[3][4]
Anna was finally evicted from the Wilshire Boulevard residence after four years, even though she had gained significant support from Los Angeles society,[5] including Los Angeles District Attorney Burton Fitts and California Governor Frank Merriam. Anna had to be tear-gassed after she threw a hatchet during the eviction,[5] and lived the remainder of her life with a daughter while unsuccessfully attempting to regain a share of the Barnett estate, which amounted to $3.5 million in 1934 ($55.4 million estimated value in 2012 dollars).
Source.
Lots more info here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 10, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Crime, Unauthorized Dwellings, Forgotten Figures and Where Are They Now?, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Government, Hospitals, Twentieth Century, Native Americans, Weddings
Edmund Love and His Restaurant Quest
In 1964, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST profiled Edmund G. Love, who intended to eat his way through approximately 5000 NYC restaurants.
By 1973, when THE NEW YORK TIMES took notice, his quest had ballooned to 6000.
His 1990 obituary in the NYT says he managed to hit 1750 of them.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 07, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Addictions, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Eccentrics, Food, Restaurants, World Records, Twentieth Century
Brain Bats of Venus
Just out is the second volume chronicling the improbable career of one of the chief Weirdo artists of all time, Basil Wolverton. Required reading for all WU-vies--and a great gift idea!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 31, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Art, Surrealism, Eccentrics, Books, Twentieth Century
One-Arm Sutton
We previously learned about Douglas Bader, the Legless Ace. Now we can contemplate the career of One-Arm Sutton.Article here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 21, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: War, Twentieth Century, Dismemberment
The Ring Gun
Great article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 06, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Enlargements, Miniatures, and Other Matters of Scale, Weapons, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
Charles Bowers
And one more.
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 29, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Movies, Cartoons, Stop-motion Animation, Special Effects, Outsider Art, Surrealism, Twentieth Century
| Who We Are |
|---|
| 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 |