Twentieth Century
Spikehorn Meyer, Friend to Bears
One of the forerunners of those folks who cuddle up to bears. Luckily, Spikehorn was never hurt.Article here.
Find-a-grave site.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 21, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Cult Figures and Artifacts, Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Eccentrics, Regionalism, Twentieth Century
The World’s Most Unusual Drugstore
See their complete 1942 ad here.
"Stack it high and sell it cheap" was Doc Webb's motto. Over the years, he built his empire from a small drug store at Ninth Street and Second Avenue, opened in 1925, to a sprawling bazaar of 77 stores, covering seven city blocks. Webb was as much a national legend as his stores. The unorthodox, merchandising medicine man always had a gimmick to lure thousands of customers through the doors. At ten cents a dance, no wonder the Dancing Chicken generated excitement at Webb's City in this 1975 photo. He sold dollar bills for 89 cents and bought them back the next day for $1.35. He offered three-cent breakfasts, brought in animals that performed at the drop of a coin and mermaids who "talked." He made other merchants mad because he sold his wares below the suppliers' suggested prices.
Article source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 20, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Freebies, Come-ons and Loss Leaders, Eccentrics, Regionalism, Twentieth Century
Worst Cereal Name and Ingredients Ever?
Source.
More info here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 14, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Food, Twentieth Century, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust
Glacier Rub
I guess you can't keep a good (?) idea down. Particularly poignant product name in an era of climate change.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 08, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Body, Head, Business, Advertising, Nature, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
Boil Tested Buttons
Are modern buttons boil tested in the year 2019? It seems overkill to me, even back then. If you had the plastics formulation down pat, and tested it once, would you have to boil every button that came off the "assembly" line?
Source.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 06, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Destruction, Domestic, Fashion, Advertising, Twentieth Century
Bear Grease for Bald Men
Wikipedia says: "Bear's grease was a popular treatment for men with hair loss from at least as early as 1653 until about the First World War." They obviously know nothing about Canadian Kelly Chamandy, who was still peddling the stuff in the 50s.When he finally came home for good at the end of the war, Kelly Chamandy was bald as an egg. Taking the advice of his Cree friends, he began massaging rendered bear fat into his scalp and, lo and behold, his hair began to grow back! The state of his pate, his Syrian peddler heritage, and his wilderness experience gave him a brilliant idea which led to his entrance into an ancient, unconventional, and all-but-forgotten industry: the bear grease market.
Big article on Chamandy here.
1953 Maclean's article here.
BTW, here's some bear fat for you.
Foto source.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 28, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, North America, Twentieth Century, Hair and Hairstyling, Head
Tony Pastor
Mr. Pastor had a somewhat unusual voice and presentation. I'm thinking Jim Nabors combined with Lou Costello.His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 09, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Music, Twentieth Century
Schenck’s Mandrake Pills
Source of ad.
Source of pic.
Click here for product brochure.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 23, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
Twelve-Tone Greatest Hits
Very droll.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 27, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Music, Twentieth Century, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
The Acrobatic Fly
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 21, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Entertainment, Nature, Twentieth Century
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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 |