The Door From Which There Is No Escape

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 12, 2017 - Comments (6)
Category: Drugs, PSA’s, 1970s

The Annals of State-Sponsored Corporal Punishment

Kids these days--so unreasonable!

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 09, 2017 - Comments (9)
Category: Body, Screams, Grunts and Other Exclamations, Education, 1970s

Mystery Illustration 61

This woman is attempting to sell you a magazine. What type? Skin mag? Sports mag? CAT FANCY?

The answer is after the jump.

More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 31, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Magazines, Sexuality, 1970s

Big Earl the Beer-Drinking Pig

Big Earl was a talented pig. He could drink a can of beer while standing on his hind legs, and then he'd eat the can. He performed this stunt in various barrooms, until the State Liquor Commission found out what was going on and ordered Big Earl to stop, citing a law against bringing pigs into bars.

At least, that's how a lot of newspapers reported the story. But it seems there was also a more disturbing part to Big Earl's act. In addition to eating the beer can, he would also eat a live chicken. Someone called to complain, and that's what got his act banned.

Philadelphia Inquirer - May 10, 1975

Minneapolis Star - May 15, 1975

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 25, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, 1970s

Paperbacks from Hell

For Halloween or Xmas, what could be a better gift? A brilliant art and history book about the crazy-ass horror novel covers of yore?

Read a review here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 24, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Horror, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Books, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s

Effect of Gamma Rays on Marigolds

Paul Zindel's play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1971. It inspired Paul Newman to make a film of the same name the next year.

And in 1974 it inspired 13-year-old Danny Kleiner of Philadelphia to wonder what the effect of gamma rays on marigolds would be. So he made that his school science project. He used cobalt radiation to produce the gamma rays. Unfortunately, I don't know what the results of his experiment were.

I haven't read or seen Zindel's play so I don't know if a similar experiment is featured in the book. I'm guessing it must be. I wonder how many high school students were inspired by Zindel's play to do similar experiments?

Danny Kleiner examining his gamma-ray-exposed marigolds
via Temple University Library

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 14, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Theater and Stage, Experiments, 1970s

Temporarily Blind

May 1974: Three students at Northeast High School in Philadelphia participated in a medical experiment in which for five days they experienced what it was like to be blind.

I'm guessing this kind of experiment would never be allowed nowadays in a high school.





Source: Temple University digital collections (image one, image two)

Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 09, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: School, Experiments, 1970s

Statehood for Lake Michigan

Back in 1975, Federal Administrative Judge Edward McCarthy briefly tried to promote the idea of granting statehood to Lake Michigan. He figured that if the lake itself was a state, then all the surrounding states wouldn't be able to exploit its resources as easily. As for the oddness of a lake being a state, he reasoned, why not? "After all," he noted, "it's a piece of real estate on which a body of water rests."

Waukesha Daily Freeman - Mar 10, 1975

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 08, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Geography and Maps, 1970s

Chickens as traffic control

1975: Rather than installing expensive signs or speed bumps, Napa, California experimented with using chickens to slow down motorists on one of its streets — Streblow Drive, bordering Kennedy Park. They simply let 85 chickens roam the park and street at will. Said park superintendent Bob Pelusi, "Only occasionally does an errant driver charge through the flock. In the nine months we've had the chickens on the job, we've lost 12 of them — gone in the line of duty, so to speak."

Tampa Times - Apr 11, 1975

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 07, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Highways, Roads, Streets and Traffic, 1970s

State of Rhode Island

I'm encroaching on Paul's territory here, but I just learned a weird factoid about Rhode Island geography so I thought I'd share. And I'm sure many of you will also know this, but if it was new to me I'm hoping it may be new to a few of you as well.

The factoid: Most of Rhode Island is not Rhode Island. It's the Providence Plantations.

Rhode Island's full name is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," which makes it the longest state name in the U.S. But technically, Rhode Island is just a single island in Narragansett Bay. The island is also known as Aquidneck Island. The mainland part of the state is the Providence Plantations.

In 1975, State Sen. Ambrose Campbell introduced a bill to officially shorten the name to "The State of Rhode Island," but the bill didn't pass. So the full, long name remains.

Minneapolis Star Tribune - Apr 10, 1975

Santa Cruz Sentinel - Jul 17, 1975

Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 03, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Geography and Maps, 1970s