Weird Universe Archive

December 2019

December 31, 2019

Chest Wig

Looks more like a chest carpet than a chest wig.

Marshfield News-Herald - July 22, 1975

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 31, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Hair Styling, 1970s

Follies of the Madmen #459



Sanitary pad endows woman with power to make flowers sprout from inanimate objects.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 31, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Body, Genitals, Business, Advertising, Hygiene, Body Fluids, Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, 1960s

December 30, 2019

Hi-Rise Camping

A great architectural project that might have been: a hi-rise campsite. The idea was the brainchild of demolition expert Wesley Hurley and architect Albert Ledner. In 1972, they founded Hi-Rise Campsites, Inc. with the goal of raising $4 million to build a hi-rise campsite in New Orleans. The Saturday Review (Jan 20, 1973) offered this description of it:

Their idea calls for the construction of a twenty-story, open-sided high-rise complete with a security guard in the lobby and a swimming pool and barbecue pit on the roof. In between, the lower floors will be reserved for parking, while the twelve upper stories will be divided into 240 campsites, each one carpeted with Astroturf and equipped with a utility hookup and deck furniture. The ground floor will house an all-night supermarket and a fast-food facility dishing out “camper burgers” to hearty outdoorsmen famished after a bone-crushing day in the traffic. Plans are also afoot to include a beauty parlor, a barber shop, and an automobile service garage in the building—but plans are the only thing afoot. The campers themselves will watch as their trailers are placed on a turntable-like platform and hoisted up to the appropriate slot then follow along in elevated comfort. All this for $11 per night for each vehicle.

Ledner was a respected, modernist architect. So his attachment to the project added some credibility to it. However, the financing was never secured, so the hi-rise campsite was never built.

I couldn’t find any pictures showing what the campsite would have looked like, but below is a 1966 sketch of another Ledner-designed high rise in New Orleans. So imagine this, but with open sides.

source

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 30, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, 1970s

Mystery Illustration 90

Still from a sci-fi flick, or real outfit?

The answer is here.

Or after the jump.





More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 30, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Movies, Technology, 1940s

December 29, 2019

Shaving with X-rays

It wasn't long after the discovery of x-rays, that people realized they could be used to remove body hair. In 1899, the American X-Ray Journal noted the "epilating properties of the X-Rays," and suggested that hair removal might be a profitable side-business for x-ray technicians.

However, as far as I can tell, it wasn't until 1945 that anyone got around to patenting the idea of x-ray hair removal. The patent was granted to Violet Arnold of Detroit. Columnist Frederick Othman wrote about it in a Dec 1945 column:

Her boyfriend was the inspiration, with his whiskery chin. Now he has no whiskers, thanks to U.S. Patent Number 2,389,403, the X-ray razor...
Miss Arnold's shave consists of two X-ray treatments of five to ten minutes each with the rays going through an aluminum plate before they hit the whiskers. That makes 'em curl up. Then she attacks the wilted whiskers nine more times in five weeks with rays going through aluminum and a bottle of water, too.

Amarillo Globe Times - Dec 3, 1945



The X-ray razor never caught on, probably because of the risk of serious, disfiguring burns. However, the idea lingered on in popular culture for a few years and was featured in several ad campaigns.

Crowley Post-Signal - Dec 12, 1952



Washington Court House Record-Herals - Jan 6, 1953

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 29, 2019 - Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Technology, 1940s

December 28, 2019

The Bequest of Ernest Digweed

Ernest Digweed was a retired schoolteacher from Portsmouth. When he died in 1976, he left behind approximately $44,000, with instructions that the money should go to Jesus Christ, if Christ should return to Earth in the next 80 years. Apparently Digweed was worried that Christ might be a bit short of cash when he came back.

Several people promptly came forward, claiming they were Christ, but they were turned away. Digweed's relatives, meanwhile, weren't happy at all with the will and sued to get the money. Eventually, it seems, the courts did agree to give it to them, but with one condition. The family had to take out an insurance policy that would pay back the money, should the original benefactor (Jesus) make an appearance. So if Jesus should return by 2056, he still has some money coming his way.

Regina Leader-Post - Dec 16, 1981

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 28, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, 1970s

Novelty Watches


Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 28, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, Inventions, 1950s

December 27, 2019

Percy the Fainting Pigeon

Percy was a prize-winning racing pigeon with an odd habit:

At the drop of a hat — and even without that signal — he rolls on his back, tucks in his wings, curls up his legs and claws and to all intents and purposes is dead. Only his bright red eyes and an occasional craning of the neck show that Percy is playing possum.

No matter where he is or where you put him, Percy keeps up the pose. On the top of the television, on the rim of the cup he won at the Royal Welsh Show, or tossed in the air, he holds it.

Even putting him on the floor next to Suzie the cat doesn’t cause a twitch.



New York Daily News - Jan 19, 1969



The Jackson Sun - Apr 10, 1968

Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 27, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, 1960s

Mr. Horatio Knibbles

Apparently, someone said, "What if we remade Harvey, but with a kid in the Jimmy Stewart role?"



Full movie in seven parts on YouTube.

IMDB entry.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 27, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Delusions, Fantasies and Other Tricks of the Imagination, Movies, Surrealism, Children, 1970s, Fictional Monsters

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