Category:
1920s

The Taste Organ

Decatur Herald - Sep 14, 1926



An experimental model of the 'Taste Organ,' which was developed by a French scientist. To enjoy the taste 'harmonies' the 'listener' holds a small tube in his mouth so that the various concentrated liquids can be injected either singly or in the correct combination.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 02, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Food, Inventions, 1920s

Predictions for 2020 from 1920

Published in the Dayton Daily News - Sep 29, 1920. What stands out to me is that the author believed that entirely new forms of power would be in use in 2020... and while wind, solar, and nuclear do provide some power nowadays, the old forms of power (coal and gas) still dominate. So the author was too optimistic about the pace of change.

Wooden houses may not be known in 2020. The street cars, railroad cars, and other familiar methods of travel doubtless will have passed the way of history a century from this hour. Out of all the agencies which men use today electricity alone seems likely to survive. Many scientific men believe that coal and gas will have passed out of common use within the century.

Some one has suggested that the air and the water will furnish us our methods of heat and power in 2020. No one can doubt but that the flying machines of a new and important type, not known today, will be in general use a century removed.

Airplanes probably will be driven by electricity with storage batteries providing the power. Gasoline is not likely to be utilized in 2020. The fuel problem will be solved in a far different way than it is solved now. The air will provide an immense motive power for various things. The sun, doubtless, will be called upon to furnish the greater portion of the heat utilized by manking. Out of the waters on the face of the earth something will be developed for the benefit of the human family.

The automobile will be succeeded by something entirely different. Horses and cows may not be known.

Students of the human race have told us that the primitive man, like the primitive animal, was great in stature. The bones that the scientists have unearthed have verified this. Maybe human beings a century hence will become either much smaller of much larger than they are today. Everything will have changed.

A century past has given us an unlimited amount of great inventions, the sewing machine, electric irons, electric washing machines, airplanes, automobiles, radium and electricity. The next 100 years will see this process of enlargement carried on until it reaches even greater heights.

It may not be a cheerful picture to paint, but most of us will not be here to see the year 2020 roll around. But we can rest assured time will bring changes and improvements. This is a progressive earth and progress has marked each succeeding year since the beginning.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 01, 2020 - Comments (8)
Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, 1920s

Dishes cleaned by peeling

Someone obviously spent time to develop these peelable plates. So I wonder what advantage they saw in sticking the plates together, as opposed to just having a stack of cheap, paper plates?



Popular Mechanics - June 1924

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 24, 2019 - Comments (5)
Category: Inventions, 1920s

Fly-Operated Turtle

Patent No. 1,591,905, granted to Oscar C. Williams of San Diego, CA in 1926, described this curious device.

It was a toy turtle. Its body was made of wood or aluminum, while the head, legs, and tail were made from lightweight cork. The user was supposed to insert several flies into the hollow body of the turtle. Their agitations once inside, as they sought to escape, would then cause the movable parts of the turtle to wag from side to side, as if the creature was alive.

I can see several drawbacks. First, you would have to catch some flies and maneuver them (alive) into the turtle. This was done by squeezing them through the leg hole. Handling a fly in this way seems like it could be a challenge.

And once in there, I imagine you'd have to wait until the flies died to get them back out. So, essentially, it was a fly torture device.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 22, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Inventions, Patents, Toys, 1920s

Mining Accident Dolls

In 1922, the Bureau of Mines created a series of educational dolls to illustrate common mining injuries, and how they should be dealt with in an emergency. The dolls were exhibited at various mining centers. According to Popular Mechanics (Sep 1929) the dolls were also "intended to serve as a safety warning.”

As far as I know, there's never been a Mining Accident Barbie (or Ken).

Popular Mechanics - Sep 1929

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 10, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, Toys, 1920s

How much total weight does it take to play a song on the piano?

Pianist Moissaye Boguslawski (popularly known as 'Bogie') calculated in 1927 that "in the four minutes it took him to play Rubenstein's 'Staccato Etude' he exerted force of 14,700 pounds." Apparently he then used this bit of esoterica to impress the ladies.

The wikipedia entry on Boguslawski notes, "Boguslawski was known for skillfully attracting media attention. A 1936 piece in TIME magazine said of him, 'When straight news about himself is scarce, 'Bogie' is likely to come forth with such a project as his proposal to promote world peace through voice culture, since animosity arises when unpleasant tones are heard.'"

Muncie Evening Press - Aug 11, 1927



Ithaca Journal - Nov 23, 1926

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 27, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Music, 1920s

Dog-Collar Engagement Rings

An unusual fad, as reported by the San Francisco Examiner, June 19, 1927:

Only the other day there came from Denver the startling news that the young women of this western city were wearing dog collars for engagement rings in lieu of the conventional band of gold, silver or diamond-set platinum. To further emphasize the departure from tradition, the girls wore this romantic token around their legs, as shown in the photograph of Miss Fay Rowe, of Denver, on this page. Thus the engagement ring-dog-collar became a garter as well as a symbol of betrothal, combining utility with romance...

The custom was started by a young woman in one of the college sororities and it spread rapidly. It was generally believed to be something entirely new in the way of betrothal tokens, but had the young woman been a careful student in her history class she would have known that the fad she started was an old one long before the Christian era was born. Jeweled anklets have been discovered in the cinerary urns of the ancient Greeks, with inscriptions which indicate they were tokens of engagement. Bracelets were also common in all ages as tokens of betrothal...

The principal objection to the dog-collar engagement token around the leg seems to be, "What's the use of wearing an engagement ring without anybody seeing it?" To which the answer is, "Nowadays a ring worn about the leg can easily be seen with the skirts of women growing shorter and shorter."

I can think of a few more objections a bride-to-be might have, other than that the dog collar wouldn't be visible.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 26, 2019 - Comments (6)
Category: 1920s, Weddings, Love & Romance

Dangers of the Charleston



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 24, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: 1920s, Dance, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

A woman dressed only in her hair

Now arises Mrs. Lydia McPherson of Los Angeles, California… Her friends claim that if Lady Godiva had possessed hair like Mrs. McPherson, she would have been more than adequately attired in her famous ride through the streets of Coventry. Mrs. McPherson surpasses Mother Eve, by wearing, as her picture shows, only nature’s covering, whereas the world’s first lady had to borrow from the fig tree. The tresses of Mrs. McPherson measure seven feet two inches from root to tip, and are of a find, bright red color.
San Francisco Examiner - Jun 26, 1927


(left) In her birthday suit; (right) fully clothed



Below: Looking a bit like that girl from The Ring movie.

St. Louis Post Dispatch - Apr 24, 1927



The Ring girl, for comparison:



Some more images of Lydia McPherson and her long hair:

(left) at the 1933 Chicago Odditorium, where she was advertised as having "the longest red hair in the world" (via pbs.org); (right) undated photo (via sisterwolf).

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 15, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: 1920s, Hair and Hairstyling

Pabst-Ett Cheese

The ad copy claimed that it wasn't cheese. Instead, it was "more than cheese." So what exactly was this stuff?

San Francisco Examiner - Aug 7, 1927


Pabst-ett is not cheese — but more than cheese. It is made by the Pabst process which conserves the nutritive value of whole milk — the milk sugar, milk proteins, and body-building milk mineral elements lost in cheese making.
It is as digestible as milk; more nourishing than milk; the cheese-product young children, elderly persons, even invalids may enjoy. A valuable regulative food for the system — rich in vitamins — health-building.

The Vintage Recipe Blog explains that it was a "a processed whey cheese similar to Velveeta but more spreadable." The Pabst Brewing Company created it in the 1920s as a way to find an alternative line of business during Prohibition. When Prohibition ended, they sold the rights to Kraft, who discontinued the product a few years later.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 06, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Food, 1920s

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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.

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