Miss Most Titles

Actress and singer Janis Paige earned the reputation of having the longest list of 'misses' in show business. Her career as a Miss began at the age of 9 when she was awarded the title of Miss Olive Oyl in a Popeye contest. She went on to be named (among other things) Miss Valley Aviation, Miss National Buddy Poppy, Miss Damsite, Miss Front Paige (named by Boston newspaper editors), Miss Delicious Apples, Miss Best Table Decoration, Miss Atomic Energy, Miss Airmail Parcel Post, and Miss Hollywood Canteen.

According to wikipedia, she's currently 95 years old.

Miss Atomic Energy, 1948

Reno Gazette Journal - Apr 14, 1947

Des Moines Register - Jan 16, 1949

Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 06, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1940s

Traffic pins with double meanings

From the Feb 1947 issue of Hit Parader magazine. via Kitsch-Slapped.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 05, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Jewelry, 1940s

Easy Does It:  Canned Goods Rule

The bad-acid-trip Good Fairy of Canned Vegetables talks about marketplace disruptions and paradigm shifts, and serves as Cupid. Be sure to enjoy the suicidal tomatoes plunging to their canned goods deaths.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 23, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: Business, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Products, Retailing, Food, Cartoons, 1940s

Follies of the Madmen #326

1) Sturgeons are the ONLY ones to make caviar, therefore they are best by default, and the point is moot.

2) The mental juxtaposition engendered by this ad between a fishy taste and the taste of coffee is most unpleasant.

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 20, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Business, Advertising, Products, Food, 1940s

The Untouchables vs. the Touchables

One of Eliot Ness's less well-publicized duties.

Full article here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 19, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Crime, Medicine, Sexuality, 1940s

Beefless Days

Back in 1942, the town of Ashland, Ohio instituted a policy of "beefless days." It had nothing to do with going vegetarian. All the town residents pledged that on every Thursday until the war ended they wouldn't complain about anything.

Oakland Tribune - Oct 9, 1942

On Thursdays, Ashland residents are now free to beef about anything they want. But the town still declares itself to be the "World Headquarters of Nice People."

Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 10, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: 1940s

Beauty Mask

March 1940 — At the International Beauty Shop Owners' show in New York City, Ruth Scott modeled a mask to heat the face and tone up the skin. The scratchers on her fingers were brass thimbles to protect nail polish until it dried.

Newsweek - Mar 25, 1940

Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 09, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Costumes and Masks, 1940s

Bikini Revisited

In 1946, Micheline Bernardini modeled a two-piece swimsuit designed by Louis Reard, which he called a 'bikini' — naming it after the site of the recent atomic bomb test in the Bikini Atoll.

As wikipedia notes: "Photographs of Bernardini and articles about the event were widely carried by the press. The International Herald Tribune alone ran nine stories on the event. The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received over 50,000 fan letters."

The little box she's holding is what the bikini was sold in, to emphasize how tiny it was.



Forty years later Bernardini posed again in a bikini, "for old time's sake."

I can't figure out what picture she's holding. It doesn't seem to be the famous one, shown above. Must have been another photo from the shoot.

Source: bludog

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 29, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, 1940s

Follies of the Madmen #324

Original ad here.

The notion of a garment that imparts a frigid chill to the wearer seems most unappealing.

At the time of this writing, there is actually a vintage one for sale online.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 27, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, Underwear, 1940s

Sun bathing at Bikini again

You get a killer tan, even at night.

The original residents of Bikini were never able to return.

The Miami News - July 3, 1946

Update: Found a better quality copy of the picture. (source)

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 26, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, 1940s