1950s
Don’t Cry For Me, Roentgen-tina!
Once upon a time Juan Peron's Argentina, tricked by a quasi-scientific hoaxer, claimed they had perfected fusion power. You can see the legacy of their project in the picture above.
Read the full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 12, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Technology, 1940s, 1950s, South America
Jerry Lewis, Sensitive Crooner
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 10, 2016 -
Comments (0)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, 1950s, Comedians
Fell asleep at wedding
The earliest I've found this story reported was in Time magazine (Feb 8, 1954). But then it started popping up in other papers, some as late as 1956 (below). I haven't found any report that went into greater detail. Which makes me wonder if this ever really happened, or if it was one of those amusing fillers reporters sometimes invented to pad column space.The story, as stated, seems a bit implausible. Everyone at the wedding just left without bothering to wake the bride? Really? Even assuming that "dozed off" is a euphemism for "passed out drunk."
The Sikeston Daily Standard - Jan 18, 1956
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 02, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: 1950s, Weddings
Darryl Starbird & His Bubbletop Cars
Homepage here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 27, 2016 -
Comments (0)
Category: Pop Art, 1950s, Cars
Wife vs. Cats
The Crazy Cat Lady is the cultural stereotype (Archie McPhee even sells a Crazy Cat Lady action figure). But this story demonstrates that there are definitely Crazy Cat Men as well.
The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pa) — Jan 8, 1954
HARTFORD, Conn., Jan. 8 — Mrs. Joseph Gazik got a divorce in Superior Court after she said her husband liked cats so much that every time she asked him to get rid of them, he suggested that she leave instead.
Gazik didn't appear in court. He stayed home with his cats — all 20 of them.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 26, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Divorce, Cats, 1950s
The Case of Officer Hallibrand
"Driving while dictating." The automobile texting problem of its era.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 19, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Motor Vehicles, Police and Other Law Enforcement, PSA’s, 1950s
Banned Singing of Birds
1957: In order to maintain peace and quiet at night, the Long Beach City Council proposed a ban on "singing of birds" between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The Sedalia Democrat - May 9, 1957
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 18, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Government, Regulations, 1950s
Adelaide, the hen who laid banana-shaped eggs
Adelaide the Hen (aka Adelaide Benteggs) lived on the farm of Wilfred Waterman in Poole, England. She first came to the attention of the press in 1957, when she began laying banana-shaped eggs. Farmer Waterman put her in solitary confinement, worried that whatever was causing her to lay such eggs "might be catching."Experts from the British Ministry of Agriculture subsequently x-rayed and otherwise examined Adelaide, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong with her that was causing her to lay the banana-shaped eggs.
Adelaide, however, kept laying the odd eggs — hundreds of them — and as a result became a celebrity hen. She appeared on TV and helped raise over £1000 for charity.
When she died, on August 11, 1961, it made international news. It was reported that she died quietly, sitting on her nest, after laying another curved egg. Officials from the British Museum expressed an interest in performing an autopsy on her, but before they could do so Farmer Waterman had her cremated. He kept the ashes in an urn on his sideboard.
Despite her fame, I've been unable to find a single picture anywhere of either Adelaide or one of her curved eggs, which I find puzzling. I would have thought that press photographers would have loved to document such an oddity.
Spokane Daily Chronicle - Mar 1, 1957
The Decatur Herald - Aug 12, 1961
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 17, 2016 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Eggs, 1950s, Bananas
Mother-In-Law Beneath Bed
There's in-law problems, and then there's this:
The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) - Sep 18, 1956
SINGAPORE, Sept. 17 — A young Chinese wife complained in court today that her mother-in-law always slept under the bed she shared with her husband.
Them Kim Kow said she had left her husband but would go back to him if her mother-in-law could be forced to sleep in a separate room.
An adjournment was asked while the court and attorneys considered the case.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 14, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Divorce, Marriage, 1950s
Overzealous Brush Salesman
I occasionally get salesmen knocking at the front door. Usually they work for roofing contractors or home-security companies, though once I had a guy try to sell me nutritional supplements. But brush salesmen seem to have gone the way of the dodo.
Arizona Republic - Nov 16, 1959
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UPI) — Brush Salesman Stanley Brown paid a $153 fine on charges by a housewife that he tried to force her to get in the bathtub and let him demonstrate a back-scrubbing brush.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 10, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: 1950s
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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 |