1950s
Follies of the Madmen #285
Wait a minute--I'm confused by the graphics. Does this product come from outer space?
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 14, 2016 -
Comments (6)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, 1950s, Hair and Hairstyling
Wine On Tap
In 1953, the Hotel Terminus in Dijon, France upgraded its amenities to include free red and white wine on tap in every room.If this hotel is still around, I can't find any evidence of it online.
The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania) - Jan 7, 1954
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Dec 30, 1953
Update — relevant meme:
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 13, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Hotels, 1950s
Lived in a box
Joseph Porcos of Chicago lived in a box. In hindsight, perhaps he could be seen as a pioneer of the tiny home movement.
The Columbus Republic - Jan 24, 1957
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 10, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, 1950s
Follies of the Madmen #284
Reminding me of that old proverb, "If billfolds were neckties, publicists would be geniuses."
Scanned from Good Housekeeping for December 1953.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 09, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Holidays, Surrealism, 1950s
Bullet-proof Bible
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 08, 2016 -
Comments (11)
Category: Death, Religion, Superstition, 1950s, Weapons
Mystery Illustration 21
What famous restaurant is depicted here?
The answer at this link.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 07, 2016 -
Comments (11)
Category: Restaurants, 1950s
Owning One Inch of the Yukon
Back in 1955, the marketing execs for Quaker Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat came up with an ingenious way to sell breakfast cereal. They bought 19.11 acres of land on the Yukon River in Canada. Then they divided up the land into 21 million square-inch plots and gave away deeds for these 1-inch plots inside the cereal boxes, which flew off the shelves.Over at creators.com, Malcolm Berko tells what happened next:
Quaker Oats never paid taxes on the Yukon land, so in 1965 the Canadian government reclaimed it. Which means that anyone who still has one of those land deeds no longer has any claim to the tiny plot of land. However, the deeds themselves have appreciated considerably in value as collector's items.
I've previously posted about a similar publicity stunt: when MGM gave away, in 1947, 1-acre plots of New Mexico desert in order to promote the movie The Sea of Grass.
Posted By: Alex - Sat May 28, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Real Estate, 1950s
Follies of the Madmen #283
"But, Betty, I can't fit the corpse into the upright model so easily!"
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 26, 2016 -
Comments (13)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Death, Appliances, 1950s
Jackety Jack
Your language lesson for the day.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 25, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Languages, Music, 1950s
Elvis and the Hollywood Vice Squad
I wonder what the Hollywood Vice Squad of 1957 would make of many a modern pop music show?
Original text here.
Original text here.
Original text here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 18, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Celebrities, Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1950s, Dance
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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 |