Category:
1950s

Changed name for fortune

1954: Grizel Thomson changed her last name to Inge, and as a result inherited $3,500,000. In 2015 money, according to the inflation calculator, that would be about $30 million. Not bad for a name change.

I can't find any recent info about the Inge fortune, and whether possession of that last name is still required to get the money.

Kansas City Times - Jan 29, 1954

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 28, 2015 - Comments (7)
Category: Death, Money, 1950s

Mechanical duck attacks puppy

Merry Weird Christmas, everyone!

The San Mateo Times — Dec 26, 1951



Mechanical Duck Attacks Puppy
CHICAGO, Dec. 26 — A mechanical duck disrupted the Christmas day quiet in the Lonnie Miller home.
The toy, wound up by 8-year-old Donald Miller, waddled across the floor and latched on to the tail of Smokie, a 10-month-old puppy.
Smokie howled. So did Donald. The duck held on grimly to the tail which was entangled in its clockwork mechanism.
Donald's father took Smokie and the duck to the animal welfare league where Allen Glisch separated the two with pliers, a screwdriver and wire snippers.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 25, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Holidays, 1950s

Christmas Tune Co-opted



Curse you, Halo Shampoo, for tricking me into thinking I was going to hear a nice rendition of "Jingle Bells."

Also, smart move you made, covering up the majority of the hair in your hair-centric commercial with hats.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 16, 2015 - Comments (10)
Category: Holidays, Advertising, 1950s, Hair and Hairstyling

Won’t need any clothes

I can't find any other information concerning what became of Matthew Wilson. But I assume he ended up at that great nudist colony in the sky.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Fairbanks, Alaska) - Dec 19, 1952



However, a search of Alaska papers pulled up this item from earlier the same year (1952), about a Matthew Wilson also in Juneau. So I assume it must be the same guy. Sounds like his circumstances had been difficult before he disappeared naked.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Feb 18, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 15, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: 1950s

His wife’s brother was really her husband



A bizarre love triangle on a Wisconsin farm.

Freeport Journal-Standard - Dec 13, 1952



Farmer Learns Wife's 'Brother' Is Actually Her Undivorced Husband
WAUSAU, Wis — Farmer Walter Brandt was married six years, he testified Friday, before he learned that the man living with him and his wife was his wife's undivorced husband, not her 'brother."
Brandt, 36, told County Judge Frank G. Loeffler that his wife, Minnie, had identified Joseph Ruddock as her brother before they were married in 1946. Brandt said Minnie and Ruddock at that time were living on a farm near Vesper.
But when Brandt married Minnie and moved to his farm in Town of Eau Plaine, he said, Ruddock moved in with them. Last July Brandt said Minnie's sister told him Ruddock was Minnie's husband, not her brother.
Joe and Minnie admitted deception but claimed they had been divorced, Brandt stated. But, he said, he "blew up" and started annulment proceedings.
Judge Loeffler told Ruddock his story of how he got a divorce was implausible and that he and Minnie still were married. Brandt was granted his annulment.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 14, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: Marriage, 1950s

Swimsuit became transparent when wet

Mrs. Muncy of Redondo Beach was shocked and humiliated when her white swimsuit got wet and showed everything. So she sued the maker of the suit for $10,000.

Unfortunately I can't find any record of the outcome of her lawsuit.

That info is probably available somewhere in the archives of the L.A. County Superior Court, but their archives aren't searchable online. It's too bad that courts, for the most part, don't make any effort to put their archives online. It would be a gold mine for the history of weird news if they did.

Freeport Journal Standard - Nov 19, 1953



LA Times - Nov 19, 1953

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 13, 2015 - Comments (9)
Category: Lawsuits, 1950s

Rare Hallucination

image
image
image

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 13, 2015 - Comments (8)
Category: Dreams and Nightmares, 1950s, Alcohol, Brain Damage

The Duoscopic TV

In 1954, DuMont came out with a "Duoscopic" TV set that allowed two people to watch different programs on the same set, simultaneously. From Newsweek (Jan 11, 1954):

"When a husband wants to look at the fights and his wife prefers a situation comedy, the Duoscopic provides both at the same time. The set contains two screens and a special mirror that throws one picture onto the other, creating a double image. Polaroid windows filter out the unwanted image, and special earphones carry the separate sound tracks."

It was priced at $600. So in 2015 money, that would be approximately $5304 (according to the US Inflation Calculator). At that price tag, it made more sense for couples with different viewing preferences to just buy 2 TV sets and sit in separate rooms.

There's more info about the Duoscopic TV at the Early Television Museum. On that site, there's also speculation that DuMont originally developed the Duoscopic TV as a 3D TV, but decided they couldn't get that to work fully, so they repackaged it as a "watch 2 channels simultaneously" TV.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 11, 2015 - Comments (11)
Category: Technology, Television, 1950s

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