The Pepsi Cola Shopping Spree of 1964 and 1965

Why don't we have these contests anymore?





Original ad here.



Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 30, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Family, Food, Advertising, Freebies, Come-ons and Loss Leaders, 1960s

Turtle Clapping

The only source that I can find for this supposedly ancient and semi-legendary practice is a single article in FIELD AND STREAM.

Was the reporter getting his leg pulled? Did the practice exist, then die off? Inquiring minds want to know!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 29, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Regionalism, 1960s

Mailed herself to the Beatles

June 1966: 12-year-old Beatles superfan Carol Dryden of Sunderland, England came up with an ingenious scheme to meet the Fab Four. She packaged herself inside a box and arranged to have a friend mail her to them — addressed "to the Beatles, care their fan club, London." Shipping cost $8.47.

But Carol only got as far as the railway station, where a clerk noticed the box she was in wobbling back and forth. Inside of it, Carol, overheated and running out of air because she hadn't made any holes in the box, was trying to take off her sweater.

Carol confessed, "I hadn't thought about fresh air or food. All I wanted was to see the Beatles. I don't know what I would have done had I really arrived on their doorstep. I suppose I would have fainted."

The railroad refunded the freight charge.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - June 16, 1966

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 26, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Amateurs and Fans, 1960s, Postal Services

Bensen Gyrocopters

Aren't drones a little wimpy, when you could be flying your own Bensen Gyrocopter?



Original ad here.

Heck, even Batman had one!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 23, 2016 - Comments (10)
Category: Hobbies and DIY, Comics, Air Travel and Airlines, 1960s

Happy

Wikipedia article here.

Another, lesser-known, candidate for "Worst TV Show Ever." As a critic said at the time:

Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 17, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Television, Babies and Toddlers, Fantasy, 1960s

Miss World 1969

Dig those beehive 'do's!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 16, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1960s

Jill Day’s Gym

I call total sexual harassment on Jill Day. Luckily she could fall back on her singing.




Note how these poor oppressed men in the second video have retreated to a female-free gym.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 15, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Music, 1950s, 1960s, Europe, Bodybuilding

The scientist who feared inhaling beer cans

Back in 1969, air-pollution researcher Alfred Hulstrunk had arrived at the pessimistic conclusion that pollution levels were getting so bad that within 10 to 15 years every man, woman, and child would need to wear a breathing helmet to survive outdoors. And within 20 years, he predicted, everyone would have to live in domed cities.

Part of the problem, Hulstrunk believed, was all the stuff that society produced, such as "plastic beer containers that can be burned instead of just discarded." When burned, the beer cans added to air pollution. He noted, "Aesthetically you improve your area so that you don't have beer cans along the road, but now you are breathing beer cans."

Therefore, Hulstrunk had prepared for the future by designing an air pollution survival suit "to prevent inhaling beer cans or any other matter."

Corsicana Daily Sun - Dec 23, 1969

Arizona Republic - Dec 21, 1969

Note: It looks like Hulstrunk is still around, now aged 90. He recently gave a talk at Cedars of Lebanon State Park.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 08, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Predictions, Yesterday’s Tomorrows, Science, 1960s

Joey Reynolds and the Beatles

An ancient manufactured pop-music feud.

The Joey Reynolds story here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 08, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Law, Music, Rivalries, Feuds and Grudges, 1960s

The Jesus Cloud of 1963

This strange cloud appeared over Arizona in 1963 and inspired many mystical revelations.

Good coverage here.

And here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 06, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Nature, Religion, 1960s