Category:
1970s

Fire Alarm Trapper

False alarms are a big problem for fire departments, but Vincent DiPaula figured he had a solution. In 1973, he invented a fire alarm ‘trapper’. It looked like a phone booth. If someone wanted to pull the fire alarm, they first had to enter the booth and close the door. Then, when they pulled the alarm, they would be locked inside the booth until the fire department arrived.

DiPaula figured this would deter pranksters. The obvious problem (which, I assume, is why his invention failed to be adopted) is that in the event of a real fire, it would also trap a legitimate alarm-ringer inside the burning building.

Fremont News-Messenger - Nov 27, 1973

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 27, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Inventions, 1970s

Follies of the Madmen #461

Most hideous and amateurish product mascot ever?



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 13, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Business, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, 1970s

Chest Wig

Looks more like a chest carpet than a chest wig.

Marshfield News-Herald - July 22, 1975

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 31, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Hair Styling, 1970s

Hi-Rise Camping

A great architectural project that might have been: a hi-rise campsite. The idea was the brainchild of demolition expert Wesley Hurley and architect Albert Ledner. In 1972, they founded Hi-Rise Campsites, Inc. with the goal of raising $4 million to build a hi-rise campsite in New Orleans. The Saturday Review (Jan 20, 1973) offered this description of it:

Their idea calls for the construction of a twenty-story, open-sided high-rise complete with a security guard in the lobby and a swimming pool and barbecue pit on the roof. In between, the lower floors will be reserved for parking, while the twelve upper stories will be divided into 240 campsites, each one carpeted with Astroturf and equipped with a utility hookup and deck furniture. The ground floor will house an all-night supermarket and a fast-food facility dishing out “camper burgers” to hearty outdoorsmen famished after a bone-crushing day in the traffic. Plans are also afoot to include a beauty parlor, a barber shop, and an automobile service garage in the building—but plans are the only thing afoot. The campers themselves will watch as their trailers are placed on a turntable-like platform and hoisted up to the appropriate slot then follow along in elevated comfort. All this for $11 per night for each vehicle.

Ledner was a respected, modernist architect. So his attachment to the project added some credibility to it. However, the financing was never secured, so the hi-rise campsite was never built.

I couldn’t find any pictures showing what the campsite would have looked like, but below is a 1966 sketch of another Ledner-designed high rise in New Orleans. So imagine this, but with open sides.

source

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 30, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, 1970s

The Bequest of Ernest Digweed

Ernest Digweed was a retired schoolteacher from Portsmouth. When he died in 1976, he left behind approximately $44,000, with instructions that the money should go to Jesus Christ, if Christ should return to Earth in the next 80 years. Apparently Digweed was worried that Christ might be a bit short of cash when he came back.

Several people promptly came forward, claiming they were Christ, but they were turned away. Digweed's relatives, meanwhile, weren't happy at all with the will and sued to get the money. Eventually, it seems, the courts did agree to give it to them, but with one condition. The family had to take out an insurance policy that would pay back the money, should the original benefactor (Jesus) make an appearance. So if Jesus should return by 2056, he still has some money coming his way.

Regina Leader-Post - Dec 16, 1981

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 28, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, 1970s

Mr. Horatio Knibbles

Apparently, someone said, "What if we remade Harvey, but with a kid in the Jimmy Stewart role?"



Full movie in seven parts on YouTube.

IMDB entry.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 27, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Delusions, Fantasies and Other Tricks of the Imagination, Movies, Surrealism, Children, 1970s, Fictional Monsters

The Gay Bob Doll



Read the whole story here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 22, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Toys, 1970s, LGBT

The Hazardous Maxi-coat

It's getting colder outside, here in the Northern Hemisphere--but be careful of how you bundle up!






Source.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Death, Fashion, 1970s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

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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.

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