Gray argued that his horizontal theater had several advantages over a traditional theater. First, it would be more comfortable to watch a movie while reclining. Second, a patron's view would never be obstructed by someone in front of them. And finally, the screen could be located at a closer-to-equal distance from all viewers.
I've never heard of a horizontal theater being built. But arguably his patent foreshadowed the rise of the modern-day luxury cinemas where you can relax in seats that recline almost all the way back.
Oct 16, 2001: In Powell, Wyoming, artist Cosimo Cavallaro covered a house inside and out with government-surplus pepperjack cheese. He melted the cheese and then sprayed it on with a pump.
Photographer Dan Cepeda, who was assigned to cover the event, offered this commentary:
Specifics of many assignments fade over the years, but what will never fade is the unbearable stink of rancid fake cheese slamming me in the face with vomit-inducing intensity. I've got a strong stomach. I've survived some pretty brutal scents in my life. This one nearly got me.
The house was put on display for two weeks and then demolished.
The strange case of Mary Adams of Stockport, England, who slammed shut her front door, causing the house to collapse into rubble.
Fort Lauderdale News - Jan 22, 1975
I was curious what the scene of the house collapse looked like today. After some searching on Google maps, I'm pretty sure her house was situated by the Park Bridge in Stockport (which is part of Greater Manchester). Though I'm not sure what side of the bridge it was on.
"Back in 1955, the Marquis de Maussabré took drastic action when faced with a wealth tax. He blew up his château in Airvault, near Poitiers, using 150kg of dynamite."
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.
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.