Category:
Contests, Races and Other Competitions

Human Fishing Contest

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 12, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Surrealism, Fish, 1940s

It Pays to Be Ignorant





We could use such a satirical show today.

Full history here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 24, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Radio, Stupidity, Television, 1940s, 1950s

Cattle Princesses

I never did understand why cows and beauty contests are often linked. It's probably a throwback to ancient pagan fertility rites. Below are the six young women who hoped to become the 1975 Kern County Cattle Princess. I don't know who won.

And below that are the young women who currently serve as California Dairy Princesses.



Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 08, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Farming

Most Typical Boy

A little over a month ago I posted about how, back in the 1930s and 40s, there used to be "Miss Typical" contests. Turns out there were male versions of these contests as well. The picture below shows the 1939 finalists for the "Typical American Boy" contest. The winner was Karl McCready, 13, of Louisville, Kentucky (sitting in the front row, on the left). You can see some footage of the Typical Boy contest over at efootage.com.

Can't help but wonder what kind of child would have been produced if Typical Boy and Miss Typical had ever gotten together.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 02, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1930s

Duelling Organs



You don't often see musical duels on this instrument--especially between a sixty-two-year-old woman and a seventy-year-old man!

Shirley Scott, Jack McDuff and Duke Jethro. ("Jazz/blues organist/pianist Duke Jethro has played with artists such as Bobby Bland and Freddie King but he's most recognized for his time in B.B. King's band. He was organist for King's classic 'Live at the Regal,' recorded in 1964 in the famous Southside Theater in Chicago.")

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 29, 2013 - Comments (1)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Music, 1990s

Blindfolded Boxing

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 25, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Sports, Martial Arts, 1940s, Europe

Miss Typical

I guess it's some kind of achievement to be judged the most entirely average, but still, I don't think "Miss Typical" pageants are often held nowadays. They seem to belong to an age when conformity was thought to be more of a virtue. Rachel Reber here won "Miss Typical Freshman Coed" title back in 1941.



Marilyn Charleston was judged Miss Typical Teen of Nevada:

Reno Gazette Journal - Sep 3, 1948

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 18, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1940s

Eurovision 1971




Eurovision 2013 is now decided, so it's time for us to make fun of another past winner.

Just remember: the contest ain't over till the fat Severine sings.

Extra points for finding four clones of John Travolta, circa Saturday Night Fever, as her backup singers.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 20, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, 1970s, Europe

The Dopey Joes




More random "culture" from the inexplicable French.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 04, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Dance, Europe

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Who We Are
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.

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