Movies
Miss Celestial Airwaves of the Pacific
Dionne Wheeler won the title of "Miss Celestial Airwaves of the Pacific" sight unseen. She was selected by members of the Coast Guard weather patrol based "solely on descriptions of airline hostesses furnished by their pilot via radio".
Coast Guard Bulletin - Feb 1952
She also achieved minor fame in another way. The character of the stewardess named Spalding in Ernie Gann's 1953 bestseller The High and the Mighty (and subsequent 1954 film adaptation) was based on her.
The High and the Mighty was one of the first aviation disaster movies and served as one of the inspirations for 1980's Airplane!
Wheeler (right) on the set of The High and the Mighty
Left: actress Doe Avedon; middle: Director William Wellman
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 24, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Movies, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s
Happy Soylent Green New Year!
Welcome to 2022, the year of Soylent Green.From wikipedia:
Abilene Reporter News - Jan 17, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 01, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Movies, 2020s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Dangerous Darts
An unusual way to play darts.The woman is actress Jane Powell, and according to Getty Images the photo was taken circa 1955. But Getty offers no info other than that.
Powell is wearing that swimsuit on the poster for her 1957 movie The Girl Most Likely. However, she wore the exact same swimsuit in her 1958 movie The Female Animal (see video clip below).
So the photo must have been taken during the shooting of one of these two movies. But which one, I don't know. And was it a scene from the movie, or was this how the actors passed the time on set? Again, I don't know.
Powell died just a few months ago at the age of 92. More info from the NY Post.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 30, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Movies, Sports, 1950s
Drive-In Movie Ads
With over 100 items like this one below, you can easily waste hours at the Internet Archives page called Drive-In Movie Ads.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 21, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Movies, PSA’s, Advertising, Twentieth Century, Cars
The Damsel In Undress Campaign
A series of lingerie ads from the 1960s.Many more pics here, also from the same company's other campaigns.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 22, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Movies, Advertising, Underwear, 1960s
A Tough Dance
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 16, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Movies, 1900s, Dance
And the Villain Still Pursued Her; Or, The Writer’s Dream (1906)
The movie in questions starts at minute 32:00.
Essay about it here.
And the Villain Still Pursued Her; Or, The Writer’s Dream joins that rarified company of “What in the name of heaven did I just watch?” films.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 09, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Dreams and Nightmares, Movies, Surrealism, Writers, 1900s
Out of Sight
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 03, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Humor, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Spies and Intelligence Services, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers
Mad God
Looks exceedingly weird.The homepage.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 23, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Horror, Movies, Stop-motion Animation, Surrealism, Science Fiction
Zero Gravity Toilet Instructions
This has been circulating around for a while, but it was new to me so perhaps it'll be new to others as well.In one scene during 2001: A Space Odyssey, the character of Dr. Heywood Floyd uses a "zero gravity toilet" while he's on the space station. He's shown briefly examining the lengthy list of instructions on the wall next to the toilet.
Stanley Kubrick was so obsessive over details that, instead of using gobbledygook, placeholder text for the sign, he actually had someone create a list of toilet instructions. Film buffs have extracted this text, and it's available for purchase as a poster (perhaps to hang in your bathroom) or printed on a t-shirt. (I won't link to any specific retailers, but they're easy enough to find using Google).
Far Out magazine suggests the zero-gravity toilet instructions may have deeper meaning within the broader context of the film:
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 13, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bathrooms, Movies, Space Travel
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| 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. Contact Us |