Pul-Vac Vacuum Massager

Turn your vacuum cleaner into a vibrating massager.

Pittsburgh Press - July 25, 1965

(l) Pittsburgh Press - July 25, 1965; (r) NY Daily News - Sep 12, 1965

Harrisburg Patriot-News - Apr 19, 1966

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 09, 2025 - Comments (4)
Category: Technology | 1960s

Miss Cereal City

The earliest reference that I find is 1961 (the photo below). The latest is 1999. It seems the contest and title are extinct.

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 09, 2025 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Regionalism | Cereal | Twentieth Century

Kilroy Was Here toy jeeps

I would guess that the maker of these toy jeeps knew that "Kilroy Was Here" was a popular phrase among members of the American military, but probably didn't know much about it beyond that.

Decatur Herald and Review - Apr 1, 1947

Posted By: Alex - Thu May 08, 2025 - Comments (2)
Category: Military | Toys | 1940s

The Madison Avenue Beat

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 08, 2025 - Comments (4)
Category: Music | Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings | Advertising | 1960s

Larry the Lamb

Science Digest - Mar 1968

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 07, 2025 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals | Farming | 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #622

Is the radio the man, and the tube the woman--or vice versa?

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 07, 2025 - Comments (4)
Category: Technology | Advertising | 1930s | Men | Women

Toothbrush Gun

I believe that this Cowboy/Cowgirl Toothbrush gun was for sale in the mid-1970s, because the only ads I can find for it are from 1976 and 1977.

Odd concept since it required the kids to stick the gun in their mouth. Perhaps the game was suicidal cowboy.



The packaging states that it's protected by Patent No. 3,063,204. That's incorrect. Patent 3,063,204 has nothing to do with a toothbrush gun. I think the correct Patent is No. 3,308,836.

Posted By: Alex - Tue May 06, 2025 - Comments (1)
Category: Toys | Patents | 1970s | Weapons | Teeth

The Mad Gasser of Matoon

Could a first-person account such as the one below be entirely imaginary? I suppose we will never know. Anyhow, here's what Wikipedia has to say. Much more at that page.

The Mad Gasser of Mattoon (also known as the "Anesthetic Prowler," the "Phantom Anesthetist," or simply the "Mad Gasser") was the name given to the person or people believed to be responsible for a series of apparent gas attacks that occurred in Mattoon, Illinois, during the mid-1940s. More than two dozen separate cases of gassings were reported to police over the span of two weeks, in addition to many more reported sightings of the suspected assailant. The gasser's supposed victims reported smelling strange odors in their homes which were soon followed by symptoms such as paralysis of the legs, coughing, nausea and vomiting. No one died or had serious medical consequences as a result of the gas attacks.

Police remained skeptical of the accounts throughout the entire incident.[1] Many reported gassings had simple explanations, such as spilled nail polish or odors emanating from animals or local factories.[1] Victims made quick recoveries from their symptoms and suffered no long-term effects.[2] Nevertheless, local newspapers ran alarmist articles about the reported attacks and treated the accounts as fact.[1]

The attacks are widely considered to be a case of mass hysteria.[1][2] However, others maintain that the Mad Gasser actually existed, or that the perceived attacks have another explanation, such as industrial pollution.

Posted By: Paul - Tue May 06, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: 1940s | Moral Panics and Public Hysteria

The Eyebrow Auto Brake

The August 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics featured an invention called the "Eyebrow Auto Brake." It allowed drivers to brake a car by raising their eyebrows.

Popular Mechanics - Aug 1965

A screenshot of this clipping recently began circulating online, leading some people to wonder whether such an odd invention was real or satire. Snopes.com confirmed that Popular Mechanics really did feature this invention. However, they were unable to track down any more info about it.

So let me fill in some blanks. A search of a newspaper archive reveals that it was the work of Yugoslav engineer Lojze Vodovnik. His idea was that it can take up to half a second for a message to travel from the brain to the foot muscles. But it only takes a fraction of a second for the same message to reach the eyebrow muscles. So using the eyebrows to brake a car could, in theory, stop a car sooner.

Spokane Spokesman-Review - Aug 2, 1965

Cincinnati Enquirer - Jan 11, 1970 (click to enlarge)

Vodovnik turns out to have been quite an accomplished researcher. He was considered a pioneer in the fields of "functional electrical stimulation, biocybernetics, biomedical engineering, and rehabilitation engineering."

He studied and taught for a while in the United States, at Case Western Reserve University, but eventually headed back to Yugoslavia where he held a position at the University of Ljubljana. In Sep 2023, a monument was dedicated to him in front of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana.

I found a reference to another oddball invention he once designed. It allowed him "to control by radio signal from his own shoulder muscle the movements of the leg of a sleeping dog." Although in the picture below the dog isn't sleeping.

More info: Lojze Vodovnik Scientist And Humanist

Posted By: Alex - Mon May 05, 2025 - Comments (5)
Category: Inventions | 1960s | Cars

Freakish Accidents No. 7

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 05, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: Death | Domestic | Children | 1970s