Weird Universe Archive

May 2024

May 11, 2024

Woodbury Rand, cat lover

When Boston attorney Woodbury Rand died in 1944, he left $40,000 to his cat Buster. Out of a $1,000,000 estate, that's not particularly unusual. But what made his will odd was that he disinherited anyone whom he felt hadn't properly appreciated Buster.

Buster was only 8 years old when Rand died, but he died the following year. Perhaps of a broken heart?



New York Daily News - Aug 6, 1944



New York Daily News - Dec 30, 1945

Posted By: Alex - Sat May 11, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Death, Inheritance and Wills, Cats, 1940s

Clay Tyson Digs the Beatniks

Clay Tyson was a stand-up comedian and a long time opening act for James Brown and the Famous Flame (and James Brown and the JBs).









Posted By: Paul - Sat May 11, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Humor, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s

May 10, 2024

Nightmare Prevention Mattress

Walter Cleasby was granted a UK patent (GB2263399A) in 1995 for his "nightmare prevention mattress."

As far as I can tell, Cleasby believed that infant nightmares were caused by physical factors such as a) the hardness of cot mattresses, and b) pressure on a baby's heart from body weight.

His invention addressed these issues by having an inward slope as well as a recess "to protect the main organ of the body, (the Heart,) from excessive pressure."

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 10, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Dreams and Nightmares, Patents, 1990s

Helmbold’s Extract of Buchu

Read all about the herb buchu and its medicinal merchandising here.

One of the most (in)famous protagonists was Henry T. Helmbold (1826–1892), who started his patent medicine business in 1846 as a retail druggist with “Helmbold’s Extract Buchu—cures diabetes, gravel, brick-dust deposits, irritations of the bladder and diseases arising from exposure or imprudence, etc.” and other medicines. He opened his first store in Philadelphia in 1850, the largest and best-known in New York in 1862. By 1865 Helmbold’s buchu was the bestselling patent medicine on the US market. For this, he spent enormous amounts of money on advertising, mostly in newspapers: ∼US$ 500,000 (about 10 million US$ today) each for the years 1869–71. For the distribution of his products, Helmbold had his own 4c postage stamp (Figure 4) (The Historian, 1912; Young, 1961).




The Hottentot ad is for Helmsbold's product. It has three more pages, viewable here.


Posted By: Paul - Fri May 10, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Africa, Nineteenth Century

May 9, 2024

Arizona Fumigation

Back in the day you had to be fumigated before they'd let you into Arizona.

They've still got agricultural checkpoints on the border, but I've only ever been waved through.

Miami News - May 2, 1924



Thanks to Don Griffith!

Posted By: Alex - Thu May 09, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Government, Officials, Farming, 1920s

The Trapp Family

Before there was The Sound of Music there was...Die Trapp-Familie?!? The whole movie is below, with English subtitles.

The Wikipedia page for this 1956 German production.

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 09, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Movies, Debuts, Christenings, Launches and Reboots, 1950s, Europe

May 8, 2024

Good Waitress, Bad Waitress

Stills from a 1950s-era film made to train waitresses at Krystal restaurants.

Bad Waitress



Info from the Chattanooga Times:

The Bad Waitress terrorizes customers. She chain smokes cigarettes as she jots down food orders. She penciled Groucho Marx eyebrows above her drooping eyelids and a beauty mark onto her face where a dimple would be -- if she ever smiled. Her smeared lipstick can't conceal sneering lips. Her hairstyle is collapsing crazily around her face.

Chattanooga-based Continental Films deployed the Bad Waitress in films and slideshows during the 1950s and early 1960s to teach Krystal employees how to give excellent customer service. (Yes, Krystal once had waitresses.)

The same actress returns as a nonsmoking Good Waitress wearing a spotless uniform. Her hair is swept into a neat bouffant, her eyebrows perfectly plucked and her makeup is modest. She even smiles demurely.

Good Waitress



The film was part of a collection donated to the Chattanooga History Center. But I don't think they've put the film online yet.

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 08, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Movies, Restaurants, 1950s

May 7, 2024

Cookin’ With Dr. Pepper

Take pretty much any recipe. Add Dr. Pepper to it. And then you're "Cookin' With Dr. Pepper".

Full text available at the Internet Archive.

Posted By: Alex - Tue May 07, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Cookbooks

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