Category:
1920s
1920s
Toby the Terrapin, Part 2
Back on Jan. 9, I posted about Toby the Piano-Playing Terrapin, owned and exhibited by Alexander Barbee of Savannah, Georgia back in the 1920s.And then, about a week ago, I was contacted by Barbee's great-granddaughter, who reported that she came across my post while searching for info about her great-grandfather. She writes:
My great-grandfather was definitely a character. He was written about by Joseph Mitchell for the New Yorker and also for his book, "Up in the Old Hotel".
My mother could tell you all about Toby, including the story of Toby's birth. He was purportedly born in the hand of William Jennings Bryan (there's more to it). And of course he would wink at the ladies, etc. He is seated at one of my g-g's music boxes (there was an enormous collection of them).
My mother could tell you all about Toby, including the story of Toby's birth. He was purportedly born in the hand of William Jennings Bryan (there's more to it). And of course he would wink at the ladies, etc. He is seated at one of my g-g's music boxes (there was an enormous collection of them).
She sent along some higher quality pictures of Alexander Barbee and Toby. In the first picture, Toby is a little hard to see, but you can just make him out on top of the table in the center of the photo (where he's seated at his piano).
WU is proud to be the premier online source of information about piano-playing terrapins!
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 04, 2014 -
Comments (4)
Category: 1920s
Hitler tamed by prison
Epic prison board fail: This guy, Hitler. Prison has changed his ways. He won't cause any trouble now!
From The New York Times - Dec 21, 1924.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 13, 2014 -
Comments (9)
Category: Predictions, Prisons, 1920s
Seaweed Sweaters
Featured in Popular Science Monthly, June 1921
Seaweed is the latest victim of economists; new uses for it are being found constantly. The picture above shows it in its latest form — clothing.
Both the sweater and the pair of stockings that the girl is holding were made from seaweed that grows in China. Yet they look not unlike woolen garments.
Pine-needles are also being pressed into service; and so are many grasses and leaves. At a recent exhibition of the Commerce Bureau in the Customs House in New York city many grass-made garments were shown.
Both the sweater and the pair of stockings that the girl is holding were made from seaweed that grows in China. Yet they look not unlike woolen garments.
Pine-needles are also being pressed into service; and so are many grasses and leaves. At a recent exhibition of the Commerce Bureau in the Customs House in New York city many grass-made garments were shown.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 10, 2014 -
Comments (7)
Category: Fashion, 1920s
Toby the Piano-Playing Terrapin
A news-wire photo that ran in papers back in January 1925.
Terrapins have brains of a human-like quality, declares Alex Barbee of Savannah, Ga., owner of "Toby," the only trained terrapin in the world. His pet is seen playing a toy piano. "Toby" does lots of other clever things.
I found some more detailed information about Toby the Talented Terrapin in a short article by Zoe Beckley that ran in the Syracuse Herald - Aug 6, 1925:
Toby was a diamond-back terrapin of unusual gifts. He is owned by a man whose name I have forgotten, but who owns and manages what he claims is the only diamond-back terrapin farm in existence. It is in Savannah, Georgia, and Toby's father ships anything from one terrapin to a carload to any point east, west, north or south, in these United States where the delicacy of diamond-back terrapin may at that moment be desired. Also, he cans terrapin and makes them into soup.
Toby, however, has escaped this fate by virtue of the rare and great affection which exists between him and his master. He is a small terrapin, and he lived in his master's bath-tub. Each of the diamonds upon his back has been lovingly outlined in gold paint.
When Toby is taken from the bath-tub and into the parlor for the edification of visitors, he is instructed to wink his left eye, and Toby responds properly. Then he is told to cry, and up go his tiny flippers to his tinier eyes, while Toby would appear to be violently sorrowing.
But his crowning achievement is waving his flippers temperamentally over the keys of a tiny music box built to resemble a piano, on which his master has propped him. It would appear to the uninitiate that Toby was making music with all the fire of a Paderewski, albeit minus the hair and the politics. Truly, a talented terrapin.
Toby, however, has escaped this fate by virtue of the rare and great affection which exists between him and his master. He is a small terrapin, and he lived in his master's bath-tub. Each of the diamonds upon his back has been lovingly outlined in gold paint.
When Toby is taken from the bath-tub and into the parlor for the edification of visitors, he is instructed to wink his left eye, and Toby responds properly. Then he is told to cry, and up go his tiny flippers to his tinier eyes, while Toby would appear to be violently sorrowing.
But his crowning achievement is waving his flippers temperamentally over the keys of a tiny music box built to resemble a piano, on which his master has propped him. It would appear to the uninitiate that Toby was making music with all the fire of a Paderewski, albeit minus the hair and the politics. Truly, a talented terrapin.
Also found a picture of Barbee's Terrapin Farm in Streetcars of Chatham County: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 09, 2014 -
Comments (8)
Category: Animals, 1920s
Mystery Criminal
What horrid crime did this nice little old lady commit? Murder? Embezzlement? Drunken driving?
Answer after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 02, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Crime, 1920s
Harry Rogers, The Fire Clown
Original article here.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 30, 2013 -
Comments (8)
Category: Clowns, PSA’s, 1920s, 1930s
The Real Geo
(Flickr source.)
A reader known as "Pat@[email protected]" recently wrote in with some good info on an old WU topic:
" I have been a fan of Buckminster Fuller's writings for many years and just recently found out that he actually didn't invent the geodesic dome. It was invented by Walther Bauersfeld, a German engineer, some 30 years earlier for use as the first projection planetarium. Fuller did, however, apply for and was granted the U.S. patents. He took it's design and construction further and is credited with popularizing it. We have one in Fairbanks built in 1966 at a site originally called "Alaskaland" which was built to commemorate the centenial of the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. It's called the Gold Dome and now houses an aviation museum. Also, there were many "golf balls" in the state during the Cold War which were used for radar."
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 29, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Architecture, Inventions, 1920s
Propellor Car
[Click to enlarge]
Imagine the streets of a city filled with these lethal machines!
Original story here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 27, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Death, Inventions, Motor Vehicles, 1920s
1970s fashion, as imagined in the 1920s
Predictions from 1928 of how women would be dressing in 1978 and beyond, modeled at the "Dream of Fair Women" charity ball. From the San Antonio Light - May 6, 1928:"It is taken for granted that the honeymoons of that period will be spent in airplanes, and Mrs. Campbell's outfit is distinctly designed for aviation."
"Miss Faith Celli, of London, wore her conception of what the nun of 1980 will wear. It is immediately recognizable as a convent garb, but shown unmistakably the influence of Reinhardt's "The Miracle," particularly in the tall headgear and collar forming plane formation. Several clergymen who saw the costume pronounced it an ideal one, expressing splendidly the simplicity and seclusion of life in a convent of the future."
"It seems to be the more or less general opinion of the women who participate in the ball that the women of the future will go in less and less for skirts. Mrs. Donald Armstrong Jones appeared in a charming walking suit consisting of loose jacket of soft, clinging material, and breeches marking a complete departure from the present day 'plus-fours.'"
"Miss Faith Celli, of London, wore her conception of what the nun of 1980 will wear. It is immediately recognizable as a convent garb, but shown unmistakably the influence of Reinhardt's "The Miracle," particularly in the tall headgear and collar forming plane formation. Several clergymen who saw the costume pronounced it an ideal one, expressing splendidly the simplicity and seclusion of life in a convent of the future."
"It seems to be the more or less general opinion of the women who participate in the ball that the women of the future will go in less and less for skirts. Mrs. Donald Armstrong Jones appeared in a charming walking suit consisting of loose jacket of soft, clinging material, and breeches marking a complete departure from the present day 'plus-fours.'"
Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 01, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Fashion, 1920s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Egyptian Deities Cigarettes
[Click on any image to enlarge]
After our look at Murad cigarettes, here's another brand of the period. I wonder how well they would sell in today's geopolitical climate? And isn't there something sacrilegious about naming your product after another religion's sacred gods?
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 25, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Art, Business, Advertising, Products, Tobacco and Smoking, 1920s, Middle East
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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 |