1930s
Alexeieff’s NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN
The animation you are about to see was created entirely with pushpins in a board, by Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.Let's let my pal, author and art expert Luis Ortiz, explain:
During the 1930s animators Alexander Alexeieff and wife Claire Parker invented a push-screen frame, basically a board with thousands of pins embedded into it. The pins were pushed into the board at various heights, using specially shaped tools, and lighted from different angles to create shadow pictures that could be filmed one frame at a time. I saw their version of Night on Bald Mountain, which preceded Disney's, back in the 1980s at film historian Cecile Starr's home (she owned a 16mm copy) and I remember being very impressed. But this unique method was too labor intensive (even by film animation standards), and for most of their later work the Alexeieffs used object animation.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 17, 2008 -
Comments (2)
Category: Music, Cartoons, 1930s
Dr. Dove’s Unicorn Bull
In 1933 Dr. W.F. Dove, a biologist at the University of Maine, conducted an experiment to find out if he could create a "unicorn bull." He removed the two knots of tissue on the side of the bull's head that would normally have developed into horns and transplanted them to the center of the forehead. The experiment was a success. A single, massive horn grew there. The unicorn horn made the bull the unchallenged leader of its herd. But Dr. Dove observed that the unicorn bull was actually an extremely docile creature. He wrote:
Link: Unicorn Garden
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 17, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Science, Experiments, 1930s
Peace on Earth
Mankind replaced by squirrels? See it all in this famous cartoon.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 13, 2008 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Destruction, War, Cartoons, 1930s
The Comedian Harmonists
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 09, 2008 -
Comments (3)
Category: Music, Foreign Customs, 1920s, 1930s, Europe
Soggy, Mushy and Toughy
Who needs Iron Man or The Dark Knight, when you can watch Snap, Crackle and Pop battle their evil counterparts?
Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 01, 2008 -
Comments (6)
Category: Business, Advertising, Food, Movies, Cartoons, Children, 1930s, Fictional Monsters
Butlin’s Crazy House
Consider the Crazy House once to be found in Felixstowe, UK.
These old postcard images come from the Flickr set of a fellow who uses the handle Photoaf.
The house was part of a Butlin's Amusement Park. For the history of the founder, Billy Butlin, eventually knighted for his recreational achievements, visit here.
Wouldn't you have loved to experience this park during its heyday, some seventy years ago?
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 25, 2008 -
Comments (4)
Category: Architecture, Buildings and Other Structures, Entertainment, Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, History, Photography and Photographers, Surrealism, Foreign Customs, 1930s
Follies of the Mad Men #42
Yet another "disease" that Madison Avenue tried to foist upon the public.
[From Fortune magazine for December 1936.]
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 10, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Furniture, 1930s, Disease
Aristocrats of Fashion
Do you have enough Bemberg rayon clothes in your wardrobe? If not, watch this!(But be warned! Only a partial video remains to us down the ages. You'll never get to see the implied all-rayon wedding.)
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 30, 2008 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, 1930s, 1940s
Follies of the Mad Men #31
Product placement in entertainment media is nothing new. Here's how the classic fairytale of Cinderella can be improved by the addition of a Chevrolet.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 29, 2008 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Movies, Cartoons, Myths and Fairytales, Marriage, 1930s, Dance, Cars
Dion Fortune
I haven't read it yet, but I'm much looking forward to learning how to protect myself against various types of intrusive mind assaults. Sample a few pages yourselves below.
And thanks to Google Books, you can read the whole thing online here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 26, 2008 -
Comments (8)
Category: New Age, Paranormal, Self-help Schemes, Psychology, Books, 1930s
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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 |