1950s
Red-Headed Mutant
How did an unweaned rugrat manage to grow out three or four feet of bright red hair? Was she born with that mop? If so, Mom must have had one heck of a birthing experience.
Is it a wig? if so, please explain in 1000 words or less.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 17, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Babies, Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature, Comics, 1950s, Hair and Hairstyling
Mystery in the Kitchen
Mystery in the Kitchen by Don Haldane, National Film Board of Canada
Invisible supercilious foppish food policeman invades a family's life and assigns all nutritional malfeasance to the "emotional" mother/wife.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 16, 2013 -
Comments (1)
Category: Food, PSA’s, 1950s, North America
“That Mystery Half-Wit Sure Has the Girls All Agog!”
[Click to enlarge.]
Original ad.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 12, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Costumes and Masks, Stereotypes and Cliches, Comics, 1950s, Face and Facial Expressions, Fictional Monsters
The Turkobath
Add this to the 'inventions that flopped' folder. Susan Flynn, 20, gets ready to enjoy the "Turkobath" (i.e. a portable Turkish bath). This 1956 invention consisted of "a slotted plastic sheet with rubber suction cups that turn an ordinary home bathtub into a steam cabinet."I can imagine that as the bath water cooled, you were left with a cold piece of plastic wrapped around you.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 10, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, 1950s
Prison Pennants
With USA incarceration rates at an all-time high, surely there's a market for these nowadays?
From the 1950 catalog.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 09, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Johnson Smith Catalog, Prisons, Signage, 1950s
Now! Fly Like a Bird!
Responsible for more broken necks than any other comicbook ad!
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 04, 2013 -
Comments (8)
Category: Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Flight, Comics, Children, 1950s
Life in America: 1953
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 24, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Customs, 1950s, North America
The Most Boring Books Ever
Back in 1950, Columbia University Press polled hundreds of editors, writers, booksellers, librarians, literary critics, and general readers in order to produce a list of the 10 most boring books among the great classics. The winners were:- Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan
- Faust, Goethe
- Don Quixote, Cervantes
- Ivanhoe, Scott
- Silas Marner, Eliot
- Pamela, Richardson
- Life of Samuel Johnson, Boswell
- Faerie Queene, Spenser
- Paradise Lost, Milton
- Moby Dick, Melville
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 13, 2013 -
Comments (19)
Category: Literature, Books, 1950s
The Tailbone Patrol
Unfortunately, the mutability of the English language has not been kind to James W. English's stories of Scouting known as The Tailbone Patrol. In 2013, the title sounds like one of those how-to-pick-up-women books, or a "Girls Gone Wild" episode.
If you want a copy to peruse, they start at $200.00.
Or you can read one of the stories about the "Tailboners" here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 09, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Books, 1950s, 1960s
Johnson Smith Catalog Item #30
[From the 1950 catalog. Click to enlarge.]
I can see this prank being really popular in the Middle East nowadays. "Gotcha, Ahmed [Isaac]! You really thought the Israelis [al Qaeda] had rigged your car!"
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 07, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Death, Destruction, Explosives, Fireworks and Pyrotechnics, Johnson Smith Catalog, 1950s, Pranks, 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 |