Atomic Bomb Survival Jacket

As the designers admitted, it wasn't going to protect anyone against an atomic bomb or radiation. But as a survival jacket it seemed pretty well equipped. Though a backpack full of the same stuff would seem to be more practical.

"Jean Shore displays inside pocket arrangement of survival jacket."
image source: Harry Ransom Center

Muncie Star Press - Jan 15, 1951

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 05, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, 1950s

Atlantis in Hi-Fi

Why a stinker of a B-movie would have its soundtrack issued under a different title is a mystery best left to the ages. But it means you can enjoy some exotica tracks without watching the film. The embedded player is at the bottom of the post.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 30, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Music, Space-age Bachelor Pad & Exotic, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1950s

Teddie Rose Vail, Amnesia Due to Folk-Dancing

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 28, 2023 - Comments (6)
Category: Children, Parents, 1950s, Dance, Mental Health and Insanity

Queen of Azusa Golden Days

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 23, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Parades and Festivals, 1950s

The man who hatched an egg on his stomach

We've previously posted about Ella Petry, the British woman who in 1958 became famous when she hatched an egg in her cleavage.

Seven years before she did this, a young man in Germany, Gerd Ruthmann, hatched an egg on his stomach.

He got some media attention for this feat, but nothing like the publicity that Petry received.

Life - July 2, 1951

Life - Dec 12, 1969

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 21, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Eggs, 1950s

Miss Futuristic Canned Foods

What would futuristic canned foods look like? And at what point in the future will we get this stuff?

Putting those questions aside, what I find really odd about the clipping below is that it gives the Social Security Number of Miss Futuristic Canned Foods.

At first I thought the number must be a joke (though I didn't understand the joke), but according to the Social Security Death Index that number belonged to a woman named Janet Lee, who was born in 1935 and died in 2008. The dates are about right. Jan would be short for Janet. And Lee would be her married name. So that must really have been the SSN of Miss Futuristic Canned Foods.

The numbers indicate that the card was issued to her in Indiana sometime between 1936 and 1950.

Charlotte News - Mar 5, 1957

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 16, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Food, 1950s

The Ford Levacar Mach I

It's sixty years later. Where are our Levacars? From Wikipedia:

National Future Farmer - Oct-Nov 1959

Dr. Andrew A. Kucher, Ford vice president, in the Levacar Mach I

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 11, 2023 - Comments (4)
Category: 1950s, Cars

Dior’s “Conspiration” Design

This 1954 number should have been revived for the Covid pandemic.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 10, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Fashion, 1950s, Diseases

The Experimental Soundscapes of Henry Jacobs

His Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 09, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Avant Garde, 1950s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Telescoping Fish Knocker

Not being a fisherman or sportsman of any sort, I had no idea until now that there existed a special tool for whacking your caught fish on the noggin: the fish knocker or fish bat. You can buy a variety of modern ones, as seen here. But I like the patent on a collapsible model.

Full patent here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 02, 2023 - Comments (6)
Category: Sports, Tools, Lakes, Ponds, Rivers, Streams, Swamps and Other Bodies of Fresh Water, Patents, 1950s