Celebrities
Follies of the Madmen #576
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 22, 2023 -
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Category: Celebrities, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Sports, Advertising, 1970s, Women
I Dream of Madonna
Thirty years ago, Madonna seemed to be invading the psychic spaces of sleepers. The phenomenon was recorded in I DREAM OF MADONNA, which may be read here, at the Internet Archive.One wonders if today those dreams might tend towards the disturbing.
Read a contemporary review here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 20, 2023 -
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Category: Celebrities, Dreams and Nightmares, Music, Books, 1990s
Always Elvis Wine
Always Elvis wine was released in 1979, two years after Elvis's death. The front label had a picture of Elvis, while the back label featured a poem by Col. Tom Parker.Parker reportedly said that Always Elvis was the kind of wine Elvis "would have drunk if he'd liked the stuff."
At the time it sold for $4 a bottle. Now an unopened bottle of it will cost you upwards of $150.
However, there are other, newer Elvis Presley wines on the market, such as 'The King' wine, available at ElvisPresleyWines.com.
Chicago Tribune - Nov 4, 1979
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 27, 2021 -
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Category: Celebrities, Inebriation and Intoxicants, Music
Round the World with Nellie Bly
Entry at Board Game Geek.Nellie Bly at Wikipedia.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 10, 2021 -
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Category: Celebrities, Games, Journalism, Travel, World Records, Writers
Polyform, Edison’s Topical Anesthetic
American inventor and businessman Thomas Alva Edison is legendary for his contributions to such technologies as the lightbulb, the telephone, the phonograph, and motion pictures, among many others.1In his lifetime, Edison obtained 1,093 US patents and some 1,239 patents in other countries. Little known among these efforts was his “improved anesthetic compound.”
In the summer of 1882, George F. Shrady (Founder and Editor, Medical Record 1866–1904) (1837–1907), reported that Thomas Edison invented a new anesthetic made of chloroform, ether, alcohol, and camphor and had applied for British and German patents.2The witty but misinformed editor added, “Edison may wish to use it on his stockholders until electric light was in successful operation.”
In fact, the “anesthetic” actually was an analgesic liniment that Edison had prepared in early 1878. He named it Polyform and advertised it for “neurologic pain.” Polyform was a mixture of chloroform, ether, camphor gum, alcohol, chloral hydrate, morphine, and oils of peppermint and clove. Edison believed that his compound’s various analgesics would potentiate each other and that the mixture would attack pain in a “shotgun manner.”3
More info here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 24, 2021 -
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Category: Celebrities, Inventions, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century
Farrah’s Glamour Center
Part of the 'Farrah mania' of the late '70s.In 2011, it became part of the Smithsonian's popular culture history collection.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 27, 2020 -
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Category: Celebrities, Toys, 1970s
Music to Be Murdered By
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 28, 2020 -
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Category: Celebrities, Death, Hollywood, Music, 1950s
For Farrah Fanatics
Offered for sale at the height of the Farrah Fawcett mania in the late 1970s — an "authentic deed to a small piece of land that was Farrah Fawcett's early childhood home in Corpus Christi." Only $4.95 each!The ad doesn't say, but the amount of land a purchaser received a deed to was exactly one square centimeter.
The entrepreneur behind the scheme was Corpus Christi realtor Sam Allen who dreamed up the idea when he learned that a house Farrah had lived in as a child was up for sale.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Mar 5, 1978
So what was the address of the house? I'm not sure, because Farrah lived in four different houses in Corpus Christi, and Allen didn't reveal which house it was, saying that he didn't want treasure hunters damaging it. Two of those houses have sold in the past ten years.
I don't know enough about real estate law to know how, or if, his sale of all these micro-deeds would have affected if the house could ever be sold again. Could the house be sitting empty to this day because random people still own various square-centimeter pieces of it? I'm guessing not. Any claim to ownership must have lapsed if they didn't pay property taxes.
Farrah Fawcett in 8th grade
Other examples of Farrah-Mania we've posted about: Ferrous Faucets and Farrah Fawcett Lookalike Contest Winners.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 18, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Celebrities, Real Estate, 1970s
Mystery Illustration 97
What super-famous Hollywood icon is this, beneath her disguise?The answer is after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 15, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Celebrities, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Movies, 1930s
Cassandra and Tom
Decide for yourself!
Source of text.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 04, 2020 -
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Category: Ambiguity, Uncertainty and Deliberate Obscurity, Celebrities, Music, Photography and Photographers, 1970s, Dance
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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 |