Category:
Eyes and Vision

Heterochromatic Girl

AKA Norma Eberhardt. Her heterochromia was reportedly the trait that initially attracted the attention of a photographer, leading to a modeling (and later acting) career.

Wikipedia has a list of other actors with heterochromia, but Eberhardt's condition was far more pronounced that most of the other people on the list.

More info: curator's cabinet

Life - July 18, 1949



Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 05, 2023 - Comments (4)
Category: Actors, Eyes and Vision

Marty Snyder, the blind movie censor

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, when asked to define pornography, "I know it when I see it."

Marty Snyder couldn't see it, but he figured he would know it anyway, especially if the person sitting next to him filled him in on what he was missing.

Snyder ended up serving on the Clarkstown censorship panel for less than a year because he died of a stroke in 1974.

South Mississippi Sun - Oct 25, 1973



Jet - Nov 22, 1973


Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 25, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1970s, Eyes and Vision

Driving Blind

Pc Austin said that when he pulled over the car, Aziz, who wore dark glasses, was fumbling with the controls. When asked if he noticed anything about Aziz he replied: "I did — he didn't have any eyes."

London Daily Telegraph - Sep 5, 2006

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 29, 2022 - Comments (5)
Category: 2000s, Eyes and Vision, Cars

The Blonde And Her Companion

Back in the 1950s, the FBI used "a curvaceous blue-eyed blonde, wearing a form-fitting sweater" to help train its agents to improve their powers of observation. The lesson was that if they spent too much time looking at her, they might miss other important details, such as her companion, "public enemy No. 11."

Reminds me of the "woman in the red dress" featured in the agent-training-program scene in The Matrix. I wonder if the Wachowskis had heard of the "blonde and her companion" test.

San Bernardino County Sun - Dec 4, 1955



Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 26, 2022 - Comments (8)
Category: Police and Other Law Enforcement, 1950s, Eyes and Vision

The Barrett Eye Normalizer

Perfect vision through eyeball massage. At least, that was the claim.

Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan - Oct 1926



Source: American Artifacts



Boston Sunday Globe - Oct 8, 2017

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 23, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Eyes and Vision

The New Eyelashes

Modern Mechanics - July 1932

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 21, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, 1930s, Eyes and Vision

Jaw Winking

In his 1973 book Thick Description, the anthropologist Clifford Geertz used the example of winking versus twitching to explain what it is that anthropologists should strive to do.

An eye twitch and a wink can look identical. But a wink, Geertz explained, is an intentional signal. "To wink is to try to signal to someone in particular, without the cognisance of others, a definite message according to an already understood code." A twitch, on the other hand, is not intentional. It's not meant to convey meaning.

The job of the anthropologist, Geertz argued, was not merely to record facts and events (such as that a person's eye moved) but to be able to interpret the cultural meaning of those events. To be able to differentiate a wink from a twitch.

With that in mind, consider this story reported in the Miami Herald (Apr 30, 1939) about a young man whose eye twitches were constantly misinterpreted:

Some of us wink or blink more than others do. This generally is ascribable to one's physical or nervous condition. Sometimes the winking we cannot control leads to embarrassments. . .

Such a case was reported some years ago by Dr. Francis C. Grant, an eminent neurologist of Philadelphia, Pa. He had a patient—a young man—whose left eye continually winked every time he sat eating at a table.

Whenever this youth dined in a restaurant, his jaws worked sidewise while chewing food. This caused his right jaw muscles to tug at the muscles controlling his left eye, so that every time he chewed his left eye seemed to wink.

Girls believed the youth was flirting with them. They responded, if flirtatious, or, if not, complained to the manager. In either case, the youth was embarrassed by his muscular malady.

Finally, he was compelled to eat alone at home. He was on the verge of becoming a hermit when he decided to consult Dr. Grant. Examination revealed the "short circuit" cause of his strange "jaw wink" and an operation was performed. The muscles, restored to normal action, ended the distressing condition and the youth could eat normally thereafter.

What I find odd is that I came across these two bits of information (first about Geertz, and second about the jaw-winking young man) while reading completely unrelated texts on back-to-back days. A strange coincidence!

You can read more about Geertz's thoughts on winking and twitching here.

You can read more about 'jaw winking' (aka Marcus Gunn Syndrome) at rarediseases.org.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 08, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Synchronicity and Coincidence, Eyes and Vision

Nose Writing

William Horatio Bates was a New York ophthalmologist who claimed that poor vision could be cured through eye exercises. He was quite well known in the 1920s and 30s.

One of his eye exercises was called "nose writing." Here it's described by Margaret Darst Corbett (an "authorized instructor" of his method) in her 1953 book How to Improve Your Sight:



Aldous Huxley was also a fan of the 'Bates Method' and of nose writing, which he described in his 1942 book The Art of Seeing:

Another excellent procedure, which is simultaneously an exercise in mind-body coordination, an imagination drill, and a small-scale shift, is "nose-writing." sitting down comfortably in an easy chair, close your eyes and imagine that you have a good long pencil attached to the end of your nose. (Lovers of Edward Lear will remember his pictures of the 'Dong.') Equipped with this instrument, move your head and neck so as to write with your protracted nose upon an imaginary sheet of paper (or, if the pencil is thought of as being white, on an imaginary blackboard) eight or nine inches in front of your face.

I don't think mainstream ophthalmologists have ever put any stock in the benefits of nose writing, but it still has promoters. See the video below.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 24, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Eyes and Vision

Hit Hand, Regained Sight

June 1955: Peter Barr struck the palm of his left hand with his right fist to stress a point while arguing with his wife. And suddenly he was able to see again. He had been completely blind for three years.

London Daily Telegraph - June 3, 1955



Other cases of accidental cures we've previously posted about:

Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 16, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Health, 1950s, Eyes and Vision

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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.

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