In 1916, the U.S. Mint introduced a dime that had, on one side, an image of the Fasces — a bundle of sticks that served as a symbol of authority in ancient Rome. The Fasces were also the source of the term 'fascism.' So as fascism emerged in Europe, it became increasingly awkward that the U.S. had a fascist symbol on its money. Finally, in 1945, the "fascist dime" was retired.
There have long been rumors that fascist supporters somehow managed to get the symbol on the dime. But mainstream opinion is that the presence of the symbol on the dime was just a weird accident.
GovMint.com notes that Adolph Weinman had designed the dime in 1916, "three years BEFORE the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini adopted this symbol for his cruel regime."
Of course, it could have been worse. At least they didn't put a swastika on the dime.
More info:
Numismatic News,
Wikipedia
I posted a month ago about
Rhapsody in Big Blue, which was Darryl Gammill's transformation of the stock price of IBM into music. It turns out that Gammill wasn't the first to use asset prices as the basis for music. Back in the 1930s, composer
Joseph Schillinger came up with a system that allowed him to convert "fluctuations in wholesale prices of agricultural produce," as listed on the
NY Times financial page, into music. Details from
A Thing or Two About Music by Nicolas Slonimsky:
Source: The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)03 Apr 1912
Donald L. Rogers was financial editor of the
New York Herald Tribune. He originally wrote "Teach your wife to be a widow" as an article for
Collier's Magazine, and later expanded it into a book (1952).
The article (and book) urged husbands to educate their wives about finances, so that in case the husband died the wife wouldn't end up going destitute.
I think Jean Mayer's article, "How to murder your husband," pairs particularly well with it. Both appeared in the 1981 Reader's Digest collection,
Love and Marriage.
I'm aware of quite a few inventions designed to trap or incapacitate bank robbers. But the idea of allowing a bank teller to abruptly vanish is more novel.
Of course, this approach could only work if there was a single teller working, and hopefully no other customers in the bank.
I was curious whether this bank with the cashier trapdoor might still exist, but I had no luck finding its address. I did find that it was acquired by another bank in 1948. So it was probably demolished long ago.
Hagerstown Morning Herald - Aug 9, 1932
Elon Musk, stand back!
If you inherited a ton of money at a young age, you too might be confused about how to live. At first, you might radically decide not to accept the fortune. Then, you might decide to use it for charitable purposes. Finally, you might opt to establish a free-love commune.
That's the path that one
Charles Garland took. Read his whole story at Wikipedia.
After his separation from his wife, Garland established two successive agricultural communes, or "colonies of idealists", both named April Farm.[19] The first April Farm, in which Garland lived from January 1922, was at North Carver, Massachusetts.[22] In 1924, Garland moved to a new "April Farm" in Lower Milford Township, Pennsylvania.[19]
Garland scandalized polite society by inviting young women to live with him at these colonies, where he planned to "work out the problems of life".
Naturally, newspapers had a field day with all this.
According to wikipedia, drive-through windows began appearing at banks in the early 1930s. By 1958, over 4000 women were working as drive-in tellers, and that's the year that the Mosler Safe Company sponsored the first nationwide "Miss Drive-In Teller" contest.
Contestants were judged on "personality, courtesy, and efficiency." And, of course, appearance. The winner got a two-week all-expense-paid trip for two to Havana, Cuba. Plus $500 in spending money. So it attracted quite a few contestants. In later years, winners went to places like Bermuda and Norway.
Marion Polk, a teller at Peoples National Bank in Rock Hill, South Carolina, became the first Miss Drive-In Teller. She must have been fairly proud of this because
it's mentioned in her obituary. The contest continued to be held annually until 1972 (as far as I can tell) when Jacqueline Fleming became the final Miss Drive-In Teller.
Marion Polk, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1958
Columbia Record - Oct 4, 1958
Tamra Evans, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1961
Wausau Daily Herald - Oct 3, 1961
San Rafael Daily Independent Journal - June 27, 1961
Susan Erickson, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1962
Corvallis Gazette-Times - Aug 16, 1962
Jean Doggett, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1964
Morgan City Daily Review - July 3, 1964
Jeanie Archer, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1966
Racine Journal Times - Sep 1, 1966
Jacqueline Fleming, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1972
Sioux City Journal - Oct 23, 1972