Category:
Newspapers

Robert Quillen’s Monument to Eve

Robert Quillen was once a well-known humorist, but is nigh-forgotten today. However, still standing is one of his pranks. A whimsical statue dedicated to "the first woman."

Official South Carolina page on Quillen here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 20, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Humor, Newspapers, Regionalism, Religion, Statues and Monuments, Historical Figure

The Paper House

I think that hoarding newspapers used to be very common. I base this assumption on the fact that I know of two Depression-era relatives in my extended family who never threw away newspapers and ended up with stacks of them in their house. And if I had two in my family, I'm guessing many other families also had paper hoarders.

Elis F. Stenman of Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts put his paper hoarding habit to good use by constructing his house, and all the furniture in it, out of the newspapers he refused to throw away. The house still exists and is open to the public.

Of course, now that newspaper deliveries are becoming a thing of the past, paper hoarding must be on the decline.

Images from The Pittsburgh Press - Sep 8, 1938.







Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 21, 2023 - Comments (4)
Category: Architecture, Newspapers

Follies of the Madmen #549

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 13, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Family, Newspapers, Restaurants, Advertising, Comics, Junk Food, 1960s

The Wonderland of Doo

The history of newspaper comic strips is replete with many oddities.

An excellent blog on the topic, with almost daily posts, is STRIPPER'S GUIDE.

Here's one creation that has received very little attention, based on its scarcity of Google hits. Its creator was Arch Dale.

Each instance featured a big block of text, which I am omitting, save for one sample.

This survey is by no means complete, just a taste.

The strips were also collected in book form.


















Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 07, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Newspapers, Comics, Surrealism, Fantasy, Twentieth Century

Hidden Message in “I Am the Walrus”

Everyone knows that the Beatles song "I Am the Walrus" is all about the secret death of Paul McCartney.

But back in 1968, reporter Jed Drews heard something else there.



Source: Fort Lauderdale News (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 24 Feb 1968, Sat Page 15

I can find literally not one other online endorsement of this interpretation of the lyrics--except when Mr. Drews's article was inserted into the Congressional Record upon his testimony in DC.





Source.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 25, 2021 - Comments (6)
Category: Drugs, Government, Music, Newspapers, 1960s

A Family Circus Christmas

I was going to save this for Christmas 2021, but then realized I should not deprive anyone of immediate viewing of this masterpiece.



The IMDB page.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 07, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Family, Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Holidays, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Newspapers, Cartoons, 1970s

Homage to Shepherd

Someone at the NEW YORK TIMES exhibits his good taste and sense of propriety, by capitalizing "News of the Weird" to render homage to Chuck. And this proves that NOTW remains a potent historical signifier and force!



Article.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 07, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Newspapers, Weird Universe, Chuck

Miss Printer’s Devil 1953





Miss Printer's Devil. Joanne Sullivan, Harbor Jr. College's 'Miss Printer's Devil' will reign over College's First Annual Printer's banquet and ball tonight (Friday). She is shown puzzling out words in galley in school's print shop. Joanne Sullivan (see above) is being shown how to press keys of Linotype by Ronnie Wilson, 18, printer major, who is studying to be a print shop teacher. Linotype requires exact touch to prevent pie (?) of type fonts."


Source.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 04, 2018 - Comments (5)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Newspapers, Technology, 1950s

Montreal Madness of 1892

image

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People acted weird in familiar NOTW fashion even over a century ago, as this Montreal newspaper reveals.

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 01, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Emotions, Newspapers, Husbands, Wives, Nineteenth Century, Mental Health and Insanity

International Times

image

IT was a London-based underground newspaper founded in 1966. (Wikipedia entry here.)

Their online archive provides lots of groovy browsing.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 10, 2013 - Comments (1)
Category: Newspapers, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s

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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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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.

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