Wyatt Metal & Boiler Works — 1939

This industrial metal structure — possibly in use at a Texas oil refinery? — looks pleasingly futuristic. The winding exterior staircase is a nice touch.

by High Shrink
Posted on December 23, 2018December 23, 2018
1930s

Hollywood stars have always had to do silly things for the sake of publicity….

How did the future of years past differ from today’s present? For one thing, there are a lot fewer flying and floating contraptions littering the sky these days. Click to see some wonderfully odd postcards featuring visions of what several Massachusetts towns might look like “in the future.”

Halloween is one of the few occasions when creepy children are welcome. See a little trick-or-treater whose “trick” is something you don’t want to test.

Oscar Drum (1860-1936) was a photographer who traveled around Kansas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, setting up temporary studios in rented buildings, in railroad cars, and even in tents. He would stay in small towns for a few days or a few weeks before moving on to the next location. One of his specialties was photographing Native American subjects. One photo, in particular, taken in the Indian Territory community of Nowata, is intriguing for all its unanswered questions. Click to read more.

Take a look at what the fashionable radiation detector was wearing in 1956 — it’s like something you’d see in a low-budget sci-fi movie: an ant-man in a jumpsuit, with antennae and a throat microphone. I’m not sure *I’d* feel confident wearing this in a “hot zone,” but it was apparently deemed safe by the Hanford plutonium plant (aka “the Hanford Site”) in Richland, Washington. Check it out.

Hollywood poster artists are responsible for much of a movie’s attraction. In fact, I love these fantastic posters so much I don’t even really need to see the movie. See a whole bunch of promotional artwork for “Dracula’s Daughter” at the link.

Gregorio Prestopino — known as “Presto” to his friends — was an American artist whose works ran the gamut from socially conscious depictions of poverty, nostalgic memories of the Little Italy neighborhood he grew up in, a series on prison life for Life magazine, a series of anti-war works, sensuous female nudes, and colorful magazine covers. See a few of my favorites.

by High Shrink
Posted on September 30, 2018January 15, 2019
1900s

Vibrating furniture was a thing in 1905. This Detroit company doesn’t seem to have lasted very long, but its trimmed-in-fringe product was a featured exhibit at the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial. Read more….

Sometimes after a difficult week, one just needs to kick back with a dangling fake tongue and look “exceedingly funny.” This has been just such a week.