[Found here and elsewhere.]
Vintage Halloween
Tag: Retro & Vintage
Zuma, Man of Mars
“In 1950, the world of wrestling was introduced to a masked competitor that called himself ‘Zuma, Man of Mars.’ Also known as ‘The Great Zuma’, the man entered the ring wearing a long cape secured with a chest plate bearing the letter ‘Z,’ and an otherworldly headpiece with an antenna-like top that concealed his face. Zuma gained popularity on the wrestling circuit during his debut year, garnering attention for being quick on his feet and winning the majority of his matches. It was that fancy footwork—and a striking resemblance—that ultimately unveiled the true identity of the mysterious Martian to be Carl J. Engstrom, a DePaul student and former star boxer for the university.”
Flicks from the Cauldron
Making Movies In A Volcano – Popular Science Monthly, April 1933. Illustration: Edgar Franklin Wittmack.
[Found here, and that’s $3.67 in 2024 dollars.]
Railroad Inspection Cars
[Click any image for enlarge. Background story and more found here.]
Antiquarians
“Collectors like Hollister, left, and Porter Hovey, sisters with an appetite for late 19th-century relics like apothecary cabinets and dressmakers dummies, are turning their homes into pastiches of the past.”
New York Times 29 July 2009
[Found here.]
1922 Color Television by Radio
Space Bimbos III
Hasil Adkin’s Contribution To The World
“We salute one of the great outsiders in R&R: Hasil Adkins was born in Boone County, West Virginia on April 29, 1937, where he spent his entire life. He was the youngest of ten children of Wid Adkins, a coal miner, and Alice Adkins, raised in a tarpaper shack on property rented from a local coal company. Born at the time of the Great Depression, Adkins’ early life was stricken by poverty. His parents were unable to provide him shoes until he was four or five years old. Some reports say he attended school for a very brief time, as few as two days of first grade.
His genres include rock & roll, country, blues and more commonly rockabilly, and because of his unusual playing and singing style, he is often cited as an example of outsider music. He generally performed as a one-man band, playing guitar and drums.
Adkins was born during the Great Depression and grew up in poverty. His spirited, unusual lifestyle is reflected in his music. His songs, which he began recording and distributing locally in the mid-1950s, explored an affinity for chicken, sexual intercourse, and decapitation, and were obscure outside of West Virginia until the 1980s. The newfound popularity secured him a cult following, spawned the Norton Records label, and helped usher in the genre well known as psychobilly.”
[Found here via here, and there’s a documentary trailer here.]
Kodak Time
All images from Square America, an excellent collection of random vintage photos.
Picasso’s Girls
[Found in here.]
Tacky Raccoons 