The Beginnings Of The Alligator Woman

Cameo’s Alligator Woman had to start somewhere…

Via Mothic Flights & Flutterings:

Toddler with a group of reptilian friends at The Luna Park Alligator Farm in Lincoln Heights, California – c. 1920s

Pirate Boot-y

A vintage photograph of Alice White, taken by Elmer Fryer in 1929. Here White wears the stunning boots and costume of a pirate girl as she wore in the opening musical sequence of the pre-code musical Playing Around.

Vintage Cigarettes For Kids

In case you just thought candy cigarettes were just a thing from your childhood, know that they are much much older. Exhibit A, this vintage Gold Tip Gum package.

Made by The Sterling Mint Co., these 5 cent boxes of gum, in four flavors, date back to the 1920s — but were also used through the 1940s. And they look pretty awesome in their original store display stand. (
I’m giving mine away on Listia.)

If the “gold tip” part doesn’t convince you this is cigarette gum, check out what’s written inside the lid of the flip-top box:

The Aristocrat of Gums
Ten 5 cent Sticks
Cigarette Form

They still make candy and bubblegum cigarettes, but you rarely see them in stores. Oddly enough, I do spot the bubblegum chew in stores; infinitely grosser, in my opinion.

There Might Just Be A Reason For The Masks

We don’t always wish to be remembered for our costumes… Would you be proud to discover your ancestor in this vintage Halloween photo, circa 1920s? Wouldn’t you prefer to remain ignorant to grandpa in blackface? I’d prefer he was the gas-mask wearing guy. But never ever the horn-playing clown. I’m fine, however, with cross-dressing grandma. I have plenty of those in my family tree. (I’m pretty sure I posted pics of that somewhere… But I couldn’t find them, even with Google’s help. Bummer.)

Photo via Lynnstudios.

Look for the other Kitschy Kitschy Coo Halloween posts here and here.

Gernsback’s ADD & ADHD Treatment

The Isolator by Hugo Gernsback, as it appeared on the cover of, and the pages in between, the July 1925 issue of Science and Invention.

While Attention Deficit Order, with or without hyperactivity, isn’t mentioned (it didn’t exist as a diagnosis back then), The Isolator was designed to help focus the mind, particularly when reading and writing (literacy is hard work!). The helmet not only eliminated all outside noise, limited sight to just one line of text at a time, but it also pumped in oxygen. From the looks of it, the contraption would also assist in limiting hyperactivity by limiting movement, or, between weight and limited visibility, it would at least slow you down.

Via A Great Disorder and 50 Watts. At Boing Boing, Mark captions the mag cover “Portrait of a Blogger in the 1920s.”