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Nutty Inventions to Make You Laugh

ED WYNN Famous Follies Funny Man, confides in ALFRED ALBELLI his secrets of nutty inventing which have made him the stage’s highest paid comedian

PARADOXICAL as it may seem, there is an inventor in America who reaps a fortune every year out of the most foolish contraptions you ever laid your eyes on. Their only usefulness is for a good, full-blasted laugh.

Ed Wynn, the famous comedian, cashes in $150,000 a year by virtue of being “the perfect fool” of the American stage. The sobriquet of “The Perfect Fool”‘ was thrust upon him as he played that particular title role in a musical comedy. But Mr. Wynn has his serious—and idle—hours. These he devotes to experiments in his workshop at his Long Island home.
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Let’s see:

• Monowheels have actually gotten a bit popular in the last few years.
• This company sells marine salvage airbags.
• I don’t think many people encase their loved ones’ corpses in glass, but I did go to this exhibit which was pretty amazing.
• Poison bottles seem to have a long history.
• And forget about pictures, we have actual glow in the dark cats now.
  

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  PATENTS ~ Nutty or Novel?

  Believe it or not, every device illustrated on these pages has been granted a patent by the government. Nutty or Novel — which?

  Air-Filled Balloons Salvage Sunken Ships

  SEEKERS after sunken Spanish galleons loaded with pieces of eight will have to equip themselves with balloons in addition to horse pistols, cutlasses, and other piratical impedimenta if they are to be strictly up-to-date in the matter of ship salvaging. Read the rest of this entry »

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THIS BOAT IS A CAR!

IT’S a boat! It’s a car! It does everything but fly! In fact, it’s Amphicar, a West German import that looks like a jazzy convertible and, when driven off the road into a lake or river, becomes an efficient motorboat.

The car’s water-tight body is 15-1/2 ft. long, has a wheelbase of 80 in. and weighs 1,738 lbs. Fuel consumption is said to be 32 mpg on land and two gallons per hour on the water. The Austin four-cylinder engine is water-cooled.

For on-water drive, a switch lever operates two stern propellers at forward or reverse speed.

Recommended for fishermen and outdoor sportsmen, the Amphicar will sell in the U. S. for under $3,000. •

Stretching To Be A Fireman

GINO FRANCESCHINI, New York City, was only 5 feet 6-1/4 inches tall and had to be 5 feet 7 inches to qualify as a fireman. He made the neck stretcher shown above. When measured, he still lacked an eighth of an inch. He hit himself on head to make a bump—and still couldn’t make it.

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SCIENCE on the Trail of Crime

by Lieut. Col. Calvin Goddard

Director of Chicago’s Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory
as told to JAY EARLE MILLER

On St. Valentine’s Day, 1929, a party of Chicago gangsters, armed with two sub-machine guns, stood seven rivals against the wall of a gang rendezvous and mowed them down. A coroner’s jury was impaneled and as a result of their labors Mr. Bert Mas see, the foreman, brought to Chicago Lieut. Col. Calvin Goddard, a famous expert on forensic ballistics, endowed a scientific crime detection laboratory, and placed Col. Goddard in charge. He tells here of the detective work of this laboratory. Read the rest of this entry »

DARLING PET MONKEY $18.95

This Squirrel Monkey makes an adorable pet and companion. Almost human with its warm eyes, your family will love it. These YOUNG monkeys grow about 12 inches high. Eats same food as you. even likes lollipops; simple to care for and train. FREE cage, FREE leather collar & leash, FREE toy and instructions included. Live delivery guaranteed. Only $18.95 express collect. Mail check or money order for $18.95 to:

ANIMAL FARM, Dept. MF-11, Box 1042, Miami Beach 39, Fla.

Talkies to Entertain TRAIN Passengers
TALKIES are soon to be one of the amusements provided for passengers on de luxe trains of leading railroad lines. These “Talkie cars,” designed by William D. Knox, of Birmingham, Mich., are being built for several railroads at a cost of $60,000. They will be decorated like a modern theater, and show latest pictures. Special roller bearings and sound-proof walls will eliminate noise.

“National Accounting Machines save us $17,000 a year … repay their cost every 10 months!”

-G. F. HEUBLEIN & BRO. INC., Hartford, Conn.

“A leading producer and importer of fine foods and beverages”

“Our National Accounting Machines save us $17,000 a year, repaying their cost every 10 months.

“Our accounting requirements are unusually complex because we manufacture as well as import many varieties of food and beverages. National Accounting Machines solve our problems with efficiency and economy. Through them we handle our payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable; and they provide us with detailed sales analyses by products, by salesmen and by territories. Read the rest of this entry »

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Twenty-Three Days in the Air

Flying a distance equal to one and a half times around the world, the four Hunter brothers have established a new airplane endurance record for ambitious pilots to shoot at.

BREAKING the old world’s refueling endurance record by 133 hours 20 minutes, the City of Chicago, an old model Stinson Detroiter with Wright J-6-300 motor, has stayed in the air for 23 days, 1 hour, 41 minutes and 30 seconds.

Imagine taking off at 3:40 p. m. on June 11 and coming down at 5:31-1/2 p. m. on July 4th after cruising for 553 hours 41 minutes and 30 seconds, and covering, at an average speed of 70 miles per hour, a total distance of at least 38,758 miles. Read the rest of this entry »

Given all the steps involved, twelve minutes to set up a call doesn’t seem that long. I wonder what the call cost.

It’s kind of amazing to think that my iPhone has far more capacity than the entire “overseas” telephone network had at this time.

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‘America Calling’

How A Transatlantic ‘Phone Call is Made

By A. P. PECK

1. Within an average of 12 minutes after an American subscriber puts in a call for a party in London, the connection is made and conversation is carried on as clearly and easily as if the called party were only a few blocks away. Behind this commonplace occurrence (an average of 50,000 overseas calls are made yearly, 60 to 65 percent of them being transatlantic), there is a vast array of technical developments and their application, aimed toward maintenance of service and speech quality.
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Miracles Worked in Muscles!

From “PUNY” to PANTHER-MAN

READ THIS AMAZING PROOF

WEAK men made strong! Puny, sickly chaps transformed into husky, broad-shouldered athletes! Man, if you’ve got an ounce of red blood in your veins you’re going to find out about this wonderful way to get STRONG. All in a few minutes a day at home. My Free Book tells the whole amazing story. Send for it TODAY. Read the rest of this entry »

Constructs Novel Motorcycle
POWERED by a four-cylinder motor, a motorcycle constructed by Raymond Courtney, of Lansing, Mich., features a specially designed, streamlined sheet-metal body which is said to increase road speed about 20 m.p.h. Sections of the body are easily removed, facilitating repairs or adjustments. The novel motorcycle is equipped with hydraulic brakes, both front and rear, and the unusually small wheels are fitted with airplane tires, providing the machine with an extremely low center of gravity. The wheel turrets are so constructed that one is used as a gasoline tank while the other three are used to carry small luggage.