Paleo-Future Blog

Space Station (1956)

Matt Novak — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:08:50 +0000

Today's retro-futuristic eye candy comes from the 1956 book The Complete Book of Space Travel. This donut-shaped space station, popularized by Wernher von Braun, popped up on TV, in films and even on lunch boxes. Do the kids these days still carry lunch boxes? I really have no idea. I vaguely recall carrying an ALF lunch box to school, but I may be stealing that memory from a Full House episode or something.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Electronic Home Library (1959)

Matt Novak — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:01:56 +0000

Remember 1959? You were just 9 years old, with not a care in the world (except maybe nuclear winter). You spread the Sunday paper out across the living room floor of your suburban Chicago home, and excitedly flipped to the funny pages. Closer Than We Think! Your favorite!

What fantastical promise from the future did Mr. Radebaugh have for you this week? Cars that run on sunshine? Tomatoes as big as Verne Gagne's head? Underseas highways to the land of godless commies? No, something even more ridiculous! A home library of electronic media! What a weird futuristic world that would be! Gosh golly, what will they think of next!

Some unusual inventions for home entertainment and education will be yours in the future, such as the "television recorder" that RCA's David Sarnoff described recently.

With this device, when a worthwhile program comes over the air while you are away from home, or even while you're watching it, you'll be able to preserve both the picture and sound on tape for replaying at any time. Westinghouse's Gwilym Price expects such tapes to reproduce shows in three dimensions and color on screens as shallow as a picture.

Another pushbutton development will be projection of microfilm books on the ceiling or wall in large type. To increase their impact on students, an electronic voice may accompany the visual passages.

Eternal thanks to my Closer Than We Think pusher Tom Z., without whom I would be living in a cold, dark world of black and white comic strips.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Future New York, The City of Skyscrapers (1925)

Matt Novak — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:34:03 +0000

This postcard from 1925 imagines future New York City, "The City of Skyscrapers." Utopian New York of the 1920s sure had a lot of levels, with a system of elevated trains, some beautiful flying contraptions, and towering skyscrapers reaching toward the heavens. I'm fascinated by New York futurism, as it generally had a more rugged or old world vibe (even in its utopian form) than the futurism of the shiny western United States.

Of course New York is a favorite setting for the apocalyptic as well. Just yesterday my friend Brian Horrigan, co-author of the book Yesterday's Tomorrows, told me about a decidedly apocalyptic book focusing on New York that I can't wait to get my hands on, The City's End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fear, and Premonitions of New York's Destruction.

The postcard is from my personal collection, but the date I'm using is based upon Corbis Images.

UPDATE: Though the identical colorized image from Corbis may very well be from 1925, I've found earlier sources of this image from travel guide publisher Moses King, dating back to 1911.

FUTURE NEW YORK will be pre-eminently the city of skyscrapers. The first steel frame structure that was regarded as a skyscraper was the Tower Building at 50 Broadway, a ten story structure 129 feet high. There are now over a thousand building of that height in Manhattan. The best known skyscrapers are the Singer Building, 612 feet high, the Metropolitan Building, 700 feet high; and the Woolworth Tower which towers above them all and rises to a height of 790 feet. The proposed Pan American Building is to be 801 feet high.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Will Humanity Annihilate Itself? (1939)

Matt Novak — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:57:20 +0000

The March 29, 1939 San Antonio Light (San Antonio, TX) ran this teaser for an article that was to appear in the April 2nd issue of The American Weekly.

At first glance, I had assumed that the ad was referencing this article that we looked at from 1935, but upon closer inspection it would seem they simply used the same drawing of a robot soldier from Erik Nitsche. Maybe if I track down the actual 1939 article from Professor C.M. Joad I'll straighten this whole robotic mess out. Until then, enjoy the pictures (...of an uber-dystopian, sentient robot hellscape!)

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Supersonic Jet Set May Land at Sea (1967)

Matt Novak — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:37:33 +0000

As I type these words from the relative comfort of a chair 30,000 feet in the sky, I can't help but marvel at the incredible advancements aviation has made in the last hundred years. Being connected to the internet is but just one thing airline passengers now take for granted as humanity's ability to move from place to place and communicate has not only become easier but, probably most importantly, less expensive.

Today we have an image from the April 23, 1967 Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) that accompanied an article imagining a "sea airport" or Sea Sky Terminal (SST) of the future. Some of the benefits listed in the article appear below.

Proponents of the dream terminal say that, among other things, it would:

1. Eliminate the danger of huge aircraft landing in congested areas.

2. Eliminate the noise associated with major airports.

3. Eliminate freeway and street congestion caused by ever-increasing numbers of air travelers trying to get in and out of major terminals.

4. Eliminate property problems, such as occurred in Los Angeles recently when that city had to purchase 400 omes in order to make room for a new runway for International Airport.

The sea airport of the future, engineers say, could be served by underwater subways and high-speed airfoil vessels. Helicopters, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and flying buses would link the seagoing airstrip with satellite airports in other cities, by-passing the freeways.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

The Vanity of Human Wishes (1970)

Matt Novak — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:30:13 +0000

Russell Kirk [wikipedia.org]The April 3, 1970 Ada Evening News published a piece by conservative writer Russell Kirk in which he becomes perturbed that the study of the future -- which was beginning to be accepted in mainstream academic circles of that time -- may be driven by humanism rather than some exploration of a divine plan. You can read the entire piece here, but it's the last sentence of Kirk's piece that I find most interesting:

If the people of the year 2000 ever bother to read our predictions for their time, probably they will acquire a lesson in the vanity of human wishes.

1970 April 3 Ada Evening News - Ada OK Paleofuture

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Headlines of the Near Future (1972)

Televox Entertains High School Students (1930)

Matt Novak — Thu, 06 May 2010 05:38:23 +0000

The November 20, 1930 Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune (Muscatine, IA) ran a short blurb announcing that Televox -- a robot you might remember as the husband of one Mrs. Katrina Van Televox -- would be making an appearance at a local Iowa high school.

"Televox," the mechanical man, one of the outstanding miracles of modern science, will perform for the students of the Muscatine high school at the high school auditorium Friday at 8:40 a. m., Henry Van Hettinga, principal, announced today. This will be the high school's first taste of the High School Assembly association talent this year.

This is a treat that is always in demand in the schools which are members of the assembly association. This mechanical human, often called the "servant of the future," was built in the East Pittsburg laboratories of the Westinghouse Electric company. It will be demonstrated Friday morning by W.A. Wheeler, an expert electrician.

One of his special tricks is that of using the telephone in much the same manner as a human being. He will perform many other interesting tasks. An admission of 10 cents will be charged.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Jean-Marc Côté's Visions of the Year 2000 (1899)

Matt Novak — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:00:45 +0000

Back in 2007, when the Paleo-Future blog was just two photos of Jane Jetson and a link to my Friendster profile, I posted some images from the National Library of France that depicted life in the year 2000.

I've since learned that these prints are from 1899, rather than 1910 as reported by the BnF. I've also learned that they were illustrated by Jean-Marc Côté, a French commercial artist who was commissioned by either a toy or cigarette manufacturer, to produce them. Interestingly enough the company that commissioned the cards went out of business before they could be distributed, leaving behind just one complete set of 50 cards. And where did I learn all of this wonderful information? From reading a book! Which I hear is FUNdamental!

Isaac Asimov's Futuredays is a card-by-card analysis of these retro-futuristic artifacts and does a wonderful job of putting them into historical context for modern readers. I highly recommend it, even though the book contradicts itself by sometimes stating that the cards were commissioned by a cigarette manufacturer and sometimes claiming it was a toy company. Enjoy!

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Will Science Harness Sun Power After the War? (1942)

Matt Novak — Sat, 01 May 2010 19:44:47 +0000

In 1942, with World War II raging, people were naturally thinking about what a post-War world might look like.

Once the present world-wide orgy of destruction has come to an end, there will be a tremendous job of reconstruction to do. Ruined cities, factories, power stations will have to be rebuilt, wrecked railroads and highways relaid, blasted mines and oil wells reopened, sunken ships replaced.

This syndicated piece by Dr. Frank Thone, found in the March 22, 1942 Galveston Daily News (Galveston, TX), imagines a world -- should it not be destroyed outright-- on which humanity could build a bright new future using the latest in solar power technologies. The entire piece appears below.

1942 March 22 Galveston Daily News - Galveston TX paleofuture

(While doing a quick search to learn more about Dr. Thone I found this interesting article he wrote in 1934.)

Previously on Paleo-Future:

Vitamins and Exercise to Replace Girdles by 2007 (1957)

Matt Novak — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:49:26 +0000

The June 26, 1957 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner ran an article titled, "Vitamins and Exercise Will Replace Girdles in 50 Years, Says Designer." An excerpt appears below, while the article in its entirety can be read at right.

The corset people are in a dither because a fashion designer says the woman of the future won't need a girdle.

Designer Adele Simpson predicted recently that 50 years hence, women will have such good figures they won't need to wear "unmentionables."

She said the improvement will come from vitamins and exercise.

Betty Vincent, educational director and fashion consultant for the Formfit Company, was quick to take issue.

Fifty years from now, she said, women still will come in assorted shapes and sizes.

Miss Vincent was willing to bet her girdle that even 500 years from now the female figure will vary little from today's models, "vitamins and exercise not withstanding."

"I think Mrs. Simpson is being unduly optimistic," she said. "Vitamins may be important to health, but they'll do little to life the bosom or control the average derriere."

Female shapes, she said, have changed but little over the past several thousand years, and to expect a radical improvement in the next half century is "wishful thinking."

Previously on Paleo-Future: