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A child and a German Shepherd wear boxing gloves and face each other inside a makeshift boxing ring. The dog stands on its hind legs, paws raised in a boxing stance.

So the olden days were weird. Want proof? Check out Black and WTF

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Date
31 May 2012

We’re used to seeing people from bygone eras generally sitting about, wearing black, riding horses (not smiling horses, though), signing agreements, cutting down ludicrously mammoth trees…you get the picture. But get these pictures! Have you ever seen a Tumblr with a clearer aim, pulled off with such perfection? The concept here is straightforward – whatever preconceptions you had about anything pre 1960 being boring, throw out of the window, and rest your eyes on a collection of pictures exposing just how weird the olden days really were. Kangaroos bowling? Sure. But the best ones are surely the images of the reckless – and perhaps drunken – twenty-somethings on anti-prohibition protests in the streets of America. That’s the spirit!

A person in a dark suit and glasses holds up a small, doll-like figure dressed in a dark suit and hat. Beside them, a person in a wide-brimmed hat and suit looks on with a surprised expression.
Above

Black and WTF: Harold Lloyd shakes hands with a little person.

A group of people in military uniforms pose in a playful, leaning formation in a camp. They are surrounded by canvas tents and equipment on a grassy field.
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Black and WTF: Five U.S. Soldiers (and boy) in a fan formation.

A building is completely covered from top to bottom in rows of hanging clothes. A sign on the ground floor reads “Chr. Troelstrup”. People walk and cycle along the street in front of the structure.
Above

Black and WTF: Overstocked clothier, Denmark

A black and white photograph of three figures posing in a studio. A person with a long white beard and hair stands beside a smaller figure in a tight, pale bodysuit with thin antennae. A third person in a dark suit and hat stands to the right. Below the image, a logo reads “Zohar Studios”.
Above

Black and WTF

A person sits wearing a complex, spherical metal cage over their head. A person in a lab coat and glasses carefully adjusts a small component of the device.
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Black and WTF: Max Factor demonstrates his “scientific device” the Beauty Micrometer which detects defects in feminine beauty that are imperceptible to the naked eye.

A person in a white jumpsuit leans over a bowling lane, holding a bowling ball. Beside them, a kangaroo stands on the lane, balancing a bowling ball under its paw.
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Black and WTF: Model Monique Van Vooren bowling with a kangaroo.

Two people stand beside a seated figure dressed as Santa Claus, both smoking cigarettes. A small sign above them reads “SANTA CLAUS”.
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Black and WTF

A black and white archival clipping featuring a person wearing a metal wire device that curves around their jaw and presses into their cheeks. A headline reads “Woman Invents Dimple Machine”, with accompanying text describing the invention by Isabella Gilbert.
Above

Black and WTF: Woman invents dimple machine

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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