#alan abel

Ah, the miracle of cryogenics! Who wouldn’t want to take a break and just be frozen for a few years? 

The famously reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes would seem like just the person to take advantage of such a procedure, which is why in April 1972, journalists and photographers gathered for a press conference in New York’s St. Regis Hotel to see Mr. Hughes, with his head wrapped in bandages, make a statement about his plan to temporarily freeze himself. One of those photographers was Alfred Eisenstaedt, in whose files this odd press release was found. 

It was, however, not Hughes beneath the bandages, but media prankster Alan Abel, who had staged the entire event. This came just a few months after Clifford Irving confessed to having perpetrated a much larger hoax involving the fraudulent autobiography of Howard Hughes.

[Alan Abel]. Howard Hughes press release. 24 April 1972. MS 3009. RG 9: Time Inc. Records. Life Editorial.: Alfred Eisenstaedt: Desk Papers: Correspondence: General. New-York Historical Society.

The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (SINA) existed for three years at the dawn of the 1960s, doing the Lord's work to spare little children the sight of nude animals.

In 1963, a Time magazine article exposed the prank after a CBS TV news staffer recognized the putative "president" of SINA as actor and writer Buck Henry. He'd been hired by Alan Abel to help sell this hoax, a parody of the bluenosed "decency" organizations then clutching their pearls on a regular basis.

Well, not only were Carol O’Connor and James Baldwin born 100 years ago today, but so was Alan Abel (1924-2018) — that’s the emmis. In the age of Trump and QAnon it may be difficult to remember a time when con jobs could be both funny and fun, but such was the case once, at least in this case. Like Ben Blue, and for that matter Ringo Starr and Keith Moon, Abel was a funny guy who started out…on…

You’re Having A Laugh – Part Forty Five - the two deaths of serial hoaxer, Alan Abel.

The death of Alan Abel, 1980

We’ve come across serial hoaxer, Alan Abel, before when looking at the vexed question of whether animals should wear clothing and the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (SINA). I always thought it was appropriate that he made his home in Southbury in Connecticut, the accepted abbreviation for the state being Conn.

One of the many concerns about slipping off…

Animal Fashion Of The Week - a sheep sporting a fetching maternity bra but why? Find out here.

A little while ago I wrote about the trend of clothing animals in human clothing, inspired by the desire to get that cute shot for social media (https://windowthroughtime.wordpress.com/2019/12/09/youre-having-a-laugh-part-thirty-one/).

Occasionally, though, there is a good(ish) reason to do it. Take Rose, an ewe from the Auckland area of New Zealand, expecting triplets and producing milk like…