NOT TODAY, EBAY (33)
By:
March 13, 2026
One in a series of posts via which Josh Glenn will share recent examples of stuff that he was tempted to purchase via eBay… but, heroically, didn’t.
Antique 1900s green mermaid dress risqué performer woman arcade mutoscope photo
US $38.00
The Mutoscope was a popular, coin-operated, single-person, early motion picture device from the 1890s that worked like a giant, mechanical flipbook, showing short, silent scenes viewed through a peephole. Invented by Herman Casler, it used individual photographic cards on a rotating drum, making it simpler and cheaper than Edison’s Kinetoscope, and became a staple in arcades with often risqué content like the famous “What the Butler Saw” reels.
When I was a kid, Boston’s Museum of Science had a Mutoscope-type device (showing non-risqué content, I’m sure). I was reminiscing about that device one day, and ended up here…
MORE FURSHLUGGINER THEORIES BY JOSH GLENN: SCHEMATIZING | IN CAHOOTS | JOSH’S MIDJOURNEY | POPSZTÁR SAMIZDAT | VIRUS VIGILANTE | TAKING THE MICKEY | WE ARE IRON MAN | AND WE LIVED BENEATH THE WAVES | IS IT A CHAMBER POT? | I’D LIKE TO FORCE THE WORLD TO SING | THE ARGONAUT FOLLY | THE PERFECT FLANEUR | THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JANUARY | THE REAL THING | THE YHWH VIRUS | THE SWEETEST HANGOVER | THE ORIGINAL STOOGE | BACK TO UTOPIA | FAKE AUTHENTICITY | CAMP, KITSCH & CHEESE | THE UNCLE HYPOTHESIS | MEET THE SEMIONAUTS | THE ABDUCTIVE METHOD | ORIGIN OF THE POGO | THE BLACK IRON PRISON | BLUE KRISHMA | BIG MAL LIVES | SCHMOOZITSU | YOU DOWN WITH VCP? | CALVIN PEEING MEME | DANIEL CLOWES: AGAINST GROOVY | DEBATING IN A VACUUM | PLUPERFECT PDA | SHOCKING BLOCKING.