The DeMoulin Museum in the News

Here's an interesting short video about the DeMoulin Museum, an archive of some really interesting, intriguing, and imaginative stuff that was all made right here in the USA.

A Spanking Machine

Here's another video about some of those crazy DeMoulin Brothers inventions. This one is about a spanking machine.

Book Review: THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS

At the end of the 19^th Century and the beginning of the 20^th Century, three brothers named DeMoulin joined together to form the DeMoulin Brothers Company. The company they started is still in existence today and is the leading manufacture of band uniforms in the country. However, the DeMoulin Brothers didn’t make their fortune selling band uniforms. They made their fortune designing, creating, and manufacturing lodge initiation devices. Replicating such a success in today’s sue-happy society would be impossible. However, it did happen once upon a time in America. The story of the DeMoulin brothers is quite interesting and at times fascinating and this unique and particular American story is finally beginning to gain some of the attention it deserves.

Last year (2010) saw the publication of CATALOG 439 edited by Charles Schneider and published by Fantagraphic Books. That book was mostly a reprinting of Catalog 439, the most famous of the DeMoulin Brothers catalogs. Now there is THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS by Julia Suits. Unlike CATALOG 439, this book isn’t a reprinting of one particular DeMoulin catalog. Instead it is a hodge-podge of selected items from several different DeMoulin catalogs, photos from the period, essays about lodges and lodge initiation devices, and random quotes. The subtitle of the book is “The Curious World of the DeMoulin Brothers and Their Fraternal Lodge Pranks Machines—from Human Centipedes and Revolving Goats to Electric Carpets and Smoking Camels” and several of the devices invented and manufactured by the DeMoulins are featured within. However, the book itself is more like an overview of lodge life in the early 1900s.  Chapters include “The Brothers DeMoulin”, “Fraternalism 101”, “Fun Work: The Side-Degree”, “Factory Goats”, “See You in Court”, “Zzzzzt! The Shockers”, “Bang! Crash! Splat!: The Mechanicals”, and “Wardrobe! The Wearables”. The book also includes a brief introduction by magician & illusionist David Copperfield (DeMoulin artifacts are highly collectible among magicians).

THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS is an interesting book. However, the book lacks focus. The illustrations of the book fit the chapters, but the written text that accompanies the illustrations don’t always fit those chapters. Not only that, but there is also a lot of random bits thrown in. While I was reading the book, I felt like I was reading a literary equivalent of a pop-up video. In short, the material in THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS is fascinating, but the way it’s edited make the book feel more like a reference or trivia book; it makes a create coffee table book and conversation piece.

How to Ride a Goat

Here's another one of those quirky little videos about the new DeMoulin-inspired book, THE EXTRAORDINARY CATALOG OF PECULIAR INVENTIONS.

Testing Your Lungs

Another strange device from those crazy DeMoulin Brothers. 

A New DeMoulin Book and the Human Centipede

There's a new book out loosely based around the inventions and goods manufactured by the DeMoulin brothers in the late 1890s-1930s. In promotion of that book, The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions by Julia Suits, there's a series of short videos that have been released by the book's publisher, Perigree. Here's the first video. It's about the Human Centipede (no, not the horrific, disgusting movie).

Book Review: DEMOULIN CATALOG NO. 439

Once upon a time in America (particularly at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century) three brothers united in the small city of Greenville, Illinois and formed a business. These men were the DeMoulin brothers and they named their business the DeMoulin Brothers Company (imagine that). The business they started was unlike any other business that existed. At this point in history there was no Internet, no television, and no radio. Museums and libraries existed mainly in large metropolitan areas. The middle class was on the rise and, by and large, the American man found that at the end of each day and week he had some leisure time. Seeking out the companionship of other males as well as cheap, and sometimes free, life insurance for their families, these men flocked to lodges. Even the smallest villages in the country usually had at least two to four different lodges that a man could join. Some men joined one, others joined as many as they could. The Freemasons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Improved Order of Red Men were just a few of the dozens of national fraternal organizations that existed. To make meetings more fun and increase further increase membership, elaborate rituals were developed. The DeMoulin brothers recognized this and were able to capitalize on it by creating a business around the manufacturing of lodge initiation devices and side degree, or burlesque, paraphernalia. From the creation of the DeMoulin Brothers in the late 1890s until 1930, these devices were the bread and butter of the company.

CATALOG #439 was the final catalog the DeMoulin Brothers Company published that featured these fraternity initiation devices. CATALOG #439 has now been republished by Fantagraphics Books. Besides the catalog itself, the book contains three distinct essays: an appreciation from magician David Copperfield, an introduction by Charles Schneider, and an essay by William D. Moore about lodges. Copperfield’s brief piece reveals that he is an avid collector of DeMoulin merchandise, why it fascinates him, and retells a public accident Copperfield was involved in when he appeared on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN. Schneider’s introduction is the heart and soul of this new reprint of CATALOG #439. He provides the context for the catalog, a short back story about the three DeMoulin brothers and their company, the relation of the company to the people in and around Greenville, IL, the significance of their work, and why the DeMoulin Brothers and the devices they created are relevant today. Lastly, Moore’s essay provides a short historical perspective about fraternal lodges in the United States and how the items the DeMoulins manufactured fit into that perspective.

The catalog doesn’t contain all of the equipment, devices, and gadgets ever manufactured by the company, but it contains a majority of them and all of the most popular ones. The Bucking Goat, the Trick Desk Telephone, the Lung Tester, and the Invisible Paddle Machine are just a few of the items of hilarity that can be found within the pages. There is a trick chair that collapses when a person sits in it as well as another trick chair that falls backwards when someone pulls a chain. There’s a frightening looking faux guillotine as well as a pledge altar that features a skeleton that pops up and shoots water into the eyes of a praying confessor. There are electric buzzers and carpets, spanking paddles that shoot off a blank cartridge, and a mysterious vat where “goat’s blood” can be served from. There are many other devices as well as masks, costumes, and wigs and other hair pieces that could be used to frighten and entertain. In addition there are other artifacts that a lodge could use in their meetings, such as ballot boxes, furniture, and banners as well as items for parades and public displays such as fake weapons, large umbrellas, batons, and flags. Most of the items are illustrated and include a brief description as well as suggestions for other devices and real testimonials from customers.

There are three appendixes to CATALOG #439. The first was one that was included in the original DeMoulin Brothers Catalog #439. Appendix I provides directions on how to use the items listed in the catalog as well as suggestions on how to implement them into meetings. Appendix II is a collection of some of the original patents that the DeMoulin brothers had for several of their items. Appendix III includes a few serious items the company manufactured that were geared towards Masons, including priest garments, tabernacles tables and veils, and specially designed metal ornaments.

The items listed in CATALOG #439 are highly sought-after by collectors. DeMoulin merchandise has a particular connection to magicians and practical jokesters. Some of their devices served as prototypes for devices created by magicians and illusionists years later. The DeMoulin catalogs themselves, particularly CATALOG #439, were the forerunners for the popular prank and gag catalogs popular with children from the 1930s-1970s. The book is a time machine into a different era of America history, where masculinity wasn’t feminized and people were encouraged to snub their noses at the propriety and civil correctness of society. It’s joy to see the book in publication again.