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The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

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Re: The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

#11

Post by _dain_ »

I think the "hoax" is itself partly a hoax. It's one of those exaggerated tales, like the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio play. Supposedly there were thousands of credulous people writing in to inquire more about the spaghetti trees; probably a great many were fully in on the joke and were just dryly "yes-anding", as we say nowadays. Perhaps on behalf of their children, rather like how one would "write a letter" to Father Christmas.

50s Britain wasn't that ignorant of the outside world (especially compared to other 50s countries). There were hundreds of thousands of servicemen who had been in Italy in the war and for the occupation, and the Empire was mostly still around. People knew what spaghetti was.

Re: The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

#13

Post by b112 »

rstuart4133 wrote: post #7
tlarkworthy wrote: post #4

My grandfather was still talking of this in the 90s. A very good joke!

I fell for it. I wasn't born in 1957, but I to this day I remember the picture. I must have seen it in a newspaper when I was around 5. It was before TV. I just accepted the picture as ground truth and it stuck with me for many years. It came as quite a shock when I discovered as an adult spaghetti was made from flour.

No no, you've still got it wrong!

It's made from a flower, a rare but now successfully domesticated flower. The Tu-Tue flower does require extensive processing, sort of like how corn has to be soaked in something, like ashes, to release its nutrients.

Tu-tue requires a similar process, but just as with natives in the new world and corn, ancient Romans simply knew that washing the flowers in a hot-spring near Getti made the final product palitable, without knowing why.

Spa being of course, latin for 'hot wash', thus spa-getti.

Hope this helps.

Re: The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

#14

Post by oniony »

In 1992 BBC 1 put out a live documentary programme called Ghostwatch, in which they visited a supposedly haunted house. There were many BBC documentaries at the time, and this was no different, so we all watched with half interest.

It's also important to note that there was little alternative programming at the time: just BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV and Channel 4. I can't remember if Channel Five had launched yet, but you get the idea. A significant slice of the UK population was watching.

Also, it's worth mentioning that back then I think significantly more people entertained the idea, if even slightly, that supernatural things loke ghosts could exist. There was many more spoon benders, clairvoyants, spiritualists in mainstream media than today.

Anyhow, the programme starts normal enough but then supernatural things start happening and all hell breaks loose just as the programme ends and the credits start rolling. We're all in shock. It's all we talk about at school the next day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwatch

Re: The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

#15

Post by omnicognate »

oniony wrote: post #14

In 1992 BBC 1 put out a live documentary programme called Ghostwatch, in which they visited a supposedly haunted house. There were many BBC documentaries at the time, and this was no different, so we all watched with half interest. It's also important to note that there was little alternative programming at the time: just BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV and Channel 4. I can't remember if Channel Five had launched yet, but you get…

They did that so well, starting out like a corny live daytime TV-ish thing and slowly ratcheting up the weirdness, taking full advantage of the phase everyone would go through where they were uncertain if it was really live or a hoax.

I doubt you'd get any impression of what it was like then by watching it now, because all the social context is gone, but as a kid at the time it was really scary.

Re: The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

#18

Post by [deleted] »

oniony wrote: post #14

In 1992 BBC 1 put out a live documentary programme called Ghostwatch, in which they visited a supposedly haunted house. There were many BBC documentaries at the time, and this was no different, so we all watched with half interest. It's also important to note that there was little alternative programming at the time: just BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV and Channel 4. I can't remember if Channel Five had launched yet, but you get…

[deleted]

Re: The 1957 “Spaghetti-Grows-on-Trees” Hoax

#19

Post by Marazan »

Jedd wrote: post #5

Reminds me of a) the breathtaking vox pop done by the BBC [0] in 1978 as metric adoption nipped at their imperial heels, and some spectacularly bewildered misunderstandings manifested -- the first citizen here inventing the word kilomileometres and (I wish she were joking) asserting that your car's mileage is reduced because you'll be using litres, and b) the comedy radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, running sinc…

It is deeply offensive to the serious players of the game to suggest Mornington Crescent is "made up". Yes, to neophytes it can seem random and unstructured but it is preposterous to suggest game with such a lineage is fictional.
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