See that man? That's the great cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, whose name became a part of the English language. He drew comic strips about bizarre machines that went to elaborate lengths to accomplish something trivial and now, when people build one, they sometimes call it "a Rube Goldberg device." This website will tell you all about the late Mr. Goldberg…but that's not the main link I wanted to mention here. Over at an online film collection called the Prelinger Archives, they have hundreds of old, obscure short films available for your viewing pleasure. This one stars Rube and shows him at the drawing board and such.
I should warn you: If you start browsing around on that site, you could waste an awful lot of your life. Of particular interest to some will be the movies that forecast nuclear holocaust or warn you about the evils of drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. There's a hysterical film tract which was produced by the infamous Charles Keating in which TV newsman George Putnam lectures us on the evils of pornography, and a number of hoary commercials. Go there at your own risk.