Carl Wenzel Zajicek (1860–1923) was a Viennese painter. He was born as one of 24 children of watchmaker Franz Zajicek. Educated in his father's craft, he worked as a watchmaker until 1900, but he practiced artistic painting as an amateur from a young age. Inspired by Emil Hütter, … | Continue reading
Brian Epstein pictured with some of the groups he manages on June 18, 1963. These are three of the most listened-to bands of the early 1960s: The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Between them they sold 2,000,000 records in six months. On Paul McC … | Continue reading
A Parisian woman wearing a low-priced, mass-produced yet fashionable British dress designed by Norman Hartnell, sits at a cafe in St Germaine des Pres, Paris, 1951. These dresses are on sale at Paris boutique Au Printemps, and are proving immensely popular. (Photos by Kurt Hutton … | Continue reading
King Francis I of France discovered the lotteries during his campaigns in Italy and decided to organize such a lottery in his kingdom to help the state finances. The first French lottery, the Loterie Royale, was held in 1539 and was authorized with the edict of Châteaurenard. Thi … | Continue reading
Mike Nichols’ drama Silkwood (1983) is based on the real life case of a plutonium processing plant metallurgy worker who discovered corporate powers were covering up radiation leaks at Oklahoma’s Kerr-McGee plant. Karen’s whistle blower efforts as a union activist to reveal Kerr- … | Continue reading
Cyndi Lauper was born on June 22, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Catholic family. She grew up in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens and, as a child, listened to such artists as The Beatles and Judy Garland. At age 12, she began writing songs and playing an acoustic guit … | Continue reading
Born 1906 in Warsaw, Polish-American singer and actress Lyda Roberti made her Broadway debut in You Said It in 1931 and, with its success, became an overnight sensation. During her run with the show, she was nicknamed “Broadway’s preferred Polish blonde”. In 1932, Roberti was sig … | Continue reading
The Peugeot motor-boat car, created in 1925, wasn’t a true amphibious vehicle but rather a promotional show car highlighting Peugeot’s engines for maritime applications. Essentially, it featured a boat-shaped body mounted on a car chassis, showcasing the engines’ potential for ma … | Continue reading
The 1990s were a defining era when it came to fashion, and one iconic trend that is still nostalgically revered today is the ’90s prom dress. From its glamorous silhouettes to daring fabric choices, these dresses encapsulated the essence of the decade while embodying the timeless … | Continue reading
Jane Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress and model. She was one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films. Known for her beauty, silhouette and for having a great presence, with charisma and seriou … | Continue reading
A series of early-Soviet sweetie wrappers decorated with folkloristic representations of a few of the many ethnicities inhabiting the newly born Soviet State: Chechen, Tatars, Sart (Central Asian dweller), Mordovin, Lopar (Saami), Kyrgyz, Kalmyks, Bashkirs, Tungus (probably an Ev … | Continue reading
American actress Betty Joan Perske, professionally known as Lauren Bacall, was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Award in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to the Golden Age of mot … | Continue reading
Elliott Erwitt’s comical photograph of the bulldog sitting on its owner’s lap exemplifies the adage that dogs really do look like their owners. Well known for his dog images, Erwitt captured the precise moment when, framed by the stoop of a New York City building, the head and bo … | Continue reading
Movie Weekly was an American film magazine published in the early 1920s. It focused on the burgeoning film industry, covering news about movies, stars, and studios. The magazine provided readers with reviews, interviews, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into Hollywood. Here below i … | Continue reading
Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in scores of films from The Dirty Dozen, M*A*S*H and Klute to Animal House and Ordinary People to Pride & Prejudice and The Hunger Games franchise, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88. His son, actor Kiefer Suthe … | Continue reading
New York City-born Norman Rockwell worked as an artist and illustrator, and became famous for his powerful reflections on American culture. For the majority of his career he was most recognized for his ongoing cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, and the continued w … | Continue reading
These fascinating photos were taken by Handydad that show street scenes of Paris in 1970. “In December 1970, our parents gave my brother Jim and me a one-day trip to Paris from our home in Brussels as a Christmas gift. It was a day-long adventure! We rented VeloSoleX motorbikes a … | Continue reading
The Great Bed of Ware is not only a beautifully carved piece of historical furniture, but the giant four-poster sleeper was a symbol of bawdiness that became so popular, both Shakespeare and Byron used it in their writing. The Great Bed of Ware was created in 1590 by a Hertfordsh … | Continue reading
On June 19, 1963, Ringo Starr played a Ludwig drum kit for the first time. The show was at the Playhouse Theatre, London. Ringo said he bought the kit because it was American and he loved all things American. When the store salesman started to rip off the Ludwig label, Ringo stop … | Continue reading
In the 1950s, automotive designers on both sides of the Atlantic crafted iconic vehicles, with the BMW 507 standing out as a paragon of classic beauty. BMW’s homage to this timeless model, after a 40-year hiatus in the form of the Z8 roadster, attests to the 507’s enduring signif … | Continue reading
Paula Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, and television personality who first gained fame in the 1980s, known for such dance-pop hits as “Forever Your Girl” and “Opposites Attract.” Abdul later served as a judge on a number of TV … | Continue reading
On June 19, 1944, W.N. Ely’s American foxhound, Lena, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, gave birth to 23 healthy puppies. It was her first litter, and it gave her the world record for the largest litter of puppies to survive. Lena was a young, 40 pound female Foxhound owned by Lieutenant … | Continue reading
Born 1916 in Salt Lake City, Utah, American actress Arleen Whelan worked in Southern California as a manicurist, contributing her earnings to help with her family’s expenses before she became an actress. Whelan appeared in 25 films between 1937 and 1957, reportedly after 20th Cen … | Continue reading
Henri Cartier-Bresson visited Moscow in 1954 to document daily life under communism. He sought to capture with his camera what he called decisive moments, coincidentally graceful arrangements of people or objects that other observers would have overlooked. He wandered through for … | Continue reading
Bedrooms in the 1970s often featured bold colors and patterns, such as bright oranges, yellows, and browns, along with floral or geometric wallpapers. Shag carpeting was popular, as were large, ornate wooden or metal bed frames. Furniture had a mix of natural wood and laminate fi … | Continue reading
Elvis’ portrait, from his 1953 Humes High School yearbook, shows him to have a split curl in the middle of his forehead, later to become his trademark. He was the first member of his family to graduate high school. Here are examples of yearbook pages that were signed by Elvis: “B … | Continue reading
The Beatles were known as being humorous and having good senses of humor. They did have a bit of a “British” sense of humor, and it was that sense of humor combined with their distinctly working class sense of cheeky playfulness that helped contribute to their popularity. It wasn … | Continue reading
In October 1946, the New South Wales 100-mile Grand Prix motor race was run at Bathurst, attracting a field of 32 cars, including five from Victoria and two from Queensland. On the day, around 30,000 people turned out for the race which was won by AS Najar of Sydney, with JP Hind … | Continue reading
In the early 1970s, Ford Motor Company produced the Maverick, a compact car marketed as an affordable and efficient vehicle. However, demand for the Maverick was not as high as Ford had anticipated, and they ended up with a surplus of unsold cars. To deal with this surplus, Ford … | Continue reading
Born 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, American photographer David Montgomery is known for his portraits of the rich and famous. He studied music at the Juilliard School of Music. He was an assistant to photographer Lester Bookbinder in New York and accompanied him on a working visit t … | Continue reading
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano, and depicts a dystopian future in which hu … | Continue reading
Officially, the NBA’s logo is blank. It is an anonymous, faceless player dribbling a ball against a red and white background. That’s the NBA’s story and it’s sticking to it. Unofficially, however, the logo is well known to be the silhouette of one of the league’s first true icons … | Continue reading
Born 1914 in Brooklyn, New York, American actress, singer, and painter Beverly Roberts was first spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout while singing in a nightclub in 1935. Having performed as a stage actress prior to that, Roberts was signed to a contract with Warner Brothers, … | Continue reading
Billy Meier is a Swiss national who in the 1970s claimed he had been in contact with aliens from the Pleiades star cluster, and had photographs to prove it. Eduard Albert Meier (born 1937), commonly nicknamed “Billy”, is the founder of a UFO religion called the “Freie Interesseng … | Continue reading
Teenage girls in the 1950s lived in a time of post-World War II optimism and cultural change. They embraced fashion trends like poodle skirts and saddle shoes, and hairstyles such as ponytails and beehives. Rock ‘n’ roll music and movies starring icons like Elvis Presley were cen … | Continue reading
The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The streamliner claimed to be “The Train of the Stars” because of the various celebrities it carried between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California. When A … | Continue reading
The Elysée Palace of Vichy built in 1898 as the Théâtre de l'Alcazar, the facade was built in 1904 by the architecture studio Antoine Chanet and illuminated at night. The palace contained a restaurant, a music hall, a casino, a cafe, and a brewery. Unfortunately, this facade no l … | Continue reading
In the early 1970s, New York City faced significant economic and social challenges. The city was grappling with financial instability, leading to budget cuts in public services and rising crime rates. The subway system was notoriously dangerous and graffiti-covered. However, this … | Continue reading
Photograph of Johnny Rotten in Teddy Boy quiff and attire with a studded leather dog collar around his neck as a splash of punk attitude. John is wearing the same clothes as in the photo session with photographer Adrian Boot with the Sex Pistols at the Oxford Street, Glitterbest … | Continue reading
Wings is a 1927 American silent and synchronized sound film known for winning the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Due to the general public’s apathy towards silent films, the film was quickly re-released in 1928 with synchronized sound. While the sound version of the film h … | Continue reading
Mermaids is a 1990 American family comedy-drama film directed by Richard Benjamin, and starring Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Michael Schoeffling, and Christina Ricci in her film debut. Based on Patty Dann’s 1986 novel of the same name, and set in the early 1960s, its plot fol … | Continue reading
For the French, the idea of café culture goes back centuries, when the great thinkers, poets, philosophers, artists and even the revolutionaries of France would gather in their local café to debate, share and plot. Further developed in the 19th century, the café society as it was … | Continue reading
Born 1940 in Mannheim, German-born model and actress Astrid Heeren began her career as a draftsperson for the BBC. She subsequently attended the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe but did not complete her studies. Moving to Paris, she began her modeling career with Vogue and … | Continue reading
At first glance, this photo entitled “General Grant at City Point” appears to be a rare shot of Ulysses S. Grant reviewing his troops during the Civil War. But take a closer look at the image and questions begin to emerge, according to the Library of Congress, this photograph is … | Continue reading
Ironically, Nissan’s cancellation of Albrecht Goertz’s Yamaha-built design study led to Toyota acquiring the rights to the sleek two-seater coupé that would become the 2000GT. Yamaha was retained to build this envisioned low-volume model, with work beginning in early 1964. The 20 … | Continue reading
Loy Bowlin was born in 1909 in rural Franklin County, Mississippi, and lived in poverty for much of his life. He married Ina Mae Mitchell in 1933, and the couple farmed and scrapped metal to get by. After their divorce in the 1950s, Bowlin struggled with depression and sought com … | Continue reading
Harley-Davidson’s military motorcycle history spans over a century. In 1917, the United States entered World War I. American companies stood up to the plate to assist in the war effort. This included American motorcycle manufacturers including Harley-Davidson, Indian, Henderson, … | Continue reading
Steffi Graf (born June 14, 1969) is a German tennis player who dominated women’s tennis in the late 1980s and 1990s, winning 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Graf played in her first professional tournament in October 1982 at Filderstadt, Germany. She lost her first round match 6–4, … | Continue reading