Renowned photographer Adrian Boot captured the rise of punk culture in the 1970s, documenting rich moments of musical history. Loved and hated in equal measure but impossible to ignore, it was during the summer of 1976 that the punk movement gained notoriety. The Damned, Sex Pist … | Continue reading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to entertain the audience, or for competitio … | Continue reading
Debbie Harry posing with her date during the 1963 Hawthorne High senior prom, radiant, way before becoming the NY new wave princess we all know her to be. Seeing another 1963 photo of her with a classmate of hers, Ernie Reamer, in which they are captioned as the ‘BEST LOOKING’ se … | Continue reading
Romain de Tirtoff (1892–1990), known by the pseudonym Erté, was a Russian-born French artist and designer. He was a 20th-century artist and designer in an array of fields, including fashion, jewelry, graphic arts, costume, and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior … | Continue reading
When once asked about her favorite singers, Marilyn Monroe answered, “Well, my very favorite person, and I love her as a person as well as a singer, I think she’s the greatest, and that’s Ella Fitzgerald.” By the 1950s, Fitzgerald’s enthralling singing voice had won her fans acro … | Continue reading
Born 1914 in Cincinnati, American actor Lee Bowman made his film debut in I Met Him in Paris (1937) for Paramount. He worked at that studio for a while, then RKO, before moving to MGM. The lack of leading men in World War II was a boost to Bowman’s career and he co-starred with R … | Continue reading
“When Philippe had an idea, Dalí was always willing to oblige and be the protagonist.” – Irene Halsman, the photographer’s daughter. One of the longest and most celebrated creative partnerships in art history was the one between portrait photographer Philippe Halsman and Surreali … | Continue reading
Portrait photographs in the 1850s and 1860s required subjects to sit motionless for exposures often lasting twenty to sixty seconds. To aid in this formidable task, head clamps and sit-still apparatus, as depicted in this tintype, were common to early photographic studios. “The p … | Continue reading
The 330 GTC was unveiled at the 1966 Geneva Salon and was an amalgam of other Ferraris. It shared its 94.5-inch wheelbase and tubular steel chassis with the 275 GTB, and its 4-liter, V-12 motor was the same as the one powering the 330 GT 2+2. The Pininfarina-styled body was a mas … | Continue reading
It’s only natural to be a little curious about the man behind the name. After all, he is a legend. So let’s get to it. Fred Astaire was born on May 10, 1899 to Fritz and Ann Austerlitz. The Austerlitz Family lived in Omaha, Nebraska and he had a sister, Adele, who was 18 months h … | Continue reading
“If Johnny Rotten is the voice of punk, then [Sid] Vicious is the attitude,” proclaimed manager of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren. Simon John Ritchie, otherwise known as Sid Vicious, was the bassist in the explosive British punk band Sex Pistols. The band’s rise to fame in the … | Continue reading
Ceil Chapman (1912–1979) was an American fashion designer who worked in New York City from the 1940s to the 1960s. She created glamorous cocktail and party dresses, and worked with celebrity clients including television and movie actresses. Fashion designs by Ceil Chapman in the … | Continue reading
Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya, an enthusiastic photographer was the first king of India to organize an annual photographic exhibition at his palace in Tripura. His wife Maharani Khuman Chanu Manmohini Devi was also an amateur photographer. Maharaj took this picture with the help o … | Continue reading
Camping and kayaking in the 1960s were characterized by a sense of adventure and self-reliance. Campers often used canvas tents, basic sleeping bags, and portable stoves for cooking. Kayaks were typically wooden or fiberglass, and paddlers explored rivers and lakes with maps and … | Continue reading
Swedish fashion model Ingmari Lamy was on vacation in Paris when a model scouted her in a night club. The next day she took some test shots with a local photographer. Unbeknownst to her, those photos would wind up on the cover of Harpers Bazaar magazine. From there, Lamy signed w … | Continue reading
Looking northwest down 42nd Street (left) from Broadway. Right half of the picture is the triangular island between Broadway and 7th Avenue, where One Times Square now stands, which replaced the Pabst Building, a nine-story hotel and restaurant begun in October 1898 and completed … | Continue reading
Kitchens in the 1970s were often characterized by bold colors, like avocado green and harvest gold, along with lots of wood paneling and laminate countertops. Appliances tended to be large and colorful, with refrigerators sometimes featuring rounded corners. Open shelving and han … | Continue reading
On describing Bianca, Andy Warhol said: “Bianca Jagger is one of the most Socially Diseased people I know. She’s almost as bad as me – and I’m terminal.” | Continue reading
The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of the television show of the same name. With international hits, four chart-topping albums a … | Continue reading
Born on May 2, 1975, in the Leytonstone area of London, David Robert Joseph Beckham is the only son of Ted Beckham, an appliance repairman, and Sandra West, a hair stylist. A middle child between two sisters, David grew up with a family of committed fans to Manchester United. He … | Continue reading
Léon Busy (1874–1951) was a French photographer and curator who edited and participated to numerous photo collections about colonial Indochina, Angkor and Southeast Asian daily life. Initially a soldier (graduated from the prestigious Polytechnique school) with the French colonia … | Continue reading
The Virgin Suicides is a 1999 American psychological romantic drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola in her feature directorial debut, and co-produced by her father, Francis Ford Coppola. The film is based on the 1993 debut novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. The film follows t … | Continue reading
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American science fiction romantic drama film directed by Michel Gondry based on Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay, and a story by Gondry, Kaufman, and Pierre Bismuth. The film stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, with Kirsten Dunst, Mark R … | Continue reading
Morris Frank was a blind man who helped start the first school that trained seeing eye dogs. His dog Buddy is considered to be the first seeing eye dog in America. Born to a prominent Jewish family in Nashville, Tennessee in 1908, Morris’ life story demonstrates the adage “truth … | Continue reading
Kirsten Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the anthology film New York Stories (1989). Dunst gained widespread recognition for her role as Claudia in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, alongside Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. She al … | Continue reading
Born 1912 as Beatrice Heischuber in Brooklyn, New York, American singer, dancer and actress Beryl Wallace landed a role in the 1928 Earl Carroll Broadway theatre production of Vanities that was billed as having the “most beautiful girls in the world”. She and producer Earl Carrol … | Continue reading
Stoddard-Dayton was arguably one of the great American cars of its era. Beginning in 1904, the first models were designed by Englishman J.S. Edwards, using 26-hp, four-cylinder Rutenber engines. In 1907, both four- and six-cylinder engines were employed as models grew in size, st … | Continue reading
In November, 1906, three women began a month-long apprenticeship in preparation for the Prefecture of Police examination that would qualify them to drive horse cabs in Paris. Several other women were accepted into the apprenticeship program soon afterward. The course of studies w … | Continue reading
Francis Frith (1822–1898) was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom. He was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, attending the Quaker schools at Ackworth and Quaker Camp Hill in Birmingham (ca. 1828–1838), before he started in the cutlery bu … | Continue reading
Here’s the mugshots of iconic ’50s pin-up model Bettie Page after being arrested in Hialeah, Florida. Bettie was arrested on October 28, 1972 when police answered a call placed by her ex-husband Harry Lear. When they arrived on scene that found him and Bettie out on the front yar … | Continue reading
The Fuller Brush Girl is a 1950 slapstick comedy starring Lucille Ball and directed by Lloyd Bacon. Animator Frank Tashlin wrote the script. Ball plays a quirky door-to-door cosmetics saleswoman for the Fuller Brush Company. The film also stars Eddie Albert and has an uncredited … | Continue reading
Andre Agassi is regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time. He’s an eight-time Grand Slam champion who also won gold at the Olympics. And in 1995, he spent 30 weeks ranked as No.1 in the world. Outside of his otherworldly talent for the sport, Agassi was renowned for … | Continue reading
Michelle Pfeiffer has been one of Hollywood’s most talented and stunning stars since the early 1980s. The three-time Oscar nominee has proven time and again that her talent equals — or even surpasses — her pretty face. Pfeiffer first came to acting via the beauty pageant circuit … | Continue reading
Photo booths have been in the zeitgeist since the late 1800s. The earliest photo booth patent was filed in 1888 by William Pope and Edward Poole in Baltimore, but there is no known record of a working version. The first-ever working photo booth was made by French inventor T.E. En … | Continue reading
The first mounted police unit in Columbus, Ohio was formed in 1922. The horses were purchased using donations and the donors were allowed to name the horses. The Columbus Automobile Club facilitated the donations and purchase of the horses. The primary task of the mounted unit wa … | Continue reading
Apr. 28, 1941: The first electric animated sign, designed by American advertising executive Douglas Leigh, was placed on Broadway at 44th in New York City. The Camel cigarette ad puffed out five-foot-wide smoke rings of steam every four seconds. Over time, especially during warti … | Continue reading
Carolyn Jones was an American film and television actress. She began her career in the early 1950s and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957) and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses of 1959. In 1964 she … | Continue reading
Ann-Margret Olsson was born on April 28, 1941, in Valsjobyn, Sweden. She was born into a tightly knit family in a small fishing village near the Arctic Circle. Her parents, Gustav and Anna, migrated to America after World War II, and settled in the Chicago suburb of Fox Lake. The … | Continue reading
Born 1916 or 1917 in Toledo, Ohio, American actress and model Dusty Anderson began her career as a model and made her film debut in a minor role as one of the cover girls in the 1944 Columbia Pictures production of Cover Girl starring Rita Hayworth. Over the next three years, she … | Continue reading
Born 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, American actress and model Sunny Griffin graduated from Hood College, in Fredrick, Maryland in 1962. In 1966, Ford Model Agency declared her the highest-paid fashion model in the world. Over her 18 year modeling career, she graced the covers of H … | Continue reading
The 1970s in California was a vibrant and transformative time. It saw the rise of counterculture movements, the emergence of Silicon Valley as a tech hub, and environmental activism. The music scene flourished with the rise of disco, punk, and rock genres, while Hollywood continu … | Continue reading
King Creole is a 1958 American musical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the 1952 novel A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. Produced by Hal B. Wallis, the film stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger, and Vic Morrow, … | Continue reading
Although he’s not the only bigwig to be the targeted with pastry — other notables include pundit Ann Coulter and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman — the pie-ing of then-Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was especially stunning, if only because his assailant scored a bullseye. In … | Continue reading
In 2009, Thomas Sauvin stumbled upon discarded film negatives he could purchase by the kilogram. The French national was alerted to them by a man in Beijing, who was collecting trash that could be melted down to extract silver nitrate — a substance that could be sold onto chemist … | Continue reading
In the early 1990s, wedding styles were influenced by the fashion trends of the late 1980s. Wedding dresses often featured puffy sleeves, high necklines, and voluminous skirts, reminiscent of the “princess bride” look. Ivory and champagne were popular color choices for dresses, a … | Continue reading
During the Great Depression, the US automobile market faced challenges, especially luxury car manufacturers. However, Edsel Ford was determined to steer the Ford Motor Company through the economic storm by supporting the upscale Lincoln brand. Lincoln Motor Company boldly introdu … | Continue reading
Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums. Her voice was flexible, wide-ran … | Continue reading
Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain (1835–1910), age 15 holding metal type in a composing stick that spells out his first name. He understood that the photographic printing process reversed the contents of an image in the same way backwards moveable type was reversed in printing to gi … | Continue reading