Bringing You the Wonder of Yesterday – Today
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What did Hollywood beauties look like in the 1940s during summertime? Take a look at these glamorous photos to see.
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Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana province, Havana is the country’s main port and leading commercial center. The city has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 781.58 km2 (301.77 sq mi) – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.
The city of Havana was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century, it served as a springboard for the Spanish conquest of the Americas becoming a stopping point for Spanish galleons returning to Spain. Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of capital in 1592. Walls as well as forts were built to protect the city.
The sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana’s harbor in 1898 was the immediate cause of the Spanish–American War. The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses and over 100 diplomatic offices. The governor is Reinaldo García Zapata of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country.
Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one: Old Havana, Vedado and the newer suburban districts. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet and which divides into three main harbors: Marimelena, Guanabacoa and Antares. The Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay.
The city attracts over a million tourists annually; the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. The city is also noted for its history, culture, architecture and monuments. As typical of Cuba, Havana experiences a tropical climate. (Wikipedia)
A collection of black and white photographs showing the Havana high life from between the 1930s and 1950s, before Castro and the Revolution.
There’s no denying that the ’60s were one of the most impactful eras in fashion. Setting the tone for modern style, the decade revolutionised womenswear with bold colours, striking cuts and a rebelliously youthful attitude. So, it comes as no surprise that 50 years on, key trends from the time continue to influence designers, stylists and fashion-lovers the world over.
The swinging sixties were a time where traditions were broken, and self-expression was encouraged. Influenced by the youth of the day, the decade dished up plenty of style inspiration. Moving away from the prim and proper ’50s and into rebellious new times, ’60s fashion was revolutionary.
Key fashion styles of the decade included mod, beatnik and hippie looks, all of which captured the artful, fun and free spirit of the time.
Take a look at these fabulous photos to see what fashion trends of young women looked like in the 1960s.
Queen Christina is a pre-Code Hollywood biographical film directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933. It starred Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in their fourth and last film together. Upon its release, the film received numerous positive reviews. It became the box office triumph and the highest-grossing film of the year.
The film is loosely based on the life of the dominant European ruler Queen Christina of Sweden in the 17th century. As queen, she was devoted to her country and the welfare of her people. Ever since taking the throne, Christina had always rejected all sorts of serious romance and marriage. One day, when she sneaked out of town as a man in disguise to escape her royal life for a while, Christina met the Spanish envoy Antonio on his way to the capital and the two fell in love. Though able to patch up their differences after learning the true identity, their troubles kept increasing, which forced Christina to choose between her love and her duties as queen. What lay ahead of her was not a happy future.
Queen Christina became one of Garbo’s most commercially successful films, recording a profit of $632,000. It is said that Garbo herself insisted on Gilbert as her co-star in order to help to re-establish his career at the rise of talkies. The film was remembered for one of the most signature scenes of Garbo, as she silently stood at the prow of the ship in the closing shot. Amusingly, this famous final close-up had the wind blowing in two opposite directions at once, one to Garbo’s hair and one to the ship’s sails. When asked of his opinion on the shot by Garbo, director Rouben Mamoulian said, “Nothing… Absolutely nothing… I want your face to be a blank sheet of paper. I want the writing to be done by everyone in the audience.”
Here, through 26 stunning photos and stills, we look at the magnificent Garbo as the daring queen of Sweden:
French photographer Gustave Gain (1876-1945) was born in Cherbourg, France on June 27, 1876. As a chemist he keens on photography and related technical achievements. After the invention of the Autochrome by the Lumière brothers, Gustave is actively engaged in color photograph.
Gustave Gain loves the beach. In the summer, he spent much time with his family on the coast of the English Channel in Brittany and Normandy, where he took a lot of stunning shots of his wife, Adeline and other women.
(Photos by Gustave Gain)
In 1967, a 20-year-old David Jones decided to change his name to avoid confusion with the lead singer of the Monkees. He decided on ‘Bowie’. By this time, Jones had been playing music for five years, appearing in and out of various bands, singing rock and roll at local youth gatherings, any pub that would have him and even a few weddings. Jones joined the band the Konrads, but then soon left them for the King Bees. After a few more stop and starts, Jones became Bowie and met Derek ‘Dek’ Fearnley.
David Bowie enlisted Fearnley to help record an album. Reportedly learning by studying the Observer Book of Music, the two young musicians practiced, wrote and hung-out at the home of Fearnley’s brother, Gerald.
“My brother always loved music” remembers Gerald Fearnley. “He’d always have people back to the house to practice or write songs. I remember waking-up in the mornings, never knowing who’d be sleeping in the front room. David was often sacked out on the couch. But he was always very polite.”
Gerald Fearnley was a working photographer in 1967. “I was a still life photographer, working on my own, in a studio right off of Oxford Street. I don’t remember how it happened, but I was enlisted to take photographs of David for the cover. I was probably the only person he knew with a studio and a camera.”
When David Bowie by David Bowie was released on June 1, 1967 – the same day as The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – little if anything happened. Nothing charted and the band parted ways.
Here, below is a collection of some of rare and fascinating black and white photographs from Bowie’s debut album shoot, which were released for the first time as fine art prints in 2016.
Bali is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. The provincial capital, Denpasar, is the most populous city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second-largest, after Makassar, in Eastern Indonesia. The upland town of Ubud in Greater Denpasar is considered Bali’s cultural centre. The province is Indonesia’s main tourist destination, with a significant rise in tourism since the 1980s. Tourism-related business makes up 80% of its economy.
Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in Muslim-majority Indonesia, with 86.9% of the population adhering to Balinese Hinduism. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali. Other international events held in Bali include the Miss World 2013 and 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. In March 2017, TripAdvisor named Bali as the world’s top destination in its Traveller’s Choice award, which it also earned in January 2021.
Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species, especially fish and turtles. In this area alone, over 500 reef-building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about seven times as many as in the entire Caribbean. Bali is the home of the Subak irrigation system, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also home to a unified confederation of kingdoms composed of 10 traditional royal Balinese houses, each house ruling a specific geographic area. The confederation is the successor of the Bali Kingdom. The royal houses are not recognised by the government of Indonesia; however, they originated before Dutch colonisation. (Wikipedia)
These amazing color snapshots from Found Slides that captured everyday life of Bali in 1952.
Born 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee, American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and philanthropist Dolly Parton is known primarily for her work in country music.
After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I’m Dolly. With steady success during the remainder of the 1960s (both as a solo artist and with a series of duet albums with Porter Wagoner), her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Parton’s albums in the 1990s sold less well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records.
Parton’s music includes 25 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. She has had 25 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist (tied with Reba McEntire). She has 41 career top-10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career charted singles over the past 40 years.
Parton has garnered nine Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards, seven Academy of Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award. Parton has received 47 Grammy nominations.
In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has composed over 3,000 songs, including “I Will Always Love You”, “Jolene”, “Coat of Many Colors”, and “9 to 5”. She is also one of the few to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards.
As an actress, she has starred in films such as 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for which she earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress, as well as Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992) and Joyful Noise (2012).
