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One of Marilyn’s Very First Movies: 12 Rare Photos of Marilyn Monroe in ‘Dangerous Years’ (1947)

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Dangerous Years is a 1947 American drama film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel, directed by Arthur Pierson. Marilyn Monroe makes her first on screen appearance as Evie, the waitress in the restaurant scene.

Actually, her voice previously appeared in the film The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, which was released months earlier, as an uncredited voice as a telephone operator.

These rare pictures captured Monroe in some scenes of Dangerous Years, and during her acting lessons with coach Helena Sorell to prepare for her role in this film.

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress, model and singer. Famous for playing comedic “blonde bombshell” characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s and was emblematic of the era’s sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2020) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a major icon of pop culture. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her sixth on their list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage; she married at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don’t Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photographs prior to becoming a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films.

By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars; she had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which overtly relied on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a “dumb blonde”. The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career.

When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe’s contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).

Monroe’s troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with addiction and mood disorders. Her marriages to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and to playwright Arthur Miller were highly publicized, and both ended in divorce. On August 4, 1962, she died at age 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her Los Angeles home. Her death was ruled a probable suicide. (Wikipedia)

Comparison Then and Now Photos of a Street in Germany During WWII vs. Today

Two amazing photos. The first is allied forces pushing through the town of Oberdorla, Germany, during World War II in 1945. The second is the same street captured 71 years later in 2016.

This is a nice colorized reproduction of an original WWII photograph. Not only it brings much more detail to black and white photo, there’s also a detailed description of the photo.
Infantrymen of ‘B’ Company, 44th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th US Armored Division while crossing the street, pass the body of Pfc. Robert Vardy Wynne (aged 19 from Texas) who had just been mortally wounded by a sniper.
This took place on April 4 1945 in Oberdorla, Mühlhausen/Thüringen, Germany.

Here’s the same street captured in the same angle 71 years later in 2016:

50 Amazing Vintage Photos From the 1940s Volume 6

**Girl on the street. Hollywood, California. April 1942. Many young people flock to Hollywood in hopes of becoming Hollywood Royalty, many never made it.**

**An Austrian boy couldn’t be more excited about his first pair of new shoes in years, 1946.**

**A French woman vents her anger towards a German POW with a kick as he is escorted to a prisoner of war collection center by French soldiers, August 28 1944.**

**V-J Day celebrations, St. Louis, Missouri, 1945.**

**Three young women wash their clothes in Central Park during a water shortage, New York, 1949.**

**A crowd of men checking enormous breasts in Times Square, 1948.**

**2nd Armored Division soldiers sing ‘Go to town’ in Barento, France, 1944.**

**Performing swimmers apply lipstick underwater in Florida, 1940s.**

**American and Soviet soldiers with bombs. USSR, 1944.**

**A young girl petting a donkey, November 1944.**

**Lounge section of dining car, Erie Railroad Company, 1949.**

**Australian Imperial Force troops waving from troop-train carriage, 13 September 1940.**

**British women working during wartime, November 27, 1942.**

**Two Scottish soldiers in Italy, 1944.**

**Vivien Leigh in the 1941 movie “That Hamilton Woman.”**

**Times Square in the Rain, New York, March 1943.**

**Wartime cycle taxi in Copenhagen. 1940s**

**A British soldier hiding from the rain under an overturned Tiger tank. Italy, 1944.**

**‘The Gangster’ Movie Billboard at Times Square, New York City, 1947.**

**A woman who survived the Nagasaki bombing, 1945.**

**U.S. soldiers on Harley-Davidson WLA motorcycles, equipped with unloaded Thompson submachine guns during WWII.**

**A young girl in a blue dress and straw hat sits next to a lamb on a stack of hay, 1940s.**

**French actress Simone Simon in the 1944 movie “The Curse of the Cat People.”**

**Tree felling contest at the Tillamook County Fair, Oregon in 1941.**

**Tourists in the Statue of Liberty’s Crown, 1947.**

**Portrait of two dignified children from Cuzco, Peru, 1948.**

**Norma Jeane (later Marilyn Monroe) dressed in her magazine covers, 1946.**

**Strand Theatre, Broadway, New York 1940.**

**A German shepherd is accepted for sentry duty by the Coast Guard, January 1941.**

**A young woman on roller skates and her soldier honey, 1940s.**

**A model wearing the Dior New Look at the Place de la Concorde, Paris, 1947.**

**US military policemen read a newspaper report about German surrender, May 1945.**

**Leningrad maestro saves his double bass, 1940s.**

**Servicemen pose with girls hired by the photographer in New York City, 1944.**

**Tap dancing class at Iowa State College, 1942.**

**Two members of the Militors, an all-women paramilitary organisation, Melbourne, Australia, 1941.**

**Three girls skate home from school, past blocks of houses destroyed by Allied air raids, Essen, Germany, February 14, 1949.**

**Beautiful woman sunbathing with a baby, 1940s.**

**Meeting of a 4-H club, the Montpelier Center Girls, where girls learn how to cook and sew economically during time of war, 1942.**

**Housewives wearing gas masks during the Blitz on London showed the country’s stubborn resistance, 1940s.**

**Singing cowboy Gene Autry visiting children patients at Bellevue Hospital, NYC, 1946**

14 Colorful Pictures of Computers in the 1970s and 1980s

Once upon a time, our computers and various technologies came in vibrant colors. It made sense at a time when computers were massive. Also, 1960s and 70s decor tended to make everything colorful.

Unlike today where our refrigerators are plain white or stainless steel – fridges of the 60s and 70s were harvest gold, tangerine and avocado green. So too were the technologies of the day; a trend that truly didn’t wear off until the late 1980s.

The London Milkman: The Story Behind One of the Most Iconic Images of the Blitz

As photography had become part of people’s daily lives during the inter-war period, numerous iconic images were taken of the Second World War, creating an album of hope and horror, of atrocities and valor. The one that perhaps represented the fighting spirit of well-mannered Great Britain most clearly was the famous picture taken by a photographer called Fred Morley on October 9, 1940, depicting a milkman going about with his daily business amidst the rubble in London.

**A milkman delivering milk in a London street devastated during a German bombing raid. Firemen are dampening down the ruins behind him.**

The raid that took place that night was the 32nd in a row, the United Kingdom being mercilessly bombed night after night. The raid was also the one that saw a bomb make a direct hit on St Pauls Cathedral in London ? one of the city’s most recognizable buildings ? but, and with God’s help perhaps, it failed to detonate.

Prior to this attack, the Cathedral had been bombed on December 29, 1940, when yet another famous photograph was created by a Daily Mail reporter, one which was soon dubbed the “War’s greatest picture”. It depicts St. Paul’s Cathedral, surrounded in smoke, just after a bombing raid. The monumental building stands tall and proud and, most importantly, undamaged. This was the sort of story and image, desperately needed in those times, that the press was urged to create.

**St Paul’s Cathedral, rising above the bombed London skyline, is shrouded in smoke during the Blitz. The photograph was taken from the roof of the Daily Mail offices in Fleet Street.**

On the other hand, the image was also used by the German propaganda machine, but this time to stress the level of destruction the Luftwaffe had caused to the enemy.

The Battle of Britain, which was one of the early turning points in the war, relied heavily on the defiance and morale of both the British soldiers and its citizens, who gave their best to withstand the terrifying bombing raids and rapidly deteriorating living conditions.

Thus the photograph of a milkman casually strolling through the ruins as he delivers milk became an unofficial symbol of the defiant British character.

At the time, the photograph helped boost the morale of the millions of British citizens who became ever more prepared to repel the Nazi war machine. However, decades later it was revealed that the image was actually staged.

During the bombing raids, the British censors were working desperately to keep the nation calm by forbidding to authorize images depicting the scale of destruction which was being caused by the Luftwaffe. Since most of the photos taken by reporters were rejected, Morley had to figure out how to please the censors, but again to show the truth of what was happening in London.

On the October morning, he arrived at the scene to witness firefighters struggling to contain the fire caused by the bombing. The rubble was all around him. Since he couldn’t bear to let this go unnoticed by the press, Fred Morley devised a plan to override the censorship.

**Office workers make their way to work through debris after a heavy air raid**

He had seen a milkman in the area and asked him if he could borrow his coat and a crate full of milk bottles. Morley’s assistant then took the recognizable white coat and posed with the crate as his boss took pictures.

The result was an image that became a part of the collective memory of the war. The image appeared spontaneous while depicting the stoicism of the British working man who casually continues with his day job, undisturbed by the threat of destruction from above. The power of the message the photo conveyed was recognized by the British censors, who decided to print it in the newspapers.

Even though the photo was staged, its role in raising the spirit of the British people during a time when it was uncertain whether or not the island would be able to deter the enemy was priceless and its timing was perfect.

(via War History Online, photos © Fred Morley)

Amazing Vintage Photos of Barbra Streisand Early in Her Career in 1966

Barbra Streisand has been such a force on the entertainment scene for so long (her 1963 debut album, recorded when she was just 20, won an Album of the Year Grammy) that a glimpse back at her first years in show business offers fascinating insights into her evolution as a performer, and a person.

In 1966, LIFE published a cover story on the then-23 year old Brooklyn native that portrayed the young star as a “fear-ridden girl” terrified that her early success “could suddenly all fall apart.” Of course, creative people who have enjoyed (or endured) fame right out of the gate almost invariably, at one point or another, suffer lacerating self-doubts; Streisand, however, appears to have examined her own talents and achievements with the same tenacity that she brought to, say, mastering the nuances of a new tune or the timing of a comedic line.
“Why Barbara Streisand has to know what people think of her every time she performs is an astounding, and wrenching, phenomenon,” wrote Diana Lurie in the March 18, 1966, issue of LIFE. “At 23, she is an undisputed queen of musical comedy, television and records. Every one of the seven records she has made sold a million copies. She gets $50,000 per concert appearance. For nearly two years she pulled in standing room-only audiences for an otherwise undistinguished musical, Funny Girl… Everybody knows Streisand is on top. So does she. And the more she is hailed, the more scared and unsure she feels. ‘I win awards and everything but one of these days something is going to bomb. It’s a scary thing.’”
Here, a collection of some of fascinating photos that offers a window into the intense, emotionally fraught world Streisand inhabited and, in a sense, created for herself with her own outsized insecurities and perfectionism early in her career.

**In [a] TV recording studio session, Barbra, listening to a song being played back, vacillates wildly between doubt, delight and despair.**

**Barbra Streisand in a recording studio in 1966, listening to herself sing.**

Barbra Streisand at a 1966 recording session.

**In TV control booth Barbra watches tensely as a song in her new show [a special on CBS] is played back.**

**Watching herself on a monitor during rehearsals for a 1966 TV special, Barbra Streisand “is so distressed by her singing and appearance that she hides her eyes.”**

In Paris to be photographed by Vogue, in a jaguar suit she designed herself, Barbra Streisand watches Chanel spring collection opening in stony silence. At far right are [actress and model] Elsa Martinelli and Marlene Dietrich.

Singer/actress Barbra Streisand at 6 a.m., covered with her silver fox fur coat as she listens intently to the playback of her recordings of an album of French songs in the control booth of a recording studio.

**LIFE Magazine March 18, 1966 cover with Barbara Streisand.**

Photos by Bill Eppridge—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

The Amazing Story of a Black German Soldier During World War 1

A group that is rarely talked about in regards to German history and it’s dealings with people from different continents are the Africans. Most know the Askari, who fought with von Lettow-Vorbeck in the First World War. Yet rarely any know of those that actually traveled to Germany and lived most or even all of their life there.

One of these young Africans was Elo Sambo. He was born on 1. April 1885 in Jaunde, Deutsch-Kamerun. At the age of six, he was picked up by a Cavalry Captain of the Schutztruppe (colonial wing of the German army) and brought to Germany. There, Kaiser Wilhelm II. officially became his godfather and Elo Sambo was known henceforth as Elo Wilhelm Sambo, in honour of the Kaiser.

Sambo grew up in a military orphanage in the city of Potsdam near Berlin, where he was trained as a cavalryman. His military career continued when he volunteered to serve with the 1. Eisenbahner-Regiment (1st Railroad-Regiment) in 1905. After his completed service there, he was allowed to join the Leibgarde-Husaren-Regiment, the Cavalry-Wing of the Imperial Guard. There, he was trained to become a kettle drummer. It was tradition that the kettle drummers of the Guard Cavalry were black.
Having completed his training, he rode infront of the trumpeters. Clad in a red uniform, he sat upon a white horse, with his black skin completing the Imperial colour scheme.

In the First World War, he served at the frontlines. First in Ostpreußen (East Prussia) during 1914, then being transfered to the front near Verdun in 1915. He was then again transfered to the “Osmanische Armee” (“Ottoman Army”, the German detachment to help the Ottomans) in Palestine, where he was taken prisoner by British troops. He was wounded several times and was awarded the Verwundetenabzeichen (Badge of the Wounded), as well as the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (Iron Cross 2nd class).

As the war ended, Sambo returned to Germany. The military was severly reduced in numbers, but he managed to find his way to the 4. Reiterregiment (4th Cavalry-Regiment), which continued the tradition of the Guard Cavalry. Here he again served as kettle drummer besides old comrades that survived the war. He was however released from service in 1923, after serving in the German Army for 18 years.

Now out of a job, he first worked as a guide for the castles of Potsdam. Not being satisfied with this job, he went to Münster in Westphalia and worked for one of his old comrades in a high-society Café. While he worked there, Germans from sometimes far away came to see him. Not only was he an African, a rarity in Germany of course, but also a war hero.

Soon however, he got into contact with some old Rhenish comrades and they arranged for him to come to Cologne, where he from then on lived in the heart of the city. The Cologne Carnival became his passion and he joined the “Blaue Funken” (“Blue Sparks”), one of the oldest Carnival-Clubs in Cologne. There he once again rode infront of the formation, now clad in a blue and white uniform, as a kettle drummer. He became a celebrity, everybody in Cologne knew of Sambo and he was beloved by most. He was especially popular with children for his kind demenour. He married a woman there and fathered at least one child, which survived the Second World War.

All the while, he was a regular attendee of Veteran-reunions, memorials and other Patriotic events, clad in his old uniform and playing the kettle drums. There was no doubt that Sambo had a deep-seated patriotism towards Germany, which he without a doubt considered to be his fatherland. There are no known reports of him ever facing any major racism in all his decades in Germany. No matter if in the army, in Potsdam, Münster or Cologne, he always was a beloved part of society.

He participated in his last carnival in 1933, dying a few months later on 15th July 1933. His burial on the Southern Cemetary of Cologne was nothing short of a hero’s burial. Behind the coffin marched two of his surviving comrades from the Guard Cavalry, clad in their old peacetime uniforms. They carried with them a large wreath by the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had not forgotten his godchild, even after all those decades. Behind them were the members of the Veteran Organisations of the different units of the Imperial Guard. They were followed by the remaining Veteran’s Organisations that existed in Cologne. Behind them came flag- and standard-carriers, all wearing the peacetime uniforms of 1914 and displaying the old flags under which Sambo had served before and during the World War. No pictures of the burial exist, but it is easy to assume that it was sight to behold, a last display of admiration by the Germans for their beloved African comrade.

**“Trumpeter-Corps of the Life Guard Husars, Music Captain Jul. Maasberg”, with Sambo front and center on foot…**

**Sambo and two comrades during the First World War.**

**Sambo in Cologne, in front of the parade in the early 1920s…**

**…and in 1929, here in a uniform resembling those of the Hussars.**

**A recently rediscovered painting of Sambo during his time with the Guard Cavalry.**

Beetle Painted on VW Volkswagen: Pictures of Gorgeous VW Bus Art Paintings

Volkswagen, maker of the Beetle automobile, expands its product offerings to include a microbus, which goes into production on March 8, 1950. Known officially as the Volkswagen Type 2 (the Beetle was the Type 1) or the Transporter, the bus was a favorite mode of transportation for hippies in the U.S. during the 1960s and became an icon of the American counterculture movement.

The VW bus was reportedly the brainchild of Dutch businessman Ben Pon, an importer of Beetles to the Netherlands, who saw a market for a small bus and in 1947 sketched out his concept. Volkswagen engineers further developed the idea and in March 1950, the vehicle, with its boxy, utilitarian shape and rear engine, went into production.

The bus eventually collected a number of nicknames, including the “Combi” (for combined-use vehicle) and the “Splittie” (for its split windshield); in Germany it was known as the “Bulli.” In the U.S., it was referred to by some as a hippie van or bus because it was used to transport groups of young people and their camping gear and other supplies to concerts and anti-war rallies. Some owners painted colorful murals on their buses and replaced the VW logo on the front with a peace symbol. According to “Bug” by Phil Patton, when Grateful Dead musician Jerry Garcia died in 1995, Volkswagen ran an ad featuring a drawing of the front of a bus with a tear streaming down it.

Fantastic Photos of Annette Funicello at Disneyland in the 1950s

Born in Utica, New York, American actress and singer Annette Joanne Funicello began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve, and rose to prominence as one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club.

As a teenager, Funicello transitioned to a successful career as a singer with the pop singles “O Dio Mio”, “Tall Paul” and “Pineapple Princess”, as well as establishing herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful Beach Party genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s.

In 1992, Funicello announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She died of complications from the disease in 2013.

These rare photos that captured Funicello at Disneyland in 1955 and 1958. Take a look.