Believe it or not, there is photographic evidence of men, some who were lumberjacks or loggers, who shaved their own faces, and the faces of others, with an ax.
There were a couple of notable manly men who were known for performing the feat in front of crowds such as Paul Criss whose moniker was the “spectacular axe-man” and Oregon lumberjack Leonard Wallulis. Criss was also a popular pitchman for the Kelly Axe Company. One of the axes in the company’s product line was called the “Perfect Axe” and it would be this weapon of choice that Criss would use to demonstrate the tool’s ability to be used to shave a man’s face. Wallulis, on the other hand, was noted to have entered a Ripley’s Believe It or Not contest in Portland, Oregon in 1936 where he shaved with a double-bitted ax—a daring trick that got him to the finals.
It’s certainly a theatrical way to perform your gender – though we can probably think of safer ways to do it.
Paul Criss the “spectacular axe-man” giving an ax shaving demonstration with a “Perfect Axe” made by Kelly Axe Manufacturing Company.Leonard Wallulis shaving with an ax.Another shot of Paul Criss giving someone a shave in the wild.Lumberjacks shaving with an axe, 1930s.Paul Criss attending The American Forestry Association gathering in October 1934 using a Kelly “Perfect Axe” to shave a man.Civilian Conservation Corps ax shaving demonstration, 1933.Burly Aussie lumberjacks shave with axes during World War II, 1941.
Minneapolis or St. Paul, 1920s.Biker chicks, 1920sA woman walking with a goose in New York street, 1928.A waitress serves two ladies at a lunch room in Harlem, New York, 1920s.Bathing beauties emerge from a “solarium” in St. Petersburg, Florida, June 1929.Chorus girls at Harry Carroll’s house, Santa Monica, California, 1929.The new ‘hip massage machine’ from the United States, 1928.Two women crossing a flooded road by means of a makeshift raft and a pole, Staines, Middlesex, January 1926.Yellow cab dispatch operators, Los Angeles, 1926.Women in Chicago being arrested for wearing swimsuits that show too much leg, 1922.Samuel Reshevsky, age 8, defeating several chess masters at once in France, 1920.Pall Mall, London, 1927.Eleven women police receiving marksmanship training, 1920A traffic policeman stops for a tea break, Broadway and 11th Street, Los Angeles, 1927.Carriage Driver, 1920.Bourbon Boys, New Orleans, 1925.Woman with cigarette, 1920.Women wearing rubber beauty masks to get rid of wrinkles and skin imperfections, 1921.Bathing beauties on the Venice Pier, Los Angeles, CA, 1920s.New York. Looking west on Delancy St from the Williamsburg Bridge, January 23, 1923.Girls from the Roaring Twenties.A trio of New York showgirls, 1921.Balancing act, 1920sYoung pupils learning how to gargle to avoid flu in London, 1929.42nd St between 7th and 8th Ave.,New York, 1922Henry Ford dressed as a cowboy with Thomas Edison, 1923.Melted and damaged mannequins after a fire at Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London, 1925.Bathing beauty with umbrella, rolled hose, and hightop shoes. Dayton, Ohio, 1920s.At the broken wood-edge, Spannagelhaus tower, Biela Valley, Saxon Switzerland, 1920.Lifeguard on the coast, 1920s.Ziegfeld Follie Girl, 1920sWhittier Sanitary Dairy, 1925.Little boy bottle feeding piglet, 1920.D.E. McDaneld Packard store, vintage cars and lots of girls back in Whittier, California. They even used girls to sell cars back then. 1925.Nassau Street, looking south from Fulton Street, NYC, on March 3, 1926Two beautiful flappers in front of a Peerless touring car, Bay Area, 1923.Movable lifeguard tower, Germany, 1929.Tiny house on wheels, 1926Ford Model T truck hauling 8,000 pounds of hay, 1921.Le Dôme Café, Montparnasse, Paris, 1928.New York aerial police force stunt, 1920.Holmes Bakery, Ford truck, 1923.Oxford bags trousers, 1920.California bathers being confronted by policewomen because they were “scantily clad”, 1922.Women’s smoking car, 1920s.Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, 1926.Coney Island beauty contestants, 1923.Some members of the Brighton Swimming Club sharing a cigarette after a swim, 1920sBackstage at the Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1924.A woman showing off a Colt .25 Pistol, 1920s
In 1967, 100,000 hippies from across the country converged on San Francisco in a mass phenomenon dubbed the “Summer of Love.” Many were college kids on summer break and would leave come autumn—others stuck around to witness the Haight’s slow decline into a cultural wasteland.
Like a lot of young people, Jim Marshall was there. Drawn to the city’s Haight-Ashbury district by the surge of culture manifesting there—in music and fashion, in politics and mind-expanding drugs. Unlike the hordes of flower children washing up in the bohemian enclave that summer, Marshall was there to work. As a photographer employed by the biggest music labels in the business his job was to create a visual record of what Hunter S. Thompson would later lament as “the crest of a high and beautiful wave.”
Dancing in the Panhandle, June 1967.Janis Joplin on her bed, taken in her apartment on Lyon Street, December 1967.The Who during their stop in San Francisco, where they played two concerts at The Fillmore, June 16 & 17, 1967.The famous corner of Haight-Ashbury streets, June 1967. The Unique Men’s Shop is now a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop.Panhandle crowd at Hells Angels’ Thanks for Diggers New Years Day Wail, January 1, 1967.Jimi Hendrix performing onstage at a free concert in the Panhandle, June 19, 1967.People dancing and enjoying the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park Polo Fields, January 14, 1967Jerry Garcia and Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia on the steps of the Grateful Dead house at 710 Ashbury Street, May 1967.The Straight Theater on Haight Street, September 1967.Krishna’s Kirtan, a sacred chant music group, on the Diggers truck during the Ratha-Yatra Festival on Haight Street, July 9, 1967.A family driving down Haight Street, looking at hippies, June 1967.Eric Clapton playing guitar in Jim Marshall’s apartment on Union Street, August 1967.Hells Angels Thanks for Diggers New Years Day Wail free concert in the Panhandle, January 1, 1967.Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder onstage telling everyone to “Turn on, tune in, and drop out” at the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park Polo Fields, January 14, 1967.Jorma Kaukonen, Spencer Dryden, and Grace Slick during a photo shoot in Golden Gate Park, May 1967.
Fashion has always been about change, and the transition from 1940s fashion to fifties’ style was a pretty radical one.
Post-war, 1950s fashion moved style from the salons to the streets, as inventions in easy care fabrics and speedier manufacturing systems meant that new silhouettes could be made for the masses. Having the latest trends was no longer a concept reserved exclusively for the rich, and while people hadn’t quite reached the street style heyday of the 1960s fashion scene, style was more accessible than ever before.
Christian Dior’s 1950s fashion
It was an era like no other for spotting future fashion and beauty icons, too, as newcomers Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn were the first to showcase new ideas – from the bikini to the IT bag and Christian Dior’s New Look. 1950s fashion was, without doubt, one of the industry’s favourite decades.
Actually unveiled in 1947, but without doubt the defining silhouette of the decade ahead, Dior’s New Look redefined women’s wardrobes in the 1950s. His nipped, hourglass shapes heralded a new era of womanliness and after years of fashion oppression and fabric rationing during the Second World War, the lady was back and looking better than ever.
Marilyn Monroe’s 1950s fashion
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes launched Miss Marilyn’s career in 1953, and an international sex symbol and style sensation was born. One of the greatest and most recognizable fashion and beauty icons of all time, she defined glamour for a generation when she belted out Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend. They really don’t make ’em like this any more.
Queen Elizabeth II’s 1950s fashion
Recently recreated in The Crown, over 20 million loyal fashion subjects tuned in to watch the Queen’s Coronation back in 1953 and, perhaps more importantly, to see that Norman Hartnell dress. While her mother’s wedding dress was one of the biggest 1920s fashion moments, Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation was even more so in the fifties. Elizabeth didn’t disappoint on the bling factor either, working a gold tassel cape, rich embroidery and ‘more is more’ jewellery on her big day. All hail our new style Queen.
Grace Kelly’s 1950s fashion
Both on and off screen actress Grace Kelly’s outfits were some of the most talked about (and copied) of the decade, but her wedding to Prince Rainer III of Monaco in 1956 called for a bigger and better dress than any she’d worn before. Still cited as one of the most memorable, elegant wedding dresses of all time, her Helen Rose gown even went on to inspire a future royal bride-to-be – Kate Middleton. Now that’s what you call timeless appeal.
Alfred Hitchcock and Edith Head’s 1950s fashion
The legendary director and his go-to Hollywood costume designer were a formidable team, giving us some of the greatest on-screen fashion moments ever – sometimes completely by chance. A Hitchcock heroine was nothing without her accessories, as Grace Kelly proved over and over again in To Catch A Thief, even giving us the first ever IT bag. Hitchcock and Head increased the costume budget to allow Grace’s character Francie to carry an Hermès bag and a few years later, the style was renamed the Kelly in her honour.
Brigitte Bardot’s 1950s fashion
The scene is from the Cannes Film Festival, 1953. Newcomer Bardot is stealing the show, working a hot floral bandeau as only she can. The bikini was invented in 1946 and by the mid 50s, every movie star worth their bombshell status was grabbing headlines by parading the new risqué style on the beach. But it was Brigitte who worked it first, securing the bikini’s status as the must-have fashion item – and her own future career in the process.
Cristobal Balenciaga’s 1950s fashion
Like Dior, Balenciaga’s influence on the 1950s silhouette is now legendary. Between 1953 and 1957 he gave us the balloon jacket, the tunic dress, empire lines and baby dolls – all contributing to a fluid but feminine look.
Elvis Presley’s 1950s fashion
Swoon. The poster boy of 1950s fashion invented his own brand of preppy Rockabilly, giving us biker chic, guyliner and high waisted trousers way before Simon Cowell got his hands on them. With his first album release in 1956, Elvis made his mark on both men’s and women’s wardrobes in the late fifties, securing his place on the world’s pop culture radar forever.
Chanel 1950s fashion
Coco Chanel was already making big waves in the 1920s and 1930s fashion industry before the war, but she had another major trick up her (stylish) sleeves when it came to the 1950s. Introducing ‘the Chanel suit’ as we still know it today; a slim tweed number with contrasting bound edges which aimed to offer an elegant but looser alternative to all those New Look nipped waists. Now a fashion icon in its own right, the Chanel suit was reinvented season after season by Coco Chanel’s successor, Karl Lagerfeld.
Sophia Loren’s 1950s fashion
Another major fashion and beauty icon who first came into the spotlight in the 1950s? Yes, really; Italian pin-up Sophia Loren landed her first acting role in Aida in 1953 and became as renowned for her quick wit as much as her looks (that eyeliner, though). ‘Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti,’ she once quipped back to a reporter who commented on her natural hourglass figure. Now there’s an IT girl diet we can get on board with.
Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy 1950s fashion
A lead role in Roman Holiday kicked off Audrey Hepburn’s career in 1953 and, as the parts came flooding in, the world’s new favourite on-screen beauty knew she’d need a better wardrobe. Cue Hubert de Givenchy, a then little-known Parisian designer ready to make his fashionable mark on the big screen. Givenchy’s first costume design was the gold embroidered gown below for Audrey’s character Sabrina in 1954. The results were so beautiful that the pair became firm friends and Givenchy went on to make many more of the star’s costumes, including THAT little black dress in Breakfast At Tiffany’s. There’s no doubt about it, Hepburn and Givenchy’s collaborations were genius, and their relationship helped shape 1950s fashion.
Mark Twain, possibly apocryphally, once said: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” America’s favorite writer is of course much better known for dressing up in white suits. But Open Culture turned our attention to a photograph of Sam Clemens taken in 1883.
Turns out, Twain is by no means the only author who’s posed topless. From William Faulkner to Ernest Hemingway, here are other writers who’ve gone shirtless.
Mark TwainWilliam FaulknerErnest HemingwayTennessee Williams (center)Winston ChurchillEugene O’NeillAllen Ginsberg (left) and Peter OrlovskyEzra PoundKen Kesey and Neal CassadyWilliam S. Burroughs
During a 1969 interview on the Dick Cavett Show, Janis Joplin was asked who she goes to see when she wants to see a good concert. Her answer was: “Tina Turner. Fantastic singer, fantastic dancer, fantastic show.” On November 27, 1969, she joined Tina on stage at Madison Square Garden for an impromptu duet (Ike & Tina were opening for the Rolling Stones). Less than a year later, on October 4, 1970, Janis passed away at the age of 27.
When Janis first entered the music scene in the mid-1960s, Tina had already been performing and recording for more than five years, although still very unknown in the United States. Still, Janis knew about Tina and was highly influenced by her power and singing style. Janis would often go to watch Ike & Tina’s shows. Music film director Michael Wadleigh mentions in an interview that he was there when Tina and Janis first met each other. “I was with Tina Turner when she first saw Janis Joplin, and she said to Janis, ‘Honey, you can’t continue to sing like that or you’ll have no voice […]” On July 18, 1969, Janis appeared on the Dick Cavett TV-show. Asked who she goes to see when she wants to see a really good concert, she answers: “Tina Turner – she’s the best chick ever!” Cavett replies that he doesn’t know who Tina is, another example to illustrate the obscurity of Ike & Tina at that time. They did finally appear on his show in 1972.
The moment that Janis had been waiting for finally came on November 27, 1969 (the day after Tina’s 30th birthday), when Janis joined Ike & Tina on stage at Madison Square Garden. Ike & Tina were one of the opening acts for the Rolling Stones, Janis was watching them from the wings. The duet apparently wasn’t planned – during Land of 1,000 Dances, Janis simply couldn’t contain herself anymore, and jumped on stage (maybe also influenced by the ‘treats’ that the Stones had for their guests backstage).
While many photos of that appearance exist, no recording has surfaced as of yet. This is very strange, since these shows were taped by the Stones. Some footage of the show appears for example in the 1970 Rolling Stones documentary ‘Gimme Shelter’. These shows were also released as the live album ‘Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out’ in 1970. In 2009, this album was re-released with the opening sets of Ike & Tina and BB King, but the duet of Tina and Janis was not featured!
In a 2000 Canadian radio interview on channel CHUM FM, Tina however didn’t seem to recall their duet. When asked if she ever performed with Janis, she answered: “No, but Janis came and spent the last week with me before she passed.” In the interview, Tina mentions that Janis spent the last week of her life watching the revue’s shows at ‘The Hungry i’ in San Francisco.
Apparently, Janis would come to see the show several times during the week. We are not sure of the dates of Ike & Tina’s stand at ‘The Hungry i’, but on October 4, 1970, Janis passed away in Los Angeles, aged just 27.
West Virginia coal mine life during the 1930s was tough. The Coal companies used the miners to dig the coal, then turned around and rented them company houses and sold goods at the company store. As these photos show, the miners and their families practically worked just to keep alive, while the mine owners made a killing.
Boiling juice of sugarcane into sorghum molassesCard gambling in center of townChildren of Pauline Clyburn, rehabilitation borrowerChildren of riverboat familyCoal miner waiting to go home in friend’s truckCoal miner’s shack and some of his familyFamily on front porch of houseboat on riverFormer coal miner, worked twelve years for Chaplin Coal Company as hand coal loaderMany families live on riverboatsSettin’ around
It’s probably been a while since you read a Winnie-the-Pooh story or watched an animated film featuring the humble bear, but here’s a series of vintage photos centering on author A. A. Milne’s famous character.
The images of Milne’s son Christopher Robin — the inspiration for Milne’s character of the same name who was Pooh’s best pal — were taken in 1926 and in 1928 (photos of Christopher Robin and his father.) Mini Milne and his stuffed bear — named Edward, a gift he received on his first birthday — sometimes come across semi-creepy, but in that charming, vintage-photo way.
There is a dark side to the young Milne’s life, however. Later in life, he grew to resent dear old dad for thrusting him into the public eye and essentially exploiting his childhood — or so he felt. He published a series of his own books describing the difficulties of growing up Pooh. He also became an atheist, which is kind of ironic considering the religious associations people often make with Pooh. Fans who cherished Milne’s childhood book series were disappointed by his reactions, but new generations have found much to love about the classic character.
In August 1942, the US Farm Security Administration took these color photographs of women working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression. In these stunning photographs it’s the turn of women to be in the limelight:
Answering the nation’s need for womanpower, Mrs. Virginia Davis made arrangement for the care of her two children during the day and joined her husband at work in the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. Both are employed under Civil Service in the Assembly and repair department. Mrs. Davis’ training will enable her to take the place of her husband should he be called by the armed serviceMrs. Doris Duke, who is 26 and a mother of one child, Corpus Christi, Texas. Mrs. Duke is a civil service worker in the A[ssembly] and R[epair] dept. at the Navy Air Base (shot – reconditioning spark plugs)Women are contributing their skills to the nation’s needs by keeping our country’s planes in top-notch fighting condition, Corpus Christi, Texas. Wife of a disabled World War I veteran, Mrs. Cora Ann Bowen (left) works as a cowler at the Naval Air Base. Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis is a senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs departmentFormerly a sociology major at the University of Southern California, Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis (right) now “keeps ’em flyin’” at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. She is a supervisor under civil service in the Assembly and Repair Department. It is her job to maintain morale among the women by helping them solve housing and other personal problems. With her is Jo Ann Whittington, an NYA trainee at the plant.With a woman’s determination, Lorena Craig takes over a man-size job, Corpus Christi, Texas. Before she came to work at the Naval air base she was a department store girl. Now she is a cowler under civil service.Assembly and Repairs Dept. mechanic Mary Josephine Farley works on a Wright Whirlwind motor, Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas.“Women in white” doctor Navy planes (motors) at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. Mildred Webb, an NYA trainee at the base, is learning to operate a cutting machine in the Assembly and Repair Department. After about eight weeks as an apprentice she will be eligible for a civil service job in the capacity for which she has been trained.Oyida Peaks riveting as part of her NYA training to become a mechanic at the Naval Air Base, in the Assembly and Repair Department, Corpus Christi, Texas.Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis, senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Dept. of the Naval Air Base, talking with one of the men, Corpus Christi, Texas.Pearl Harbor widows have gone into war work to carry on the fight with a personal vengeance, Corpus Christi, Texas. Mrs. Virginia Young (right) whose husband was one of the first casualties of World War II, is a supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department of the Naval Air Base. Her job is to find convenient and comfortable living quarters for women workers from out of the state, like Ethel Mann, who operates an electric drill.Women from all fields have joined the production army, Corpus Christi, Texas. Miss Grace Weaver, a civil service worker at the Naval Air Base, and a school teacher before the war, is doing her part for victory along with her brother who is a flying instructor in the Army. Miss Weaver paints the American insignia on repaired Navy plane wings.A rivet is her fighting weapon. Oyida Peaks, daughter of a Navy lieutenant, one of many women taking NYA training to become mechanics at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. After eight weeks apprenticeship she will be qualified as a civil service worker in the Assembly and Repair Department.Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas 1942.
The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 began on a hot July day and thought to be the worst of around 25 riots during the so-called ‘Red Summer’. Some ninety years later the New York Times called it the worst race riot in the history of Illinois.
On July 27, 1919, an African-American teenager called Eugene Williams was swimming with friends in Lake Michigan when he crossed the unofficial race barrier between the ‘white’ and ‘black’ beaches. He was stoned to death by a group of white youths. The murder, and the subsequent refusal by the police to arrest the the person initially responsible began a week of rioting between black and white Chicago residents. When the riot ended on August 3, 23 African-Americans had died along with 15 whites and more than 500 injured. Over 1000 black families lost their homes after being set alight by the rioters.
During World War One, essentially being fought on the other side of the Atlantic, there had begun a great migration of African Americas from the rural south to the cities of the North. When the war came to an end thousands of servicemen, back and white, found their jobs had been taken by Southern blacks and other immigrants. According to the History website the African-American population in Chicago alone had increased in ten years from 44,000 in 1909 to more than 100,000 in 1919. This only exacerbated the already simmering racial tensions related to policing, migration, and housing. Everything came to a head in 1919.
A member of the state militia faces off against an African-American veteran during the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. July 27, 1919.Vandalized first floor of houseTroops gather at 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue during the Chicago race riots in 1919The state run militia patrols the streets of Chicago during the race riot of 1919. Photo dated Aug. 1, 1919.1919 Race RiotPolice remove the body of a black man killed during the 1919 race riotsPeople moving from house, accompanied by policemen during race riotsMob chasing victim during race riotskids cheering a burning houseIllinois National Guard soldiers questioningHeavily armed motorcycle and foot policemen stood at the ready for instant transportation to quell the rioting on Chicago’s south side on July 30, 1919.Five policemen and one soldier with rifle standing on street corner in the Douglas Community area.Chicago DefenderChicago race riot of 1919.Chicago Daily TribuneBlack residents of the south side move their belongings with a hand-pulled truck to a safety zone under police protection during the Chicago race riots of 1919.A group of white men and boys examine the destroyed homes of black Chicago residents after the city’s 1919 riot.A soldier tells a man to back up during the race riots in Chicago in 1919. The soldiers were in place to keep white people in their own district.A police officer stands in front of Burke’s Lunch Room in the heart of Chicago’s business district July 30, 1919A man armed with a machine gun sits at the Cook County Jail during the 1919 Chicago race riots.A firefighter looks over a burned out building during the Chicago race riots of 1919.A black resident of the south side moves his belongings to a safety zone under police protection during the Chicago race riots of 1919
