Yesterday Today

60 Beautiful Photographs of Actress Carole Lombard during the 1930s

Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother. At 12, she was recruited by director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). Eager to become an actress, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation at age 16, but mainly played bit parts. She was dropped by Fox just before her 18th birthday after a shattered windshield from a car accident left a scar on her face. Lombard appeared in fifteen short comedies for Mack Sennett between 1927 and 1929, and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage (1929) and The Racketeer (1929). After a successful appearance in The Arizona Kid (1930), she was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures.

Paramount quickly began casting Lombard as a leading lady, primarily in drama films. Her profile increased when she married William Powell in 1931, but the couple divorced amicably after two years. A turning point in Lombard’s career came when she starred in Howard Hawks’s pioneering screwball comedy Twentieth Century (1934). The actress found her niche in this genre, and continued to appear in films such as Hands Across the Table (1935) (forming a popular partnership with Fred MacMurray), My Man Godfrey (1936), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Nothing Sacred (1937). At this time, Lombard married “The King of Hollywood”, Clark Gable, and the supercouple gained much attention from the media. Keen to win an Oscar, Lombard began to move towards more serious roles at the end of the decade. Unsuccessful in this aim, she returned to comedy in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) and Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be (1942), her final film role.

Lombard’s career was cut short when she died at the age of 33 aboard TWA Flight 3, which crashed on Mount Potosi, Nevada, while returning from a war bond tour. Today, she is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre and American comedy, and as an icon of American cinema.

44 Incredible Photos That Capture Traffic Accidents in California During the 1950s

**Car accident at Franklin and Beachwood, Los Angeles, May 26, 1951**

**Car accident at Rosemont Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, September 22, 1951**

**Car accident on Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles, October 10, 1951**

**Car against utility pole on Pacific Electric Tracks, California, November 1, 1951**

**Car rammed parked truck, 13831 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, August 24, 1951**

**Car rear-ends train, 14th and Alameda streets, Los Angeles, November 7, 1951**

**Firemen washing down cars to prevent fire at Avalon Boulevard and Manchester Avenue, Los Angeles, October 31, 1951**

**Gasoline truck and four vehicles in wreck at 109th and Figueroa streets, Los Angeles, August 23, 1951**

**Overturned car at Stocker and La Brea, California, April 19, 1951**

**Runaway box car vs. autos in train crossings accident at 25th and Alameda, Los Angeles, May 25, 1951**

**Traffic accident at 167 South Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, 1951**

**Traffic accident at 4966 W Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, 1951**

**Traffic accident at Beverly Boulevard and Arden Avenue, Los Angeles, September 30, 1951**

**Traffic accident at Santa Monica Blvd. and Western Ave., Los Angeles, May 28, 1951**

**Traffic accident, Los Angeles, June 16, 1951**

**Auto hits pole at 5950 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, May 1, 1952**

**Car accident at Aliso and San Pedro streets, Los Angeles, January 23, 1952**

**Car crashes into concrete slab on Ramona Freeway, Los Angeles, January 28, 1952**

**Hot rod accident at Bellevue Avenue and Silver Lake Boulevard, one goes into the other, and both hit third one, Los Angeles, March 25, 1952**

**Overturned car at 54th Street and Western Avenue, Los Angeles, April 15, 1952**

**Traffic accident at 8th Street and Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, May 20, 1952**

**Two-car accident at Beverly Drive and Kirkside Road, West Los Angeles, April 4, 1952**

**Auto on sidewalk, Culver City, California, 1954**

**Cadillac after coming to stop at tree, Laurel Canyon and Sunset boulevards, Los Angeles, April 23, 1954**

**Car hit fire plug, the other car hit by falling pole, Arapahoe Street and Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, April 15, 1954**

**Accident at Union and 23rd streets, 1955**

**Four cars involved Pasadena Freeway accident at Bishops Road bridge, Los Angeles, July 22, 1955**

**Pasadena Freeway accident at Bishops Road bridge, Los Angeles, July 22, 1955**

**Traffic accident at 64th and Vermont, Los Angeles, February 17, 1956**

**Auto accident at 12th and Figueroa, California, December 7, 1957**

**Auto accident at Rivergrade Road and San Bernardino Road, California, February 10, 1957**

**Manhattan Beach auto accident, California, April 3, 1957**

**Traffic accident on Santa Ana Freeway at 7th Street turnoff, Southern California, March 9, 1957**

**Traffic accident on Pacific Coast Highway, California, 8 March 1958**

**Traffic accident (Sepulveda and Montana — West L. A.), 1951**

**Overturned car in traffic accident at Holy Name Church. 1951**

**Road construction accident. Oakland, 1957**

**Auto accident — Arroyo Seco Parkway, June 9, 1951.**

**Automobile through real estate office at Pacific Boulevard and Hope Street in Walnut Park. May 30, 1951.**

**Ambulance accident. Oakland, California, 1957**

**Plymouth meets peaches. Oakland, California. 1958**

**Ford meets lamppost in West Los Angeles on San Vicente Boulevard in the 1950s.**

30 Wonderful Vintage Photos of 1970s Duo Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille were American recording artists whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were “Captain” Daryl Dragon (August 27, 1942 – January 2, 2019) and Toni Tennille (born May 8, 1940). They have five albums certified gold or platinum and scored numerous hits on the US singles charts, the most enduring of which included “Love Will Keep Us Together”, “Do That to Me One More Time”, and “Muskrat Love”. They hosted their own television variety series on ABC in 1976–77.

UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Captain & Tennille Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“Captain” Daryl Dragon and his wife Toni Tennille, are divorcing after 39 years of marriage, according to media reports. (Daily News file photo)

19 Wonderful Vintage Photographs That Show What Spring Break Looked Like in Southern California in the 1940s

Back in 1947, when LIFE accompanied 10,000 young men and women to Balboa Beach in Southern California for spring break, the shenanigans wouldn’t have scored any higher than a PG rating. Daylight brought beachside dancing, boat races, beauty pageants and sunbathing. The evening hours found students aglow in the warmth of bonfires as portable radios churned out the tunes of the day.

These fascinating vintage photographs, taken by Peter Stackpole, that show what spring break looked like in Southern California in the 1940s.

(Photos:Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

27 Amazing Historical Photos of Life in Cairo from between the 1860s and 1880s

Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. The Cairo metropolitan area, with a population of 21.3 million, is the largest metropolitan area in the Arab world, the second largest in Africa, and the sixth largest in the world. Cairo is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area. Located near the Nile Delta, Cairo was founded in 969 AD during the Fatimid dynasty, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of Ancient National Capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo has long been a centre of the region’s political and cultural life, and is titled “the city of a thousand minarets” for its preponderance of Islamic architecture. Cairo is considered a World City with a “Beta +” classification according to GaWC.

Today, the Egyptian capital has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the world’s second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city; the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence.

With a population of over 9 million spread over 453 km2 (175 sq mi), Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in close proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other megacities, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. The Cairo Metro is one of only two metro systems in Africa (the other being in Algiers, Algeria), and ranks amongst the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, and 43rd globally on Foreign Policy’s 2010 Global Cities Index.(Wikipedia)

**Interior of Egyptian home in Cairo, 1870s**

**Tombs of the Mamaluks, Cairo, Egypt, 1875**

39 Vintage Photos of Actor Burt Lancaster in the 1940s and 1950s

Born 1913 in Manhattan, New York, American actor and producer Burt Lancaster was initially known for playing “tough guys”, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles.

Lancaster was nominated four times for Academy Awards, and won once for his work in Elmer Gantry in 1960. He also won a Golden Globe Award for that performance and BAFTA Awards for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1980).

During the 1950s, his production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster was highly successful, making films such as Trapeze (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), and Separate Tables (1958).

Lancaster’s acting career ended after he suffered a stroke in 1990, which left him partly paralyzed and largely unable to speak. He died in his apartment in Century City, California, from a third heart attack at in 1994, at the age of 80.

The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as #19 of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

Take a look at these pictures to see a young Burt Lancaster in the 1940s and 1950s.

16 Amazing Photos of the Brooklyn Bridge Under Construction

When it opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the answer to a geographical problem that should be familiar to anyone living in New York today: the jobs were in Manhattan but the cheap housing was in the outer borough. The solution was a very complicated one that tested the limits of engineering and technological ingenuity.

On paper, the suspension bridge to be constructed across the East River – an unprecedented distance – sounded veritably un-buildable. But that’s what drew John Roebling to the project: having earned a reputation as a designer of suspension bridges, he made his major breakthrough on the Brooklyn: a web truss made of steel, added to either side of the bridge roadway. This would make the bridge six times stronger than it needed to be. The mammoth project would consume him, literally – he died of tetanus after losing toes in a construction-related boat accident – and more than two dozen construction workers, who would die in falls and in a fire.

After Roebling’s 32-year-old son, Washington, took over as chief engineer, he himself ended up bedridden from compression sickness, the result of building the bridge’s two granite foundations inside timber caissons, or watertight chambers, which were sunk to depths of 44 feet on the Brooklyn side and 78 feet on the New York side. His partial paralysis led Roebling’s wife, Emily, to step in. She had studied higher mathematics, the calculations of catenary curves, materials strength, bridge specifications, and the intricacies of cable construction, and spent the next 11 years assisting her husband on the bridge’s construction.

**Construction of Brooklyn Bridge, ca. 1872-1887.**

**The towers of the Brooklyn Bridge were built atop the submerged caissons.**

**Workmen on cables during construction, 1881.**

**Early plan of one tower for the Brooklyn Bridge, 1867.**

**Foremen, workers and others on site in 1877.**

**Visiting the construction site, 1877.**

**Brooklyn Bridge during construction, 1877.**

**Brooklyn Bridge during construction, 1874.**

**Ship passes beneath the Brooklyn Bridge during construction, 1870s.**

**Construction of Brooklyn Bridge, from Robert N. Dennis’ collection of stereoscopic views.**

**Footpath on the Brooklyn Bridge, 1880s.**

**One tower of the Brooklyn Bridge under construction, 1875.**

**View from one of the bridge’s towers in 1880.**

**The Brooklyn Bridge under construction, 1880.**

50 Beautiful Photos That Show Fashion Styles of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, 1961

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, written by George Axelrod, adapted from Truman Capote’s 1958 novella of the same name, and starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a naïve, eccentric café society girl who falls in love with a struggling writer (George Peppard). It also featured Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney in supporting roles.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961, to critical and commercial success, grossing $14 million on a $2.5 million budget. Hepburn’s portrayal of Holly Golightly is generally considered to be one of her most memorable and identifiable roles. She regarded it as one of her most challenging roles, since she was an introvert required to play an extrovert.

The film received five nominations at the 34th Academy Awards: Best Actress (for Hepburn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Moon River”. The film is considered “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2012.

46 Amazing Portrait Photos of British Soldiers during the Great War

For much of the First World War, the small French village of Vignacourt was always behind the front lines – as a staging point, casualty clearing station and recreation area for troops of all nationalities moving up to and then back from the battlefields on the Somme. Here, one enterprising photographer took the opportunity of offering portrait photographs. A century later, his stunning images were discovered, abandoned, in a farm house.

Captured on glass, printed into postcards and posted home, the photographs enabled soldiers to maintain a fragile link with loved ones at home. Just like the selfies of today, the portraits were a mixture of the good and the indifferent, the in-focus and the out-of-focus. The images showed British and a few Australian soldiers, in formal or informal poses, during or just before the most murderous battle in the history of the British Empire.

This collection covers many of the significant aspects of British involvement on the Western Front, from military life to the friendships and bonds formed between the soldiers and civilians. With servicemen from around the world these faces are gathered together for what would become the front line of the Battle of the Somme. Beautifully reproduced, it is a unique collection and a magnificent memorial.

Stunning Photos of Brigitte Bardot During the 1950s

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot, born 28 September 1934, often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French animal rights activist and former actress and singer. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated personae with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best known sex symbols of the late 1950s and 1960s. Although she withdrew from the entertainment industry in 1973, she remains a major popular culture icon.

Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in her early life. She started her acting career in 1952. She achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman (1956), and also caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir’s 1959 essay The Lolita Syndrome, which described her as a “locomotive of women’s history” and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s film Le Mépris (1963). For her role in Louis Malle’s film Viva Maria! (1965) she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress.

Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. She had acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals and recorded more than 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985 but refused to accept it. After retiring, she became an animal rights activist. During the 2000s, she generated controversy by criticizing immigration and Islam in France, and she has been fined five times for inciting racial hatred. She is married to Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to Marine Le Pen, France’s main far-right political leader.