25 Wild & Wonderful Disco Records from Around the World
27 Amazing Color Photos of Cabaret Dancers at the Moulin Rouge in the late 1950s
Here’s a series of amazing color pictures made by LIFE photographer Loomis Dean in the late 1950s, featuring cabaret’s dancers at the Moulin Rouge. It is there that where countless men and women down through the decades have enjoyed extravagant (and cheerfully risqué) song-and-dance numbers while soaking in the atmosphere of an entertainment mecca. It is there that the energetic and, for many, scandalous cancan dance found its highest and most popular form of expression.
47 Incredible Photos of the Dust Bowl during the 1930s and Early 1940s
The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s and early 1940s. As high winds and choking The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suf dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.
The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.
Elsie Ferguson: One of the Most Beautiful Actresses in Edwardian Era
Starting as a 17 year old chorus girl, American stage and film actress Elsie Louise Ferguson (1885-1961) progressed through a number of productions to become a leading lady and Broadway star by 1909.
In 1917 with some persuasion in the form of a $5,000 a week contract, Elsie Ferguson began acting in films. Her salary at Paramount paid her an extra $1,000 per day of filming. After appearing in about 25 films she returned to the stage. She did however make one final sound film in 1930. Her final appearance on Broadway was in 1943.
She was married four times, firstly to estate agent Frederick Chamberlain Hoey (1865-1933) in 1908, they divorced in 1914. She then married banker Thomas Benedict Clarke (1877-1858) in 1916 they divorced in 1923. Thirdly she married actor and co-star Frederick George Worlock (1886-1973) in 1924, they divorced in 1930. Lastly she married British naval captain Victor Augustus Seymour Egan (1875-1956) in 1934 until his death in 1956.
Elsie died in 1961 in New London, Connecticut at the age of 76.
15 Colorized Photos of Immigrants at the Ellis Island Immigration Station from the Early 20th Century
The photographs were taken by an immigration official named Augustus Frederick Sherman. He took photographs of immigrants who were being detained for further interrogation, whether for medical or other reasons. Some would be permitted to stay while others would be forced to return to the homes they risked so much to leave.
Sherman requested that his subjects open their trunks and wear the traditional dress of their homelands, resulting in more than 200 striking photographs of Guadeloupeans, Bavarians, Romanians and Laplanders—men and women whose chief similarity was their wish to become Americans.
To help bring out the vitality of these historic images, TIME commissioned freelance photo editor Sanna Dullaway to colorize a selection of them.
23 Remarkable Photos of England during the 1850s
(Photos by William Morris Grundy)
34 Vintage Photographs of a Bearded Elvis Presley During Shooting of the Film ‘Charro!’, 1969
Charro! is a 1969 American western film starring Elvis Presley shot on location at Apacheland Movie Ranch and Old Tucson Studios in Arizona. Uniquely, Presley did not sing on-screen, and the film featured no songs at all except for the main title theme, which was played over the opening credits. It was also the only movie in which Presley wore a beard.
With its gritty look, violent antihero, and cynical point of view, Charro! was obviously patterned after the grim Italian westerns of the 1960s. Elvis’ character, Jess Wade, is costumed similarly to Clint Eastwood’s notorious Man with No Name from Sergio Leone’s Italian westerns.
Both wore a scruffy beard and dust-covered western garb, and both kept a well-worn cigar in their mouths. The music in Charro! was scored by Hugo Montenegro, who was responsible for the memorable score of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Unfortunately, director Charles Marquis Warren was no match for Sergio Leone, and Charro! suffers from poor production values.
At the time, much was made about the absence of songs in the film, as though that fact proved Charro! was a serious effort. Advertisements for the film declared Charro! featured “a different kind of role… a different kind of man.” Elvis granted more interviews and generated more publicity for Charro! than he had for any film in a long time. One interview quoted him as saying, “Charro! is the first movie I ever made without singing a song. I play a gunfighter, and I just couldn’t see a singing gunfighter.” Eventually, Elvis did agree to sing the title tune, but there are no songs within the body of the film.
Charro! was filmed in the late summer of 1968 after Elvis’ comeback special had been shot for television, though the special would not air until December. Elvis seemed to have taken stock of his career that year: He recorded music that was not merely fodder for soundtrack albums, and he starred in a prestigious television special. Perhaps Elvis was hoping to upgrade his acting career as well by appearing in a completely different type of film. Unfortunately, the film was a dismal critical failure; much of the blame was placed at the feet of director Charles Marquis Warren. Warren had been a writer, director, and producer for several western television series during the 1960s. Though he had not worked in the cinema since the 1950s, he chose to produce, direct, and write the screenplay for Charro!
Amazing Photos of Elspeth Beard, the First British Woman to Ride a Motorcycle Around the World
In an age before sat-nav, internet, email and mobile phones – and in an age when women hardly ever traveled alone to adventurous countries – Elspeth Elspeth achieved something that is still remarkable today. In 1982, Beard embarked on a two-year solo journey that would take her around the world on her beloved motorbike – the first British woman to do so. From the outback of Australia to the mountains of Nepal, Beard has traveled through some fascinating places. The great stories behind these places and her achievement as a solo rider have been turned into a brilliant book, Lone Rider, in 2017.
In October 1982, Beard shipped her beloved BMW to New York and arrived at Heathrow with a tent and a few belongings. “I was very nervous but I was also excited and felt a tingle of freedom.” When she arrived in New York, she got on her motorbike and rode to Canada, then south to Mexico and back north to Los Angeles.
“Traveling in those days was so different,” she said. “There was no internet and no satellite navigation. It was a real adventure. I didn’t know where I would be staying that night or where I could eat or buy petrol. I would plan my route two or three days ahead and hope for the best. It was thrilling and I finally felt free.”
After traveling thousands of miles across the United States, Beard shipped her bike from Los Angeles to Sydney, where she spent eleven months working as an architect, before motorcycling across Australia. In Townsville, Queensland, she had an accident which left her hospitalized for two weeks.
“I was traveling with two people I’d met on the way,” she told Express. “We were riding through the outback and my front wheel sank into a pothole. The bike cartwheeled and I flew through the air. I landed on my head and have no memory of the accident. All I remember is waking up in hospital feeling confused and frightened.”
If her traveling companions hadn’t been with her, Elspeth would have died. However, she was determined to carry on. “I did everything I could to minimize the risk but you can’t do a trip like that without expecting to have a few accidents.”
Beard carried on riding to Perth, and she shipped her bike to Singapore, before traveling through Bali, Java and Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand.
In Singapore, she spent 6 weeks replacing important documents and gear after they were all stolen. In Thailand, she collided with a dog, and recuperated staying with a local family; the family fed her the remains of the dog that she had crashed into.
From Thailand, Beard rode to India, traveled to Pakistan and Iran, then through Turkey and back into mainland Europe before arriving back in London in November, 1984.
More than 30 years on, Elspeth believes her epic adventure made her into the person she is today. “The trip completely changed my life and made me the person I am now. It taught me there was nothing I couldn’t cope with and there wasn’t a problem I couldn’t solve. Now I would never take no for an answer. It has given me an inner strength and confidence to tackle anything.”
When she returned, Elspeth finished her architecture qualification and now has her own firm near her home in Guildford, Surrey. But she still hits the road as often as she can. “Now I have a collection of bikes and still love to ride. And I still have my trusty BMW. It’s like an old friend.”
30 Gorgeous Photos of Eartha Kitt During the 1950s
Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer, actress, comedienne, dancer, and activist known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of “C’est si bon” and the Christmas novelty song “Santa Baby”, both of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Orson Welles once called her the “most exciting woman in the world”.
Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical Carib Song. In the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 hits, including “Uska Dara” and “I Want to Be Evil”. Her other notable recordings include the UK Top 10 hit “Under the Bridges of Paris” (1954), “Just an Old Fashioned Girl” (1956) and “Where Is My Man” (1983). She starred as Catwoman in the third and final season of the television series Batman in 1967.
In 1968, her career in the U.S. deteriorated after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon. Ten years later, she made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Award nominations. Her second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. Kitt wrote three autobiographies.
Kitt found a new generation of fans through her roles in the Disney films The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), in which she voiced the villainous Yzma, and Holes (2003). She reprised the role as Yzma in the direct-to-video sequel Kronk’s New Groove (2005), as well as the animated series The Emperor’s New School (2006–2008). Her work on the latter earned her two Daytime Emmy Awards. She posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance on Wonder Pets!.
Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day 2008, three weeks short of her 82nd birthday at her home in Weston, Connecticut.
53 Incredible Photos Showing Life in Egypt from the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries
