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100 Interesting Color Photographs That Show Everyday Life in the United States During the 1950s
Handsome Vintage Photos of Tyrone Power in the 1930s and 1940s
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Black and White Photos of Twiggy in the Hippie Outfit in 1967
These black and white photos of English model, actress, and singer Twiggy were taken on August 21, 1967 by photographer Kent Gavin, before she left for the New York later the same day.
Twiggy said of her Hippie outfit: “I Love it! I have a Hippie hat, it’s straw with poppies on the side. But I couldn’t wear it today because it doesn’t go with this outfit. That shows I’m not a real Hippie doesn’t it? If I was, I’d wear it anyway wouldn’t I?”
“I think the clothes can be adapted to everyday wear, we’re certainly planning some for the next Twiggy range.” She added.
Dame Lesley Lawson DBE (née Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging ’60s in London.
Twiggy was initially known for her thin build and the androgynous appearance considered to result from her big eyes, long eyelashes, and short hair. She was named “The Face of 1966” by the Daily Express and voted British Woman of the Year. By 1967, she had modelled in France, Japan, and the US, and had landed on the covers of Vogue and The Tatler. Her fame had spread worldwide.
After modelling, Twiggy enjoyed a successful career as a screen, stage, and television actress. Her role in The Boy Friend (1971) brought her two Golden Globe Awards. In 1983, she made her Broadway debut in the musical My One and Only, for which she earned a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She later hosted her own series, Twiggy’s People, in which she interviewed celebrities; she also appeared as a judge on the reality show America’s Next Top Model. Her 1998 autobiography Twiggy in Black and White entered the best-seller lists. Since 2005, she has modelled for Marks and Spencer, most recently to promote their recent rebranding, appearing in television advertisements and print media, alongside Myleene Klass, Erin O’Connor, Lily Cole, and others. In 2012, she worked alongside Marks & Spencer’s designers to launch an exclusive clothing collection for the M&S Woman range. (Wikipedia)
50 Amazing Vintage Photos From the 1930s Volume 12
The 1930s (pronounced “nineteen-thirties” and commonly abbreviated as “the 30s”) was a decade that began on January 1, 1930, and ended on December 31, 1939.
The decade was defined by a global economic and political crisis that culminated in the Second World War. It saw the collapse of the international financial system, beginning with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the largest stock market crash in American history. The subsequent economic downfall, called the Great Depression, had traumatic social effects worldwide, leading to widespread poverty and unemployment, especially in the economic superpower of the United States and in Germany, which was already struggling with the payment of reparations for the First World War. The Dust Bowl in the United States (which led to the nickname the “Dirty Thirties”) exacerbated the scarcity of wealth. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected in 1933, introduced a program of broad-scale social reforms and stimulus plans called the New Deal in response to the crisis.
In the wake of the Depression, the decade also saw the rapid retreat of liberal democracy as authoritarian regimes emerged in countries across Europe and South America, including Italy, Spain, and in particular Nazi Germany. With the rise of Adolf Hitler, Germany undertook a series of annexations and aggressions against neighboring territories in Central Europe, and imposed a series of laws which discriminated against Jews and other ethnic minorities. Weaker states such as Ethiopia, China, and Poland were invaded by expansionist world powers, with the last of these attacks leading to the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, despite calls from the League of Nations for worldwide peace. World War II helped end the Great Depression when governments spent money for the war effort. The 1930s also saw many important developments in science and a proliferation of new technologies, especially in the fields of intercontinental aviation, radio, and film. (Wikipedia)
Amazing Photographs of the Tuskegee Airmen at an Air Base in Italy During WWII
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The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
All black military pilots who trained in the United States trained at Griel Field, Kennedy Field, Moton Field, Shorter Field, and the Tuskegee Army Air Fields. They were educated at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), located near Tuskegee, Alabama. Of the 922 pilots, five were Haitians from the Haitian Air Force and one pilot was from Trinidad. It also included a Hispanic or Latino airman born in the Dominican Republic.
The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later the 99th Fighter Squadron) was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy overseas (to North Africa in April 1943, and later to Sicily and other parts of Italy). The 332nd Fighter Group, which originally included the 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons, was the first black flying group. It deployed to Italy in early 1944. Although the 477th Bombardment Group trained with North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat. In June 1944, the 332nd Fighter Group began flying heavy bomber escort missions and, in July 1944, with the addition of the 99th Fighter Squadron, it had four fighter squadrons.
The 99th Fighter Squadron was initially equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter-bomber aircraft. The 332nd Fighter Group and its 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons were equipped for initial combat missions with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (June–July 1944) and finally with the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47s red, the nickname “Red Tails” was coined. The red markings that distinguished the Tuskegee Airmen included red bands on the noses of P-51s as well as a red rudder; the P-51B, C and D Mustangs flew with similar color schemes, with red propeller spinners, yellow wing bands and all-red tail surfaces.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. During World War II, black Americans in many U.S. states were still subject to the Jim Crow laws and the American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to discrimination, both within and outside of the army. (Wikipedia)
These intimate portraits were taken by Toni Frissell, a high-fashion photographer who volunteered her photographic services to the American Red Cross, Women’s Army Corps, and Eighth Army Air Force during WWII. On volunteering for the American Red Cross in 1941, Frissell said: “I became so frustrated with fashions that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do a real reporting job.” Take a look:
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30 Funny Vintage Tobacco Ads by Benson & Hedges From Between the Late 1960s and 1970s
Benson & Hedges was founded in London in 1873 by Richard Benson and William Hedges as Benson and Hedges Ltd. Alfred Paget Hedges succeeded his father in the business in 1885, the same year which Richard Benson left the business. The 1900s saw branches of Benson & Hedges Ltd. opening in the United States and Canada. In 1928, the American branch became independent, and was bought by Philip Morris in 1958. Benson & Hedges Ltd in the UK was acquired by the Gallaher Group in 1955.
A Royal Warrant was issued to the British company in 1878, after the required five years of supply to the Royal Family. This was the brand of cigarettes preferred by King George VI, who was famed for his heavy cigarette smoking. The royal warrant was revoked in 1999 due to a “lack of demand in the royal households”. The Warrant seal, which had previously been on the flip lid of the box, was removed.
In July 1968, Philip Morris released Virginia Slims which were a spin-off of Benson & Hedges intended to be sold to women. They were sold during a period of time where society was beginning to realize the dangers of smoking. Therefore, they were a thinner and more “elegant” alternative to regular cigarettes.
The Story Behind the Photo Session of Marilyn Monroe Taken by Douglas Kirkland for Look Magazine, 1961
Douglas Kirkland has been passionate about images since he was a child. Coming from Canada he started working for a small photo studio in Virginia. A few years later he met the photographer of whom he was an admirer and went to New York for the position of Irving Penn’s assistant. Despite the prominent position he obtained, Douglas Kirkland needed better salary to live, but Irving Penn refused to increase it. He then gave himself some time to make himself known, later he joined Look Magazine for which he got a first photo session with Elizabeth Taylor. This photo session was the origin of his reputation as a star portraitist. It is 1961 and it is also the year in which he photographed Marilyn Monroe.
“The first time I met Marilyn to talk about the shoot, my colleagues and I went to her home on Doheny Drive – right on the edge where Beverly Hills and Hollywood connect. She was very disarming because she didn’t seem like a big superstar; she seemed more like the girl next door. I wanted to get some hot pictures of her, but in my shy Canadian way, I didn’t know how to say that. In the end Marilyn was the one to take charge. She said, ‘I know what we need. We need a bed, and we need white silk sheets – they must be silk. Frank Sinatra records, and Dom Pérignon champagne.’ She totally pre-empted what I wanted to go for on the shoot, and I was so relieved. We scheduled it to be done about three days later, at 7.30pm on a Friday evening.”
“The day came and I arrived promptly at the studio, which we’d we rented in Hollywood. I waited and waited, and 9.30pm came and she had not yet appeared. I said to myself, ‘If Marilyn doesn’t show up, it’s going to be a disaster. I’m still new at the publication, I’ve been sent to California, and if I don’t take back pictures it will be very difficult to explain.’ Just at that moment, at the other side of the studio, I heard the door open and in came Marilyn, with a lady carrying some clothes – ultimately she didn’t use them very much. She came in a completely different person to the girl I’d met last time – I saw the real Marilyn, the Marilyn we all think of. She seemed to move in slow motion to me; she had a luminescence about her and she didn’t step, she almost floated. That’s my memory of it, that’s the impression she left me with.”
The artist suggested to Marilyn to show how she wanted to be remembered 25 years later. It was a very delicate, sensual and joyful series that emerges. The photographer managed to produce and capture a very intimate moment between him and the star.
The most famous photos in this series are images of Marilyn taken vertically from a balcony in the photo studio. The decor is entirely white. Out of time and space, Marylin is plunged naked into a cloud of sheets. The star plays with the fabric and the cushion, with a seductive look. She rolls in the sheets, smiles and has fun, she seems happy and fulfilled. The atmosphere is bright, fresh, Marilyn’s blond hair, her fair skin and the white of the bedding, everything is immaculate and pure. Douglas Kirkland used a very special grain here.
“She had a robe on, and she took that robe off and got in under the white silk sheets. I just want to tell you, I was 27, but I was mentally 17. As I say, I’d had a very small town background and here, the superstar of all superstars was five feet away from me; I could reach out and touch her, and as she slipped into the bed I saw parts of her body that I couldn’t believe I’d ever see.
“Marilyn was so sexual, very sensual. At one point she suggested that we should do something more than just talk, in other words, embrace each other. This is where my small town boy came in, I acted like I didn’t understand, I was embarrassed. I looked down into my camera and just kept shooting pictures, over and over, as quickly as I could. I think that’s why the pictures are so strong, because that sexual desire was channeled into the camera instead of into action.
“I got overhead so I could shoot directly down on her. I started to take pictures, but I didn’t need to direct her – I just talked with her. It was like flirting, both ways, it became very hot, the charge in the air. I had one assistant, and she had her woman who worked with her. We took a break, and then she said, ‘I want to be alone with this boy, I find it usually works better that way’. So everybody left the room, I heard the door close, and I realised I was alone with Marilyn. Then I came down from up above, and she said, ‘why don’t you come down and do some close-ups down here’. I came down from the stairs that I was up on, and I was a little over one metre away from her.”
The Last Queen of Romania: 18 Stunning Portraits of Marie of Romania in the Early 20th Century
Princess Marie of Edinburgh (1875 – 1938) was born and spent her childhood at Eastwell Park in Ashford, later becoming Queen of Romania in 1914 and reigning until 1927. The statue is unveiled to honor this revered British princess and Romanian queen, one of the most important bridge-personalities between the two countries, and to mark 100 years since the unification of Romania in 1918.
The future Queen was born on October 29 1875 at Eastwell Park, her family estate in Kent, as the daughter of Alfred Ernest Albert de Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Victoria’s second son, and Maria Alexandrovna Romanova, Grand Duchess of Russia. On December 15, 1875, in the presence of her royal grandmother, Marie was baptized in the Anglican Church at Windsor Castle.
A projected marriage between Marie and her cousin, George of York, the future George V, encouraged by Queen Victoria and supported by their fathers, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales, failed because of the opposition of the young heirs’ mothers, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Wales. Instead, on January 10, 1893 at Sigmaringen Castle, after a brief engagement, Marie married Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the heir to the Romanian throne. In 1914, after the death of King Carol I, Ferdinand and Marie became Romania’s monarchs. In the summer of 1916, Romania entered the First World War as part of the Allied Powers.
From the first day of the war, Queen Marie undertook an active role that would soon transform her into a role model. Beautiful, full of wit and intelligent, cultivated and possessing a strong personality, the queen caught the imagination of her contemporaries, Romanian and foreign alike. The Queen devoted all her energy to the war effort. She tirelessly visited the camp hospitals, set up relief schemes, managed the medical support, attended military and civilian ceremonies, raised money for the wounded, the war prisoners and the widows, and kept the British and French allies closer.
She later became a pivotal figure at the Paris Peace Conference, which recognized the unification of all Romanian provinces in one, democratic state, where the Queen used her brilliant diplomatic skills and her vast array of connections to secure a favorable outcome. “From My Heart to Theirs”, an article published during the war, summoned an entire way of life, dominated by the unconditional love for her adoptive country. And her Romanian subjects reciprocated with an equal passion.
Endowed with a great artistic flair, she also devoted her time to writing, architecture, and design, as well as to various social and cultural causes, which made her one of the most admired royals of her time. On July 18, 1938, she died at Pelișor Castle in Sinaia, Central Romania, her beloved mountain retreat built under her guidance.
Vintage Photos Showing Street Scenes of Tel Aviv in the Late 1930s and Early 1940s
Tel Aviv-Yafo, often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a population of 460,613, it is the economic and technological center of the country. If East Jerusalem is considered part of Israel, Tel Aviv is the country’s second most populous city after Jerusalem; if not, Tel Aviv is the most populous city ahead of West Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Mayor Ron Huldai, and is home to many foreign embassies. It is a beta+ world city and is ranked 41st in the Global Financial Centres Index. Tel Aviv has the third- or fourth-largest economy and the largest economy per capita in the Middle East. The city currently has the highest cost of living in the world. Tel Aviv receives over 2.5 million international visitors annually. A “party capital” in the Middle East, it has a lively nightlife and 24-hour culture. Tel Aviv has been called The World’s Vegan Food Capital, as it possesses the highest per capita population of vegans in the world, with many vegan eateries throughout the city. Tel Aviv is home to Tel Aviv University, the largest university in the country with more than 30,000 students.
The city was founded in 1909 by the Yishuv (Jewish residents) as a modern housing estate on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa, then part of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem within the Ottoman Empire. It was at first called ‘Ahuzat Bayit’ (lit. “House Estate” or “Homestead”), the name of the association which established the neighbourhood. Its name was changed the following year to ‘Tel Aviv’, after the biblical name Tel Abib adopted by Nahum Sokolow as the title for his Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl’s 1902 novel Altneuland (“Old New Land”). Other Jewish suburbs of Jaffa established before Tel Aviv eventually became part of Tel Aviv, the oldest among them being Neve Tzedek (est. 1886). Tel Aviv was given “township” status within the Jaffa Municipality in 1921, and became independent from Jaffa in 1934. After the 1947–1949 Palestine war Tel Aviv began the municipal annexation of parts of Jaffa, fully unified with Jaffa under the name “Tel Aviv” in April 1950, and was renamed to “Tel Aviv-Yafo” in August 1950.
Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced that of Jaffa, which had a majority Arab population at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were later merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which was proclaimed in the city. Tel Aviv’s White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world’s largest concentration of International Style buildings, including Bauhaus and other related modernist architectural styles. (Wikipedia)
Here below is a set of rare photos that shows street scenes of Tel Aviv from the late 1930s to early 1940s.
35 Amazing Photos Showing Street Style of 1920s Young Women
Twenties fashion is often remembered for its glitz and glamour, though underlying this was a move toward simplicity in dress.
At the dawn of the 1920s, the world was still reeling from the First World War. The conflict, which ended just over a year before the new decade began, had a fundamental and irreversible effect on society, culture, and fashion. Essential to these new styles was a simplicity that had not previously been seen in women’s fashion.
This simplicity created the popular tubular “la garçonne” look that dominated much of the decade. Also known as the flapper, the look typified 1920s dress with a dropped waist and creeping hemlines that could be created in economical fabrics.
Fashion in the 1920s was all about the whole look and there were trends in how the body itself was fashioned. The simple lines and androgynous shapes of fashion looked best on bodies free from curves. Many women cut their hair into a bob, a popular hairstyle that emerged early in the decade. The cloche hat became an extremely popular accessory that looked best with these short hairstyles.
Take a look at these vintage photos to see what street style of young women looked like in the 1920s.
