Early in her music career, Viola Smith became known as “America’s fastest girl drummer.” She spent decades challenging the barriers facing female musicians — and the centenarian she still plays today. She is the drummer for a band in her home community. Smith was born on November 29, 1912 in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, the eighthContinue reading “Viola Smith, a Pioneering Woman Drummer Who Was Still Actively Drumming at Age 107”
Tag Archives: female
Method of Women’s Self Defense: Vintage Photos From 1906 Illustrate Modes for Warding Off a Street Bully or Foul
In 1906, the famed New York City photographer Percy C. Byron was commissioned to take a series of studio photographs depicting “Dr. Latson’s Method of Self Defense”. The pictures show an athletic young woman demonstrating an unarmed combat stance, several techniques of self defence with an umbrella and a stamping side kick to the attacker’sContinue reading “Method of Women’s Self Defense: Vintage Photos From 1906 Illustrate Modes for Warding Off a Street Bully or Foul”
31 Amazing Photos Showing Beautiful Women From the 1950s
Behind the Scenes at the Cabaret: Intimate and Candid Vintage Photographs of Burlesque Dancers From the 1930s
Margaret Bourke-White’s extensive and diverse career captured many historic moments. In the male-dominated world of early twentieth century photojournalism, Bourke-White undeniably stands as a pioneer. She was the first female war correspondent, the first woman permitted to work in combat zones, the first woman to fly on a bombing mission during the Second World WarContinue reading “Behind the Scenes at the Cabaret: Intimate and Candid Vintage Photographs of Burlesque Dancers From the 1930s”
Amazing Vintage Photos of Burmese Women Visiting London in 1935
The Kayan Lahwi people, also known as Padaung, are a minority ethnic group with populations in Burma and Thailand. Padaung women are famous for their distinctive custom of wearing brass coils around their necks. As the women grow, the coils are lengthened, compressing the rib cage and displacing the collarbone, creating the illusion of anContinue reading “Amazing Vintage Photos of Burmese Women Visiting London in 1935”
In 1992, a 28-Year-Old Jenny Joseph Modeling for What Would Become Today’s Columbia Pictures Logo
Founded in 1918 by siblings Harry and Jack Cohn and friend Joel Brandt as CBC Film Sales Corporation, Columbia Pictures is one of the oldest studios in Hollywood. In its early years, the studio mostly churned out low-budget fare, leading the Cohns and Brandt to re-brand themselves in 1924 as the more sophisticated-sounding Columbia Pictures.Continue reading “In 1992, a 28-Year-Old Jenny Joseph Modeling for What Would Become Today’s Columbia Pictures Logo”
Incredible Colorized Images of Australia’s Most Notorious Female Criminals of the Early 20th Century
Mesmerizing colorized photos show the most notorious female criminals in 1920s Australia, including the fearsome London born razor-gang leader Matilda Devine. These pictures are from a series of around 2,500 “special photographs” taken by the New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1930. They were mostly taken in the cells at the CentralContinue reading “Incredible Colorized Images of Australia’s Most Notorious Female Criminals of the Early 20th Century”
14 Vintage Photographs That Show Glamour College Fashions of the 1950s
The 1950s bridged the gap between the reserved and conservative styles of the late 1940s and the fun and quirky looks that would define 1960s fashion. Hemlines grew shorter, waistlines wandered up and down, before disappearing completely, and the West seemed obsessed with making up for wartime limitations with excessive glamour and consumerism. Though notContinue reading “14 Vintage Photographs That Show Glamour College Fashions of the 1950s”
The Ideal Female Body Shape of the 1920s
In 1928, a group of Hollywood film studio artists drew “the ideal screen type.” An amalgamation of the famous disembodied parts of Hollywood stars, the ideal screen type was doe-eyed and fair, holding her willowy arms at a coy akimbo. Beside the artists’ illustration of the composite ideal appeared the remarkable photographic image of theContinue reading “The Ideal Female Body Shape of the 1920s”
“Queen of The Amazons” – 19 Fabulous Photos of the 6’4″ Tall Burlesque Queen Lois DeFee in the 1930s and 1940s
Born 1918 in a small town in Texas, Lois DeFee lost her parents early and was raised in Texas by an aunt (her father’s sister) and uncle. It was not a happy situation, and Lois began trying to run away at the age of four. At the age of 13 Lois ran away from herContinue reading ““Queen of The Amazons” – 19 Fabulous Photos of the 6’4″ Tall Burlesque Queen Lois DeFee in the 1930s and 1940s”
