20 Portraits of a Very Young Al Pacino

Alfredo James Pacino was born in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on April 25, 1940, the only child of Sicilian Italian-American parents Rose (née Gerardi) and Salvatore Pacino.  His parents divorced when he was two years old.  He then moved with his mother to the South Bronx to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who were Italian emigrants from Corleone.

In his teenage years, Pacino was known as “Sonny” to his friends.  He had ambitions to become a baseball player and was also nicknamed “The Actor.”  He attended Herman Ridder Junior High School, but soon dropped out of most of his classes except for English. He subsequently attended the High School of Performing Arts, after gaining admission by audition. His mother disagreed with his decision and, after an argument, he left home. To finance his acting studies, Pacino took low-paying jobs as a messenger, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, as well as once working in the mailroom for Commentary.

Pacino began smoking and drinking at age nine, and used marijuana casually at age 13, but he abstained from hard drugs.  His two closest friends died from drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30.  Growing up in the South Bronx, Pacino got into occasional fights and was considered somewhat of a troublemaker at school. He acted in basement plays in New York’s theatrical underground, but was rejected as a teenager by the Actors Studio.  Instead, Pacino joined the HB Studio, where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.  In this period, he was often unemployed or homeless, and sometimes slept on the street, in theaters, or at a friend’s home.

In 1962, Pacino’s mother died at the age of 43.  The following year, his maternal grandfather also died. Pacino recalled it as the lowest point of his life and said, “I was 22 and the two most influential people in my life had gone, so that sent me into a tailspin.”

After four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio.  The Actors Studio is a membership organization of professional actors, theater directors, and playwrights in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. Pacino studied “method acting” under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All.

During later interviews, he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio’s effect on his career. “The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn’t been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting.”  In another interview he added, “It was exciting to work for him [Lee Strasberg] because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you’d never heard before ... He had such a great understanding ... he loved actors so much.”

Wallace Beery: The Highest-Paid Actor in the World During the Early 1930s

Born 1885 in Clay County, Missouri, near Smithville, American actor Wallace Beery is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s.

Beery died of a heart attack in 1949, aged 64. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of Wallace Beery in the 1930s.

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Fascinating Photos Capture Street Scenes of Tijuana in the Late 1980s

Tijuana is the largest city in the state of Baja California located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality and the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area. It has a close proximity to the Mexico–United States border, which is part of the San Diego-Tijuana metro area.

Tijuana in the 1980s was a vibrant and dynamic city known for its border culture, nightlife, and tourism. It experienced rapid growth during this time, becoming a popular destination for visitors from both Mexico and the United States.

The city’s proximity to the US border made it a hub for trade, commerce, and entertainment, leading to the development of a unique blend of Mexican and American influences. However, it also faced challenges such as urbanization, population growth, and issues related to drug trafficking and organized crime.

These fascinating photos were taken by Rob56 that show street scenes of Tijuana in 1989.

A view down the main street, Tijuana, 1989

A bridge on the Highway between the U.S. Mexico Border and Tijuana, 1989

A street scene from Tijuana, 1989

A street scene from Tijuana, 1989

A view from the cab down the main street, Tijuana, 1989

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46 Candid Snaps of Shirley MacLaine From the 1970s

Born on April 24, 1934, in Richmond, Virginia, Shirley MacLaine has enjoyed an impressive career in film, television and the theater for more than six decades. She was originally named Shirley MacLean Beaty. Her first name was reportedly inspired by the famed child actress Shirley Temple. She later adapted her mother’s maiden name, “MacLean,” into her stage name of “MacLaine.”

In the mid-1960s, Twentieth Century-Fox offered her a salary of $750,000 on a “pay or play” basis to appear in a movie adaptation of the musical Bloomer Girl, a fee equivalent to the paydays enjoyed by top box office stars of the time. However, the project was cancelled, triggering a lawsuit.

MacLaine was top-billed in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), in a role written for Elizabeth Taylor, who chose not to appear in the movie. The Western film was a hit, primarily due to her co-star Clint Eastwood, one of the top box office stars in the world at that time. The film’s director, Don Siegel, said of her: “It’s hard to feel any great warmth to her. She’s too unfeminine, and has too much balls. She’s very, very hard.”

She then moved on to television, cast as a photojournalist in a short-lived sitcom, Shirley’s World (1971–1972). Co-produced by Sheldon Leonard and ITC Entertainment, the series was shot in the United Kingdom. As part of the deal, Lew Grade produced the low-budget drama Desperate Characters (1970).

MacLaine put her career on hold as she campaigned for George McGovern during the 1972 presidential election, including the Democratic primaries. In 1973, her friend, writer and director William Peter Blatty wanted to cast her for the role as the mother in The Exorcist. The role was eventually played by Ellen Burstyn. MacLaine declined the part since she had recently appeared in another film about the supernatural, The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972).

MacLaine’s documentary film The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975), co-directed with film and television director Claudia Weill, about the first women’s delegation to China in 1973, was released theatrically and on PBS, and was nominated for the year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.

MacLaine returned to onstage live performances during the 1970s. In 1976, she appeared in a series of concerts at the London Palladium and New York’s Palace Theatre. The latter of these was released as the live album Shirley MacLaine Live at the Palace.

MacLaine started a career comeback with the drama The Turning Point (1977), portraying a retired ballerina. Her performance in the film received critical acclaim, earning her a fourth nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1978 for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.

In 1979, she starred alongside Peter Sellers in Hal Ashby’s satirical film Being There. The film received widespread acclaim with Roger Ebert writing that he admired the film “for having the guts to take this totally weird concept and push it to its ultimate comic conclusion.” MacLaine received a British Academy Film Award, and Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance.

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My Name is Barbra: 12 Childhood Photos of Barbra Streisand From the 1940s

Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother had been a soprano in her youth and considered a career in music, but later became a school secretary. Her father was a high school teacher at the same school, where they first met.

According to Streisand, childhood was an unhappy, even traumatic, period of her life. Her father Emanuel died unexpectedly when she was only 15 months old. She describes her mother Diana as self-absorbed and emotionally distant. For example, instead of empathizing with Streisand’s dream to be an actress and supporting her, Diana often said that Streisand wasn’t pretty enough to be a star and should give up.

Diana couldn’t support the family on her own, so they moved in with her parents. As a result, Barbra lived in a one-bedroom apartment with four other people: her mother, her brother Sheldon, and her maternal grandparents Louis and Esther Rosen.

When Streisand was eight years old, her mother began dating—and eventually married—a man named Louis Kind, allowing them to finally move out of the small apartment. However, Kind mistreated Diana and was emotionally abusive toward the children; Streisand says he seemed to resent her and Sheldon simply for existing.

Streisand says that, because of her difficult childhood, she has always loved escapism. As a child and a teenager, she attended movies and Broadway shows whenever she could; she found fiction more engaging than real life. This undoubtedly contributed to her love of acting and performing. Here, below is a collection of 12 adorable childhood photos of Barbra Streisand from the 1940s:

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40 Amazing Photos That Show Rural Americans’ Clothing in the Mid-19th Century

In the 19th century, rural Americans’ clothing reflected the practicalities of their daily lives. Men typically wore trousers, often made of denim or sturdy cotton, paired with button-up shirts and suspenders. Vests were common, providing additional warmth and pockets for small tools or personal items. Boots or sturdy shoes were essential for farm work.

Women’s clothing consisted of long dresses or skirts, often made from homemade calico or other durable fabrics. These dresses were usually accessorized with aprons for practicality and protection. Bonnets or wide-brimmed hats were worn to shield from the sun while working outdoors.

Children’s clothing was typically simple and practical. Boys often wore shirts, trousers, and vests, while girls wore dresses with pinafores for protection. Fabrics were durable, like cotton or wool, and colors tended to be muted due to practicality and availability. Clothing was often handmade at home or by local seamstresses, and it was common for garments to be passed down among siblings or generations.

Overall, rural Americans’ clothing prioritized durability, comfort, and functionality to withstand the demands of agricultural life. Here below is a set of amazing photos from Mitch Young that shows what rural Americans looked like in the mid-19th century.

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Teenagers Cramming into a VW Beetle, 1964

With the silly season upon us again a group Laudra Vista Junior High students from Fullerton, California, try to set a new record in car packing; they managed to put in 31, 13 and 14 year-olds into this Volkswagen Beetle on May 12, 1964.

Pictures show 31 teenagers (10 boys and 21 girls, average weight 100 lbs., height 5 feet) who have stuffed themselves into the tiny car, claiming a new record. The kids practiced with one of their families’ cars but stopped at 25 (they say was the old record) and borrowed one from a dealer for the record attempt.