The Story Behind the Iconic Artwork for The Smiths’ 1985 Studio Album “Meat Is Murder”

Meat Is Murder is the second studio album by the Smiths, released on 11 February 1985 by Rough Trade Records. Following the release of their self-titled debut album in early 1984, the Smiths maintained a prolific output with non-album singles and the compilation Hatful of Hollow, while also drawing media attention for their outspoken political views and provocative lyrics.

The Smiths’ 1985 album cover features an altered photograph of a 20-year-old American Marine Corporal named Michael Wynn. Taken on September 21, 1967, during the Vietnam War.

The photograph originally appeared as promotional still and archival footage in the 1968 Oscar-nominated anti-war documentary, In the Year of the Pig, directed by American filmmaker Emile de Antonio. Frontman Morrissey, who curated most of the band’s distinctive record covers, intercepted this striking visual for the band's second album sleeve.

In the authentic photo, Wynn had handwritten the popular counter-culture slogan “Make War Not Love” across his M1 helmet. Morrissey and layout designer Caryn Gough systematically doctored the image, superimposing the message “Meat Is Murder” over the original text to align with the LP’s fierce pro-vegetarian title track.

The original un-altered photograph of Michael Wynn.

According to Morrissey, the jarring parallel between military slaughter and the commercial meat industry was entirely deliberate. He intended the provocative image to serve as a harsh wake-up call, stating that the only way to challenge institutionalized cruelty was to give society “a taste of their own medicine.”

Michael Wynn survived the Vietnam War and later immigrated to Australia in 1982, completely unaware of his global indie-rock fame. The Smiths never sought permission to use or alter his likeness. Wynn only discovered he was a legendary album cover star in 1985 when his sister spotted the vinyl record sitting on a shop shelf.

Wynn publicly expressed that he was initially unhappy about the band modifying his helmet’s original text. Decades later, music critics and historians noted an unintended poetry to the image: many Vietnam veterans returned home traumatized by PTSD only to face public ridicule, frequently feeling as though they had been treated like literal pieces of meat by the military apparatus and the public alike.

The Memorial to the Child Victims of War in Lidice, Czech Republic

The Memorial to the Child Victims of War is a deeply moving bronze sculpture located at the Lidice Memorial in Lidice, Czech Republic. Created by academic sculptor Marie Uchytilová, it serves as a universal monument to all innocent child casualties of global conflicts while specifically commemorating the 82 local children murdered by Nazi forces at the Chełmno extermination camp in the summer of 1942.

In June 1942, Nazi forces completely destroyed the village of Lidice as a brutal act of retaliation for the assassination of SS General Reinhard Heydrich. The village was burned to the ground, the adult men were executed, and the women were sent to concentration camps.

Among the village children, 82 were deemed “unsuitable for Germanization,” transported to Chełmno, and murdered in mobile gas vans. They consisted of 42 girls and 40 boys ranging from 1 to 16 years old. Only 9 children from the village survived by being placed with German families.

Deeply moved by the tragedy, sculptor Marie Uchytilová dedicated two decades of her life, starting in 1969, to crafting the installation. To give each child a distinct identity, Uchytilová meticulously studied surviving photographs of the victims to capture their unique personalities, sizes, and expressions.

Working without financial support from the state, she spent her own savings to cast the first three statues in bronze. She completed the plaster molds in the spring of 1989 but unexpectedly passed away in November of that year, never seeing the finished product. Her husband, Jiří Václav Hampl, took over the monumental task in 1990. The first batch of 30 bronze statues was unveiled in 1995, and the final statues were safely installed in the year 2000.

The final monument comprises 82 life-sized bronze statues positioned on a hillside overlooking the site of the razed village. The figures stand together looking out into space, frozen in expressions of confusion, sadness, and innocence, creating a profound and chilling impression on visitors. The installation directly adjoins the "Garden of Peace and Friendship" on the expansive grounds of the Lidice Memorial Park.

See more»

Rachel Fitzgerald: The Aristocratic Beauty of 1950s Irish Fashion

Rachel Fitzgerald (1933–1994) was an Irish aristocrat and fashion model who embodied a unique blend of old-world elegance and mid-century glamour.

Born into the Anglo-Irish gentry as the younger daughter of the Knight of Glin, Fitzgerald grew up at the historic Glin Castle in County Limerick. After a lavish society wedding at the age of 19 to a dashing Coldstream Guards officer, she surprised many by pursuing a modeling career instead of a quiet life in high society.

Her refined beauty and air of melancholy elegance quickly caught the attention of London and Paris fashion houses. Fitzgerald became a favorite muse of Irish designer Sybil Connolly and modeled for top milliners and Parisian couturiers, helping promote a new wave of Irish fashion on the international stage.

In the 1960s, Fitzgerald transitioned into the art world, working at London’s prestigious Hanover Gallery, before eventually retiring to restore a historic mansion in Worcestershire with her husband. These exquisite vintage photos capture the refined grace, quiet melancholy, and aristocratic charm of Rachel Fitzgerald, a true embodiment of mid-century elegance who moved effortlessly from Irish nobility to the world of international fashion.

Rachel Fitzgerald in beautiful ball gown by Herbert Sidon, Harper's Bazaar UK, June 1953

Rachel Fitzgerald in pure silk shantung dress by H.B. Popper, linen hat by Hughes Beresford, photo by Richard Dormer, Harper's Bazaar UK, March 1953

Rachel Fitzgerald in travel suit of white cotton bouclé jersey with an indestructable pleated skirt made to order by Guillaume of Davis St., photo by Richard Dormer, Harper's Bazaar UK, March 1953

Lovely satin dress by Susan Small worn by Rachel Fitzgerald, Vogue UK, November 1954

Rachel Fitzgerald in an Alex Wood lace dress by Susan Small, Harper's Bazaar UK, February 1955

See more»

Frits Thaulow: Master of Light, Water, and Northern Atmosphere

Frits Thaulow (1847–1906) was a prominent Norwegian painter and one of the most important figures in Scandinavian Impressionism. Renowned for his luminous depictions of rivers, waterfalls, snowy landscapes, and atmospheric scenes, he possessed an extraordinary ability to capture the fleeting effects of light on water and nature.

Though he began in the Realist tradition, Thaulow later developed a looser, more poetic style deeply influenced by French Impressionism. He spent much of his later life in France, where he befriended masters such as Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin.

These exquisite paintings reflect Thaulow’s profound sensitivity to light, water, and the serene beauty of the Nordic landscape, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest Scandinavian artists of the late 19th century.

A Factory Building near an Icy River in Winter

A French Village Street

A Garden Path

A Morning River Scene

A Stone Bridge over a Stream in Winter

See more»

Wonderful Photos of Morgan Freeman on the Set of “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989)

Morgan Freeman’s time on the set of Driving Miss Daisy (1989) solidified his transition into a leading Hollywood actor. Filmed on location in Georgia, the production brought together a unique cast and crew to adapt Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play for the big screen. Freeman reprised his celebrated Off-Broadway role as Hoke Colburn, the patient and dignified chauffeur hired to drive the stubborn Daisy Werthan, played by Jessica Tandy.

On stage, a performance needs to reach the back row. On a film set, the camera sits inches from your face. Freeman worked meticulously to strip away the theatricality of his original performance, modulating his voice and relying heavily on micro-expressions.

Because Hoke is a character who must constantly navigate the rigid social boundaries of the mid-century American South, much of Freeman’s onset work focused on what wasn’t being said—using subtle shifts in posture, downward glances, and calculated pauses to convey a lifetime of resilience.

The heart of the production was the chemistry between Freeman and Jessica Tandy. Unlike sets filled with modern Hollywood flash, the vibe on Driving Miss Daisy felt like an intimate, old-school actors’ workshop. Freeman and Tandy spent immense amounts of time running lines together in the close quarters of the film's vintage cars.

Tandy, a legendary theater veteran herself, deeply respected Freeman's precision. Their real-life camaraderie mirrored the gradual thaw between their characters, transforming the tension of the early scenes into a warm, deeply collaborative partnership by the end of the shoot.

The vintage cars, predominantly the iconic 1949 Hudson Commodore and later a 1955 Cadillac, acted as miniature, self-contained sets. Shooting these scenes was incredibly tedious. Freeman spent hours behind the wheel while the vehicles were either towed on flatbed rigs surrounded by heavy camera equipment and hot lights, or driven through the humid heat of Atlanta, Georgia. Freeman’s job required him to maintain perfect character focus and precise timing with Tandy while simulating driving mechanics under highly distracting production conditions.

Freeman was fiercely protective of Hoke’s dignity. On set, he was highly collaborative with writer Alfred Uhry and director Bruce Beresford to ensure that Hoke never felt subservient or caricatured, but rather independent, wise, and quietly subversive. He played Hoke with a distinct weight, ensuring that the character’s humor and warmth always stood on a foundation of profound self-respect.

The dedication paid off. Freeman’s refined, understated presence on set translated seamlessly to the screen, earning him a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination, cementing his status as one of Hollywood’s premier leading men.

See more»

Buffalo Bill Posing With a Group of Pawnee Nation Leaders and Performers From His Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, 1885

This historic photograph depicts William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody alongside a delegation of Pawnee scouts and chiefs, taken around 1885 during a tour of his world-famous “Wild West” show.

By 1885, the Indian Wars were drawing to a close, and Native Americans were being forced onto reservations. Buffalo Bill Cody, a former U.S. Army scout, realized that the global public had an insatiable appetite for the “Old West.”

He founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1883, hiring real cowboys, cavalrymen, and Native Americans to reenact frontier battles, horse races, and sharpshooting feats. To generate publicity and sell souvenir cabinet cards, Cody regularly took his performers to high-end photography studios, such as the famous William Notman & Son studio in Montreal, resulting in staged group portraits like this one.

For many Native American performers, joining Cody’s show was one of the few ways to legally leave the oppressive confines of government reservations. The show allowed them to travel the world, earn a relatively good wage ($50 a week for stars like Sitting Bull), and openly practice their traditions, wear their sacred regalia, and speak their languages at a time when the U.S. government was actively trying to assimilate them and erase their culture.

Concurrently, the performers were used to reenact their own defeats. They were often presented to white audiences as “noble savages” or bloodthirsty villains of the past to validate the narrative of American westward expansion.

Lovely Photos of Marilyn Monroe Posing With Her Beloved Cats

Marilyn Monroe was a passionate animal lover who owned several feline companions throughout her life, stating that animals never lied or intentionally hurt feelings. She once said something along the lines of: “If you talk to a dog or a cat, it doesn’t tell you to shut up.”

Her bond with animals was a constant source of comfort amidst the pressures of Hollywood fame. The following historical photos capture the iconic star sharing moments with different cats throughout her career.

See more»