Before Fame, Rarely Seen Photos of Young Boy George in His Punk Days

Boy George, born George O’Dowd on June 14, 1961, was certainly present in the vibrant London music and fashion scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which included the tail end of punk and the rise of New Romanticism. While he wasn’t a “punk” in the traditional sense of adhering strictly to the music or ideology, the punk movement significantly influenced his early style and artistic development.

Punk opened the door for radical fashion experimentation and a DIY attitude. Boy George, even in his pre-teens, was already pushing boundaries with his clothing choices, borrowing from his older brother’s punk gear and even getting expelled from school for his flamboyant appearance.

George was deeply inspired by David Bowie, Marc Bolan, and later the Sex Pistols and Siouxsie Sioux. He immersed himself in the punk and post-punk subcultures of London, especially the underground club scene. He was a regular at the Blitz Club, a key venue for the New Romantic movement, where he mixed with creatives like Steve Strange, Marilyn, and Spandau Ballet. His distinctive look caught the eye of Malcolm McLaren, the former manager of the Sex Pistols, who even recruited him to perform with his band Bow Wow Wow under the stage name “Lieutenant Lush.”

Boy George eventually left Bow Wow Wow and formed Culture Club in 1981, which went on to become immensely successful. His iconic look as the frontman of Culture Club, with its blend of diverse cultural references and emphasis on individual expression, solidified his status as a fashion icon.

See more»

Handsome Portrait Photos of Ben Lyon in the 1920s and ’30s

Born 1901 in Atlanta, Georgia, American actor Ben Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923) and steadily developed into a leading man. He was successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era, including Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Barbara La Marr, Viola Dana, Anna Q. Nilsson, Mary Astor and Blanche Sweet.

Lyon had success as an actor in the 1930 film Hell’s Angels. For the next decade, he was constantly in demand, but his popularity began to wane by the early 1940s. By the mid 1940s he was working for 20th Century-Fox. On July 17, 1946, he met a young aspiring actress named Norma Jeane Dougherty. After his first meeting with her, he stated that she was “Jean Harlow all over again!” He organized a color screen test for the actress, renamed her, and finally signed her as Marilyn Monroe to her first studio contract.

Lyon died in 1979 at the age of 78. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street. Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of a young and handsome Ben Lyon in the 1920s and 1930s.

See more»

Mylène Demongeot: One of the Blond Sex Symbols of the 1950s and ’60s

French actress and author Mylène Demongeot spanned her career over seven decades, encompassing more than 100 film, television, and theater productions across French, Italian, English, and Japanese languages.

Demongeot rose to prominence at the age of 21 with her portrayal of Abigail Williams in The Crucible (1957), earning her a BAFTA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles and the Best Actress award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. She further solidified her status with roles in Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Les Trois Mousquetaires (1961), and the Fantômas trilogy (1964–1967), where she starred alongside Jean Marais and Louis de Funès.

Beyond her acting career, Demongeot was a writer and advocate. She authored several books, including Très chers escrocs (2019), detailing her experience as a victim of a financial scam. She was also a member of the honor committee of the Association pour le droit de mourir dans la dignité (ADMD), supporting the right to die with dignity.

Take a look at these stunning photos to see the beauty of a young Mylène Demongeot in the 1950s and 1960s.

See more»

30 Photos of Lisa Eilbacher and Eddie Murphy on the Set of “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)

Lisa Eilbacher and Eddie Murphy on the set of Beverly Hills Cop (1984) captured a great moment in 1980s Hollywood action-comedy history. Eilbacher played Detective Jeannette “Jenny” Summers, a childhood friend of Murphy’s character Axel Foley, who gets caught up in his investigation into a friend’s murder in Beverly Hills.

The film was budgeted at $14 million, including $4 million for Murphy, and was completed for around $13 million. Production began in May 1984 and continued into the summer, taking place mostly in and around Los Angeles. The opening sequence was filmed over several days in Michigan, in Detroit and nearby Wayne. Many scenes set in Beverly Hills were shot in Pasadena, as the city of Beverly Hills prohibited filming after 10:30p.m.

This first film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise shot Murphy to international stardom, won the People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Motion Picture,” and was nominated for both the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1985.

Beverly Hills Cop was released on December 5, 1984, in 1,532 theaters. It debuted in first place at the US box office, making $15,214,805 in its first five days of release. It expanded on December 21 into 2,006 theaters. The film stayed at number one for 13 consecutive weeks and returned to number one in its 15th weekend making 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one tying Tootsie for the film with the most weeks at number one.

The film earned $234,760,478 in the United States, and $316,360,478 worldwide, being the highest-grossing film released in 1984. Adjusted for inflation, it is the third highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time behind The Exorcist and The Godfather. For nearly two decades, Beverly Hills Cop held the record for having the highest domestic gross for an R-rated film until 2003, when it was taken by The Matrix Reloaded.

See more»

The Club 57 Series by Robert Carrithers: Amazing Photos Capture Scenes of a New York Nightclub in the Early 1980s

Club 57 was a nightclub located at 57 St. Mark’s Place in the East Village, New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was originally founded by Stanley Zbigniew Strychacki as well as Dominic Rose, then enhanced by nightclub performer Ann Magnuson, Susan Hannaford, and poet Tom Scully.

Robert Carrithers, an American photographer and filmmaker, moved to New York in 1979 and spontaneously documented everything that happened at Club 57. His photographs capture the raw energy, creativity, and personalities of the artists who frequented the club, including early works by now-famous figures like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Ann Magnuson, and musicians like Cyndi Lauper and Klaus Nomi.

The Club 57 Series is a unique historical testimony to a pivotal period in pop culture. It showcases the birth of significant artistic movements, the early careers of iconic artists, and the spirit of a countercultural scene that defined the East Village. Many of the artists associated with Club 57 went on to achieve widespread fame, while others faced tragic ends due to issues like drug use and the AIDS epidemic.

In essence, Robert Carrithers' Club 57 Series provides an invaluable visual record of a transformative period in New York City's art and cultural history, capturing the essence of an underground space that nurtured creativity and rebellion.

“I lived in New York during the early ‘80s, a very special unique time of creativity in New York,” Carrithers wrote. “I was a regular at a place called Club 57 in the basement of a Polish church on St. Marks in the East Village. It was a creative laboratory that would change night after night with themes and happenings. One night there would be an art opening and then another night there would be bands, films or a crazed theme party. Many talented and fun people developed their art at Club 57 throughout this time. The following photographs capture some of these memorable people through portraits or at the various events.”

Keith Haring

Susan Hannaford Rose

Kai Erik

Wendy Wild

See more»

Carrie Fisher Hanging Out With Some Stormtroopers While Promoting “Empire Strikes Back” in London, 1980

In real life, Princess Leia may not see eye to eye with the Stormtroopers, who captured her in Star Wars: Episode IV - New Hope, but Carrie Fisher, the actress who portrayed Princess Leia, proved she’s chummy with them off-set. In these classic photographs, Fisher showed off her goofy side posing with her arch nemeses. In fact, she delighted in being carried by not one, but two Stormtroopers.

In The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Carrie Fisher reprised her role as Princess Leia Organa, a key figure in the Rebel Alliance and one of the trilogy’s most iconic characters. Her performance in this film deepened Leia’s complexity — portraying her not just as a fearless leader, but also as a woman struggling with love, loss, and duty.

Fisher was only 23 when Empire was filmed. Despite the pressures of fame and a grueling shooting schedule, she delivered a performance that solidified Leia as a cinematic legend. She often injected humor and intelligence into Leia’s dialogue, even improvising or helping to shape her character’s voice.

Amazing 1899 Photos of Finnish Farmers with Their Cows and Bulls

Finnish agriculture, series of photos from The Finnish Museum of Photography, 1899. I. K Inha (1865–1930), on a commission from the National Board of Agriculture, photographed scenes of Finnish agricultural work for the World’s Fair (Exposition Universelle) in Paris in 1900: stables and cowsheds, home economics exhibitions, fields and pastures.

Included among the surviving prints and negatives are nearly 150 individual portraits of cows and bulls. The photographed bovine specimens represented, at the time, the developed state and high quality of Finnish agriculture. In these photos, they pose next to their keepers or owners.

See more»