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July 31, 2017

Goodbye Jeanne Moreau! Here Are 30 Beautiful Black and White Photos of the Star of 'Jules et Jim' from the 1950s and '60s

Jeanne Moreau, the actor best known for her performance in French New Wave classic Jules et Jim, has died aged 89 at her home in Paris, her agent has said.

A director, screenwriter and singer as well as a stage and screen actor, Moreau came to prominence with a series of roles in films considered part of the French New Wave, including Lift to the Scaffold and Jules et Jim. She also appeared in a number of Hollywood films, such as The Last Tycoon and Orson Welles’s adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Trial.

In a statement on Twitter, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, paid tribute to Moreau, saying that the actor “embodied cinema” and was a free spirit who “always rebelled against the established order”.

Here, we collected 30 beautiful black and white photos of this legendary French actress from between the 1950s and 1960s to remember her. R.I.P Jeanne Moreau!






14 Stunning Black and White Photographs Capture Everyday Life of Postwar Italy

After the end of World War II and the downfall of dictator Benito Mussolini, a new movement was born in Italy: Neorealism, which realistically portrayed the desperate conditions of the poor and the working class after the war.

While Neorealism was a film movement, the same gritty aesthetic and subject matter was captured in photographs from the same time period. Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini. These were the pillars of Italian Neorealism; the auteurs who captured the psyche and desolate conditions of the Italian lower-class from 1944 to 1952, lost in a desperation that poverty begets. Their contemporaries, photographers like Ugo Zovetti, Ferruccio Crovatto, and Bruno Rosso, used their medium in similar fashion.

The gritty aesthetic and subject matter draws direct parallels to films like "Open City" and "The Bicycle Thief", giving a real, reactionary sense against fascism and the subsequent socio-political strifes. They unapologetically place the situation in front of you, unmediated and unadorned. The compositions are stunning, expressing the postwar Nihilism with large, unoccupied spaces.

(Bruno Rosso)

(Nino Migliori)

(Ferruccio Crovatto)

(Gianni Berengo Gardin)

(Nino Migliori)

Women of Arnold Genthe: 26 Ghostly Gorgeous Autochromes of Beautiful Ladies From the Early 20th Century

Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) was a German-born American photographer, best known for his photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities.


Genthe was an early adopter of the autochrome color photography process. He began experimenting with the process in 1905 in Carmel, California. He claimed credit for the first exhibition of color photographs in America; later scholars determined this is not accurate, but he was undoubtedly one of the earliest. His subjects included portraits, artistic nudes, and landscapes.

These gorgeous pictures of beautiful ladies that Genthe shot between the 1900s and 1910s.






The Pacific Electric During WWII – 37 Historical Photos of the Red Cars' Activity From 1942 to 1945

The Pacific Electric, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s.

Organized around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, it connected cities in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County.

The system shared dual gauge track with the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge Los Angeles Railway, "Yellow Car," or "LARy" system on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles (directly in front of the 6th and Main terminal), on 4th Street, and along Hawthorne Boulevard south of downtown Los Angeles toward the cities of Hawthorne, Gardena, and Torrance.

A historical photo collection from Metro Library and Archive that documented activity of the Pacific Electric railway from 1942 to 1945.

A specially painted Pacific Electric Railway car 5000, 'Fly for the Navy' at the 6th and Main Street Station, 1942

A specially painted Pacific Electric Railway car 5000, 'Fly for the Navy' at the 6th and Main Street Station, 1942

Crowds of passengers in the Pacific Electric Railway Company's 6th & Main Street Station after exiting trains, 1942

Pacific Electric Railway Company buses and 1200 series rail cars in United States military service during World War II in San Bernardino, 1942

Pacific Electric Railway Company President Oscar A. Smith and H.O. Marler, PE General Passenger Agent, with United States servicemen, 1942

July 30, 2017

16 Gorgeous Color Photographs of Frida Kahlo Taken by Nickolas Muray

In May 1931, Nickolas Muray traveled to Mexico where he met Frida Kahlo, a woman he would never forget. The two were at the height of their on-again, off-again, ten-year relationship when these pictures were taken.


Their affair had started in 1931, after Muray was divorced from his second wife, and shortly after Kahlo’s marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. It outlived Muray’s third marriage, and Kahlo’s divorce and remarriage to Rivera, by one year, ending in 1941. They remained good friends until her death in 1954.

The photographs, dating from 1937 to 1946, explore Muray’s unique perspective; in the 1930s and 1940s he was Kahlo’s friend, lover and confidant. Muray’s photographs bring to light Kahlo’s deep interest in her Mexican heritage, her life and the people with whom she shared close friendship.






'Willy' Smiling, 1853: The First Smile Ever Photographed

The photograph is simply labeled “Willy.” It features a young man with close-cropped hair and dressed in fine clothing, including a collared shirt and jacket. Willy is looking at something amusing off to his right, and the photograph captured just the hint of a smile from him—the first ever recorded, according to experts at the National Library of Wales.

A photograph of William Mansel (1838-1866) smiling at something off camera. Taken c.1853. (National Library of Wales)

Willy’s portrait was taken in 1853, when he was 18. He was captured on film because he was born into the Dillwyn family from Swansea in Wales, whose photography hobby was inspired by relative-by-marriage Henry Fox Talbot, who invented salt print and the Calotype. Two members of the family were particularly notable: Willy’s father, John Dillwyn Llewelyn, was a botanist who took the earliest-ever photographs of Wales.

This particular photograph, however, was taken by John’s sister Mary, who is important in her own right for being one of the first female Welsh photographers. She was among the first to avoid the formal photography used during that time, favoring smaller cameras with short exposure times that could capture informal moments. With this method, she took photos of Willy smiling, the first-ever pictured snowman, and the famous “peeping” girl—perhaps the world’s first photobomb.

Willy’s smiling image, part of a collection from Mary Dillwyn, are particularly valuable as such images are so rare from that time. Images like this ‘smile’ image are the first of their kind and that means they will always inspire and capture the imagination.

(via Wikimedia)

Incredible Photographs of the Opening of the First McDonald’s in Moscow, 1990

The Soviet Union’s first McDonald’s fast food restaurant opens in Moscow. Throngs of people line up to pay the equivalent of several days’ wages for Big Macs, shakes, and french fries.

The Soviet Union formally dissolved on December 26, 1991, but it was on January 31, 1990 that the Bolshevik dream died in all practicality. On that day, a McDonald's opened in Moscow.


The American fast food giant had petitioned the Communist Party to open a restaurant and finally received a “da” in 1988. The Moscow outlet was no ordinary Mickey D’s. It held 700 seats inside and another 200 outside and rang out customers on 27 cash registers, an appropriate super-sizing for a city of that magnitude and a rare ambassador of American consumerism. (It was the only fast food restaurant in Russia at the time.)

On the first day, the world saw that there was a demand. More than 5000 Russians lined up in Pushkinskaya Square before it opened. 30,000 customers passed through the doors on that day, setting a record for the number of patrons served by a McDonald's in a single day.



Francis X. Clines of The New York Times interviewed a pipe factory worker who said he forked over four days’ wages for a Big Mac, cheeseburger, apple pie, and two milkshakes. Customers were reportedly impressed by American customer service’s culture of politeness, a sharp contrast to Soviet stolidness.

“There is a lesson to be drawn from this for the country,'' teacher Tatyana Podlesnaya told Clines in 1990. “What is killing us is that the average worker does not know how to work and so does not want to. Our enthusiasm has disappeared. But here my meal turned out to be just a supplement to the sincere smiles of the workers.”

On January 30th of 1990 the first McDonalds eatery opened in Moscow. It was also the first one in the whole country – in the Soviet Union. They say they were holding talks with Soviet officials about opening this venture for over 20 years – since 1976. Also, they offered 51% ownership of the venture to the Soviet state.

At first, before opening the restaurant, McDonalds started building a factory to produce the buns and other ingredients. So in 1989 it was ready and over 50 million dollars had been invested in it.

Then they started constructing the restaurant itself. Canadian managers of McDonalds were key figures in making this happen, so they were coming to Moscow in person to see how the construction was going.


It was the largest McDonalds in the world at the time of the construction and even today remains the largest one in Europe.

Amazing Photos Document Everyday Life of Norway From Between the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

In 1886 20-year-old Ellisif R. Müller (1866-1949) married her cousin, regional doctor Andreas Wessel. The marriage led her to Kirkenes, where they lived out their lives. It was there, in her new home, that she made her debut as a photographer.

In Finnmark Wessel encountered a reality which stood in stark contrast to that of her protected bourgeois youth. She photographed what she saw: people, the buildings they lived in, and the landscape around them. Like well known documentary photographers such as Jacob A. Riis (1849-1914) and Lewis Hine (1874-1940) she uses photography to document social injustice. The motifs lead us toward what would become her life's most important concern: the battle for human worth and dignity among workers and minorities.

The first photographs signed Ellisif Wessel are dated 1890, but she seems most active between 1895 and 1918. Most motifs are taken with a Hasselblad box camera, the Svensk Express 4B [Swedish Express 4B]. Wessel used dry plates, and we know from her personal letters that she herself developed the glass plates and copied her photographs.

These photographs from the Preus Museum collection are contact copies of the glass plates, with the sun as a light source in the copying process.

A group of children and adults in front of school in rural areas in Russia

A group of schoolchildren

Adults and children photographed in front of a house

Adults and children photographed in front of a large house, Boris Gleb

Alta farm

21 Rare Photographs of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake

The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at 5:54 P.M. PST south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII. Damage to buildings was widespread throughout Southern California. An estimated forty million dollars' worth of property damage resulted, and between 115 and 120 people died. Many of these fatalities occurred as people ran out of buildings and were hit by falling debris.

The major damage occurred in the densely-populated city of Long Beach on the south-facing coast of Los Angeles County, and extended to the industrial area south of downtown Los Angeles. Unfavorable geological conditions (landfill, water-soaked alluvium) combined with poorly constructed buildings increased the damage done by the quake. In Long Beach, buildings collapsed, water tanks fell through roofs, and houses were tossed off their foundations. School buildings were among the structures that incurred the most severe damage.

The earthquake highlighted the need for earthquake-resistant design for structures in California. Many school buildings were damaged, with more than 230 school buildings that either were destroyed, suffered major damage, or were judged unsafe to occupy. The California State Legislature passed the Field Act on April 10, 1933, mandating that school buildings must be earthquake-resistant. If the earthquake had occurred during school hours, the death toll would have been much higher.

Here's some of amazing photographs from a souvenir booklet that was published shortly afterwards.

City Hall, Compton

Continental Bakery, Long Beach

Wreckage of Business Block, Long Beach

Elks Club, Compton

St. Anthony's Church, Long Beach

July 29, 2017

VIntage Photo of Ford County Sheriff Chalkley Beeson and His Friend in 1894

Chalkley McArtor “Chalk” Beeson (1848–1912) was a well-known businessman, lawman, cattleman and musician but was best known for his ownership of the famous Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.

Chalkey McArtor “Chalk” Beeson (left) and his friend in 1894 while serving as Ford County, Kansas Sheriff. Beeson was part-owner of Dodge City’s Long Branch Saloon from March 1, 1878 to February 6, 1883.

Originally from Salem, Ohio, Beeson was the seventh born child of Samuel and Martha Beeson. The family moved to Iowa, and at 19 Beeson left home, moving to Denver, Colorado. He worked, for a time, as a guide to buffalo hunters, with his clients including Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, Phil Sheridan, and George Custer.

By the mid-1870s he was living in Dodge City, Kansas, becoming involved in many citizen organizations, and becoming wealthy in the cattle business. He married Ida Gause on July 17, 1876. He later, in 1878, became an owner of the Long Branch Saloon with partner William Harris, which led to his becoming associated with noted lawmen, outlaws, and gunmen of the time, to include Luke Short, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, James Masterson and Ed Masterson, Charlie Bassett and others. Under Beeson’s leadership, the Long Branch Saloon boasted a 5-piece orchestra and Beeson also formed the Dodge City Cowboy Band which still exists today.

Beeson was sheriff for two terms, from 1892-96, during which he helped defuse a confrontation by convincing a group of cowboys led by noted gunman Clay Allison to leave town. Pinkerton Detective Charlie Siringo, who at the time was a young cowboy, witnessed the event and later wrote an account of the event, discounting a claim later made by Wyatt Earp that he had “backed Allison down”.

Beeson served for two terms as the Ford County sheriff, serving from 1892 to 1896. His most notable accomplishment while serving as sheriff was when he and Deputy US Marshal, Tom Hueston, killed Doolin Dalton gang member Oliver “Ol” Yantis, on November 30, 1892. Deputy Marshal Hueston was later killed during the Battle of Ingalls, a shootout between US Marshals and other members of the gang. Beeson was later twice elected to the State Legislature. He has been said to have been one of the most respected members of Dodge City during its wildest times.

Beeson represented Ford County in the Kansas State legislature four times: 1903, 1905, 1907, and a special session in 1908. Beeson died on August 12, 1912. His wife, Ida, lived until June 15, 1928.



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