Kodachrome Girls: 40 Extraordinary Color Snapshots That Capture Everyday Women’s Style of the 1940s

Vintage style captured in amateur Kodachrome photographs showing genuine everyday women’s clothing, hair and makeup looks taken in the 1940s era.

There is an era captured in photography which engenders more nostalgia perhaps than any other in the 20th century and these are the Kodachrome years.

Kodachrome film was a 35 mm film or transparency containing three layers producing the primary colors. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media. Because of its complex processing requirements, the film was sold process-paid in the United States until 1954 when a legal ruling prohibited this. Elsewhere, this arrangement continued.

Due to the growth and popularity of alternative photographic materials, its complex processing requirements, and the widespread transition to digital photography, Kodachrome lost market share. Its manufacture was discontinued in 2009, and processing ended in December 2010.

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Artist Transformed Victorian Portraits Into Amazingly Hilarious Superheroes Trading Cards

Combining 19th century cabinet card portraiture with superheroes, movie monsters, and other idols, Los Angeles-based artist Alex Gross has created an army of whimsical trading cards with a vintage feel.

His love of days gone by inspired him to create the pop-culture masterpieces. “I absolutely love old photos and vintage pictures,” he told Vivianite. “The Victorian Era is the time when I would have liked to live.” The idea has become an ongoing project of his and by now he already has dozens of funny and creative retro illustrations in his portfolio.

Stoic figures from the past have been reincarnated as the stars of Superman, Star Trek, Star Wars, and other cult faves. Gross doesn’t just slap a painted costume on each individual, though. He transforms them into lively characters by creating new landscapes for them to dwell in, complete with props and other quirky touches. Delight in Gross’ geeky menagerie past the break.

Batman and Robin

Arya

Batgirl, Wonder Woman & Supergirl

Batman & Catwoman

Batman, Batgirl & Robin TV Show

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45 Cool Snaps That Show Christmas House Interior in the 1950s and 1960s

A cool photo collection that shows how people decorated their houses to greet Christmas in the 1950s and 1960s.

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My Cars of the Past: 40 Cool Pics Show Car Collection of a Massachusetts Man Through the Years

These cool pics that show car collection of Dave Silvia, a Massachusetts man through the years.

1928 International Truck. Taken the day I bought it in 1993, I sold it in 1998

1954 GMC Truck, summer 1981. Owned for 24 years and sold in 2004 (I miss it)

1954 GMC Truck, summer 1981

1954. GMC Truck interior, summer 1981

1960 Chevrolet Corvair 131

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Cooking Smart With Smart Kitchens: Imagining an American Kitchen of Tomorrow in the 1940s

The look of the American kitchen in the 1930s and early 1940s was very different than the shape it had taken in the postwar years. Both the kitchen and the bathroom were styled in streamlining forms, and provided complementary setting for the streamlined appliances invented in this decade. The modernized kitchen and bath became the domestic status symbols, where the housewife exercised her taste and power when determining the look of the rooms and the choice of appliances.

Here are a couple of images from the story LIFE magazine ran in 1943 about the Kitchen of Tomorrow exhibit presented in Toledo, Ohio. The kitchen, complete with built-in pots and pans, was designed by the Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company to help housewives commander their households.

“All the equipment needed for preparing, cooking, storing food is built in, runs by electricity. The cabinets have sliding doors. Bending and stooping are reduced to a minimum because counters and utensils are at proper working level. Generous use of glass enables the housewife to see through the oven door and cook pots, into icebox and cupboards. Fronts of counters and drawers beneath working surfaces are slanted in so that housewife has knee room when she sits at her work. When work is done, the kitchen doubles as a playroom.”

When not in use, cooking surfaces, sink pots, pans and all of the equipment disappear in this ultramodern kitchen. Uniform lids come down over the work units and make a handy bar.

Kitchen in use looks like this. Here the sink, meat chopper and cooking units, under the lids at the left, are visible. Head and shins can’t be bumped on cabinet doors because they slide.

Potatoes are pared in sink. Electric garbage unit grinds parings. Vegetable drawer tilts so contents roll forward.

This is the sink. Faucet handles, which are a great hazard to dishes and china, have been eliminated. Water is controlled by foot pedals.

Frying can be done in the oven by substituting aluminum plate for grill. Another oven gadget is motor-driven barbecue spit. Sides and top of glass seal the heat in.

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An Extraordinary Friendship: 18 Fascinating Photographs of Freddie Mercury Posing With His Beloved Cats

There are lots of crazy stories going around about Freddie Mercury. The extravagant Queen frontman always was one of the favorite subjects of the tabloids. You might have heard some crazy drug or party stories, but this true story is about something completely different: cats.

Freddie Mercury was a cat person, no doubt about that. He owned several cats during his life and missed them a lot when he was on tour. According to Peter Freestone who wrote Mercury’s memoir, the singer often “called” his cats when he was away. He would call his house and a friend or family member on the other side of the line would get his cats on the phone. He told them about his day and how much he missed his furry friends.

Freddie Mercury also dedicated the album “Mr Bad Guy” and the song Delilah to cats. People think Delilah is about a woman but there is a line which goes: “peeing all over [his] Chippendale Suite” – gotta be a cat.

At the time a cat named Jerry was big in his life. Delilah was a large calico cat he adopted in 1987. He favored her. He treated her (and his other pets) like children according to Jim Hutton, his last partner.

Other cats he cared for were: Goliath (a small black cat who liked to sleep in the bathroom washbasin or at least he did when they couldn’t find him once), Miko (black and white – mainly black), Romeo (tabby and white), Lilly (black and white – mainly white, a Turkish Van type cat) and Oscar (an orange-and-white Tom who came to live with him via his partner Jim Hutton).

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37 Black and White Photos of Glamorous Beauties Taken by Jean-François Jonvelle in the 1980s

Born 1943 in Cavaillon, French photographer of fashion, glamor and portraiture Jean-François Jonvelle worked on the release of 20 ans magazine and then worked on Dim, Dam, Dom, Vogue, Stern, Gala, Elle.

In the 1960s, Jonvelle was assistant to Richard Avedon. During his career, he made many portraits of women, often his friends: natural young people, often naked, unconcerned. Unlike other fashion and glamor photographers, who offer a provocative woman, Jean-François Jonvelle's performance is much softer, more natural, more jovial but equally sensual.

In 2002, Jonvelle died in Paris at the age of 58 years of terminal cancer, 15 days after it was detected.

Take a look at these stunning photos of glamorous beauties taken by Jean-François Jonvelle in the 1980s.

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Many Years Before Hercules: 23 Cool Pics of Steve Reeves in the 1940s

Born in Glasgow, Montana in 1926, Steve Reeves was an American professional bodybuilder, actor, and philanthropist. He moved to California at age 10, developed an interest in bodybuilding at Castlemont High School, and trained at Ed Yarick's gym in Oakland, California. After winning the Mr America title in Chicago in 1947, he was contacted by an agent who suggested he go into acting.

Reeves was famous in the mid-1950s as a movie star in Italian-made peplum films, playing the protagonist as muscular characters such as Hercules, Goliath, and Sandokan. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.

From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on relatively small budgets and, although he is best known for his portrayal of Hercules, he played the character only twice: in the 1957 film (released in the US in 1959) and its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained (released in the US in 1960). By 1960, Reeves was ranked as the number-one box-office draw in twenty-five countries around the world.

Reeves decided to retire for several reasons: stress, his injury, and the decline in the market for his sort of movies. He had earned enough to retire and moved to his ranch in Oregon, which he purchased from Chandler Knowles.

In 2000, Reeves died from a blood clot after having had surgery two days earlier. He died at Palomar Hospital in Escondido, California, where his second wife had also died.

Many years before Hercules, these cool pics that captured a very young and handsome Steve Reeves in the 1940s.

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Before Facebook: This Is How We Used to Unfriend People Back Then

Remember when unfriending people was just scratching or tearing out their faces on your photographs... Below is a collection of 20 vintage photos show how we used to “unfriend” people back then

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Here Are 17 Crazy Rules Pregnant Women Had to Follow in the 1950s

Back in the 1950s, there were many pregnancy rules that are no longer rules today. Many studies have been conducted over the decades to find what was harmful to pregnant women and what was not was behind the changes. That being said, the rules that pregnant women had to follow in the 1950s are starkly different from the recommendations set out today. Below are 17 crazy rules from the past.

Pregnant girl, 1950s. (Photographer: Philippe Halsman)

1. There weren’t any at home pregnancy tests back in the 1950s. In fact, if you were to be tested for pregnancy, a urine sample would be collected and sent to the lab. The urine would then be injected into a rabbit, and if the rabbit died then that would indicate a “positive” test. Thus comes the phrase “the rabbit done died. ”

2. Smoking and drinking were not discouraged during pregnancy. In fact, it was not uncommon for the doctor to offer his patient a cigarette while they discussed her pregnancy in his office. 

3. All pregnant women were considered frail and prescribed a lot of bedrest during pregnancy. They were also instructed not to reach for things over their head, as this was believed to cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the baby’s neck. 

4. Sitting on cold cement was discouraged because it would cause hemorrhoids. 

5. If you gained too much weight during pregnancy, you were then prescribed a diet pill, which were referred to as “black beauties.” 

6. A previous miscarriage would put you at high risk for pregnancy and were given Thalidomide during pregnancy. In all actuality, this drug causes birth defects in children and often resulted in missing limbs. 

7. It was considered very poor taste for women to attend funerals during pregnancy. 

8. The words “pregnant” and “pregnancy” were not spoken in public, rather were replaced with “expecting,” “with child” and “in the family way. ”

9. A woman stayed in the hospital for at least one week after giving birth. 

10. If you were past your due date, your husband was advised to take you in car ride down a bumpy road, which was believed to induce labor. 

11. After delivery, your husband and family weren’t allowed anywhere near you or the baby until you both were cleaned up. 

12. It was believed that women should not experience any pain during delivery and were often “knocked out” during the process with anesthetic. 

13. In the hospital, the mother was only permitted to see the baby during bottle feedings (breastfeeding was not recommended). 

14. Smoking during the hospital stay was not uncommon and women were provided with ash trays by their bedside. 

15. Fathers and family could only see the baby at the hospital through a glass window in the nursery. 

16. Due to the possibility of germs, no visitors to your house were allowed once you came home with the baby during the first few months. 

17. The baby was not allowed to leave the house until it was baptized.