1953 Fifth-Wheel Parking System Packard Cavalier by Brooks Walker

In 1953, Brooks Walker modified a new Packard Cavalier sedan from his California business, Walker Research, and made it into one of the most famous postwar Packards. Using a series of hydraulic pumps and lines, gears, and the Packard’s left rear tire and continental spare tire, he came up with his own unique system for easing the parking procedure for car owners. Apparently nobody bit on the idea, leaving Walker’s prototype, his personal 1953 Packard Cavalier, the only known example featuring the patented system.

As late as the 1970s, Walker was still developing a parallel-parking system for cars, and his last known effort was on a Saab sedan. At that time, he still owned several 1950s cars sporting variations of his self-parking device, including an early-1950s Ford station wagon, a 1957 Oldsmobile station wagon, and a 1951 Cadillac Series Sixty Special. All of these cars were modified from beneath to allow a tire to be hidden under the car until it was lowered in the process of parking the car. Each of these devices necessitated cutting out part of the bottom of each car, and, in the case of the station wagons, mild modifications were required. For instance, the third seat was made to face rearward (which Walker boasted to be the first person to implement) and the rear fenders were extended so that the gas tank could be hidden in the driver’s side fender.

What set the Packard Cavalier apart from Walker’s other self-parking cars was the fact the Packard used the tire of the continental kit to move the car from side to side. This spark of genius brought Walker closer to his goal of making the self-parking system a bolt-on kit that could be applied to any car without changes to its basic structure.

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20 Astonishing Portraits of Donna Summer in the 1970s

LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), known by her stage name, Donna Sommer, later Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the late 1970s. A five-time Grammy Award winner, she was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach #1 on the United States Billboard album chart and charted four number-one singles in the United States within a 13-month period. Summer has reportedly sold over 100 million records, making her one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time.

Born into a devoutly Christian middle-class family in Boston, Massachusetts, Summer first became involved with singing through church choir groups before joining a number of bands influenced by the Motown Sound. Also influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s, she became the front singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and moved to New York City. Joining a touring version of the musical Hair, she left New York and spent several years living, acting, and singing in West Germany, where she met music producer Giorgio Moroder. Also while in Europe, she married Helmut Sommer. After their divorce, she would keep his surname for her stage name; dropping the “o” and replacing it with a “u” for “Summer”.

After returning to the United States, Summer co-wrote the song “Love to Love You Baby” with Pete Bellotte. The song was released in 1975 to mass commercial success. Over the following years Summer followed this success with a string of other hits, such as “I Feel Love”, “Last Dance”, “MacArthur Park”, “Hot Stuff”, “Bad Girls”, “Dim All the Lights”, “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)”, and “On the Radio”. She became known as the “Queen of Disco” and regularly appeared at the Studio 54 nightclub in New York City, while her music gained a global following.

She struggled with depression and addiction, and subsequently she became a born-again Christian in 1980.

Diagnosed with lung cancer, Summer died on May 17, 2012, at her home in Naples, Florida. She was posthumously described as the “undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom” who reached the status of “one of the world’s leading female singers.” Moroder described Summer’s work with him on the song “I Feel Love” as “really the start of electronic dance” music. In 2013, Summer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Elegant Photos Show Women’s Fashion Styles in the 1890s

By 1890, the crinoline and bustle was fully abandoned, and skirts flared away naturally from the wearer’s tiny waist. It evolved into a bell shape, and were made to fit tighter around the hip area. Necklines were high, while sleeves of bodices initially peaked at the shoulders, but increased in size during 1894.

Fashion styles for women in the 1890s

Although the large sleeves required cushions to secure them in place, it narrowed down towards the end of the decade. Women thus adopted the style of the tailored jacket, which improved their posture and confidence, while reflecting the standards of early female liberation.

The 1890s brought the beginnings of a change in how fashion was presented as well. Take a look at these elegant photos to see fashion styles for women in the 1890s.

Rich and varied hats, Stanwood, Washington

Young woman with herself

Dancer in folk costume, Max Platz studio, Chicago

Elegant woman, Harper, Kansas

Fashionable French lady, Studio Americaine, Lyon

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Ann Miller Posing for the New Year, ca. 1940

Publicity photos of actress Ann Miller showcasing her fabulous form and gorgeous gams, ca. 1940. A sexy “good girl” view in this New Years themed pin-up pose for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio’s.

30 Found Photos Show What Camping Looked Like in the 1960s and ’70s

Camping is the process of staying overnight, in a different location, using some form of shelter. Typical forms of shelter include tents, hammocks, and recreational vehicles like caravans and campervans. This activity was originally developed in the UK as a type of holiday, but people worldwide now enjoy camping – It is most popular in the UK, France, and the United States.

Camping as a recreational activity became popular among elites in the early 20th century. With time, it grew in popularity among other socioeconomic classes. Modern campers frequent publicly owned natural resources such as national and state parks, wilderness areas, and commercial campgrounds.

Camping is a key part of many youth organizations around the world, such as Scouting, which use it to teach both self-reliance and teamwork. School camping trips also have numerous benefits and can play an essential role in the personal growth and development of students.

These vintage photos were found by Mark Susina that show what camping looked like in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Amazing Photographs of Jimmy Armstrong “The Dwarf” at Clyde Beatty Circus in Palisades, New Jersey in 1958

Jimmy Armstrong was billed as the “Little Man” on circus flyers that were handed out in a tent show in New Jersey where photographer Bruce Davidson first made his acquaintance. Recalling their meeting Davidson wrote, “His distorted torso, normal-sized head, and stunted legs both attracted and repelled me. He was half my height and I felt a certain power over him. He stood before my camera sad and silent.”

Bruce Davidson is a major figure in what might be called humanistic photojournalism, having produced a number of brilliant studies over a long career. His book ‘Circus’ collects photographs of three different circuses taken over a decade. The first and by far the most poignant is Clyde Beatty’s in 1958, in the waning days of traveling Big Top circuses. His focus wasn’t so much on the show-business side as on the prosaic reality of the lives of the circus folk. The first section of Davidson’s book in particular delves into the life of Jimmy Armstrong, dwarf-clown of the Beatty circus.

In many of Davidson’s photographs of Jimmy we see him alone, applying his makeup, smoking a cigarette or waiting to go into the ring, with that sad clown face painted upon his own. Sometimes he is almost lost within the frame in the very corner of a photograph, but in others he fills it entirely, his gaze directed straight into the lens.

“He was standing alone outside the tent smoking a cigarette,” when Davidson first saw him. Dressed in a tux and a top hat he held a small bouquet of paper flowers, and “stood there pensively in the privacy of his inner thoughts.” Davidson approached him and began taking pictures. Right from the off, he said, “he seemed to know that it was the inner moment I was drawn to and not his clown face or physical appearance.” Jimmy became Davidson’s way in, letting him into his private world and acting as his guide to circus life. “We became friends, although we seldom spoke to one another,” Davidson recalled. Theirs was a bond of unspoken understanding – a contentment to be in each others company that didn’t need excessive words.

In some pictures, we see him interacting with his audience and laughing with children. There are painful moments too; in one photograph, he eats a sandwich alone at a diner, as a group of men look on from another table. In another, he walks ahead as a group of teenagers laugh along behind him. These are the uncomfortable realities of the ‘freak show’ status Jimmy was forced to endure, and it’s important they are shown.

The pictures emit a loneliness that speaks of an isolation implicit in the fact of his being a dwarf, and hence always to some degree an outsider. But Jimmy had acceptance here, a family here, and earned a wage to live a life for himself here, and Davidson wanted all of that experience to transcend the photographs too.

(Photos by © Bruce Davidson | Magnum Photos)

Stunning Black and White Photos of Patti Smith Taken by Frank Stefanko During the 1970s

When she was in college, Patti Smith became a muse for Frank Stefanko after she caught his eye in a co-op in South Jersey by “mosey[ing] in like the bad guy walking into a saloon in an old Western movie,” as he recalls of his first encounter with the singer in Patti Smith: American Artist.

“There I was sitting in a booth at the co-op of Glassboro State College, a bucolic school in the farmlands of South Jersey. . . Suddenly, the double doors of the co-op swung open and standing there in the vacuum created was an incredible apparition, a vision in a white leather coat with long, jet-black hair flowing down her back. She moseyed in like the bad guy walking into a saloon in an old western movie. This was the first time I set eyes on Patti Smith, and I was captivated.”

So begins Frank Stefanko’s wonderfully personal photographic tale of his friendship and artistic collaboration with Patti Smith. Stefanko’s photographs and his warm, personal recollections show us an amazing young woman, long before she became Patti Smith, the cultural icon.

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Beautiful Photos of French Actress Marie-José Nat in the 1960s

Born 1940 in Bonifacio, Corsica, French actress Marie-José Nat had her first major role in 1959 in Rue des prairies alongside Jean Gabin, in which she played his daughter. The following year, she performed in a comedy sketch by René Clair alongside Claude Rich and Yves Robert, and obtained a major role in La Vérité by Henri-Georges Clouzot, playing Brigitte Bardot’s rival opposite Sami Frey.

Among Nat’s notable works in cinema were the sequel films Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc and Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise (1963), directed by André Cayatte. In 1974, she received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film Violins at the Ball.

Nat died in Paris of cancer at age 79. Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of young Marie-José Nat in the 1960s.

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In 1985, Swedish Poodle Rockers Singing “Give a Helpin’ Hand” for Charitable Purposes

Back in the 1980s, it was fashionable for musicians to get together to create a charity single in an effort to change the world. You remember, right? Band Aid and Live Aid. Northern Lights. “We Are the World.” But did you know about Swedish Metal Aid from 1985? Check this out:

Coming off the success of the mega-hit “We Are the World” in 1985, Swedish hair metal bands decided to join forces and record their own song “Give a Helpin’ Hand” to raise money for a good cause.

Head-singers in the video are: Joey Tempest, Tommy Nilsson, Robert Ernlund, Joakim Lundholm; and the bands are: 220 Volt, Aphrodite, Bedlam, Candy Roxx, Chris 99, Crystal Pride, Deep River, Easy Action, Europe, Fifth Avenue , Glorious Bankrobbers, Heavy Load, Madison, Mentzer Group, Motherlode , Neon Leon & Bondage Babies, Odessa, Orions Sword , Oz, Power, Red Baron, Rolene, Silver Mountain, Spellbound, Steel Wings, Torch, Trash, Treat, Universe.

20 Portraits of a Young and Beautiful Mary Tyler Moore in the 1960s

Mary Tyler Moore is best known as one of the stars of the beloved 1960s and 1970s television comedy series The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Her portrayal of the independent, spunky television news producer Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show made her a hero to many American women, who were beginning to break out of traditional feminine roles at that time. Moore also inspired feminists with her real-life success as the chairman of the board of MTM Enterprises, a television production company that created a number of successful shows in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) got her start in show business as a dancer in commercials, playing the part of Happy Hotpoint, a dancing elf to promote home appliances in the mid-1950s. Moore also found work as a chorus dancer in television variety shows and, in 1959, landed a role in the TV drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective, playing Sam, a glamorous secretary whose face was never shown but was represented by her shapely legs. She made several guest appearances in television shows including Johnny Staccato, Bachelor Father, The Tab Hunter Show, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, and Lock-Up.

She made her film debut in 1961 in X-15, an aviation drama starring David McLean and Charles Bronson.

Moore became a household name in 1961 when she landed the role of Laura Petrie, one of television’s most beloved wives on The Dick Van Dyke Show, created by Carl Reiner and starring Dick Van Dyke. As the charming Petrie, Moore showed off her flair for comedy and won Emmys in 1964 and 1966 for her work.

After the show ended in 1966, Moore focused on making movie musicals, including Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), where she played an aspiring actor opposite Julie Andrews, and Change of Habit (1970), starring as a nun who falls in love with a doctor, played by Elvis Presley, as she prepares to take her vows. She also played a dramatic role in the television thriller Run A Crooked Mile (1969), starring opposite Louis Jourdan.

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Fabulous Photos of Ann Miller During the Filming of ‘Easter Parade’ (1948)

Easter Parade is a 1948 American Technicolor musical film starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, and Ann Miller. The film contains some of Astaire’s and Garland’s best-known songs, including “Easter Parade”, “Steppin’ Out with My Baby”, and “We’re a Couple of Swells”, all by Irving Berlin.

Gene Kelly was originally cast opposite Garland, but broke his ankle. The part was then offered to Astaire, who had retired two years earlier. Very eager to work again, Astaire consulted Kelly about the offer, and Kelly supported his decision to take the role. Garland and Astaire were a successful team, and Astaire was restored to his status as a top MGM star.

A critical and commercial success, Easter Parade was the highest-grossing musical film of 1948, and the second-highest grossing MGM musical of the 1940s, after Meet Me in St. Louis. These fabulous photos captured portraits of Ann Miller during the filming of Easter Parade in 1948.

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