The Story of the Ovitz Family, the Dwarfs Who Survived Auschwitz

The Ovitz family was a Jewish family of performers from Transylvania, Romania, who became famous as the Liliput Troupe. Comprising ten siblings, seven of whom had pseudoachondroplasia, they toured Europe performing music and comedy before World War II. When the Nazis invaded, their unique physical characteristics saved them from immediate extermination at Auschwitz, but subjected them to pseudo-scientific abuse.

In May 1944, the Ovitz family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival on the selection ramp, their appearance caught the immediate attention of camp officers, who alerted Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele was fascinated by genetics, particularly hereditary anomalies and twins. He spared all 12 family members (including average-height relatives and pseudo-relatives they claimed as kin) from the gas chambers to research them.

Unlike typical inmates, the Ovitzes were allowed to keep their civilian clothes, grew out their hair, and lived in special quarters with slightly better sanitation and extra rations to preserve their health for experiments. They endured torturous medical procedures, including frequent blood extractions, bone marrow draws, tooth extractions, and invasive tests without anesthesia. Mengele routinely put them on display before high-ranking SS officers as medical curiosities.

Despite the severe physical and psychological trauma, all 12 members of the family survived Auschwitz, making them the largest family group to enter the camp and survive intact. Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. The family spent months in displaced persons camps before walking back to their hometown in Romania.

Finding their home looted, they emigrated to Israel in 1949, where they resumed performing before retiring in 1955. Perla Ovitz, the youngest and last surviving sibling, passed away in 2001.

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Merle Oberon: Exotic Beauty of Classic Hollywood

Merle Oberon (1911–1979) was a glamorous Anglo-Indian actress who became one of the defining beauties of 1930s and 1940s cinema.

Born in Bombay and raised partly in India, Oberon moved to England and was discovered by producer Alexander Korda, who helped launch her career. She rose to international fame in films such as The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935), and especially as Cathy in William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights (1939).

Known for her striking dark features, porcelain complexion, and sophisticated screen presence, Oberon successfully transitioned to Hollywood and remains remembered as one of the most elegant stars of the Golden Age. These vintage photos capture the exotic beauty, elegance, and timeless glamour of Merle Oberon, a true icon of classic cinema.

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Plan of Work for a Small Servantless House, ca. 1930s

This chart, titled “Plan of Work for a Small Servantless House (3 or 4 in family),” comes from Mrs. Beeton’s Everyday Cookery (specifically 1930s to 1950s British editions, updated from Isabella Beeton’s famous 19th-century household management guides).

For decades, middle-class British households relied on live-in domestic staff (cooks, maids, scullery workers). However, following World War I and accelerating into the 1930s and post-WWII eras, economic shifts, rising wages, and new industrial job opportunities drastically reduced the availability of domestic servants. Housewives were suddenly required to manage entire homes single-handedly.

To aid housewives adapting to this new reality, domestic manuals, most famously Mrs. Beeton’s, re-imagined domestic work as a regimented, scientific schedule. Tasks were broken down into strict 10-minute blocks running from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM or later, treating home management almost like factory or office work.

Before central heating was widespread, mornings began at 7:00 AM with manual labor, stoking coal/coke boilers for hot water and lighting living-room fires. Tasks covered everything from vacuuming, mopping, airing beds, sweeping stairs, looking over the larder, to preparing three distinct meals a day.

Below the daily timetable, the “Housewife’s Weekly Duties” section schedules heavy-duty deep cleaning by room (e.g., Tuesday: sitting room; Wednesday: bedrooms; Friday: bathroom and stairs; Saturday: baking and week-end prep). The mention of “carpets with vacuum cleaner” and a “scullery” illustrates the transitional mid-20th-century era, combining traditional scullery work with modern labor-saving devices.

John Onwy: Vintage Poster Artist of the Early 20th Century

John Onwy was a French commercial artist and poster designer active in the early 20th century. Best known for his colorful advertising posters, he created striking promotional designs for products such as Tobler chocolate, King’s Lemonade, and various consumer goods popular in Belgium and France. His work reflects the decorative, eye-catching style of the period, combining bold typography with lively illustration.

Though biographical details about Onwy remain limited, his surviving posters continue to be appreciated by collectors of vintage advertising art for their charm and period character. These colorful vintage posters showcase the lively commercial art of John Onwy, a distinctive voice in early 20th-century advertising design.

Biscuits La Cigogne, Strasbourg, 1920

Café Mirault, Quel arôme!, circa 1920

Chiarini, Élixir Vermifuge contre Vers, Coliques, Convulsions, circa 1920

Glycodont, Roi des dentifrices, 1920

King's Lemonade, circa 1920

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33 Amazing Photographs From the Set of the 1941 Classic Noir Film “The Maltese Falcon”

The Maltese Falcon (1941) is a landmark American film noir that fundamentally birthed the visual and thematic language of the Hollywood detective genre. Directed by John Huston in his brilliant directorial debut, the movie adapted Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 hardboiled novel with razor-sharp fidelity. It transformed Humphrey Bogart into a legendary A-list superstar and remains a definitive cinematic masterpiece.

The story follows a cynical and fiercely independent San Francisco private eye who plunges into a treacherous labyrinth of greed and deception. Private investigator Sam Spade and his partner, Miles Archer, are hired by a mysterious woman named Miss Wonderly. Archer is mysteriously murdered while tailing a man for their new client, leaving Spade as a prime police suspect.

Spade is quickly targeted, bribed, and seduced by an eccentric quartet of international criminals. They are all competing to obtain a priceless, jewel-encrusted 16th-century statuette known as the Maltese Falcon. Spade must navigate a web of dangerous double-crosses, only to discover the object of everyone’s obsession is a worthless lead fake.

Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of Sam Spade defined the hardboiled detective: cynical, morally ambiguous, yet bound by a strict personal code (“When a man’s partner is killed, he’s supposed to do something about it”). Mary Astor’s Brigid O’Shaughnessy established the deceitful, manipulative heroine who uses vulnerability as a weapon.

The titular falcon serves as Hitchcock’s classic device, an object driving the entire plot that ultimately proves worthless (lead metal disguised as gold). Huston insisted on shooting scenes sequentially and using low-angle shots showing ceilings, creating a claustrophobic, tense atmosphere inside small rooms.

Though Bogart had appeared in over 40 films (often as a secondary villain), The Maltese Falcon launched him into A-list leading-man stardom, paving the way for Casablanca (1942). At age 61, stage veteran Sydney Greenstreet made his screen debut as Kasper Gutman, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Premiering in New York City on October 3, 1941, the film was an immediate commercial and critical success. It remains widely considered a landmark of the film noir genre, and it is one of the greatest and most influential films of all time. It is frequently cited for its significant contributions to storytelling, character archetypes, and visual style in film noir.

In 1989, the film was among the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry, recognized as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

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Amy Winehouse Photographed by Bryan Adams in April 2007 for Zoo Magazine

The rock musician and acclaimed photographer Bryan Adams famously photographed Amy Winehouse in late April 2007 for Zoo Magazine N°15. The photo shoot took place in Los Angeles, California, right as Winehouse’s landmark album Back to Black was dominating charts worldwide. Adams, who co-founded Zoo Magazine in 2003, captured Winehouse in a series of striking, raw portraits that highlighted her distinct retro style, signature tattoos, and intense emotion. Some of the portraits from their sessions appear in his photography book Exposed (2012) and in later exhibitions.

Adams and Winehouse developed a private friendship around this time. He later invited her to spend the 2007–2008 holiday period with his family on Mustique in an effort to support her during a difficult stretch; he has spoken about trying to help while acknowledging the limits of what anyone could do. Amidst the attempts to keep her grounded, Adams famously tried to give Winehouse driving lessons around the island. He later humorously reminisced, “The concept of braking wasn’t something that Amy could quite grasp.”

Following her tragic passing in 2011, Adams opened up about his feelings regarding his attempts to intervene. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he expressed tremendous admiration for her individuality but realistically noted the limitations of helping someone battling addiction: “Sure, I tried to help her but, you know, it’s got to come from within. I really don’t know what happened with Amy and it is so sad because she was so, so talented... But did I make a difference? I don’t know.”

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Michel Molinari: Intimate Fashion Photographer of the 1960s

Michel Molinari (1923–1997), often referred to as Michel Molinare, was a British fashion photographer known for his intense and intimate portraiture from the mid-1950s to the 1960s.

Born in London and raised partly on the Italian Riviera, Molinari developed a distinctive style that combined classical sensitivity with a naturalistic approach. Working for magazines such as Tatler, Harper’s Bazaar, and Queen, Molinari created atmospheric images that captured a quiet closeness with his models.

His work, often compared to the observational quality of Cartier-Bresson, favored authenticity and subtle expression over heavy artifice, leaving a refined record of postwar fashion photography. These evocative photos showcase the intimate style and refined eye of Michel Molinari, a distinctive voice in mid-century fashion photography.

Model in two-tiered tunic dress in embroidered cotton lawn, the boned bodice is held by shoestring straps, by Rhona Roy, brilliant pink stole by Ascher, photo by Michel Molinare, Harper's Bazaar UK, June 1960

Jennifer Hocking in luxurious Autumn Haze EMBA mink coat from Calman Links, beige felt hat by Christian Dior Chapeaux, photo by Michel Molinare, Harper's Bazaar UK, October 1960

Jennifer Hocking in pearlized blue capeskin coat with the look of leather by Paul Blanche from Fenwick, hat by Reed Crawford, photo by Michel Molinare, Harper's Bazaar UK, February 1960

Model in 3/4 length cape-coat in two contrasting fabrics, topped and sleeved in gray and black houndstooth like the hat, the bottom in gray tweed which matches the straight skirt by Patrick de Barentzen, photo by Michel Molinare, September 1960

Model in black velvet three-piece with satin-bound jacket by Harry B. Popper, white satin cloche by Dolores Model, photo by Michel Molinare, Harper's Bazaar UK, December 1960

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