Stunning Portraits of Sixteen-Year-Old Clara Bow Taken by Nickolas Muray, 1921

Clara Bow’s first portraits, made by Nickolas Muray just after winning the Fame and Fortune Contest of 1921 in the Motion Picture Classic magazine. The photographs made directly from negative by Muray’s widow after his death.

Her Fame and Fortune Contest victory was Clara’s chance of a lifetime, and she could not renounce it despite her mother’s damnations. Meanwhile the Brewster organization whisked her to the Greenwich Village studio of Nickolas Muray for a portrait to replace the cheap photos she had submitted. Muray shot Clara in two standard ingenue “attitudes”: playful, with her thumb hooked jauntily beneath the rim of her red tam, and pensive, gazing off camera with an arm draped modestly over her breasts.

Dissatisfied, Muray ordered an additional setup. This time his subject stared directly into the camera, her hair swept across her forehead, her lips locked together, her face half-shadowed, and her eyes haunted. Here was the real Clara, and though she had never looked as lovely, the image is harrowing. It was hardly what the Brewster organization wanted, so the January, 1922 issue of Motion Picture Classic featured the photo of Clara and her tam. The article announcing her victory was entitled “A Dream Come True.”

“I hadn’t dressed up because I had nothing to dress up in,” she described the audition in the Photoplay article. “I had never had a manicure nor a pair of chiffon stockings in my life. I had never even been close to the scent of such perfumes as filled that room. I wore the one and only thing I owned. A little plain wool dress, a sweater, and a woolly red tam. I hadn’t thought much of that angle. I had only looked at my face, and that was disappointment enough.”

Bow won the contest, but the bit part in a movie that was the prize was cut out of the final version. “Things weren’t breaking for me at all,” she told Photoplay. “Winning the contest hadn’t seemed to mean a thing. I wore myself out trying to find work, going from studio to studio, from agency to agency, applying for every possible part. But there was always something. I was too young, or too little, or too fat. Usually, I was too fat. When I told them that I’d won this contest, they only laughed. They said the woods were full of girls who’d won some bum beauty contest and they were mostly dumb or they wouldn’t have been in any beauty contest in the first place. Which I guess maybe was right.”

Bow broke through in the film Down to the Sea in Ships released in 1922 which garnered positive reviews for her despite her tenth-billed appearance. After a handful more supporting roles, she moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Preferred Pictures, which was run by B.P. Schulberg. She was paid $200 a week and put to work at once, sometimes working on several films at once, sometimes loaned out to other studios, making 31 movies in less than three years.

Hans Holbein the Younger: One of the Greatest Portraitists of the Northern Renaissance

Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497–1543) was a German painter and printmaker who worked primarily in England and is regarded as one of the greatest portraitists of the Northern Renaissance. While he initially received training in Augsburg and Basel, his career reached its pinnacle in London, where he served as the King’s Painter to Henry VIII.

Holbein’s style is characterized by its extraordinary realism, precise detail, and a meticulous, almost photographic rendering of fabric, jewelry, and facial features. His most famous works include the portraits of Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves, and his striking depiction of the statesman Thomas Cromwell. His art transcended mere likeness, he often incorporated symbols and objects (anamorphosis or memento mori) into his compositions, as seen famously in The Ambassadors (1533), adding layers of intellectual depth to his masterful technique.

Holbein’s portraits remain our most vivid visual link to the powerful figures of the Tudor court.

Adam and Eve, 1517

Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, circa 1517

The Last Supper, 1524-25

Touch Me Not, 1524

Venus and Amor, 1524-25

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Curious Chicagoans Pack the Cook County Morgue to View the Body of Slain Fugitive John Dillinger on July 22, 1934

John Dillinger, one of the most notorious bank robbers in American history, was gunned down by FBI agents on July 22, 1934, outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Dillinger had become Public Enemy No. 1, the face of crime during the Great Depression, and a symbol of both rebellion and menace. His death sparked a frenzy among the public, turning the end of his life into a bizarre spectacle.

After news broke of his shooting, curious onlookers rushed to the crime scene. Some reportedly dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, believing it held some sort of power or souvenir value. The fascination did not end there. Thousands descended upon the Cook County morgue to view his body. The morgue, overwhelmed by crowds, allowed people to file past Dillinger’s corpse for one final glimpse of the man who had eluded capture for months and embarrassed law enforcement with his bold prison escapes and daring heists.

People posed for photos, laughed, and treated the event like a social gathering. This scene of morbid tourism highlighted the strange celebrity status Dillinger had achieved. To some, he was a criminal menace. To others, he was a folk hero who robbed banks during an era of economic despair.

Dillinger’s death marked a turning point for the FBI. It gave the agency national credibility and helped solidify J. Edgar Hoover’s legacy. But the reaction of the public served as a chilling reminder of how infamy, even when born from violence, can captivate the American imagination.

A throng of people wait in line to view the body of slain gunman John Dillinger at the undertakers rooms in Mooresville, Indiana, in July 1934.

Betty and Rosella Nelson, along with a crowd of people, view the body of John Dillinger, 32, while in bathing suits at the Cook County morgue in Chicago. In the days after Dillinger was killed on July 22, 1934, massive crowds lined up outside the morgue to get a glimpse of the notorious public enemy.

Betty and Rosella Nelson, sisters and entertainers in Chicago, view the body of the notorious criminal John Dillinger in the morgue.

Coroner Frank J. Walsh stands next to the body of John Dillinger as a long line of people pass by on the other side of the glass panel to get a look at the famous criminal on July 23, 1934, at the Cook County Morgue.

Dillinger’s corpse at the morgue attracted crowds of onlookers in the days following his death. The photo, which shows sheet draped over Dillinger’s arm set in with rigor mortis, led to sensational interpretations by the public.

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50 Gorgeous Photos of a Young and Beautiful Dorothy Lamour in the 1930s

Born in New Orleans, Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) started her career by entering beauty pageants to support herself after leaving school in her teens. She was crowned “Miss New Orleans” in 1931. Lamour used her pageant prize money to move to Chicago and then New York, singing with the Herbie Kay Orchestra (whom she briefly married in 1935) in nightclubs and on popular NBC radio shows like the Rudy Vallée program.

Her radio work and sultry singing voice brought her to the attention of Hollywood studios, and she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1936. Her breakthrough role came the same year in The Jungle Princess (1936), where she played a jungle native named Ulah and wore her signature sarong, designed by Edith Head. This role cemented her image as an exotic beauty and the “Sarong Queen,” a look that became iconic and a favorite pin-up for troops during World War II.

Throughout the rest of the decade, she starred in several more adventure films and musicals, including The Hurricane (1937) and Her Jungle Love (1938). By the end of the 1930s, she was a major star, ready for her next big phase.

Here, below is a gallery of 50 gorgeous photos of a young and beautiful Dorothy Lamour in the 1930s:

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The Smiling Star: 30 Vintage Portraits of Liselotte Pulver in the 1950s and ’60s

Liselotte Pulver is one of the most beloved and instantly recognizable Swiss-German actresses of the mid-20th century. Born in 1929, she became famous across Europe for her infectious laughter and radiant, often mischievous smile, which earned her the nickname “Lilo.”

Pulver rose to prominence in the 1950s and ’60s, starring in numerous German-language hits like Ich denke oft an Piroschka (1955), a classic that cemented her image as a charming, vivacious young woman. Her career was not limited to Europe, she also successfully crossed over into international cinema, starring opposite Hollywood giants such as James Cagney in the Billy Wilder comedy One, Two, Three (1961). In this film, her iconic, uninhibited dance on a desk remains one of her most memorable and definitive screen moments, perfectly embodying her spirited personality.

Pulver’s combination of talent, glamour, and distinctive cheerfulness made her a major cinematic figure whose influence spanned decades. Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of young Liselotte Pulver in the 1950s and 1960s.

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In 1914, an Engineer Had the Idea to Raise the Titanic Using Many Magnets and a Special Submarine...

Back in 1914, just two years after the Titanic sank, someone came up with a bold idea: why not raise the ship using giant magnets and a special submarine? This concept showed up in a Dutch newspaper on May 17th of that year.

At the time, the Titanic’s story was still fresh, and people were fascinated by the tragedy. The illustration in the paper imagined an enormous recovery effort: ships hovering above the wreck, dropping long cables attached to huge magnets. At the center of it all was a submarine, labeled “ONDERZEEËR,” that would dive down, hook magnets onto the Titanic’s hull, and connect them to the surface ships.

The plan? All the ships would lift at once, hauling the massive liner back to the surface in one synchronized pull. Totally unrealistic by today’s standards, especially since the Titanic lies over 12,000 feet down in the North Atlantic, but back then, this kind of idea wasn’t as far-fetched as it sounds now.

In 1914, submarines were still cutting-edge, and magnetic tech was just getting started in industry. So while the plan was more sci-fi than science, it reflects the era’s belief that technology could solve anything, even pulling a sunken ship from the bottom of the ocean.

This newspaper image was probably meant to stir curiosity as much as it was to inform. But it captures something bigger: a moment in time when imagination, grief, and innovation collided in the shadow of one of history’s most famous disasters, decades before the Titanic was actually found in 1985.

Heartwarming Mid-20th Century Snaps Capture Families Preparing for Christmas

The mid-20th century was an era rich with holiday sentiment that these photos beautifully capture. These scenes of families and friends decorating for Christmas are genuinely heartwarming, showcasing a simpler time before mass commercialization dominated the season.

We see parents lifting beaming children to place shimmering tinsel and brightly colored glass ornaments on real fir trees. The mood is one of cozy domesticity, living rooms are filled with handmade decorations, often illuminated by the warm, soft glow of incandescent bulbs.

These snapshots offer a nostalgic glimpse into the traditions of an era, reminding us that the true spirit of Christmas lies in the shared joy and anticipation of the season, meticulously created within the family home.

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