35 Gorgeous Photos of Lola Albright in the 1940s and ’50s

Born 1924 in Akron, Ohio, American singer and actress Lola Albright Albright made her motion-picture debut with a small singing role in the 1947 musical comedy The Unfinished Dance, and then appeared the following year in two Judy Garland movies: The Pirate and Easter Parade.

Albright first gained studio and public notice in the 1949 film noir production Champion. For the next several years, she appeared in secondary roles in over 20 films, including several B Westerns. Among them was a co-starring role in the slapstick comedy The Good Humor Man in 1950 with future husband Jack Carson.

Albright was best known for playing the sultry singer Edie Hart, the girlfriend of private eye Peter Gunn, on all three seasons of the TV series Peter Gunn. In 1959, she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series for her work on Peter Gunn. In 1966, she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival for her role in Lord Love a Duck.

Following her retirement from acting in 1984, Albright spent her remaining years living in Toluca Lake, California. In 2014, she fell and fractured her spine, an injury that contributed to a general decline in her health over the next three years. In 2017, she died at her home of natural causes at the age of 92.

Take a look at these gorgeous photos to see the beauty of young Lola Albright in the 1940s and 1950s.

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30 Cheerful Photos of Teenage Girls in the 1940s

Teenage girls living in the 1940s enjoyed an independence that would make many modern teen envious. They had been raised by parents and teachers who encouraged them to dress prettily so they could find a young man to marry, and to work a part-time job so they could buy expensive wedding china.

But by the time they were old enough to work part-time jobs, the young men were away at war and mom and dad were both working away from the home. With no young boys to impress and no parents to please, teenage girls, were left with an unexpected level of independence, and a lot of disposable income.

In school, they were expected to follow a strict dress code, which mandated everything from the type of blouse, skirt, socks, shoes and even type of jewelry and hairstyles they should wear. But outside of the school, they had more choices about how to spend spare time and money. They bought the clothes they wanted to wear: knit sweaters, plaid skirts, bobby socks, loafers, and nail-polish-painted eye-glasses.

The teenage girls of the 1940s lived in an exciting and drastically changing world. By the time the war was over, and society started to get back to “normal,” these girls had already enjoyed a taste of independence that they weren’t ready to let go of.

These vintage photos were found by Steven Martin that show what teenage girls looked like in the 1940s.

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30 Beautiful Portraits of Gloria Jean From the Late 1930s and 1940s

Born 1926 in Buffalo, New York, American actress and singer Gloria Jean was engaged by a smallish New York opera company and became the youngest member of an opera troupe in the United States when she was 12.

Jean starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances. She is probably best remembered today for her appearance with W.C. Fields in the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).

Jean died of heart failure and pneumonia in 2018 in a hospital near her home in Mountain View, Hawaii, aged 92. Take a look at these stunning photos to see the beauty of a very young Gloria Jean in the Late 1930s and 1940s.

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Fascinating Photos of People Cooling Off in New York’s Overflowing Public Pools

In order to pull the United States out of the Great Depression, the New Deal, a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations, was enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. After the construction of highways, the largest share of New Deal spending went to the creation of public parks and recreation areas.

McCarren Park Pool, 1937

In New York City, Robert Moses was appointed the sole commissioner of the Parks Department by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Moses assembled an army of designers, engineers and construction supervisors. In just a few years, hundreds of playgrounds, 53 recreational buildings, 10 golf courses and three zoos were created.

In the sweltering summer of 1936, the city opened 11 enormous outdoor pools with an average capacity of 5,000 people, to the great relief of New Yorkers. “Here is something you can be proud of.” Said the Mayor at the opening of the Thomas Jefferson Pool. “It is the last word in engineering, hygiene, and construction that could be put into a pool.”

Take a look at the ecstatic crowds that flocked to these urban oases through these 20 fascinating black and white photographs below:

Wading pool, Carmansville Playground, 1935

Astoria Park Pool, 1936

Astoria Park Pool, 1936

Swimming contest, Astoria Park Pool, 1936

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Man-From-Mars Radio Hat, Kind of a 1949 iPod

The radio hat was a portable radio built into a pith helmet that would bring in stations within a 20-mile (32 km) radius. It was introduced in early 1949 for $7.95 as the “Man-from-Mars Radio Hat.” Thanks to a successful publicity campaign, the radio hat was sold at stores from coast to coast in the United States.

In March 1949, Victor Hoeflich held a press conference to introduce the “Man from Mars, Radio Hat.” Hoeflich knew a picture would tell the story so he had several teenagers modeling the radio hats for the reporters and photographers. Soon pictures and news stories appeared in newspapers coast to coast. The articles typically included a photo of a young lady wearing the hat and a six-paragraph story. The radio hat also received widespread coverage in magazines. This included do-it-yourself magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Mechanix Illustrated, and Radio-Electronics. There was also coverage in general-audience magazines such as Life, Time, Newsweek, and The New Yorker.

Hugo Gernsback, the Editor of Radio-Electronics, was impressed with the radio hat and the June 1949 issue had a two-page article describing the circuitry and construction of the radio. The cover photograph shows a 15-year-old Hope Lange wearing a Lipstick Red hat. She went on to become an award-winning stage, film, and television actress. She was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Selena Cross in the film Peyton Place.

The June 1949 issue of Radio-Electronics showing the “Man-from-Mars Radio Hat,” modeled by a 15-year-old Hope Lange.

The radio hat was sold in department stores and by mail order. A Van Nuys, California service station chain sold the hats as a promotion item to customers who purchased gasoline. The massive publicity did not lead to lasting sales. Advertisements for the radio hat stopped in early 1950. In a 1956 interview, Hoeflich said the company still got orders for the hat even though it was long out of production.

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40 Vintage Photos of Donald O’Connor in the 1940s and ’50s

Born 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, American dancer, singer and actor Donald O’Connor joined a dance act with his mother and elder brother Jack. They were billed as the O’Connor Family, the Royal Family of Vaudeville. They toured the country doing singing, dancing, comedy, and acting.

O’Connor began performing in movies in 1937, making his debut aged 11 in Melody for Two appearing with his family act. He was also in Columbia’s It Can’t Last Forever (1937). He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.

O’Connor received an offer to play Cosmo the piano player in Singin’ in the Rain (1952) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical. The film featured his widely known rendition of “Make ’Em Laugh,” which he choreographed with help from the assistant dance directors and his brother. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award from four nominations and received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame throughout his career.

O’Connor died from complications of heart failure in 2003, at the age of 78 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, in Woodland Hills, California. These vintage photos captured portraits of a young Donald O’Connor in the 1940s and 1950s.

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For Not Crying Out Loud! (1942)

Because every baby carriage needs a large sheet of glass built into it. Can’t see what could go wrong there…

The newest thing in baby carriage attachments is this mirror built into the hood. When mother must leave baby alone in his perambulator, she swings the mirror down in front of him. The child, seeing his reflection, believes he has company.

Fascinating Black and White Photos of Hops Picking in Kent

For its abundance of orchards and hop gardens, Kent is sometimes known as the “Garden of England”. Hops are the flowers of the hop plant Humulus lupulus, used primarily as a bittering, flavoring, and stability agent in beer, to which, in addition to bitterness, they impart floral, fruity, or citrus flavors and aromas. They are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine. The hops plants have separate female and male plants, and only female plants are used for commercial production.

Hop pickers move furniture into their summer quarters at Buston Manor near Maidstone, Kent, 1949.

“Tradition has it that the first English hop garden was created near Canterbury in 1520, as Kent was the earliest centre for hop culture due to its suitable soil, established enclosed field system and good supply of wood for the poles and charcoal for drying.  Furthermore, Kent farmers could afford the high initial capital outlay as they were among the most prosperous of the time.

One of the simplest and most economic methods of training hops was developed in Kent by Henry Butcher in about 1875.  A great deal of manpower was always required in all hop-growing regions of England to pick the hops in September, as the value of the crop depended on it being picked quickly and at the right moment.  Kentish records of the mid 17th century mention some ‘strangers who came a hopping’ indicating that there was not enough local labour. The majority of Kent’s manpower came from London and at the industry’s peak, more than 80,000 people poured into Kent every autumn…” — The British Hop Association.

Take a look at these families of hop pickers spending their time in Kent through 19 fascinating black and white pictures below:

Hopfield, circa 1900.

Hop picking, circa 1900.

Hoppers tally off after picking, circa 1906.

A family of hop pickers stand beside their packed cart, 1907.

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30 Fascinating Vintage Ice Cream Ads From the Mid-20th Century

The first official account of ice cream in the United States comes from a letter written in 1744 by a guest of Maryland Governor William Bladen. The first advertisement for ice cream in this country appeared in the New York Gazette on May 12, 1777, when confectioner Philip Lenzi announced that ice cream was available “almost every day.” Records kept by a Chatham Street, New York, merchant show that President George Washington spent approximately $200 for ice cream during the summer of 1790.

Until 1800, ice cream remained a rare and exotic dessert enjoyed mostly by the elite. Around 1800, insulated ice houses were invented. Manufacturing ice cream soon became an industry in America, pioneered in 1851 by a Baltimore milk dealer named Jacob Fussell. Like other American industries, ice cream production increased because of technological innovations, including steam power, mechanical refrigeration, the homogenizer, electric power and motors, packing machines, and new freezing processes and equipment. In addition, motorized delivery vehicles dramatically changed the industry. Due to ongoing technological advances, today’s total frozen dairy annual production in the United States is more than 6.4 billion pounds.

Wide availability of ice cream in the late 19th century led to new creations. In 1874, the American soda fountain shop and the profession of the “soda jerk” emerged with the invention of the ice cream soda. In response to religious criticism for eating “sinfully” rich ice cream sodas on Sundays, ice cream merchants left out the carbonated water and invented the ice cream “Sunday” in the late 1890s. The name was eventually changed to “sundae” to remove any connection with the Sabbath.

Ice cream became an edible morale symbol during World War II. Each branch of the military tried to outdo the others in serving ice cream to its troops. In 1945, the first “floating ice cream parlor” was built for sailors in the western Pacific. When the war ended, and dairy product rationing was lifted, America celebrated its victory with ice cream. Americans consumed over 20 quarts of ice cream per person in 1946.

In the 1940s through the 1970s, ice cream production was relatively constant in the United States. As more prepackaged ice cream was sold through supermarkets, traditional ice cream parlors and soda fountains started to disappear. Now, specialty ice cream stores and unique restaurants that feature ice cream dishes have surged in popularity. These stores and restaurants are popular with those who remember the ice cream shops and soda fountains of days past, as well as with new generations of ice cream fans.

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Drink Ovaltine to Wake Up GAY in the Morning!

Why be content to waken tired, listless, or low in the morning––when you should be gay and radiantly alive? Why not follow this simple plan thousands are using for sparkling morning freshness? Just drink a warm cup of Ovaltine at bedtime each night.

So why not turns to Ovaltine tonight? See if you don’t sleep better, feel more vital––if your friends don’t tell you how much some radiant you look!

Here, unintentionally hilarious ads for Ovaltine in the 1940s:

Just After Japanese Surrender, These Vintage Photos Capture Street Scenes of Hong Kong in 1945

The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong ended in 1945, after Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. Hong Kong was handed over by the Imperial Japanese Army to the Royal Navy on 30 August 1945; British control over Hong Kong was thus restored. 30 August was declared as “Liberation Day”, and was a public holiday in Hong Kong until 1997.

Hong Kong in late August 1945

General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion of Hong Kong and subsequently served as governor-general during the Japanese occupation, was tried as a war criminal, convicted and executed on 30 September 1946.

These amazing photos from WWII album of Blake Smith’s father that captured street scenes of Hong Kong in late August 1945, just after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong ended.

Bomb shattered jetty, Hong Kong, August 31, 1945

Bombed buildings in Hong Kong, August 1945

Boys from ship rickshaw ride in Hong Kong, August 31, 1945

Centre Street at Sai Ying Pun, looking towards Des Voeux Road West from the junction with Queen's Road West, Hong Kong, August 1945

Chinese boy making rope, Hong Kong, August 1945

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