On October 18, 1933, the American philosopher-inventor R. Buckminster Fuller applies for a patent for his Dymaxion Car. The Dymaxion—the word itself was another Fuller invention, a combination of “dynamic,” “maximum,” and “ion”—looked and drove like no vehicle anyone had ever seen. It was a three-wheeled, 20-foot-long, pod-shaped automobile that could carry 11 passengers and travel as fast as 120 miles per hour. It got 30 miles to the gallon, could U-turn in a distance equal to its length and could parallel park just by pivoting its wheels toward the curb and zipping sideways into its parking space.
It was stylish, efficient and eccentric and it attracted a great deal of attention: Celebrities wanted to ride in it and rich men wanted to invest in it. But in the same month that Fuller applied for his patent, one of his prototype Dymaxions crashed, killing the driver and alarming investors so much that they withdrew their money from the project.
When Fuller first sketched the Dymaxion Car in 1927, it was a half-car, half-airplane—when it got going fast enough, its wings were supposed to inflate—called the “4D Transport.” In 1932, the sculptor Isamu Naguchi helped the inventor with his final design: a long teardrop-shaped chassis with two wheels in front and a third in back that could lift off the ground. In practice, this didn’t turn out to be a great idea: As the vehicle picked up speed (theoretically in preparation for takeoff) and the third wheel bounced off the ground, it became nearly impossible for the driver to control the car. In fact, many people blamed this handling problem for the fatal crash of the prototype car, even though an investigation revealed that a car full of sightseers had actually caused the accident by hurtling into the Dymaxion’s lane.
Sketch by Buckminster Fuller of his 4D Auto-Airplane, Courtesy, The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller.
Only three Dymaxion cars were ever produced. The first was involved in a fatal crash at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, an event which scared investors away from the project. It’s been said that the Dymaxion fell victim to a greedy auto industry which feared the futuristic car would ruin other models already in production. Whatever the reasons for its demise, the fascinating car lived on in the influence it had on later automobile designs.
Scale drawings of Car #1.
View of the Bridgeport plant building during the car's development.
Starling Burgess seated at the wheel of Car #1, before the chassis was road tested.
Most of us know that cellular phones were around long before their commercial debut in the 1970s and 1980s, but did you know that their history extends all the way back to the '20s? This excellent video clip shows two flapper-type girls talking on a mobile phone back in 1922.
The clip from 1922 shows that 90 years ago, mobile phone technology and music on the move was not only being thought of but being trialled.
Rare footage shows Nicholson jumping around and practising with an axe before ‘Here’s Johnny’ scene.
Method actor Jack Nicholson puts more into preparing for a role than most, but we don’t often see him psyche himself up for a big scene.
Now, rare footage from behind the scenes of The Shining has resurfaced, showing Nicholson jumping up and down, practising swings with an axe and muttering “die” and “axe murderer kill!” ahead of his famous “Here’s Johnny” scene.
The 1980 horror film, based on a novel by Stephen King, depicts the descent into madness of recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance. Torrance takes a job as an off-season caretaker and moves into the famously sinister Overlook Hotel with his wife Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and son. Needless to say, terror ensues.
Nicholson can be heard saying “come on, come on!” to himself as he gets ready to portray the character’s brutal attack on his wife.
The scene took three days to film, and Nicholson reportedly tore down almost 60 doors in the process. The legendary “Here’s Johnny” line was improvised by Nicholson, and nearly wasn’t included in the final cut.
He received widespread praise for his performance, and the scene has frequently made its way into lists of the scariest movie scenes of all time.
This video is one of the earliest examples of colored moving pictures. Every frame had to be colored by hand, and the result is stunning. The film features Loie Fuller, a dancer who performed her “Serpentine Dance” with billowing costumes and colored lights to create the effect that is re-created in the short film from the Lumière brothers.
The Lumière brothers were pioneers of moving pictures. They started their careers working in their father’s photographic firm and would go on to make the advances that eventually lead to the beginning of the motion picture era. Their Cinematographe – a motion picture camera and projector – would be the invention that brought moving pictures to the masses.
Its star, Carmencita, was a Spanish Vaudeville dancer and a fixture at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall in NYC in the 1890s.
John Singer Sargent even painted her once. Essentially, viewers were shocked by the way she occasionally tugs at the bottom of her skirt and how the crinolines underneath are visible. Her dress was also a little shorter than a dress was supposed to be, and it showed her ankles.
According to some accounts, the Newark Evening News reported that a New Jersey kinetoscope parlor had to remove the footage and replace it with The Boxing Cats after state senator James A. Bradley complained such ankle showing was inappropriate.
A unique glimpse at London in 1918, some months before the end of World War I. The film shows some of the famous sights of the city, from Westminster to St Paul’s Cathedral, from Clepotra’s Needle to the Tower of London where military exercises are being held.
The film was shot by the American traveler Elias Burton Holmes (1870–1958) who photographed and filmed his travels abroad, later holding lectures and screening the films to paying audiences. Other than providing unique early documentation of London’s top sights, the film also shows a baseball match played between the US Army and US Navy where King George V is seen attending and greeting the players. The match was played at the Chelsea Football Ground on July 4th, the American Independence Day, and was attended by 18,000 spectators, including the King and Queen.
In what is considered to be the “first movie kiss,” actors May Irwin and John Rice reprised the smooch from their Broadway comedy The Widow Jones for a film shot by Thomas Edison’s Vitascope cinema projector.
A mere 23 seconds in length, it was filmed in his Black Maria studio in New Jersey in 1896., at a time when public kissing was greatly frowned upon by Victorian society. In that era, the act of kissing was referred to as “sparkin'” if it took place indoors, usually the parlor, or “spoonin'” when performed outdoors, in a secluded spot far from the public’s eye.
Even though most of the clip just shows the two of them talking and nuzzling, it is said to have been “banned in many places,” and garnered numerous negative reviews, like “The spectacle of their prolonged pasturing on each other’s lips was hard to bear.” Some reportedly called for police intervention.
Time-lapse shot of the demolition of the Star Theatre in New York City, one brick at a time. Produced by American Mutoscope and Biograph Company and preserved by the Library of Congress.
Dramatic Universal newsreel footage of the Hindenburg disaster which took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, when the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey.
The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937 brought an end to the age of the rigid airship. The disaster killed 35 persons on the airship, and one member of the ground crew, but miraculously 62 of the 97 passengers and crew survived.
After more than 30 years of passenger travel on commercial zeppelins — in which tens of thousands of passengers flew over a million miles, on more than 2,000 flights, without a single injury — the era of the passenger airship came to an end in a few fiery minutes.
Haunting footage on the streets of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake which devastated much of the city, left more than 300,000 people homeless and killed over 3000. The earthquake was the first natural disaster of its magnitude to be documented by photography and motion picture footage. This film appears to be made by amateurs who attached a camera to a car driven around the city. Noticeable is the huge amount of people out sightseeing amid the rubble.
Knife-throwing, known to connoisseurs as one of the “impalement arts,” has been a sideshow staple since the late 19th century. Usually, however, the thrower is a man, and the target a woman. (Often, the two are married.) This gender dynamic is so encoded that “target girl” is abbreviated as “TG” on the credits of YouTube clips of acts like the Great Throwdini. The Gallaghers’ act, with child TGs and a parent thrower, was highly unusual.
In this 1950 newsreel, the knife-thrower Louella Gallagher throws knives at her daughters Connie Ann, 5, and Colleena Sue, 2.5 yrs old, in Austin, Texas, backyard, as a crowd of children looks on. There’s a stark contrast between the suburban setting (mom in a dress, cropped grass, girls in playsuits) and the dangerous display.
Four horse drawn fire engines roar up a snow-covered Newark, New Jersey, street while spectators watch from the sidelines.
According to Wikipedia, until the mid-19th century most fire engines were maneuvred by men, but the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines considerably improved the response time to incidents. The first self-propelled steam engine was built in New York in 1841. It was the target of sabotage by firefighters and its use was discontinued, and motorized fire engines did not become commonplace until the early 20th century.
At Butlin's Holiday Camp we see several girls taking tea towels, dusters and handkerchiefs from a washing line. They run over to some tables and start to make the oddments into bikinis as part of a competition, helped by friends and boyfriends; a large crowd watches. Several shots of the bikinis taking shape; the girls take their creations behind a screen then reappear in them - they look pretty good!
The girls line up to be judged for the best bikini maker as the crowd watches; a blond be-quiffed boy in yellow trunks looks on. A petite brunette in a red bikini is presented with a small silver cup (an A-cup?).
Audrey Hepburn (Pre-fame) in Sauce Piquants Fashions, 1950. A very young Audrey Hepburn models a dress and is wearing strange headgear with big ears at the Cambridge Circus Theatre in London.
Various shots overweight women window shopping in Oxford Street in London. Interior of department store, Barkers of Kensington. Various shots of large ladies taking part in "Miss Fat and Beautiful" beauty contest. Contestants are Mrs. Mary Ramsden from Leeds, Mrs. Marie Burgess from Bath, Mrs. Joan Gronert from Nottingham, Mrs. Dorothy Waugh aged 32 from Scotland, Mrs. Helen Thomas from Birmingham, Miss Leonore Hoyle from Blackburn. The winner is Mrs. Waugh - we see her wearing the winner's sash and holding bouquet.
Girls at a Butlins holiday camp in Clacton, Essex, line up to take party in a beautiful eyes contest. The Red Coat (Margaret Higgs) hands out handkerchiefs to the girls and the contest begins!
The judge Don Cook parades past the girls assessing their eyes, and he even kisses one girl on the lips!
Shot in the Pathe studio back in 1921, this silent clip, features a woman cutting and sewing two handkerchiefs together. She then proudly models her creation.
A fascinating glimpse into the recent past, with unfamiliar shops, quieter streets and lingering bomb sites.
This film dates from around 1952. The route that was taken during the making of this film has been identified:
1:15 Kensington High St, now moving W and looking SE. We start just E of Allen St. Just past Abingdon St.
2:02 we turn N up Phillimore Gardens.
At 2:59 we turn R into Upper Phillimore Gardens and continue till 3:26 cut to 3:26 Kensington High Street going W and looking NE. Stars just past Argyll Rd where we were at 1.14 on the other side.
4:01 turn R up Phillimore Gardens again, but now looking at the E side.
4:53 turn R into Upper Phillimore Gardens again, now looking at S side till 5:15
Sunderland Bridge (1896) - Poor pedestrian, horse drawn carts, wagons and bus travel across bridge at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.
Boar Lane, Leeds (1903) - Pedestrians, horse carts wagons and electric tram cross large open cross roads near Boar Lane, Leeds, Yorkshire.
Outside The Bank of England, London (1897) - Dense horse drawn traffic in front of the Bank, a few pedestrians try to pick their way between the buses and carriages.
Hyde Park Corner, London (1897) - Hyde Park corner looking towards the park gates, pedestrians crowd the pavements, carriages and horse buses pass by.
Newcastle Street, Tyne and Wear (1903) - Motor wagon, motor car, and horse drawn wagon pass along street, pavement is lined with onlookers.
Westminster Bridge, London - View across bridge to House of Parliament and Big Ben. Traffic passes in foreground.
Tower Bridge, London - Views of horse drawn buses and traffic crossing Bridge.
Piccadilly Circus, London - Statue of Eros. People walk in foreground. Buses carry adverts for Cadbury's and Lipton's. (Some shots repeated).
Horseguard's Parade, London - Short bleak shot of cavalry soldiers riding.
Bradford Square, Yorkshire (1903) - Square at Bradford crowded with pedestrians, civilian band crosses square watched by small crowd a steam tram also crosses the square.
London Bridge, London (1896) - View across the bridge with horse drawn vehicles and pedestrians crossing the bridge.
Street Entertainers (Minstrels) - Blacked up entertainers sing and dance to a small crowd in the open street.
