Nostalgic Vintage Color Photos of Holidaymakers at Blackpool Beach in 1954

Blackpool, the town on the Lancashire coast in England, is well-known for its cemented place as “the archetypal British seaside resort.” Photographs from its heyday show crowds of tourists on the beach and promenade engaging in enjoyable activities such as riding donkeys, eating ice creams, napping, riding carriages. Today Blackpool remains the most popular seaside resort in the UK.

Take a look back at the good old British seaside holiday through 16 nostalgic vintage color photographs taken by John Chillingworth at the Blackpool beach in the summer of 1954:

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A Collection of 50 Lovely and Fun Easter Cards From the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Happy Easter!

Here is a gallery of 50 colorful Easter postcards from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The earliest known depiction of the Easter bunny in the United States was acquired by the Winterthur Museum in 2011. The drawing from 1800 is by schoolmaster Johann Conrad Gilbert, who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany.

In fact, the Pennsylvania Germans brought many Easter traditions to America, which had their origins in the Pagan holiday celebrating the beginning of spring, known as Eostre. The hare, which is one of the most prolific animals in nature, was considered a symbol of fertility, and children would prepare baskets of colorful eggs for the hare to sit on.

Christians adopted these traditions for Easter, in which believers celebrate the resurrection of the messiah Jesus Christ. But the themes of birth, rebirth, and renewal remain constant. The grass is green, flowers are blooming, baby animals are being born. It’s a time of year when everything seems dewy and new. That’s why vintage postcards for Easter, especially those from the Victorian era, are so charming, with their depictions of fuzzy bunnies, newly hatched chicks, children and young women dressed in their Sunday best, and beautiful pastel flowers.

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Amazing Photos of the 1st Academy Awards Ceremony in 1929

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost $5 (which would be $74 in 2019, considering inflation), 270 people attended the event and the presentation ceremony lasted 15 minutes.

Awards were created by Louis B. Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation (at present merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television. The radio broadcast was introduced during the 2nd Academy Awards.

During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards – now colloquially known as the Oscars – in 12 categories. Winners were announced three months before the live event. Some nominations were announced without reference to a specific film.

These amazing photos captured wonderful moments of the 1st Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.

The 1st Academy Awards banquet, on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

The 1st Academy Awards banquet, 1929

Best Director Dramatic Picture Frank Borzage poses with his award for “7th Heaven” in 1929

Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles

Douglas Fairbanks, who hosted the ceremony, presents Joseph Farnham with his award in 1929

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Torches of Freedom: Photographs of Women Smoking Publicly During the Easter Sunday Parade in 1929

Cigarette companies began selectively advertising to women in the late 1920s. In 1928 George Washington Hill, the president of the American Tobacco Company, realized the potential market that could be found in women and said, “It will be like opening a gold mine right in our front yard.” Yet some women who were already smoking were seen as smoking incorrectly. In 1919 a hotel manager said that women “don’t really know what to do with the smoke. Neither do they know how to hold their cigarettes properly. Actually they make a mess of the whole performance.” Tobacco companies had to make sure that women would not be ridiculed for using cigarettes in public and Philip Morris even sponsored a lecture series that taught women the art of smoking.

On March 31, 1929, at the amidst of the Easter Sunday Parade in New York City, a young woman, Bertha Hunt, stepped out into the crowded Fifth Avenue and lights up a Lucky Strike cigarette. This act, however, is not advertising for Lucky Strike or for any other cigarette brand for that matter. It is a public relations campaign, aimed at encouraging women to have equal opportunities – including the right to smoke and not be classified as a “fallen woman” – the name given to prostitutes and “characterless” women.

Miss Hunt issued the following communiqué from the smoke-clouded battlefield: “I hope that we have started something and that these torches of freedom, with no particular brand favored, will smash the discriminatory taboo on cigarettes for women and that our sex will go on breaking down all discriminations.”

The incident was highlighted even more because the press had been informed in advance of Hunt’s course of actions, and had been provided with appropriate leaflets and pamphlets. Eddie Bernays – the father of public relations – whose secretary just so happened to be, Bertha Hunt, cleverly arranged this public relations campaign. Apart from the issue of smoking being taboo amongst women, there was also the issue that, “…women didn’t care for the green packaging of lucky strikes, and the manufacturer concluded that changing the color was too expensive.” Bernays was able to address this problem by incorporating the similar shade of green into the latest women’s fashion. This, in turn, made women subconsciously like the green and associated the packaging of the cigarettes with that of their clothing.

While walking down the street Hunt told the New York Times that she first got the idea for this course of action when a man on the street asked her to extinguish her cigarette as it embarrassed him. “I talked it over with my friends, and we decided it was high time something was done about the situation.” The New York Times dated April 1, 1929 ran a story titled, “Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom”. As women all over the country took to this new found symbol of their emancipation aggressively, Bernays must have had the last laugh at the ironic date of the story.

Mrs. Taylor-Scott Hardin parades down New York’s Fifth Avenue with her husband while smoking “Torches of Freedom,” a gesture of protest for absolute equality with men, 1929.

Edith Lee smokes a cigarette on the “Torches for Freedom” march, New York, 1929.

Ten young women followed Bertha Hunt that day down Fifth Avenue, brandishing their torches of freedom. The audience’s imagination was captured as newspapers enthusiastically reported on this new scandalous trend. Bernays used “sexual liberation as a form of control.” The days that followed saw Bernays not only emphasizing the liberation movement for women as far as cigarettes were concerned, but also waxing eloquence on its slimming properties and glamour quotient that ensured women getting hooked to Lucky Strikes. Sales doubled from 1923 to 1929. Bernay’s justified his $25,000 paycheck to Hill and their fruitful association continued for another 8 years that saw a miraculous jump in the sales of cigarettes. While voting rights were yet to be granted to women, Eddie Bernays got them an equally symbolic though hollow torch of freedom in a spectacular fashion.

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Pictures of New York’s Easter Parade From the 19th Century

New York City has hosted an Easter parade on Fifth Avenue since the 19th century. Taking place on Easter Sunday, for decades it was one of the most significant cultural events of the year. The parade, known for its display of beautiful bonnets and fancy hats. You can see how packed the streets near St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

One of the first places crowds gathered to display their Easter finery in New York City was not Fifth Avenue, but Central Park. The New York Times of April 21, 1873 reported:

“In the afternoon the crowds began to arrive. By every line of cars they swarmed into the Park. And, strange to say, there was a full fair sprinkling of the comparatively aristocratic classes, besides those who habitually make the Park their paradise on fine Sundays. Many couples were promenading who had certainly come from St. Thomas’ and other Fifth avenue churches, for their prayer-books were still in their hands. It seemed to be a universal exodus. Their were ladies in the most delicate Spring attire, poor sewing and shop girls in their Easter finery, ragged little children playing tag, to the great scandal of the straight-laced. And their were gentlemen in fine Spring overcoats and in heavy Winter overcoats, in Spring suits and Winter suits. Their were ladies in heavy silks and warm furs, and beside them others in the latest varieties of cameo fabrics.  It was evident that if some had come to parade their finery, the great majority had been perfectly surprised by such kindness on the part of Spring, but had determined, like sensible folk, to enjoy the fresh air and the glorious day in their old clothes   It would be impossible to calculate the crowds that swarmed over the Park like emigrating bees.”

By 1879 the Easter Parade was officially taking place on Fifth Avenue according to The New York Times. The newspaper on April 14, 1879 commented  “that Fifth Avenue was crowded with promenaders” and “Spring bonnets were worn by every lady promenader.”

The tradition of the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue continues in the 21st century and is no longer an aristocratic event, but one open to anyone wishing to show off their sense of style (or lack of it). Here are some images of the parade from the late 19th century:

1890

1898

1898

1899

1899

(via Stuff Nobody Cares About)

Rare Color Photos Show the Sedro-Woolley Celebration of the July 4, 1939

Harold J. Renfro, Born December 14th, 1904 and passed away January 30th, 2003, was a postman here in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, and would walk sixteen miles for his route. He was also an amateur photographer and couldn’t wait until the weekend to go out and snap shots!!!

Sedro-Woolley celebration of the July 4 in 1939

Renfro enjoyed sharing his photography with his friends and held slide shows in his home, but that was it. These pictures have never been published or have never seen the light of day for at least 30 years.

These amazing Kodachrome slides were found by Brett Sandström that Renfro captured the Sedro-Woolley celebration of the July 4 in 1939.

Bizzar

Burlington girls

Carnival

Celebration

Celebration

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Vintage Photographs of St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations in Baltimore in the 1970s

The photos are in black and white, but be sure that everyone was in green. Here’s a selection of 12 vintage photographs from The Baltimore Sun’s archives that show what St. Patrick’s Day celebrations looked like in Baltimore in the 1970s.

Susie Cook pours a stiff dram of usquebaugh in Sweeney’s bar amid a crowd of St. Patrick’s Day revelers smiling with happy Irish eyes. March 18, 1970. (The Baltimore Sun)

…and comely lasses dance a jig in front of the Pratt. March 1973. (The Baltimore Sun)

March, 1976. (Pearson, The Baltimore Sun).

Don’t spill it: it’s precious. Forty out of breath sprinters tried to go 100 yards without spilling their beer from tray borne cups during the 8th annual Great Annapolis Beer Race, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The winner was David A. Woyeke, 29, an Annapolis hi-fi salesman, who said after his victory, “This is the first and last one.” March, 1976. (The Baltimore Sun)

One of the 43 units that took part in yesterday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in a chilly breeze steps out briskly at Baltimore and Calvert streets. March 1976. (Pearson, The Baltimore Sun).

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Color Vintage Photos of Hampstead Heath Easter Fair in 1956

Since the mid-1800s, there have been fairs at London’s ancient Hampstead Heath. The place’s position as a playground for the East Enders became more firmly assured after the Hampstead Heath station’s opening in 1860. Though met with several difficult challenges, through decades the fairs steadily grew to be more respectable and continued to be held, even during the wars. Take a look at Londoners merrily enjoying their time at the Easter fair in 1956 through 26 fascinating color vintage photographs taken by Bert Hardy:

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Beautiful Vintage Color Photos of Holidaymakers at Southend-on-Sea in 1953

Take a look at tourists enjoying their holiday at Southend-on-Sea, a resort town on the Thames Estuary in Essex, southeast England: sunbathing on the beach, singing and dancing on the Royal Sovereign-a pleasure steamer taking passengers on a trip up the Thames, having good times at the funfair, through 11 fascinating color photographs taken by Bert Hardy: 

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America Fair in Osaka, Japan, on March 25, 1950

By 1950, the U.S. occupation of Japan was in its fifth year, so the Japanese newspaper Asahi Press sponsored the America Fair to infuse locals with a deeper grasp of the American way of life.

Encompassing 50 acres in Osaka, Japan, the fair displayed large-scale models of New York’s skyline, Abraham Lincoln’s log-cabin birthplace, and the Liberty Bell, among a slew of other icons.

The fair’s 2 million visitors gaped at those as well as replicas of additional landmarks, including the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty, and Mount Rushmore, with its faces carved to include traditionally Asian features.

Japanese visitors view a Mount Rushmore replica at the America Fair. (Photo by Takamasa Inamura/Library of Congress)

Three kimono clad Japanese girls sit at the base of a reproduction of the Statue of Liberty at the America Fair.

Pig a Happy New Year! 40 Strange and Funny New Year Pig Cards From the Early 20th Century

There are lots of theories about why pigs are a symbol of good luck, ranging from pigs being able to feed your family, to boars being the centre of a bulls eye, to losers being awarded a piglet as a consolation prize in the middle ages.

In a lot of Teutonic (old German) and Scandinavian traditions, pigs represent good luck and prosperity. That’s why you’ll see them with four leaf clovers and a lot of bags of gold or coins. The idea is basically wishing you a prosperous New Year.

Candy in shapes of pigs symbolizes wishes of prosperity and luck. Marzipan pigs are sold in the thousands every December in Northern Europe.

As the old Irish saying goes; “The pig is the gentleman who pays the rent”. In Norwegian the term “heldiggris” is very common, it literally translates to “lucky pig”. In Germany they say “Glücksschwein”, which translates to “lucky pig” too.

Pig decorations and illustrations on good luck and best wishes cards are common in Germany. This is especially true around New Year.

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