The Beautiful Eyes of Virginia Bruce

Virginia Bruce was an American actress and singer. Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she went with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. She got it as an extra in Why Bring That Up?. She was also in the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles, followed by America's Sweetheart in 1931.

Bruce returned to Hollywood in 1932, where she married John Gilbert, her co-star in the film Downstairs. She retired briefly after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann Gilbert. The couple divorced in 1934, and Virginia returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances. Gilbert died in 1936. That same year, Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film Born to Dance and costarred in the MGM musical The Great Ziegfeld. One of her final film appearances was in the 1960s Strangers When We Meet. Her final film appearance was in Madame Wang's in 1981.

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Kodak Camera Store, ca. 1910

This is what a camera shop looked like a century ago.

A seller named “2raccoons” on eBay is offering this postcard of the interior of a pharmacy / photography store, sent from Michigan to Vermont 102 years ago. Here’s the description:

“Up for auction is this extraordinary photograph of a woman in standard Gibson dress standing at a store counter purchasing a Kodak folding camera. The store employee is wearing a jacket and bow-tie which adds charm to the photograph. It is uncertain if the woman is actually buying the Kodak camera, or if the scene here is “staged,” but $25 is about what one would have paid for the Kodak folding camera at that time, which can be seen on the cash register.”

Below is a crop that provides a closer look. We see two shelves with Kodak cameras on display, a Kodak sign in the background, a photo album for sale, a standing postcard rack with photo postcards, and various films and photo supplies on the shelves.

(via PetaPixel)

Vintage Photos Glow With Tiny Holes of Light

Photographer Amy Friend finds vintage images online, in vintage shops or in old family albums and then alters them by allowing tiny little holes of light to pass through. The result is an incredibly mesmerizing series called Daré alla Lucé, an Italian phrase used to describe the moment of birth, as she aims to give the photographs back to the light.

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The World's First Ferris Wheel

The first ever Ferris Wheel was created for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The previous World’s Fair was in Paris and the Eiffel Tower was the talk of the world afterwards. America simply could not be left behind the forward-thinking French, so an American engineer, George Washington Gale Ferris, was brought in to create an “American landmark.”

The original Ferris Wheel, sometimes also referred to as the Chicago Wheel, opened to the public on June 21, 1893. It was the exposition’s largest attraction, with a height of 264 ft. The wheel rotated on a 71-ton, 45.5-foot axle comprising what was at that time the world’s largest hollow forging, manufactured in Pittsburgh by the Bethlehem Iron Company and weighing 89,320 pounds, together with two 16-foot-diameter cast-iron spiders weighing 53,031 pounds apiece.

Ferris himself began his career in the railroad industry and then pursued an interest in bridge building; he understood the growing need for structural steel and founded G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridge builders.

The original Chicago Ferris Wheel, built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

A close up of Ferris’ beast taken from the Great Observation Wheel.

George Ferris’ Observation Wheel, St. Louis, 1904.

Reconstructing the Great Wheel, circa April 19, 1904

The Mysterious 70-ton Axle.

The first ever Ferris Wheel was created for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago

There were 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people at a time

Old Portraits With Background Smackdown

Here are some funny and awesome backgrounds of vintage portraits.

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Wonderful Color Photos of Johnny Cash in Tennessee, 1969

There aren’t too many American artists of the past century who left a richer legacy, and one can argue that none was more influential across a broader range of genres in his chosen profession, than the Man in Black.

Through six decades, Johnny Cash created music that spoke with power and eloquence to sharecroppers, punk rockers, prison inmates and hip-hoppers. Many of the songs he penned or that he made famous — “Big River,” “I Walk the Line,” “Ring of Fire,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Get Rhythm,” “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,” “The Matador” and on and on — have not only become classics, but have been embraced by Americans of every political stance, creed and ethnicity as something akin to national treasures.

Below is a small collection of wonderful photos taken by Michael Rougier in Tennessee in 1969.

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Photographs of Movie Stills in Their Real Life Locations

FILMography is a cool site where movie stills are placed within their original film locations, and then photographed. This delightful site is curated by writer, journalist and photographer Christopher Moloney.

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