Vintage Everyday

November 27, 2015

Rare and Amazing Photos of James Dean as a Kid in the 1930s and 1940s

November 27, 2015 1930s, 1940s, celebrity & famous people, children & youth, portraits

James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana, to Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson. Dean’s father left farming to become a dentist and moved the family to Santa Monica, California, where Dean attended Brentwood Public School.

Several years later, Dean’s mother, whom he was very close to, died of cancer, and Dean’s father sent him back to Indiana to live on his aunt and uncle’s Quaker farm. During this time, Dean sought counsel from his pastor, the Rev. James DeWeerd, who influenced his later interest in car racing and theater. The two formed an intimate relationship that is rumored to have been sexual.

In 1949, Dean graduated from high school and moved back to California. He attended Santa Monica City College for a time, but eventually transferred to University of California, Los Angeles, and majored in theater.

James Dean had a short-lived but intense acting career that began in 1952 and ended tragically with his death in September 1955. After his death he became a cult figure (a legendary person), and fans have marveled for decades at his ability to duplicate their adolescent (teenage) agony on screen. Here, below are some of rare and interesting photos of James Dean when he was a kid...

James Dean as a baby in Marion, Indiana in 1931.

James Dean as a child in 1932.

James Dean as a child in Marion, Indiana in 1933.

James Dean plays with his cousin on his Aunt and Uncles farm circa 1935 in Fairmount, Indiana.

James Dean as a child in Los Angeles, circa 1938.

52 Powerful Photos of Women Who Changed History Forever

November 27, 2015 female, life, life & culture, photography, portraits

These women have changed history forever by being strong, brave, and human, regardless of social expectations for them.

1. Jeanne Manford marches with her gay son during a Pride Parade, 1972.

2. Women railroad workers at lunch. Many were the wives and even mothers of the men who left for war, 1943.

3. Ellen O'Neal, one of the first professional female skaters, 1976

4. A Swedish woman hitting a neo-Nazi protester with her handbag. The woman was reportedly a concentration camp survivor, 1985.

5. Parisian mothers shield their children from German sniper fire, 1944.

Rare and Wonderful Color Photos of The Beatles During Filming 'Help!' in 1965

November 27, 2015 1960s, behind the scenes, celebrity & famous people, humor & hilarious, life & culture, music, portraits

Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring the Beatles–John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. Help! was the second feature film made by the Beatles and is a comedy adventure which sees the group come up against an evil cult. The soundtrack was released as an album, also called Help!.

While not reviewed at the time with the same high level of admiration as their first movie, the film is regarded a half century later as being influential, including in the subsequent development of music videos.

Below are some wonderful and interesting photos of The Beatles' members playing, posing during filming Help! in 1965.

Macy's Preparations for the Christmas Season in 1948, Here's What Black Friday Looked Like Before It Was Called Black Friday

November 27, 2015 1940s, Black Friday, holiday & festival, life & culture, people, shopping, Thanksgiving

Black Friday wasn’t yet called Black Friday in 1948—nor do the newspapers from that era offer evidence of stampedes or overnight lines that have become par for the course on the day after Thanksgiving—but the kick-off to the holiday shopping season has long been a red-letter retail day.

Images of preparations for that season at Macy’s—then, at one million square feet, the biggest store in the world—bespeak a highly orchestrated operation relying upon 14,000 employees to ready 400,000 items to be swept off of shelves by 250,000 eager shoppers.

Jane Pickens leads 9,000 Macy's employees in "Jingle Bells" during giant rally designed to whip up fever of salesmanship for Christmas rush.

Eager customers stand outside the doors of Macy's, 1948.

Holiday shoppers line the sidewalk outside of Macy's, 1948.

Macy's shoppers wait to be allowed on the floor, 1948.

Bulletin board lists price changes made as a result of comparison shopping. Macy's gets around fixed prices by producing own brands, fixing own prices.

16 Hilarious and Bizarre Vintage Thanksgiving Pinups

November 27, 2015 1950s, 1960s, celebrity & famous people, female, humor & hilarious, life & culture, portraits, Thanksgiving, WTF

Is Thanksgiving the un-sexiest holiday ever? Maybe. Unless the possibility of drunken sex with your tipsy divorced aunt or uncle trips your trigger, of course.

But America -- back when it really was America -- was not going to be dictated to by prudes trying to keep the hawtness out of the day. The pin-up industry worked hard to come up with turkey-themed product, and the results were... odd, to say the least.

It helps, of course, that a turkey is perhaps the least-sexiest animal imaginable, outside of a camel. But even if the photographers just stuck with a Pilgrim theme, you can still feel the desperation.

Here are 16 attempts to bring sexy back to Thanksgiving.