30 Sunning Vintage Photos of a Young Shirley MacLaine in the 1960s and 1970s

Shirley MacLaine is an American actress and dancer known for her deft portrayals of charmingly eccentric characters and for her interest in mysticism and reincarnation.

At the age of three, she began studying ballet, and, after graduating from high school, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a dancer and model. Around this time she changed her name to Shirley MacLaine. In 1954 she was hired as a chorus girl and understudy to the second lead, Carol Haney, in the hit Broadway musical The Pajama Game. When Haney broke her ankle, MacLaine took over the role and was “discovered” by film producer Hal Wallis, who put her under contract.

MacLaine made her movie debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (1955). Her unique sexy tomboyish looks and her ability to combine worldly experience with an offbeat innocence caused her to be frequently cast as a good-hearted hooker or waif—for example, in such films as Vincente Minnelli’s Some Came Running (1958), an adaptation of a James Jones novel, and Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) and Irma la Douce (1963), romantic comedies that also starred Jack Lemmon. Her performances in those films earned MacLaine Academy Award nominations. In 1969 she starred in Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity, portraying a taxi dancer who remains optimistic despite a series of disappointments.

Rarely able to exercise her considerable dancing talent on film, MacLaine often appeared on television variety specials, winning several Emmy Awards, and in 1976 and 1984 she returned to Broadway in, respectively, A Gypsy in My Soul and Shirley MacLaine on Broadway. Her other notable TV credits included the British drama series Downton Abbey.

In 1970 MacLaine published Don’t Fall off the Mountain, which turned out to be the first in a series of best-selling memoirs describing not only her life in movies and her relationships (including that with her brother) but also her search for spiritual fulfillment. In 1987 she cowrote, produced, directed, and starred in a television adaptation of one of her autobiographies, Out on a Limb, which had been published in 1983. She also directed The Other Half of the Sky (1976), which received an Oscar nomination for best documentary; it was about life in China.

MacLaine was the recipient of numerous honors. She received the Cecil B. DeMille Award (a Golden Globe for lifetime achievement) in 1998 and was named a Kennedy Center honoree in 2013.

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The Last Photos of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and His Wife Sophie in Sarajevo Moments Before Their Assassination, 1914

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on June 28, 1914, is widely seen as the central, precipitating event of the First World War: the spark that lit the conflagration.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand with his wife on the day they were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, June 28, 1914.

In the summer of 1914, Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie accepted an invitation to visit the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo. He had been informed of terrorist activity conducted by the nationalist organization the “Black Hand,” but ignored the warnings. On the morning of June 28, 1914, the Royal couple arrived by train and a six-car motorcade drove them to city hall for an official reception. The Archduke and his wife were in the second car with the top rolled back in order to give the crowds a good view.

At 10:10 a.m., as the motorcade passed the central police station, a Black Hand agent, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, hurled a hand grenade at the archduke’s car. The driver accelerated when he saw the flying object, and the bomb exploded underneath the wheel of the next car, injuring two of its occupants along with a dozen spectators. Franz Ferdinand is reputed to have shouted in anger to local officials, “So, you welcome your guests with bombs?!” He also reportedly stated, “What is the good of your speeches? I come to Sarajevo on a visit, and I get bombs thrown at me. It is outrageous.”

On the route back to the palace, the Archduke’s driver took a wrong turn into a side street, where 19-year-old nationalist Gavrilo Princip was waiting. As the car backed up, Princip approached and fired his gun, striking Sophie in the abdomen and the archduke in the neck. Both died before reaching the hospital.

Assassination illustrated in the Italian newspaper Domenica del Corriere, 12 July 1914 by Achille Beltrame.

At trial, it was noted that the three assassins from Belgrade tried to take all blame on themselves. Nedeljko Čabrinović claimed the idea of killing Franz Ferdinand came from a newspaper clipping he received in the mail at the end of March announcing Franz Ferdinand’s planned visit to Sarajevo. He then showed the newspaper clipping to Princip and the next day they agreed they would kill Franz Ferdinand. Princip explained to the court he had already read about Franz Ferdinand’s upcoming visit in German papers. Princip went on to testify that, at about the time of Easter (19 April), he wrote an allegorical letter to Ilić informing him of the plan to kill Franz Ferdinand. Trifko Grabež testified that he and Princip, also at about the time of Easter, agreed between them to make an assassination of either Governor Potiorek or Franz Ferdinand and a little later settled on Franz Ferdinand. The defendants refused or were unable to provide details under examination.

On 26 March, Danilo Ilić and Muhamed Mehmedbašić had already agreed to kill Franz Ferdinand based on instructions from Belgrade predating the newspaper clipping and the discussions amongst the three assassins in Belgrade.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand gave the hardliners in Austria-Hungary the opportunity to take action against Serbia and put an end to their fight for independence. In July 1914, the situation escalated. After demanding impossible reparations and failing to receive them, Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia. As was expected, the complex web of alliances was activated as Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, and France and Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. World War I had begun.

The Archduke and Duchess in the car, the morning they were killed. Sarajevo, June 28, 1914..

The Archduke and his wife emerging from the Sarajevo Town Hall to board their car on the morning the were killed.

The Archduke and his wife leaving the train in Sarajevo, June 28, 1914.

This picture is often said to depict the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although several scholars say that it depicts the arrest of Ferdinand Behr, a bystander who was initially suspected of involvement in the assassination.

Gavrilo Pricip is arrested moments after the assassination.

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One of Playboy's Early Centerfolds: 35 Stunning Photos of Jean Jani in the Late 1950s

Born 1931, Jean Jani (sometimes listed as Norma Jean Jani) was one of Playboy's early centerfolds, appearing in the July 1957 issue of the magazine. This Ohio-born beauty was portrayed as a sexy stewardess for United Airlines in the pages of Playboy, but in actuality she was a reservations clerk. Regardless, her appearance in Playboy cost her job. She went on to do more modeling with photographers such as Peter Gowland (who took her Playboy photos) and Ron Vogel.

Jani appeared in several issues of Adam and Modern Man as well as other titles in the late '50s and early '60s. She was also responsible for the jaw-dropping cover of Adam Bedside Reader #2 where she is wearing nothing but a red ribbon. This was a gal who was not afraid to show off her assets.

Jani packed a lot into her five foot three frame busting the measuring tape with an amazing 38-23-34 figure. She was one of several models who bridged the gap between the bosom-obsessed girlie-magazine crowd of the late 50's and the Tit Queen obsession of the 1960's.

If being a brunette knockout wasn't enough for her, every so often Jani would put on a blonde wig and do photo shoots under the name Joan Brennan. She retired from modeling in the mid-1960s in favor of a more domesticated existence. According to The Playmate Book, Jani forgot about her Playboy experience until her grown daughter gave her a copy in recent years. She has since embraced her pin-up past and become involved in the convention circuit.

Take a look at these stunning photos to see glamorous beauty of Jean Jani in the late 1950s.

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Daily Life of Alaska in the Late 19th Century Through Amazing Photos

The Alaska, photographs collection is a set of 33 photographic prints, depicting various scenes in Alaska in such areas as Devil's Lake, Skagway, Miles Canon, Chilcoot Pass, Lake Bennet, and Sitka by an unidentified amateur, taken between 1896 and 1899, and held by the DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.

Man with a Bicycle

Miles Canyon

Miles Canyon

On Chilcoot Tram, Between Canyon City and Sheep Camp

On Sixty- mile River, one mile above the Canyon

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18 Vintage Album Covers of Ex-Yugoslavia Singer Saveta Jovanović, Who Was't Afraid to Flaunt Her Hairy Legs

There was a time in Europe when it was considered un-ladylike for women to shave their legs and only prostitutes did that. Not sure of the time period of that or of this singer. Apparently, a singer from ex-Yugoslavia Saveta Jovanović had special kind legs.

For decades, women have been expected to tirelessly groom their bodies for the appeasement of others. Why? Daring to let nature take its course is somehow deemed lazy, ugly, or plain unfeminine.

Saveta is gorgeous. More women need to be more like her. Women are hairy just like men. And they should not be be required to shave just because the Caucasian White male says he does not like women with hair on her legs.

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The First Spherical Building in the World: 16 Amazing Photos of the “Ball House” Kugelhaus in Dresden From the Late 1920s

The Kugelhaus (Ball House) was a spherical steel scaffolding construction in Dresden on the exhibition grounds in the Großer Garten between the exhibition palace and Hercules Avenue. It was designed by Peter Birkenholz (1876–1961) in 1928 at the former Stübelplatz, as developed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in his French revolutionary architecture.

Plans were laid to build a row of them, like a galaxy of planets in orbit. That was the spirit of the age. Very “futurist”. It hosted exhibition rooms and a restaurant business and is considered the first ever spherical building in the world. Described by Nazi press as “degenerate art to be destroyed” and “un-German”, the building only stood for 10 years and was demolished in 1938.

The Kugelhaus was part of the annual exhibition Deutscher Arbeit - Die Technische Stadt in 1928 and had a diameter of 24 meters. The spherical body was mounted on a neck of 11.5 meters in diameter and 4 meters in height. The total height of the building was 26.5 meters, with a built-up area of ​​only 110 square meters, the enclosed space was 7600 cubic meters.

There were six levels and a passenger elevator. In the building one could look upwards or downwards through a circular, atrium-like opening. Only the top floor with the restaurant had a closed floor space. The window front of the restaurant allowed a good view of the nearby exhibition area.

The load-bearing structure of the building was built in steel skeleton construction. The metallic outer skin was made of aluminum sheet. The ball house was designed and built by MAN’s Gustavsburg plant .

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25 Gorgeous Photos That Defined Bridal Styles in the Late 1980s and Early ’90s

Wedding dresses have been playing a major part in the bridal world. They contribute significantly to the glamor and elegance of beauties on their wedding days. So what did brides wear in the late 1980s and early 1990s? Just check out these gorgeous photos from Angela Maria to see.

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