20 Amazing View-Master Slides of SuperStar Barbie in 1978

View-Master is the trademark name of a line of special-format stereoscopes and corresponding View-Master “reels”, which are thin cardboard disks containing seven stereoscopic 3-D pairs of small transparent color photographs on film. It was originally manufactured and sold by Sawyer’s.

View-Master slides of SuperStar Barbie in 1978

The View-Master system was introduced in 1939, four years after the advent of Kodachrome color film made the use of small high-quality photographic color images practical. Tourist attraction and travel views predominated in View-Master’s early lists of reels, most of which were meant to be interesting to users of all ages. Most current View-Master reels are intended for children.

These amazing View-Master slides from Cindy Hammerquist show SuperStar Barbie in 1978.

“SuperStar Barbie sends her sister, Skipper, a ticket for a glamorous vacation among the stars. When Barbie realizes they haven’t had enough time alone, Barbie and Skipper go off on a camping trip together. Then Barbie gets into a dangerous predicament and there’s only Skipper to help.” (copy on back of package)

SuperStar Barbie View-Master Slide: A1, SuperStars

SuperStar Barbie View-Master Slide: A2, Skipper arrives for her vacation

SuperStar Barbie View-Master Slide: A3, Skipper watches fashion show rehearsal

SuperStar Barbie View-Master Slide: A4, A fitting

SuperStar Barbie View-Master Slide: A5, Skipper watches Barbie on TV

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Vintage Photos Capture People Posing With Their Renault Cars From Between the 1930s and ’50s

The Renault corporation was founded on 25 February 1899 as Société Renault Frères by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand. Louis was a bright, aspiring young engineer who had already designed and built several prototypes before teaming up with his brothers, who had honed their business skills working for their father’s textile firm. While Louis handled design and production, Marcel and Fernand managed the business.

People pose with their Renault cars from between the 1930s and 1950s

The first Renault car, the Renault Voiturette 1CV, was sold to a friend of Louis’ father after giving him a test ride on 24 December 1898.

In 1903, Renault began to manufacture its own engines. By 1907, a significant percentage of London and Paris taxis had been built by Renault. Renault was also the best-selling foreign brand in New York in 1907 and 1908. In 1908 the company produced 3,575 units, becoming the country's largest car manufacturer.

Renault made itself known through succeeding in the first city-to-city races held in Switzerland, producing rapid sales growth. Both Louis and Marcel raced company vehicles, but Marcel was killed in an accident during the 1903 Paris-Madrid race.

Although Louis never raced again, his company remained very involved, including Ferenc Szisz winning the first Grand Prix motor racing event in a Renault AK 90CV in 1906.

These vintage photos from Vintage Cars & People captured people posing with their Renault cars from between the 1930s and 1950s.

A lady in a black fur-collared coat posing with a Renault Monasix on a bleak winter's day. The car is registered in the French département of Moselle, circa 1930

A mother and her children posing with a Renault Monasix in a valley dominated by a distinctive arched bridge, possibly in the South of France. The car is registered in the city of Paris, circa 1930

Two couples posing with a Renault Reinastella at the seaside, circa 1930

A cheerful lady posing in the driver's seat of a Renault Monaquatre Cabriolet-Spider convertible on a dirt road in the countryside, 1935

A cheerful lady posing with a Renault Monaquatre Cabriolet-Spider convertible in a cobbled city street, 1935

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Amazing Vintage Photographs of Niagara Falls Frozen in the Winter From the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

People used to walk to Canada across frozen-over Niagara Falls.

As temperatures drop in the northeast corner of the United States, icy water that goes over the roaring Niagara Falls crashes into the rocks below and turns solid. Blocks of ice floes freeze together, forming a solid mass wide enough to connect the United States and Canada.

It’s called the ice bridge. Children in the late 1880s rode their sleds there, tourists strolled between the two countries, and entrepreneurs sold food and hot drinks from makeshift concession stands. A “sharp rogue,” as the Niagara Falls Gazette described a man on Feb. 14, 1883, built a shanty of boards in the middle of the massive bridge - right on the line between the two countries, where no laws apply - and sold liquor.

Such was the geological wonder of the ice bridge and the three falls that form Niagara Falls in New York. American and Bridal Veil falls are next to each other on the U.S. side. Horseshoe Falls, the biggest of the three, straddles both countries. Collectively, more than 3,000 tons of water flows over the falls each second, making Niagara Falls a major source of hydroelectric power for the United States and Canada.

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Here’s a Daguerreotype of the Notorious Lola Montez and Alights-on-a-Cloud Cheyenne Chief, ca. 1850s

According to Paula Fleming/Judith Luskey this daguerreotype was made by J. Hawes sometime during the delegation trip. According to others it was taken by Marcus A. Root.

Daguerreotype of Lola Montez and Alights-on-a-Cloud Cheyenne Chief, ca. 1851/52.

For her second daguerreotype taken in Philadelphia, Lola asked to have her image taken seated next to and linking arms with this Indian Chief. She then fabricated a story to contextualize the image, which she spread to news sources, perhaps as part of a ploy to drum up attendance at her performances in Philadelphia that season.

While Lola traveled throughout the Eastern seaboard she had more opportunities to have her daguerreotype taken, ready to experiment with her self-representation and let her quirks be captured. Her engagement after New York was at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, and upon arriving in this new city, she again visited a daguerreotypist. She happened upon a group of Plains Indians, delegates from Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho tribes, who were returning from a conference with President Fillmore in Washington, and she reportedly begged the photographer, Marcus A. Root, to let her pose with one. He conceded, and the final product provocatively shows Lola arm-in-arm with an Indian chief. The fact that they were photographed as sitting together was a violation of decorum for Anglo American women. Lola’s gaze towards the chief and his gaze out to the viewer also suggest a relationship between her and the Indian, and her light skin and white lace scarf draw the eye to her figure, as if to imply she was responsible for the arrangement captured in the daguerreotype.

Lola then tried to use the daguerreotype to create a scandal about the decency of her posing with an Indian and the implicit relations from their daguerreotype. She reported to the press, that the Indian chiefs had come to town to visit her, and that the one who posed with her for the daguerreotype had fallen desperately in love with her. Several days later, the New York Herald published a letter to the editor in which a Native American reader clarified that the Indian chiefs were en route from Washington and had coincidentally been visiting the daguerreotype studio at the same time as Lola. Thus, in her typical fashion, she stirred controversy and attempted to harness the veracity associated with daguerreotypes to create intrigue surrounding her cross-racial appeal, in doing so, also defying gendered and racial social codes of behavior.

(This original article was published on Costume Cocktail)

Fascinating Vintage Photos of Stevie Wonder in the ‘70s

Stevie Wonder is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. A prominent figure in popular music during the second half of the 20th century, Wonder is one of the most successful songwriters and musicians. A virtual one-man band, his use of synthesizers and further electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of R&B. Often hailed as a “genius”, Wonder has been credited as a pioneer and influence to musicians of various genres including rhythm and blues, pop, soul, gospel, funk and jazz.

Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy known as Little Stevie Wonder, leading him to sign with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11. When Wonder was 13, his single Fingertips peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s. His “classic period” began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring Superstition, one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard.

His works Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the tied-record holder for the most Album of the Year wins, with three. He is also the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases.

Take a look back at the genius in the 1970s through 30 vintage photographs:

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30 Fabulous Photos of a Young Barbi Benton in the 1970s and ’80s

Born 1950 as Barbara Lynn Klein in New York City, Barbi Benton began to model at the age of 16, and at age 18 took a job with Playboy to appear on their entertainment show Playboy After Dark. She appeared on the cover of Playboy four times: July 1969, March 1970, May 1972, and December 1985. Though she was featured in a number of photo-essays, she was never a Playmate of the Month. She landed a spot on television’s Hee Haw doing short comedy sketches, and subsequently enjoyed a career as a country singer.

Benton also began acting, and appeared in the West German comedy film The Naughty Cheerleader (1970), before appearing as a featured repeat performer on a number of popular television series, including The Bobby Vinton Show in 1976, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.

Benton lived with Hefner from 1969 until 1976 and is known for discovering the Playboy Mansion West, where Hefner resided until his death in 2017. Years later, when the television series The Girls Next Door visited her in Aspen, Colorado, she expressed gratitude that the two had remained friends.

Benton left Hee Haw after four seasons to concentrate on a more Hollywood-oriented career. She also starred in the short-lived 1977 ABC-TV comedy series Sugar Time! and in films including the slasher Hospital Massacre (1982).

Benton achieved some success as a recording artist. Her record “Brass Buckles” (1975) was a top-five hit on Billboard’s country singles chart. She has recorded eight albums, the last of which she personally produced in 1979, and also composed the songs, sang them, and played piano. One of her better-known songs was “Ain’t That Just the Way” (1976).

Take a look at these fabulous photos to see portrait of a young Barbi Benton in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Intimate Photos of Marilyn Monroe During a Lesson With Her Acting Teacher Natasha Lytess in 1948

Born 1911 as Natalia Postmann in Berlin, German actress, writer and drama coach Natasha Lytess moved to the United States and settled down in Los Angeles. She had hoped for a great stage career, but her accent and her unfeminine appearance limited the roles she could play.

Lytess is known best for her partnership with actress Marilyn Monroe from 1948 to 1956. During her time as a drama coach for Columbia Pictures, Lytess was shown Monroe’s screen test and convinced the head of Columbia Pictures to hire Monroe for a six-month contract.

Lytess coached Marilyn through more than 20 films before their partnership began to deteriorate. She is rumored to have had more than professional feelings towards Monroe which developed, according to Monroe and other actresses that studied under Lytess, into an overbearing obsession.

In 1956, Monroe sent Lytess a telegram saying that she didn’t need Natasha’s services anymore, and the partnership ended a full seven years after it started.

These intimate photos captured moments of Marilyn Monroe during a lesson with her acting teacher Natasha Lytess in Hollywood in November 1948. 

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