Queenie: The World’s Only Water Skiing Elephant

Queenie was a captive female Asian elephant and born wild in Thailand in 1952. Her water skiing talents brought her fame and she became the world’s only water skiing elephant during previous century.

After being discover, she was imported to the United States and put on sale in Pet Store in New York. At 6 months of age, Queenie was bought by Bill Green and his daughter Elisabeth, and taken to a private zoo in Vermont. Pre-arrange buying was broadcast by Today Show, American News and talk emission.

Queenie and Elisabeth bond and become attractions for the public. Knowing how to amuse their audience by water skiing, playing harmonica and even dancing, the team gained fame and were presented by State and country fairs, TV shows, and circuses around the country. As Elisabeth stated, Queenie was never mistreated during their exhibitions. She claimed that the elephant loved water skiing. Sometimes she would even put her trunk in water and spray it all over the place because she simply enjoyed playing with water.

During her career, Queenie appeared on many shows, such as The Tonight Show, I’ve Got a Secret, and in a series of printed advertisement for the Mercury outboard motors company. In 1967 Queenie was sold to an “elephant performance team” in Michigan. In 1981 she was sold to Circus Gatti.

Queenie was retired from the Circus Gatti in 2003 and sent to the Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Georgia. In 2011, she was euthanized because of chronic health problems. She was believed to be one of the oldest Asian elephants in North America.”

The Story Behind the Photographs of Stevie Nicks With Veils on the Roof of Her House in Venice Beach, 1981

Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac stands in the ocean breeze with her trademark flowy dress sleeves rippling dramatically over her head. The photographs were taken by Neal Preston on the roof of Stevie’s condo in Venice Beach, CA during a shoot for People Magazine.

According to Preston, the wind was so strong, one of his assistants literally had to hold Stevie down by her boots.

“She was living in Venice, California, at the time and she had a condo on the top floor of a six-story building right on the sand in Venice Beach and we had a great shoot, she couldn’t have been easier. But I still wanted that one last killer photograph and I said almost at the same time as she said: ‘Why don’t we go up on the roof and shoot as the sun is going down?’ I thought it was a fantastic idea.

“She had put on this white outfit with long sleeves of fabric that really caught the wind like a sail on a sailboat. The second I put the camera to my eye the wind starts kicking up. She is posing and the sleeves are going all over the place, and I realize about three frames in that the wind is going to be blowing so hard that one gust and she could be blown right off the side of the building, six stories down, which would have ruined Time Life’s insurance department’s day.

“There was only one thing to do because we were getting great photos and the sun waits for no man and it was going down. So I made an assistant of mine lie on his stomach out of frame and I said ‘You hold on to that white boot — you do not let go.’ And that is what he did. She stayed in one place and we got great pictures. But that is why you don’t see her boots in the pictures. There could be no full-length shot.”

Preston grew up in Queens, New York. He went to Forest Hills High, the same school that spawned The Ramones. He was already photographing bands and set to go to the Philadelphia College of Art when he realized the career he had chosen didn’t need a degree.

“The day was absolutely intoxicating, and the next afternoon a bouquet of flowers arrived at my house with a note thanking me for a ‘magical shoot.’ She's a friend for life and one of the most creative people I've ever met.”

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35 Handsome Portrait Photos of John Derek in the 1940s and ’50s

Born 1926 as Derek Delevan Harris in Hollywood, California, American actor had small roles in the Selznick pictures Since You Went Away (1944) and I'll Be Seeing You (1944). He was drafted in 1944 into the United States Army, and saw service in the Philippines during the last days of World War II.

After the war, Derek had a small role in A Double Life (1947) when he was approached by Humphrey Bogart, who renamed him John Derek and cast him as Nick (Pretty Boy) Romano, an unrepentant killer, in Knock on Any Door (1949).

Derek was recognized as a talented newcomer, “plainly an idol for the girls” - The New York Times. The Los Angeles Times called him “a handsome hot-eyed newcomer who makes the case for this product of the city’s slums — ‘live fast, die young and have a good looking corpse’ — all too fascinating for everybody’s comfort.”

Derek suffered a heart attack in 1986, but completely recovered. His last film as director was Ghosts Can’t Do It (1990). He died in 1998 from cardiovascular disease in Santa Maria, California, at the age of 71.

Take a look at these vintage photos to see portrait of a young and handsome John Derek in the 1940s and 1950s.

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Black and White Portrait Photos of North Cambridge Residents in the 1970s

North Cambridge, also known as “Area 11”, is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts bounded by Porter Square and the Fitchburg Line railroad tracks on the south, the city of Somerville on the northeast, Alewife Brook and the town of Arlington on the northwest, and the town of Belmont on the west.

The main commercial areas of North Cambridge are situated along Alewife Brook Parkway and Massachusetts Avenue. A third area, Davis Square, in Somerville, also exerts considerable influence on the North Cambridge neighborhood.

Four roads span the railroad tracks, connecting the bulk of North Cambridge with other neighborhoods of Cambridge. From east to west, these are: Mass. Ave. (route MA-2A), Walden Street, Sherman Street (grade crossing), and Alewife Brook Parkway (carrying routes MA-2, MA-16, and US-3).

This series from The Cambridge Room contains photographs that Olive Pierce took portraits of residents of the Jefferson Park Housing project in North Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1975.

Five teenagers sitting in a fence enclosed area. In the background is the Rindge Towers Housing Project, Jefferson Park, 1973

A close up of Sawyer brothers. They are at the Francis J. McCrehan Memorial Swimming and Wading Pool, 1973

Children standing in the courtyard of the Jefferson Park Housing Project, Jefferson Park, 1973

Four children playing by the railroad tracks next to the Jefferson Park Housing Project, Jefferson Park, 1973

Two boys standing in a doorway of the Jefferson Park Housing Project, Jefferson Park, 1973

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Unimaginable Costumes and Makeup From the Classic Sci-Fi Movie ‘Planet of the Apes’ (1968)

Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and loosely based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle. Written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, it stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison.

Filming took place between May 21 and August 10, 1967, in California, Utah and Arizona, with desert sequences shot in and around Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The film’s final “closed” cost was $5.8 million. 

The film was groundbreaking for its prosthetic makeup techniques by artist John Chambers. The stand-out costumes and intense makeup were a big part of what made Planet of the Apes such a success. It was even considered one of the strongest films of the 1960s by many. Each and every component of this production was unlike anything Hollywood had ever seen before.

Many roles in Planet of the Apes were not for everyone, strictly because of the intense costumes and makeup. For instance, Dr. Zaius was initially supposed to be played by Edward G. Robinson, however, once he learned precisely what went into making the character's appearance, he backed out.

Clearly, these wild costumes and amounts of makeup were just not his cup of tea. So the role was offered to Maurice Evans, who showed absolutely no hesitation about any parts of the production. He turned out to be an excellent sport, patiently sitting through the long and uncomfortable makeup sessions without making a peep; He even painted his nails voluntarily.

Costume designer John Chambers was determined to give people something they’ve never seen before in Planet of the Apes. He knowingly pushed the limits, as he wanted to bring a sense of realism to Hollywood, which was essentially a foreign concept to the industry at the time.

Costume materials included but were not limited to foam and spirit gum, which were relatively inexpensive and easy to get a hold of at the time. Chambers was a wizard with any materials he was given, and he had a natural talent for turning a chunk of foam into a human-like ape.

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Fascinating Vintage Snapshots of Greater Manchester in the 1970s

Manchester went through enormous changes in the seventies—a decade of confusion, of a loss of direction, of new music, and the arrival of a vast city center monster. During the 1970s, the City Council lost most of its remaining vital responsibilities. After WWII cities such as Manchester lost power over local gas and electrical supply – thus much of their income. All control of local transport was taken and the city’s famous red buses became grotesque pop orange and brown under a broader transport authority.

In 1974, Greater Manchester County was created from south-east Lancashire and north east Cheshire. Thus the city of Manchester lost power over its police force and fire services. With the creation of the North West Water Authority it also lost its management of water and sewage services. Even the airport was taken out of Manchester’s hands to be shared by the new Greater Manchester authority. It was also during this decade that Manchester Ship Canal began a steep decline at its headwaters in Salford and Trafford as container traffic began to make it unviable. Between 1961 and 1983, Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing.

Take a look back at the city in the 1970s through 36 fascinating vintage snapshots from the Visual Resources Collection at Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections:

High Street.

Grosvenor Picture Palace.

Deansgate.

Building at the junction of Bridge Street and Motor Street.

Architecture and Planning Building.

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Life of France in the Early 20th Century Through Amazing Photos

The turn of the 20th century was a golden era in France. After a series of bruising wars and turmoil within the French Republic, culminating in the Franco-Prussian War which ended in 1871, it embarked on an age of peace, prosperity and progress.

Life of France in the 1900s and 1910s

From the ruins of conflict, the Belle Epoque brought joie de vivre flourish, a boom in art, design, industry, technology, gastronomy, education, travel, entertainment and nightlife.

A set of amazing photos from Archives Photos that shows what life of France looked like in the 1900s and 1910s.

Generations of a French family in a Paris garden, circa 1900

Girl on the steps of the family house with his toy boats, circa 1900

Huelgoat's river and forest, circa 1900

Shipbuilding yards, Marseille, Le Pharo, circa 1900

The fall, circa 1900

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