30 Beautiful Portraits of Gloria Jean From the Late 1930s and 1940s

Born 1926 in Buffalo, New York, American actress and singer Gloria Jean was engaged by a smallish New York opera company and became the youngest member of an opera troupe in the United States when she was 12.

Jean starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances. She is probably best remembered today for her appearance with W.C. Fields in the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).

Jean died of heart failure and pneumonia in 2018 in a hospital near her home in Mountain View, Hawaii, aged 92. Take a look at these stunning photos to see the beauty of a very young Gloria Jean in the Late 1930s and 1940s.

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Fascinating Photos of People Cooling Off in New York’s Overflowing Public Pools

In order to pull the United States out of the Great Depression, the New Deal, a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations, was enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. After the construction of highways, the largest share of New Deal spending went to the creation of public parks and recreation areas.

McCarren Park Pool, 1937

In New York City, Robert Moses was appointed the sole commissioner of the Parks Department by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Moses assembled an army of designers, engineers and construction supervisors. In just a few years, hundreds of playgrounds, 53 recreational buildings, 10 golf courses and three zoos were created.

In the sweltering summer of 1936, the city opened 11 enormous outdoor pools with an average capacity of 5,000 people, to the great relief of New Yorkers. “Here is something you can be proud of.” Said the Mayor at the opening of the Thomas Jefferson Pool. “It is the last word in engineering, hygiene, and construction that could be put into a pool.”

Take a look at the ecstatic crowds that flocked to these urban oases through these 20 fascinating black and white photographs below:

Wading pool, Carmansville Playground, 1935

Astoria Park Pool, 1936

Astoria Park Pool, 1936

Swimming contest, Astoria Park Pool, 1936

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Before the Salvadoran Civil War, Fascinating Photos Capture Everyday Life of El Salvador in the 1970s

The Salvadoran Civil War was a civil war in El Salvador which was fought between the military-led junta government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) (a coalition or “umbrella organization” of left-wing groups) from 15 October 1979 to 16 January 1992. A coup on 15 October 1979, was followed by killings of anti-coup protesters by the government and of anti-disorder protesters by the guerrillas, and is widely seen as the start of civil war.

The fully-fledged civil war lasted for more than 12 years. An unknown number of people disappeared while the UN reports that the war killed more than 75,000 people between 1979 and 1992. In 1990, the UN began peace negotiations and on 16 January 1992, a final agreement, the Chapultepec Peace Accords, was signed by the combatants in Mexico City, formally ending the conflict.

These fascinating photos were taken by Carlos B. Cordova that show what life of El Salvador looked like in the 1970s.

Sorbetes Mellow, San Salvador, 1972

San Salvador, 1972

Sunset in Metalio, 1973

Preparing the palm leaves with May blossoms for the procession, Panchimalco, 1975

Procession of the Palms, Panchimalco, 1975

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20 Stunning Portraits of Sharon Tate Taken by Orlando Suero in 1965

Sharon Tate (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) is remembered as one of Hollywood’s biggest style icons during the 1960s and memorable film actresses; her marriage to controversial director Roman Polanski, her impeccable style and timeless beauty, and eventually her horrific, untimely murder at the hands of the Manson family in 1969.

When considering ’60s style, Tate should come to mind. From her blonde locks falling over her famous turtlenecks to her quintessential Mod era makeup, Tate’s style was simple yet effortlessly unique and always chic.

Below is a collection of 20 beautiful portraits of Sharon Tale taken by famed Hollywood photographer Orlando Suero in 1966. The acclaimed photographer also captured some of the most famous Hollywood faces including Brigitte Bardot, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Natalie Wood, Faye Dunaway, Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Julie Andrews, Tony Curtis, Diana Ross, and Bob Hope.

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Man-From-Mars Radio Hat, Kind of a 1949 iPod

The radio hat was a portable radio built into a pith helmet that would bring in stations within a 20-mile (32 km) radius. It was introduced in early 1949 for $7.95 as the “Man-from-Mars Radio Hat.” Thanks to a successful publicity campaign, the radio hat was sold at stores from coast to coast in the United States.

In March 1949, Victor Hoeflich held a press conference to introduce the “Man from Mars, Radio Hat.” Hoeflich knew a picture would tell the story so he had several teenagers modeling the radio hats for the reporters and photographers. Soon pictures and news stories appeared in newspapers coast to coast. The articles typically included a photo of a young lady wearing the hat and a six-paragraph story. The radio hat also received widespread coverage in magazines. This included do-it-yourself magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Mechanix Illustrated, and Radio-Electronics. There was also coverage in general-audience magazines such as Life, Time, Newsweek, and The New Yorker.

Hugo Gernsback, the Editor of Radio-Electronics, was impressed with the radio hat and the June 1949 issue had a two-page article describing the circuitry and construction of the radio. The cover photograph shows a 15-year-old Hope Lange wearing a Lipstick Red hat. She went on to become an award-winning stage, film, and television actress. She was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Selena Cross in the film Peyton Place.

The June 1949 issue of Radio-Electronics showing the “Man-from-Mars Radio Hat,” modeled by a 15-year-old Hope Lange.

The radio hat was sold in department stores and by mail order. A Van Nuys, California service station chain sold the hats as a promotion item to customers who purchased gasoline. The massive publicity did not lead to lasting sales. Advertisements for the radio hat stopped in early 1950. In a 1956 interview, Hoeflich said the company still got orders for the hat even though it was long out of production.

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30 Amazing Photos of Bergen, North Holland in the 1910s

Bergen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its North Sea beaches make it a popular destination for tourists.

Bergen, North Holland in the 1910s

Since about 1900, Bergen has been the home of many painters, writers and architects. Some of the work of this “Bergen School” is on exhibit at Museum Kranenburgh. The neighbourhood of Park Meerwijk, constructed in 1915, is made up entirely of villas in Amsterdam School style. There are regular art fairs in Bergen, as well as an annual music festival (the Holland Music Sessions in August) and arts festival (the Kunsttiendaagse in October).

North of the town of Bergen are the Schoorlse Duinen, a nature area with the highest and widest dunes of the Netherlands, which reach about 59m (195 ft) above sea level, and are more than 5 km (3.1 mi) wide in some places. Other points of interest in the municipality include the aquarium in the seaside village of Bergen aan Zee, the Auto Union Museum in Bergen with a collection of classic cars, and the historical museums Het Sterkenhuis (Bergen) and Museum van Egmond (Egmond aan Zee).

These amazing photos from Archief Alkmaar Commons were taken by photographer A.J. Bonda that show street scenes of Bergen and surroundings in the 1910s.

Bergen ruin church, circa 1914

Cyclists and walkers at café-lodging "Duinzicht" on the Herenweg, 1914

Dairy factory ''Wilhelmina'', 1914

Elzenlaan 2-4. View of "House Russenduin". The country house with stable building and driver's house, built in 1916-1917 for August Janssen, 1914

Karel de Grotelaan seen in a westerly direction, 1914

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January 24, 1984: The Apple Macintosh Computer Goes on Sale

The “Mac” was the first commercially successful personal computer using a graphical user interface and a mouse.

The Macintosh (branded as Mac since 1997) is a series of personal computers (PCs) designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. Steve Jobs introduced the original Macintosh computer on January 24, 1984.

This was the first mass-market personal computer featuring an integral graphical user interface and mouse. This first model was later renamed to “Macintosh 128K” for uniqueness amongst a populous family of subsequently updated models which are also based on Apple’s same proprietary architecture. Since 1998, Apple has largely phased out the Macintosh name in favor of “Mac”, though the product family has been nicknamed “Mac” or “the Mac” since the development of the first model.

In 1982 Regis McKenna was brought in to shape the marketing and launch of the Macintosh. Later the Regis McKenna team grew to include Jane Anderson, Katie Cadigan and Andy Cunningham, who eventually led the Apple account for the agency. Cunningham and Anderson were the primary authors of the Macintosh launch plan. The launch of the Macintosh pioneered many different tactics that are used today in launching technology products, including the “multiple exclusive,” event marketing, creating a mystique about a product and giving an inside look into a product’s creation.

After the Lisa’s announcement, John Dvorak discussed rumors of a mysterious “MacIntosh” project at Apple in February 1983. The company announced the Macintosh 128K—manufactured at an Apple factory in Fremont, California—in October 1983, followed by an 18-page brochure included with various magazines in December. The Macintosh was introduced by a US$1.5 million Ridley Scott television commercial, “1984”. It aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, and is now considered a “watershed event” and a “masterpiece”. McKenna called the ad “more successful than the Mac itself.”

Two days after “1984” aired, the Macintosh went on sale, and came bundled with two applications designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. It was first demonstrated by Steve Jobs in the first of his famous Mac keynote speeches, and though the Mac garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, some labeled it a mere “toy.” Because the operating system was designed largely for the GUI, existing text-mode and command-driven applications had to be redesigned and the programming code rewritten. This was a time-consuming task that many software developers chose not to undertake, and could be regarded as a reason for an initial lack of software for the new system.