26 Wonderful Color Illustrations of London and New York by Tony Sarg

Anthony Frederick Sarg (April 21, 1880 – March 7, 1942), known professionally as Tony Sarg, was a German American puppeteer and illustrator. Born in Cobán, Guatemala, Sarg later took up residence in the United Kingdom in 1905. After World War I broke out, he settled the family in New York City in 1915. In 1920, Sarg became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

He had been raised around puppets, inherited his grandmother's collection of them, developed them as a hobby that enhanced the impression he made on other artists, and finally in 1917, turned them into a profession.

In 1928, he designed, and his protégé Bil Baird built tethered helium-filled balloons up to 125 feet long, resembling animals, for the New York institution of Macy's department store. This work involved a number of puppetry-related principles. These creations were featured in the store's Thanksgiving Day parade. In 1935, he undertook the puppet-related work of designing Macy's elaborate animated window display, which was shown between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Sarg stepped back from competing with other puppet studios and pursued illustrating magazine covers, guide books, and original children's picture books, games, and toys. He designed salons and sophisticated interiors for high-end department stores and restaurants. Sarg also designed extensively for the New York World's Fair in 1939.

Take a look at Tony Sarg's wonderful color illustrations of London and New York:

At the Play, from “Humours of London”

At the Shops, from “Humours of London”

Football, from “Humours of London”

In the Country, from “Humours of London”

At the Royal Academy, from “Humours of London”

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45 Vintage Family Photos of BMW Automobiles and Their Owners

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, commonly referred to as BMW, is a German multinational corporate manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The corporation was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 until 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945.

Portraits of people posing with their BMW automobiles from between the 1930s and 1950s

Automobiles are marketed under the brands BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, and motorcycles are marketed under the brand BMW Motorrad. BMW is headquartered in Munich and produces motor vehicles in Germany, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

These vintage photos from Vintage Cars & People that captured portraits of people posing with their BMW automobiles from between the 1930s and 1950s.

A fellow experiencing tyre trouble with a BMW 3/15 PS on a gravel road in a forest in wintertime. The car is registered in the former German state of Oldenburg, circa 1930

A lady dressed in a white blouse and tie and her two sons enjoying a picnic in the countryside. A BMW 3/20 PS Cabriolet convertible can be seen behind them, circa 1935

A lady in a checkered dress posing with a BMW 303 saloon on a sunny day in early spring. The car is registered in the district of Lower Bavaria, circa 1935

A young lady in a two-piece swimsuit posing on the bonnet of a BMW 315/1 sports car in the countryside. The car is registered in the state of Baden, circa 1935

A young lady wearing a white blouse and a dark skirt posing with a BMW 315 in the countryside. The BMW is registered in the state of Thuringia, circa 1935

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Flip ’N Style Hairdryer Ad From Teen Magazine, 1972

“Even if you can’t use it, it’s fun to have.” – Panasonic

This 1972 ad by Panasonic is probably one of the most insensitive and offensive advertisements to promote a beauty appliance. Even if the intention was to sell hair dryers to everyone and anyone—even someone who obviously has no of any hair product—just to increase sales, using a woman with no hair then stating the product is fun to have even if you can’t use it is just ridiculous, thoughtless, and incredibly disrespectful.

Maybe (and that’s a big maybe) Panasonic could’ve pulled it off if they introduced their Flip ’N Style hair dryer with a popular male celebrity who just shaved off his hair for the ad (though why would anyone do that?), but to use a bald female model made it look like the electronics company was poking fun at women who have lost their hair to chemotherapy or alopecia.

Making fun of people with illnesses and disabilities is extremely offensive even back then.

Chocolate-Coated Marshmallow Treats With Unusual German Names

Some of the delicious chocolate-covered marshmallow treats you grew up eating have terribly racist names in some parts of the world. The food isn’t racist, of course, but their original names have caused controversy for as long as they’ve been around.

Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats are confections consisting of a biscuit base topped with marshmallow-like filling and then coated in a hard shell of pure milk chocolate. In the late 19th century the treat that we consider today as a “Schokokuss” (“Chocolate kiss”) was produced in France for the very first time. The original name was “Tête de nègre” (“Negro head”). In Germany the treat first appeared in 1892 in Leipzig. Today you can still find evidence for the appearance of the name in various cafes, which still use the old name of the treat. One will find “Café Mohrenkopf” (“Coffe Negro head”) in Zürich, Munich and Vienna.

Soon after the appearance of the treat in the German-speaking areas the name was changed to “Negerkuss” (“Negro kiss”). Sadly that change didn’t happen because of a possible brutal association of eating a person’s head. The real reason was most likely a translation mistake related to the filling of the treat the Baiser, which is in French nothing else but a kiss.

The very friendly looking heads in the outdated advertisement are clearly promoting the treat in a rather bitter way with a strong taste of racism. Nevertheless this advertisement is not to be analyzed since it’s no longer accurate to say “Negerkuss”. This is thanks to a movement in the 1970s, which labeled the advertisement as racist enforced the name change in the German speaking society to “Schokokuss”. That is considered to be politically correct. Even the German Dictionary points out that the word “Negerkuss” is grammatically correct but the political correct use is “Schokokuss”.

Today there are 70 different producers of the “Schokokuss”. The market leader in Germany is called Dickmann.

(via Chocolate Class)

Amazing Photos of Manchester Punks in the 1980s

Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, rude boys, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion.

Punk fashion has likewise influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Many punks use clothing as a way of making a statement.

These amazing photos from John that show what Manchester punks looked like in the 1980s.

“These images have been scanned from my original photographs before they disintegrated after being kept in storage in a cold damp cellar for over a year. Included here are gig photos of Amebix, Conflict, The English Dogs and Disorder, playing live in Manchester during the 1980s. Most of the photos here were taken in Manchester in the 1980s and include other punks from that time.”

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Lovely Vintage Portraits of Doris Day as Calamity Jane, 1953

Doris Day’s Calamity Jane is a story of love between men and women and women and women during a time when this love was innocent and people did not worry that someone might look at it in a sexual way. Women could hold hands and hug to support each other in happiness as well as grief.

Calamity Jane is a 1953 American Technicolor Western musical film directed by David Butler and starring Doris Day and Howard Keel. The film is loosely based on the life of Wild West heroine Calamity Jane and explores an alleged romance between her and Wild Bill Hickok.

Calamity Jane won an Oscar for Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Secret Love,” and was also Oscar-nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Sound, Recording. Songs like “Secret Love” and “Take Me Back to the Black Hills” are beautiful even to the audiences today.

The film has been popular with some lesbian audiences for its depiction of a character which can be read as lesbian, and was screened at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 2006. Film critic Jamie Stuart points to the film’s lesbian overtones in Jane being played as a strong, independent woman who shares a house with a woman, the two of them painting “Calam and Katie” in a heart on its door. Armond White sees the film as approaching sexuality in a way that Hollywood was not openly able to do, describing the empathy and envy between Jane and Katie’s characters as “a landmark display of girl-on-girl attraction.” Out magazine described the film’s award-winning song, “Secret Love,” as “the first gay anthem.”

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Found Photos From Daisy Studio in Memphis, Tennessee From the Early 1940s

Memphis is a city along the Mississippi River in southwestern Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is Tennessee’s second-most populous city behind Nashville; fifth-most populous city in the Southeast, the nation’s 28th-largest; and the largest city proper of those situated along the Mississippi River. The city is the anchor of West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region, which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas, Mississippi, and the Missouri Bootheel.

1940s portrait photos from Daisy Studio at 315 Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is the seat of Shelby County, Tennessee's most populous county. One of the more historic and culturally significant cities of the southern United States, Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods.

Home to Tennessee’s largest African-American population, Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South as a market for agricultural goods, natural resources like lumber, and the American slave trade. After the American Civil War and the end of slavery, the city experienced even faster growth into the 20th century as it became among the largest world markets for cotton and lumber.

Daisy Studio was at 315 Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee, a few buildings west of the “Old” Daisy Theatre on the same block. These found photos from ⓑⓘⓡⓒⓗ from memphis were taken by the studio from the early 1940s.

1941 photo of girl at Daisy Studio on Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee

1941 photo of man and women, Daisy Studio, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee

1941 photo of man and women, Daisy Studio, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee

1942 photo of a sharp-dressed man, Daisy Studio, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee

1942 photo of friends at Daisy Studio, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee

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