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Vintage: General Motors streetcar conspiracy

Vintage: General Motors streetcar conspiracy

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Between 1938 and 1950, National City Lines and its subsidiaries, American City Lines and Pacific City Lines—with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California (through a subsidiary), Federal Engineering, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Trucks—gained control of additional transit systems in about 25 cities. Systems included St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Oakland. NCL often converted streetcars to bus…
Vinatge: Portraits of Gloria Grahame (1940s-1950s)

Vinatge: Portraits of Gloria Grahame (1940s-1950s)

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Gloria Grahame (1923 – 1981), known professionally as Gloria Grahame, was an American stage, film, and television actress and singer. She began her acting career in theatre and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her…
Vintage: El Helicoide Construction (1950s)

Vintage: El Helicoide Construction (1950s)

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El Helicoide is built on a hill in Roca Tarpeya between the parishes of San Pedro and San Agustín, in the extension of the avenues Armed Forces, President Medina Angarita, and Nueva Granada. It has the shape of a three-sided pyramid with curved points formed by elevated paved roads intended for vehicle traffic and parking around an enclosed central area.…
Vintage: Marlon Brando as Mark Antony in ‘Julius Caesar’ (1953)

Vintage: Marlon Brando as Mark Antony in ‘Julius Caesar’ (1953)

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Marlon Brando’s casting was met with some skepticism when it was announced, as he had acquired the nickname of “The Mumbler” following his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz even considered Paul Scofield for the role of Mark Antony if Brando’s screen test was unsuccessful. Brando asked John Gielgud for advice in declaiming Shakespeare, and…
Vintage: Portraits of Zsa Zsa Gabor (1950s)

Vintage: Portraits of Zsa Zsa Gabor (1950s)

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Zsa Zsa Gabor died exactly 1 year ago at the age of 99 of cardiac arrest at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, on December 18, 2016. Gabor began her stage career in Vienna and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1941. Becoming a sought-after actress with “European flair and style”, she…
Vintage: Queen Elizabeth II in Chicago (1959)

Vintage: Queen Elizabeth II in Chicago (1959)

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The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, were on a 15,000-mile, 45-day tour along the seaway visiting all Canadian provinces, four of the Great Lakes and making a 14-hour stop in Chicago. This was their only American stop and was the first visit of a reigning British monarch to the Windy City. The royal couple’s hectic visit took them to…
Vintage: City Life in Poland (1959) by Gerald Howson

Vintage: City Life in Poland (1959) by Gerald Howson

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In 1959, Gerald Howson was sent to Poland by The Queen magazine. He was supposed to come back to England with photographs depicting the Cold War reality. This inconspicuous Englishman who did not speak any Polish packed two Leica cameras in his backpack along with a portable darkroom. His journey began in Lublin, continued to Krakow, and ended in Warsaw.…
Behind the Scenes: Forbidden Planet (1956)

Behind the Scenes: Forbidden Planet (1956)

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Forbidden Planet (aka Fatal Planet) is a 1956 American science fiction film from MGM. Starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, and Robby the Robot. Forbidden Planet is the first science fiction film in which humans are depicted traveling in a starship of their own creation. It was also the first science fiction film set entirely…
Vintage: Classic Polish Films (1940s and 50s)

Vintage: Classic Polish Films (1940s and 50s)

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After the horrors of the Nazi occupation and repressive postwar Soviet domination, Polish cinema suddenly took off in the mid-50s to become a major international force. Initially, it was Andrzej Wajda’s trilogy (1954-58) on wartime resistance that attracted attention. That was followed by a wave of films approaching contemporary society with skilful circumspection before there was a further clampdown in…
Neofuturistic architecture of Eero Saarinen (1950s and 60s)

Neofuturistic architecture of Eero Saarinen (1950s and 60s)

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Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for shaping his neofuturistic style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism. Photographer Balthazar Korab worked for Saarinen, skillfully capturing the nuances, shapes, and lines of his structures and documenting the creative process involved. In the process,…
Street Scenes of Madrid and Barcelona in the 1950’s

Street Scenes of Madrid and Barcelona in the 1950’s

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In 1948, Francesc Català-Roca began working independently as a photojournalist for magazines such as “Destino” and “Revista.” His work dealt with a variety of themes, from landscapes to cityscapes, from artistic documentation to ethnography. He is considered as one of the major photographers in Catalonia not only for his role as a pioneer in the field of avant-garde photography but…
Bohemian Life in Paris in 1950

Bohemian Life in Paris in 1950

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Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken was part of the scene in Paris at the time, and in 1956, he published a ground-breaking photobook called Love on the Left Bank. His gritty, sexy, black-and-white photos of bohemian life in Paris captured a reckless, carefree, decadent and hedonistic love for life. Vali Myers, the Australian artist, featured in this book as…