56 Photos That Show Another Side Of History
By | March 4, 2019
An unconscious Babe Ruth on the ground after running into a wall chasing a fly ball, he would regain consciousness five minutes later and get two more hits in the game. (1924)
There are moments in history that we’ve heard about so many times that we think we know every side of the story, however as you’ll find in these photographs there tends to be one aspect that you’ve never heard - or seen. Whether you’re interested in the lives of silent era film stars, or warriors who fought thousands of years ago, these photos offer up a new angle on timeless tales. Don’t you love learning something new about a historical event that you heard about in school? Isn’t it great to find out that there’s more to a story than what you learned in a history book? If this is the kind of thing that intrigues you then scroll on!
In July 1924 Babe Ruth and the Yankees were playing the first game of a double header at Griffith Stadium in Washington against the Senators. During the fourth inning Ruth ran after a ball that was sailing towards the fall line, however he didn’t see the concrete wall where the stands started and the field ended.
Ruth, a phenomenon by this point, ran into the wall and was knocked out cold. Doc Woods, the trainer for the Yankees tended to him by splashing cold water on his face, and after five minutes Ruth woke up and said that he wanted to keep playing. He went back into the game, although heavily injured at this point, and even played in game two.
Pablo Escobar, notorious Colombian drug lord, standing in front of the White House with his son (1980's).
Pablo Escobar is the most successful drug lord of the 20th century, and he changed the face of America by funneling narcotics into the country with the Medellin cartel. It’s believed that the cartel made around $420 million a week, which turned Escobar into one of the wealthiest people in the world. He had so much money that he was able to travel freely throughout the world.
By the late 1980s he offered to pay off the company’s debt in exchange for his exclusion from extradition treaties. Much of his wealth is allegedly buried around the country in disparate places.
Princess Diana Dancing With Clint Eastwood
Princess Diana is known for having a bevy of famous friends, but this photo of Di and actor/director Clint Eastwood is absolutely wild. Even though it looks like Dirty Harry is cutting a real rug, according to Tom Selleck the man behind The Mule wasn’t so hot on the dance floor. Selleck told the Daily Mail:
I wasn’t quite as uncomfortable as Clint Eastwood. He went next and was really out of his safety zone.
Allegedly Eastwood told Princess Di that she’s “too old” for him, at the time she was only 24. Who knew that Eastwood didn't like dancing.
Baby riding in the front seat of a car, 1952.
How did anyone survive the 1950s is this was the kind of car seats that were being strapped into? These seats were made to allow children to ride at the same height as their parents, which we’ve since learned isn’t necessarily good for the child. Imagine the bouncing and jostling that the babies were put through while riding in one of these seats.
As bare bones as this car seat looks, with its basic straps and seat with a little bit of give, there were other car seats that looked a little more comfortable and even somewhat matched the interior of the car.
Andre The Giant Getting Ready To Cruise On A Three Wheeler
There’s something very aesthetically pleasing about one of the biggest athletes alive on top of a Honda three wheeler. Andre the Giant was famously into working hard and playing hard, and when he wasn’t in the ring or in front of the camera Andre liked to drink almost one hundred beers in one session.
Andre liked to ride around his ranch near Raleigh, North Carolina where he also raised Texas longhorns. One can imagine that Andre absolutely terrorized those longhorns with his wild, booze fueled driving. It must have been a sight to see a true giant tooling around the countryside on his three wheeler.
Burlesque dancer Zorita walking her pet snake in Miami, 1939.
Even snakes have to get some exercise! One of the most fascinating figures of the early 20th century, Zorita was a burlesque dancer who performed with two boa constrictors in a 20 minute dance sequence that wowed and titilated audiences. Was the dancer going to be squeezed like a mouse or was she going to tame the snakes?
Supposedly after visiting a nudist colony in San Diego Zorita was given the the two snakes by a man that she met, is there a better origin story for a burlesque dancer than that? We think not. Do you think the second snake was into crossfit?
Evel Knievel attempted to jump 13 buses at at Wembley Stadium in 1975. He failed to clear the final bus and crashed in front 90,000 people, fracturing his pelvis and breaking his hand.
If you want to find the true spirit of the ‘70s then look no further than one Mr. Evel Knievel. He partied hard, pulled off insane stunts, and he looked super cool while doing them. He was always pushing the envelope with this stunts, and as soon as he nailed one stunt he was already moving onto another.
After failing to cross Snake River Canyon in 1974 Knievel went across the pond one year later to see if had better luck. With 80,000 people in attendance, Knievel attempted to jump 13 busses, but he crashed on the final singer decker. After that jump he hastily announced his retirement (although that didn’t stick).
Anti-bra protest in 1969.
Bra burnings and anti-bra protests were extremely popular throughout the late 1960s, coinciding with the rise of second wave feminism. One major anti-bra protests took place on August 1st, 1969 in San Francisco. Men and women alike flocked to this protest that got out of hand and ended up taking on the air of a rock show.
Men filled the streets and even climbed light poles for a chance to get a look at these wild ladies taking off their bras and speaking out for their personal and civil rights. The scene was so out of hand that the San Francisco police were on hand to make sure people didn't completely lose their minds.
Dwayne Johnson Looking Snazzy With His Father Rocky
Before he held the WWE championship belt above his head, and way before he was one of the most sought after stars in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson was just a shy little kid in awe of his father’s work. While The Rock’s father, Rocky Johnson, didn’t want him to get into the wrestling biz, when he saw that hiss son was serious about the job he trained the young man himself.
According to The Rock, his father was tough on him while growing up, but it’s that brand of tough love that made him the man he is today. He wrote:
Years later as a man and father of three girls, I know that tough love, is a helluva lot better than no love at all. I’ll take it. It’s made me who I am today. Grateful to the original Rock.
Colorized photo of an 11 year-old coal miner in 1908 .
This minor miner is unfortunately not a singular entity in the world of coal mining in the early 20th century. Many young miners worked as breaker boys, employees who were tasked with separating impurities from coal by hand. These “breaker boys” were forced to work without gloves in order to better remove impurities, which lead to a series of accidents where their fingers were mangled in quickly moving equipment.
Breaker boys were phased out by 1910 once the public became aware of the dangerous position these kids were in. However it took another 10 years for coal mines to completely stop hiring children.
The first issue of Vogue in 1892.
Founded in 1892, Vogue was the brainchild of Arthur Baldwin Turnure, a business man with an eye on creating a new periodical focusing on the “ceremonial side of life,” for both the “debutante” and the “sage.” Initially the magazine was a weekly paper that cost 10 cents a pop, and it focuses mostly on fashion while including pieces on sports the affairs of the day for its male readers.
Turner owned Vogue for the first 13 years of its existence, and even though it didn’t explode the way it would in the future, he set into motion a style that would be turned into a successful franchise that still lasts to today.
Robin Williams offering toilet paper to "The Thinker" (1990s)
Pound for pound, was there anyone funnier than Robin Williams? The comedian and actor always knew how to turn any situation into a comedy routine, he could even work with a full on statue, turning art into something hilarious. Honestly, who else can you imagine walking around with a roll of toilet paper and it not being weird other than Robin Williams.
In the early ‘90s Williams was at the top of his game in the film world, with roles in massive hits like Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Birdcage. There was never anyone like him and there never will be again.
Emily Banks As Yeoman Tonia Barrows From Star Trek,
One of the greatest episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series that was ever committed to film is from season one, “Shore Leave.” Not only do we get to see Sulu fence and Spock smile, but we’re also introduced to Yeoman Tonia Barrows. Sure, she might be a figment of Dr. McCoy’s imagination, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t become the dream of ever Trekkie that tuned in that night.
Barrows was played by Emily Banks, an actress who appeared in a plenty of genre pieces throughout the years, including Dragnet 1967 and Mannix. She even had a 12 episode stint on The Tim Conway Show as Becky.
Gals "Enjoying" A Meal Surrounded By Gators, 1920s
Have a relaxing day in the water they said. Eat a nice meal around the table they said. There’s just going to be a few alligators, nothing to worry about. While this could very well be a last known photo of some very brave young women (and a terrified looking cook), it’s actually a photo snapped at the Los Angeles Alligator Farm, a place where you could have a picnic with a few cold blooded friends.
The park was in operation from 1907 to 1953, and in that time visitors were able to see more than 1,000 alligators for nothing more than a quarter. Even though the people behind the park where wary to let folks handle the animals, they were more than happy to help you have lunch with them.
Bill Paxton, Liam Neeson, And Patrick Swayze On The Set Of Next Of Kin (1989)
That’s right, there’s a movie out there with Bill Paxton, Liam Neeson, and Patrick Swayze. In Next of Kin, these three hunks play a set of brothers from Appalachia, and after one of them loses their lives (no spoilers) a blood feud in enacted on the streets of Chicago. The film was shot all over the eastern United States and obviously the Windy City.
Aside from starring Swayze, Neeson, and Paxton, the film featured the first film role of up and comer Ben Stiller along with Helen Hunt. It even tipped its hat to Chicago improv legend Del Close.
Telephone engineer at work in London, 1925.
It’s a dangerous business connecting people, and this telephone engineer certainly understands that. While teledensity began to form in the late 19th century, phones didn’t truly become a sensation until the early 1900s when manual switch boards started popping up across the world in order to help ease connectivity. And in order to connect all those phones you’ve got to have phone lines.
Working on these lines was perilous job that occurred during every time of the year, which means that fellows like this were up on the lines during lovely spring days and the pits of winter. Hopefully they had something to warm them up while they kept everyone talking.
"The only thing that will make you happy is being happy with who you are, and not who people think you are." -Goldie Hawn
While Goldie Hawn made a name for herself as the blonde bimbo in comedies like Overboard and Bird on a Wire, she’s actually and incredibly gifted and talented comedic presence. She got her start as a go-go dancer at the Peppermint Box in New Jersey before heading west to Los Angeles where she was quickly cast in Good Morning, World before joining up with the goofs at Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.
Her brief time on the series escalated her to international fame, and while she continually worked as a ditz she also made forays into serious acting. In 1969 she even won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Cactus Flower.
The 1936 electric UPS delivery truck was ahead of its time.
America’s been trying to get electric vehicles to become a thing for a while now, dating all the way back to the 1930s. The vans looked somewhat similar to the UPS trucks that can be seen on the road today, and while they were definitely better for the environment some people out on the road thought that the vehicles had a “spooky” quietness to them.
It’s likely that the “spooky” factor had less to do with the trucks being discontinued than their lack of efficiency. However, the UPS brought back electric shipping trucks and vans in the 21st century. Could it be long before the UPS has a completely electric fleet?
Sonny And Cher On Vacation, 1970s
These two soulful ‘60s singers had each other, and it looks like they also had a penchant for the same style of swim wear. Sonny and Cher got their start as back up singers for wild haired record producer Phil Spector on recordings like “Be My Baby” and “A Fine, Fine Boy” in the early 1960s. However when they finally released the album “Look at Us” in 1965 they became chart topping sensations with the hit “I Got You Babe.”
While these two had an up and down relationship, both with each other and on the charts, they always found some way of coming out on top - whether it was through a comedy variety show or running for Congress.
A 32 foot long shark caught in San Pedro, California, 1885.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, this shark had to come along and give you a whole new reason to avoid the beach this summer. The shark, caught on the California coast in 1885, weighed about seven tons. How many people do you think it took to pull this bad boy onto shore? The appearance of the shark obviously caused a stir, and it’s no wonder that so many lookie-loos gathered around to see what the fuss was all about.
How do you think you’d react if you saw a shark this big on your local beach? Would you be astonished? Or would you trade in your swim suits for ski wear? We know which option we’d take.
Norma Jeane Mortenson modeling in 1946.
Before she was turning heads as Marilyn Monroe, the blondest bombshell of the 1950s, she was getting her start as a model going by her birth name, Norma Jean Mortenson. Whether you want to call her Monroe or Mortenson, it was clear that she was meant to be in front of the camera. Even though she was working in a munitions factory in Van Nuys in the early 1940s, by 1945 she was pursuing a career in modeling and signed with the Blue Book Model Agency in 1945.
She wouldn’t change her name to the iconic “Marilyn Monroe” for another year, and even after she was working as Monroe she was still toiling away in obscurity. It wasn’t until the 1951 Academy Awards that people began to take notice of her, and even then she was only a presenter.
John F. Kennedy with friends in Charleston, 1942.
John F. Kennedy desperately wanted to be an officer candidate in the military, however due to his chronic lower back problems he was turned down by the Army in 1940. The young Kennedy spent months rehabbing his back, and by 1941 he was able to enlist in the United States Naval Reserve as a member of the staff of the Office of Naval Intelligence.
After that he was sent down the Charleston, South Carolina where he spent two months training in Naval Hospitals before heading up to Chicago, Illinois where he received his final bouts of Officer’s Training. He went onto serve on a torpedo boat in Panama.
Chris Noel Posing With Some Very Excited GIs, 1960s
Throughout the 1960s actress Chris Noel appeared as a bikini clad babe who turned heads on every beach and big screen on which she appeared. When she wasn’t starring in films like Girl Happy and Beach Ball, Noel was zipping off to Vietnam where she was entertaining the troops. She even had her own show on the Armed Forces Radio called A Date With Chris.
Noel said that even though she was always under the threat of violence while performing with the USO tours, the worst part about the trip was the other celebrities. She said:
I kept hearing all of these show business people complaining—they complained about everything! They complained about how hot it was—'I can’t go out there if I’m sweating like this,' and 'You must do something better with my hair.' I’m sitting there thinking, my gosh, I can’t stand these people! They’re all just prima donnas. They don’t have the foggiest idea of what it’s really like over here. They’re in air conditioning as much as they can, and they’ve got the best of everything, and all they do is complain!
"Cannabis Alcohol" from the early 1900s.
If you’re looking to get well crossfaded then look no further than this cannabis alcohol from “Specific Medicines.” According to the bottle, users were only meant to take a teaspoon full of this stuff once an hour under risk of poisoning themselves with an intense dose of cannabis bi-product. While it’s likely that this Lloyd Brothers concoction isn’t on the same level as what you can get in some states today, you can bet that it would still mess you up.
This cannabis based “medicine” was only on pharmacy shelves for a few years. In 1911 states began outlawing cannabis based on moral issues. As immoral as this medicine may be, we still kind of want to give it a try.
"Pedestrian Day" On The Golden Gate Bridge, 1937
May 27, 1937 was a big day for the people of San Francisco. After watching the five year construction of the Golden Gate Bridge it was finally time for people to take a trip across the big red marvel. For the official unveiling of the bridge the city declared the 27th “Pedestrian Day” allowing nearly 200,000 people to walk across the 4,200-foot-long suspension bridge.
The day was marked with joy as pedestrians took their time sauntering from San Francisco to Marin County and back, and the next day the bridge opened for real, allowing drivers to cross.
Stonehenge, 1897.
In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history lived a strange race of people, the Druids. No one knows who they were or what they were doing but their legacy remains hewn into the living rock, of Stonehenge. While scholars still debate how this fascinating structure was built, and what its exact purpose is, the one thing that everyone can agree on is how amazing it is that something like Stonehenge exists.
This Neolithic structure is a miracle of engineering, and the stone circle has confounded visitors for thousands of years. Who knows what the Druids were trying to tell us with this mystical creation?
Andre The Giant And Wilt Chamberlain Pick Up A Shrimp Named Arnold Schwarzenegger On The Set Of Conan The Destroyer, 1984
If you really want to get pumped up and make those muscles pop then you’ve got to dead lift the strongest Austrian known to man. While on the set of Conan The Destroyer, Arnold Schwarzenegger hung out with co-star Wilt Chamberlain while kicking it with his large European friend, Andre the Giant. Andre even appeared in the film with a small role as Dagoth, a horned god that Conan has to defeat.
The film shot in Mexico for four months, from November 1983 to February 1984, which must have made for a crazy Christmas with the cast of Conan. And even though this film didn’t get rave reviews, it’s still a hell of a fun watch.
The Empire State Building under construction in 1930.
Even though this building is an every day presence in New York City, its construction was anything but simple. Before construction could even begin workers had to tear down the Waldorf-Astoria building, which was no easy task. After the old building was demolished, construction began in earnest on January 22, with 300 man crews working around the clock 12 hour shifts in order to dig the building’s 55 foot foundation.
It only took six months for workers to put up the building’s steel structure, with the workers building nearly one floor a day, which is absolutely wild when you consider the rudimentary tools that everyone was using. This kind of engineering prowess was possible because on any given day the site saw around 3,000 workers come and go.
"The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any." -Fred Astaire
Has there ever been anyone who’s as smooth and cool as Fred Astaire? While Astaire could have just gotten by on his good looks and his acumen with his dance steps, he was actually a world class guy who worked as the primary choreographer on all of his dance routines, however he tended to credit his onscreen partners.
While he was the king of cool onscreen, in real life Astaire was just amiable. With his flair for fashion and love of hobbies like playing the drums and skateboarding, he was certainly a true Hollywood original and a gentleman in the time of scoundrels.
Jack Nicholson And Anjelica Huston Flirting At A Party, 1970s
This is one Hollywood couple that doesn’t get enough screen time. Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston carried on an on again off again relationship that saw the two hit major highs before falling to extreme lows. Huston’s written extensively about her relationship with Nicholson, saying that he introduced her to things no one else could. She writes that the first time she visited Las Vegas was in the back of a limo with good ol’ Jack:
The first time I saw Las Vegas, I was riding in the backseat of a limousine with Jack. It was a black velvet night, the Strip still baking from the blazing sun of day, a reddening of the sky over a gash on the desert floor, ahead of us a ribbon of colored lights flashing like a gaudy fault line. On both sides of the street, an effulgent avenue of kitsch—the Flamingo’s shocking-pink casino, the Roman columns of Caesars Palace—and on the pavement the transients, adrenaline junkies, hawkers, hookers, dancers, and gangsters with their girlfriends and their bodyguards.
Traffic in Los Angeles, 1950.
Even if you’ve never paid a visit to lipstick city you know that Los Angeles has a major problem with traffic. The warm weather, proximity to the ocean, and the possibility of stardom has been drawing doe eyed hopefuls to LA since the advent of the silver screen, and there’s just no way to accommodate the drivers of Los Angeles.
This traffic jam on Figueroa may look rough, but it doesn’t compare to the gridlock that the city still faces today. In fact, some of the people in the traffic jam that's pictured might still be stuck in this mess. Still, all that traffic is worth for a shot at the big time, right?
A Philips car radio ad from 1968.
Hold onto your butts readers, because this car stereo from Phillips doesn’t just play your favorite radio stations, but it can play cassette tapes too. Imagine the freedom that drivers felt when they learned that they could listen to just about any song they wanted to, whenever the fancy struck them. This era of cassettes signaled a major turn in car culture, with cruising the local drag becoming the must do event for the weekend.
What was your first car stereo like? Did you have a cassette player or were you still rocking an 8-track? Or, even worse, were just jamming to the sounds of the AM station?
The precarious-looking chain 'bridge' at the Jianyou hill temple in China, 1930.
Being a monk takes many skills. You’ve got to be able to stay quiet for years at a time, be comfortable eating rice for every meal, and apparently you’ve got to have great balance. That’s the only way to explain this very chill looking monk confidently striding across what we’re very politely referring to as a “bridge,” although it’s technically more like a couple of ropes.
How long do you think you’d last on a bridge like this? Would you even attempt to cross the chasm below or would you decide to go back home the moment you saw what kind of obstacle you’d have to face on an every day basis?
Bram Stoker's vampire in the horror film "Nosferatu." (1922).
Nosferatu, also known as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, was shot in 1921, only 24 years after the release of Bram Stoker’s novel. Since they didn’t get permission from the Stoker estate to adapt the property the filmmakers did their best to differentiate their film from the source material, however despite changing the name of Count Dracula to “Count Orlock” the film was ordered to be destroyed.
Thankfully, not all of the copies saw the inside of an incinerator and Nosferatu saw its US release on June 3, 1929 - a perfect summer film, don’t you think? The film was an immediate critical hit upon its US release, and its still regarded as one of the best adaptations of Stoker’s work.
Civil War veteran Jacob Miller had lived with an open gunshot wound to the forehead. He was quoted as saying “17 years after I was wounded, a buckshot fell out of my wound, and 31 years after two pieces of lead fell out”. (1899)
It takes a lot of gumption to keep walking around after being shot in the head, but Jacob Miller managed to stay on his feet for a long time after he suffered the kind of blow that would kill another man. At the time Miller was a private in the Union Army when he was shot, and when he woke up his comrades were long gone and he was forced to take a long walk through Confederate troops in order to return to his battalion.
Miller told an interviewer in 1911:
I suppose I was so covered with blood that those that I met, did not notice that I was a Yank. By this time my head was swelled so bad it shut my eyes and I could see to get along only by raising the lid of my right eye with my finger and looking ahead, then going on till I ran afoul of something, then would look again and so on.
He made it all the way to Chattanooga where he found himself face to face with some of the men from his company who couldn’t believe he survived the shot. Neither can we.
Dolores Costello was once known as the 'Goddess of the Silent Screen' but is probably best remembered today as Drew Barrymore's grandmother.
You wouldn’t expect someone who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1903 to become a star of stage and screen while also jumpstarting a legitimate group of Hollywood royalty, but Dolores Costello wasn’t your standard starlet. She and sister first appeared on Broadway before catching the eye of Warner Brothers Studios. After that it only took a few years before she was starring in films like 1928’s Noah’s Ark - a huge silent film success at the time.
After the advent of sound, Costello took a break from acting to work with a voice actor on her lisp, and returned to the screen in The Show of Shows. Her final acting role came in 1943 with This Is the Army.
Group photo of Don Henley, Don Felder, Linda Ronstadt, Glenn Frey, Governor Jerry Brown, Randy Meisner, Dan Fogelberg, Joe Walsh and Jackson Browne in 1977.
He may not seem like the most rock and roll guy now, but in the late ‘70s California Governor Jerry Brown had his finger on the pulse of the California country-rock scene, and he even had many of the Laurel Canyon bands open up for him while he was raising money for his failed presidential run. In spite of having the support of these rock stars, Brown never managed to connect to their fans.
The LA Times reports that two years after this photo was taken, Brown was heckled at his own fundraiser after he attempted to make a speech following a performance by The Eagles. That was bound to happen one of these nights.
Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Warren Harding and Harvey Firestone on a camping trip in 1921.
Talk about squad goals, these four geniuses didn’t just get together the one time, they actually made a habit of going on many summer camping trips together, and even referred to themselves as the “Four Vagabonds.” Their first trip was to the Everglades, and following that the four gentlemen took a trip to the Panama-Pacific Exposition and drove from Riverside to San Diego.
The group’s 1921 trip consisted of a trip to West Virginia and onto northern Michigan where the gang brought along a staff, equipment for their stay, and Ford Motor Company photographers who documented the whole thing. Imagine what these guys dreamed up on these miraculous trips.
Lynda Carter Hanging Out And Shredding Behind The Scenes Of "Wonder Woman," 1978
As Wonder Woman Lynda Carter had the opportunity to do it all. She used a lasso of truth, kicked bad guy butt, and even got gnarly with some street rats in “Skateboard Wiz,” one of the most radical episodes of television committed to celluloid in the 1970s. Even if Carter didn’t perfect her nose grinds on set, I looks like she still had fun hanging out with her co-stars.
Honestly, what more do you want out of a day spent shredding the concrete than to say you got to hang out with Wonder Woman? And heck, she even manages to make helmets look cool.
Lucille Ball in a scene from "Twelve Crowded Hours," 1939.
Before she was the funniest woman on television, Lucille Ball was a dame to die for. After she moved to Hollywood from New York City, Ball appeared in a series of uncredited roles before signing a studio contract with RKO. After losing out on the part of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (what a different picture that would have been), Ball went on to appear in a ton of B-Movies.
The B-Movie stink would stick to Ball until she created I Love Lucy in 1951, and after that she became one of the most important comedic actresses of the 20th century, paving the way for gals like Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin.
Michael J. Fox rehearsing on set of "Back to the Future" 1985.
If you’re one of the few people who hasn’t seen 1985’s Back to the Future you might think that this is a promotional still from Michael J. Fox’s punk phase, but no, he’s just throwing himself into rehearsal for the enchantment under the sea dance. While plenty of rehearsal is required for a feature film, Fox had to work extra hard for this role.
Fox initially turned down the role as Marty McFly because of his work on Family Ties, so Eric Stotlz was cast. Four weeks into shooting Stotlz was fired because he was giving such a “dramatic,” albeit very good, performance. Fox worked out a deal where he would appear in the film but Family Ties got precedent. The rest, as they say, is history. Or maybe it’s the future?
Anna Haining Swan married Martin van Buren Bates, who was also around 8 foot tall, in 1871. They had the largest newborn ever recorded at 23 lbs and 12 oz, and 30 inches long.
Dating is tough. It can be hard to find someone who really gets you. You know, how hard it is to find clothes that fit, or how annoying it is to have to crouch when you walk through a doorway. Luckily, when Anna Haining Swan - standing at 7 feet 11 inches - was visiting a circus in Halifax, Nova Scotia she met Martin Van Buren Bates, a man who stood at a towering seven and a half feet tall.
The two were married in 1871 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London where they received two diamond studded gold watches from Queen Victoria. Anna Bates died on August 5, 1888, and in 1897 Martini remarried to a woman who didn’t stand quite as tall.
Mount Rushmore before the Presidents heads were carved.
Before Mount Rushmore featured the stoic faces of our four most popular presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln - it was originally known as either “The Six Grandfathers” or “Cougar Mountain” to the Lakota Sioux. In 1923 historian Doane Robinson came up with a plan to bring tourism to South Dakota - Mount Rushmore.
Beginning in 1927, construction of the monument took nearly 20 years to finish and 400 different workers until the faces of the presidents were finally carved into the mountain on October 31, 1941. The presidents stare out at us to this day, and the site receives about 3 million tourists every year.
Winston Churchill, 1895.
This photo from 1895 shows Winston Churchill in his military dress uniform, as at the time he was a a second lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars regiment of the British Army. Chruchill desperately wanted to see active battle, and at the time he did anything he could to put himself in harm’s way. He not only visited Cuba to see their ongoing war of independence, but he also joined up with Spanish forces from time to time.
A year later he traveled to Bombay, India where he stayed for 19 months and spent his time re-educating himself. He read everything from Plato, to Darwin, and even The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It's enough to make you feel like a real lazy bones.
Children doing their telephone lessons in 1934.
As ridiculous as it might seem in an era where people are all but born with phones in their hands, in the early 20th century children had to learn how to use the telephone just in case they one day found themselves in need of using one. The lessons helped young students with everything from knowing the correct way to answer a telephone, and even how to take messages for someone before ending a phone call.
Other rules involved waiting 10 rings before hanging up on a call, and even how to dial someone that you wanted to reach out to. Even though the technology is relatively new, these kids look like they’re doing pretty good.
Uniforms for the Braniff International Airline, 1965.
When you think of groovy airlines you think of smart outfits, cool hairdos, and far out colors, and whether you know it or not you’re thinking of Braniff International Airline. Operating from 1930 to 1982, this forward thinking airline flew to destinations across the world, but when it came to the states you would only find yourself inside one of their jellybean colored planes if you were traveling through the southwest, although they did go nationwide for a short period of time.
One of the most stark differences between Braniff and the competition was their use of color on their planes. Referred to as the “jellybean fleet” each plane had a different color on its body, including yellow, turquoise, and orange.
Delivering the mail in 1900.
As the amount of letters and packages grew in the late 19th century, the post office dreamt up different ways to get out the ever increasing amount of mail in a timely fashion. One such solution was the Penny Farthing - a bicycle with a large front wheel that made the bike capable of traveling high speeds with ease. Postmen would attach two baskets to the cycle in order to carry their bulging sacks of mail before taking off for a day of deliveries.
Even though this sounds like an excellent solution, it turns out that the bike was incredibly hard to steer, which means that the Penny Farthing made delivering the mail harder than it already was.
Smoky was a 4 lb Yorkshire Terrier found in a New Guinea foxhole in WWII. She was a war hero, hospital therapy dog, stage performer and "Mascot of the SW Pacific."
When you’re in a fox hole with bullets whizzing past your head you need someone - or something - with you that’s going to bring you some comfort. That’s where Smoky the Yorkshire terrier comes into play. Founding in New Guinea near an American military base in 1944, this little pooch became a mascot for the U.S. 5th Air Force and a friend to her owner Bill Wynne.
Wynne bought Smoky for 2 pounds Australian ($6.44), and even though she was just a dog she managed to help the military run a telegraph wire through a tight fitting 70-foot long pipe in the Philippines. According to Wynne, “ We were so happy at Smoky’s success that we all patted and praised her for a full five minutes.”
Fawzia Fuad, princess of Egypt and Queen of Iran, with the Shah and their daughter Shahnaz in 1942.
This distinctive beauty is none other than Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad at Ras el-Tin Palace, Alexandria and she was just as impressive as her name would lead you to believe. As a child she was educated in Switzerland where she was trained to speak English and French, along with her mother tongue of Arabic, and as she got older she was often compared to Hedy Lamarr.
In 1939 she became the Queen of Iran when she married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, but after a tumultuous relationship she obtained a divorce in Egypt and went back home where she met Colonel Ismail Chirine. The two were married in 1949 before moving to Cairo and having two children.
The sights around Piccadilly Circus, London. (1939)
Even though World War II was declared in 1939, Londoners were still blissful in their separation from the front for the time being. in fact, this photo of Piccadilly Circus shows that life goes on even at war time. Is there anything more British than double decker busses passing through the Piccadilly as signs for Schweppes and Wrigley’s pop and entice pedestrians?
At this time in the early 20th century, the English were hopeful for a swift end to the war, and how could they know that only a few years after this photo taken much of London would he destroyed in a ghastly set of bombings perpetrated by the Germans?
This little girl entered her toad in a pet show at Venice Beach. (1936)
Not everyone has a floppy eared dog or a big fat cat to call their own. Some folks, like this gal, make do with their pet toads. While we don’t know who this little girl is, or the name of her cold blooded little friend, she certainly deserves an award for originality. Where do you think she found her pet toad? Was it under the steps of her house? Or was she out looking the wet grass when she found it hopping along?
A pet show at Venice Beach sounds like a great way to pass the weekend, especially in depression era California, where work was scarce, which meant people took all the free entertainment they could get.
Queen Victoria with Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Fedorovna and Grand Duchess Tatiana at Balmoral. (1896)
This delightfully dour photograph was taken during Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia’s visit to Balmoral Castle in Scotland in September 1896, only a few months after his coronation. Following his crowning as Tsar, Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna took a trip across Europe where they visited relatives and dignitaries alike.
While Alexandra enjoyed the visit to Scotland, the Tsar complained about having to go shooting with the Prince of Wales in the cold while he had a toothache. After returning from Scotland the Tsar took his new yacht out for a spin. All in all it sounds like a lovely trip.
Harley-Davidson Police Motorcycle Graveyard in Lima, Peru
If you’re a Harley-Davidson fanatic then you know the lengths that some people will go to in order to score parts for their hogs. With that in mind we introduce you to the Harley graveyard in Lima, Peru where one can find a wild amount of Road King Harleys being auctioned off for fairly decent prices. Most of the motorcycles go for around $1,300 - which isn’t bad for an entire motorcycle, scrap or not.
If you’ve got the mechanical know how and the money to burn then get down to Lima and see what you can find. You never know, you might be riding out of there on your new favorite two wheeler.
King Tutankhamun's gold dagger and sheath is more than 3,300 years old.
Talk about a family heirloom, King Tut’s dagger is truly a fascinating piece of history. The gold dagger was discovered along with a similar weapon made of iron in 1925, three years after Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Initially the iron dagger was of more interest to researchers because of the rarity of the metal in the Bronze Age.
The gold dagger is sheathed with an ornately decorated pattern that shows animals galloping up and down the covering. The blade itself is quite simple but absolutely astonishing to look at. No wonder he wanted to be buried with it.
The elegant 145 year-old staircase of the Opéra Garnier in Paris.
After 15 years of construction, the Opéra Garnier opened in 1875 as a place where nobility of the highest order went to show off their wealth, to be frivolous, to see and be seen. It was the play place for the most wealthy people in the world, and following the Franco-Prussian War the wealthy of France to ready to party.
While the entire building is intricate and ornate, it’s the staircase that really jumps out at viewers. Each step is constructed from multi-colored tables from every part of Europe and you won’t find a right angle among the bunch. It’s truly a marvel of historical architecture and worth every penny.
Here's a Corinthian helmet from the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) that was found with the warrior's skull still inside of it.
Now this is a real soldier. This Corinthian helmet from the Battle of Marathon wasn’t just discovered like some kind of standard artifact. No way, this helmet was actually found with the skull of the soldier still inside. These helmets were made of bronze, and even though they left slits for the mouth and eyes, everything else was covered - the head, the neck, all of it.
This particular helmet was found on the Plain of Marathon in 1834, which is some two thousand years after the Greek Army stood their ground against the Persian empire and ended up pushing the group back even though they were vastly outnumbered.