A beautician and Max Factor agent paints a seam on a woman’s bare leg. The aim was to produce a tromp l’oeuil effect, giving the impression that the woman was wearing the sheerest of stockings, 1940.
History Meme > 1/10 moments: The 16th-18th Century Witch-craze
Between the 1500’s to the early 1700’s the witch-craze reached its height, this was the era of the witch hunters and tens of thousands perished at the hands of prosecutors. Though many records have been lost of destroyed, most historians believe that around 200,000 people were tried for witchcraft and about half that number were executed during this time. Around 90% of “witches” were elderly or widowed women and children.
“All wickedness, is but little to the wickedness of the woman… What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an un-escapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil nature, painted with fair colours… Women are by nature instruments of Satan… they are by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation.” - Heinrich Kramer (Malleus Maleficarum/Hammer of the Witches, 1486)
“The devil wins over more women than men, because they are naturally more imbecile. And we see among those brought before the parlemants on charges of witchcraft, there are ten times more women.” - Pierre de Lancre (Tableau de l’inconstance des mauvais anges et démons/On the Inconstancy of Witches, 1612)
“It is the power of bestial desire which has reduced women to extremities to indulge these appetites, or to avenge themselves…for the internal organs are seen to be larger in women than in men, whose desires are not so violent: by contrast, the heads of men are much larger, and in consequence they have more brains and prudence than women.” - Jean Bodin (De la démonomanie des sorciers/Of the Demon-mania of the Sorcerers, 1604)
Lena Horne with a group of Tuskegee Airmen on January 1, 1945. There are countless photos of Ms. Horne visiting Tuskegee Airmen and other military personnel to show her support for their service. She also showed her support for them by refusing to perform for segregated military audiences during World War II. Photo: Associated Press.
Old Hollywood + Women in History:
- Greta Garbo | Queen Christina of Sweden
- Bette Davis | Elizabeth I of England
- Katharine Hepburn | Mary Queen of Scots
- Norma Shearer | Marie Antoinette of France
- Lucille Ball | Comtesse du Barry
- Elizabeth Taylor | Cleopatra VII
USS Astoria sailors on a brief liberty at Mog Mog fleet recreation center in Ulithi Atoll. January 28th,1945 (x)
On 3 December 1976, two days before “Smile Jamaica”, a free concert organised in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley’s home. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest an arm. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?”
Boulevard de Strasbourg (Corsets) photographed by Eugène Atget, Paris (1912)
Betty Broadbent was born on November 1, 1909 in Philadelphia.
Her interest in tattooing began at the early age of fourteen. It was then she met Jack Redcloud while working as a nanny in Atlantic City. Redcloud introduced her to his tattoo artist, Charlie Wagner. In 1927 Wagner, alongside several other tattoo artists, including: Tony Rhineagear, Joe Van Hart and Red Gibbons would tattoo a bodysuit of over 565 tattoos on Broadbent.
On May 3, of 1939 the New York Times would quote Broadbent stating, “It hurt something awful, but it was was worth it.” In the same year, Broadbent began exhibiting her art with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. While working in a side show in 1939, Broadbent challenged the traditional views of beauty for women during the 1930s by participating in a beauty pageant at the World’s Fair.
Alongside exhibiting her art, Broadbent tattooed others herself. She worked in shops across the country including spaces located in Montreal, San Francisco and New York. She also spent time working for independent circuses in both New Zealand and Australia. When she returned home to the United States, she continued performing and traveling in a side show until she retired in 1967.
Betty Broadbent is regarded as the most photographed tattooed lady of the 20th century. In 1981, Broadbent was the first person to be inducted into the Tattoo Hall of Fame.
Betty Broadbent died in Florida on March 28, 1983 (x)
Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson plays “Going Home” as FDR’s body is borne past in Warm Springs, GA, where the President was scheduled to attend a barbecue on the day he died. April, 1945.
by Edward Clark
“Pin-up girls at Naval Air Station Seattle, Spring Formal Dance. Left to right- Jeanne McIver, Harriet Berry, Muriel Alberti, Nancy Grant, Maleina Bagley, and Matti Ethridge.” April 10th, 1944 (x)
It was a sunny summer afternoon, July 29, 1925. Harry Warnecke, a photographer for the New York News, got a phone tip that a cat trying to carry its kittens home was tying up traffic because a policeman had stopped the cars on a busy street (Centre Street) to allow it to cross. Warnecke arrived after the event was over, but he convinced the policeman and cat’s owner to allow him to recreate the scene. Despite the policeman’s initial reluctance, the cat’s inclination to cross the street diagonally instead of in front of the cars, and furious honking motorists, Warnecke finally got his shot — after three attempts. (x)
Know were you stand: Modern Day Locations blended with Major Historical Events by Seth Taras
1. The Hindenberg Disaster of May 6, 1937
2. Allied soldiers rushing the beach at Normandy in June 1944
3. The Fall of the Berlin wall in 1989
4. Adolf Hitler touring Paris and standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in 1940
George Junius Stinney was the youngest person in America to be executed on death row in 1944 at age 14. He was quickly accused by the (white police) of ‘killing’ two little (white girls) with lack of evidence. His conviction and sentencing opened and closed in one day. There were no witnesses called and there was no transcript of the trial details and black people were not allowed inside the courtroom during that time.
