They are all wearing dance shoes so they are probably performers for a variety show. Since no one had decent air conditioning back then, practicing their acts outside on the roof was better than in a stuffy theater. Someone must have thought it'd make a…
This sign was posted at the 363rd Station Hospital during World War II, in Papua, New Guinea. It effectively (if morbidly) promoted the use of Atabrine, an anti-malaria drug. Also, it's an example of persuasive advertising where the skulls and the langu…
Until the end of the 1930s, the best women’s stockings were made from silk. This changed in the United States when DuPont began manufacturing nylon in 1939. Nylon stockings went on limited sale in October of that year followed by a national launch at selec…
Twenty graybeards sitting in a square played chess in Paris against a very small boy 8 years old, and Samuel Reshevsky beat them all. According to New York Times: on May 17, 1920, Reshevky faced 20 players in a simul in Paris and the boy “moved qu…
Vlasik’s off-the-record photos of Stalin caused a sensation in the early 1960s when an enterprising Soviet journalist spirited some out, selling them to newspapers and magazines worldwide. This photo shows how human this “monster” was, like Hitler with his…
The gun players are WH Murphy and his assistant, of the Protective Garment Corporation of New York. By 1923, the Protective Garment Corporation of New York manufactured a lightweight vest for police use and they held a live demonstration in DC. The live…