Adorable Photo of Six-Year-Old Martha Stewart Arranging Flowers in 1947

“I love this photo, taken by my father when I was about six years old with his old Rolleiflex camera in natural light,” she recalled. “As a small girl, I often cut flowers from our garden to make arrangements for my mother. I still look forward to putting together different combinations every spring.”

35 Beautiful Photos of Diana Lewis in the 1930s and 1940s

Born 1919 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, American actress Diana Lewis was a singer with the orchestra led by Larry Leeds. She began her film career in It’s a Gift (1934) and worked steadily over the next few years, usually in minor roles.

Her more notable films include It’s a Gift, Gold Diggers in Paris (1938), Go West (1940), and Johnny Eager (1941). She was the love interest of Andy Hardy as Daphne Fowler in Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940).

Lewis retired from acting in 1943. She died in 1997 from pancreatic cancer in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 77. Take a look at these vintage photos to see the beauty of young Diana Lewis in the 1930s and 1940s.

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Photos of Veronica Lake During the Filming of “Sullivan’s Travels” (1941)

Sullivan’s Travels is a 1941 American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. A satire on the film industry, it follows a famous Hollywood comedy director (Joel McCrea) who, longing to make a socially relevant drama, sets out to live as a tramp to gain life experience for his forthcoming film. Along the way he unites with a poor aspiring actress (Veronica Lake) who accompanies him. The title is a reference to Gulliver’s Travels, the 1726 novel by satirist Jonathan Swift about another journey of self-discovery.

Sullivan’s Travels received disparate critical reception upon its release. The New York Times described it as “the most brilliant picture yet this year”, praising Sturges’s mix of escapist fun with underlying significance, and ranked it as one of the ten best films of 1941. But The Hollywood Reporter said that it lacked the “down to earth quality and sincerity which made [Sturges’s] other three pictures of 1941 – The Great McGinty, The Lady Eve, and Christmas in July – ‘a joy to behold’”.

Over time, the film’s reputation has improved tremendously. Media historian Hal Erickson classified it as a “classic”, “one of the finest movies about movies ever made” and a “masterpiece”. In 1990, Sullivan’s Travels was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of Veronica Lake during the filming of Sullivan’s Travels in 1941.

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Before the White House Years, Here Are Some Rarely Seen Vintage Photos of a Young Jackie Kennedy From the Late 1940s

In the 1940s, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, who would later become Jackie Kennedy, was in her youth and early adulthood. Born on July 28, 1929, she spent her childhood and teenage years during this decade.

In 1940, at the age of 11, she won a national junior horsemanship competition. The New York Times reported, “Jacqueline Bouvier, an eleven-year-old equestrienne from East Hampton, Long Island, scored a double victory in the horsemanship competition. Miss Bouvier achieved a rare distinction. The occasions are few when the same rider wins both competitions in the same show.”

Onassis attended Miss Porter’s School, a prestigious boarding school in Farmington, Connecticut; in addition to its rigorous academics, the school also emphasized proper manners and the art of conversation. There she excelled as a student, writing frequent essays and poems for the school newspaper and winning the award as the school’s top literature student in her senior year. Also during her senior year, in 1947, Onassis was named “Debutante of the Year” by a local newspaper. However, Onassis had greater ambitions than being recognized for her beauty and popularity. She wrote in the yearbook that her life ambition was “not to be a housewife.”

Upon graduating from Miss Porter’s School Onassis enrolled at Vassar College in New York to study history, literature, art and French. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Paris. “I loved it more than any year of my life,” Onassis later wrote about her time there. “Being away from home gave me a chance to look at myself with a jaundiced eye. I learned not to be ashamed of a real hunger for knowledge, something that I had always tried to hide, and I came home glad to start in here again but with a love for Europe that I am afraid will never leave me.”

By the end of the 1940s, Jackie was transitioning from her sheltered upbringing into a young woman who would soon step into the public eye in the 1950s.

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In the Mid-20th Century, Drive-in Theaters Were the Perfect Place to Catch a Flick From the Comfort and Privacy of Your Car

Drive-in theaters were a popular form of entertainment in the mid-20th century, reflecting a unique aspect of American culture during that time.

The first drive-in theater was opened by Richard M. Hollingshead Jr. on June 6, 1933, in Camden, New Jersey. His idea was to create a movie-watching experience where people could enjoy films from the comfort of their cars. Drive-ins saw a major increase in popularity after World War II, during the 1950s and 1960s. This growth was fueled by the rise of the automobile culture and suburban expansion.

Drive-ins provided an affordable and family-friendly outing. They were especially popular for double features, where two movies were shown for the price of one ticket. The drive-in also became a social gathering spot, where people could meet up with friends or have a date night. The relaxed environment made it a unique cultural space.

The rise of multiplex cinemas, home video technology, and changing entertainment preferences contributed to the decline of drive-ins in the late 20th century. By the 1980s and 1990s, many drive-ins had closed or been repurposed.

Here’s some photographs show what drive-in theaters looked like in their glory days.

The first drive-in theater in the US, located in Camden, New Jersey, 1933.

Automobiles line up to enter a drive-in located in Los Angeles, 1934.

People make their way into the the Cinemotor Theater in Los Angeles, 1938.

A woman purchases concessions at a drive-in located in Valley Stream, New York, 1938.

A couple in the front seat of a convertible at a drive-in movie theater, circa 1945.

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35 Glamorous Portrait Photos of Pin-Up Girls of the Yank, the Army Weekly

Yank, the Army Weekly was a weekly magazine published from 1942 through 1945 and distributed to members of the American military during World War II. Yank included war news, photography, and other features. It had a circulation of more than 2.6 million. One of its most popular features, intended to boost the morale of military personnel serving overseas, was the weekly publication of a pin-up photograph.

Pin-up girls of the Yank, the Army Weekly

A feature story in Parade published in 1945 noted: “Excellent war reporting and photography, serious discussions of postwar problems and the now famous Sad Sack cartoons have made Yank welcome on far-flung battle lines. But the page most often torn out and tacked up for future reference on barrack walls and foot lockers is the one bearing the official insigne, ‘Yank Pin-Up Girl.’”

Yank pin-ups were distributed to locations worldwide where American soldiers, sailors, and Marines were serving. In 1944, the Associated Press published a report that pin-up pictures from Yank were discovered on display on the wall of the chief’s hut in a remote jungle village in Burma.

Here below is a set of glamorous photos that shows portraits of pin-up girls of the Yank, the Army Weekly.

Ann Miller, Yank, the Army Weekly, December 19, 1943

Dolores Moran, Yank, the Army Weekly, August 8, 1943

Doris Merrick, Yank, the Army Weekly, May 2, 1943

Eleanor Parker, Yank, the Army Weekly, August 1, 1943

Hedy Lamarr, Yank, the Army Weekly, November 14, 1943

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Amazing Vintage Photographs of Pneumatic Tube Messaging Systems

Pneumatic tube systems are not novel to the 21st century, the concept of pneumatic transportation can be traced back to the late 18th century. Historically pneumatic tube systems connecting buildings were first used by the post office.

Engineer Latimer Clark was the first to design and build a tube system, which went into operation at London Telegraph Office in 1853. This system would revolutionize rapid transportation; paper telegrams could be transported rapidly between the London Stock Exchange and the London Telegraph Office – a total distance of 220 yards – through a network of underground tubes using compressed air. Popularity in rapid transportation grew quickly leading to the expansion of the tube network; the length and diameter were altered in order to connect a greater number of locations and to facilitate the transportation of larger goods including parcels.

London had almost 22 miles of underground tube by 1880. Department stores were also using air tubes in the early 1900s sending payments to the cash office and returning the change to the sales desks. Initially, metal tubing was used and compressed air.

During the 19th century, Pneumatic Tube Systems were primarily a postal service; utilized by post offices, stock exchanges and banks alike, to rapidly transport goods between two locations. Pneumatic Tube Systems were a turning point, especially within the financial sector. London’s network of underground tubes eliminated the need for frequent road travel, providing an alternative, fast and efficient means of communication. It was not long until local stock exchanges in Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester installed similar systems.

Overtime, Pneumatic Tube Technology developed and was applied to various sectors including, hospitals. On account of the systems success, during the late 19th century other European cities began to utilize similar systems to speed up internal communication. A major tube network was constructed in Paris to be utilized for postal travel. Demand led to the extension of such networks and by the 20th century, pneumatic messages could be delivered across Paris in its entirety.

Today, Pneumatic tube systems are not utilized on the same scale as they were a century ago – likely on account of modern innovations such as the mobile phone. Nevertheless, there continues to be a great demand for Pneumatic Technology within several fields’ especially health care facilities. Dealing with hundreds of patients a day, hospitals required a quick way to transport samples and medication between locations. Despite continuing technological advances, Pneumatic Tube Systems continue to play an integral role in modern day health system.

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The Mysterious Disappearance of the Surcouf, the Largest Cruiser Submarine of World War II

Surcouf was a large French gun-armed cruiser submarine of the mid 20th century. She carried two 8” guns as well as anti-aircraft guns and (for most of her career) a floatplane. Surcouf served in the French Navy and, later, the Free French Naval Forces during the Second World War.

Surcouf disappeared during the night of February 18-19, 1942 in the Caribbean Sea. She was named after the French privateer and shipowner Robert Surcouf. She was the largest submarine built until surpassed by the first Japanese I-400 class aircraft carrier submarine in 1944.

In January 1942, the Free French leadership decided to send Surcouf to the Pacific theatre, after she had been re-supplied at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda. However, her movement south triggered rumors that Surcouf was going to liberate Martinique from the Vichy regime. In fact, Surcouf was bound for Sydney, Australia, via Tahiti. She departed Halifax on February 2 for Bermuda, which she left on February 12, bound for the Panama Canal.

Surcouf vanished on the night of February 18-19, 1942, about 130 km (70 nmi) north of Cristóbal, Panama, while en route for Tahiti, via the Panama Canal. An American report concluded the disappearance was due to an accidental collision with the American freighter Thompson Lykes. Steaming alone from Guantanamo Bay on what was a very dark night, the freighter reported hitting and running down a partially submerged object which scraped along her side and keel. Her lookouts heard people in the water but, thinking she had hit a U-boat, the freighter did not stop although cries for help were heard in English. A signal was sent to Panama describing the incident.

The loss resulted in 130 deaths (including 4 Royal Navy personnel), under the command of Frigate Captain Georges Louis Nicolas Blaison.  The loss of Surcouf was announced by the Free French Headquarters in London on April 18, 1942, and was reported in The New York Times the next day. It was not reported Surcouf was sunk as the result of a collision with the Thompson Lykes until January 1945.

The investigation of the French commission concluded the disappearance was the consequence of misunderstanding. A Consolidated PBY, patrolling the same waters on the night of February 18-19, could have attacked Surcouf believing her to be German or Japanese. This theory could have been backed by several elements:

• The witness testimonies of cargo ship SS Thompson Lykes, which accidentally collided with a submarine, described a submarine smaller than Surcouf
• The damage to the Thompson Lykes was too light for a collision with Surcouf
• The position of Surcouf did not correspond to any position of German submarines at that moment
• The Germans did not register any submarine loss in that sector during the war.

Inquiries into the incident were haphazard and late, while a later French inquiry supported the idea that the sinking had been due to “friendly fire”; this conclusion was supported by Rear Admiral Auphan in his book The French Navy in World War II. Charles de Gaulle stated in his memoirs that Surcouf “had sunk with all hands.”

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Fashion Designs by Clare Potter in the 1940s and ’50s

Born 1903 in Jersey City, New Jersey, American fashion designer Clare Potter was one of the first American fashion designers to be promoted as an individual design talent in the 1930s. Working under her elided name Clarepotter, she has been credited as one of the inventors of American sportswear.

Fashion designs by Clare Potter in the 1940s and ’50s

Based in Manhattan, Potter continued designing through the 1940s and 1950s. Her clothes were renowned for being elegant, but easy-to-wear and relaxed, and for their distinctive use of colour. She founded a ready-to-wear fashion company in Manhattan named Timbertop in 1948, and in the 1960s she also established a wholesale company to manufacture fashions.

Potter was one of the 17 women gathered together by Edna Woolman Chase, editor-in-chief of Vogue to form the Fashion Group International, Inc., in 1928. She died in 1999 at home in Fort Ann, New York at the age of 95.

Model in two-piece evening dress of pink crêpe, the skirt wraps and holds with heavy tucks at the hem, the blouse is split in front, by Clare Potter, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper's Bazaar, November 1944

Model in golden-beige crêpe, bound and tied with shoestrings of the crêpe and banded in eggshell blue, the stole is in beige, blue and gold by Clare Potter, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper's Bazaar, April 1945

Model wearing a coral-colored rayon dress with matching shawl from Clare Potter, standing on the roof of New York's MOMA, 1945

Model in long, supple sheath of beige wool jersey down to the hemtop where it breaks out in pleats and loops in bright gilt thread by Clare Potter, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe at the Wildenstein Gallery, Harper's Bazaar, September 1946

Barbara Tullgren in an ice-yellow and heat-yellow stretch of a dress by Clare Potter, photo by John Rawlings, Vogue, June 1, 1947

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35 Fabulous Photos of Rita Hayworth During the Filming of ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ (1947)

The Lady from Shanghai is a 1947 American film noir produced and directed by Orson Welles that stars Rita Hayworth, Welles and Everett Sloane. Welles’s screenplay is based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King.

Although the Columbia Pictures film initially received mixed reviews, it has grown in stature over the years. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

These fabulous photos captured portraits of Rita Hayworth during the filming of The Lady from Shanghai in 1947.

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35 Fascinating Portraits of Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers, the dancer who famously did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels, was a legend of the silver screen in the 1930s and 1940s thanks to roles in films like Swing Time, Monkey Business, and Top Hat. She wowed the world with her dance moves and acting chops, earning her spot among Hollywood's biggest stars. While Rogers may have followed her dreams to California, it all started in the South.

Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. In traditional Southern fashion, young Virginia quickly earned the nickname “Ginger” when one of her young cousins couldn’t pronounce her first name and the name stuck. At age eight, she moved with her mother and stepfather (whose last name she later adopted) to Dallas and then Fort Worth.

Ginger was enamored with Hollywood from a young age, thanks in part to her mother, Lela, who worked both as a script writer for silent stars and then as a theater critic for the Kansas City Post and, later, the Fort Worth Record. Her mother introduced her to the actors and dancers who were appearing in the city, and Ginger was smitten with the idea of stardom. Luckily, she was already proving herself to be quite the dancer. Like many little girls, Rogers loved to dance, attending lessons since she was a small child.

When she was fourteen, Rogers won the Texas State Charleston Championship. The victory launched her on a three-year tour as a vaudeville performer, which lead her to Broadway and then to the silver screen. It wasn’t an easy path, of course, when LIFE profiled the star, they wrote, “Rehearsing sometimes for 18 hours straight, Ginger often left the studio at night with her feet bleeding.” The hard work paid off. When the calendar turned to 1930, Ginger was nineteen years old and earning the queenly sum of $1,000 a week starring in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy alongside another newcomer, Ethel Merman. Hollywood was beckoning, though.

Ginger moved to Hollywood a year later and started making feature films for RKO. By the time she was cast alongside Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio, she had already made 19 movies (by contrast, it was only Astaire’s second film), including 42nd Street. The chemistry between Astaire and Rogers was immediately obvious and after their dance in the film, The Carioca, became a smash, the studio set out to make more movies with the duo. They went on to make nine more films together and would credit each other as their best screen partners, but their films together were just the start of their long and storied careers.

After a string of comedies and musicals, Ginger wanted to establish herself as a serious actress. She managed that with Kitty Foyle, a performance that not only made it clear she had real acting chops, but earned her an Oscar, besting both Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn.

Ginger’s film career started to disappear in the 1950s, when audiences’ tastes changed. That didn’t slow Rogers down though. She returned to Broadway in shows like Annie Get Your Gun, Bells Are Ringing, and Hello, Dolly. She also decided to take her tennis skills on the road: She entered the U.S. national championship's mixed doubles at age 39 in 1950.

Rogers passed away in 1995 at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, with a resume that spanned more than 70 films, an Oscar, and a lasting legacy as an icon of dance, that all started with a Charleston contest in Texas.

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