My Name is Barbra: 12 Childhood Photos of Barbra Streisand From the 1940s

Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother had been a soprano in her youth and considered a career in music, but later became a school secretary. Her father was a high school teacher at the same school, where they first met.

According to Streisand, childhood was an unhappy, even traumatic, period of her life. Her father Emanuel died unexpectedly when she was only 15 months old. She describes her mother Diana as self-absorbed and emotionally distant. For example, instead of empathizing with Streisand’s dream to be an actress and supporting her, Diana often said that Streisand wasn’t pretty enough to be a star and should give up.

Diana couldn’t support the family on her own, so they moved in with her parents. As a result, Barbra lived in a one-bedroom apartment with four other people: her mother, her brother Sheldon, and her maternal grandparents Louis and Esther Rosen.

When Streisand was eight years old, her mother began dating—and eventually married—a man named Louis Kind, allowing them to finally move out of the small apartment. However, Kind mistreated Diana and was emotionally abusive toward the children; Streisand says he seemed to resent her and Sheldon simply for existing.

Streisand says that, because of her difficult childhood, she has always loved escapism. As a child and a teenager, she attended movies and Broadway shows whenever she could; she found fiction more engaging than real life. This undoubtedly contributed to her love of acting and performing. Here, below is a collection of 12 adorable childhood photos of Barbra Streisand from the 1940s:

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40 Amazing Photos That Show Rural Americans’ Clothing in the Mid-19th Century

In the 19th century, rural Americans’ clothing reflected the practicalities of their daily lives. Men typically wore trousers, often made of denim or sturdy cotton, paired with button-up shirts and suspenders. Vests were common, providing additional warmth and pockets for small tools or personal items. Boots or sturdy shoes were essential for farm work.

Women’s clothing consisted of long dresses or skirts, often made from homemade calico or other durable fabrics. These dresses were usually accessorized with aprons for practicality and protection. Bonnets or wide-brimmed hats were worn to shield from the sun while working outdoors.

Children’s clothing was typically simple and practical. Boys often wore shirts, trousers, and vests, while girls wore dresses with pinafores for protection. Fabrics were durable, like cotton or wool, and colors tended to be muted due to practicality and availability. Clothing was often handmade at home or by local seamstresses, and it was common for garments to be passed down among siblings or generations.

Overall, rural Americans’ clothing prioritized durability, comfort, and functionality to withstand the demands of agricultural life. Here below is a set of amazing photos from Mitch Young that shows what rural Americans looked like in the mid-19th century.

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Teenagers Cramming into a VW Beetle, 1964

With the silly season upon us again a group Laudra Vista Junior High students from Fullerton, California, try to set a new record in car packing; they managed to put in 31, 13 and 14 year-olds into this Volkswagen Beetle on May 12, 1964.

Pictures show 31 teenagers (10 boys and 21 girls, average weight 100 lbs., height 5 feet) who have stuffed themselves into the tiny car, claiming a new record. The kids practiced with one of their families’ cars but stopped at 25 (they say was the old record) and borrowed one from a dealer for the record attempt.

25 Fabulous Photos of Rita Hayworth During the Filming of ‘Tonight and Every Night’ (1945)

Tonight and Every Night is a 1945 American musical film directed by Victor Saville and starring Rita Hayworth, Lee Bowman and Janet Blair. The film portrays wartime romance and tragedy in a London musical show, loosely modeled on the Windmill Theatre in Soho, that determined not to miss a single performance during the Blitz. Hayworth plays an American showgirl who falls in love with an RAF pilot played by Bowman.

The film was adapted from the play Heart of a City by Lesley Storm. It was used as a Technicolor vehicle for Rita Hayworth after her success with Cover Girl. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Music, Original Song (for “Anywhere”) and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. A major highlight of the film is Hayworth in the “You Excite Me” number, a number often cited as one of Hayworth’s best performances.

These fabulous photos captured portraits of Rita Hayworth during the filming of Tonight and Every Night in 1945.

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15 Adorable Photos of Shirley Temple as a Baby From the Late 1920s

Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood’s number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.

Shirley Jane Temple was born at Santa Monica Hospital (now UCLA Medical Center) in Santa Monica, California, the third child of homemaker Gertrude Temple and bank employee George Temple. The family was of Dutch, English, and German ancestry.

Temple’s mother encouraged her to develop her singing, dancing, and acting talents. At about this time, her mother began styling Temple’s hair in ringlets.

While at the dance school, Temple was spotted by Charles Lamont, who was a casting director for Educational Pictures. She hid behind a piano while he was in the studio. Lamont liked Temple and invited her to audition. He signed her to a contract in 1932. Educational Pictures launched its Baby Burlesks, 10-minute comedy shorts satirizing recent films and events, using preschool children in every role. In 1933, Temple appeared in Glad Rags to Riches, a parody of the Mae West feature She Done Him Wrong, with Temple as a saloon singer. That same year, she appeared in Kid ‘in’ Africa as a child imperiled in the jungle and in Runt Page, a pastiche of the previous year’s The Front Page. The younger players in the cast recited their lines phonetically.

Temple became the breakout star of this series, and Educational promoted her to 20-minute comedies in the Frolics of Youth series with Frank Coghlan Jr. Temple played Mary Lou Rogers, the baby sister in a contemporary suburban family. Temple and her child costars modeled for breakfast cereals and other products to fund production costs. She was lent to Tower Productions for a small role in the studio’s first feature film, The Red-Haired Alibi (1932), and in 1933 to Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Pictures for various parts, including an uncredited role in To the Last Man (1933), starring Randolph Scott and Esther Ralston.

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Impressive Fashion Designs by Jeanne Paquin in the 1950s

Born 1869 in Saint-Denis, French fashion designer Jeanne Paquin trained as a dressmaker at Rouff and later opened her own fashion house in 1891, the first woman to ever do so. The Maison Paquin quickly became known for its Eighteenth century-inspired pastel evening dresses and tailored day dresses, as well as for its numerous publicity stunts, including organizing fashion parades to promote her new models and sending her models to operas and races in order to show off her designs.

Fashion designs by Jeanne Paquin in the 1950s

Paquin also frequently collaborated with the illustrators and architects Leon Bakst, George Barbier, Robert Mallet-Stevens, and Louis Süe for the creation of stage costumes, the publication of dress albums and the decoration of her private residences, reinforcing her reputation as a thoroughly modern designer.

Paquin withdrew from the House in 1920, leaving the administration with Henri Joire, and the artistic direction to Madeleine Wallis. The direction of the House later returned to Colette Massignac who was able to adapt the style of the collections to the popular “New Look” of the 1950s. In 1953, the Maison Paquin purchased the French branch of the House of Worth, but financial difficulties forced the House to close down in 1956.

Known for her resolutely modern and innovative designs, in her time, Paquin had a prestige equal to that of Charles Frederick Worth and Jacques Doucet but is nowadays largely forgotten. These vintage photos captured portraits of classic beauties wearing fashion designs by Jeanne Paquin in the 1950s.

Jackie Stoloff in black silk crêpe dress printed with large blue butterflies, by Jeanne Paquin, photo by Georges Saad, 1950

Maxime de la Falaise in a dress she designed for Jeanne Paquin's boutique and accessorized in her own inimitable style, photo by Horst P. Horst, 1950

Maxime De La Falaise wearing fish-tailed striped gown by Jeanne Paquin, photo by Cecil Beaton, Vogue, January 1950

Model in beautifully executed coat of black organza falling from a rounded yoke in alternating bands of sheer organza by Jeanne Paquin, photo by Philippe Pottier, 1950

Model in black wool coat with astrakhan collar and long scarf by Paquin, photo by Philippe Pottier, 1950

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Photos of Teenage Beatles Fans in Their Bedrooms From the 1960s

Beatles fans with decorated bedrooms in the 1960s often adorned their walls with posters, magazine clippings, and photographs of the band. They might have had Beatles-themed bedding, curtains, and rugs. Some fans collected memorabilia like buttons, records, and dolls to display in their rooms. It wasn’t uncommon to find Beatles posters, album covers, and even lyrics hand-painted or stenciled onto walls. Beatles-inspired color schemes, like the iconic yellow submarine, were also popular choices for bedroom decor.

It’s undeniable that the Beatles changed popular culture forever. Formed in Liverpool in 1960, they went on to become an international pop sensation, creating legions of teenage fans. Their hype became so big that fan culture became known as Beatlemania and gave rise to a new kind of fandom that still permeates today.

Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the Beatles from 1963 to 1966. The group’s popularity grew in the United Kingdom in late 1963, propelled by the singles “Please Please Me,” “From Me to You” and “She Loves You.” By October, the British press adopted the term “Beatlemania” to describe the scenes of adulation that attended the band’s concert performances. By February 22, 1964, the Beatles held both the number one and number two spots on the Billboard Hot 100, with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You,” respectively. Their world tours were characterized by the same levels of hysteria and high-pitched screaming by female fans, both at concerts and during the group’s travels between venues. Commentators likened the intensity of this adulation to a religious fervor and to a female masturbation fantasy. Among the displays of deity-like worship, fans would approach the band in the belief that they possessed supernatural healing powers.

In February 1964, the Beatles arrived in the United States and their televised performances on The Ed Sullivan Show were viewed by approximately 73 million people. There, the band’s instant popularity established their international stature, and their unprecedented domination of the national sales charts was mirrored in numerous other countries. Their August 1965 concert at New York’s Shea Stadium marked the first time that a large outdoor stadium was used for such a purpose, and with an audience of 55,000, set records for attendance and revenue generation. To protect them from their fans, the Beatles typically traveled to these concerts by armored car. From the end of that year, the band embraced promo clips for their singles to avoid the difficulties of making personal appearances on television programs. Their December 1965 album Rubber Soul marked a profound change in the dynamic between fans and artists, as many Beatles fans sought to appreciate the progressive quality in the band’s look, lyrics and sound.

In 1966, John Lennon controversially remarked that the group had become “more popular than Jesus.” Soon afterwards, when the Beatles toured Japan, the Philippines and the US, they were entangled in mob revolt, violence, political backlash and threats of assassination. Frustrated by the restrictions of Beatlemania and unable to hear themselves play above their fans’ screams, the group stopped touring and became a studio-only band. Their popularity and influence expanded in various social and political arenas, while Beatlemania continued on a reduced scale from then and into the members’ solo careers.

Beatlemania surpassed any previous examples of fan worship in its intensity and scope. Initially, the fans were predominantly young adolescent females, sometimes called “teenyboppers,” and their behavior was scorned by many commentators. By 1965, their fanbase included listeners who traditionally shunned youth-driven pop culture, which helped bridge divisions between folk and rock enthusiasts. During the 1960s, Beatlemania was the subject of analysis by psychologists and sociologists; a 1997 study recognized the phenomenon as an early demonstration of proto-feminist girl power. The receptions of subsequent pop acts – particularly boy bands and Taylor Swift – have drawn comparisons to Beatlemania, although none have replicated the breadth and depth of the Beatles’ fandom nor its cultural impact.

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