Throwback to Grace Kelly’s Iconic 1956 Wedding Dress

The wedding dress of Grace Kelly, worn during her wedding to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco on April 19, 1956, is cited as one of the most elegant and best-remembered bridal gowns of all time, and one of the most famous since the mid 20th century. One author describes the dress as a symbol of “the marital fervor” and a major influence on women who strove to “emulate Kelly’s peau de soie and lace masterpiece.”

The dress was designed by Helen Rose of MGM. It consisted of a bodice with an attached under-bodice and skirt support. There were two petticoats, one being an attached foundation. The wedding attire included a headdress, veil, shoes and the lace- and pearl-encrusted prayer book which she carried down the aisle.

For the civil ceremony, which was held at the baroque throne room of the palace on April 18, 1956, the dress worn by Kelly was made of taffeta, pale pink in color, covered by cream-colored Alençon lace, designed as a “fitted bodice with high rounded collar and a flared skirt.” She wore kid gloves and the Juliet cap. The dress for the legal civil ceremony was designed by Helen Rose, who also designed the gown for the main religious ceremony. The marriage was legally solemnized, according to the civil code of Monaco, in the presence of 80 guests, which included representatives from 24 nations, and it was performed by Marcel Portanier, Monaco’s Minister of Justice.

The formal religious wedding ceremony of Kelly and Prince Rainier was held on April 19, 1956 at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate. The Pontifical High Mass was conducted by the Bishop of Monaco. The bride wore an elegant wedding dress. It was a high-necked, long-sleeved gown with a fitted torso and billowing skirt. Grace Kelly worked closely with Helen Rose to come up with the design for the dress, and the two women looked to costumes in the MGM archives for inspiration. A wedding dress from the MGM film Invitation is particularly similar to Grace's dress. The dress materials included “twenty-five yards of silk taffeta, one hundred yards of silk net, peau de soie, tulle and 125-year-old Brussels rose point lace.”

The Juliet cap that she wore was bejeweled with seed pearls and orange blossoms. The veil, made of tulle, measured 90 yards. Her other wedding adornments included a small Bible and a bouquet of lilies of the valley. The material cost and manufacturing cost of the dress was indicated as US$7266.68, excluding the fee of the designer. In 2005, the Philadelphia Museum of Art discovered that her wedding shoes held a lucky penny, hidden in the right shoe.

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Merna Kennedy: The Star of the Silent Era

Merna Kennedy (1908–1944) was a talented American actress who rose to fame during the transition from silent films to “talkies.” She is best remembered for her iconic role as the circus rider and love interest of Charlie Chaplin in the 1928 masterpiece, The Circus.

Kennedy was discovered by Chaplin through her childhood friend, Lita Grey (Chaplin’s second wife). Her natural charm and expressive acting made her a standout performer, leading to a brief but prolific career with roles in films such as Broadway (1929) and Lummox (1930).

Despite her early success, her career struggled to maintain its momentum as the industry evolved. She eventually retired from acting after her marriage to choreographer Busby Berkeley, and tragically passed away from a heart attack at the young age of 35. Today, she is celebrated as a poignant figure of 1920s Hollywood glamour.

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Frank Zappa Responded Brilliantly to Joe Pyne on His Talk Show in 1966

In 1966, Frank Zappa appeared on The Joe Pyne Show, a confrontation-style talk show known for its aggressive host. The interview is legendary for one of the most famous comebacks in television history, though no complete recording of the broadcast is known to exist today.

Joe Pyne, a conservative broadcaster and WWII veteran who used a prosthetic wooden leg, immediately attacked Zappa’s appearance. Pyne opened the interview by saying, “So, Frank, you have long hair. I suppose your long hair makes you a woman!”

Without hesitation, Zappa retorted, “Well, Joe, you have a wooden leg. I suppose your wooden leg makes you a table.”

The exchange became one of the most famous moments in television talk show history. It captured the cultural clash of the 1960s in a single sentence, with Zappa calmly dismantling an attempted insult using wit instead of outrage. Decades later, the line is still quoted as one of the quickest and most devastating comebacks ever broadcast on live television.

Beautiful Portraits of Jacqueline Bisset From ‘Bullitt’ (1968)

In the 1968 classic Bullitt, Jacqueline Bisset provides a vital sense of warmth and humanity as Cathy, the girlfriend of Steve McQueen’s hardened detective. Although her role is supporting, Bisset’s performance is unforgettable, largely due to her ethereal beauty and the sophisticated “sixties chic” style she brought to the screen.

The portraits of her from the set capture a perfect blend of elegance and vulnerability, whether she is captured in soft focus during quiet moments or standing against the gritty backdrop of San Francisco, Bisset radiates a timeless glamour. These portraits do more than just showcase a rising star, they serve as a visual contrast to the film’s high-octane violence, representing the peaceful life that Frank Bullitt struggles to protect.

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Rarely Seen Photos of a Young Zsa Zsa Gabor in the 1930s and 1940s

Zsa Zsa Gabor (February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were socialite Magda Gabor and actress and businesswoman Eva Gabor. In the 1930s and 1940s, Zsa Zsa Gabor transformed from a Hungarian beauty queen into a high-society Hollywood icon, though her career as a film actress hadn't yet begun in earnest. During these decades, she was primarily defined by her European stage roots and her high-profile marriages.

Gabor was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. However, she was famously disqualified from the competition because she was under the required age at the time (she was 19, but the pageant rules were strict or she had misrepresented her age during the entry process). Before moving to America, she was “discovered” by the operatic tenor Richard Tauber in 1934 and sang the soubrette role in the operetta The Singing Dream in Vienna.

In 1937, she married Burhan Asaf Belge, the Press Director for the Turkish Foreign Ministry. She moved to Ankara, Turkey, with him, where she claimed to have had a brief, scandalous romance with the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Gabor arrived in the United States in 1941, following her sister Eva, who had moved to Hollywood a few years earlier. Upon her arrival, she didn’t immediately find work in films. Instead, she became a fixture of the New York and Hollywood social scenes.

Her most significant move of the decade was marrying hotel tycoon Conrad Hilton in 1942. During this marriage, they had Zsa Zsa’s only child, Francesca Hilton, born in 1947. Zsa Zsa later claimed that Hilton was controlling and even tried to change her name to “Georgia” to make her sound more American.

By the end of the decade, she had divorced Hilton and married British actor George Sanders, which further cemented her place in the Hollywood inner circle.

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30 Amazing Photos of Bob Marley in the 1970s

Bob Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, and was renowned for his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. In the 1970s, Marley evolved from a local Jamaican musician into a global icon of peace and rebellion. This decade was the most transformative era of his life, defined by his transition from the original Wailers trio to a solo superstar and his deep involvement in Jamaica’s volatile political landscape.

In 1972, Marley and the original Wailers (Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer) signed with Island Records, leading to the 1973 releases of Catch a Fire and Burnin’, which introduced reggae to a global audience. In 1974, the original Wailers (Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer) disbanded. Marley began performing as Bob Marley & The Wailers, backed by the I-Threes (including his wife, Rita Marley) and the Barrett brothers on rhythm.

His global breakthrough came in 1975 with the live version of “No Woman, No Cry.” This was followed by the critically acclaimed album Exodus (1977), which Time Magazine later named the best album of the 20th century.

Jamaica in the 1970s was divided by violent conflict between the PNP (People’s National Party) and the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party). Marley’s influence made him a target. In December 1976, Marley survived a politically motivated shooting at his home just two days before he was scheduled to perform at the government-sponsored Smile Jamaica concert.

Following the shooting, Marley fled to London for two years. This period was incredibly productive, resulting in the albums Exodus and Kaya, which blended political anthems with softer love songs like “Is This Love.” He returned in 1978 for the One Love Peace Concert, where he famously brought rival political leaders together on stage. 

By the mid-1970s, Marley had fully embraced Rastafarianism, and his dreadlocks and “ganja” use became inseparable from his public image as a spiritual messenger. However, the decade ended on a somber note: in 1977, he was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma (a form of skin cancer) under a toenail. He refused to have the toe amputated due to his religious beliefs, a decision that eventually led to his death in 1981.

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Fascinating Photos Capture Street Scenes in Vienna During the Mid-1980s

Street scenes in Vienna during the mid-1980s captured a city caught in a beautiful limbo between its imperial past and a grainy, pre-digital modernity. The streets were defined by the rhythmic clatter of vintage red-and-white trams navigating the Ringstraße, passing by ornate facades that still bore the weathered patina of time. In the cobblestone alleys of the Innere Stadt, the air was a mix of roasting coffee from historic Konditoreis and the faint scent of winter coal.

You would see men in heavy loden coats and wide-brimmed hats walking briskly past shop windows displaying intricate cakes, while a younger generation, influenced by the New Wave movement, brought a touch of leather jackets and bold silhouettes to the plazas.

It was a time of “Gemütlichkeit” (coziness) and understated elegance, where the city’s grand plazas felt like vast, open-air living rooms, largely untouched by the frenetic pace of the coming internet age. From the smoke-filled coffee houses to the cobblestone alleys of the Innere Stadt, these fascinating photos, via Morton1905, capture the soul of Vienna in the mid-1980s.

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