Two Men Arm in Arm and Turn Their Backs to the Camera for a Photograph From the 19th Century

In the 19th century, a fascinating and unique photography trend emerged where subjects intentionally turned their backs to the camera for formal portraits. While traditional 19th-century portraits demanded stiff, forward-facing poses due to long exposure times, this alternative style allowed individuals to showcase their closeness, clothing details, or simply express a playful, rebellious sense of intimacy away from the lens.

Photos from this era frequently captured two men linked arm in arm or holding hands, reflecting a period where physical affection and deep “romantic friendships” between men were openly displayed and celebrated.

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Photos of Beverly D’Angelo on the Set of “Hair” (1979)

For Beverly D’Angelo, making Miloš Forman’s 1979 film adaptation of Hair was a career-defining turning point, one she literally had to fight for after having never even seen the stage musical. At the time Hair was casting in 1977, D’Angelo primarily viewed herself as a singer rather than an actress, having only recently transitioned from working as a Hanna-Barbera animator and background vocalist.

Director Miloš Forman banned anyone who had previously appeared in the stage version of Hair from auditioning. D’Angelo didn’t know the show at all, she simply fell in love with Forman’s directing style and realized acting was the only way to work with him. To prove she could carry a leading dramatic and musical role, D’Angelo went through 14 separate auditions before Forman finally cast her as Sheila Franklin.

Screenwriter Michael Weller and Forman completely overhauled Sheila’s character from the Broadway show. Instead of a political NYU student living with the tribe, D’Angelo played a sheltered, wealthy debutante from Short Hills, New Jersey, who gets swept up in the Central Park hippie counterculture. Because of the character rewrite, Sheila’s original Broadway lament (“Easy to Be Hard”) was given to Cheryl Barnes, while D’Angelo was handed the upbeat, joyous “Good Morning Starshine,” which she famously sang while driving a convertible full of the tribe across the country.

Filming took place on location starting in October 1977 across New York City (Central Park, Washington Square Park), California’s Mojave Desert, and Washington, D.C. Working closely with Forman, cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček, and choreographer Twyla Tharp, D’Angelo had to match the raw, improvisational energy of co-stars Treat Williams, John Savage, and Annie Golden, often shooting unscripted-feeling moments on real city streets and in freezing autumn weather during the Central Park sequences.

Hair marked D’Angelo’s first major starring film role and led directly to her next musical breakthrough: playing Patsy Cline in Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. She remained close with Forman and her Hair castmates including Treat Williams, with whom she reunited on screen in 1984 for A Streetcar Named Desire and at 40th-anniversary cast retrospectives.

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Madeleine Lebeau: The Emotional Face of Resistance in Casablanca

Madeleine Lebeau (1923–2016) was a French actress best remembered for her powerful moment in the classic film Casablanca (1942).

Having fled Nazi-occupied France with her then-husband, actor Marcel Dalio, Lebeau brought genuine emotion to the role of Yvonne, the discarded girlfriend of Humphrey Bogart’s character Rick Blaine. Her most unforgettable scene comes when she passionately joins in singing “La Marseillaise,” tears in her eyes, embodying the spirit of French defiance and resilience. Though her role was relatively small, the intensity and sincerity of her performance left a lasting impression.

After Casablanca, Lebeau continued her career in both Hollywood and European cinema, later appearing in Federico Fellini’s 8½. She was the last surviving credited cast member of Casablanca at the time of her death. These classic photos capture the beauty and emotional intensity of Madeleine LeBeau, whose brief but unforgettable performance became a powerful symbol of resistance in Casablanca.

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Outtakes From Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s ”Frida ensam” Album Cover Photoshoot, 1975

Frida ensam (Frida Alone) is the second studio album by Anni-Frid Lyngstad. It was first released by Polar Music in 1975 while Lyngstad was a member of the pop group ABBA and produced by her then-fiancé and fellow ABBA member, Benny Andersson. The cover photoshoot for the album was shot by Ola Lager and designed by Rune Söderqvist, the two primary visual architects behind ABBA’s most iconic album sleeves.

Polar Music enlisted ABBA’s trusted in-house creative duo for the project: photographer Ola Lager and art director Rune Söderqvist (who later created ABBA’s famous Arrival helicopter cover). Unlike the bright, theatrical, and synchronized group imagery ABBA was known for in 1975, the Frida ensam shoot was designed to highlight solitude and vulnerability. The title translates to “Frida Alone,” reflecting both her status as a solo artist stepping away from the group and the introspective nature of the album’s ballads.

Photographed in an intimate interior setting in Stockholm, Frida is dressed in a soft, flowing white dress while seated on a couch and bed. Lager used soft, natural-looking lighting and warm, muted tones to frame Frida in quiet contemplation. Outtakes from the 1975 session, including several striking black-and-white portraits, show her posing casually without the heavy stage makeup or flamboyant costumes required for ABBA’s international television appearances.

The photoshoot and final album assembly took place during a brief lull in ABBA’s skyrocketing global schedule. Recording had stretched over 18 months (from early 1974 to October 1975) around sessions for Waterloo and ABBA.

Released by Polar Music on November 10, 1975, the album allowed Frida to explore eclectic covers (such as David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns”) alongside the original Swedish recording of “Fernando.” The understated, mature album cover reinforced her image in Sweden as a serious, independent vocalist rather than just one-fourth of a pop group.

40 Photos of Veronica Lake on the Set of “Sullivan’s Travels” (1941)

Despite their effortless, screwball chemistry on screen, Veronica Lake’s time on the set of Sullivan’s Travels (1941) was marked by major behind-the-scenes tension, largely stemming from a secret she kept until the first day of shooting. When production began on May 12, 1941, the 18-year-old Lake was six months pregnant with her first child, a fact she had withheld from writer-director Preston Sturges and Paramount Pictures.

Sturges was furious when he realized her condition on the first day of filming, reportedly needing to be calmed down by crew members. Legendary costume designer Edith Head was tasked with concealing Lake’s growing bump throughout the 10-week shoot. Because the plot required Lake’s character (“The Girl”) to disguise herself as a boyish hobo alongside Joel McCrea, Head used oversized men’s suits, baggy coats, and strategic framing, along with a body double for physical stunts, to hide the pregnancy. Filming wrapped on July 22, 1941, and Lake gave birth to her daughter, Elaine, just one month later.

While Lake later wrote in her autobiography that Sullivan’s Travels was “a joy to make” and praised the comedic change of pace, her co-star Joel McCrea strongly disliked working with her. Lake was notoriously moody and difficult on set, a reputation that followed her throughout the 1940s. McCrea found her behavior so frustrating that he initially turned down the male lead in their next scheduled pairing, I Married a Witch (1942), famously quipping, “Life’s too short for two films with Veronica Lake.” (The two eventually buried the hatchet years later to co-star in the 1947 Western Ramrod.)

Sullivan’s Travels was only Lake’s second major studio role following her breakout earlier that year in I Wanted Wings. The film solidified her signature “peek-a-boo” hairstyle, where a long wave of blonde hair fell over her right eye, as a national phenomenon. Even when tucked under a cap for her tramp disguise, the hairstyle remained a focal point of Paramount’s publicity campaign, turning Lake into one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office draws almost overnight.

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1953 Nash-Healey Roadster: An Anglo-American Sports Car With Italian Flair

The 1953 Nash-Healey Roadster was a rare and distinctive sports car born from an unusual collaboration between American manufacturer Nash Motors and British sports car specialist Donald Healey. Its elegant bodywork was designed by Italian coachbuilder Pinin Farina, giving the car a refined European presence.

Powered by a 4.1-litre Nash inline-six engine producing around 140 horsepower, the Roadster combined American mechanical reliability with British chassis engineering and Italian styling. Only a limited number were produced, making surviving examples highly collectible today. With its unique blend of international influences, the Nash-Healey remains one of the most interesting and stylish sports cars of the early 1950s.

These beautiful photos capture the elegant lines and distinctive character of the 1953 Nash-Healey Roadster, an Anglo-American sports car with unmistakable Italian flair.

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Moviegoers in 1973 Being Interviewed After Watching the Exorcist for the First Time

Moviegoers in 1973 being interviewed after watching The Exorcist for the first time. Directed by William Friedkin, the film became an unprecedented cultural phenomenon, causing massive lines around the block and documented physical hysteria among viewers.

When the film first rolled out in late December 1973, it shocked audiences like no horror movie before it. The graphic imagery, intense audio design, and disturbing themes caused moviegoers to shudder, cry, vomit, and faint right in the theaters.

The physical distress was so frequent that theater managers had to actively prepare for medical incidents. Staff were routinely equipped with sick bags and smelling salts (in both small bottles and breakable pellets) to revive fainted patrons in the lobby. As a theater manager notes in the archival broadcast, it was historically very rare for a film to trigger such visceral, unconscious physical reactions.

In the clip, the individuals explain exactly what pushed them over the edge. One viewer details passing out during the gruesome, clinical spinal tap scene. Another fainted the moment the young girl (played by Linda Blair) shifted her voice and began speaking in the “devil’s voice.”

The hysteria was so intense that one audience member who fainted and broke his jaw inside a theater actually sued Warner Bros., claiming that the film's intense subliminal imagery caused the incident. The lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court.

Despite the disgust, many fainted audience members interviewed in the footage admitted that their curiosity was killing them, stating that they intended to go right back into the theater to try and finish the movie.