Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ ends with a swan song and a giant wormhole
With a dash of sci-fi, Colbert ended his CBS late-night show with a powerful musical sendoff featuring Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Jon Batiste.
Sonja Henie: The Ice Queen Who Conquered Hollywood
Sonja Henie (1912–1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and actress who became one of the most famous and influential athletes in the history of winter sports.
A child prodigy, Henie dominated women’s figure skating in the 1920s and 1930s, winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936), ten World Championships, and six European Championships. After retiring from competitive skating, she moved to Hollywood and successfully transitioned into a major movie star, appearing in popular musical films such as One in a Million (1936), Thin Ice (1937), and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).
Known for her dazzling skating routines, blonde beauty, and charismatic screen presence, Henie became one of the highest-paid actresses of her era and helped popularize figure skating worldwide. She remains an iconic figure who revolutionized the sport both artistically and commercially.
These beautiful vintage photographs capture the grace, charisma, and dazzling presence of a young Sonja Henie, the extraordinary Norwegian skater who became one of the most famous and beloved stars of her era.
The Wedding of Republican Milicianos in 1936
The photograph titled La boda de los milicianos (The Wedding of a Militiaman and a Militiawoman), capturing the marriage of the Republican defenders Alfonsa and Ernesto, is one of the most poignant humanizing images from the opening months of the Spanish Civil War. Captured on October 18, 1936, by the renowned Spanish photojournalist Alfonso Sánchez Portela (often known simply as “Alfonso”), the image stands in sharp contrast to the typical, grim combat photography of the era.
In October 1936, the Siege of Madrid was intensifying as Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces advanced toward the capital. Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens, men and women alike, known as milicianos, joined left-wing union and political militias to defend the Second Spanish Republic.
Amidst the existential dread and chaos of impending battle, Alfonsa and Ernesto decided to marry. Rather than traditional bridal wear, both the bride and groom are wearing their utilitarian miliciano overalls (monos), which served as the standard wartime uniform for the citizen-soldiers.
The photo captures a fleeting moment of joy, tenderness, and normalcy. The couple is surrounded by fellow militia members, celebrating a union formalized under wartime emergency civil laws rather than church sanction.
Sánchez Portela’s photograph became a powerful symbol of the Republican resistance, showcasing the youth, idealism, and shared equality of the men and women fighting side by side on the front lines.
Like many anonymous fighters captured in wartime photojournalism, the ultimate fate of Alfonsa and Ernesto after the brutal three-year war and the fall of Madrid in 1939 remains unknown to history. Today, the original gelatin silver print of this historic moment is preserved in the permanent collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
1955 Maserati A6G/54 2000 Spyder Zagato: A Rare Italian Masterpiece
The 1955 Maserati A6G/54 2000 Spyder Zagato is one of the rarest and most desirable Italian sports cars of the 1950s.
Built on Maserati’s refined tubular chassis and powered by a 2.0-liter twin-cam straight-six engine producing approximately 150–160 horsepower, it combined exceptional performance with exquisite craftsmanship. What makes this model truly special is its ultra-light aluminum body, handcrafted by the legendary coachbuilder Zagato.
With its sleek, aerodynamic lines, minimal chrome, and signature “double bubble” roof, the A6G/54 Zagato Spyder perfectly embodies the golden era of Italian design: aggressive yet elegant, racing-inspired yet street-legal.
Only a very limited number were produced, making it a holy grail for serious collectors and one of the most beautiful Maseratis ever created. These stunning photos beautifully showcase the rare elegance, aerodynamic purity, and racing spirit of the 1955 Maserati A6G/54 2000 Spyder Zagato, one of the most coveted and exquisite Italian sports cars ever built.
Amazing Photography by Dennis Hopper in the 1960s
Before Dennis Hopper directed Easy Rider (1969) or became the chaotic icon of New Hollywood, he was blacklisted from major film studios. Following a legendary, combustible fallout with director Henry Hathaway on the set of From Hell to Texas (1958), Hopper found himself unable to get acting work.
To survive creatively, his then-wife, Brooke Hayward, bought him a 28mm Nikonis camera for his birthday. Throughout the 1960s, Hopper carried that camera everywhere, hanging it around his neck like a permanent fixture. He didn’t just document the decade; he lived at the exact epicenter of its most explosive cultural shifts.
Hopper approached photography with a strict, gritty realism. Influenced by street photography pioneers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, he established a rigid set of rules for his work. He refused to use a flash, relying entirely on ambient and available light, which gave his black-and-white images an intimate, high-contrast texture. He famously insisted on never cropping his photos in the darkroom. What he shot through the viewfinder was exactly what appeared on the final print, often leaving the raw, black film borders visible.
Hopper noted that carrying the camera allowed him to blend into volatile environments, whether a civil rights march or a Hells Angels gathering, because people simply dismissed him as a harmless tourist or a press photographer.
Hopper’s photography from 1961 to 1967 serves as a masterful, front-row time capsule of three distinct American subcultures. Because he was an actor, he had unprecedented, candid access to the stars of his generation. His portraits are distinctly devoid of typical studio-managed glamour, capturing his subjects in quiet, intensely human moments. He captured a shirtless Paul Newman resting on a set, an enigmatic Jane Fonda bicycling through a backlot, and striking, intimate frames of close friends like Tuesday Weld and Dean Stockwell.
Hopper was an early, obsessive collector of Pop Art before the movement exploded. He became an intimate fixture in the art scene, capturing defining portraits of Andy Warhol (whom Hopper famously threw a welcoming party for when Warhol first came to Los Angeles), Roy Lichtenstein, and Ed Ruscha. Concurrently, his camera tracked the rapidly shifting music landscape, shooting iconic imagery of The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Brian Jones, and a famously intense, close-up portrait of Tina Turner commissioned by producer Phil Spector.
Hopper’s work extended far beyond celebrity. He was deeply embedded in the political and countercultural movements of the era. At the urging of Marlon Brando, Hopper traveled south to document the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches. His photos of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking and the ordinary citizens marching alongside him are powerful works of historical photojournalism. He spent months embedded with the Hells Angels, earning their trust to shoot raw, unvarnished glimpses into outlaw motorcycle culture.
“I was capturing a world that I knew was disappearing, a world that was changing completely. I wanted to leave a record of it.” – Dennis Hopper
By 1967, Hopper largely put down the still camera. The years he spent framing shots, working with stark natural light, and tracking the movements of bikers, artists, and activists essentially served as the ultimate pre-production phase for his directorial debut. When he made Easy Rider in 1968, he simply took the exact visual language, subcultures, and street-level realism he had mastered in his photographs and set them in motion.
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| Double Standard, 1961 |
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| Jean Tinguely, 1965 |
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| Biker Couple, 1961 |
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| John Altoon, 1964 |
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| Tuesday Weld, 1965 |