Yesteryear

Virginia Thoren: Elegance and Movement in Mid-Century Fashion Photography

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Virginia Thoren (1919–2017) was an American fashion photographer best known for her elegant and sophisticated work in the mid-20th century. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1940, she pursued photography professionally, developing a distinctive style that emphasized grace, poise, and modern femininity.

Her career flourished in the postwar years, when she worked with prominent magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Glamour. Thoren became particularly admired for her ability to capture movement and fluidity in her images—whether photographing models in couture gowns or women in everyday settings. Her photographs often carried a sense of narrative, highlighting not just the clothing but also the personality and vitality of her subjects.

In addition to her editorial work, Thoren was a successful portraitist, photographing notable cultural and social figures of her time. Her images combined classical composition with a modern sensibility, earning her recognition as one of the leading women photographers in an era still dominated by men.

Virginia Thoren’s photos remain a testament to the artistry of mid-century fashion photography. Through her lens, she conveyed not only style and beauty but also the confidence and independence of women in a rapidly changing world. These photos reflect her signature style, capturing not only the beauty of fashion but also the vitality and spirit of the women she portrayed.

Linda Harper is wearing pink striped, V-back dress with black patent leather belt by Henry Rosenfeld, photo by Virginia Thoren, Glamour 1953

Dovima in EMBA mink stole, photo by Virginia Thoren, 1953

Dovima in Royal pastel EMBA mink coat by Maximilian, hat by Christian Dior, jewelry by Cartier, photo by Virginia Thoren, 1953-54

Evelyn Tripp wearing khaki beige pants with built-in belt with boned camisole in matching cotton gabardine and a shirt of transparent white organdy, all by Loomtogs, flat mules by Capezio, photo by Virginia Thoren, Glamour 1953

Model in Cerulean sapphire EMBA mink stole by Revillon, jewelry by Cartier, photo by Virginia Thoren, Harper’s Bazaar, November 1953

Muhammad Ali Getting Distracted in an Exhibition Match Against Local Boxer “Cholito” in Puerto Rico, 1976

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In 1976, Muhammad Ali fought an exhibition match in Puerto Rico against local boxer “Cholito.” But history remembers the night for something entirely different: Iris Chacón, the Puerto Rican icon known as “La Vedette de América.”

Mid-fight, she entered the ring as part of the show — and even Ali, the most focused boxer in the world, couldn’t help but break concentration. The photo became legendary, capturing the exact moment the greatest boxer alive was outshined, if only for a second, by Puerto Rico’s most dazzling star.

20 Amazing Photos of a Young Bill Murray With Mustache on “Saturday Night Live”

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Bill Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He joined Saturday Night Live (SNL) in January 1977, during the show’s second season, stepping in after Chevy Chase left to pursue a film career. His arrival marked a major shift for the cast and for Murray himself, who had to win over an audience that was already attached to Chase’s sarcastic style.

While Murray didn’t have one for every character, his mustache was a noticeable feature in many of his early sketches and general appearances on the show. For example, his famous “Nick the Lounge Singer” character was often seen with a mustache, which added to the cheesy, slightly sleazy persona. The mustache was part of his overall look during a period when facial hair was more common for male cast members on the show, including Dan Aykroyd.

Murray left the show at the end of the 1979–1980 season to focus on his burgeoning film career. During his time on the show, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

Portraits of Hannie Schaft, Who Became the Nazi’s Most Wanted Woman in the Netherlands During World War II

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Hannie Schaft (full name: Jannetje Johanna Schaft, September 16, 1920 – April 17, 1945) was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II whose bravery made her one of the most famous symbols of anti-Nazi resistance in the Netherlands. Known as “the Girl with the Red Hair” (Het meisje met het rode haar), she became a national heroine after the war and remains a powerful figure of courage, sacrifice, and defiance.

Hannie was born in Haarlem, the Netherlands, to a socially conscious, left-leaning family. Her father, Pieter Schaft, was a schoolteacher, and her mother, Aafje, encouraged strong moral values.

In 1938 she began studying law at the University of Amsterdam, intending to become a lawyer or diplomat. There she befriended Jewish students and became increasingly aware of the rising threat of Nazism.

After Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940, anti-Jewish measures intensified. When her Jewish friends were forced to register, Hannie refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Nazis, which cost her the right to continue her studies.

Around 1943 Hannie became active with the communist-led Raad van Verzet (Council of Resistance), one of the most daring underground groups. She carried out sabotage missions, transported weapons, distributed illegal newspapers, and provided safe houses for Jews and other fugitives.

Hannie also participated in armed actions, including assassinations of German officers and Dutch collaborators. To avoid recognition, she often dyed her distinctive red hair black. Despite precautions, her striking appearance earned her the nickname “the Girl with the Red Hair.”

In March 1945, only weeks before the war’s end, Hannie was caught at a German checkpoint near Haarlem while carrying illegal documents and a pistol. After harsh interrogations and torture, she refused to give names of fellow resistance members, famously declaring: “I shoot better than I talk.”

On April 17, 1945, just three weeks before the Netherlands was liberated, she was executed by firing squad in the dunes of Bloemendaal. Witnesses later recounted that the first bullets only wounded her, and she defiantly told the soldiers, “I shoot better,” before being killed by a final shot.

Hannie Schaft was celebrated as a national heroine. In 1945 she received a state funeral attended by members of the Dutch royal family and the provisional government. Streets, schools, and monuments across the Netherlands bear her name. A yearly commemoration is held at the Erebegraafplaats Bloemendaal (Honorary Cemetery of Bloemendaal), where she is buried.

Her life inspired books, films, and plays, including Het meisje met het rode haar (The Girl with the Red Hair), which cemented her legend in Dutch history.

Dorian Gray: The Alluring Star of Italian Cinema’s Golden Years

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Dorian Gray (1931–2011), born Maria Luisa Mangini, was a notable Italian actress who rose to fame in the 1950s and ’60s. She is best known for her roles in several landmark Italian films, particularly those directed by cinematic masters.

Gray gained international recognition for her role as Jessy in Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning film Nights of Cabiria (1957). That same year, she also appeared in Michelangelo Antonioni’s critically acclaimed Il grido (The Cry).

Gray was also a popular star in Italian comedies, often cast in glamorous and sensual roles. She retired from acting in 1965 after giving birth to her son and subsequently lived a very private life away from the public eye. These photos capture not only her beauty and elegance, but also the charm and mystery that made Dorian Gray an unforgettable presence on the screen.

The Iconic Image of Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, 1857

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The famous photograph of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859) standing in front of the massive launching chains of the Great Eastern is one of the most iconic images of the Industrial Revolution. It captures not only a great engineer but also the spirit of Victorian ambition and technological progress.

The photo was taken by Robert Howlett in November 1857. It shows the British engineer during the troubled first attempt to launch the SS Great Eastern, by far the largest ship constructed to that date. Brunel stands before a drum of chain used during the launching of the vessel. He carries his customary cigar case and his boots and trousers are muddy.

Brunel is smoking a cigar and his waistcoat is askew. His pose has been described as casual and self-assured. The image has become iconic of the industrial era and the 19th century, and has been included in many published collections of photographs. It was widely reproduced at the time of the ship’s launch in January 1858 and again after Brunel’s death in 1859.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a British engineer who constructed a number of innovative civil and railway engineering projects and, in 1845, the SS Great Britain, at that time the largest ship ever built. In 1853 he began construction of the SS Great Eastern, six times the tonnage of any vessel built before and a statement of Britain’s maritime supremacy. The project was one of Brunel’s last and most challenging. With the vessel measuring 692 feet (211 m) in length and 22,500 long tons (22,900 t) in weight, it proved difficult to launch. Beginning in November 1857, it took three months to launch, sideways down an inclined timber ramp.

The Illustrated Times wanted wood-engravings of the ship to accompany an article on its launch. Robert Howlett was commissioned to attend the shipyard and take suitable photographs which could be used to produce the engravings. Howlett was a partner at the London photography studio The Photographic Institution and had been taking photographs since 1852. He joined the studio in 1853 and had previously carried out a commission for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to take portraits of Crimean War soldiers.

Harral’s wood-engraving, as published on January 16, 1858.

Howlett attended the shipbuilding site in Millwall, London, during the first launching attempt, attended by a crowd of 10,000 spectators, in November 1857. In addition to a series of photographs taken of the ship, he took six of Brunel, three portraits of him alone, and three of him among a group of other men. In his photographs Howlett, one of the first to photograph men in the workplace, purposely chose his shots to emphasise the size of the vessel. The photographs were taken on a box camera using the wet plate collodion technique, that allowed for greater detail and reduced exposure times. The process required that the plate be developed immediately so Howlett would have had to rush them to a darkroom on site, potentially a tent that he is known to have designed for the purpose.

One of the group photographs, which also shows three manual workers, has Brunel standing near to one of the checking drums which held long lengths of large chain used to restrain the ship as it was lowered down the ramp. This photograph has been referred to with the title The Great Eastern (wheel and chain drum) and a copy is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The three individual photographs of Brunel all show him standing in front of a checking drum.

Brunel standing near a chain drum with the Great Eastern in the background.

His most famous of the individual photographs became known by the title Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern. In this photograph Brunel stands casually while smoking a cigar and looking out of shot, his hands in his trouser pockets. His trousers and boots are muddy and his waistcoat is askew. Brunel wears his cigar case slung across his shoulder, as was his practice when out in public. Having taken other photographs from an oblique angle Howlett moved his camera to a position directly in front of the drum.

In another of the individual photographs, Brunel is in a similar pose and clothes, but leaning against the chains and the camera is positioned to one side of the drum. In the third individual photograph (a stereogram produced in conjunction with George Downes) Brunel, wearing lighter trousers and without his pocket watch or cigar, is seated on a post in front of the chain drum. He looks directly at the camera with his right hand tucked into his waistcoat.

The photographs were important in providing positive publicity for the Great Eastern project, which was beset with delays and financial difficulties. The series of photographs became Howlett’s most famous work and was one of his last commissions; he died from fever in 1858.

Philip Mangone: Crafting Elegance in American Women’s Coats

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Philip Mangone (1884–1957) was an American fashion designer and tailor best known for his stylish, high-quality coats that became especially popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Based in New York, Mangone built his reputation on creating elegant outerwear for women, garments that combined practicality with refined design. His coats were praised for their clean lines, careful tailoring, and luxurious fabrics, making them both fashionable and durable in an era when clothing was expected to last.

Mangone’s name became well recognized in American department stores, and his label was often associated with modern, sophisticated women’s fashion. His designs were frequently featured in advertisements and fashion magazines, reflecting his role in shaping mid-20th-century American style.

Mangone was also a passenger on the Hindenburg zeppelin when it crashed in 1937. He survived with severe burns and spent a year in recovery in hospitals. The first thing he did when released was to take a flight to Chicago, to prove to himself that he was still not afraid to fly. These photos showcase not only his refined tailoring and stylish designs, but also the sense of sophistication and practicality that defined Mangone’s contribution to mid-20th-century fashion.

Marilyn Ambrose in black or gray Juilliard wool greatcape hooded with nutria by Philip Mangone at Bonwit Teller, photo by Richard Avedon, Harper’s Bazaar, October 1945

Marilyn Ambrose in swashbuckling wool gabardine suit slashed with black rayon velvet by Philip Mangone at Seidenbach’s, Harper’s Bazaar, September 1945

Maureen Zollman in 3/4 gabardine coat by Philip Mangone, fez by Lilly Daché, pumps by Andrew Geller at Frost Bros. San Antonio, Vogue, February 1, 1945

Model in powder blue-and-black houndstooth cape and suit by Philip Mangone, Vogue, March 1, 1945

Betty Bridgers in black-and-white checked wool coat with buttons and belt in bright red leather by Philip Mangone, white hat by John Frederics, photo by Genevieve Naylor, Harper’s Bazaar, March 1946

The Creepy Story of Dr. Carl Tanzler, Who Fell in Love With His Deceased Patient, and Took Her Body Home to Preserve Her

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Georg Carl Tänzler, also known as Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German-born American radiology technologist at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida, United States. He developed an obsession with a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient, Elena “Helen” Milagro de Hoyos (July 31, 1909 – October 25, 1931), that carried on well after her death. In 1933, almost two years after her death, Tanzler removed Hoyos’ body from its tomb and lived with the corpse at his home for seven years until its discovery by Hoyos’ relatives and authorities in 1940.

On April 22, 1930, while working at the Marine Hospital in Key West, Tanzler met Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, a local Cuban-American woman who had been brought to the hospital by her mother for an examination. Although he was already married with 2 daughters, Tanzler was immediately struck by Elena’s appearance. He recognized her from a vision he had many years ago, when his dead ancestor Countess Anna Constantia von Brockdorff came to him in a dream and showed him the face of his true love and soulmate: a gorgeous dark-haired woman who looked exactly like Elena.

Elena Milagro Hoyos

Elena was 21 years old, and the daughter of a Cuban cigar maker, whose life was already marred by tragedy. By all appearances, she was an attractive dark haired beauty queen who often wore red roses in her hair, drawing the attention of strangers who desired to photograph and court her. But death was creeping up close and fast.

Elena was subsequently diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease typically fatal at the time and which eventually would claim the lives of almost all of her immediate family. Tanzler attempted to cure Elena with a variety of treatments, remedies, X-rays, and other medical equipment that were brought to the Hoyos’ home. Tanzler also showered Elena with gifts of jewelry and clothing, and allegedly professed his love to her, but no evidence has surfaced to show that Elena reciprocated any of his affection.

Despite Tanzler’s best efforts, Elena died of tuberculosis at her parents’ home in Key West on October 25, 1931. She was only 22. He was devastated. Before she died, Carl wrote in his journal how he “had hopes that, despite the extensive damage, the lesions would heal again. I had hopes that, when Elena was out of danger, we would get married. As long as she lived I never abandoned hope.”

With the consent of her family, Tanzler paid for Elena’s funeral and erected an elaborate mausoleum for her corpse. He had her coffin lined with formaldehyde and other preserving agents, and had a special key made for himself so he could come and go as he pleased. Tanzler spent hours at Elena’s gravesite everyday, talking to her corpse, singing songs to her, reading stories, and other crazy activities. This went on for two years.

The mausoleum, more like a tiny home than a crypt.

One evening in April 1933, Tanzler crept through the cemetery where Elena was buried and removed her body from the mausoleum, carting it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transported it to his home. He reportedly said that Elena’s spirit would come to him when he would sit by her grave and serenade her corpse with a favorite Spanish song. He also said that she would often tell him to take her from the grave.

Tanzler wrote in his memoirs: “Elena, my darling, we are alone on this shore. He who has given you to me, will not reject our souls, united as they are in His undying love.”

He attached the corpse’s bones with piano wire and fitted the face with glass eyes. As the skin of the corpse decomposed, Tanzler replaced it with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of Paris. As the hair fell out of Elena’s decomposing scalp, Tanzler fashioned a wig from her hair, which he had previously obtained from her mother. Tanzler filled the corpse’s abdominal and chest cavity with rags to keep the original form, dressed Elena’s remains in stockings, jewelry, and gloves and kept the body in his bed. Tanzler also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents to mask the odor and forestall the effects of the corpse’s decomposition.

The corpse of Elena encased in wax and plaster circa 1940

In Tanzler’s autobiography, he does confess to kissing and cuddling Maria’s cadaver. He slept with the body in his bed, but he kept a curtain between them because he was an extreme gentleman. It isn’t very far off to believe that necrophilia played a part in this twisted romance, but it’s important to remember these claims are not fully proven.

At this point, Carl had lost his job at the hospital and was living in a remote shack which also housed his laboratory. His behaviour became too erratic to hold a job, and the hospital had found out he was stealing medical equipment from them.

Carl had basically abandoned his wife and children, and was more content living with a dead body than a live woman. For some reason, his wife Doris took pity on him and regularly mailed him money to help him survive his destitute situation.

Photograph of the Oldest House in Hamburg, Germany, Taken in 1898

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This was once the oldest building in Hamburg, Germany. It was built in 1504 and was demolished in 1910. The photo was taken from 1898.

Built in 1504, the house stood as a unique survivor of centuries of urban change, including the Great Fire of 1842 and the extensive urban development that swept through the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a half-timbered structure, a style that was once common in Hamburg but became increasingly rare as the city modernized.

In the late 19th century, with a growing population and the need for new infrastructure, Hamburg underwent a massive redevelopment. The Gängeviertel district, where the house was located, was particularly targeted for demolition and reconstruction. This was part of a larger push to create a modern city, with wider streets and commercial buildings.

Despite its historical significance and protests from the public, the decision was made to demolish the house. On December 8, 1910, the nearly 400-year-old building was torn down in a matter of hours. Its demolition was a symbol of the city’s commitment to progress, but it also represented the permanent loss of a tangible link to Hamburg’s medieval past.

Portraits of Sophia Loren Featured on Tempo Magazine Covers From the 1950s and 1960s

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Tempo (literally Time) was an illustrated weekly news magazine published in Milan, Italy, between 1939 and 1976 with a temporary interruption during World War II. The magazine was launched by the Mondadori family (Alberto/Arnoldo Mondadori’s group) and later associated with other publishers; notable editorial figures connected with the title include Alberto Mondadori and journalists of the era. Tempo was part of Mondadori’s expansion of mass-market weeklies in postwar Italy.

Tempo was modeled after prominent American magazines like Life and Newsweek, making it the first full-color illustrated magazine in Italy. It pioneered the use of “photo-texts,” a storytelling style that combined images with captions.

The 1950s–60s issues are notable for strong photographic covers and celebrity portraits — Hollywood and Italian film stars frequently appeared on the front (Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and other movie names turn up on many issues and collectors’ listings). The graphic approach and photography made Tempo visually influential in Italy’s postwar magazine scene.

During the 1940s–60s Tempo was among the leading weekly titles shaping public discussion of politics, culture and popular life. It’s often referenced in studies of Italian mass media and graphic design of the period (the magazine is cited in histories of Mondadori and of Italian magazine design). Copies and covers are now collectible and often appear in archives, auctions and vintage-magazine sales.

Below is a collection of 15 wonderful Tempo covers that featured Sophia Loren from between the 1950s and 1960s: