A City Bigger Than a Bomb: Dispatch from Beirut
“For almost a year after October 7, Israel’s war with Lebanon remained an oddly prim, choreographed conflict on the border.”
1947 Chrysler Town and Country Sedan: An Elegant Postwar Wood-Bodied Classic
The 1947 Chrysler Town and Country Sedan was one of the most stylish and luxurious station wagons of the immediate postwar era. Featuring Chrysler’s signature “woodie” design with rich mahogany and ash wood trim on the sides and rear, it combined the practicality of a family car with the sophistication of a premium automobile.
Powered by a 251 cubic-inch inline-six engine, the Town and Country offered smooth performance and a refined ride. With its elegant two-tone paint, chrome detailing, and distinctive wood paneling, it perfectly embodied the optimistic spirit and growing prosperity of America in the late 1940s.
These photos beautifully showcase the timeless elegance and distinctive charm of the 1947 Chrysler Town and Country Sedan. With its classic woodie styling and luxurious details, the car remains one of the most iconic and desirable American automobiles of the postwar period, a true rolling masterpiece of design and craftsmanship.
Beautiful Linda Ronstadt Photographed by Martha Swope, 1980
In 1980, Linda Ronstadt was at a pivotal, transformative turning point in her life and career, defined by a bold transition from the “Queen of Rock” to a celebrated Broadway theater star.
Frustrated with the limits of stadium rock, Ronstadt shocked the music industry by moving to New York City to star in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta, The Pirates of Penzance. She played the innocent, high-soprano lead role of Mabel.
Critics doubted a rock star could handle the demanding operatic vocal ranges required for the part. The show opened in Central Park in August 1980 to rave reviews and massive commercial success. Her performance silenced critics, shattered box office records, and eventually earned her a Tony Award nomination.
Before hitting the stage, Ronstadt released her tenth studio album, Mad Love, in February 1980. The record featured a distinct, aggressive New Wave and punk-infused sound. She covered tracks by Elvis Costello and moved away from her signature 1970s country-rock style. The album was a commercial hit, entering the charts at number five (a record-breaking debut for a female artist at the time) and quickly going platinum.
Visually, Ronstadt debuted a dramatic makeover in 1980 to match her musical shift. She traded her iconic 1970s long hair, peasant blouses, and hoop earrings for a short, spiked, modern New Wave haircut and edgy, minimalist fashion. This striking look was famously captured by photographer Annie Leibovitz for the cover of Rolling Stone, as well as by Martha Swope in her studio portraits:
The Story of Helena Citrónová, a Young Slovak Jewish Woman Who Famously Survived Auschwitz Due to a Forbidden
Born in 1922 in Humenné, Slovakia, Helena was the daughter of a Jewish cantor and grew up with a deep love for singing. In March 1942, she was forced onto the very first mass transport of Slovakian Jewish women to Auschwitz. The women had been lied to, promised profitable work abroad, but were instead sold as slave labor.
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| Helena Citrónová |
Initially assigned to brutal manual labor shifting heavy rubble, Helena’s life changed when she was transferred to work in “Kanada,” the massive warehouse barracks where the personal belongings of those murdered in the gas chambers were sorted.
On her first day in the warehouse, the Kapo (prisoner overseer) asked if anyone could sing to mark the birthday of one of the SS guards overseeing the unit. Terrified and weeping, knowing that displeasing the guards meant death, 20-year-old Helena stepped forward. She sang the only German song she knew: “Liebe war es nie” (“It Was Never Love” or “Love It Was Not”).
The guard celebrating his birthday was Franz Wunsch, a 20-year-old Austrian who had volunteered for the SS as a teenager. He was completely captivated by her voice and her beauty. He ordered that she remain permanently assigned to the indoor Kanada warehouse, effectively sparing her from the lethal outdoor labor commandos.
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| Franz Wunsch |
Wunsch began secretly leaving Helena gifts of food, warm clothing, and love letters. Helena’s initial reaction was pure hatred and disgust: “I thought I’d rather be dead than be involved with an SS man,” she recalled years later. “For a long time afterwards there was just hatred. I couldn’t even look at him.”
Yet, in a place where death was the default, Wunsch’s obsession manifested as a lifeline. When Helena contracted typhus, typically a death sentence in the camp, Wunsch hid her, brought her extra medicine and food, and nursed her back to health.
Over the next two years, the nature of their relationship remained strictly non-physical, confined to whispered conversations, fleeting glances, and smuggled notes. Under the Nazi Rassenschande (race defilement) laws, any sexual relations between an Aryan and a Jewish prisoner were strictly forbidden and carried a penalty of death or imprisonment for the SS officer.
The dynamic between Helena and Wunsch changed permanently in October 1944. Helena’s older sister, Róza, arrived at Auschwitz on a transport along with her husband and two young children. They were instantly selected to go directly to the gas chambers.
Desperate, Helena managed to slide a note to Wunsch, begging him to save them. Wunsch immediately ran to the gas chamber selection area. Confronting Helena under the guise of “punishing” her for breaking curfew, he demanded to know her sister’s name. Wunsch was able to physically pull Róza out of the line, claiming she was needed to work in the Kanada warehouse. However, his authority only went so far. He could not save Róza’s children or her husband.
While Róza survived the war alongside Helena, the agonizing loss of her children left a lifelong scar. Róza struggled to forgive Helena for the terrible reality of how her life was bought at the cost of her children’s. Yet, for Helena, this was the moment her feelings toward Wunsch shifted from survivalist tolerance to genuine gratitude and complex affection.
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| Helena Citrónová (left) with her sister Róza (right) and Róza’s daughter before the Holocaust. |
In January 1945, as the Soviet Army closed in on Auschwitz, Wunsch found Helena one last time. He gave her and Róza heavy, fur-lined boots and warm socks to survive the impending death march, along with a note that read, “I loved you very much.” Helena and Róza survived the march and were liberated. They eventually immigrated to Israel to rebuild their lives. Wunsch searched for Helena for years through the Red Cross, writing to her, but she refused to respond, wanting only to bury her past.
The story did not end there. In 1972, Franz Wunsch was arrested and put on trial in Vienna for his war crimes at Auschwitz. While Wunsch had protected Helena and was noted by other survivors to have behaved less brutally after falling in love with her, he was also a committed SS officer who had actively participated in mass selections at the train ramps and operated the gas chambers. Wunsch’s wife tracked Helena down in Israel, begging her to testify. Helena flew to Vienna to take the stand.
During the trial, Helena did not look Wunsch in the eye. She delivered a highly nuanced testimony, refusing to sugarcoat his role in the machinery of the death camp, while also testifying to the fact that he had saved her life, her sister’s life, and had thrown food to other prisoners. Ultimately, Wunsch was acquitted, largely due to the statute of limitations on many of the charges in Austria at the time.
Helena Citrónová passed away in Tel Aviv in 2007 at the age of 84. Her story remains one of the most haunting examples of the “grey zones” of human survival in the face of absolute evil. It was beautifully documented in the 2020 Israeli documentary film Love It Was Not, which explores the deep psychological weight both sisters carried for the rest of their lives.
26 Portraits of Enid Bennett in the Late 1910s and Early 1920s
Enid Bennett (July 15, 1893 – May 14, 1969) was an Australian-born silent film actress who became a prominent leading lady in American cinema, particularly during the late 1910s and early 1920s. Combining a natural, understated acting style with striking classic beauty, she transitioned seamlessly from touring theater in Australia to the heights of early American cinema.
Bennett arrived in the United States in June 1915 alongside director Fred Niblo and his wife, Broadway star Josephine Cohan. After a successful stint on Broadway, she caught the eye of legendary pioneer producer Thomas H. Ince. Ince was looking for fresh talent for the Triangle Film Corporation and signed Bennett to a contract that would define the first major phase of her career. Between 1918 and 1921, Bennett was exceptionally prolific, starring in 23 films for Triangle. Unlike many silent stars of the era who played hyper-dramatic, distressed damsels, Bennett’s roles often showcased a practical, assertive, and modern sensibility.
Following Josephine Cohan’s tragic death in 1916, Bennett married Fred Niblo in 1918. Niblo directed many of her most popular Triangle releases, establishing a highly successful personal and professional partnership. Sadly, like much of silent film history, the majority of Bennett’s solo star vehicles from this era (such as Fuss and Feathers and Silk Hosiery) are currently considered lost. However, surviving prints like The Woman in the Suitcase (1920) reveal her sharp comedic timing and charisma.
As the early 1920s took shape, Bennett transitioned from headlining smaller domestic comedies and dramas to anchoring massive, high-budget Hollywood spectacles. Her career reached its historic zenith when she was cast as Maid Marian opposite Douglas Fairbanks in the monumental adventure epic Robin Hood. It was one of the most expensive and successful films of the silent era. Looking back on the role decades later, Bennett cheekily recalled to film historian Kevin Brownlow: “I had a wonderful time playing Maid Marian. Of course, the part was not too demanding, I just walked through it in a queenly manner. [Fairbanks] was wonderful, inspiring.”
Bennett followed her Robin Hood success with two more landmark roles in 1924: Lady Rosamund Godolphin in Frank Lloyd’s acclaimed adventure The Sea Hawk, and Marise La Noue in The Red Lily, starring opposite Ramon Novarro and directed by her husband, Fred Niblo.
By the mid-1920s, Bennett deliberately slowed her career to focus on family life, occasionally assisting Niblo behind the scenes (including serving as an uncredited assistant director during the chaotic production of 1925’s Ben-Hur). Though she made a brief, successful transition to early sound films in the 1930s, it is her brilliant run between 1917 and 1924 that marks her as a true pioneer of early Hollywood.
