Smoky, 1935
Smoky belonged to Charles E Jones, “The Birdman of Vancouver.”
Source: City of Vancouver Archives #371-1201
My favorite Newsweek cover of all time. (And not just because of that VELVET BODYSUIT.) #newsweek #lesbians #retro #1990s cc @thedailybeast (Taken with Instagram at 1993 (Yes! Really!))
life:
July 26, 1968: Aboard the First Flights
In 1968, LIFE magazine celebrated the first flights allowed into Russia, a negotiation 10 years in the making, as Aeroflot and Pan Am did reciprocal flights between New York and Moscow. The Russian flight attendant, left, looks more fashionable than what was generally being worn by crew in other communist countries. China’s crew wore grey baggy trousers and shirts, and carried a book of Mao’s sayings in hand, and the requirement to recite them to all the passengers mid-flight.
For many flight attendants it was the golden age: United put its stewardesses up in New York’s ritzy St. Moritz; one TWA stewardess recalls that founder Howard Hughes would board his airline, ask all the passengers to leave, then fill the seats with movie stars and head off for a party.
Read more about the history of flight fashions here.
Electricity flashes from the thimble-topped fingers of traveling “preacher-scientist” George Speake. From the 1940s into the ’60s, he was one in a series of men affiliated with Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute who demonstrated religious faith by demonstrating scientific principles. To create the lightning effect, Speake would stand atop an electric transformer coil. The room would darken. Then, at his command, a brief high-frequency current would travel over his skin, up from his feet and out of his fingertips. According to notes accompanying the image, Speake suffered no injury because “the high-frequency juice…is too fast to be felt.” Another reason he stayed safe was his extreme care in setting up the trick: The photo’s notes also warn that the practice was “for spectacle purposes only.”
Photograph by Moody Bible Institute, National Geographic Stock
