Silent film stars

Have you ever wondered why the makeup in movies of the 1910s looks so garish and pallid compared to those in the 20s? Note (after you stop laughing) how dark Buster's hands are compared to his face. The secret lies in the type of film stock. Not all black and white film was created equal! Before 1922, almost all motion pictures were shot on orthochromatic, or blue-sensitive, film: The film stock was sensitive to the blue-violet end of the visible spectrum but insensitive to the yellow-red…

photographs

Vintage celebrity portraits give us a glimpse into the past and a way to connect with icons from bygone eras. These pictures, often taken by renowned photographers, show us things like fashion and style, as well as the cultural and social norms of the time.

I doubt these ladies felt at all ready for their close-up, but this is what it looked like to be camera-ready in the early years of black & white commercial television. Technology for the new medium in those days lacked a significant amount of contrast and wasn't capable of showing certain colou

anita page

Dolores del Río (1904-1983) was a Mexican actress who was the first major female Latin American crossover star in Hollywood, with a career i...

Dolores Costello C. 1920s

BAUBLES AND GEWGAWS

At the beginning of 20th century, there was no Photoshop or plastic surgery, and the beauty icons of those times looked completely different from modern actresses, singers and models. Take a look at these 100-year-old pictures capturing the pure beauty of women who lived a century ago.