Everyone sees history through their personal lens. The stories we’ve heard shape historical moments and the images we recognize. But now and then, a photo emerges that challenges those familiar narratives and offers a fresh perspective on the past. We’ve gathered a killer collection of rare vintage photos in this gallery that put a surprising new spin on history. These images capture moments that defy expectations, revealing sides of the past that are rarely seen or discussed. Get ready to see history in a whole new light.
Fresh from her honeymoon in Japan with baseball player Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe visited Korea in February 1954 to entertain the American troops. Monroe performed 10 shows in four days, and considered the experience a turning point in her career. She later said it “was the best thing that ever happened to [her].” She continued, “I never felt like a star before in my heart. It was so wonderful to look down and see a fellow smiling at me.” Monroe performed for about 100,000 grateful soldiers, singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and giving the troops a reason to salute.
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Actress Natalie Wood began her career when she was only five years old, and her career as a child star included the watched and re-watched Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street. Wood’s transition into more grown-up roles started with a bang, playing opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, an Oscar-nominated performance. Other highlights included a small but memorable part in John Ford’s The Searchers, then the title role in Marjorie Morningstar. Producers stuck Wood with a ton of “girlfriend” roles in unremarkable films that had some critics wondering whether she was “washed up” by 1960. Then came Splendor in the Grass, in which she played opposite Warren Beatty under the direction of Elia Kazan, a film that kicked off a half-decade of commercial and critical success for Wood.
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Pink Floyd’s 1989 tour was a massive spectacle that attracted huge crowds. The band had been on hiatus since Roger Waters left in 1983, and by now the public was hungry for Pink Floyd, with or without Waters. But when the band booked a show in the Piazza San Marco, in Venice, Italy, there wasn’t much cheering from residents, who feared the sound and the crowds might damage the city’s art and architecture. Pink Floyd made the fairly considerate move to play instead from a barge out in the water, and to cut their volume from the usual 100 decibels down to 60. Still, the episode chafed Venetians, who gave their local politicians hell over the days afterward. Ultimately, the mayor and the entire city council resigned.
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On January 20, 1968, the young and very clearly talented director Roman Polanski married the young and extremely promising actress and model Sharon Tate. Polish-born Polanski had just finished filming Rosemary’s Baby, which would be released later that year and is considered one of the greatest horror films ever. Tate’s latest movie, The Valley of the Dolls, was in theaters, and her performance in it would earn her a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. The newlyweds seemed to have everything going for them, until the night of August 9, 1969, when Sharon and four other people were brutally murdered at their home in Los Angeles by individuals taking instructions from cult leader Charles Manson. The tragic loss of Sharon Tate, a promising actress and beloved figure in the entertainment industry, left a void that could never be filled.
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In 1975, Fleetwood Mac released their eponymous album with two dynamic new members, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. It took the public a little time to dig the “new” Mac, but on the strength of songs like “Rhiannon” and “Landslide,” the Fleetwood Mac LP reached #1 on the Billboard album chart. Also, the band had finished recording the follow-up, Rumours, just the previous month. If the public had finally come around to liking the Fleetwood Mac album, it seemed a fair bet that they would love Rumours, and they did.
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Actress Valerie Leon was a beautiful actress in the right place at the right time – the Swinging London scene of the late 1960s, a period of cultural and artistic revolution in London – and plenty of the right movies, but never quite in the right role. Her highlights were undoubtedly her Bond Girl moment in the (non-canon) 007 film Never Say Never Again, and her starring role in the Hammer Horror film Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb. Otherwise, she specialized in comedy, appearing frequently as a temptress in the ‘Carry On’ series of British comedy films. For a quick-hit example of Valerie’s appeal, look up the ’70s TV commercials for Hai Karate cologne, in which the sultry Leon repeatedly goes wild for a nerd who has applied the (low-budget) manly scent.
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Detroit-born Suzi Quatro was a hugely successful rock musician in the ’70s, inspiring female rockers including Joan Jett, Chryssie Hynde, the Go-Go’s, and Courtney Love, which may be news to many American listeners. Her debut single, ‘Rolling Stone,’ released in 1972, set the precedent, failing to make any chart in any country — except Portugal, where it went to #1. ‘Can the Can,’ her second single, went to #1 in the U.K., Australia, and Germany and stalled at #56 on the U.S. chart. ’48 Crash’ went to #3 in the U.K., #2 in Germany, #1 in Australia and failed to chart in the States. You get the idea. Her one bona fide U.S. hit was the 1978 duet with Chris Norman, ‘Stumblin’ In,’ which reached #4 on the Billboard chart. Quatro’s music, with its powerful vocals and energetic performances, broke barriers for female rock musicians and paved the way for many who followed in her footsteps.
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Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss were the four sons of New York who formed the monstrous rock group Kiss. But for all their platinum-selling albums and sold-out live shows, they could walk down any street in the city they wanted and hardly be noticed, as long as they weren’t wearing their trademark makeup and costumes. When in makeup and costume, each band member ceases to be a Gene or a Paul and becomes the mythical persona of his dreams. For the uninitiated, Simmons is “The Demon” and Stanley is “The Starchild;” former members Frehley and Criss became, respectively, “The Spaceman” (or “Space Ace”) and “The Catman.”
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Gilda Radner was one of seven original cast members of Saturday Night Live; she was the first of the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” selected. Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Dan Aykroyd filled out the lineup that debuted on October 11, 1975 (the show was then called NBC’s Saturday Night). Radner was known for skewering TV personalities; some of her characters were based on real people (her “Baba Wawa” was a direct satire of Barbara Walters) and some, like commentators Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella, came straight from her noggin. Sadly, Radner died from ovarian cancer in 1989, at age 42.
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Viewers of the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, about a fictional radio station in Ohio, will remember Les Nessman as the bungling newsman, a relic of a different era. Les (played by Richard Sanders) clings to his identity and function as a straight-up newsman on a station that has changed to a rock-music format. It doesn’t help that Les is terrible at his job. He’s unable to pronounce certain words, and disaster follows him wherever he goes. His co-workers know he’s a drag on the changes they’re trying to make and even complain about him on air with the provocative slogan “WKRP: More Music and Les Nessman.” As of course, Les doesn’t get it.
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