The past is a place we can always return to. We don’t need a time machine, we just have to pull up these amazing images from the golden age of the 20th century to be immediately transported back to a time of wonder, excitement, and even tragedy. The photos we’ve collected here tell the story of an era where everything and anything felt possible. Stars could rise and fall and rise again, a group of young people could change television forever, and unknown band like The Beatles could make the most out of a bad night on the road. Join us as we look back at a better, less complicated time.
Lena Horne
Actress, jazz singer, and Civil Rights activist, Lena Horne refused to let anything stand in her way. She got her start at The Cotton Club in 1933, where she established herself as a chorus girl and singer, before appearing in many MGM musicals in the 1940s, but those films didn’t bring her joy or the fame she was looking for so she returned to the stage in the 1950s. During that era she entranced audiences, was one of the best selling female recording artists, and was the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Tony for “Best Actress in a Musical”, for her part in Jamaica. That’s when Hollywood begged her to return. Throughout the late ‘50s and into the ‘60s Horne was a must-see performer on variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show, and even The Andy Williams Show. At the same time, Horne was fighting for Civil Rights and worked closely with the DNC. There was nothing Lena Horne couldn’t do.
New York City in 1962 was a city on the precipice of something big. Following World War 2, many of the city’s inhabitants moved to the newly constructed suburbs so they could raise their families in relative peace, leaving NYC to the lifers who came from all stripes. For a while the early ‘60s felt like the beginning of the end of New York City, with many of the boroughs falling into disrepair. By the 1970s, certain parts of the city felt like a warzone. Even though there was a construction boom in the 1980s, the city itself wouldn’t bounce back until the ‘90s.
Mamas and the Papas in the Hollywood Bowl
Now this is a cool shot. If you’ve ever been to the Hollywood Bowl then you know that it’s an incredible place to see live music, whether you’re checking out a symphony performance or a hot new band. The place sounds and looks amazing, and we have to imagine that the Mamas and the Papas were stoked to be playing at such a legendary Los Angeles music venue. Here’s what makes their 1967 performance at the Bowl even cooler – their opening act was none other than The Jimi Hendrix Hendrix. Can you imagine seeing Hendrix’s hot as fire three piece ripping out tunes like Purple Haze and Fire before listening to the laid back sounds of the Mamas and the Papas. It seems like a wild show, but what a time to be alive.
Barbara Eden
You know her, you love her, you probably had a poster of her on your wall in the ‘60s – Barbara Eden’s starring role in I Dream of Jeannie cemented her status as an all-time babe with her starring role in I Dream of Jeannie. Fanboys may be obsessed with her harem look in this beloved series, but it’s clear that Eden doesn’t need to throw on silk pants and weird little hat to get our engines going, she loved the camera and the camera still loves her. Looking back at this image today, we can’t help but be stunned by one of our major celebrity crushes from the Groovy Era.
The Original Cast of Saturday Night Live
There was nothing like Saturday Night Live when it premiered in 1975. Sure, there were variety shows and live performances prior to Lorne Michaels putting together the comedy Avengers, but everything that came before this long running series felt sanitized. With stars like Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Gilda Radner (that’s just to name a few of the comedy legends from the inaugural season), SNL felt anarchic. Anything can and did happen during the original season of this incredible variety show.