Remarkable Women in History: Real-Life Stories of Bold and Fearless Trailblazers
Is Not Talking About Lady Fight Club: First Rule Of Lady Fight Club
When we awoke this morning, we had no idea our world would grow to now include the knowledge of an all-female rooftop fight club. I guess life is surprising, as always! Okay, one hundred percent transparent here — they’re risking bout 0.1% of their lives by pretend boxing instead of full on fighting each other but hey, that’s still borderline savage honesty. A roof view of Ball Building in 1938 The image above is also from 1938, but the rooftop at the time belonged to what is now the Paramount studio lot and was then owned by RKO Pictures.
Those girls must be variety show girls, wearing dance shoes. They’re on the rooftop because it was just a terrible lot more enjoyable practicing al fresco before the days of superior air conditioning.
We just feel like they missed the point of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’
As much as we hate to spoil a phenomenal photo by putting it in context, it is a weight we will have to carry. Here are the Lusty sisters, and yes they are all real sisters. At the time this was taken – January, 1936 – the Lustys were quite well known on the English showjumping scene. Of course, Diane and Zena typically rode on horses instead of green sea turtles, but we suppose that opportunity was too good to pass up.
Now, here is where it all becomes a little bit sad – the turtles were brought into England by their owner, who used to supply them periodically to the Spencer household, as they are used for turtle soup, which is served in the Royal Family.
Randy got the tattoo lessons in exchange for a date, which worked out quite well for her.
You could almost think this was taken in the last couple of decades, were it not for the sepia tint (which is so common). What we mean is even a heavily tattooed woman is relatively rare today – imagine the odd looks Maud Wagner must’ve been getting a century ago! The photo is c. 1911, four years after Maud exchanged a date with a gentleman for tattoo lessons.
The Plaza Gallery, Los Angeles / Wikipedia
I guess lesson and date went well since Maud and Gus went on to marry and she became the first known female tattooist in the USA! Those ones that remained within the family business also include Loretta, their daughter who also became a tattooist.
If She Wore That Outfit Today, Her Life Would Be In Jeopardy, PETA Would Xaida Her
By the end of the 19th century, the Vanderbilts were among the wealthiest Americans. But to the snobs of New York City society they were low-class outsiders, even though they had made their fortune in shipping and railroads. But then in 1883 Alva Vanderbilt said hold my martini and changed everything with a single costume ball. It cost Vanderbilt a quarter of a million dollars (close to $6 million today) — but it paid off.
Jose Maria Mora / The Museum of the City of New York
It drew nearly 1,200 of the city’s premier coming-out parties and businessmen. One of those was socialite Kate Fearing Strong. Her costume was a little creepy as it was a taxidermied cat head on her head and a very short skirt that had seven, yes seven, real cat tails sewn on it.
More Than a Century Old Print Should Not Look This Silly
Anyone who has looked through a bunch of Victorian-era photographs knows that just about all of them share one common feature – the people in them all look like they’re at a funeral. Which is funny, some of them actually WERE, I mean, it was all the rage to get your picture taken with a dead relative. Even when no one in the photo was yet six feet under, smiles were in short supply. Surely this had to do with exposure times of several minutes.
Maybe it was photographs were simply too damned costly to fool around in. In any event, most people simply looked like undertakers. Except this woman. This woman’s VIBING.
One of them had been one of the 20th century’s most violent criminals
That makes this photo sound inky and scripted, at least if you otherwise know nothing about her it seems a kind ave a random old snapshot of a past age. But once you know, you’ll gasp. So, we set the stage, then: This photo was taken at Marco’s Cafe in Dallas circa 1929 Just ignore the man behind the curtain — the man is a distraction. Look at the woman. Even if you do not know her, there is a you are aware of along with her.
Give up yet? Anyway, 18-year-old Bonnie Elizabeth Parker. Next year, she will run into a guy called Clyde Barrow, and the two will set off on among one of the most scandalous crime sprees on document.
Fictional Scenario — going to the beach might get you arrested
Uh, is this a rehearsal for an extremely, extremely, extremely early edition of Dancing With the Stars? Oh Lord, it isn’t, right? Nope. Of course, you say, the 1920s were the Roaring Twenties, a period of unprecedented forward movement that radically displaced many erstwhile norms. They were, perhaps, the first thoroughly modern decade of the 20th century. Yet all that progress would leave women’s bodies behind.
Topical Press Agency / Getty Images
That photo is from 1922 Chicago, and the lady is not out ballroom dancing — she is being arrested. Her crime? Baring those legs. At that time, both men and women were regularly imprisoned or fined for wearing “abbreviated bathing suits.”
Hello, C and D Cups, We’ve Never Come Across T Cups Before
This one won’t ever be proven wrong (or right) but the caption on this photograph reads “Fanny Barker – kitchen maid 1875.” Fanny being this lady’s first name is probably a little too on-the-nose but, ya know what? We dont even care about the truth. Really, it might just spoil it for us if we found out. In fact, we would prefer if Bosom Teacup Lady remained forever ans obscure to us.
This riddle is singlehandedly smashing the stereotype of people in the Victorian times being boring. I mean, just look at this lady, posing, with an expensive 1800s portrait taken just to show off her silly parlor trick? You go, Fanny Barker.
SnapJust A Picture On The 61st Floor of Chrysler Building — Spy Only
Everyone is so keen on clicks that its a shame Margaret Bourke-White isn’t a household name. She really should be. One of the first (used the term “first”) American women to work as a war photojournalist as well as the first foreign photographer allowed to take photographs in the factories of the Soviet Union. At least Bourke-White was a household name back in her time. In fact, she was so rich she had a flat on the notorious 61st story of New york city s Chrysler Structure.
Oscar Graubner / The LIFE Images Collection / Getty Images
I mean, Time Magazine had to co-sign the lease because they wouldn’t rent to women, but still. This photo from 1934 shows Bourke-White sitting on a gargoyle, taking a photo outside the 61st floor.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes — Unless They Lift (Yeah, Apparently)
No props for guessing who this gym rat is. After all, she was one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. She is Marilyn Monroe but we know her as Norma Jeane Baker in childhood. This photo’s great, isn’t it? Monroe tends to dress in dresses or ultra-revealing sweaters, not so much in jeans and a terry cloth bikini top pumping iron. Nevertheless, there she is.
This photograph is from 1952 and was a LIFE magazine photo shoot at her bare, two-room apartment just outside of L.A. However, one photo from that shoot, used on the cover of the magazine, turned Monroe into an overnight sensation.
In Fourth Grade, She Was Tony Hawk When Tony Hawk Was Tony Hawk
Do you like the series of Tony Hawk’s video games? It’s okay to say it makes you look old The first one was launched in 1999 and the most recent in 2020. In another timeline though, you might have spent afternoons in the early naughts doing the ocassional grind and ollie in a game called Ellen O’Neal’s Pro Skater. This is her skating on two boards.
There were few female pro skaters on the planet at the time — O’Neal was one of them. But more than that, she brought it into the mainstream, even skating on one episode of the Wonder Woman TV series in the 1970s. Her only downfall? Of being born a decade too early
Miss Atomic Bomb Is Radiating And No — Not In The Good Way
Which is to say, there’s a good reason why they say “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” In the early 1950s, however, your visit to Sin City was accompanied by a special type of local souvenir that you took home with you, whether you liked it or not! That was way back in 1951 when the U.S. government detonated an atomic bomb in the Nevada desert – the first of ceaseless rounds of nuclear bomb experimentation.
Don English / Las Vegas News Bureau
And, as was to be expected, Vegas went all-in on the have-a-go mentality — ads billed the explosions as an “experience” for tourists, calendars were issued proclaiming “detonate when and where” — but there was just as much backlash. Unfortunately, this ain’t Vegas without showgirl. And in steps Lee Merlin, Miss Atomic Bomb. The Copa dancer.
Hell, we wouldn’t even get that hype over winning the lottery
Talk about a mood, all by herself this girl. Like, duh, she’s at some kinda concert. Going by her – and the girl next to her covering her ears – we might have assumed they were off to a Norwegian black metal gig. They, uh, aren’t. The entertainer those folks are watching in this photo — from April, 1957 — actually is Elvis Aaron Presley. You may have heard of him.
Fifty-seven was a pretty good year for The King – four number one songs AND the year he purchased Graceland. But obviously, the best thing that happened to him that year was this girl.
That One Better Get Filed Under T for ‘Tired (Very)’
Initially, we completely believed this was a shot from some awful ’70s detective flick where a female officer suddenly discovers an infant in her desk drawer one morning. It’s not, but the true story behind the photo is actually even more insane. The nine-month-old girl was left in a downtown LA hotel room on July 8, 1971. Complaints had been received by the hotel manager who called police – saying she had been crying for hours.
Cal Montney / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
The LAPD took her in, an officer named Pat Johnson fed her Jell-O and some cottage cheese, then laid her in a drawer to sleep. Eventually, she was placed in a group home. Now THAT could be a movie.
Wonder Woman’s First Live-Action Appearance? Um, Sort Of, Actually
We would have said this must be someone dressed up as Wonder Woman, except the character first appeared in comics in October 1941, which would place the date just before her debut. That might not be too far from the truth in a spiritual sense. Image caption This photograph, taken in March 1913, is of Inez Milholland. Today mostly forgotten, but one of her era’s most famous women.
Records of the National Woman’s Party / Library of Congress
It was taken shortly before she led a suffragette march in Washington D.C. Milholland, the standard bearer of the women’s movement for the right to vote, died at the age of 30 – four years before the Nineteenth Amendment granted success in her campaign for the vote.
We Just Wish There Were Still Showgirl Spaghetti Swooshing Contests
And what do you need to know about this 1949 picture? First: All of the ladies were showgirls from the Minsky Carnival in NYC. Before NYC was a naked city, the Minsky family did burlesque shows there
Apparently, the 1940s were pretty wild, and these contests were quite popular. The rules were simple – polish off a plate of spaghetti using only your lips and tongue. To sate your curiosity, the girl second from right won.
Before Putting on That Blanket, She Made Women’s Sports History
Some of the world’s most successful athletes today are women. Seems something almost not worth mentioning, but it is – because that wasn’t always the case. This woman helped change that. The Boston marathon is one of the world’s most famous foot races. Until 1972, though, no woman officially ran it. Bobbi Gibb wanted to be the first in 1966, but when she asked the race director he refused, saying women were physiologically incapable of running marathons.
Gibb then took a 3-and-a-half-day-long bus ride across the country just to spite him. She ran, not “officially,” but finished ahead of two-thirds of the (male) runners.
She Made Women’s Sports History Before Plopping On That Blanket
Every once in a while, this photo circulates the internet but do you know the background to it? First the players in chief. Left: Sophia Loren one of the biggest film stars in Italy. The woman getting the legendary side-eye from her is Jayne Mansfield, not well-known for her films but rather a Marilyn Monroe-esque blonde bombshell. At Beverly Hills in 1957, Loren was the guest of honour.
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
The last to arrive, allegedly, was Mansfield– in that. Loren said, “I hide the fear on my face. She’s “terrified everything in her dress is going to go pinging all over the table.
Good Lord, We Think She Glared That Fish to Death
Time to tip the hat to Mrs. E. N. Smith of New York City, land of this 1901 New York surf giant sea bass.—Nautical Images/Getty Images That bastard tipped the scales at 363 pounds — and Mrs. Dickerson required 55 minutes to haul it in with her bladed gaff stick, according to reports. Now, you may think that 363 pounds is a sizeable weight for a fish to reach, and you wouldn’t be wrong.
But that is nowhere near the other 560-plus pounds of bass! And then by the ’70s these guys were, you know, hunted practically to extinction. Even today, they’re still designated as Critically Endangered, placing them in the same category as black rhinos.
Think THAT’S Weird? It’s Not What They Used to Walk The Panty Hose
It was a tough time for everybody during WWII. Of course, all the focus was on those brave G.I.s taking it to the enemy, but we should not forget about the homefront gals. If the United States was at war overseas, their life may have been “normal” but in fact was anything but —as it was in many, big and little, ways affected. More serious were disruptions including the unexpected shortage of a key pantyhose supply chain.
During the war, production of nylon was switched to parachutes and other war needs, and there was a pantyhose shortage. Women went so far to mix paint and gravy to literally just paint their leg. They would then use a pencil eyeliner to draw the seams.
That Will Be Great / Terrible (Depends On The Context)
These days, it appears to be a vineyard or a winery that is de rigueur for the celebrity set. Honestly, we could go on all day about the celebs getting in on the vino action, so the following is a totally random California four pack – Dan Marino, Drew Barrymore, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, and Vince Neil of Motley Crue. The wispy vines of Smokey Hill’s new Sahti vineyard were home to pou” tines’n a’vine seemin’s a’ new pitcha yer co’somer credittimet, ume be-all, yaknow a hit-n-miss umbrella o’ the famouse juiced mildew dunners o killa dollars collections in-some-cru’s shandi-run cabernetius o’ goodment.
The people of California once celebrated the $50 million grape yield of their state in 1930 with the Burbank Grape Festival. Of course, they crowned a “Queen of the Vineyards”. We don’t know if this lady, Wilma Smith, won or not — but we think she should have.
Just Imagine Getting a Splinter Wearing One of Those
For the first quarter of the 20th century the Grays Harbor region of Washington was the largest lumber production and shipping center in the world. Wood was not just big business; it was VAST massive business. And Needless to say this opened the door for many a marketing technique. Some may have been clever. Some, perhaps, like New Coke. The “Spruce Girls” are likely more in the latter camp.
Vern Gorst / University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
Way before the entire DIY esthetic, a gaggle of local lasses assembled in 1929 to show off their hand-made bathing suits Why Spruce Girls? Because suits were crafted from thin layers of spruce. You’d be amazed, but a wooden bathing suit never took off from there.
These Nuns Abused Some Really Bad Habits (No Regrets Here)
Literally EVERYBODY hotboxed back in the day, dude!!! Nope, we are going to be the harbingers of bad news here. These women were probably not real nuns. This photograph, taken during a pageant held in Walmer Castle in Kent, England in August, 1931 They are most likely just women dressed up (as nuns), though that raises an interesting question about the smoking habits of actual nuns.
Nun ya business! Okay, that was awful. So, to apologize, this is what we found. Any order, law, or practice will differ, but the nun is likely not forbidden from smoking although purchasing packs may defy her vow of poverty.
These Were the Only Computers Before Desktops and Laptops
If you’ve watched the movie Hidden Figures – and if you haven’t, you better – you already know about computers. On-Chain — No, not the physical items you are reading this on right now. Not just any beings though – we are talking about beings capable of computation – people. Sure, the movie is about the African-American women who did maths in the ’60s to help launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit around the Earth, but they didn’t come up with computing in the ’60s – that started 350 years earlier.
H. Armstrong Roberts / Getty Images
In those days leading up to actual computers and calculators, the only calculating that was done was by hand – and mostly by women. They did just that at a broker, as seen in this photo, date unknown other than the 50’s/60’s.
An aviation ghost devoured by the sky
What woman, Amelia Earhart said, isn’t supposed to do the impossible like any man. Earhart lived up to that example in all too brief of a life. Perhaps that’s why we continue to think of – and speak of her – so fondly today. Years ahead of her time, she nonetheless became the first women to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. As she aptly put it herself: “Doing the impossible is worth it in and of itself.”
Bettmann Archive / Getty Images
Well, part of the legend probably has to do with her disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in 1937, which is still officially unsolved to this day. Or does it? Bones discovered on a Pacific isle in 1940 are now believed by modern investigation to be hers, or at least PROBABLE.
Right Between The Eyes, Bet She Will – God Help Us, She’s Liable To Put Somebody’s Eye Out With That Thing
You might have seen this image with some photoshop surrounding it. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade here, but it’s untrue. Although the bullet bra worn by Merry Anders was a bullet bra, it wasn’t quite as pointy as you can see from the source. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that the REALLY pointed numbers, popularized by starlets like Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner, weren’t a thing.
They totally were. Anders was simply sporting a more casual style. We can understand the appeal, though — before the days of, uh, enhancements, the only thing a lady could do to increase a cup size were these.
This Southern Belle from the 1850s Has a Very Modern Feel
History’s awesome. Concrete history–the soil of antiquity that you can suck on and sniff. Not school classes filled with snooze-inducing lectures, but what those that came before us left behind. But the most interesting subjects are not the Thomas Jeffersons of the world; they’re the total “nobodies” who nobody ever wrote a history book about. Take this woman, for example. All we know is God was from Richmond, Virginia.
We guess it’s from around the 1850s, based on her clothes and hair — but that’s all we know. This SoCal girl, with ginger french braids and scandalously exposed shoulders. We will never know who she was and we would pay for it.
Dallas, 1940’s: All Your Meals Served with a Side of Beef
One might think this is a photo of men at the first glance. Even the so-called “premium listings” are not — they’re just eye candy. Those three ladies are seriously objectifying those men — which is a bigger deal because it’s 1940 and Dallas, Texas. They were carhops — waiters who brought food to people’s cars. They might be called “Booters” as there’s no hooting owl around. The background is relatively straightforward.
Apparently one lady wrote the local paper complaining about how her and her friends were sick of seeing legs whenever they went through the drive-thru. ‘Why can’t men be carhops?’ she complained. Well, she got her wish!
That Ice Has to Be for the Burns They Just Casually Drop
This photo made us giggle, for the two ladies doing work that had such historical origins it wasn’t far from the Stone Age, and also for looking so bada** whilst doing work. If you listened in history class, you may remember that women came into the workforce out of necessity, not because they were trying to change the world. Well, there were just not enough able-bodied men to work during the world wars — because they were off fighting a global conflict.
Women filled the gap, like these ladies delivering ice – something that otherwise never would be done by a woman at that time.
The Woman Famed as the World’s Second Best Trumpeter By Louis Armstrong
Valaida Snow in London at The Coliseum — conducting an orchestra (1934) “Valaida who?” you might be asking. Louis Armstrong knew who she was, okay — he dubbed her world’s second best jazz trumpet player (after him). The shame of it, then, is that Snow — “Little Louis” — is virtually a footnote. In addition to singing and dancing, she played ten instruments by the time she was 15 years old.
Sasha / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
She was obviously unbelievably talented, but at that time in history being a woman meant she got far fewer opportunities to showcase her talents. Instead, Snow traveled to places such as Europe and even China — in the 1920s! During a performance, she died at 51, undercelebrated.
A Woman Taking One Small Step — A Giant Leap for Mankind
This is not a pseudo-artistic monochromatic shot from some season of The Big Bang Theory you forgot you watched. But what it IS, though, is the woman the dorks on Big Bang Theory dreamed they could be. Margaret Hamilton was not just a software engineer — in the 1960s! – though it turns out she may have even invented the term “software engineering.” We double dare you to call that not cool.
Draper Laboratory / Wikimedia Commons
That stack of binders she is standing next to — which is nearly as tall as she is? This is all the handwritten code for the on-board flight software that enabled Neil Armstrong to walk on the moon in 1969.
Check Them Stickers — They Show Where She Done Been
There’s a look in this woman’s eyes telling us not to fuck with her. And in 1982, when she was 24, above, Englishwoman Elspeth Beard completed three years of hers.
She put away some cash, shipped her bike from England to New York, and went on a round-the-world motorcycle adventure, where she hit Canada, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, India, Turkey then back to Europe.
Well, at Least She’s Down to Just One a Day
So whatever your opinion is about this girl, spare her some credit for being efficient. This device is probably for you if you need lung cancer, like, right now. First created in 1955, this enables the frankly nuts person who uses it to inhale an entire pack all at one go — yes, there are 20 of those one-puff wonders on there. Yeah, we counted. When I think of it now, that sounds kind of crazy.
Like, you could smoke in theaters and on planes, and probably in the confessional booths of churches. The world was once a palette of dissipating smoke, which people under the age of 35 have no idea about.
At One Point We Thought They Were Rebooting The Beverly Hillbillies
We don’t know if anyone under 60 even recalls it, but The Beverly Hillbillies was once a top TV show. The show lasted nine seasons and spawned two more CBS set in the same universe, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. It was also a great example of something that was universally despised by the pros, but loved by the folks at home.
And we think the reason for that is it rang true. For people not living on either coast, you had relatives that looked like the Clampetts. What we mean is Mrs Granny, this old lady really reminded us of granny.
This Girl Did Tom Cruise Stunts 11 Years Before He Was Born
This picture definitely confirms that there’s truly no limit of what you can do when you don’t really care to cripple people for life. Alright, we are exaggerating here – Marilyn Rich had no one holding a gun to her head to do this. The 27-year-old circus trapeze artist, who specialized at being hung from helicopters and other stunts. Taken in August of 1951, this picture depicts Rich hanging 600 feet in the air, between the skyscrapers of Manhattan.
New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection / Library of Congress
The point was good – a charity for gathering clothing for Koreans caught in the crossfire of the war. “Makes for an even swap, new excitement for old clothes!” told viewers what to do in the newscaster voice from the old timey film
