Back In The Good Old Days

A huge crown of Japanese men gather in Toyko, Japan in 1954. They are not there to protest or vote or anything like that, but instead are watching an American wrestling match on a large TV. It was the first time such an event was available to them, and the turnout was larger than expected. Witnesses said the crowd cheered and booed as if they were right there in the stadium.

A soldier beats protesters during the Gwangju Uprising in Gwangju, South Korea in 1980. The uprising was started when students protesting the government of Chun Doo-hwan were attacked, as shown, then escalated to where the students started being firing upon, killing anywhere from 20-50 (no exact count is known). In response, many people stormed police stations and armed themselves, and for 9 days clashed with government troops before being put down. Anywhere from 200-600 people were killed, with up to 2000 total casualties.

A 14 year old Ethiopian and his unit take target practice somewhere in Northern Africa in 1942. The young man is already a veteran fighter, as he is wearing an enemies cap. He apparently sniped an Italian Officer and claimed the hat as a prize.

Children line up to be given work assignments after having their heads shaved at Jasenovac concentration camp, in occupied Croatia, in 1944. Most of the children in this picture sadly would eventually be killed.

Models pose pretending to box for a magazine in the US in 1933.

A man carries 2 twins in his bags in NYC, US in 1935. The 2 twins are not children, but at the time are 36 year old circus performers. They have a rare genetic disorder preventing them from aging properly.

Miss Iraq Wijdan Suleyman eating snacks prior to the swimsuit competition as part of the Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico in 1972.

A wounded Cambodian fighter is carried to an improvised operating room in a mangrove swamp in an area controlled by the Viet Cong on the Ca Mau Peninsula in 1970. The Viet Cong used their surroundings in whatever way they could, either with tunnels deep underground, hiding in swamps, or have entire command bases inside mountains, all to confuse and hide from the enemy, which was extremely useful in avoiding US air and artillery superiority.

Union Army doctors amputate a leg in a makeshift hospital tent at an unknown battle site in 1863. The patient is fully awake with no anesthesia, and needs 2 men to hold his upper body down, another man to hold his legs, and the 2 surgeons to saw off the leg. This was done to prevent gangrene as proper surgical procedures were not readily available for all the wounded and this was the only way to ensure soldiers survived wounds from infection. However, soldiers still had problems with sickness afterwards as the tools were never properly sanitized either after each operation.

A relatively flamboyant man dances during a cabaret show in Berlin, Germany in 1927. In around 7 years, the Nazi's would have total control of the country and would eventually remove such a mans rights to a point where it was very likely that had this man stayed in Germany, he did not survive the holocaust.

Popular nude dancer Micheline Bernardini models the first official bikini designed by Louis Reard, as she is a contestant in a beauty contest at Molitor pool in Paris, France in 1946. The design took off immediately, and despite the original being 71 years old, its basic design still exists today. Interesting note, its named bikini after the atomic bomb testing that happened a week prior to the swimwear's launch in the Bikini Atoll on the Marshall Islands.

A man beats the body of a student hanged during the Thammasat University massacre in Thailand in 1976. Students had held a mock play in protest against the return of military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn. When the military cracked down, the surrendering students were beaten and hanged by angry soldiers and mobs. Even after they were killed, their corpses were beaten over and over for days. American photographer Neal Ulevich was surprising left alone to photograph the events as they unfolded, or this story may not have left Thailand.

A mother and her 2 children sit in their car somewhere in California, US in 1932. This was during the Great Depression, and their car is also in fact their home. Up to 25% of the US was jobless during this time, and it would take the rise in factory production in preparation for WWII before it ended. A quick synopsis, the stock market crash of 1929 did not directly cause the Great Depression, rather, the publics reaction to it did. They all stormed the banks asking for their money. Well, the banks don't keep all the funds deposited, they lend it out. So a lot of banks went under, and many people lost everything they had in those banks. Companies who relied on investing from people who now had no money went bankrupt, causing mass unemployment, and the domino effect hit the entire world. This was huge especially in Germany who depended on the US economy, as it gave rise to the Nazi's and WWII itself. Other factors played a part of course, but most only added to it or pushed the country deeper into the depression.

2 Stunt women show off their skills during a show in Lexington, Kentucky in 1953.

A Japanese Samurai wearing his armor for a photographer in 1882. His wife is kneeling, and she also helped put all the armor on as was the tradition.

Protesters take to the streets of Washington DC to urge president Ronald Reagan to act more strongly on the Aids Epidemic striking fear in the US in 1987. This was part of the Act Up movement that lasted into the 1990s.

Starving children gather in preparation to receive humanitarian support at the tail end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970. Most of these children have lost their parents, either separated or casualties, and were starving and on their own. Up to 3 million refugees were the result of this war, with many starving to death. Despite their appearances, these children are in fact the lucky ones, as most in this picture would survive.

The good old days don't seem like they were very good at all.

oliver clotheshoffe wrote:

The good old days don't seem like they were very good at all.

I agree.

An unknown performer, known as one of the Ziegfeld Girls, posing for an artistically sexy picture in 1922. Most of the girls did similar pictures to promote the theatrical Broadway revue spectaculars known as the Ziegfeld Follies in NYC, US from 1907-1931. Those pictures are some of the most tastefully sexy vintage pictures I have ever seen. Being a Ziegfeld Girl was a highly desired job, as the girls needed to be excellent singers, dancers, be physically strong, sexy, seductive but also graceful for the productions. They were paid alongside top female movie stars of the time, before the show ran its course. 2 Films even sprung up from their popularity after they ended.

2 Men dress as Celtics in Paris in 1951. Hard to tell but this may be for some kind of festival, or perhaps they are just some of the first cosplayers.

Bodies of children who died from the effects of Agent Orange preserved for research at Tu Du Hospital, HCM City, Vietnam in 1980. These children all died either in the womb or shortly after birth as a direct result from their mothers or fathers being exposed to the herbicide during the Vietnam War. The US used it for 10 years as a form of chemical warfare during the war. Many other children born during this time did survive with shocking deformities, but would suffer greatly and many would die before reaching 7 years old.

Passengers on a train traveling from Tokyo to Osaka go through three minutes of calisthenics under leadership of a drill master, during a five-minute stopover at Hammamatsu in 1952. This unusual service was set up to help travelers on the long journey limber up at the station which is about half way between the two cities. There is even music for the exercises, and a platform for the drill master.

A crown gathers to watch the hanging of Murderous Mary in Erwin, Tennessee, US in 1916. A little hard to tell, but Mary is in the center of the photo, and is in fact a circus elephant. After years of abuse, she killed her trainer, and the population nearby to the circus at the time decided to have the poor creature hanged. There is a rather uncomfortably shocking aftermath picture as well.

Miss NASA 1971 posing on the Apollo 8 capsule in Houston, Texas, US in 1971. I am unable to locate her name, but apparently NASA held a beauty pageant for many years from the 1950s until the late 1970s to try and get more people interested in the program. They originally had other titles such as Miss Guided Missile and Miss Jet Propulsion before becoming just Miss NASA in the late 1960s.