Back In The Good Old Days <Thread #2>

Boston firefighter Robert O''Neill is seen with Diana Bryant and 2 year old goddaughter Tiara Jones at 129 Marlborough St. on July 22, 1975.

Photographer Stanley Forman of the Boston Herald won a Pulitzer Prize for this series of photo.

The tillerman of the first fire ladder company to arrive at the scene, Robert O'Neill, asked 19-year-old Bryant to lift her two-year-old goddaughter Jones to him on the roof, but Bryant was unable to do so and O'Neill jumped down to help before the ladder could reach them.

But the fire escape collapsed.

O'Neill had one arm around Bryant and one hand on a rung of the ladder when the fire escape collapsed.

O'Neill managed to hang by one hand and was rescued, but Bryant and Jones fell approximately 50 feet (15 meters).

Bryant sustained multiple head and body injuries and died hours later. Jones survived the fall as she had landed on Bryant, softening the impact.

Police obtained an arrest warrant for the building's owner, Fred Durham, for trash fires behind the building. A police complaint charged Durham with keeping an unlicensed lodging house. Three trash fires behind the building were reported in the weeks preceding the accident.

A portion of the public was horrified that the display of this young woman’s last moment would be strewn across the media. Another portion was interested and intrigued, saying the photos made for rich news.

Woman waits for her order at a lunch counter in Tennessee. She is not permitted to sit, 1956.

Elvis Presley, seated, waits for his bacon and eggs

Subjects of "American Gothic", 1930.

The artist, Grant Wood (1891- 1942), recruited his sister Nan (1899–1990) to model the woman. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950).

His sister was embarrassed because people thought she portrayed a woman married to a man twice her age. She let everyone know it was a painting of father and daughter, which the artist confirmed.

Two American soldiers with special ammo for Hitler, Easter Sunday, 1945.

19 years later, man and police dog during 1964 Civil Rights movement.

This photo played a huge part in driving the international opinion to the side of the Civil Rights Movement.

Speaking of irrational hate...Joseph Goebbels, after realizing the photographer is Jewish.

German soldiers who did not survive the battle of Stalingrad, 1943, paid the price of Hitler and Goebbels goals

Hiroshima bomb created shadow, 1945.

Japanese citizens paying the price of becoming allies with Germany.

Many people believe that the shadow is the outline of a human vaporized immediately after the bombing. However, the possibility of human vaporization is not supported from a medical perspective.

The ground surface temperature is thought to have ranged from 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Celsius just after the bombing. Exposing a body to this level of radiant heat would leave bones and carbonized organs.

These are American soldiers who survived WW2 returning home via NY harbor on the Queen Elizabeth after V-Day in 1945.

Her carrying capacity was over 15,000 troops and over 900 crew. During her war service as a troopship, Queen Elizabeth carried more than 750,000 troops.

Speaking of survival and transport, these are little ones who lost their parents in Vietnam and flown to U.S. for adoption, 1975.

Japanese couple taking a mirror selfie, 1920s

Inventor Charles S.l Baker and his assistant demonstrating heating/radiator system. 1906

Mask mandate during influenza outbreak in 1918.

Same as it ever was...1970s civil rights protester

Same as it ever was.

David Isom, 19, Broke the color line in a segregated pool in Florida on June 8, 1958, which resulted in officials closing the facility

Birthday Girl In Tehran, 1973

A young woman in a fun outfit, slicing into her birthday cake, doesn't seem to be that significant! But this photo from the 1970s is on the list for a reason - it captures a completely different side of history for the women of Iran.

Prior to 1979, women had the right to vote, could wear what they wanted, served in parliament, on local councils, and were part of the workforce. Then came the revolution, and everything changed, including a massive regression of women's rights.

Marlene Dietrich's Trousers Were Illegal

In 1933, Marlene Dietrich stepped off a train in Paris, France, to considerable controversy, having flown across the Atlantic for a vacation with her husband.

Dietrich's style - her fierce suit, short hair, and shoes - reflected the changing fashions for women during that period. But at the time she arrived in Paris, women in France were forbidden - by law - to wear pants.

Dental Patient in 1920 Calls It Like He Sees It.

This little fellow clearly felt called to spread the word! This dentist who claimed to be "painless" was apparently far from it, and so this child vandalized his building with the word "liar."

Given the dental practices of the 1920s, his protest was more than likely justified. In one area of history that has changed quite dramatically, people used to wait years to see a dentist. Bear in mind that they also didn't have toothpaste back then!

Then, when they finally did go see a dentist, there were no painkillers involved! Novocaine and laughing gas were sometimes used after they were introduced in 1905, but not always.

For the little graffiti artist pictured, a tooth extraction without anesthetic was just one step too far.

The Boy And His Car, 1930s....little man's got style

Some guy in the 1890s NYC selling shoelaces. He died.

One day, we'll all be just memories and photographs. Many of us will be as unknown as this guy is to us. ...A humbling thought for me.

Make the best of your time for yourself and others while you have this brief moment in time.

Diving suit year 1916.