Vintage film, TV, documents, and photographic footage from down the years

[Kryztian]

Posted by Tintin (here)
Olga Korbut representing the USSR at the 1972 Olympics performing her "Dead Loop" on uneven bars, demonstrating just how wonderfully flexible the human form is; that this is even possible. Sensational, and I was much too young to have appreciated this at the time, but with the benefit of the recording medium can continue to enjoy it today

I was eleven when 1972 Olympics came on TV and was mesmerized by them. Watching "sports" on television usually meant baseball or football and I had absolutely no interest. The Munich Olympics were, however, completely fascinating: here were these new physical challenges, and all these athletes from around the world. And the gymnasts were the most fascinating of all. We had been told that only horrible things happened behind the Iron Curtain, but then there were these amazing, graceful and charming gymnasts from Russia, Bulgaria, Romania. And Olga Korbut was the most amazing of all, bouncing around like rubber between those un-parallel bars. This was great P.R. for the Soviet Union.

But then there were the women East German swimmers - their broad shoulders and masculine physiques looked terrifying. We assumed that this was from torturous workouts, and only a decade later realized that they were taking massive amounts of steroids. They won all the medals but they still left the world with an unsettling idea of what life was like in East Germany.

East Germany swimmer Kornelia Ender

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Bath is largely unchanged, except for the traffic, parking restrictions, endless bars and cafes, and badly dressed people...

https://x.com/bo66ie29/status/1942338158475018589
Bobbie
@bo66ie29
The timeless beauty of honey coloured Georgian buildings and the charm of British made cars. The City of Bath in the 1960s.

[grapevine]

I'm a Secret Lemonade Drinker - R White's Lemonade

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hro4AdTYiTA

The R. White's lemonade advert, known as the "Secret Lemonade Drinker," first aired in 1973 and featured a man sneaking downstairs in his pajamas to drink lemonade, only to be caught by his wife. This memorable campaign continued for years and was recognized as one of the greatest TV ads in the UK. This one was made in 1992 and is of slightly better quality.

Probaby my favourite advert of all time although strangely I never drank R Whites' Lemonade. Maybe a good thread would be "do adverts really work?" especially as Vicus commented in another thread what a pain they are.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

I remember that ad, it did run for years. It was the days when ads on TV were actually watchable, and sometimes fun, like the above. Those days ended long ago, and I stopped watching ads long ago. Now it's all woke cringe, emotional manipulation, and 'addiction marketing' -- getting people hooked on online gambling. If ever there's something on TV I want to watch, I pre-record it to play back at my leisure, fast-forwarding over the God-awful adverts!

[grapevine]

Should the bikini be banned? (1961) | RetroFocus

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=M-m4w_mAxWA

(3:50)
This short video is quite amusing and I also remember not being allowed to wear trousers to school in the 1960s and the skirt had to be a certain length too.

[Kryztian]

99 Years ago today … July 23, 1926

Buster Keaton directed the famous scene from, The General, of the Texas engine crashing into the Row River. The scene was shot on Friday afternoon at 3pm, with six cameras as well as a crowd of 3,000-4,000 spectators. It was the single most expensive 14 seconds of silent film ever shot.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=O6FaRo4ZwUI

I have to wonder if that was an actual person driving the train or a dummy, they seemed to move. It would have been quite a stunt if it was.

Here's the full movie. All 78 minutes of it.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DzspLWK9FEc

[rgray222]

1950s sunny summer in London - notice the gentleman cutting the grass is in a coat and tie.

[Bill Ryan]

Copying this wonderful photo posted by RunningDeer on the Nuggets of Truth thread:

~~~

Frozen Niagara Falls, 1902.

[grapevine]

Posted by rgray222 (here)
1950s sunny summer in London - notice the gentleman cutting the grass is in a coat and tie.

That's Soho Square, rgray222, very near Tottenham Court Road, in London's West Ebd and looks pretty much the same today as it did then, but people not so well dressed of course .

[Tintin]

Posted by grapevine (here)

Posted by rgray222 (here)
1950s sunny summer in London - notice the gentleman cutting the grass is in a coat and tie.

That's Soho Square, rgray222, very near Tottenham Court Road, in London's West Ebd and looks pretty much the same today as it did then, but people not so well dressed of course .

Yes! I know it pretty well. Just off there is The Toucan pub famous for hosting The Jimi Hendrix Experience on one of their earliest UK tours if not their first. I had a Guinness in there once some years ago now.

They played in the basement which is so small a space, pushing 300 square feet or so, but not a lot more, it's a wonder they got Jimi's 4 x 4 Marshall stack (amplifier) in there at all, along with any audience: it will have been packed