Crowd Pleasers | Eyewear of the Clay vs. Bonavena Fight, 1970

A few snapshots of the Madison Square Garden crowd at Clay vs. Bonavena, 1970.

The Artist at Work | 1946

A young Austrian girl at work in the studio, 1946

Rethinking the Granny Glasses | Sophia Loren, 1984

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Oversized Boho Chic Vintage Sunglass with Wave Metal Temple 

'If you haven't cried, your eyes can't be beautiful.'

-Sophia Loren, 1984

Old Man Out | Peter Graves R.I.P

Peter Graves A.K.A. Jim Phelps

W.C. Handy & Bessie Smith PSA | St. Louis is Not For Lovers

Writing about the first time St Louis Blues was played (1914), composer W.C. Handy (pictured above) notes that "The one-step and other dances had been done to the tempo of Memphis Blues...When St Louis Blues was written the tango was in vogue. I tricked the dancers by arranging a tango introduction, breaking abruptly into a low-down blues. My eyes swept the floor anxiously, then suddenly I saw lightening strike. The dancers seemed electrified. Something within them came suddenly to life. An instinct that wanted so much to live, to fling its arms to spread joy, took them by the heels."

The following St. Louis Blues (1929) is a two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues". Handy co-authored the film and was the musical director. The film features a band that included James P. Johnson on piano, Thomas Morris and Joe Smith on cornet, as well as the Hall Johnson Choir with some thrilling harmonies at the end.

Bessie Smith performs W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues in 1929

I hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down
Hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down,
'cause my baby, he done left this town

Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
Feel tomorrow like I feel today,
I'll pack my trunk, make my getaway

St. Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man 'round by her apron strings,
't'want for powder and for store-bought hair

The man I love, would not gone nowhere,
got the St. Louis blues just as blue as I can be
That man got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me

Will to Power | Barbara Stanwyck in '33

Tyrone Powers and Barbara Stanwyck 

This movie is cited as being most responsible for the implementation of the private 'production code' in 1934. Barbara Stanwyck stars in this rags to riches story in pre-ww2 New York City, This clip contains a scenes cut from the final release, a breast grope and the entire rail yard 'exchange'. The Nietzsche speech here was also substantially changed. John Wayne has a small role here, as one of Stanwyck's early conquests.

Babyface (1933)

The Secret to Success | Rod Steiger in '64

The Pawnbroker, 1964

The film was the first American movie to deal with the Holocaust from the viewpoint of a survivor. It earned international acclaim for Rod Steiger and was among the first American movies to feature nudity during the Production Code and was the first film featuring bare breasts to receive Production Code approval.

Director Sidney Lumet initially had misgivings about Steiger being cast in the lead role. He felt that Steiger "was a rather tasteless actor — awfully talented, but completely tasteless in his choices." Lumet preferred James Mason for the role, and comic Groucho Marx was among the actors who had wanted to play the lead.

The film was controversial for depicting nude scenes in which actresses Linda Geiser and Thelma Oliver fully exposed their breasts. The scene with Oliver, who played a prostitute, was intercut with a flashback to the concentration camp, in which Nazerman is forced to see his wife (Geiser) forced into prostitution. The scenes resulted in conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America, which administered the Motion Picture Production Code.

The Association initially rejected the scenes showing bare breasts and a sex scene between Sanchez and Oliver, which it described as "unacceptably sex suggestive and lustful." On a 6-3 vote, the Motion Picture Association of America granted the film an "exception" conditional on "reduction in the length of the scenes which the Production Code Administration found unapprovable."

In The Money | Andy Mouse, 1986

Keith Haring Andy Mouse, 1986

Andy Mouse pays tribute to Haring's hero and mentor, Andy Warhol, to whom he was introduced following his second exhibition in New York at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1984. This historic encounter between Warhol and Haring brought together their mutual fascination with an “Art for Everybody,” and an admiration for Walt Disney.

Drawing on Warhol’s legacy, and similar to Disney, Haring created a world for both adults and children, in which art became a visual vocabulary and one that could be shared with everyone, as seen here on the animated canvas of Andy Mouse. Believing that cartoon figures could be an component of fine art, and regarding Andy Warhol and Walt Disney as heroes, Haring’s exuberant and enchanting Andy Mouse bonded together the work of these three significant artists.

The First 3-D Television | Hugo Gernsback in HD

TV Glasses by Inventor Hugo Gernsback, 1963

Hugo Gernsback was an Luxembourg American inventor, writer and magazine publisher, best remembered for the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, first published in 1926. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is sometimes popularly called "The Father of Science Fiction".

Polaroid Portrait by Steve Martinez | No. 5

Polaroid Portrait by Steve Martinez | No. 4

Polaroid Portrait by Steve Martinez | No. 3

Polaroid Portrait by Steve Martinez | No. 2

Polaroid Portrait by Steve Martinez | No. 1

Old School Optical | Tools of the Trade 1943

An optical lab tech determines the cylindrical axis for a new lens. Note the lens clock in the bottom right to measure base curve, identical to ones used by contemporary opticians.

An optical lab tech hand edges an eyeglass lens, 1943.

A piece of optical glass sitting in a can of acidifier, 1943.

HDV Salutes the Old School!

The Science of Ocular Art | 1960

Now With Wings | Unusually Elaborate Eyewear of 1960

Satisfied women model ornate eyeglasses for a fashion show, 1960.

Japanese Girl at the Winter Olympics | 1972

Pretty Japanese girl at the Winter Olympics with soft round sunglasses and warm woolen mittens. Sapporo, Japan (1972).

Old School Optical | Introducing Fiber Optics

Mid-century researchers at American Optical explore the uses of fiber optics.

Mile High Club | HDV In-Flight Reading

Hotel De Ville Vintage Eyewear Featured in American Airlines' American Way Magazine

HOTEL DE VILLE VINTAGE EYEWEAR | LOS ANGELES
What began as a venue for optician Javier Brambila to sell vintage frames on the weekends has grown into a full-fledged lifestyle brand with three L.A. boutiques (Fairfax, Beverly, and Los Feliz) that are frequented by Hollywood stylists. Rooted in the “fit and science of the business,” Brambila and the other opticians of Hotel De Ville scour the globe for deadstock finds, from antique metals to the vintage Miklis that Lady Gaga is currently rocking.

Old School Optical | Way Back In The Day...

A young woman gets a refraction in a lovely white button up sweater...

Back at the lab, the optician hand cuts the American Optical custom lenses.

Old School Optical | 1967

Technical Director of Carl Zeiss Optical Works, Rudolf Muller (1967) in Jena, Germany, home of the Optical Museum.

Vlad to Be Alive | Ashkenazy in 1963

Russian Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy in Britain, 1963.

You Say Privyet and I Say Do Svidaniya | Moscow, 1968

Soviet fasion model Ludmila Romonovsky leaving "Don Modeli," where she works in Moscow, 1968.

A Pair of Spectacles | U & I

Handmade Valentine from 1880 (UK)

A Pair of Spectacles.  U & I.

Happy Valentine's Day from HDV!

The Shape of Things to Come | Valentine's Day, 1955

Polish American women having refreshments at Valentine's Day party in Detroit, 1955.

Back to Life Back to Reality | Al Pacino & Diane Keaton, 1989

Al Pacino and Diane Keaton at the time of their off-screen romance during the filming of Godfather III, 1989

It's easy to fool the eye but it's hard to fool the heart.

-Al Pacino

Mars in Furs | 1961

Man in Fur Hat and Glasses, 1961

Time for a Little R & R | Burt and the Good Doctor

Dr. Ruth and Burt Reynolds enjoy a friendly embrace...

It was an astounding kind of time and I've often said to people, if I met you between `73 and `78, I'm sorry, I don`t remember three or four of those years.
-Burt Reynolds

He's on Fire | Prince Albert and the Ritual Furniture Sacrifice?

Prince Albert Grimaldi leads the succession of furniture to the flames

HDV would like to know which holiday this is,
and how they can celebrate it with the House of Grimaldi...

Visions of Greatness | Prince Rainier vs. Mount Rainier

Prince Rainier III of Monaco, 1983

Mt. Rainier in Washington, 1961

Monaco Week | Princess Grace & Al Pacino

Princess Grace and Al Pacino in 1982, a year before the release of Scarface.

Monaco Week | Prince Albert Aviator

Prince Albert of Monaco, on a good day, and a bad day, 1983.

Monaco Week | Prince Pince

Prince Rainier of Monaco sporting a tuxedo, waxed mustache & pince nez (pinch nose) while attending the Grand Ball in 1968.