I suggest world wide search for Women in WWII.
Please do not send really ugly ones…
Also no “tragic” photos nor dead females photos. We all know that war is terrible but this thread should be lighthearted.
Funny captions welcomed.
Below first few pics .
Komm, komm Helmut! I would like to use my rolling pin but Fuhrer said that we have a total war!
US Army fun.
Wehrmacht triple fun…
Wehrmacht single fun…
Lancer44
Wow, Luftwaffe fun. Pilots are always lucky. Better food, better uniforms, better pay…
Ja, ja fraulein, it really fit your hand. And I see that you instinctively know how to hold it!
Panzer fun
Hard job in the Army…
Kriegsmarine fun… (Marinehelferin aus Gotenhafen - Gdynia)
Now I understand why RAF was bombing Gotenhafen so often…
Soviet girls and their baloon. I understand that they had to blow it…
Soviet recon girls.
Czechoslovakian paratroopers.
Hi lancer
The fan of Vasilij Zaitsev
The stuggle against …caries!?
The last day of major Koning (Elesaveta Muronova)
save the private Sherman
So where’s he, it agreed in 5 o’clock near the bomber . …
Yes, that’s goat who promised to marri
Hollow Fire Brigade.
Searchlight crew
B-17 crew US Air Force
Cheers,
Lancer44
Yugoslav partisans women:
Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress of Spanish and English descent who reached fame during the 1940s as the era’s leading sex symbol. She was sometimes called “The Love Goddess” or “The Great American Love Goddess,” and was celebrated as an expert dancer and great beauty.
She was born Margarita Carmen Cansino, the daughter of Eduardo Cansino (Sr.) and Volga Haworth in Brooklyn, New York. The Cansinos were a famous family of Spanish dancers working in vaudeville. Their family ancestry were of the Roma people native to Spain. Hayworth was trained as a dancer from childhood, and was on stage by the age of twelve.
First attracting the attention of film producers as part of the dance team “The Dancing Cansinos,” Hayworth was signed first by Fox Studios in 1935, then freelanced for several years before signing with Columbia Pictures. After a name change from Rita Cansino to Rita Hayworth, and painful electrolysis to raise her hairline, Rita made a splash as part of the ensemble cast in Howard Hawks’ Only Angels Have Wings (1939). The Strawberry Blonde with James Cagney followed in 1941. Finally her sizzling “other woman” part in Rouben Mamoulian’s Blood and Sand (1941) with Tyrone Power solidified her new-found stardom.
Hayworth’s fame as a beautiful redhead arose from this Technicolor film. The “love goddess” image was cemented with Bob Landry’s Life Magazine photograph of her (kneeling on a bed in a nightgown), which caused a sensation and became (at five million copies) one of the most requested wartime pinups. During World War II she ranked with Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner as the pinup girls most popular with servicemen. Rita would soon become Columbia’s biggest star of the 1940s, under the watchful eye of studio chief Harry Cohn.
Above quoted from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Hayworth
SEE ALSO:
http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Hayworth,%20Rita.htm
http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa101401a.htm
http://www.divasthesite.com/Acting_Divas/Rita_Hayworth.htm
http://glamournet.com/legends/Rita/
http://www.thegoldenyears.org/hayworth.html
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/classic.jsrpages/classic/hayworth/s.htm
http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Hayworth/hayworth.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~claudia79/
http://silverscreensirens.com/rita.htm
A classic.
Betty Grable (Ruth Elizabeth “Betty” Grable) (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and pin-up girl whose sensational bathing-suit photo became the number one pinup of the World War II era. Grable was best known for her shapely gams (legs), which were showcased in all of her Technicolor musicals and famously insured by her studio 20th Century Fox for one million dollars per leg.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri to John C. Grable (the son of German and Dutch immigrants) and Lillian Hoffman (who was of Dutch, Irish and English descent), she was propelled into acting by her mother, who insisted that one of her daughters become a star. Her “Big Break” came when she returned to Hollywood to replace the injured Alice Faye in Zanuck’s film Down Argentina Way that was released in 1940, her first color film, and her star continued to rise as “The Screen’s Most Beautiful Blonde.” Betty Grable would make dozens of routine color musicals for Fox over the next decade and earn the studio over $100 million. She became the No. 1 female box office attraction in 1942, 1943, 1944 and remained in the Top 10 for the next decade.
In 1942, according to Larry Billman, “World War II was raging around the globe and escapist films were being manufactured in Hollywood as quickly as possible. Betty’s ingratiating freshness and beauty appealed strongly to the American G.I.s stationed overseas and her films were eagerly requested by the lonely servicemen… Although she never toured outside the United States for the U.S.O., Betty actively participated in War efforts, appearing at Camps across the country and at Bond Rallies where she auctioned off her nylons for thousands of dollars. Volunteering at the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed entirely by film stars and studio workers, she ‘Jitterbugged’ the night away with hundreds of soldiers, sailors and marines”. Her fan mail often reached 10,000 letters per week, and in 1942 she sent 54,000 autographed photos to the soldiers at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, who had sent her 54,000 letters. She dumped boyfriend-actor George Raft and married the bandleader Harry James July 5, 1943. A popular GI slogan during the war became “I want a girl just like the girl that married Harry James.” Their daughter Victoria was born March 4, 1944.
It was early in 1943 that Frank Powolny photographed the famous full-length back pose of Betty Grable looking over her shoulder. Many stories have been told about the origin of the most famous “Pin Up” picture in American history: that she was pregnant and tried to hide her stomach; or, that she was finished with the photo session and had turned her back to walk out of the studio, saying “That’s it!”; or, that she turned to smile at Darryl F. Zanuck who had entered the studio unexpectedly; or, that it was a costume shot for the film Sweet Rosie O’Grady released Oct. 1, 1943. Whatever the origin, the studio circulated floods of prints of the pose; most were dated “1943” and they became an instant hit. Unlike the French postcards of WWI secretly collected by American doughboys, the pinups of WWII were out in the open and sanctioned by the government. Photos of Rita Hayworth from the Aug. 11, 1941, issue of Life magazine were allowed to decorate airplane cockpits and army barracks. Life had coined the term “pinup” in the July 7, 1941, special issue on National Defense and anointed “Dottie” Lamour as the nation’s first official pinup girl. Betty Grable’s 1943 image would far surpass these in fame. According to Doug Warren, the Fox studio put “about five million copies of the famous pose in GI hands during the war, and the over-the-shoulder pose was the only one that was used for this purpose. Powolny believes the term ‘pinup’ was born with this Betty Grable photo. Betty was a representation of the girl-back-home for thousands of homesick young lads. For some, she may have been their only infatuation, the last girl they had ever lusted for, loved, or adored. She was company on a cold night, comfort at times of pain. Betty had an idea she was admired by the GIs, but had no way of knowing exactly how much. It was more than the sexy picture that enamored them of her; there was a magical wholesomeness and substance they saw beyond the curves of her figures. It was her very essence that was loved”
The New York Times wrote Oct. 21, 1943, about her in the film Sweet Rosie O’Grady that it offered “Miss Betty Grable of the legs divine in an hour-and-a-half long display of assorted poses, suitable for pin-up.” Zanuck released the film Pin Up Girl on May 10, 1944, to capitalize on the famous photo, and used the photo to publicize many of the wartime films of the Fox studio. Her yearly salary of $320,000 by 1947 made her the highest paid salaried woman in America. However, her contract with Fox ended in 1953 as the studio began to feature a new “blond bombshell” by the name of Marilyn Monroe. Betty moved to Las Vegas and made appearances on television and in nightclubs in the 50s, and on stage in the early 60s. She divorced Harry James in 1965 and suffered financial decline, but continued working on tours and stage shows, and doing TV commercials for Geritol, until her death from cancer in 1973.
Above was a composite quote from the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Grable
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2TimeLine/bettygrable.html
SEE ALSO:
http://grableonline.tripod.com/
http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Grable,%20Betty.htm
http://www.bombshells.com/grable/
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/2440/index-g.html
Betty Grable - nice gams.
Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, died in Hollywood, California.
Lamour’s birth name was Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; Lamour came from a variation of the name of her step-father, Carlo Lambour. After winning the title of Miss New Orleans in a beauty pageant she moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1931, hoping to become a professional singer. She first attracted some attention singing with the band of Herbie Kay, who became her first husband. In 1935, she had her own fifteen-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. She also sang on the popular Rudy Vallee radio show.
She was among the most popular actresses in motion pictures from 1936 to 1952. She appeared in the classic series of Road movies, such as Road to Morocco, also starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the 1940s and 1950s. The movies were enormously popular during the 1940’s, and they regularly placed among the very top moneymaking films each year as a new one came out.
During the World War II years, Dorothy Lamour was among the most popular pin up girls among American servicemen, along with Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, and Lana Turner. Lamour was also largely responsible for starting up the war bond tours in which movie stars would travel the country selling war bonds for the US Government to the public. Lamour alone promoted the sale of over $21 million dollars worth of war bonds, and other stars promoted the sale of a billion more.
Above quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Lamour
Buy Bonds.
British singer Dame Vera Lynn, DBE (born March 20, 1917) career flourished during World War II, when she was nicknamed “The Forces’ Sweetheart”. She is best known for the popular songs “We’ll Meet Again”, written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles, and “The White Cliffs of Dover”, words by Nat Burton, music by Walter Kent. She is one of the last surviving major entertainers of the war years.
Lynn was born Vera Margaret Welch in East Ham, London. Later she adopted her grandmother’s maiden name Lynn as her stage name. She began singing at the age of seven. Her first radio broadcast, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, was made in 1935. At this point she was being featured on records released by dance bands including Loss’s and Charlie Kunz’s. In 1936 she made her first solo record on the Crown label, “Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire”. This label was soon swallowed up by Decca. After a short stint with Loss she stayed with Kunz for a few years during which she waxed several standards. She later moved to the aristocrat of British dance bands, Bert Ambrose.
Lynn married clarinettist and saxophonist Harry Lewis in 1939, the year World War II broke out. In 1940 she began her own radio series, “Sincerely Yours”, sending messages to British troops stationed abroad. In this radio show she and a quartet performed the songs most requested to her by soldiers stationed abroad. She also went into hospitals to interview new mothers and send messages to their husbands overseas. She toured Burma and gave outdoor concerts for soldiers. In 1942 she recorded the Ross Parker/Hughie Charles song “We’ll Meet Again” while making the film of the same name. The nostalgic lyrics (“We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day”) had a great appeal to the many people separated from loved ones during the war, and it became one of the emblematic songs of the wartime period.
After the war, her “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” became the first record by a British artist to top the US charts, doing so for nine weeks.
Above quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Lynn
Sweetheart of the British Army.
Click below to listen to some of her songs:
I’m Yours Sincerely & We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn
(live concert for British troops in WW2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iJaOvPIFKA
We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtfpX0uMspQ
The White Cliffs of Dover - Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBIhIpLbWco
There’ll Always Be An England - Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ2FOBxshWY
Vera Lynn tribute to WW2 - medley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghcAIxlksAI
BLESS EM ALL - Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXsG2HlC5RI
Land of Hope and Glory - Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNFuAYNxA_8
We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbNMVMAzq-c
World at War Volume14 It’s a lovely day tomorrow Burma 1942-1944 part 1
(documentay series) - features interview with Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrB44--ePBM
World at War Volume14 It’s a lovely day tomorrow Burma 1942-1944 part 2
(documentay series) - features interview with Vera Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRWJ2TA_S9I
SEE ALSO:
http://www.search.com/reference/Vera_Lynn
Leni Riefenstahl (Berta Helene Amalie “Leni” Riefenstahl) (August 22, 1902 – September 8, 2003) was a German athlete, actress, director and filmmaker widely noted for her aesthetics and advances in film technique. She was Hitler’s favorite director. Her most famous films were probably “Triumph of the Will” (which chronicled the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg) and “Olympia” (covering the 1936 Olympics in Berlin). Rejected by the film industry after World War II, she later pursued still photography and continued to make films of marine life.
Above was partial quote from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl
http://www.leni-riefenstahl.de/eng/bio.html
http://www.leni-riefenstahl.com/
http://www.helmut-schmidt-online.de/Riefenstahl-Homepage/Leni%20Riefenstahl-Startseite-800.htm
Tribute to Leni Riefenstahl - slide show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhNMdwvMmA
This Alpine skiing is the best Hans.
Clara Petacci (Claretta Petacci) (February 28, 1912 – April 28, 1945) was a young Roman girl from an upper-class family who became Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s mistress in 1936. Her father had been the personal physician to the Pope. She was twenty-nine years younger than Mussolini.
http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/132/clarapetacci083xi.jpg
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/9557/clarapetacci049vl.jpg
Tragically, she shared his fate when they were executed on April 28, 1945, and their bodies were hung at an Esso gas station in the Piazzale Loreto in Milan.
Edited by Dani: Last pictures replaced with link.
Hi George,
Very informative post. But thread was intended as funny and lighthearted.
Pics of dead Petacci hardly can be classified as funny.
Also Hollywood pin-ups doesn’t really fit image of “normal girls in uniform”.
It is unfair US competition to those poor, fat Wehrmacht helferinen. lol
Cheers,
Lancer44
Flak German girls
Czechoslovak army girls at Dukla Pass
Kriegsmarine cross dressing…
This girl is French. Poor thing - most likely this would earn her shaved head after liberation.
Polish private
Soviet traffic regulation girl.
Frauleins in uniforms…
Another pretty soviet traffic regulation.
Deutsche Africa Corps nurse receiving Ritter Kreuz.
Who knows her name?
Canadian “landing” girls
Hi Lancer,
No competition intended - just consider them to also be part of the tapestry of World War II. Later I intend to include the common girls as well.
Edith Piaf (December 19, 1915 - October 11, 1963) was one of France’s most beloved singers, with much success shortly before and during World War II. Her music reflected her tragic life, with her specialty being the poignant ballad presented with a heartbreaking voice.
She wrote her signature song, La Vie en Rose, in the middle of the German occupation in World War II. During this time, she was in great demand and very successful. Singing for high-ranking Germans at the One Two Two Club earned Édith Piaf the right to pose for photos with French prisoners of war, ostensibly as a morale-boosting exercise. Once in possession of their celebrity photos, prisoners were able to cut out their own images and use them in forged papers as part of escape plans. Today, Édith Piaf’s association with the French Resistance is well known and many owe their lives to her. After the war, Édith toured Europe, the United States, and South America, becoming an internationally known figure.
Today she is still remembered and revered as one of the greatest singers France has ever produced. Her life was one of sharp contrasts: the range of her fame as opposed to her tragic personal life, and her fragile small figure on stage with the resounding power of her voice.
Above quoted from: http://great-song-stylists-uk.com/Edith%20Piaf/Edithpiaf.htm
The Little Sparrow of France.
Click here to listen to some of her songs:
http://great-song-stylists-uk.com/Edith%20Piaf/Edithpiaf2.htm
Soiree au Gaumont Palace - 1943 - video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWny-ikO89c
Edith Piaf - Hymne à L’Amour - video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjR5xFZxZK8
PIAF - NON JE NE REGRETTE RIEN - vidio clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_QABS88nDc
Edith Piaf - La Vie En Rose - 1954 - video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-sUzR71wpQ
There is a new movie about Edith Piaf. The title is La Vie en Rose
Check out the official movie site with trailers:
http://www.edithpiafmovie.com/
Edith Piaf - incredible voice…
Question to Noble Moderators and Gentry Admins:
How to place link to a song, enabling younger members of the forum listening to?
Songs and music are integral part of WWII atmosphere or (like George Eller would say), tapestry of WWII. Very good meaning!
Can we do something in this regard?
I can’t wait to post “We’ll hang our washing on the Siegfried Line…”
Cheers,
Lancer44
Hi Lancer,
If the song is copyrighted, bad luck.
If not, you could easily find a file hosting server and upload that file. (see Panzerknacker’s video posts).