My Mind Is Absolutely Blown From These 51 Photos That Are Making Me Look At These Pop Culture Moments And Famous People Differently
1.In 1983, Carrie Fisher did a beach-themed Return of the Jedi photo shoot for Rolling Stone, complete with her wearing Princess Leia's gold metal bikini:
Aaron Rapoport / Corbis via Getty Images
There were lots and lots of photos taken that day, but according to the photographer, Aaron Rapoport, the magazine only ran two:
Aaron Rapoport / Corbis via Getty Images
2.If you didn't live through it, you wouldn't understand just how huge the anticipation was for The Phantom Menace. Even the release of the toys ahead of the movie was an EVENT. And it's demonstrated here by Leonardo DiCaprio shopping for the toys at Toys "R" Us during the midnight release:
Dan Callister / Getty Images
3.The Beatles' performance on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time is a seminal moment in both modern American and pop culture history. Everyone's image of it is usually of the black and white footage of the performance. Here's what the performance looked like in color and while being filmed:
4.And this is the Beatles with Ed Sullivan the day before the taping, during their rehearsals:
5.This is what the set of the Ricardos' Connecticut home on I Love Lucy looked like in color:
/ Courtesy Everett Collection, Courtesy Everett Collection
6.Speaking of sets, here's Lucille Ball on the set of Three's Company with John Ritter. In 1982, Lucille, who was a big fan of the sitcom and John Ritter, hosted a two-part retrospective during the show's sixth season:
Abc Photo Archives / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
7.In a 2014 Reddit AMA, Betty White spoke about how Lucille Ball was one of her dearest friends. Here are the two of them together at a book signing for Betty's autobiography in 1987 — less than two years before Lucille's death:
8.To give you context on just how long Betty White's career was, here is a photo of her alongside her costar Del Moore in 1953(ish) taken to promote her first sitcom, Life With Elizabeth. So yeah, Betty was playing a 1950s housewife at the same time that Lucille Ball was playing one on I Love Lucy:
9.This is what the set of The Golden Girls looked like behind-the-scenes:
10.Here's a photo of Sally Struthers (Samantha), Charlotte Rae (Charlotte), Bea Arthur (Carrie), and Katherine Helmond (Miranda), taken during a Sex and the City parody skit that they filmed for the TV Land Awards in 2004:
11.The Flintstones was sponsored by Winston Cigarettes during its first two seasons, and the characters did several integrated commercials for the brand:
Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com
12.In 2012, Miss Piggy made a surprise appearance on Watch What Happens Live, where she played Plead the Fifth and took a few jabs at OC Housewife Vicki Gunvalson. Here she is with Andy Cohen, wearing a Bravo Easter egg (the dress that she's wearing was designed for her for a challenge on Project Runway):
13.In 1990, just before making it big, RuPaul appeared on The Geraldo Rivera Show as part of an episode about NYC club kids. Ru even says her classic catchphrase, "You're born naked and the rest is drag":
Steve Eichner / Getty Images
14.Are you curious about what the Werkroom on RuPaul's Drag Race looks like in real life? Well, these behind-the-scenes photos will break the illusion. It's, of course, a set built in a soundstage, where even the columns are just set props:
Logo / ©Logo/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection
15.Here are two photos of Britney Spears rehearsing her iconic "I'm a Slave 4 U" performance she did at the 2001 VMAs:
Dave Hogan / Getty Images
16.This is what Monica and Rachel's apartment on Friends looks like behind-the-scenes:
17.And this is what the Friends' writers' room looks like. Seated at the head of the table is the show's co-producer and co-creator, David Crane:
18.Here is a rare photo of Madonna alongside her then-boyfriend Tupac Shakur, while talking with Sting at a Versace party in New York in 1994:
There is even a photo of the two of them with Gianni Versace and Raquel Welch at the same event (sadly, I could not find anywhere to license it).
19.Here is Madonna portraying Princess Diana in a sketch on SNL in 1985 — which was also her first appearance on the show:
20.Here is the real Princess Diana in 1985, greeting Steven Spielberg and his then-wife Amy Irving at the London premiere of Back to the Future:
21.And here's a photo of Princess Di meeting Roger Rabbit at the London premiere of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988:
22.These are fake 1940s Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman cartoon short posters created as set props for R.K. Maroon's office in Who Framed Roger Rabbit:
Courtesy Everett Collection, Buena Vista Pictures / ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
23.This is what Marilyn Monroe looked like with her natural hair color (this photo was taken in 1946 when she went by her real name: Norma Jeane Mortenson):
24.Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth were both born in the same year, 1926. Here are the two meeting in 1956, when Marilyn was filming The Prince and the Showgirl in the UK.
25.Here's a photo of Cher, Sonny Bono, and Bob Dylan hanging out at Atlantic Studios in New York in 1965:
26.And here is a photo of Cher and Sonny in 1967, on an episode of Kraft Music Hall hosted by Phyllis Diller, where Phyllis and Bob Hope play two old hippies still holding on to hippie culture in the far-away year of 1997:
27.This is a behind-the-scenes shot of Michael and Janet Jackson, alongside Dick Clark, rehearsing for the American Music Awards in 1975:
28.Here's a photo of Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson meeting with Steven Spielberg while working on the storybook album for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — which Quincy and Michael fit in while working on Thriller:
29.This is a behind-the-scenes photo of Steven Spielberg directing Henry Thomas on the set of E.T.:
30.And here's a behind-the-scenes photo of Steve Spielberg directing Richard Attenborough on the set of Jurassic Park. Attenborough famously pulled an upset by winning both the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars in 1983 for Gandhi, beating Spielberg, who was also nominated for both for E.T.:
31.I've never wanted to be at a party so badly! Check out Diana Ross with Truman Capote at Studio 54's legendary 1978/79 New Year's Eve party:
32.And check out Diana Ross dancing with André Leon Talley at the same New Year's Eve party at Studio 54:
33.This is a staged photo of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz fighting each other to make fun of the rumors — though by all accounts accurate — that they were not getting along while filming their movie Suddenly, Last Summer:
34.This is James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor having fun together at the Texas State Fair in Dallas during a weekend break from filming their movie, Giant, in 1955:
Donaldson Collection / Getty Images
35.These are color aerial photos of what Disneyland looked like when it opened in 1955:
Gene Lester / Getty Images
36.This is then-Vice President Richard Nixon riding Peter Pan's Flight at Disneyland a month after the park opened in 1955:
37.Shot by Disneyland photographer Renie Bardeau, this is the last photo taken of Walt Disney at Disneyland in 1966:
38.Here are longtime friends and fellow icons Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin, recording their lines together for The Magic School Bus. Dolly guest-voiced the character Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy for the 1996 holiday episode of the show (this was 16 years after they costarred together on 9 to 5):
39.Julie Andrews was not the first person to play Mary Poppins on screen. It was Mary Wickes (pictured below) who played the character in 1949 in a one-hour TV adaptation that was part of CBS’s Studio One series:
40.While Julie Andrews never played Mary Poppins again on the big screen, she did revive the character and play her a few more times in some of her TV specials. Here she is playing Mary alongside Peter Sellers in her 1975 TV special Julie: My Favorite Things:
41.Here's a behind-the-scenes photo from The Godfather of Marlon Brando getting his Vito Corleone aging makeup applied:
42.And here's a photo of Francis Ford Coppola directing the classic "horse in the bed" scene in The Godfather:
43.This is Oprah Winfrey hosting her very first talk show, AM Chicago, in 1984:
44.Here are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles outside The Oprah Winfrey Show's studio promoting their kinda bonkers interview on the show:
45.Here's Nancy Reagan sitting on Mr. T's lap and giving him a kiss during a White House Christmas party in 1983:
46.Here is a behind-the-scenes photo of Daniel Seagren, Jim Henson, and Frank Oz rehearsing a Bert and Ernie scene for Sesame Street:
47.Here are a couple behind-the-scenes photos of Jim Henson puppeteering Kermit the Frog:
David Attie / Getty Images
48.And this endearing photo of Jim Henson entertaining kids with Kermit between rehearsal takes:
49.Here's a photo Gale Sondergaard, who was the original actor cast to play the Wicked Witch of the West when the producers of The Wizard of Oz envisioned the character as a more glamorous villain, like the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
50.Here's a photo of Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), and Jack Haley (Tin Man) reunited for a TV showing of The Wizard of Oz in 1970:
51.And lastly, these are Judy Garland's daughters, Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft, watching the very first TV showing of The Wizard of Oz in 1956:
