Groovy Photos Take Us Back To The Best Years To Be Alive
By | January 17, 2023
In this exact moment in time, the world is blinded by fear, uncertainty, and loss. With an uncertain economy, fear of sickness and death looming, and worldwide restrictions, we are all faced with meeting our own personal challenges and fears. Bad things may be happening around us, so let's go to the past and to the happy times...let's relive some of those golden years and escape reality even if it's just for the length of this gallery.
We tend to look back on the past with rose tinted glasses. The reason the future and the present moment can feel uncomfortable at times like these is due to uncertainty...we just don't know if that outcome is going to provide us what we need to feel safe, secure, and happy.
The beautiful thing about revisiting history is it gives us the power of hindsight...we know what happens then, so it's safe and comfortable. And the memories that those moments in history provide us actually can help us shift how we feel in the present moment, which is the only thing that can shift how our future unfolds.
No one looks as hot on the track as Jungle Pam, the drag racing sweetheart of the 1970s. Funny Car fans flocked to races to watch her assist “Jungle Jim” Lieberman, one of the best drag racers in the sport. She was known for her tight outfits - usually short shorts or mini-skirts paired with go-go boots and a grin that revved engines.
When Pam was on the asphalt in the ‘70s drivers were able to market for themselves, and Pam’s presences was a work of genius by Jungle Jim, burning eyes to ever race he was on and raising the profile of the Funny Car.
She wasn’t just a pretty face, Pam had the showmanship to pull off her gimmick, and with every crouch and flash of her smile she kept audiences in their seats and fled to the action.
Anyone who watched The Tonight Show in the 1970s remembers Carol Wayne, the bubbly babe with a big energy. She appeared as Carson’s sidekick - the Matinee - on the Tea Time Movies with Art Fern sketch.
Wayne wasn’t just a fixture on the Tonight Show, she made the rounds on game shows like Celebrity Sweepstakes and The Hollywood Squares where she exuded the same fun attitude.
Wayne wasn’t just fun, she knew how to make everything she said sound a little more interesting. With her big eyes and babydoll voice, Wayne was a favorite of TV viewers who crushed on her just like the rest of us.
If Ann-Margret looks confident on her iron horse that’s because she’s been riding motorcycles since she was girl in Sweden. Her uncle Carl introduced her to the cycling life when she was just a girl and the moment she had the wind in her hair she was hooked.
Ann-Margret used her hog skills in movies like Viva Las Vegas and The Swinger. While she rode whatever directors put her on in films she was a fan of riding a Triumph in her real life, so much so that she appeared in advertisements for the company.
One of her coolest custom bikes was a Harley Davidson that was painted lavender and covered with daisies.
Chuck Bronson doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s looking to lock down a sweet blonde gal like Jill Ireland. He puts off a vibe that says “beef jerky and Miller Lite” but in actuality he was a big sweetie, at least to Ireland.
Bronson and Ireland got together after meeting on the set of The Great Escape in 1963, and they married five years later. Throughout their marriage the couple appeared in 15 films with one another, more often than not as Bronson’s wife.
The two were together until 1990 when she passed away from breast cancer in their Mailbu home.
Maureen McCormick was one of the most crashworthy stars of the ‘70s thanks to her role as Marsha on The Brady Bunch. However, she wasn’t super happy with all the game that the show brought her and she fell into drugs and alcohol at a young age.
McCormick told US Weekly that things got so bad that her parents almost turned her into the authorities:
My mom and dad, they almost turned me into the cops. They were at their last … ’cause they had been trying for years and knew something was going on and I was pretty sneaky and I could hide very, very well.
A young Dolly Parton and her asphalt salesman husband, Carl
Dolly Parton holds the rare title of being a total babe and writing some of the most heart breaking love songs of the 20th century, but rather than have a litany of failed relationships in her wake she’s been married to the same man since 1964.
The couple met in ’64 outside the Wishy Washy laundromat in Nashville when she was 18 and he was 21. It was Parton’s first day in Nashville and she was just trying to clean her laundry but ended up finding love. Carl Dean, her beau says he knew he was going to marry her from moment one:
My first thought was I'm gonna marry that girl. My second thought was, 'Lord she's good lookin.' And that was the day my life began.
Emily Banks as Yeoman Tonia Barrows
Even if you aren’t a Trekkie you at least know about “Shore Leave,” one of the most beloved episodes of Star Trek. It finds the away team from the Enterprise on a paradise planet where they fall prey to the machinations of its ability to give people whatever they want.
Emily Banks plays Yeoman Tonia Roberts, the apple of Doctor McCoy’s eye for this episode and to hear her tell it she didn’t realize she would be in this outfit for most of the episode:
I didn’t realize that I was going to be running around with legs hanging out [from the uniform] and shoulders hanging out [from the torn tunic]. But I do remember I did a lot of running. There was a lot of running. And I remember thinking on the first couple days, ‘They don’t want an actress, they want an athlete.’ I was exhauseted, and we kept running and running.
Raquel Welch stuns on the Cavett Show
When Raquel Welch appeared on the Cavett Show in 1972 she was there to promote her transgressive film Myra Breckinridge in which she played a post-op transgender woman, but she was stunned when she realized that she would also be meeting Janis Joplin.
Unbeknownst to Cavett or Joplin, Welch was a huge fan of the singer. Welch was such a goody two shoes that’s hard to picture hanging out in the green room with the hard partying Joplin, but at the very least she got to meet her. Welch remembers:
I happened to be a big, huge fan of Janis Joplin—she probably wouldn’t have known that. … I was gaga … and she was looking at me like I was from the moon.
A young Madonna in 1974
Long before Madonna was the queen of pop she was just a teenager. It’s hard to imagine that she wasn’t formed in some kind of pop music science lab but she was just a kid like everyone else on the planet.
Growing up in Michigan, Madonna had to find her own fun. She wanted to be a dancer but she also worked on short films with her friends and even wrote some of her own poetry, but she didn’t come into her own until she went to college at the University of Michigan for a year before dropping out in 1978 and moving to New York City.
When she arrived in New York she only had about 30 bucks in her pocket and had to work at Dunkin’ Donuts while chasing her dreams.
Even in the waning days of the hippie era of the early 1970s hitchhiking was still one of the go to ways that young people were drawn to in order to get around the country. This mode of travel - taking to the highway and sticking out your thumb - became popular in the Great Depression and it continued for decades.
At the time it made perfect sense to step out onto the shoulder of the road and see how far you could get, unfortunately a disproportionate amount of crazies made hitchhiking too dangers - both for the hitchers and the drivers.
Today we only have the memories of the halcyon days of taking to the road just to see how far you could get.
Brigitte Bardot, a cool kitten looking for a bird
Brigitte Bardot was more than just a model or an actress in her heyday, she was like a mythological creature. However, she gave up fame because she couldn’t stand being the object of desire by the public and the media.
In her memoir she writes that the nature of celebrity destroys people and that’s exactly why she quit acting. She writes:
I know what it feels like to be hunted… The majority of great actresses met tragic ends. When I said goodbye to this job, to this life of opulence and glitter, images and adoration, the quest to be desired, I was saving my life. This worship of celebrity … suffocated me.
Before there was Beyonce there was Tina Turner
Tina Turner is one of the most dynamic performers of the groovy era and aside from her amazing vocal chords she was known for her onstage stamina that allowed her to give the audience everything she had inside her and then some.
After escaping the abuse of Ike Turner in 1976 Tina only had 36 cents to her name. She did everything she could to get her career back on track whether it was appearing on Hollywood Squares or singing wherever she could.
However her greatest triumph was when she released “What’s Love Got To Do With It” in 1984. With this single she cemented herself as one of the greatest divas of all time.
Groovy girl from Woodstock, 1969. We've got to get back...
There’s something about the freedom that people had in the ‘60s that’s just irresistible - especially when you think about the restrictions that we put on ourselves in the modern era. Woodstock was a festival dedicated to peace, love, and the search for a good time… if only we could get back to that feeling.
Just take a look at this couple. They’re hanging out in the middle of a wet, muddy field, probably with the only clothes that they own, and hanging a killer time. They also look amazing…
The optimism and anything goes attitude of the Woodstock era has faded as the generations have changed, but with a little luck we can get it back.
Brigitte Bardot... the most beautiful woman who ever lived
In the groovy era Brigitte Bardot was the most eye-catching and beautiful woman in the world. She seemingly came out of the middle of nowhere to become an international sensation. Born to wealthy parents in France, Bardot was only 15 years old when she appeared on the cover of Elle Magazine in May 1950.
That cover made her incredibly famous at a young age and it cinched a ton of early parts for her. Director Roger Vadim saw the magazine cover and immediately put her in two of her earliest films: And God Created Woman and The Night Heaven Fell.
Bardot was an international star, but she preferred filming in France more than anything else because she had trouble acclimating to new places. Supposedly she hated filming in Spain until she discovered sangria.
Helen Slater was 'Supergirl' in the 1984 film
When it came time to make Supergirl, the first offshoot of Warner Brothers’ Superman series producers turned to Helen Slater to get the audience’s blood pumping faster than a speeding locomotion.
Slater was only 18-years-old when she was cast as an alien dropped on Earth who gets inspired by Superman, and she was 19 when the film wrapped. That’s incredibly young for a film star, so how did Slater grab a role like that as a teen? She says:
I think part of my having gone through Performing Arts High School, I was very bold. I had made a cape and a skirt. And I went in with glasses as Linda Lee. I was a little bit fearless. I don't know if I would have had that if I hadn't been through Performing Arts.
Cassandra Peterson AKA Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, took over Los Angeles in the early ‘80s and the rest of the world quickly followed. The woman behind the makeup is Cassandra Peterson, a red head with a lifetime in the entertainment industry.
Before she was Elvira, Peterson was working as a part of The Groundlings in Los Angeles with Phil Hartman and Peewee Herman and she was trying to be a comedy actress. When she was approached about playing the character of Elvira she was a little unsure but she rolled with it and it worked out for her. She told the Huffington Post:
[The director of the show] came and saw me at The Groundlings, where I was doing a Valley girl character… The director wanted me to do that character when I came to the audition and I said, ‘OK? I mean, it’s not very spooky, but it’s up to you.’ So I did that character and everybody there loved it and they hired me. They said, ‘Come up with a spooky costume,’ and I said “Wait. I’m going to do that character but with a spooky costume? Uhh...” It didn’t make any sense to me, but they were going to pay me $350 bucks a week so I was pretty damn happy. That was my whole rent for the month at the time!
Stylish stewardesses of the 1960s
There’s nothing easy about working on an airline. The job is your entire life, and you’ve got to look good doing it. In the 1960s a stewardess dressed in colorful outfits that looked like they were straight out of a kaleidoscope.
To get a job as a flight attendant in the ‘60s a would-be stewardess had to learn geography and study hair and makeup for 10 hours a day for five weeks before even stepping foot on a plane. Then they had to practice first aid and learn how to help someone in an emergency.
The airline workers of the ‘60s look absolutely gorgeous. If only these were still the outfits that airline workers were still wearing.
Meow... Julie Newmar in her Catwoman costume
There have been so many different Catwomen over the years - with three of them in the 1960s, but Julie Newmar was the best. She was cool and kitschy, not to mention a total babe. In order to get into character for Adam West’s Batman she had to suffer some serious bodily harm. She explained:
[Her nails] were made of metal. They pinched my fingers… In those days who cared. When you’re performing pain never matters.
When asked how she won the role of Catwoman Newmar explained with her wry style, “Well the body fit the work, and the work fit the body.”
Yvonne Craig as the savior of Gotham City
If you were watching Batman in the late ‘60s then you know the glorious delight of Yvonne Craig as Batgirl, a third season addition to the show. Producers added her to bring in more viewers and make teenage boys go gaga, half of that plan worked.
According to Craig she’d never even seen the show and didn’t know its unique rhythms, but she was so headstrong that she got the part anyway. She explained:
I had done a couple of pilots that didn’t go, but then they called me and said they were thinking of adding a girl to Batman. I had never seen the show, even though everyone was crazy about it. Even when I was shooting Batman, I had a black and white TV. I’m a book reader and not much of a TV watcher, so I just didn’t pay attention. The producer, William Dozier, said, ‘I’m sure you’ve seen our show,’ and I said, ‘Actually, I haven’t, but if I get the part I’ll spend the summer watching re-runs so I know how I’ll fit into the scheme of things.’
A groovy dancer that's not going home until she shuts the club down
The 1970s were a time like no other when it came to hitting the dance floor. During this most groovy of eras people from all walks of life flocked to clubs in the city to get down and boogie.
If you looked good enough to get past the velvet rope you could become a star on the dance floor, where the only thing holding you back were your own inhibitions.
Going to a club was the perfect way to escape from the drudgery of day to day life. You could work out that pent up aggression and just be free.
Debbie Harry looking cool... no surprise there
Has anyone ever been as cool as Debbie Harry? Of course she’s a babe, but she exudes the kind of cool confidence that makes you want to grab a beer with her as much as it makes you want to take her on a date. Oh, and she’s in one of the coolest bands that ever played.
Even though Blondie was one of the few bands that managed to crossover from the New York punk scene to the pop crowd, reviews weren’t always kind to the group. Harry says she didn’t read them:
I always found it sort of disturbing to read stuff while I was doing shows—all of a sudden the things I’d read would flash in front of my face in the middle of a song and I’d forget where I was, and go [gasps]. Like shock therapy.
A free spirit at the Venice Beach Rock Festival, 1968
No image captures the feeling of letting loose at a festival quite like this shot captured at the Venice Beach Rock Festival in 1968. This photo was snapped by Dennis Stock and according to him he wasn’t trying to show the exuberance of a single dancer, but capture the audience.
He accidentally captured the inhibitions of an era when this groovy babe jumped in front of the camera on stage, creating one of the most iconic music photographs ever. Without the reckless abandon of the 1960s and '70s we’d never have beautiful photos like this to remind us of better times.
The miniskirt shook up style and turned heads in the 1960s
Fashion completely changed in the 1960s. Hair became loose and long while dresses disappeared in favor of skirts that were downright miniature. Miniskirts were designed by Mary Quaint, an English fashionista who knew exactly what young women were looking for.
The miniskirt appealed to young women because of the minimized hemline and its revolutionary lack of length, and guys loved it because it gave them an excuse to check out some skin.
Not just a fashion statement, the miniskirt was a piece of clothing for the youth of the 1960s, it was both a political and fashion statement, what's groovier than that?
The First Lady of drag racing, Shirley Muldowney, began tearing up the asphalt in the late ‘50s in a twin engine car, turning heads and shocking boys and girls alike. Muldowney competed in any race that would have her... which means that she’s been in some serious dust ups.
Out of all the cars she’s driven it’s the Funny Car that’s given her the most trouble. Muldowney suffered two back to back accidents in the early ‘70s while driving these unreliable cars.
First, in 1972, she was involved in a nasty wreck at Ohio’s Dragway 42, and a year later her front engine car exploded mid-race. Never fear in 1977 Mudowney became the first woman to win the NHRA Winston Top Fuel Championship in 1977.
