Black and white photo of Charmion, the strong woman, from behind, flexing her right arm and baring her back to display her muscles, her head turned in profile, against a black background. White text curved around upper and lower portions of button. 

Charmion was the stage name of the American Vaudeville trapeze artist and strong-woman Laverie Vallee. Her most famous act consisted of her mounting the trapeze in full Victorian attire and stripping down to a leotard while swinging from the trapeze. This act was captured on film in 1901 for a short Edison film called "Trapeze Disrobing Act." Vallee lived from 1875 to 1949.

The Edison film can be viewed here.

White text on black background

Distributed for the release of the 1979 movie Rocky II. The film was written, directed by, and starred Sylvester Stallone. There have been six Rocky movies, all of which follow the character Rocky, who begins the series as an unknown boxer who rises to fame. 

Black and white photograph of Our Gang (as known as The Little Rascals) from the American short comedy films. Black text on white background.  The photograph includes Spanky, Buckwheat, Porky, Alfalfa and Darla.

Our Gang, or the Little Rascals, was an American comedy series and pop culture phenomenon in the early-to-mid 20th century. Created by the comedy producer Hal Roach in 1922, Our Gang was a series of comedy shorts that showed the daily 'misadventures' of a group of poor neighborhood kids. Roach's work was groundbreaking in several respects, however. Firstly, as film historian Leonard Malkin observed, Our Gang was one of the first pieces of American cinema to portray black and white characters in a group as equals. Furthermore, instead of having the child actors imitate adult acting styles, which was the preferred method at the time, director Robert McGowan successfully filmed the children in a way that captured the raw, natural nuances of regular childhood life.

The series was produced until 1944, and includes 220 shorts and one feature film.

Photograph of Robin Williams sitting on a couch with a beer can and a wet face.

Mork & Mindy (1978-1982), a TV sitcom series starring Robin Williams, was a spin-off of the long-running sitcom Happy Days.  Williams' quirky character, Mork, is an extra-terrestrial deported from his home planet Ork because humor is not permitted there. Once on Earth, Mork’s assignment is to study human behavior and he does so with abandon and reflection.  WIlliams, known for his unique brand of humor, played Mork opposite Pam Dawber as Mindy, his human friend and roommate (whose father owned a music store). Mork & Mindy is credited with being the vehicle that made Williams a household name in the United States.  But despite initial acclaim, the series’ ratings steadily declined due to time-slot, plot & cast changes until its cancelation just four years later.

Photograph of Mork and Mindy with pink text.

Mork & Mindy (1978-1982), a TV sitcom series starring Robin Williams, was a spin-off of the long-running sitcom Happy Days.  Williams' quirky character, Mork, is an extra-terrestrial deported from his home planet Ork because humor is not permitted there. Once on Earth, Mork’s assignment is to study human behavior and he does so with abandon and reflection.  WIlliams, known for his unique brand of humor, played Mork opposite Pam Dawber as Mindy, his human friend and roommate (whose father owned a music store). Mork & Mindy is credited with being the vehicle that made Williams a household name in the United States.  But despite initial acclaim, the series’ ratings steadily declined due to time-slot, plot & cast changes until its cancelation just four years later.

Black and white photograph of May Stockton, surrounded by black border with white text surrounding image. 

The Little Outcast was a play performed by members of E.J. Carpenter's touring theater company. The play ran from 1903 to 1904 and featured May Stockton playing the part of Bob, the newsboy. According to one report in The Sunday Oregonian, Stockton was "a topliner" and "caused a good deal of the applause by her ubiquity and resourcefulness."

White background with red lettering and Alfred E Newman in the center wearing an army helmet with a peace sign and dove on top.

In 1980, Mad Magazine and Warner Brothers made a movie together, but neither side could agree on the script. By the time it was ready to release, Bill Gaines, publisher of Mad offered Warner Bros. $30,000 to not have this movie associated with Mad Magazine. The magazine spoofed the movie in "MAD Magazine Resents Throw Up the Academy" and Gaines wrote apologies to everyone who wrote in to complain. Directed by Robert Downey Sr., of Putney Swope fame, it was bound to at least be a little bit of a cult classic.

Black background with white text and a photo of Larry Semon, who looks like he just made a joke.

Larry Semon was a famous silent movie actor, director, and producer. He was known for his silent movie version of the Wizard of Oz in 1925 and working with Laurel and Hardy. Semon was also a vaudeville actor, coming from a family of vaudevillian actors, his father was Zera the Great. When directing his films, no gag was too big. He was often over budget and even had to file for bankruptcy before his early death at age 39. 

Here's footage from his 1922 film, The Sawmill. He insisted on building permanent log cabins for this film.

Black & white photo of John Wayne in front of a red, white, & blue banner of an American flag. Blue text on upper and lower portions of button, red text on lower portion of button. 

John Wayne (real name Marion Mitchell Morrison) was an American film actor, director and producer who epitomized "rugged masculinity" and became an enduring American icon, following his breakout role in the 1939 Western film Stagecoach.

Black text along upper portion of button. Illustration of Jerry Lewis with untied bow tie, holding microphone in center foreground. On left side of button are three tuxedo-clad male trumpeters and a rainbow (from top: yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green). Entire illustration is on a red background.

The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon was an annual televised fundraising event for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) that usually lasted six hours on Labor Day weekend. Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis hosted the broadcast from its 1966 inception until 2010. In 1950s, Jerry Lewis hosted a Thanksgiving Party for MDA, which raised funds for the organization's New York City area operations. The success of the event had thus spun off the Labor Day Telethon.