Culture

For decades,Marilyn Monroe's white dress billowing above a subway grate, red lips and platinum-blonde hair have represented the epitome of Hollywood glamour. The iconic scene from the movie "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) is perhaps one of the most famous moments in film history. Very few women of the 20th century achieved the iconic status Monroe did while simultaneously being ferociously judged for their appearance. This was clearly visible that September night in 1954, when the legendary subway grate scene was filmed in New York City. Hundreds of photographers and onlookers watched as Monroe repeatedly posed above the ventilation shaft, her dress swirling upward as she tried not to reveal too much, all the while looking as if she were having the time of her life. Ironically, the entire sc...

The interwar Weimar Republic period is often referred to as a "Golden Age" of culture and creativity in Germany. It was a time when groundbreaking movements, from Bauhaus architecture and experimental cinema to avant-garde art and theater, flourished against the backdrop of economic catastrophe and extreme political polarization. In cities such as Berlin, where speakeasies, cabarets and hedonistic nightlife were the norm, a radical new genre of music became immensely popular. Jazz, which emerged from African American communities in the Deep South, was first brought to Germany by pioneering artists from the US, UK and France after World War I. Josephine Baker, the US-born dancer, actress and jazz artist who found fame in 1920s Paris, became a huge star in Germany after her sensational deb...