The showgirl archetype arose in 19th-century France

Edgier burlesque shows helped define the form

Stand-up came into its own at burlesque shows, thanks to audiences who sought humor that reflected the hectic, urban settings where they lived. According to historian Joseph Boskin, “The tempo of the comedy, like the movement of city streets, was swift and jolting and possessed highly recognizable parameters.”

Art Deco formally began in France in 1925

The design style—often associated with 1920s New York—is named after the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, which featured many works in the style, which was already popular in France.

A 'girl group' is an all-female vocal group

It’s not a perfect descriptor, but it’s the one that stuck, due mainly to the definitive girl groups of the late 1950s who sang about teenage love. Since then, though, the girl group sound has evolved, even if the term has remained the same.

Sarah Bernhardt was the first actress to play Shakespeare's iconic Hamlet on film

Bernhardt was a popular 19th- and 20th-century actress with a knack for self-promotion. Case in point: When she took over the Théâtre de Ville in Paris, she renamed it Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. Her production of "Hamlet" at the theater starred her, naturally, as the titular character. A recording of the performance is believed to be the first woman to play Hamlet caught on film.

The Boswell Sisters were the precursors to the American girl group

The jazz trio, popular in the ‘20s and ‘30s, doesn’t share much in common with the sounds of the well-known pop-oriented girl groups, but the sisters’ prominence in a male-dominated industry provided an early example for later groups. Check out their appearance in the 1932 film “The Big Broadcast,” performing the song “Crazy People.”

'Show Boat' redefined the American musical

The 1927 musical—penned by Oscar Hammerstein II, who would go on to create, with Richard Rodgers, other titanic shows like "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel"—used its songs to advance the plot and build character rather than simply entertain.

Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire was the epicenter of early performance art

In early 20th-century Zurich, one nightclub was the epicenter of avant-garde art and performance: Cabaret Voltaire. Night after night, crowds of artists, writers, philosophers, and others would gather to watch—or participate in—wild, unrehearsed performances that could include anything from sound poems to traditional folk dance. The atmosphere at Club Voltaire was the ideal breeding ground for outside art movements, and it is thought to be the birthplace of Dada, a precursor to performance art.

High-heeled shoes only became associated with femininity in the 18th century.

High heels originated as practical men’s footwear—used by Persian cavalry and later adopted by European elites, such as Louis XIV, as symbols of power and status. Only in the 18th century did heels become associated with femininity, before periodic male revivals.

The term ‘angel investor’ is thought to have originated with Broadway plays

The first so-called angel investors funded theatrical productions. Now, angels invest in startups at an early stage, hoping their investment will pay off in the future.

The word 'punk' originally meant 'female prostitute'

The Oxford English Dictionary records the first usage before 1575. Shakespeare used the word in his play “Measure for Measure,” with one character suggesting another “may be a Puncke.” Over time, the word acquired additional meanings. By the 20th century, it was used as an insult for a young man.

Why America is obsessed with the stories of scammers

A "grifter" is someone who exploits systems at a high level. Notable cases like fake heiress Anna Delvey, Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland, and startup faker Elizabeth Holmes, who deceived their way to success, captivate our culture. These...

Beads are social currency during Mardi Gras

Historians believe krewes started tossing small items, colloquially called "throws," to onlookers sometime in the 1870s or 1880s. Eventually, shiny beads became the norm and were usually given to those offering something in return. (At times, that meant free booze or the flashing of breasts.) The early strings of beads were glass, though by the 1960s most were plastic.

Jean-Paul Sartre was amazed by American jazz

The French philosopher wrote about a 1947 trip to a New York jazz club as a transcendent experience, describing the magic of the relationship between performer and audience: "You shout, they shriek, they whistle, they are possessed, you are possessed."

Suzanne Lenglen dominated the tennis world in the early 1920s

Suzanne Lenglen, the sport's top female player from 1921-1926, embodied everything about Jazz Age women: she drank, she smoked, she cursed, and she bucked the trends of Victorian-era women with shorter skirts and sleeveless dresses. This Sports Illustrated article dives into her dominating 341-7 record, her impact in professionalizing tennis, and examines the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death at age 39.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

'The grotesque' describes a feature of Gothic literature

The term harkens back to decorative aspects of Gothic architecture, including mythical creatures like gargoyles. In literature, the grotesque describes similarly monstrous characters and situations.

Liza Minnelli debuted her signature pixie cut in the mid-1960s, transforming her into a style icon

In addition to her performances, Minnelli is known for her glitzy outfits and short black haircut. After starting out with a more conventional look, her style evolved into something more extravagant, mirroring the boldness of her performance and public persona.

Gorgeous George was American pro wrestling's first superstar

George owed his popularity to the in-ring persona he created: a haughty, pretentious Anglophile who couldn't believe he had to stoop to fight his opponents. This 1950s film, taken from the "Wrestling From Hollywood" show that popularized professional wrestling in the US, perfectly illustrates what made this "heel" so compelling.

Female gladiators fought in Roman arenas, though they were rare

While most gladiators were men, a small number of women also fought in the arena. Their presence fascinated and unsettled Roman audiences, and they adopted stage names invoking Amazons and mythic heroines.

Jungian archetypes can reveal personality traits

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung argued that we’re drawn to familiar character types—such as heroes, caregivers, or rebels—because they reflect universal archetypes embedded in the human subconscious. He believed these patterns shape behavior, motivation, and personal growth.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Horse diving was a popular attraction for 50 years

The event, which took place in Atlantic City, is exactly as it sounds: horses, directed by (sometimes scantily clad) riders, would jump from diving boards into pools. Although it was a popular spectacle for decades, it fell out of favor by the late 1970s.

La Catrina is Day of the Dead’s unofficial symbol

The image of the skeleton in a feather hat, satirizing women who chased European fashion trends, first appeared in 1912 on broadsides printed by José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican artist. Today, she is the holiday’s most recognizable symbol.

The deadliest fireworks accident in history was Marie-Antoinette's wedding

In 1770, a fireworks display in Paris celebrating the marriage of Marie-Antoinette to the Dauphin, later known as Louis XVI, resulted in as many as 3,000 deaths. Most casualties were caused by trampling from a panicked crowd of thousands rushing away after some fireworks were blown into the spectators.

Gutai was performance art’s Japanese predecessor

Works by the post-WWII Japanese artist collective Gutai are widely considered a precursor to Western performance art of the 1960s and 1970s. The word “Gutai” means “concrete” in Japanese, referring to the concrete ways the artists’ bodies were used to create their works. Gutai members like Kazuo Shiraga, who painted with his feet to express the movement of his process, are thought to have influenced later artists like Jackson Pollock.

The word 'restaurant' comes from the Latin for 'restore'

Many believe the word came into use thanks to Boulanger, an 18th-century Parisian soup vendor. According to legend, his shop claimed it served "bouillons restaurants," or "restorative broths."

Phantom limbs were first documented in the 16th century by a French military surgeon

Ambroise Paré, the military surgeon, observed this phenomenon among soldiers who'd lost limbs, yet the term wasn't formally coined until hundreds of years later, by Silas Weird Mitchell, an American Civil War surgeon.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.