Believe it or not denizens, female Samurai are not restricted to the wild imaginings of anime and western movie plots; they truly existed. One of the premier names that tends to come up when you mix the words woman and samurai is Tomoe Gozen, a beautiful and extraordinary woman whose life was so dynamic that many think that she never really existed. Lady samurai were known as ona bugeisha, there weren’t very many of them and the few that lived came from the bloodline of samurai (Japanese cast system dictated a strict division between lords and peasants). Being as it was a rare thing to become a lady samurai, you can imagine that most who took on the title were very good at what they did. Tomoe’s legend begun when her master Minamoto no Yoshinaka took Kyoto and assumed leadership of the Minamoto clan. This did not sit well with his rivals and before long… [Read more]

You’ve heard the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” but if you want to apply a face to the saying you could easily use the face of Caterina Sforza. Here on The Hall we have 2 main historical sections in Badass of The Month and Hotties of History, Caterina is the first woman to occupy both. How To Raise A Tigress In 1462 Galeazzo Maria Sforza made love to the wife of a friend and got her pregnant, which lead to the birth of our darling Caterina. The scandal of her birth was no big deal at the time, as her Caterina’s father was a lord amongst man-whores and ran up inside any woman that he felt was hot (seriously). Ironically her birth coming from such a rebellious act as adultery was just a pre-cursor to her wickedly dynamic life. Unlike other girls that learnt lady-like things as they grew up, Caterina’s… [Read more]

“I’m the best goddamned lay in the world.” – Virginia Hill at the Kefauver hearings 1951 When your life is as fleeting as that of a Capo in the Italian/Jewish underworld, one of the sweetest distractions is that of a woman that can rock your world. The most popular moll of the Mafia saga has been and will always be miss Virginia Hill, the ex-girlfriend of many gangsters and the woman that ultimately seduced and killed the infamous Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel…. Remember that famous hotel he got shot in at Las Vegas? Its name “The Flamingo” was Virginia’s nickname… go figure…  Miss Hill had Bugsy and many other gangsters whipped beyond measure. Virginia Hill (Born in 1916) started her career at 17 as a prostitute after leaving a fractured household in Marietta Georgia for the big city of Chicago. As a prostitute she also waited tables and eventually met and slept with Joe Epstein, an… [Read more]

Marie Antoinette is a tragic, historical example of how malice, hatred and lies can poison the minds and hearts of people to the point of fatality. Falsely remembered as the stuck-up French queen who poked fun at her starving subjects with the words “let them eat cake!” and for being one of the causes for the French Revolution of 1789. It is sad because the real story of this woman is that of scandal, propaganda and a misunderstood beauty. Marie was beautiful even in today’s standards. She had long, golden blond hair, big blue eyes and breasts so full that she allegedly used them as a mold for making bowls within her Hameau. The busty Austrian immediately impressed king Louis XV and he happily married her off to his son who beyond his shyness and anti-Austrian tutoring figured himself a lucky man. Rumors, Foreskin and The Diamond Necklace Sadly for Louis XVI he was born… [Read more]

Anna May Wong (1905 – 1961) is the very first Chinese American actress to reach international stardom. Starting off in the United States doing super stereotypical roles (good ‘ol Hollywood, gotta love it), she left for Europe to star in more diverse roles and achieved international stardom there.  One of the biggest disappointments in Anna’s career was due to MGM passing her up as an Asian lead in lieu of a white actress Luise Rainer doing it in “yellow face”. The movie in question was The Good Earth but the actress didn’t let it faze her as she spent the year in her home country learning more about her culture and people. The most popular roles that Wong had done as a silent movie queen were those of “The Dragon Lady” and “Madame Butterfly”, sadly these terms are not positive ones to associate a Chinese American beauty with, but as an actress Anna did what… [Read more]

Probably the first Western, black mega-star, Josephine Baker was literally larger than life. Few if any women could move like her when it came to dancing and her perseverance trail-blazed a path that many women of color could follow in years after her death. Due to the United State being a racist environment of stagnancy for a future actress/singer, Josephine Baker fled to France in order to let her star shine. During the days of immense hardship for women like Josephine, France was a source of refuge for celebrities of color. Given the nickname of “Bronze Venus” by admirers worldwide, Josephine’s voice and dancing made her beloved to her French countrymen and eventually she revisited the United States as a star. Later on in life as an older woman, Josephine Baker was a fighter for Civil Rights, turning down the honor of leading the movement after the passing of Martin Luther King. Born Freda Josephine… [Read more]

Imagine a woman so beautiful that men fought and killed each other in order to win her hand. A woman whose sexuality and beauty was so much that more than one man committed suicide at the end of his affair with her. No this isn’t the famed Helen of Troy of which I speak, but a queen among courtesans, the lovely La Belle Carolina Otero. During the early 1900′s the courtesans of France were heavily sought by men around the world. They came at an extremely high price, decorated themselves in expensive jewelry and had a grace in their gait that drove men mad. La Belle Otero was one of these women, her hair raven black, figure like a wine glass and complexion intoxicating. Born in Spain to a poverty-stricken home, the poor girl was raped into sterility at the tender age of 10 (Author’s note: what the hell!). At 13 years old she ran… [Read more]

“Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance” – Coco Chanel When you think of the sexy image that is the 1920′s Flapper, think of Coco Chanel. Her designs were meant to give women a sense of freedom and her use of poor fabrics cut to look rich made her a legend. Her designs revolutionized fashion and her tremendous beauty made the coin purse of many a suitor fall open easily. You may know her name from the signature fragrance but this Hottie of History has been making money since the early 1900s. Her first fragrance “Chanel No. 5″ was the first to have a designer’s name placed on it and the year was 1912. Gabrielle Coco Chanel was born in a poorhouse and grew up in the orphanage of a Roman Catholic monastery. While in the orphanage she learned to sew and at 18 years of age she left and took up work as… [Read more]