People Who Had No Clue Their Faces Were World-Famous

I just read a really interesting and funny article about people's photos being used to advertise something and unbeknownst to them, their photos/faces became famous as a result! I'll share with you the best two, but to read the full article, you can click on the source at the bottom. It's a great read!

By: Kathy Benjamin, Paul K Pickett

We Can Do It!

You've almost certainly seen the famous World War II propaganda icon "Rosie the Riveter."

What started as a simple motivational poster for the millions of women working in factories while their husbands were away fighting became one of the most iconic symbols of feminism and equality in the workplace. It's one of the most well known American cultural images of all time, up there with the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima and the drawing of Uncle Sam.

In 1984, while flipping through a copy of Modern Maturity, 59-year-old Geraldine Doyle spotted an article about the inspiration behind the Rosie the Riveter character: a photo of a 17-year-old girl working in a factory in 1942. Her name? Geraldine Doyle.

Doyle, incredibly, had no idea of her connection to Rosie the Riveter. In fact, she didn't even know about the original inspirational photo, which given her posture, lends an unsettling peeping-Tom vibe to the whole thing. At the time, she'd just graduated high school and, like many other women, had taken a job in a factory in order to support the war effort. American Broach & Machine Co. had her on a metal press in no time at all, probably after a vigorous and thorough safety-training program that only that decade could deliver.

Fearing an injury that could impact her ability to play the cello, Doyle quit after only two weeks on the job. She endured the potential hand crushing long enough for a photographer to snap the picture without her noticing. Someone who did notice, however, was J. Howard Miller, an artist commissioned by the government to draw up some motivating pieces of art.

He kept Doyle's pretty face and red bandanna, but gave her slender build a shot of super-heroine sized muscles. Rosie, though not named as such right away, was born, and went on to inspire countless women.

Doyle told the Lansing (Michigan) State Journal, in the understatement of the century, "You're not supposed to have too much pride, but I can't help have some in that poster. It's just sad I didn't know it was me sooner."

The Iconic Woodstock Couple

One of the most famous photos of the most iconic music festival in history is this picture of a couple hugging under a blanket, the people and debris of Woodstock scattered behind them.

Nick and Bobbi Ercoline were just two teens in love when they heard about the festival on the radio and decided to travel a few towns over to check it out. Unbeknownst to them, a photographer snapped their picture. The first they knew about it was when the Woodstock album was released in 1970 and they went over to a friend's house to listen to it. Nick picked up the record sleeve and recognized their blanket. At this point, Bobbi figured she had to confess to her mom that she had been lying when she'd sworn she hadn't gone to the concert.

Oh, and she might also have to mention that her image prominently adorned the poster of the Woodstock movie that would win the Academy Award for best documentary and would gross over $200 million (adjusted for 2011 dollars) and an album cover that would be purchased by millions of stoners from 1970 through the end of time.

Two years after the photo was taken, the couple got married. Over 40 years later, Nick and Bobbi are still together, have two sons and still live just outside Woodstock. While they still get recognized today after all the media attention their photo garnered, their foray into the counterculture didn't last: he works for the Man, i.e. the local government, and she is a school nurse.