Life the First Fifty Years, 1936-1986

322 Pages·53.845 MB·English

by  Life Magazine

LP 0270415026
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DWN AND COMPANY
.JUTCHINSON
Editor:
Philip B. Kunhardt Jr.
Managing Editor:
David Maness
Design and Production:
Gene Light
Chief Writer: Contents
Frank K. Kappler
Associates:
Edward Kern; Elsie B. Washington,
Gretchen Wessels, Margaret Williams
Picture Coordinator: Introduction.... 4
Gedeon de Margitay
Copy Staff: The First Issue. . 6
Eleanor Van Bellingham (Chief);
Sharon Kapnick; Nikki Amdur,
Florence Tarlow; Frank L. Gander, The First Decade
Larry Nesbitt, Frank Perich
Depression
Production Assistant:
John Macellari and War 15
Valuable assistance was provided by (in alphabetical
order): Susan L. Caughman, Peter J. Christopoulos,
1936 . .. 16
Debra A. Cohen, Judith Daniels, Mary N. Davis,
Kathleen Doak, Roger Donald, John Downey, Elaine M.
Felsher, Paula Glatzer, June 0. Goldberg, Andrew
Horne, Hanns Kohl, Benjamin Lightman, Laura Ludwig, 1937. . ... 18
Mary Jane McGonegal, Lori McGriff, Ann M. Morrell,
Gail Ridgwell, Carmin Romanelli, Sarah Rozen, Marie A.
Schumann, Maxine H. Shepard, Mary Y. Steinbauer,
Richard B. Stolley, Thomas Stone, 1938 . . . ... 22
Cynthia A. Van Roden, Cornelis Verwaal,
Christiana Walford, Beth B. Zarcone.
1939 . . ... .26
This book is dedicated to LIFE’S founder
Henry Robinson Luce
Six publishers and nine managing editors have guided
1940 . . ... 30
the magazine during its 50 years.
PUBLISHERS:
Roy E. Larsen (1936-45)
Andrew Heiskell (19.46-60) 1941 . . . ... 34
Charles D. Jackson (1960-64)
Jerome S. Hardy (1964-70)
Garry Valk (1970-1977)*
1942 . .. ... 40
Charles A. Whittingham (1978- )
MANAGING EDITORS:
John Shaw Billings (1936-44)
1943 . . . ... 44
Daniel Longwell (1944-46)
Joseph J. Thorndike Jr. (1946-49)
Edward K. Thompson (1949-61)
George P. Hunt (1961-69) 1944 . . . ... 50
Ralph Graves (1969-72)
Philip B. Kunhardt Jr. (1973-82) *
Richard B. Stolley (1982-85)
1945 . . . ... 54
Judith Daniels (1985- )
‘ 1973-1977: publication ceased except for 2 special issues a year.
Copyright © 1986 by Time Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form Essay. . . ... 60
or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage
and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the
publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
LIFE, The First 50 Years 1936-1986
1. LIFE (Chicago, III.) 2. Photography, Journalistic. I. LIFE (Chicago,
III.) II. Title: LIFE, The First 50 Years 1936-1986 TR 820.F49 1986 779’.09’04 86-2842
ISBN 0-316-52613-4 (he)
ISBN 0-316-52614-2 (pb)
Published simultaneously in Canada by Little, Brown and Company (Canada) Limited
Acknowledgments to photographers and illustrators, including permission
to reprint previously copyrighted material, appear on pages 312-319.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Second Decade The Third Decade The Fourth Decade The Fifth Decade
Peace Hope Violence Rebirth
and Prosperity 76 and Despair 134 and Change 198 and Renewal 252
1946. .78 1956. . 136 1966 . . . 200 1976. 254
1947. .82 1957. . 140 1967 . . 204 1977. 256
1948. .86 1958. 144 1968 . . . .208 1978. . 258
1949. 90 1959. 150 1969 .212 1979. 262
1950. 94 1960. 154 1970 . 216 1980. 266
X
1951. .98 1961 . . . .158 1971 . . 220 1981. 270

■v
1952. 102 1962. 162 1972 . . . .224 1982. . 274
1953. 106 1963. . 166 1973 ... 228 1983. . 278
1954. 110 1964. 172 1974 . . 230 1984. . 282
1955. 114 1965. 176 1975 . . . .232 1985. .286
Essay. 118 Essay. .182 Essay. . . . .234 Essay. 290
Introduction
LIFE’S first issue caused a sensation and gave birth
to an American institution. It has remained one,
after enduring a humbling period of transformation
There had never been anything like it before. In the first place it Its big pages, now mostly in color, still could spellbind. It still
was big; you could spot it a block away by its bold black-and- could convey that simple but uncanny sorcery that a camera in
white picture on the cover and the four large white letters that the right hands can conjure up. To the delight of old fans and a
spelled its name leaping out of that bright rectangle of red— host of new ones, LIFE took wing again. Now, after seven years
LIFE. Inside were the best pictures taken the world over. They of growing, the magazine entered its fiftieth year.
showed people and places so strange and unlikely you could
hardly believe they existed. They showed celebrities and fam¬ On these pages you will find every cover LIFE published
ous sights, and they showed the commonplace as well: men and through 1985, as well as a reproduction in miniature of the entire
women at their daily routines, passing fancies and old diver¬ first issue. Also in reduced size are many stories and pages as
sions, the goodness of the earth and the magnificence of the they originally appeared in the magazine. (Even the smallest
planets. Using the camera with intelligence and sensitivity and type on these reductions can be read with magnification.)
courage, LIFE opened windows, held up mirrors, captured both Crowded with images as this book may be, it does not attempt
the dangerous and the lovely, and stirred emotions. to be a definitive history of the magazine. It is, rather, a pictorial
This magazine had many moods. Outrageous it could be on survey of LIFE’S evolution, including points both high and low.
one page, tender on the next. Or dignified and then suddenly ir¬ Entire aspects of the magazine’s fascinating journey are omit¬
reverent or comic. It admired beautiful women, was fascinated ted. This book hardly touches at all, for instance, upon the indi¬
by the rich and famous. It held in awe the soaring structures man vidual photographers, the reporters, the writers or the editors
built as well as the quiet strength of Main Street and the comfort who were, and are, responsible for the magazine’s content and
of the corner store. It could lash out and bark at individuals, but personality. It does not retell any of the thousands of wonderful
its occasional gruffness came out of its devotion to human dig¬ stories—warm or chilling, hilarious or sad—behind LIFE’S effer¬
nity. It stood for democracy, free enterprise and hard work. It vescent, often turbulent half century. It barely brushes on the
hated war but reported on dozens of them—often so vividly that truly remarkable production side: Who could believe that at one
hands trembled as they turned the pages. Most of all it wor¬ point it took seven million pounds of paper to put out a single
shiped America and was harshly critical when it thought the na¬ issue, 200,000 pounds of ink to print it, 400 miles of wire to bind
tion was failing to live up to its great traditions. it and 360 railroad cars to ship it to every far corner!
For 36 years the weekly LIFE befriended America. During Sometimes you may feel that this book is arbitrary in its
those years the cellars and attics of the U.S. filled up with ever- choice of a picture or the reproduction of a page when dozens
rising piles of well-fingered keepsake issues. Finally television of other examples could and would have been chosen by edi¬
caught up with it, passed it by. Now news came on glass tors with different tastes or inclinations. More than 5,000 im¬
screens in living rooms, and the pictures moved and talked. So, ages are reproduced here, each selected with a specific point
at the end of 1972, after 1,864 consecutive issues, the country in mind. Yet to LIFE-o-philes second-guessing will be the name
kissed goodbye its weekly institution. But for the next five years of the game. Almost everyone will miss a favorite.
two special issues a year, 10 in all, kept people from forgetting. Nor has this book been shaped and made for insiders, for
Then, in 1978, LIFE was back, this time as a monthly. Many students of journalism or for photography buffs, no matter how
of the magazine’s most important original ingredients survived. intriguing it may be to these readers. It is for everyone with eyes,
In a different world, one grown satiated with fleeting images, it for all who understand hew unparalleled the LIFE era was and
still had the power to move and excite with the frozen moment. still is, and who wish to witness its unfolding.
First top team: (from left) Managing Editor
John S. Billings, Editor-in-Chief Henry R.
Luce, Executive Editor Daniel Long we II.
After the pages on which the magazine’s entire first issue
appears, this book is divided by 10-year periods into five
parts, and the treatment of each LIFE decade consists of two
sections. First comes a selective display of the magazine’s
content during each decade. It is followed by a section of large
photographs that appeared during the same span, arranged
now not by chronology but by a theme for each spread. The fifth
and final section of large photographs is used to illustrate anew
LIFE’S original prospectus.
Because they have been reproduced so often, some of the
magazine’s greatest images appear only in much reduced size
under the heading of Classic Photos. In each case these fam¬
ous pictures are presented in combination with a list of happen¬
ings—both important and trivial—during their particular year.
With these annual Currents and Events we have tried to re-cre¬
ate the environment in which LIFE’S evolution as an enterprise
and its journalistic contributions can be better understood.
In judging LIFE’S first 50 years, it is helpful to keep in mind the
words that Henry Luce used back in 1936 to describe the mis¬
sion of this not-quite-born publication.
To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events;
to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the
proud; to see strange things machines, armies, multi¬
—
tudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see
man’s work—his paintings, towers and discoveries; to
see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind
walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the
women that men love and many children; to see and to
take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and
be instructed; thus to see, and to be shown, is now the will
and new expectancy of half mankind.
It is a remarkable editorial vision, simply stated, great in
scope yet steadfastly human and enduring. It speaks to the
magic of seeing. How well LIFE has worked that magic over the
years is ultimately for you to decide.
Philip B. Kunhardt Jr.
Editor
The first image in the first issue was that of a newborn
infant. Of course, the headline read: “Life Begins.”
5
^-■xS
X m e First Issue
The ambition of the new publishing enterprise was to collect
“the cream of all the world’s pictures.” In doing so, it delivered—
if not to the tastes of all—something of interest to everyone
In February 1936, Henry R. Luce, the 36- The contents list (page 7) faced a full- In all, the issue mirrored many of
year-old founder and editor of Time and page House of Heinz ad that closely mim¬ Luce’s personal prejudices and passions,
Fortune, returned from a two-month hon¬ icked the magazine’s design. (The editors including an unwavering pride in the U.S.
eymoon in Cuba with his new wife, Clare weakly signaled their concern by placing The introduction (page 3) pointed out that
Boothe, and announced that he was going the word “Advertisement” at its top.) the first lady of the theater was American,
to start a picture magazine. For some time Twenty-three stories and departments the No. 1 screen lover was an American,
it was not widely known that the bride, her¬ were included. Three consisted of merely and the subject of Art was “represented
self a successful editor, had pushed the one photo: impregnable Fort Knox, which not by some artfully promoted Frenchman
idea. Names for the experimental issues would soon hold half the world’s gold but by an American”—John Steuart Curry
that followed included Parade, Look, (page 50); an aerial view of Fort Belve¬ (pages 28-31).
Scene and Show-Book of the World. dere, Edward Vlll’s favorite palace (page Luce’s second-favorite country, Chi¬
(Dime was rejected when Luce was per¬ 53); and a one-legged mountain climber na, the place of his birth to missionary par¬
suaded that someday the price might (page 69). A Northwestern coed doing an ents and of his childhood, was attended to
have to go up.) In August Luce bought the easy cartwheel (page 47) needed two. twice: by a Chinese cemetery in San Fran¬
title of a venerable but fading humor mag¬ cisco (page 21) and by a school where
azine, Life, for $92,000. No one particular¬ Luce’s instincts told him to include some¬ “slant-eyed and shy” students “learn to
ly liked the trial versions, but Luce barged thing about everybody’s favorite subject: say very instead of velly” (page 24). His
ahead. “We’ll learn how to do this in actual the elements (“Overweather,” pages 22, dislike for anything tinged by Communism
production,” he said. 23)] an outstanding American woman may have been at the root of the sly poke
Work on the first issue began in the fall. (Helen Hayes, pages 32-35)] a lively at Russians having fun and getting clean
Circulation was guaranteed at 250,000, American business (NBC,pages 36-39)] a by personal order of Stalin (page 76). The
and ad rates were set accordingly: $ 1,500 foreign country (Brazil, pages 40-44)] a thin item showing Pan Am pilots at Midway
for a full black-and-white page, $2,250 for dashing male star (Robert Taylor, pages Island hitting golf balls among the gooney
color. On Thursday, November 19, the is¬ 60-63), followed by a cultural postscript birds (pages 86-88) would have been jus¬
sue hit the newsstands, and all 466,000 on the original Camille story; and nature tified on the basis of its sheer wackiness.
copies sold out within four hours. (black widow spiders, pages 84,85).
Hayes was a feature subject because All else aside, for Luce and the staff
Today the issue that began it all is not only she not only was a great actress but also the four departments collecting “the
a collector’s item and an entertaining curi¬ encompassed many of the old-fashioned cream of all the world’s pictures” were
osity, it is also worth a close look be¬ virtues that Luce deemed important in among the most important sections of the
cause—in its simplicity, its wide-eyed women. Taylor was an easy pick: His ca¬ magazine: American Newsfront (pages
wonder, its likes and dislikes, its inspired reer was at a high, and his new film, with 18-21), President’s Album (pages 26,27),
way of choosing and combining pic¬ Garbo in the Camille title role, was about The Camera Overseas (pages 54-59) and
tures—it exposed the genes that would to be released. NBC had just turned 10 Private Lives (pages 78-82). Their broad
grow into the most successful publishing years old, and radio was every family’s scope as well as the opportunities they
yearling in history. Reproduced on the fol¬ passion. The crude drawing for “Over¬ provided to indulge in marketable spice
lowing pages is that entire issue. weather” peered into the future and point¬ and gossip had obvious appeal.
The pictures for the cover story on ed out that at 35,000 feet no weather ex¬ The issue closed with a feature that
Fort Peck, Mont., did not arrive until a few ists and that once planes were designed was immediately famous and would be
days before the deadline. They were tak¬ to fly at such “placid altitudes,” winds long lived: LIFE Goes to a Party. (Many
en by the distinguished industrial photog¬ blowing from west to east would “whip readers would make it a habit to read the
rapher Margaret Bourke-White, who had transport planes across the continent in magazine back to front in order to visit
closed down her studio to sign on as one eight or 10 hours.” “Black Widow” showed each new Party right off.) This first shindig
of LIFE’S original staff photographers. Her a wicked female spider succumbing to the (pages 90-94) involved a hunt by French
film recorded a new American frontier, amorous advances of a male before she blue bloods, who bagged 900 birds and
where men lived and loved in shantytowns ate him. “Brazil,” the issue’s “duty story” 250 hares during one day’s merriment.
near the dam they were building. Archi¬ (the editors knew that anything on South That was all of it, and it added up to a
bald MacLeish, a Fortune writer destined America, though undoubtedly education¬ spectacular start. Nonetheless, as Luce
to earn fame as poet and playwright, was al, usually put U.S. readers to steep), was and his editors had cautiously pointed
drafted to write the captions. Luce per¬ littered with gratuitous slurs: “Brazilians out in the introduction, “The first issue
sonally fixed upon the cover choice. The are charming people but are incurably of a magazine is not the magazine. It is the
lead story that resulted has been called lazy”; and Brazil was a country where “a beginning.” And so it was.
the first picture essay. drop of white blood makes a man ‘white.’ ”
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decided to go to, were a
clear portent of the future
magazine. Over the years
successive editors added
features and their own aes¬
thetics, but the basic ele¬ SAVE
MONEY!
ments of the first issue re¬
mained at the core of what
the staff affectionately re¬
ferred to as “Big Red.”
INSIDE FRONT COVER
8 9
22