And yet all these decades later, even as Americans have only grown more health- and diet-conscious, hot dogs remain a favorite. In 2023 the cookout staples were an $8 billion market, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

The numbers reflect a basic truth, which that health is not always at the forefront of consumer’s minds, and that is especially true when they are heating up the grill or enjoying an afternoon at the ballpark. Those are the situations for which the concept of the cheat day was invented. For every person who finds a hot dog revolting—that same LIFE story quoted New York consumer affairs commissioner Bess Myerson as saying “After I found what was in hot dogs, I stopped eating them”—there are others who gravitate to its simple pleasures.

During the original run of LIFE magazine, hot dogs frequently popped up in settings both surprising and expected. Frank Sinatra was seen munching on one in his tuxedo after performing in Miami. Hall of Fame baseball executive Bill Veeck was photographed enjoying one in the stands. Perhaps the most humorous photo in this collection features actress Buff Cobb, who would go on to marry TV journalist Mike Wallace. Cobb and LIFE staff photographer Martha Holmes collaborated on a 1946 photo shoot that was a parody of a Hollywood puff piece. In one photo Cobb was on the beach, being attended by a butler as she roasted a hot dog over an open fire. The caption mentioned how Cobb loved to rough it and cook from “old family recipes.”

In that instance the hot dog was the punch line to a culinary joke. But if you substitute “old family recipe” with “old family favorite,” that caption would be a perfect description of the hot dog’s place in the American diet.

Tony Bennett was out with Frank Sinatra after a performance in Miami, 1965.

John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

TV comedienne Dagmar took her siblings to a hot dog stand while visiting family in Huntington, West Virginia, 1951.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns baseball team, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

In a shoot that was a parody of the life of a Hollywood movie star, actress Buff Cobb was said to be ‘roughing it” and cooking from an old family recipe as she prepared a hot dog on the beach while a butler attended to her, 1946.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This 1952 story about “a car that has everything” included this image of owner Louis Mattar, a California garage owner and tinkerer, making a hot dog in his tricked-out Cadillac, 1952.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People crowded a hot dog stand on the boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J., 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A barefoot hot dog vendor waited for customers near a police headquarters in Guatemala, 1953.

Cornell Capa/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A dog nibbled on a hot dog, 1972.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a hot-dog eater, 1972.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a hot-dog eater, 1972.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a hot-dog eater, 1972.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a hot-dog eater, 1972.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Hey, Wanna Hot Dog? appeared first on LIFE.

There’s all kinds of laughter here, in situations expected and unexpected. In one photo Bob Hope cracks up a few of his fellow entertainers, and himself, as he tries out material before hosting the Academy Awards. But you also see general Douglas MacArthur cackling with glee the day after the successful invasion of Inchon. Whatever prompted MacArthur’s laughter in that moment, the relief following the previous day’s assault had to have been a factor.

Humphrey Bogart laughs more gleefully in a photo from the set of The African Queen than he was known to do when playing any of his memorably hard-bitten characters. Frank Sinatra, while hanging out with friends in a Miami hotel room, laughs so hard at a joke told by his pal and opening act Joe E. Lewis that the singer was literally rolling on floor laughing.

One of the more frequent celebrity laughers in the LIFE archives is Sophia Loren, represented here with three photos. No small part of the icon’s appeal is that, among her other virtues, she seemed to enjoy where life had taken her.

Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Bob Hope and David Niven laughed at a Cold War-era Russian joke from Hope during a break from rehearsals for Academy Awards show at the RKO Pantages theater, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Singer Billy Eckstine (right) having some backstage laughs with his ex-boss, orchestra leader Earl Hines (center) and trumpeter Louis Armstrong backstage, 1949.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shuttetstock

Warren Beatty with Natalie Wood at the 1962 Academy Awards ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Broadway producer Kermit Bloomgarden with Marilyn Monroe in her Manhattan apartment, 1958.

Robert W. Kelley/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Humphrey Bogart laughed while on location for the filming of The African Queen along the Ruki River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1951.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

(left to right) George Jessel, Dean Martin, and Jack Benny at a Friars Club dinner for Dean Martin, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Elton John (right) sharing a laugh with his mother Shelia (left) and stepfather Fred Fairebrother (center) in their apartment, 1971.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lyndon B. Johnson (left) and running mate Hubert Humphrey enjoying a laugh at Johnson’s ranch after their landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

General Douglas MacArthur (center), slapped Vice Admiral Struble (left) on the knee while laughing gleefully the day after the invasion of Inchon, 1950.

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy played with their children, April 30, 1957.

Paul Schutzer/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren with her husband Carlo Ponti on a boating trip off of Naples, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren laughing while exchanging jokes during lunch break on a movie set, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren laughed about her guitar-playing ability with her secretary Ines Bruscia beside her, 1964.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dick Clark on his TV show the “American Bandstand” in 1958.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American generals George S. Patton (left) and Omar Bradley (center) and British general Bernard Law Montgomery (right) laughed while discussing strategy and the progress of the campaign in France, July 7, 1944.

Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. laughed over dinner with his wife, Swedish actress May Britt.

Leonard McCombe/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rolling Stone band members Mick Jagger (left) and Keith Richards shared a laugh.

DMI

Nancy Reagan and her husband, then California Governor Ronald Reagan, walked behind Dean Martin and Phyllis Diller, California, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A rare laugh from somber Kim Novak greeted a joke by Otto Preminger, who visited Kim while she was in New York. She had great fondness and respect for Preminger, who directed her in The Man With the Golden Arm and put her genuinely at ease.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Alan Shepard laughs with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom (right) and Deke Slayton upon his arrival at Grand Bahama Island, shortly after his successful flight and splashdown, May 1961.

Paul Schutzer The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Harry Belafonte laughed during Bop City nightclub’s opening night, 1949.

Martha Holmes/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In a Miami hotel room Frank Sinatra fell off his chair howling at a joke told by his opening act and longtime friend, comedian Joe E. Lewis, 1965.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Laughing With the Stars appeared first on LIFE.

Sometimes LIFE photographers went to Miami because they were following the stars. It was a place to catch Frank Sinatra goofing around with this pals, or the Beatles on tour, or Muhammad Ali celebrating with Malcolm X after winning the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston.

In one case Miami was even a backdrop to history, when the U.S Army was using the famed beach as a training camp.

But more often LIFE photographers went to Miami to showcase Americans enjoying a certain kind of leisure—the kind with fancy hotels and swimsuits and glitzy shows.

Many of the images in this collection come from a 1940 shoot by legendary LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstadt that chronicled the beginning of boom times for Miami. Here’s what LIFE had to say in its March 4, 1940 issue about Miami becoming a magnet for the leisure class:

In 1912 Miami was a sleepy town of 7,500 people and Miami Beach, three and a half miles away across a tidal lagoon, was an untidy sand bar populated primarily by crabs and mosquitos. In that year an enterprising young Indiana automobile millionaire named Carl Fischer descended on the town and, with the assistance of two elephants, Nero and Rosie, began turning it into a winter resort. Miami and Miami Beach have been booming ever since. Currently Miami has a population of about 140,000 and Miami Beach of 20,000. The two are easily the No. 1 playground of the world’s most playful nation.

Of course Miami and Miami Beach had even more growth ahead, as captured in the photos LIFE took in succeeding years. Today the populations for Miami and Miami Beach have ballooned to around 439,000 and 80,000. And that mirrors the growth of Florida as a whole. In 1940 Florida was only the 27th most populous state in America, coming in right behind West Virginia and South Carolina. Today Florida ranks 3rd in the country in population, trailing only Florida and Texas.

Many forces contributed to that population growth, including immigration, but the promise of the kind of life that Eisenstaedt captured in his photos was surely was a psychological magnet to the retirees who came to Miami and to the rest of the state to spend their retirement years among the palm trees.

Miami Beach, Florida, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

A doorman and a row of bellhops at the entrance of Surf Club in Miami, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Miami resort, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach fashions, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Kayakers in a resort pool, Miami Beach, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People sightseeing in Miami Beach, Florida, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach, Florida, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach, Florida, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach fashions, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami juice stand, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach during a cold spell, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach during a cold spell, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jai alai, Miami, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Recruits trained for war in Miami Beach, 1942.

Myron Davis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Soliders in training took an ocean swim, Miami Beach, 1942.

William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Miami, 1944.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on vacation in Miami Beach, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on vacation in Miami Beach, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Miami nightclub, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Miami nightclub, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Miami nightlub dancer in her off time, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Miami nightclub dancer at home, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami, 1959.

Hank Walker/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A windjamming tour from Miami, 1961.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali (right) posed at a soda fountain for Malcolm X (left, with camera) in Miami after winning the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, 1964.

(c) Bob Gomel / Courtesy of Bob Gomel

The Beatles running on the beach in Miami, February 1964.

©Bob Gomel

Tony Bennett was out with Frank Sinatra after a performance in Miami, 1965.

John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The Glamour of Vintage Miami appeared first on LIFE.

Some moments are beautiful because they are quiet, like the glimpses of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn before they went on stage together at the Oscars. Or the photo of Sammy Davis Jr. eating spaghetti and watching the news on television. Or burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee sitting at a typewriter while in costume before she performs one of her strip-teases.

Or consider the photo of the cast of The Honeymooners all sitting and waiting, Jackie Gleason with his ankle on ice. It’s funny to see the cast of this all-time great sitcom together without a smile on their faces, or any expression at all, really. Each of these photos their own way feels like a glimpse of reality.

Some photos offer curious juxtapositions, such as Johnny Cash, dressed in his trademark black, coming backstage at production of the musical Annie. Same with Frank Zappa and his family posing with the cast of Broadway show Cats. You can also find unexpected couplings, such as Lucille Ball visiting with Shirley Maclaine in her dressing room, or James Dean helping actress Geraldine Page with her hair.

Also intriguing are the images of stars just before they go onstage. This gallery includes shots of Alec Guinness and Albert Finney before they have leapt into character, and singer Paul Anka stretched out across two beds, They are about to cross the bridge from private person to public performer, and give their audiences the performances they came for.

Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly backstage at the RKO Pantages Theatre during the 28th Annual Academy Awards, 1956.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Award presenters Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly waiting backstage at the RKO Pantages Theatre during the 28th Annual Academy Awards, 1956.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. ate spaghetti in his backstage dressing room while watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report news show in 1964. “My only contact with reality,” he told LIFE. “Whatever I’m doing, I stop to watch these guys.” Reflected in the mirror: LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Paul Anka, backstage at the Copacabana, 1960.

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Finney backstage during a production of the play Luther, 1963.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Elvis Presley tenderly kissing the cheek of a female admirer backstage before his concert, 1956.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ray Charles backstage talking with Eric Burdon and the Animals, 1966.

Bill Ray/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Shirley MacLaine preparing to perform the TV show “Shower of Stars” in 1955.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shirley MacLaine and Lucille Ball backstage during a benefit show for victims of the devastating Isewan typhoon, 1959.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marcia Diamond (right) watched as her husband Neil clipped their son Jessie’s nails in a dressing room at the Winter Garden Theatre, 1972.

MICHAEL MAUNEY/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee writes in her dressing room in Memphis, Tenn., 1949.

George Skadding/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Bobby Darin in his dressing room, 1959.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman in his dressing room for the play (which he also directed), Jimmy Shine, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mae West backstage at the Hotel Sahara with one of the co-stars of her Las Vegas show, 1954.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

James Dean with the great Geraldine Page in her dressing room, New York City, 1955.

Dennis Stock—Magnum

Betty Grable, in her dressing room at 20th Century-Fox studios, pulled on black mesh stockings for a scene that would feature her famous legs, 1943.

Walter Sanders The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Josephine Baker’s four-foot chignon is wound up into three tiers of buns in her dressing room, 1951.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Honeymooners cast—Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Andrews—in 1954.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Chorus girls watching the Ed Sullivan television show at the Roxy Movie Theater dressing room, 1958.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Alec Guinness put on theatrical makeup at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada, 1953.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy relaxing in dressing room, waiting for show to begin, 1942.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Movie director Vincent Sherman (right) with actor Paul Newman in dressing room reviewing lines for the legal drama The Young Philadelphians, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Johnny Cash, with stepson John (right), posed with Annie star Alison Smith and Sandy at a Broadway production of musical, 1981.

DMI/Shutterstock

(Center, left-to-right) Musician Frank Zappa and children Moon Unit and Dweezil visited backstage at the Broadway musical Cats in 1983; the cast included actress Betty Buckley (center, bottom).

David Mcgough/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Insider’s View: LIFE Goes Backstage with the Stars appeared first on LIFE.

When Cooper died of cancer at the age of 60 on May 13, 1961, some identified it right away as the end of an era. LIFE’s issue of May 26, 1961 quoted the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera as saying, “Perhaps with him there is ended a certain America…that of the frontier and of innocence which had or was believed to have an exact sense of the dividing line between good and evil.”

Cooper’s funeral, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, brought out Hollywood royalty. Actor John Wayne, who LIFE called in its report on the funeral “Coop’s successor as dean of cowboys,” attended with his wife. The pallbearers included good friends Jack Benny and Jimmy Stewart. It was Stewart who, at the Academy Awards several weeks prior, had accepted a lifetime achievement award on the behalf of the ailing Cooper. In his acceptance speech Stewart, nearly breaking up at one point, said, “Coop, I’ll get this to you right away. And Coop, I want you to know this, that with this goes all the warm friendship and the affection and the admiration and the deep, the deep respect of all of us. We’re very, very proud of you, Coop. All of us are tremendously proud.”

Cooper’s memorial was also attended by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Those leading lights of the Rat Pack had hosted a dinner for Cooper in January 1961 at the Friar’s Club. Bob Hope came to the church to pay his respects to Cooper, as did Marlene Dietrich, who had costarred with Cooper in the 1930 films Morocco and Desire. Alec Guinness, Karl Malden, Dinah Shore, Rosalind Russell, and many others were in attendance as well.

LIFE’s tribute to Cooper, which was headlined “Hollywood Mourns a Good Man,” ran for eight pages. The story on his life and career included an anecdote about the actor’s surprising encounter with a very different icon of his day, Cubist painter Pablo Picasso. “When Cooper met Pablo Picasso in France, he said `You’re a hell of a guy, but I really don’t get the pictures. The great artist was delighted.`That doesn’t matter,’ Picasso said. “If you really want to do something for me, get me one of those hats you wear in the movies.” Picasso (who got the hat and sent Cooper a painting) was not alone in being charmed by Cooper’s directness and his refusal to be what he was not.”

Most photos of LIFE’s photos of Cooper’s funeral focused on the mourners, but some showed the crowd. While some onlookers were no doubt attracted by the celebrities, many look as if they too were lamenting the passing of the actor who personified the strong, silent type.

Funeral services for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

J.R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

John Wayne and wife arrived for funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra arrived at funeral services for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin (left) arrived at the funeral service for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Bob Hope arrived at funeral services for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Alec Guinness (center) and Karl Malden (back left) arrived at church for funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Marlene Dietrich arrived at funeral services for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Rosalind Russell and her husband, producer Frederick Brisson, arrived at church for the funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Singer Dinah Shore arrived at the funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961,

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart (right) and Jack Benny (two behind Stewart) were among the friends who served as pallbearers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jack Benny (back left) and Jimmy Stewart (back, right) were among the friends who served as pallbearers at Gary Cooper’s funeral, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart (back left) and Jack Benny (front left) were among the friends who served as pallbearers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Photographers and police at the funeral for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Onlookers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Onlookers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Veronica Balfe, widow of Gary Cooper, arrived at his funeral, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Saying Farewell to a “Strong, Silent” Star: The Funeral of Gary Cooper appeared first on LIFE.

Photo by John Dominis

Sinatra had of course come to the Eden Roc hotel for work, and at night he would fly audiences to the moon with his trademark song stylings.

Photo by John Dominis

What came next? Some nights doing it Frank’s way meant a run to the hot dog stand in a tuxedo, with fellow crooner Tony Bennett (above, right) there for company. Then maybe back to the hotel for a game of darts (below).The man in the bathrobe is Joe E. Lewis, the comedian who was performing with Sinatra.

Photo by John Dominis

Photo by John Dominis

Above, Sinatra set up for his attempt to execute the table cloth gag. His technique appears fundamentally sound. Do not try this at home, but if you do, one of the keys to the trick is to make sure the far end of the tablecloth isn’t draping over the table. If the table cloth has to go up before it goes over, the pullaway will be too uneven. So it helps that Sinatra begins with the tablecloth already pulled back some. You also want the dishes to have some weight to them, because inertia is the principle that makes this stunt work. The heavier the object, the more it will resist motion. On Sinatra’s table, for example, it’s helpful that the ketchup bottle is nearly full.

Photo by John Dominis

Said the photographer, John Dominis, “I’d never seen that trick really done. It worked. I was amazed. He didn’t spill any dishes on the floor.”

Photo by John Dominis

While the table was a bit of a mess, Sinatra declared victory and flung that tablecloth with the flair of a man who was a master at playing to the audience.

Photo by John Dominis

Photo by John Dominis

Sinatra bodyguard Ed Pucci could make the cloth go flying too (above). Sinatra (below) was sent rolling on the floor in laughter from the clowning of Joe E. Lewis.

Below, Sinatra relaxed with a massage, tube socks and all. It was a new day, and another audience awaited.

Photo by John Dominis

The post A Night Out With Sinatra appeared first on LIFE.