Robert W. Kelley Photo Archives - LIFE

When It Was “Swimsuit or Jail” at Myrtle Beach

Bill Syken — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 18:43:23 +0000

Myrtle Beach is one of the great tourist beach towns that dot the East Coast, and it has only become more popular since it was written about in LIFE magazine in 1952. Back then the magazine estimated the local population to be about 6,000 people, whereas today it can seem as if Myrtle Beach has nearly that many holes of golf available for play.

But in 1952, as a resort destination on the rise, Myrtle Beach was looking for attention-getting ways to open up its beach season. Before that year the town had kicked off festivities with a beauty pageant. Then in ’52 Myrtle Beach decided to stage “Bathing Suit Day,” and the rules were simple: Wear a bathing suit, or go to jail.

Although the word “jail” is being used loosely—no one was actually doing hard time, as the photos from LIFE staff photographer Robert W. Kelley attest. And while the town had officially moved on from a beauty pageant, the event still managed to include a batallion of young women in swimsuits.

Here’s how LIFE described the workings of Bathing Suit Day in its June 23, 1952 issue:

“Everyone in town and every visitor would have to wear beach attire from 6 a.m. until noon under pain of fine or imprisonment in an impromptu stockade. Three businessmen served as judges, 32 town ladies acted as attire inspectors, and convict suits were borrowed from the superintendent of county prisoners—who himself was thrown in jail and made to wear one when he came to Myrtle Beach in ordinary garb to see whether the suits have arrived.”

The day went well, and the weekend also included a parade and contests on the beach. LIFE reported that $650 in fines were levied to those not in swimwear, with the proceeds going toward the construction of a new hospital, and that the 1952 vacation season at Myrtle Beach “had opened with the biggest attendance ever.”

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day’ in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Patrolman Charles Edmonson on duty during ‘bathing suit day’ at Myrtle Beach, 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A violator of the “must wear a swimsuit” rules and a law-abiding dog left the impromptu jail set up during Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

One of the enforcement offices for Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men buried women in sand for a contest held on Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing suit day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing suit day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathing Suit Day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 1952.

Robert W. KelleyLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post When It Was “Swimsuit or Jail” at Myrtle Beach appeared first on LIFE.

The Joys of Minnesota Ice Fishing

Bill Syken — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 21:24:33 +0000

Ice fishing is, if nothing else, a way to get out of the house during a long winter. In 1962 LIFE magazine photographer Robert W. Kelley traveled to the small Minnesota town of Glenwood—located on the shores of Lake Minnewaska, about halfway between Fargo, N.D. and Minneapolis—to capture people engaged in a classic northern pastime.

Ice fishers drop their lines through holes cut or drilled through a frozen-over lake. They can either sit outside and wait for a bite, or they can hunker in the relative comfort of an ice shack that they have hauled out onto the lake. One of the more distinctive photos in Kelley’s set is an overhead shot from inside a fishing shack in which a family is playing cards around a table and appears to be enjoying a cozy night in a living room—until you notice the rectangular fishing holes cut through the carpet and into the ice beneath.

Perhaps Kelley’s most inventive shot appears to have shot up through the ice as a fish is caught on a spear, with the delighted fishers visible in the background.

Kelley’s pictures also contains what would surely be a candidate for the most “Minnesota” photo ever taken—it shows people playing hockey on a lake with an ice-fishing camp in the background. (The image would be even more Minnesotan if one of the players was revealed to be a young Bob Dylan, which is not entirely implausible: the native of Hibbing is said to have both fished and played hockey in his youth.)

An ice hockey game by a fishing camp is a distraction from a distraction. Fair enough. To get through a long winter you need all the help you can get.

Ice fishing in Glenwood, Minnesota, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An ice shack is hauled onto a lake during ice fishing season in Glenwood, Minnesota, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ice fishing in Glenwood, Minnesota, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A child ice fishing in Glenwood, Minnesota, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ice fishing in Glenwood, Minnesota, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People playing ice hockey at an ice fishing camp in Glenwood, Minnesota, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ice fishing, 1962.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The Joys of Minnesota Ice Fishing appeared first on LIFE.

Solving the Decades-Old Mystery of the Llama at the Party

Mon, 25 Apr 2016 11:00:12 +0000

A llama walks into a party, and then what?

These photographs, taken by LIFE photographer Robert W. Kelley in 1959, show a very strange party in progress. A llama, a kangaroo, a monkey, some goats, several dogs and a couple of cats are all getting a bath in what appears to be an urban backyard. Later, in the same place and on what appears to be the same day, they attend a party with the pianist Skitch Henderson. The photographs never ran in the magazine, and nor did the story for which they were taken.

So what’s going on here?

Another LIFE story about a llama, published two years before these pictures were taken, offers a clue. It was a short one-page item about Animal Talent Scouts, a company run by Bernard and Lorrain D’Essen in New York City, who provided animal actors for theater and television—including Linda the Llama. A small photograph of Mrs. D’Essen in her living room shows a similar assortment of creatures: several dogs, a kangaroo and a llama. Among the dogs, the breeds also overlap—a basset hound, a sheepdog, a few greyhounds and what appears to be a saluki. The dark-haired woman in the later photos might be the same woman from the earlier photograph.

Contemporary news reports about the business which supply the information that Lorrain D’Essen worked in advertising, where she realized there was a market for trained animals for commercials also confirm that the D’Essen’s New York City home, at 331 West 18th St., had a yard. Other, wilder animals with the Animal Talent Scouts agency lived in New Jersey.

Here’s another clue: the date on the unpublished photos was May 1, 1959, just a couple of weeks before the release of Lorrain D’Essen’s well-reviewed memoir, Kangaroos in the Kitchen. (The book became a TV movie in 1982.) Was this perhaps a book party?

Though no record exists of that particular get-together, the evidence is overwhelming. These were no ordinary animals. They were—and remain—stars.

The llama smelled a woman’s hair, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The kangaroo and llama party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A group of animals, including a llama and kangaroo, were curious about bath time, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The kangaroo and llama party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The kangaroo was about to be bathed.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two cats looked down at the other animals getting a bath, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A small dog was bathed in a tub, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A llama and goat were bathed in the backyard, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Basset Hound was bathed in the backyard, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A kangaroo was dried off with a vacuum cleaner as a llama looked on, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A llama was dried off after a bath, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A llama dried off after a bath, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A monkey in the backyard, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pianist and conductor Skitch Henderson (center) enjoyed the llama’s company during a party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Siamese cat and kangaroo at the center of a party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The backyard llama party as seen from above, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Solving the Decades-Old Mystery of the Llama at the Party appeared first on LIFE.