Photographing American History - LIFE

Majesty in Tokyo: The 1964 Olympics

Erin Livingston — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 13:30:47 +0000

The first modern Olympics was held in 1896 in Athens, and the games have certainly changed much since then—a fact that will be obvious to anyone who tunes in the 2024 edition from Paris and sees competitve breakdancing, the latest addition to the Games’ cavalcade of sport.

The Olympics are continually evolving, but all throughout the years the Games have a simple appeal: The best athletes in the world gather and compete to see who is the fastest, the strongest, and the most acrobatic. On top of it you have pageantry: the opening and closing ceremonies can be as compelling as the games themselves.

In 1964 LIFE staff photographer Art Rickerby went to Tokyo to capture the 1964 Summer games in all their glory.

The Tokyo Olympics made history because it was the first the time the event was staged in Asia. That was also the first time the Olympics were broadcast via satellite—before that, improbable as it sounds, video tapes had to be flown across oceans before the competition could be seen by overseas viewers.

From the perspective of LIFE managing editor George P. Hunt, who covered many Olympics, the Tokyo event also stood out for the control exerted by Japanese officials. “The Games were precise, stiff and formal,” Hunter wrote, looking back in 1968. “The Japanese have a penchant for over-organization. The government even put a lid on the hot spots in Ginza.”

That management style which seemed novel to Hunter has become the standard, no matter where the Olympics are held. Host cities spend many billions to stage the games, and media companies invest heavily to broadcast them. They prepare with the same intensity as the athletes, and they do what they can to make sure all goes as hoped.

And the 1964 event, as always, made for not just plenty of athletic drama but some pretty pictures as well.

Opening ceremony at the track and field stadium of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

West and East Germans march together at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Japanese athletes marched in at the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

(Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

Japanese trumpeters at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Japanese track athlete Yoshinori Sakai lit the torch at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Olympic torch at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The opening ceremonies of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sunrise at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, home of the swimming and diving events of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1964 Summer Olympic flags, Tokyo, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Opening ceremony at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A snack vendor at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Al Oerter of the U.S. team won a gold medal in discus at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US swimmer Don Schollander (second from left) competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US gold medal winner swimmer Don Schollander celebrated at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US gold medal winner swimmer Don Schollander at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

USA swimmer Cathy Ferguson cried after winning gold in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics. (L) Christine Caron of France won silver, (R) American Ginny Duenkel won bronze.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The USA women’s swim team signed a kick board after winning gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay, 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. L-R: Cynthia Goyette, Kathy Ellis ,Cathy Ferguson, Sharon Stouder.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

(Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US sprinter Edith McGuire at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

USA diver Larry Andreasen at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US athlete Hayes Jones in Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics, Japan

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Soviet heavy-weightlifter Yuri Vlasov at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Medal ceremony at Lake Sagami for the Women’s 550-meter kayak pairs event. West Germans Roswitha Esser and Annemarie Zimmermann won gold. Second place went to 15-year-old Francine Fox and 35-year-old Gloriane Perrier of the US. In third place were Hilde Lauer and Cornelia Sideri of Romania.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ginny Duenkel (C), Marilyn Ramenofsky (R), and Terri Stickles (L) on the victory stand following the 400 meter race at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Majesty in Tokyo: The 1964 Olympics appeared first on LIFE.

Eisenstaedt in Postwar Italy (and Yes, That’s Pasta)

Bill Syken — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 15:22:28 +0000

Some individuals are blessed enough to look beautiful even when they’re having a bad hair day. That was, in a sense, Italy on a grand scale in 1947. The country was coming out of World War II and 18 years of the rule of dictator Benito Mussolini. A LIFE story surveyed the postwar Italian landscape and fretted that the country was “on the brink of Communist revolution.”

That revolution didn’t happen, but still, Italy—birthplace of the Renaissance—had seen better days.

For its 1947 story LIFE sent staff photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on a tour of the country, and many of his pictures documented scenes of distress, with Italians doing their best to carry on amid bombed out buildings.

But even its those hard times Italy still looked beautiful, and Eisenstaedt even captured livelier scenes, most of which did not make it into the magazine. Eisenstadt photographed a packed La Scala opera house in Milan, American sailors enjoying the Piazza San Marco in Venice, and people at work in pasta factories and Tuscan wineries.

And LIFE’s generally dire account of the Italy did acknowledge that, amid the political unrest and troubling poverty, there were still tourists visiting and good times to be had:

“….with her surging vitality, Italy is showing signs of recovery. In her delightful restaurants the tourist can choose from among countless delicacies, though most Italians still do not get enough to eat. In her factories the production lines are running again….Even among venerable remains of past glory, transformed into modern rubble by the war, scholars are working to change the ruins back to their original state. Slowly, painfully, Italy is trying to rebuild herself.”

Eisenstaedt ranged widely during his tour of Italy, capturing images in Rome, Venice, Siena, Naples, Milan and more, venturing from tony resorts to struggling regions where the difficulties are plain to see. One of the shots that captures the mix well shows children playing amid the ruins of the Theatre of Marcellus, broken and magnificent all at once.

LIFE’s plaintive final note to its story was: “For sensitive people with an abiding lust for life, the Italians’ tragedy today is that they have never learned to govern themselves.”

Young men working in a pasta factory carried rods of pasta to drying rooms, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Young men carrying rods of pasta for drying, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Man hanging pasta noodles, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

An Italian boy stood on top of a US Army tank left on the edge of the beach at Salerno, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The La Scala Opera House in Milan was at capacity for a performance conducted by Antonio Pedrotti, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A cellarman at Giannino’s handed a bottle of wine to a waiter; the cellar had about 1,500 different wines and liqueurs. Chianti flasks were in the foreground, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Chianti flasks in storeroom of the Baron Ricasoli vineyards in Siena, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men fishing near the bridge in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The archway was all that remained in 1947 of a block of buildings near the main plaza of an Italian city that was heavily bombed during World War II.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children played among the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. In background, the Palazzo Sermoneta, built atop the centuries-old ruins of Caesar’s Theater of Marcellus in Rome. 1947..

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Naples, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Workers in an olive grove south of Monopoli took a siesta after lunch under a favorite tree, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shoeshine boys in slum neighborhood near the waterfront in postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman carried a tray of dough on her head through street of hilltop town in postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two American sailors in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Beside damaged statues of the Monte Cassino Abbey, a lay brother made sketches that were to aid in the restoration process, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women worked at a fabric factory in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Newsstand, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers buying bread in the streets in Naples, Italy, in 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women sewed outside their Trulli homes. Trulli are made from limestone boulders and feature conical or domed roofs. Roofs of Trulli are painted with signs to ward off evil. Italy, 1947.

.Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two women passed by a wayside shrine near Castellamare, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Laundry hanging in main square of Burano, Venice, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a woman standing near a ruins, Italy, 1947

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People relaxed at a swimming pool in a resort in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman in heeled sandals, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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A Young Actress Restarts Her Life in Postwar Paris

Bill Syken — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 13:53:25 +0000

World War II was horrible in a lot of ways, and for a lot of people. For Parisians, the war meant four years of German occupation, ending with the city’s liberation in 1944.

That context is important to remember when looking at this photo essay by NIna Leen about aspiring actress Barbara Laage, which appeared in the June 3, 1946 issue of the magazine. This 25-year-old may look like she is living the life of a young bohemian, but she was also one of many attempting to get herself back on track after the war. Laage had fled Paris during the German occupation, and now she was back home and looking to thrive rather than just survive. Or as LIFE put it:

Basically the story of Barbara Laage…is the universal story of an ambitious young career girl. But in this particular case, however, it takes on the complexion of a social document, showing how postwar Paris is living by its wits and keeping up its spirits.

Laage was promising enough of a prospect that when Leen followed her around, the world was already opening up for her. Stylists and clothing designers were giving free services to the up-and-coming stage actress. And this story would not be the last time Laage was photographed for LIFE. Nina Leen also used Laage as a model for a story on swimsuit fashions, and photographed her again when Laage came to the United States to further her acting career. Pictures from those shoots are included in this collection.

It was just the beginning for Laage, who collected 45 film and television credits in the United States and Europe, even sharing the screen with Paul Newman in her supporting role in the 1961 film Paris Blues, an American movie that was a love letter to her old hometown.

Young actress Barbara Laage exercised at a rooftop gymnasium in Paris, 1946.

Nina Leen/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage enjoyed ice cream in Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage in her Paris apartment, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage in Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Paris apartment of Barbara Laage was crammed with books, mostly having to do with the theater, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Barbara Laage received instruction from a more veteran actor, Maurice Escande, backstage at a Paris theater, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage rode her bicycle to work in Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage arrived at the theater where she was appearing in a play, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Barbara Laage sang in a show called “Quatre Rues,” Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage counted out her relatively meager pay after a performance, Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage tried on a dress lent to her by the dressmaker Rochas, while her boyfriend held a mirror for her, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage received free hairdos in exchange for letting the salon use her image for publicity purposes, Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage with dramatist Leopold Marchand, who was writing a play for her, Paris, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage at a dinner to which friends are treating her, Paris, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage perused a write-up about her at a Paris newsstand, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Laage, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actress Barbara Laage wearing makeshift two-piece bathing suit she cut from one yard of cloth, wading in surf, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actress Barbara Laage in New York City, 1946.

Nina LeenLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actress Barbara Laage in New York City, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post A Young Actress Restarts Her Life in Postwar Paris appeared first on LIFE.

Eisenstadt’s Images of Change in the Pacific Northwest

Bill Syken — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 14:59:54 +0000

In 1939 LIFE devoted a themed issue to the future of America, and it led off its reporting with a big piece on the Pacific Northwest, which the magazine predicted would be an engine of of growth as the country looked to move past the Great Depression. The region was described by hopefuls as “the last frontier” and “the promised land.” The big change afoot at the moment was the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, which would became a major new source of power. And the Pacific Northwest in general was hailed for natural resources that were waiting to be tapped, and whose vast expanses were still only lightly populated. LIFE wrote, “Beyond the cities of the coast lie mighty reaches of forest, mountain, valley and river where you may go for miles and miles and see only a thread of railroad track or a lonely settler’s clearing as evidence of man’s presence on the giant earth.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt expertly captured the change that was coming to this Eden. Many of his pictures are striking on their own, from the images of a man at work in a teeming Seattle lumber yard, to dam construction, to the fishermen along the majestic Columbia River, to the characters of rural life. But taken together, Eisenstaedt illustrated what it looks like when civilization comes to the prairie. Consider his image of barefoot boys riding a tricycle alongside a highway that is only going to get busier.

LIFE wrote that these photos of Eisenstein were documenting not just a pivotal moment for the Northwest, but for the Amerca as a whole. The piece ended with this somber message to readers about a country making a fundamental transition:

The old American frontier, where a strong man with an axe and plow could take up free land and make his way regardless of his neighbors, is gone. In the industrial civilization of today and tomorrow, no region, no city, no business, no individual in America will ever be able to prosper alone and independent of the rest. The new frontier is one on which, working together for the common good, American will use their great technical and creative resources to produce the full abundance of which the American land is capable, an abundance which will make the long American Dream of dignity and freedom and equal opportunity for every citizen at last come true.

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fishing on the Columbia River in Oregon, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Grand Coulee, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Grand Coulee, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A post office in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Exterior view of a post office in the US Northwest region, 1939.

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children playing on seesaws in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A sheep ranch in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man at work at the Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing Company, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Seattle, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Blue Lake, Washington, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A skier at a resort in the Pacific Northwest, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Eisenstadt’s Images of Change in the Pacific Northwest appeared first on LIFE.

Heartland Cool: Teenage Boys in Iowa, 1945

Bill Syken — Fri, 24 May 2024 12:47:38 +0000

In its June 11, 1945 issue LIFE photographer Nina Leen went to Des Moines, Iowa to document the world of teenage boys during World War II. What she found was a reassuringly normal slice of heartland life. The headline announced: “Teen-Age Boys: Faced With War, They are Just the Same as They Have Always Been.”

What did that mean, exactly? It meant that these teenage boys, much like their counterparts in more peaceful periods of 20th century America, were chiefly concerned with playing, eating, sleeping, and dating. This was true despite the reality that “The most important fact in the lives of American teenage boys is that they may have to go and fight Japan.”

LIFE elaborated further on what was on the minds of these youngsters:

The old skills are still admired—the ability to swim well, to memorize the names of football heroes, to have a quick wisecrack for the day’s every small event, to be popular. The ancient foibles are still pursued—homework is done in ten minutes. Mother is looked upon as a lovable servant, home is only for eating and sleeping. The greatest talent is an asset for endlessly happy skylarking.

The main way that the war impacted these young men was gas rationing, because it put a crimp in their fascination with cars, although they found ways to get around that. LIFE wrote, “In an almost gasless society, U.S. boys still have their old jalopies. They have found that a half-hour’s fast talking will usually net them an A coupon from dad and that their motors can often be made to run on a kerosene mixture.” The story put forth that the boys clung to their old cars because it helped with another chief interest of teenage boys is Des Moines, which was dating teenage girls in Des Moines.

Three months after this story ran, Japan surrendered, bringing an end to World War II. This meant that these boys were not only staying home but would have plenty of gas in those cars before too long.

Tom Moore, 17, examined the results of his first shave, Des Moines, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenage boy reached for a comb as he checked his reflection, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenage boys attempted to infiltrate what LIFE called “a hen party,” Des Moines, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenager Richard Burns of Des Moines liked to have a cola and half of a box of Cheez-Its before going to bed, Des Moines, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenage boys checked out the comic books and magazines at their local drug store, Des Moines, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenage boys and girls enjoyed milkshakes at the drug store, Des Moines, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenage boys on a Saturday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Entering through windows was an initiation ritual for a club which called itself “the Molesters,” Des Moines, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenage boy in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenager worked on a smashed fender in a garage in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenaged boys worked on their 1927 Ford Model T in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenage boys in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenage boy received a haircut, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenage boy in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Boys in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenage boy in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Heartland Cool: Teenage Boys in Iowa, 1945 appeared first on LIFE.

LIFE Said This Invention Would “Annihilate Time and Space”

Bill Syken — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:23:57 +0000

In September 1944, World War II still had a year to go, but that didn’t stop LIFE from looking ahead to peacetime in its Sept. 4, 1944 issue. The magazine ran big story on the new technology that it predicted would reshape life after the war. The story was headlined, “Television: The Next Great Development in Radio is Ready Now For Its Enormous Postwar Market.”

However odd it seems today to speak of television as a “great development in radio,” LIFE was dead-on in assessing how big a deal the combination of sound and moving pictures would be:

Within the first postwar decade television will be firmly planted as a billion-dollar U.S. industry. Its impact on U.S. civilization is beyond present prediction. Television is more than the addition to sight to the sound of radio. It has a power to annihilate time and space that will unite everyone everywhere in the immediate experience of events in contemporary life and history.

After getting readers excited about the new technology, the story then went on to detail its mechanics. The photos by Andreas Feininger are beautiful and fascinating in the way they contrast the machinery of the tubes and plates with the resulting image they produce of a female model whose presence is a kind of siren song. All that glass and metal, dear reader, will magically bring this woman into your living room.

At the time this LIFE story ran, very few Americans owned television sets. In 1946, the first year the government has data for television ownership, the total number of sets in American households was 8,000. By 1951, though, the number had ballooned to more than 10 million.

The LIFE story correctly predicted that TV would give Americans the new power to witness history live, and that was transformative. Part of the immense power of the signature moments of the original run of LIFE magazine—whether it be triumphs such as the moon landing or tragedies like the assassination of John F. Kennedy—was that Americans experienced those moments together, huddled around their televisions, seeing the same things at the same time.

The lens, at right, focused its image onto a plate in an RCA television camera tube, 1944.

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This “dissector camera tube” was part of a 1944 story in LIFE on the brand new technology of television. Here’s how the magazine described the tube’s function: “Image is focussed on light-sensitive plate (left). Electrical field transforms visible image into extended electronic image…Electromagnetic field pulls this extended image back and forth in front of scanning finger mounted vertically at front of tube.”

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Schmidt projector threw this image of a model onto a screen. A 1944 article in LIFE on the new TV technology stated that “projection screens will be part of postwar home receivers.”

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A 1944 LIFE story on how television worked showed an image of girl being focused through a lens, 1944.

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A color television camera, 1944.

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An image from LIFE’s look at the technical side of the emerging technology known as television, 1944.

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In a 1944 story about emerging television technology, this demonstration photo illustrated how lines came together to make a picture.

Andreas Feininger/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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