The concept of the mermaid has been around since at least the 14th century, and this beloved creature has shown up in dozens of movies, including Splash and The Little Mermaid. LIFE was there in 1948 when Hollywood took its first stab at making a mermaid look real.

The movie was a 1948 summer release called Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid, which was a light romance about a man who goes fishing and makes an unexpected catch. The mermaid was played by Ann Blyth, who had been nominated for an Academy Award a couple years earlier for her supporting role in Mildred Pierce. In February 1948 LIFE devoted a story to the making of a custom-fitted tail for Blyth. The story’s headline announced that this tail cost $18,000 (or about a $250,000 in 2026 dollars) and called its creation “the most ambitious make-up job ever to be performed on the nether extremities of an actress.”

The brains behind the tail was Bud Westmore, a Hollywood makeup legend who would also be featured in LIFE for his work on another semi-aquatic figure, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. For the mermaid’s tail Westmore made a plaster-of-Paris mold directly from Blyth’s body. He then encased the resulting model in rubber and carved the tail. LIFE staff photographer Allan Grant documented every step in the process.

And when it came time for Blyth to get into the water on the movie set, another LIFE photographer, Loomis Dean, was there to take pictures.

Unfortunately when the movie actually came out, LIFE’s film critic was not so impressed. A group review of Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid and two other summer releases was headlined, “Three expensive movies aim at fantasy and miss it by a mile.” The quality of the tail was not remarked upon at all.

It’s a sentiment all too familiar to modern moviegoers. Special effects can be spectacular, but the story still needs to work. A tail can be great and the movie can still flounder.

Actress Ann Blyth had her legs coated in grease before a plaster mold was made of her legs as part of the crafting of a state-of-the-art mermaid’s tail for the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Makeup artists crafted a mermaid’s tail for actress Ann Blyth for the film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid,” 1948.

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Master makeup artist Bud Westmore fitted rubber to a plastic mold while making a tail for actress Ann Blyth in the 1948 movie “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ann Blyth showed off the custom-made, $18,000 tail she wore in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ann Blyth showed off the custom-made, $18,000 tail she wore in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ann Blyth starred in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ann Blyth and William Powell starred in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ann Blyth starred in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ann Blyth starred in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.”

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The Making of a Mermaid, 1948 appeared first on LIFE.

There is one aspect of the space race that America lost decisively, and it had to do with gender. The first woman ever go into space was Russia’s Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. America didn’t send its first woman to space until twenty years later when Sally Ride flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983.

But while America lagged, it was not because of a lack of qualified candidates.

In 1960 LIFE ran a story on pilot Jerrie Cobb headlined “A Lady Proves She’s Fit for Space Flight.” Cobb, 29, had just become the first woman to pass all the tests that America’s male astronauts had gone through as part of Project Mercury.

Cobb, from Oklahoma, had been taught to fly by her father and earned her first pilot’s license at age 16. She then set world records for speed, altitude and distance in the twin-engine class. Her accomplishments drew the attention of Dr. W. Randolph Lovelace II, who ran America’s astronaut training program. In 1959 Lovelace invited Cobb to try out.

Cobb withstood the gauntlet, demonstrating that she had what author Tom Wolfe would famously refer to as “the right stuff.” LIFE reported, “After a series of exhaustive and exhausting medical tests, 75 in all, during which she complained less than the Mercury men had, Jerrie Cobb easily passed the rigid requirements laid down for astronauts-in-training.”

LIFE staff photographer Ralph Crane documented Cobb going through her challenges. The magazine concluded, “It now appears inevitable that manned space flight will at some future date become co-educational.”

But that future date turned out to be more far off than expected.

In 1963 the frustration oozed from pages of LIFE when the magazine reported on Tereshkova’s history-making flight for Russia. By that time a dozen other American women had followed Cobb in passing the astronaut qualifying tests. LIFE’s story, headlined “The U.S. Team is Still Warming up the Bench,” fumed about the opportunity denied to these women, including Cobb, who was now what the magazine described as a “never-consulted consultant” to NASA administrator James Webb.

LIFE said, “Two years ago, when Russian space scientists visiting the U.S. first let on that they had a training program for female cosmonauts, Jerrie Cobb went to Washington, collaring anyone who would listen, pleading for a formal American woman-in-space program. The best she got was polite indifference.”

Today a NASA tribute page to Cobb explains why she never had the opportunity to go to space by saying “any hopes of becoming an official NASA astronaut were dashed when she, as a private citizen, was denied access to training facilities at a Navy base in Florida. At the time, all astronaut candidates were required to have military jet fighter experience, and the military did not allow female jet pilots.” The Air Force would not began to train female jet pilots until the mid-1970s.

So that was that. In 1999, after John Glenn flew a celebrated space mission at age 77, some pushed for Cobb to get the same chance, but she was again denied.

While Cobb never went to space, she demonstrated heroism in other—arguably more impactful—ways as she used her pilot’s skills to serve humanity. She moved to South America and spent 30 years delivering medical supplies to indigenous populations in hard-to-reach areas. The governments of Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Colombia and France honored Cobb for her humanitarian work, and in 1981 she was nominated for the Nobel Prize.

Cobb died in 2019 at the age of 88.

In 1960 Jerrie Cobb became the first U.S. woman to qualify to become an astronaut, though she was never given an opportunity to go up into space.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In 1960 Jerrie Cobb became the first U.S. woman to qualify to become an astronaut, though she was never given an opportunity to go up into space.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb, who became a licensed pilot as a teenager and would later qualify to become an astronaut, flew a plane in her native Oklahoma, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Project Mercury’s Dr. W. Randolph Lovelace II questioned Jerrie Cobb as part of his process of determining if Cobb was capable of becoming an astronaut, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This pulminary test was one of the many hurdles that Jerrie Cobb passed in order to prove her fitness as an astronaut, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb in 1960 passed all the qualifying tests to become America’s first female astronaut but was never given the opportunity to go up into space.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb in 1960 passed all the qualifying tests to become America’s first female astronaut but was never given the opportunity to go up into space.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb in 1960 passed all the qualifying tests to become America’s first female astronaut but was never given the opportunity to go up into space.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb, a veteran pilot who qualified to become an astronaut in 1960, said she thought of the sky as “God’s unspoiled world which humans should not trespass upon without a feeling of reverance.”

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb in 1960, after she became the first woman to pass the tests required to become an astronaut.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jerrie Cobb in 1960 passed all the qualifying tests to become America’s first female astronaut but was never given the opportunity to go up into space.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Jerrie Cobb Had the “Right Stuff,” But at the Wrong Time appeared first on LIFE.

In 1951 the people of Goose Rocks Beach wanted to move a meeting hall from nearly Kennebunkport up the coast to use as a community house. The question was, how to get the structure to its new location?

The innovative answer: float it on the ocean.

LIFE reported on this endeavor in a story headlined “House at Sea: A Maine Man Lets the Ocean Handle His Moving Job.”

The delightful article captured the local color as well as the details of the feat. Here’s how the story began:

A few words go a long way down on the coast of Maine, but by last week the lobstermen of Kennebunk Port were speaking whole sentences in wonder. Silently they had watched a good-sized house as it was towed out to sea, anchored overnight in the ocean and landed nine miles north at Goose Rocks Beach. Skeptically they had prophesied she’d founder (“there’ll be a lot of timber in the water before morning”). And worst of all, they had been shown their error by a freshwater man from Lewiston.

The man from Lewiston was named J.N. Jutras, who had come up with the plan, which he executed for a fee of $4,000 (or about $50,000 today). He floated pontoons on the beach at high tide, loaded the house onto the pontoons at low tide, and then floated the house off into the water.

One passenger rode in the house for its journey: Dorothy Mignault, who was president of the Goose Rocks Beach Association and a lead character of this book on Maine history. One lobsterman questioned her wisdom, telling LIFE, “You wouldn’t get me in that damned thing for all the dollars from here to Boston.”

The images by LIFE staff photographer Yale Joel show that the move became a community effort, with all hands on deck to bring the floating house to shore.

Not only did the Community House survive the trip, but all these years later it still serves visitors to Goose Beach. The structure, though, is in need of some help, which is why there is a $250,000 capital campaign to keep the Community House afloat, if you will.

The people of Goose Rock, Maine, helped bring ashore a house that was relocated over nine miles of water from Kennebunkport, 1951.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At the beginning of its relocation by water, a house was set upon pontoons in Kennebunkport, Maine, 1951.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mover J. N. Jutras posed while waiting for high tide so he could bring the house to shore at Goose Rocks Beach in Maine, 1951.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This house was photographed while in the process of being relocated by water from Kennebunkport to Goose Rocks Beach in Maine, 1951.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post A Wild Way to Move a House appeared first on LIFE.

Michael Jackson appeared in LIFE when he was a mere 13 years old, but already famous as the lead singer of The Jackson Five. The photo, by John Olson, was part of a memorable cover story on musicians posing with their parents.

But soon after that photo ran, young Michael would branch out on his own, starting a solo career and transforming into the King of Pop. His 1982 record Thriller, featuring hits such as Billie Jean and Beat it, remains the best-selling album of all-time.

The biopic Michael, being released on April 24, 2026, traces Jackson’s rise to superstardom. What the movie does not deal with is the accusations of child molestation that came out against Jackson in the 1990s and shadowed him until his death in 2009.

The photos in this gallery are mostly from the 1980s and early 1990s, and come from Michael Jackson’s public appearances. While obviously giving a surface portrait, the pictures do demonstrate just how big a deal Michael Jackson was at the peak of his fame. Everyone wanted to be in his company.

The wide range of famous people he was photographed with includes Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Sophia Loren, Lionel Richie, Liza Minelli, Cher, Brooke Shields, and more. The most random pairing shows the King of Pop with The King and I star Yul Brenner. One photo of Michael Jackson with fellow pop icon Madonna remains among the top sellers in the LIFE photo store.

On more than one occasion Jackson was also photographed future president Donald Trump. The two were close enough that when Jackson died at age 50 due to acute propofol intoxication, Trump offered a remembrance of Jackson to TIME magazine. Trump praised the pop star’s talent, genius and overwhelming popularity while acknowledging Jackson’s troubled state in his later years. Trump predicted to TIME, “He’s not going to be remembered for the last 10 years; he’s going to be remembered for the first 35 years.”

The Jackson Five and their parents in 1970: (clockwise L-R): Jackie, parents Joe and Katherine, Marlon, Tito, Jermaine and Michael in their backyard.

John Olson /The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Liza Minnelli, 1981.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Olivia Newton-John, 1983.

DMI

Michael Jackson with Brooke Shields.

DMI

Michael Jackson with Cher.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Yul Brenner.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, 1986.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, 1988.

DMI

Singer Michael Jackson and actor Eddie Murphy in Press Room at American Music Awards, 1989.

Kevin Winter/DMI

Michael Jackson and Sophia Loren.

DMI

Michael Jackson with his sister Janet.

DMI

Madonna and Michael Jackson (left) arrived at the Shrine Civic Auditorium for the 63rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony, March 25, 1991.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Donald Trump.

DMI

Michael Jackson and Donald Trump.

DMI

Michael Jackson , Marla Maples and Donald Trump, 1992.

DMI

Michael Jackson in concert.

DMI

Michael Jackson in concert.

DMI

The post Michael Jackson, in the Company of Stars appeared first on LIFE.

When it comes to clothing, red is not just another color. It is worn by monarchs and devils, and in general by people comfortable with having all eyes on them. A history of the red dress in Europe’s NSS magazine noted that “there are animals that have evolved to make their skin or their plumage red in the mating season, some flowers are red to attract the largest number of bees and birds – and even among humans red is the color of passion and danger.”

In its Feb. 27, 1950 issue LIFE ran a story headlined “The Little Red Dress” which declared that the color was having a moment, and that the red dress “may prove the ’50s first fashion classic.” The lead image of the story, taken by LIFE staff photographer Gjon Mili, showed models high-stepping to The Charleston, a 1920s dance craze that was again having a moment.

The brief story acknowledged the primacy of the little black dress even while talking about red becoming a popular alternative, and going on to explain in frank terms what it takes to pull off the new look:

The turn of the half-century has been brightened by a rash of short red evening dresses. “The little red dress” may be lace, crepe or chiffon, costs from $25 to $450. Designers feel it may take its place beside the “good little black” dress as a similar, if more specialized, fashion classic. The inconspicuous black dress covered a multitude of figure problems, was worn like a uniform with standard accessories (pearls, oyster pumps, white gloves). The red dress, definitely conspicuous, is developing its own requirements. The wearer must have a good figure, a sleek hairdo, matching shoes, and the dress itself must have simple lines to allow a solid concentration of color. This is set off my an emphatic splash of rhinestones.

While black remains king, red has certainly made its mark, including in the early 1950s. A ranking of classic red dresses throughout history had at the top of its list those worn by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in the 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. LIFE actually had a photographer, Ed Clark, on the set of that movie. Alas, unlike Mili, Clark was shooting his photos of those red dresses in black and white.

in 1950 newly fashionable red dresses were modeled by women doing what LIFE called “the newly revivded Charleston.”

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In a 1950 fashion shoot about the red dress, this model accentuated her look with red rhinestone-trimmed pumps.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This model accessorized her red dress with a red boa and rhinestone jewelry, 1950.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post In 1950, Red Was the New Black appeared first on LIFE.

The celebrated Route 66 turns 100 in 2026. It’s a milestone worth noting because the fabled highway captured the spirit of the age when car culture came to America.

Ever since Henry Ford began mass-producing his revolutionary Model T and made car ownership accessible to the middle class, Americans have been engaged in a love affair with automobiles and, in a much larger sense, with the enduring myth of the open road. Has there ever been a culture that extolled movement for the sake of movement as fervently as 20th century America?

And Route 66 was the epitome of that. The highway was referred to as the “Mother Road‘ by novelist John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath. An oft-covered song by Bobby Troup identified Route 66 as the place to get your kicks. In American culture the road that ran from Chicago through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally to Los Angeles was much more than a way to get from point A to point B. 

In 1947, Andreas Feininger made a photograph that might be the single most perfect picture ever made of Route 66. It is beautiful, of course, but it is also a remarkable distillation of an idea: namely, that the American West is a place where people find themselves, or lose themselves, amid heat, sun, open spaces, enormous skies.

(Note that the version of the photo at the top of this story was cropped to fit the page template, but below you can appreciate the image in its uncropped, open-sky glory.)

Feininger’s photograph, taken in Seligman, Arizona,  is packed with “information”—cars, a bus, human figures, a gas station, a garage, towering clouds, an arrow-straight ribbon of road to the horizon—but it’s the emptiness of the space that is most attractive. It can be read as a metaphor for the blank slate that innumerable people have sought in the West. Here is where you can redefine yourself, the scene suggests. Reimagine yourself. Reinvent yourself. Then keep moving. 

Like the American West itself or like the mythical West of our collective dreams, Feininger’s Route 66 feels both companionable and limitless. 

Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com

Route 66, here shown in Seligman, Arizona in 1947, took on a special romance for those who yearned to strike out for adventure.

Andreas Feininger The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Route 66: An Invitation To Roam, and To Dream appeared first on LIFE.

Margarine became a source of political controversy in the U.S. soon after its arrival in the 1870s. The spread had been invented in France in 1869 by a chemist who had been encouraged by the Emperor Louis Napoleon III to create a cheap alternative to butter, but American dairy farmers did not welcome the competition. As documented in thishistory of butter vs. margarine in National Geographic, “In 1886, passionate lobbying from the dairy industry led to the federal Margarine Act, which slapped a restrictive tax on margarine and demanded that margarine manufacturers pay prohibitive licensing fees. Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio went a step further and banned margarine outright.”

And that was not all. Thirty-two states barred margarine makers from dyeing their product yellow (its natural color is white)—with Vermont, New Hampshire and South Dakota adding the extra requirement that margarine must be dyed pink. (The U.S. Supreme Court eventually overturned the mandatory dyeing).

But despite political opposition margarine persisted and grew in popularity during the Depression because of its price. By that time margarine manufacturers were using an updated formula which relied on vegetable oils rather than animal fats, as it had originally.

But the butter industry continued to flex its political muscle. A story in the May 29, 1948 issue of LIFE headlined “The Butter Lobby Wins” recounted its latest victory—and also the rising opposition.

Spearheading margarine’s counteroffensive was Edward Mitchell, a U.S. congressman from Indiana who had been a margarine dealer before entering politics. Mitchell posed for LIFE staff photographer Francis Miller in front of a phalanx of pro-margarine congressman, and was also shown hosting a margarine party in which he donned a chef’s hat and served up samples.

Another of Miller’s photos shows an anti-butter display from the margarine lobby which proclaimed “No food has a corner on any color.”

While the butter lobby won the day in 1948, two years later Congress turned around and repealed the margarine tax. And in 1967 Wisconsin, a dairy capital, became the last state to rescind its ban on coloring margarine yellow.

By then butter makers’ worst fears were coming true. In the 1960s margarine overtook butter as America’s spread of choice, and it built a commanding lead through the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. But butter mounted a comeback and overtook margarine in the mid-2000s. With the taxes gone, the battlegrounds in this war became taste and health.

When it comes to health, the consensus seems to be that margarine is better for you because it is fats are mostly unsaturated—and that is especially true when the margarine is the softer variety that is sold in tubs. But butter generally wins when it comes to taste, and it is also perceived as being more natural.

So today the butter vs. margarine debate is really about the choice between what is better for you and what you enjoy more.

If Congress wants to try legislating that, good luck.

U.S. Representative Edward Archibald Mitchell (foreground) led the pro-margarine forces in Congress as they attempted to repeal a tax against butter’s chief competitor, 1948.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. Representative Edward Archibald Mitchell, in a chef’s hat, held a party for the pro-margarine forces in Congress, 1948.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. Representative Edward Archibald Mitchell, in a chef’s hat, held a party for the pro-margarine forces in Congress, 1948.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. Representative Edward Archibald Mitchell, in a chef’s hat, held a party for the pro-margarine forces in Congress, 1948.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. Representative Edward Archibald Mitchell, in a chef’s hat, held a party for the pro-margarine forces in Congress, 1948.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a 1948 story on the fight over butter vs. margarine in Congress.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

For years many states prohibited margarine makers from coloring their product yellow, a restriction margarine makers fought against,1948.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The Politics of Butter vs. Margarine appeared first on LIFE.

The World War II years were a tough time to be a young American man, with the draft carrying many of them away from home and into battle. In 1945, 12 million men served in the U.S. military.

That in turn posed a dilemma for many young women. Back then a woman’s average age of marriage was around 21 years old, so the absence of all those men was deeply felt.

An exception, though was Connecticut College, which back then was all-female The school’s campus in New London happened to be positioned near several military institutions.

Here’s how LIFE described the social life there in a story in its June 4, 1945 issue:

…At Connecticut College, girls have more boyfriends than in the palmy days when the college derived critical advantage from its strategic location between Harvard and Yale. In or near New London today are the Coast Guard Academy, a submarine base and two air bases, each one filled to overflowing with men. There are monthly dances sponsored by the Navy. There are frequent graduations at the Coast Guard Academy and accompanying activities. Along with the girls, the Academy attends Sunday services at the college chapel. There are picnics and baseball games.

The pictures by LIFE staff photographer Nina Leen show that the mingling between the two student bodies was wide and varied. One of Leen’s photos captured cadets chatting up female students who were bicycling by a bus stop.

According to the story 25 Connecticut College students had been married while they were at school. Many Connecticut College women had studied up on military matters and politics so as to be better able to converse with the cadets. “But the rewards are great,” wrote LIFE. “On weekends there are always extra men and consequent fun for all the girls, that is, except for the married ones whose husbands have been transferred.”

For those students, marriage meant awaiting letters and worrying whether their husbands would come home safe. It’s worth noting that the issue date in which this story ran is two days before D-Day, a major battle in which about 2,500 Americans were killed, and which also proved to be a turning point in the war.

Coast Guard cadets came to pick up their dates at Connecticut College, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Girls entertained their boyfriends at Connecticut College, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Students at Connecticut College, which was then an all-female institution, stopped to chat with Coast Guard cadets from the nearby base, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Students at Connecticut College, which was then an all-female institution, often socialized with cadets from the nearby Coast Guard base, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Students at Connecticut College, which was then an all-female institution, often socialized with cadets from the nearby Coast Guard base, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Connecticut College student was helped with her chemistry homework by a Coast Guard cadet, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Connecticut College student and her husband had a home near campus, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Married Connecticut College students, some of them wearing their husbands’ Coast Guard gear, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Students at Connecticut College, which was then an all-female institution, played cards, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Connecticut College student’s mirror was adorned with photos of her husband, a serviceman she met while at school, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two married Connecticut College girls read letters from their husbands who were serving in the military, 1945.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post The Social Lives of College Girls, 1945 appeared first on LIFE.

You don’t have to read too much about health to understand the importance of a good night’s sleep. As the National Institutes of Health puts its it, “Getting inadequate sleep over time can raise your risk for chronic (long-term) health problems. It can also affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.”

In short, it’s really important. And with an eye toward that, we present this gallery of people getting some much-needed shut eye in a wide variety of situations, including some truly difficult ones.

In this gallery we see American soldiers napping on a transport vehicle after a fight during the Vietnam war. An image from World War II shows an American soldier sleeping on a pile of rocks during a campaign toward Rome. Also from World War II we see a child asleep in a Naples cave after having taken refuge there from the attacks on his city.

We also see people dozing in much more innocent circumstances—sometimes unintentionally. For instance, we see a U.S. Secretary of State, Christian A. Herter, and a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, James J. Wadsworth, nodding off during a speech at the General Assembly.

We also see several photos of children asleep during a school’s naptime. Two of those photos are from the U.S. and another is from Russia. A recent Penn study found that children who nap regularly are happier, behave better and are more likely succeed academically.

Boxer Billy Arnold knew the value of a nap—we see him catching one before a fight. Violinist Alexander Schneider, once described “as one of the most unquenchably energetic figures in the public musical life of the USA,” in shown sleeping on a sofa between concerts.

If seeing all these photos makes you think about getting a better night’s sleep, here’s a story with some helpful advice. One of the tips is to nap when you need to—a command many of the people in these photos were ready to obey.

Elementary school children took a rest period in classroom in the coal mining town of Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania, April 1943.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children napped during the school day, 1939.

Hansel Mieth/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Naptime at a Russian kindergarten, 1960.

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. Secretary of State Christian A. Herter (front left) and Ambassador to the U.N. James J. Wadsworth (front right) dozed during speech at United Nations General Assembly, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, next to his wife, Eleanor, slept on his campaign plane, 1972.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Boxer Billy Arnold napped before a fight, New York City, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Violinist Alexander Schneider napped between performances of the Budapest String Quartet in Seattle, 1957.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Author W. Somerset Maugham napped in a hammock while summering on Cape Cod, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Racing fans at the Indianapolis 500 in 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Spectators at Cape Kennedy, Florida dozed atop of cars awaiting the takeoff of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Boys slept on subway car during a family trip to New York City, 1959.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American Marines of 7th Regiment took the chance to sleep in an amphibious landing vehicle following intense fighting in the area around Cape Batangan during the Vietnam War, 1965..

Paul Schutlzer/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An American soldier slept on a pile of rocks during the drive towards Rome, 1944.

Carl Mydans/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Members of Provincial National Police Chief “Tiger” Kim Chong Yon’s police volunteers slept before he sent them out to guard supply routes from attacks by North Korean-inspired Communist guerrillas that attack their farms and villages, 1952..

Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man napped in Hyde Park, 1951.

Cornell Capa/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A child slept in a large cave in Naples, Italy where many had taken refuge from air attacks during World War II, September 1943.

Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A child in a home filled with modern furniture found a place to sleep, 1948.

Joseph Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A United Fruit worker in Guatemala napped on a bench with his infant son, 1953.

Cornell Capa/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A model posed for a story about proper sleep habits, 1943.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Rest for the Weary: Images of Sleep appeared first on LIFE.

It’s a persistent question for people today: What is that “third place” where you spend your time that is neither home nor workplace and allows you to connect with community?

For many women in 1960, the answer was the bowling alley. That year LIFE published a story titled “The Social Whirl of Ladies’ Bowling” which explained why women were suddenly bananas over bowling. The article began by declaring that “eight million women have invaded the sport of bowling and transformed the nation’s 134,000 lanes into the greatest social center since the back fence.”

According to LIFE this trend was the end result of a domino effect that began with the invention of automated pin-setting machines in the 1950s. These new machines prompted owners to renovate their bowling alleys. And having undertaken these renovations, the owners then sought to bring in more customers—especially during the daytime. “They began selling the sport to women with telephone campaigns, free lessons, and most of all, free baby sitting,” LIFE explained.

The images by LIFE staff photographer Stan Wayman capture the full appeal to women of a day at the alley. He didn’t just shoot the women as they competed, but also as they socialized while their children were being cared for. One bowling alley in Dallas catered to female customers by adding a beauty salon with a view of the lanes.

Wayman traveled to Texas, Colorado, Ohio and Illinois to capture the scene around the country. One alley owner declared to LIFE, “We’ve become the people’s country clubs, and it’s the girls who have made it that way.”

But the party did not last—for women or men. The 50s and early 60s were the peak years for bowling in America, but since then the sport has been on a downward trend. The decline of bowling leagues was severe enough that bowling alone become a metaphor for the atomization of communal life in America.

Too bad. From Stan Wayman’s photos, it looks like these bowlers were having a good time.

Opening ceremonies marked the start of a Women’s International Bowling Congress tournament at Belleview Bowl in Denver, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Opening ceremonies marked the start of a Women’s International Bowling Congress tournament at Belleview Bowl in Denver, 1960.

Stan Wayman/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Phyllis Mercer bowled in Skokie, Illinois, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Phyllis Mercer bowled in Skokie, Illinois, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Phyllis Mercer celebrated a strike in Skokie, Illinois, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

These bowling housewives won a beauty contest organized by Hart Bowl of Dallas, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mary Loopo juggled cups of coffee that she was bringing to her teammates at a bowling alley in Columbus, Ohio, 1960.

Stan Wayman/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A bowling alley baby shower marked the departure of a member of the Baptist Women’s League in Dallas, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bowlers visited the bar at Orchard Twin Bowl in Skokie, Illinois, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a photo essay on the popularity of women’s bowling, 1960.

Stan Wayman/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a photo essay on the popularity of women’s bowling, 1960.

Stan Wayman/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Donna Taylor celebrated her birthday with a party at Scioto Lanes in Columbus, Ohio, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

George P. Smith of Scioto Lanes in Columbus, Ohio, taught novice, Mrs. Jane Brown, the proper technique of releasing a bowling ball, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A beauty shop adjoined Cotton Bowl lanes for benefit of women bowlers who wanted to have their hair set between games, Dallas, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A beauty shop adjoined Cotton Bowl lanes in Dallas for benefit of women bowlers who wanted to have their hair set between games, Dallas, 1960.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At the Hart bowling alley in Dallas, Texas, an attendant watched children play while their mothers bowled, 1960. Day care was used as an incentive to get more women bowling during the day.

Stan Wayman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a photo essay on the popularity of women’s bowling, 1960.

Stan Wayman/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Girls played while their mothers competed in a bowling league in Milwaukee, 1960.

Stan Wayman/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post When Bowling Was Women’s “Greatest Social Center Since the Back Fence” appeared first on LIFE.

In 2026 the United States went to war with Iran, a country whose government fundamentally changed with the Islamic Revolution of 1979. That revolution overthrew the royal government of Mohammad Reza Pazlavi, who had ruled as a monarch from 1941 to ’79. Pazlavi now stands as the last shah of Iran.

How different was the Shah’s relations with the West as compared to the leadership of modern Iran? In brief, it was very different. The countries were allies back then. One small but telling signpost is a story in a 1955 issue of LIFE headlined “Shah by the Seashore ” It was a light, photo-driven look at Pazlavi and his 22-year-old bride coming to Miami Beach for a few days of fun in the sun. The coverage resembles that which any visiting royal from a friendly country might receive.

And the Shah behaved as any visitor to Miami Beach might. The photos, by Robert W. Kelley, show the Shah waterskiing, playing shuffleboard and tennis, and relaxing on a boat with his shirt off. In LIFE’s brief story the Shah even acknowledged appreciating the beautiful women he saw hanging out by his hotel pool. As LIFE wrote, “After seeing the resort’s celebrated bathing beauties lolling in the sun, the Shah, who is 35, gave his impression of the appearance of American women: “Very nice.”

The Shah and his wife stayed at the Sans Souci hotel, now operating as the Hotel Riu. The hotel, as LIFE’s story details, welcomed the Shah and his wife by rolling out a 40-foot red carpet. The hotel didn’t have a presidential suite but did its best to recreate one by painting four adjoining rooms in robin’s-egg blue, which was the color of the Shah’s Rolls Royce.

Yes, it was a different time.

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary went sightseeing during their vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, rode a boat during his vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, rode a boat during his vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah Of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, played tennis during his vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza played shuffleboard during a Miami vacation, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, waterskied during his vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, enjoyed the water during his vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary, at the Sans Souci hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary during their vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his wife, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary went sightseeing during their vacation in Miami Beach, Florida, 1955.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Different Times: The Shah of Iran On Vacation in Miami, 1955 appeared first on LIFE.

LIFE was into Carol Burnett early. Her first appearance in the magazine came in 1957, when she was just 24 years old and still building her name in show business. LIFE identified Burnett as a “singer” in a story about novelty song she had performed, “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles,” in which Burnett pretended to have an unrequited crush on President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State.

The next year Burnett would collaborate with LIFE staff photographer Nina Leen for a high-concept shoot that satirized a popular novel called The Best of Everything, about young career women in New York City. The shoot shows that even early on. Burnett was establishing a distinctive brand of wit. The next year Burnett would win a Tony award for her breakout performance in the musical Once Upon a Mattress, and land her first regular TV role, on a variety series knows as The Garry Moore Show.

Burnett would be before LIFE’s cameras many more times, including when she made the cover in 1971. That happened in the middle of her career-defining run on The Carol Burnett Show, which was the first variety show hosted by a female, and which would earn 23 Emmy awards over its 11 seasons.

Burnett reflected on her magnificent career in early 2026, at the age of 92, when she appeared on the podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler. Much of the conversation centered on Burnett’s experiences in her early years in show business. After their chat was over, an emotional Poehler addressed the audience, reflecting on her conversation with the comedy pioneer, and said “…It just also makes me think about all the women that we talked about in this interview: Lucille Ball, Betty Grable, Linda Darnell, Phyllis Diller, Elaine May. All these different actresses, do yourself a favor and check them out.”

And so, inspired by that interview, we present this gallery of images of Carol Burnett and also all those other women Poehler named, each of whom posed for the photographers of LIFE.

As Ms. Poehler said, check them out.

Carol Burnett made her first appearance in LIFE magazine in 1957 for singing a comedic song called “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles,” about a woman who had a crush on the U.S. Secretary of State.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett posed for a conceptual photo shoot inspired by the Rona Jaffe novel “The Best Of Everything,’ about young career women in Manhattan, 1958.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett posed for a conceptual photo shoot inspired by the Rona Jaffe novel “The Best Of Everything,’ about young career women in Manhattan, 1958.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett posed for a conceptual photo shoot inspired by the Rona Jaffe novel “The Best Of Everything,’ about young career women in Manhattan, 1958.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett posed for a conceptual photo shoot inspired by the Rona Jaffe novel “The Best Of Everything,’ about young career women in Manhattan, 1958.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett posed for a conceptual photo shoot inspired by the Rona Jaffe novel “The Best Of Everything,’ about young career women in Manhattan, 1958.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett during a TV appearance, 1959.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett during a TV appearance, 1959.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett guest starred on “The Jack Benny Program,” 1962.

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett guest starred on “The Jack Benny Program,” 1962.

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett guest starred on “The Jack Benny Program,” 1962.

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett guest starred on “The Jack Benny Program,” 1962.

Allan Grant/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett performing on set, 1963.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett performing on set, 1963.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lucille Ball, 1942

John Florea The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lucille Ball, 1951

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “In the course of a day Betty’s legs walk, climb stairs, dance and are generally flexed like other legs. Here the legs are shown as she prepares morning shower at home.”

Walter Sanders The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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

Actress Linda Darnell, 1950.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Linda Darnell, 1950.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Comedian and actress Phyllis Diller read a copy of Vogue magazine, St. Louis, April 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Phyllis Diller read the names of the well-known (including Frank Sinatra, Vic Damone and the Vagabonds) and the not so well-known on a wall after circling her own name (center), 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mike Nichols and Elaine May doing skit on recent TV scandals during “Fabulous Fifties” TV special, 1960.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Elaine May doing voice work for the movie “Luv,” a 1967 romantic comedy that also starred Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk..

Bill Ray/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Carol Burnett

DMI

The post Comedy Pioneer Carol Burnett, Plus Her “Good Hang” Heroes appeared first on LIFE.