Sophia, Marcello and a Movie Set to Remember

By 1964 Sophia Loren had been a longtime favorite of LIFE readers, and Marcello Mastroianni was having his moment too. In its Jan. 18, 1963 issue the magazine had introduced the star of Fellini films such as La Dolce Vita to readers with a breathless seven-page story headlined, “A Symbol of Something For All the Girls….And a Box-Office Smash (With Subtitles).”

So when Loren and Mastriano co-starred in the romantic comedy “Marriage Italian Style,” LIFE dispatched photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt—who had already taken so many great photos Loren—to document the moment.

The resulting photo set includes two of the best-selling images in the LIFE print store. The popularity of one is no mystery—it is a full-body shot of the voluptuous Loren in a sheer nightgown. In 1966, when LIFE ran a career tribute to the photography of Eisenstaedt, it placed that racy photo of Loren on the cover of the magazine.

The other popular photo from this shoot is one of Mastroianni, and its appeal is more of the cheeky variety. The photo shows the debonair actor in an unlikely pose— sitting on a bidet, smoking a cigarette.

In Marriage Italian Style, Mastroianni and Loren play a star-crossed couple. When their characters meet, she is a prostitute, and she becomes his longtime mistress—with aspirations to become his wife. The movie takes dramatic turns on its rocky way to happily ever after. LIFE’s review of Marriage Italian Style summed it up thusly: “Sophia turns from a high-spirited whore with girlish dreams into a battler for hollow respectability and finally into some kind of earth mother fighting for her young. Mastroianni meanwhile slips unobtrusively and cleverly from a youthful roué to a wistful one, and what began as a noisy, hokey clash of wills becomes a wry, touching conflict in which the only victor is humanity—which nobody can depict in its fine fallibility quite so well as the Italians.”

The movie received two Oscar nominations: one for Best Foreign Language Film, and the other for Best Actress (Loren lost out to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins). Loren and Mastroianni, who made many films together, are now regarded as of the great screen pairings in the history of cinema. Meanwhile Eisenstaedt’s winning images from the set continue to delight as they pay tribute to the king and queen of Italian cinema.

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren in a brothel scene from the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style,’ directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren in a brothel scene from the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren sitting on director Vittorio de Sica’s lap during the making of the 1964 film Marriage, Italian Style.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Vanishing Great Salt Lake in More Buoyant Times

The Great Salt Lake in Utah is not what it used to be—not thousands of years ago, when it was a vast inland sea, and not 70 years ago either, when LIFE magazine devoted a large feature to this unique element of the American landscape.

It is still the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and it attracts more than 200,000 visitors annually. But a couple years ago water loss had researchers warning that the Great Salt Lake could soon dry up entirely. A report from BYU scientists published in January 2023 painted a grim picture of the future and raised the possibility of the lake disappearing entirely by 2028. Recent wet winters in Utah have given the lake a reprieve, but increased water use in the region as well as climate change remain threats to its survival.

In 1948, when LIFE took its readers on a journey to the Great Salt Lake, water loss was a part of the story even back then. The headline announced “Great Salt Lake: It Is Only a Shriveled Vestige of a Prehistoric Inland Sea,” and some of the images by staff photographer Fritz Goro demonstrated that the shriveling was ongoing. Witness the train tracks which had been built into the water by a lakefront resort. The train tracks were needed because the lake’s water level had dropped so much since the resort’s construction that visitors needed to be transported to a place where the water was deep enough for them to swim.

Although some of Goro’s photos portrayed the Great Salt Lake as a playground, the text made clear that even in its heyday, no one would be mistake it for Miami Beach. Oddities abounded.

Near the lake one may park a car on seemingly hard ground, only to return later and find it hub-deep because the sun has softened the mud. The very water of the lake is bizarre; it is so buoyant swimming in it is an experience. It is also so heavy and hard a newcomer may stun himself by jumping into it from a moderate height and will come up with salt-scalded eyes and mouth if he does not keep them shut. This is one reason the lake has not attracted a larger summer colony than it has.

The last words of the LIFE magazine article, like that recent BYU study, discussed the lake’s eventual disappearance, though it made clear that the timeline was ambigious. “Geologists began predicting the ultimate death of the lake by evaporation decades ago,” LIFE wrote. “But although the level varies cyclically and it has lost 400 square miles in the last 79 years, it has refused to die, and today few geologists care to venture a guess as to when it will.”

Visitors to Great Salt Lake in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Visitors standing near a warning sign at Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

High school student Shauna Wood floated in the Great Salt Lake, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women floated at the Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Great Salt Lake in 1948, the tracks carried visitors to the resort in the background out to deeper waters. The visibility of the resort’s pilings give a sense of how much the lake had evaporated since the building’s construction in 1893.

Fritz Goro/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

At Great Salt Lake in 1948, the tracks carried visitors to the resort in the background out to deeper waters. The visibility of the resort’s pilings give a sense of how much the lake had evaporated since the building’s construction in 1893.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Great Salt Lake in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People played in the shallow water of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Great Salt Lake in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Great Salt Lake in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Near the Great Salt Lake in 1948, a man examined wagon wheel tracks left by the doomed Donner party 102 years prior.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Signage attempted to discourage racing across the salt flats near the Great Salt Lake, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman shopped for souvenirs at Great Salt Lake in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A rock formation at Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Signage at a gas station at Pocono, Utah, near Great Salt Lake, warned of scarce water, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Image of a grassy plain in Utah, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Salt encrustations surrounded the Great Salt Lake, 1948.

Fritz Goro/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Muhammad Ali: Loud and Lyrical, 1963

Muhammad Ali was much more than a championship boxer. He was also a natural entertainer. In February 1963, a year before he changed his name, LIFE magazine wrote “Cassius Clay has the loudest—and most lyrical—mouth in the history of boxing and the fists to back it up.”

In March 1963 LIFE photographer George Silk photographed Ali for his fight with Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, one which was meant to a be a potential stepping stone to a title shot against Sonny Liston. Ali came into the fight against Jones, another top contender, with a 17-0 record and already carrying himself like a superstar. The most popular photo from this set shows Ali, young and lean, mouth aroar as he met with the media before the fight. This image of the young and bombastic Ali is one of the top sellers in the LIFE online print store.

It is but one of many evocative photos from the lead-up to the fight. Another shows Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, placing a piece of tape over the boxer’s mouth, a playful nod to the fact that not everyone enjoyed the boasting of “the Louisville Lip.”

Before the fight Ali announced that he would finish off Jones in four rounds—one of Silk’s photos shows Ali, mouth still taped, holding up four fingers to remind everyone of his prediction. Ali did beat Jones, but the fight went a full ten rounds and was much closer than people expected. While the judges gave the decision to Ali narrowly but unanimously, many observers thought Jones had won the fight. Afterward UPI surveyed 25 ringside writers, and their vote was 13 for Jones to 10 for Ali, with two calling it a draw.

After the fight Jones said of Ali, “I’m not knocking his big mouth. He made me a lot of dough. He talks a lot outside but doesn’t show much in the ring. He better fight me again before he even thinks of Liston.” 

Ali did not fight Jones again, though. He moved on to his title shot against Liston, winning the heavyweight championship in February 1964 and becoming as famous around the globe as any athlete has ever been. Ali didn’t lose a professional fight until 1971, in a decision against Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century.”

At first glance these 1963 photos by George Silk feel like they capture the story of the inevitable rise of Ali. But if the judges had seen the fight the way the ringside writers did, it is possible that the narrative of one of the most fascinating characters of the 20th century would have taken a very different form.

Muhammad Alin, then known as Cassius Clay, before his fight with Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, held a locker room media session before his fight with Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Alin, then known as Cassius Clay, spoke to the media before his fight with Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, exuded confidence to reporters before his fight with Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay and criticized for talking too much, theatrically had his mouth taped by trainer Angelo Dundee before a fight with Doug Jones, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, despite wearing tape over his mouth as a mocking gesture toward people who said he talked too much, used a finger gesture to promise that he would defeat Doug Jones in four rounds at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated Doug Jones in ten rounds in Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock.

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated Doug Jones in ten rounds in Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated Doug Jones in ten rounds in Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated Doug Jones in ten rounds in Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, fought Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated Doug Jones in ten rounds in Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, defeated Doug Jones in ten rounds at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, had his hand raised in victory after defeating Doug Jones in 10 rounds in close heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden, March 13, 1963.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Boss Mode: Springsteen in the 80s and 90s

In 1974 music critic Jon Landau went to a Bruce Springsteen live show and famously declared that he had seen the future of rock and roll. At that point Springsteen was two albums into his career and still in the process of building his audience. The next year Springsteen released Born to Run, which created so much of a sensation that the rocker appealed simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek.

But it was not until the 1980s that Springsteen truly reached peak popularity. His 1984 album Born in the U.S.A dominated the charts with seven Top 10 singles and became Springsteen’s best-selling record. His concerts moved from arenas to stadiums. And for all the beloved music he wrote before and after Born in the U.S.A., that album is the source of three of Springsteen’s four most streamed songs on Spotify, including top hit “Dancing in the Dark”, which has nearly a billion streams.

This gallery of images captures Springsteen in those years after he had catapulted into the upper stratospheres of fame. Several of these images are among the most popular in LIFE’s print store, which is a tribute to how much his music continues to captivate audiences all these decades later. Besides the boss other notables who appear in the photos include Steven Van Zandt, who played guitar in Springstreen’s E Street Band and would later play Silvio Dante in The Sopranos; Patti Scialfa, who joined the E Street Band in 1984 and became Springsteen’s wife in 1991, and rock luminaries such as Mick Jagger and Billy Joel who shared the stage with Springsteen at various celebrity jams.

In 2025 fans can look forward to the movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, which stars Jeremy Allen White and will focus on the recording of Nebraska, a stripped-down solo acoustic album that Springsteen released in 1982. Some songs from those Nebraska sessions, recorded with the E Street Band, would become the core of Born in the U.S.A., turning up the noise on the music, and on Springsteen’s life as well.

Bruce Springsteen, 1984.

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Bruce Springsteen, with saxophone player Clarence Clemons in the background, 1984.

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Bruce Springsteen, 1984.

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Bruce Springsteen, 1984.

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Bruce Springsteen, 1985.

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Bruce Springsteen, 1985.

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Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt, 1989,

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Bruce Springsteen, 1990.

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Bruce Springsteen with Patti Scialfa, 1990.

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Bruce Springsteen, with Steven Van Zandt and Patti Scialfa, 1990.

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Bruce Springsteen, 1994.

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Bruce Springsteen, circa 1990.

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Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger, with Bob Dylan in the background), performed at the 1988 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

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Billly Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Elton John, Sting and Bruce Springsteen performed during a rainforest benefit at Carnegie hall in New York City, 1994.

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Bruce Springsteen, 1990.

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Arnie and Jack: The Best of Rivals

Golf in the 1960s was defined by the rivalry between two of the game’s titans. On the one side was the wildly popular Arnold Palmer, who came up in the 1950s and was golf’s first superstar of the television age. Then there was Jack Nicklaus, who was ten years younger than Palmer, supremely skilled and aiming to topple The King from his throne.

At first Arnie’s Army, as Palmer’s fans were called, treated Nicklaus as the enemy. Golf is a notably polite sport, but Palmer’s fans cheered every Nicklaus misstep when the two golfers went head-to-head at the 1962 U.S. Open. The 22-year-old Nicklaus still defeated Palmer in an 18-hole playoff for his first victory as a professional.

But despite their on-course rivalry, Nicklaus and Palmer built a personal friendship that would last a lifetime. “Did Arnie and I agree on everything? No, we had some differences,” Nicklaus said in an interview long after their playing days were long over. “But I will promise that if I ever had a problem, Arnold Palmer has always been there for me and vice versa.”

The warmth between the two men comes through in a photo taken by LIFE’s Francis Miller back in 1963, in which Nicklaus and Palmer shared a laugh. That image of camaraderie is one of the most popular photos in LIFE’s online print store.

That photo was among the many MIller took at the 1963 edition of the World Series of Golf, a tournament that had been founded the year before and pitted the winners of golf’s four major championships against each other for 36 holes. Because Nicklaus had won two of the four majors that year—the others were taken by Julius Boros and Bob Charles—that left a slot open in the tournament’s foursome, which Palmer earned through a playoff.

Miller’s photos from that tournament, played in Akron, Ohio, capture golf at a relatively casual time. Players sat on their bags while waiting for the other to hit, something that doesn’t happen any more. When Nicklaus won the tournament, he was handed a normal-sized check, rather than the oversized versions that were designed for television and photo ops (though Miller’s shot of Nicklaus posing with his regular check is pretty funny).

Nicklaus’ win in the 1963 World Series of Golf confirmed his status as an ascendant star. Palmer would win the 1964 Masters and battle Nicklaus for the rest of the decade. But while Nicklaus gained the upped hand on the course, Palmer remained a deeply beloved figure. The graciousness with which he handled the rise of Nicklaus, so evident in Miller’s photo, gives a sense of Palmer’s abundant charms.

Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus, following through on his swing, and Arnold Palmer (left) at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arnold Palmer watched while Jack Nicklaus putted at the 1963 World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus (putting) and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus (putting) and Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arnold Palmer at the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The scoreboard at the 36-hole World Series of Golf in 1963; Jack Nicklaus would end up winning by one stroke over Julius Boros.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The scoreboard at the 36-hole World Series of Golf in 1963; Jack Nicklaus would end up winning by one stroke over Julius Boros.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jack Nicklaus took the $50,000 first prize at the 1963 World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould: Eccentric Genius at Play

In 1956, just as the age of Elvis Presley was dawning, classical music offered the world its own young superstar—one whose music would make a mark in a different but also enduring way.

Pianist Glenn Gould made his debut recording at age 23 with one of the most important classical recordings of the 20th century: his take on J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The record elevated both Gould and what had previously been regarded as a relatively minor piece of the Bach canon.

LIFE took readers inside the world of this budding star with a story headlined “Music World’s Young Wonder.” The story described Gould equally talented and peculiar:

Gould has…a set of the most earnest eccentricities in the music business. Almost everything gives young Glenn trouble. His health, always precarious, keeps him tossing down pills. His voice gets out of control as he plays and its crooning ruins some of his recordings.

The story made much of Gould’s mannerisms: “High-strung ball players stepping into the batter’s box have less ritual to run through than Gould requires before sitting down at the piano.” His pre-performance routine included removing the two sets of gloves that he wore to keep his fingers warm and then soaking his hands in warm water. Next he took what LIFE described as “circulation pills” before removing his shoes and setting himself down on a special chair.

LIFE photographer Gordon Parks joined Gould in the studio to capture the scene as Gould recording music by Beethoven and Bach. Parks’ photo of Gould bent over the piano in his signature posture as he records Bach while sound engineers hover overhead is one of the most popular in the LIFE print store.

Another of Parks’ photos captures the mannerism for which Gould was most famous—that previously-mentioned tendency to hum or vocalize when he was at the keyboard. Look at the photo which shows Gould leaning back and laughing. He is amused because the producers just played back a recording and he is realizing that he inadvertently ruined a take with his vocal noises.

All these decades later, Gould’s music continues to fascinate. In 2017 Columbia Masterworks released as a set the two separate records Gould had made of the Goldberg Variations—his debut record in 1956 and a fresh take on the music in 1981, a year before Gould died. Pitchfork gave the 2017 release a rare perfect 10 rating.

Preparing to make recordings of Bach and Beethoven at a Columbia recording studio, pianist Glenn Gould (right) discussed his approach to one of the pieces with a producer, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould sampled pianos at a Steinway warehouse before choosing one for his recording session at a Columbia recording studio, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Glenn Gould sang as he sampled pianos at a Steinway warehouse before choosing one for his session at Columbia Recording studios, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould carried his special folding chair which he insisted upon using when he played the piano, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pianist Glenn Gould removed his outer gloves to reveal an underset of fingerless knitted ones which he wore even in the summer in order to keep his hands supple for performing, 1956.

Pianist Glenn Gould studied a Bach piano score while discussing with an engineer how he was going to record the sections in a Columbia recording studio, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould, before a recording session, soaked his hands in lukewarm water to limber up his fingers, gradually raising temperature to hot before performing, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould performed Bach in a recording studio while engineers and directors followed the score and looked on from glassed-in booth, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A shoeless Glenn Gould listened to playback of his Bach performance at a Columbia recording studio; he would decide that he needed to do this section over, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould listened intensely to playback of his performance of Bach at a Columbia recording studio, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould laughed as engineers let him hear how his singing spoiled his Bach recording. In response he offered to wear a gas mask to muffle the noises he made while performing, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pianist Glenn Gould at age 23, during a recording session in 1956.

Pianist Glenn Gould (right) ate a lunch consisting of graham crackers and milk cut to half strength with bottled sprig water while sitting at sound engineers table at Columbia recording studio, 1956.

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