As Independence Day approached in 1952, LIFE magazine commemorated America’s birthday with a story that celebrated the country in images and words—and not just any words. Actor Charles Laughton selected literary passages that related to the American landscape. Then LIFE staff photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt shot images to pair with those passages.
LIFE turned to Laughton because the actor was known for entertaining audiences by reading aloud to them from classic literature. That kind of show would have a tough time finding an audience today, but back then it was a popular genre: here Laughton is reading from the Bible on The Ed Sullivan Show for about eight minutes uninterrupted.
In its story LIFE encouraged its subscribers to read aloud the passages that Laughton chose. Three of those passages were by Thomas Wolfe — two from Of Time and the River and one from You Can’t Go Home Again. “I make no apologies for this,” Laughton told LIFE. “For me Wolfe is the great writer, the man who greatly described America as `the only fabulous country.'”
Laughton also chose passages from the works of Washington Irving (Rip Van Winkle), Mark Twain (Life on the Mississippi), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (The Song of Hiawatha) and Stephen Vincent Benet (John Brown’s Body).
To illustrate those passages Eisenstaedt took photos in a variety of settings, capturing the bustle of New York City, the somber history of Gettysburg National Military Park, the majesty of a riverboat cruising the Mississippi, and the pastoral beauty of Minnehaha Park in Minnesota. The photos obviously do not capture all of America—to do so would be a lifetime project—but they bring enough variety and history to hint at a country that, to borrow a phrase from another writer, Walt Whitman, “contains multitudes.”
If you had to pick a few places to capture the spirit of “the only fabulous country,” which ones would you choose? Just thinking about the possibilities is a reminder of the awesome variety of the American landscape.
Actor Charles Laughton, who would read aloud from books to paying audiences, offered literary selections to LIFE for a 1952 story celebrating America in words and images.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Hudson River as it flowed through the landscape written about by Washington Irving, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Pedestrians walked along 42nd Street in Times Square in New York City, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
People shopped in the market on the corner of 9th Avenue and 40th Street in New York City, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
People riding a train, United States, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A monument at the Gettysburg National Military Park commemorated the Civil War battle that took place in 1863.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A monument at the Gettysburg National Military Park commemorated the Civil War battle that took place in 1863.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Monuments at the Gettysburg National Military Park commemorated the Civil War battle that took place in 1863.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A cemetery in the yard of a country church, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
An auto junk yard, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A freight train, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A riverboat on the Mississippi, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A barge sailed the Mississippi River, circa 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Two men piloted from the bridge of a riverboat on the Mississippi River, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Minnehaha Park in Minnesota, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Minnehaha Park in Minnesota, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Minnehaha Park in Minnesota, 1952.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
