Hey, Wanna Hot Dog?

In 1972 LIFE magazine ran a story which announced that “hot dogs are on the grill both literally and figuratively these days.” The problem with hot dogs, the story said, was that they were full of fat and water and not very much protein. The article included a quote from consumer watchdog and future presidential spoiler Ralph Nader calling hot dogs “among America’s deadliest missiles.”

And yet all these decades later, even as Americans have only grown more health- and diet-conscious, hot dogs remain a favorite. In 2023 the cookout staples were an $8 billion market, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

The numbers reflect a basic truth, which that health is not always at the forefront of consumer’s minds, and that is especially true when they are heating up the grill or enjoying an afternoon at the ballpark. Those are the situations for which the concept of the cheat day was invented. For every person who finds a hot dog revolting—that same LIFE story quoted New York consumer affairs commissioner Bess Myerson as saying “After I found what was in hot dogs, I stopped eating them”—there are others who gravitate to its simple pleasures.

During the original run of LIFE magazine, hot dogs frequently popped up in settings both surprising and expected. Frank Sinatra was seen munching on one in his tuxedo after performing in Miami. Hall of Fame baseball executive Bill Veeck was photographed enjoying one in the stands. Perhaps the most humorous photo in this collection features actress Buff Cobb, who would go on to marry TV journalist Mike Wallace. Cobb and LIFE staff photographer Martha Holmes collaborated on a 1946 photo shoot that was a parody of a Hollywood puff piece. In one photo Cobb was on the beach, being attended by a butler as she roasted a hot dog over an open fire. The caption mentioned how Cobb loved to rough it and cook from “old family recipes.”

In that instance the hot dog was the punch line to a culinary joke. But if you substitute “old family recipe” with “old family favorite,” that caption would be a perfect description of the hot dog’s place in the American diet.

Tony Bennett was out with Frank Sinatra after a performance in Miami, 1965.

John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

TV comedienne Dagmar took her siblings to a hot dog stand while visiting family in Huntington, West Virginia, 1951.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns baseball team, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

In a shoot that was a parody of the life of a Hollywood movie star, actress Buff Cobb was said to be ‘roughing it” and cooking from an old family recipe as she prepared a hot dog on the beach while a butler attended to her, 1946.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This 1952 story about “a car that has everything” included this image of owner Louis Mattar, a California garage owner and tinkerer, making a hot dog in his tricked-out Cadillac, 1952.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock