Vlad the (Insect) Impaler: LIFE With Nabokov and His Butterflies

On anyone’s list of the 20th century’s greatest writers never to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov will likely appear at, or very near, the top. Of course, one can point to any number of literary masters Graham Greene, Borges, Ibsen and others who were, inexplicably, passed over for the honor. But the exclusion of Nabokov is especially strange and, for his countless admirers, especially vexing in light of the sustained excellence of the novels (those written in Russian as well as in English), stories, poems and nonfiction that he produced across five full decades.

The scope of his influence, meanwhile, can hardly be overstated. Jhumpa Lahiri, Jeffrey Eugenides, Don DeLillo, Salman Rushdie, Michael Chabon, Thomas Pynchon the roster of prominent (and even a few genuinely great) writers whose work echoes or pays direct tribute to Nabokov’s genius is as long as it is varied.

But another passion long battled with his love of writing for preeminence in Nabokov’s life: namely, the study and collection of butterflies.

In a November 1964 article titled “The Master of Versatility,” LIFE took pains to remind its readers that Nabokov by that time an internationally celebrated novelist, translator and teacher was “much more than a many-tongued writer: Lepidoptera are butterflies and moths, and Nabokov is one of the world’s authorities on them.”

Here, LIFE.com presents a series of pictures made in and around Ithaca, N.Y., in 1958 by LIFE’s Carl Mydans that illustrate the man’s obsession with the colorful flying insects.

Born in Russia in 1899, Nabokov fled the Revolution at 17, studied at Cambridge, and went on to teach literature in the United States. (He became a naturalized American citizen in 1945.) In 1964, he was living in Montreux, Switzerland “writing,” LIFE noted in the 1964 article, “chasing butterflies and making brilliant conversation.”

Here, in exactly the sort of sharp, amusing and cheerfully acerbic language one might expect from the author of Lolita, Pnin, Pale Fire and Bend Sinister, are just some of the remarks on life, art and, of course, butterflies that Nabokov shared with LIFE’s Jane Howard:

Writing has always been for me a blend of dejection and high spirits, a torture and a pastime but I never expected it to be a source of income. I have often dreamed of a long and exciting career as a curator of Lepidoptera in a great museum.

One of the greatest pieces of charlatanic and satanic nonsense imposed on a gullible public is the Freudian interpretation of dreams…. I can not conceive how anybody in his right mind should go to a psychoanalyst, but of course if one’s mind is deranged on might try anything: after all, quacks and cranks, shamans and holy men, kings and hypnotists have cured people.

It is odd, and probably my fault, that no people seem to name their daughters Lolita anymore. I have heard of young female poodles being given that name since 1956, but no human beings.

I don’t think I shall ever go back [to Russia]. When I feel like returning to Russia, I go up to the mountains in pursuit of butterflies, and find just before the timberline a region that corresponds to the Russia of my youth.

I am indifferent to sculpture, architecture and music. When I go to a concert all that matters to me is the reflection of the hands of the pianist in the lacquer of the instrument. My mind wanders and fastens on trivia as whether I’ll have something good to read before I go to bed. Knowing you’ll have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.

One final note, this time on the pronunciation of Nabokov’s name. In a 1965 interview, Nabokov himself said: “Frenchmen of course say ‘Na-bo-koff‘ with the accent on the last syllable. Englishmen say ‘Na-bokov,’ accent on the first, and Italians say Na-bo-kov, accent in the middle, as Russians do … [with] a heavy open ‘o’ as in ‘Knickerbocker.’ The awful ‘Na-bah-kov’ is a despicable gutterism…. Incidentally, the first name is pronounced Vladeemer rhyming with ‘redeemer.'”

There. Aren’t you glad we cleared that up?

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Vladimir Nabokov looks at a butterfly, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera chase butterflies near Six Mile Creek, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov and wife Vera

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vera Nabokov, wife of Vladimir Nabokov, with a butterfly net, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vera Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov puts a butterfly into an envelope, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov and butterfly, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov and collection of butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vladimir Nabokov mounting his butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Vladimir Nabokov 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Part of Vladimir Nabokov's butterfly collection, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958.

Butterflies 1958

Carl Mydans Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Lower Manhattan’s Lost Anchors: Remembering the Twin Towers

Say you’ve lived in New York for a while. Ten years. Twenty years. Maybe your whole life. You’re coming out of the subway, in pretty much any borough. You’re a little turned around when you get to the street. You’re not sure which way is north, which is south. Without thinking about it, you gaze around for the one landmark (or rather, the two landmarks) that always helped orient you in the past those enormous, companionable markers that silently indicated, at a glance: This is south. This is Lower Manhattan. Get your bearings.

Then you remember: the Twin Towers are gone. So you cast about for some other clue, some other sign that will tell you where to turn, and as you head off in the right direction, the vanished towers hover at the edge of your thoughts a ghost image that, like Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly’s famous black-on-black New Yorker cover, seems to perpetually fade, but never really goes away.

The towers anchored Lower Manhattan for almost three decades. While they stood, no one would have characterized them as “beloved,” or even as terribly well-liked. They were too gargantuan, too lacking in character (it seemed) to elicit the sort of affection offered to structures like the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge. The Twin Towers were sleek, utilitarian monoliths.

Gradually, though, people did warm to the pair. There were times, for example, when the setting sun burnished the soaring glass sides of those two buildings, that they were genuinely beautiful. And seen from a distance, the Twin Towers added a certain balance to the island’s famous skyline, a counterpoint to the skyscrapers of midtown.

The towers are gone now. A new skyscraper, One World Trade, has risen in the spot where the Twin Towers once stood, and the skyline of the city has again been reshaped, transformed—as it always has been, and always will be.

And who knows? Maybe future generations of commuters and tourists will walk out of subway stations all over town, a little turned around, a little confused, and will automatically gaze about for the one landmark that has always helped orient them an enormous, companionable marker that silently indicates, at a glance: This is south. This is Lower Manhattan. Get your bearings.

 

World Trade Center 1983

Lower Manhattan and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, photographed from Brooklyn, 1983.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Lovely Bones: The Art of Evolution

Design is a funny, marvelous, sometimes unsettling thing especially when evolution itself is the designer.

Take these six-decade-old pictures of skulls and bones. Seen in a certain light, and photographed for LIFE by the great Andreas Feininger, the bones of creatures as varied in size and temperament as fish, bats, elephants, hummingbirds and humans are eloquent totems, raising questions about life, death and what we ultimately leave behind.

In the end, though, perhaps the way that humans and our fellow creatures appear when seen at the most elemental level in other words, how we look when literally stripped to the bone says more about us than we’d like to admit. Even as these pictures summon thoughts that swing between the morbid and the exalted, one thing remains strikingly clear: in the right hands, bones are beautiful.

Many of these Feininger photographs appeared in the Oct. 6, 1952, issue of LIFE.

Andreas Feininger, owl’s skull

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, picture of a mole

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger photograph of a bat

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger photograph of a fish

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, skeletal vertebrae of catfish, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, pygmy armadillo, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, jumping mouse, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, Human and horse skeletons, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, elephant, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, hummingbird and elephant’s femur, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, gorilla rib cage, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, shrew, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, skeletal structure of a bird, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, ostrich femur, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, bear femur, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Andreas Feininger, sloth, 1951

Andreas Feininger Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The Men Who Would Be 007: LIFE Behind the Scenes at James Bond Auditions

In the early 1960s, movie producers adapting Ian Fleming’s novels about a suave British spy named James Bond plucked a relative unknown, Sean Connery, from obscurity and offered him the role of a lifetime. When Connery left the franchise after five movies (although he would briefly be back, in 1971, in Diamonds Are Forever, and again in 1983 for Never Say Never Again) the hunt for another Bond was on.

In 1967 LIFE sent photographer Loomis Dean to casting sessions for the James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The magazine published a handful of those photos in an article on the film and on the Bond phenomenon. But some of Dean’s choicest frames Bond wannabes suiting up, brandishing guns, sipping faux martinis, and wooing women never ran in the magazine.

Here, LIFE.com presents photos from those 1967 auditions, featuring the five top candidates including George Lazenby, who would eventually win the coveted role.

[Buy the LIFE book, 50 Years of James Bond.]

Critical reception of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has hardly been uniform. There was much initial grumbling, for example, about Lazenby’s performance—especially in light of Connery effectively defining the role for a generation of moviegoers. Lazenby was a 28-year-old Australian model living in London, with virtually no acting experience outside TV commercials. But there was something about George Lazenby that placed him a notch above his competitors. Particularly impressive was his physical prowess. (In a subsequent audition to test his fighting skills, Lazenby reportedly broke a stuntman’s nose. That clinched it.)

“I’m really looking forward to being Bond, for the bread and the birds,” he told LIFE after his casting.

Meanwhile, the years have been kind to the 1969 flick. Entertainment Weekly, for example, ranked On Her Majesty’s Secret Service the sixth best of the Bond series, which now includes more than 20 feature films and is one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time.

A composite image of the five top candidates (including ultimate choice George Lazenby, bottom right). Published in the October 11, 1968, issue of LIFE.

A composite image of the five top candidates (including ultimate choice George Lazenby, bottom right). Published in the October 11, 1968, issue of LIFE.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

John Richardson during James Bond auditions, 1967.

John Richardson during James Bond auditions, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

On Her Majesty's Secret Service director Peter R. Hunt oversees a test love scene between John Richardson and an actress, moving her leg just so.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service director Peter R. Hunt oversaw a test love scene between John Richardson and an actress, moving her leg just so.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

John Richardson during James Bond auditions, 1967.

John Richardson during James Bond auditions.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

James Bond audition candidate John Richardson (left), in profile, 1967.

James Bond audition candidate John Richardson (left), in profile, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

John Richardson reacts as his screen-test costar pulls out a gun, 1967.

John Richardson reacted as his screen-test costar pulled out a gun.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Director Peter Hunt studies John Richardson during his audition, 1967.

Director Peter Hunt studied John Richardson during his audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

John Richardson continued to act after he lost out on the Bond role, appearing in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) and a string of Italian movies.

After he lost out on the Bond role, Richardson appeared in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) and a string of Italian movies.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

James Bond audition finalist Anthony Rogers, 1967.

James Bond audition finalist Anthony Rogers, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Anthony Rogers and an actress during a screen test, 1967.

Anthony Rogers and an actress during a screen test.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Anthony Rogers smokes a cigarette during his James Bond audition, 1967.

Anthony Rogers smoked a cigarette during his James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Anthony Rogers smokes a cigarette during his James Bond audition, 1967.

Anthony Rogers during his James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Robert Campbell during James Bond auditions, 1967.

Robert Campbell during James Bond auditions, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Director Peter R. Hunt helps Robert Campbell get into a shoulder holster, 1967.

Director Peter R. Hunt helped Robert Campbell get into a shoulder holster, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Robert Campbell checks a page of lines during a James Bond audition, 1967.

Robert Campbell checked a page of lines during a James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

James Bond hopeful Robert Campbell adjusts his shirt and jacket, 1967.

James Bond hopeful Robert Campbell adjusted his shirt and jacket, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Robert Campbell looks in the mirror between filming scenes for his James Bond audition, 1967.

Robert Campbell looked in the mirror between scenes for his James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Robert Campbell during a kissing test, opposite actress France Anglade, 1967.

Robert Campbell during a kissing test, opposite actress France Anglade, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Hans de Vries during James Bond audition, 1967.

Hans de Vries during his James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Hans De Vries and France Anglade, James Bond audition, 1967.

Hans De Vries and France Anglade, James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Hans de Vries during James Bond audition, 1967.

Hans de Vries during his James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby during James Bond audition, 1967.

George Lazenby during James Bond audition, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

James Bond hopeful George Lazenby fiddles with a knife while chatting with Bond director Peter R. Hunt, 1967.

George Lazenby fiddled with a knife while chatting with Bond director Peter R. Hunt, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby goofs off behind the scenes of his screen test, boxing with an unidentified man, 1967.

George Lazenby goofed off behind the scenes of his screen test.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby twirls a gun beside potential Bond Girl Marie-France Boyer, 1967.

George Lazenby twirled a gun beside potential Bond Girl Marie-France Boyer, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby during auditions for the role of James Bond, 1967.

George Lazenby during auditions for the role of James Bond, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby and Bond Girl hopeful Agneta Eckemyr, 1967.

George Lazenby and Bond Girl hopeful Agneta Eckemyr, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby leans against a bar during a moment away from James Bond auditions, 1967.

George Lazenby leaned against a bar during a moment away from James Bond auditions, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

George Lazenby, 1967.

George Lazenby, 1967.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot: “A Synonym for Sex From Coast to Coast”

You may have needed to be alive at the time to appreciate the what Brigitte Bardot meant to 1950s America.

In a June 1958 article In LIFE magazine titled “The Charged Charms of Brigitte,” LIFE waxed lyrical about the 24-year-old actress’ effect on American moviegoers and critics, declaring “Not since the Statue of Liberty has a French girl lit such fires in America.” A companion piece in the same issue titled “A Lot More Than Meets The Eye” went further with its analysis, saying that because Bardot acted in French movies that played in art houses, she could be sexy on screen in ways that American actresses simply couldn’t.

Like the European sports car, she has arrived on the American scene at a time when the American public is ready, or even hungry, for something racier and more realistic than the familiar domestic product….Brigitte, to put it bluntly, is also permitted to take off more of her clothes than any Hollywood star and get away with scenes more risque than Hollywood would dare attempt….Although she was virtually unknown in this country a year ago, Bardot’s name is now a synonym for sex from coast to coast.”

The above story also included a passage which gave a window into what American life was like before standards regarding sexual content in media were loosened: “Owners of art theaters have discovered that they can pull truck drivers and mourners after the vanished burlesque houses in off the sidewalks to see foreign language films if Bardot’s name is on the marquee. They can keep pulling them in for weeks and months at a stretch.”

Combine Bardot’s looks and persona with her exquisite timing and the result is an actress who left an indelible mark on a generation. That helps explain why the lead photo of in this gallery, of Bardot holding a camera on the set of the film Viva Maria, is one of the best-sellers in the LIFE print store. When it comes to images of actresses, only Marilyn Monroe sells better.

Nearly all the photos in this gallery were taken by LIFE staff photographer Loomis Dean, after she made perhaps her most famous film, And God Created Woman. Bardot’s final film came out in 1973, and when she retired from the screen she left behind an art form that had changed greatly, especially when it came to subjects once considered too hot for the American screen.

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Brigitte Bardot during a break in filming on the set of “Viva Maria,” 1965.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot on set with actor Michel Roux, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot on location in Spain in 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film, “La Femme et le Pantin” Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed at the time she was making the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot plays the guitar while on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot checks her hair and makeup on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot (holding a copy of LIFE magazine) looks at a photographic slide on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin” in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot photographed between takes, Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

Brigitte Bardot with co-star Antonio Vilar on the set of the film “La Femme et le Pantin.”

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Brigitte Bardot 1958

In Bardot’s films she often ended up lounging on a bed.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

01020849.JPG

Brigitte Bardot during break on location in Spain, 1958.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE’s Best Baseball Pictures

LIFE magazine’s coverage of the American pastime while always steeped in a genuine appreciation for the nuances, intricacies and thrills of the game was often as much personality-driven as performance-driven.

George Silk, Ralph Morse, Mark Kauffman, Francis Miller and the other photographers who so frequently covered baseball for LIFE beautifully captured the action unfolding on the field. But they were also photojournalists: pretty much every photographer on the LIFE staff who was shooting baseball in the 1940s and ’50s (and even into the ’60s) also had occasion, throughout their careers, to photograph . . . well, you name it. War, science, technology, the arts, pop culture, politics, other sports from yachting to boxing to golf: the breadth of the subjects covered by LIFE, and the necessity for LIFE’s photographers to ably capture the heart of the matter whatever the matter happened to be meant that baseball was a bit more than just a game. For LIFE’s editors, writers and photographers, it was one more window into the human spirit.

Here, LIFE.com offers the best baseball pictures made for LIFE, from the late Forties to the early Seventies. The great players one would expect are, of course, here: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Ted Williams and other Hall of Famers make their obligatory appearances. But above and beyond the sheer, phenomenal athletic talent on display (talent gauged by records set, titles won, World Series rings worn) there is also another, less-quantifiable element of the game portrayed in most of these pictures an element of individual and collective striving on the part of players, managers, owners and, of course, fans. For lack of a better word, that element is drama, and it’s here in abundance.

Finally, viewers will note and many will no doubt grumble about the preponderance of New York players and teams represented in these photos. More than half of the photographs either include players in Yankee, Dodger or Giant uniforms, or depict a scene in which New York players, even if unseen, either have or had a central role. In our defense we’ll just note that, during the years in which these photos were made, New York teams were hard to ignore. Between 1941 and 1956, the Yankees and Dodgers played each other in the World Series seven times.

So, yeah. There might be a little too much New York here for some. But if it’s any consolation, there’s nary a Met in sight.

After umpire William Grieve issues a walk to a Washington pinch-hitter, Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy and catcher Birdie Tebbetts express their doubts about Grieve’s judgment, 1949.

Michael Rougier/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

University of Pittsburgh students cheer wildly from atop the Cathedral of Learning as they look down on Forbes Field, where the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing the Yankees in the 7th game of a Series that would enter baseball lore when Bill Mazeroski smacked a 9th-inning, game-winning home run.

1960 World Series, Pittsburgh

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Yankee pitcher Don Larsen talks to the press after throwing a perfect game—still the only perfect game in postseason history—against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Brooklyn Dodger rookie hopefuls work out at spring training, 1948.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jackie Robinson, the great disruptor, dances off of third in the 8th inning of Game 3 of the 1955 World Series.

Jackie Robinson, the great disruptor, dances off of third in the 8th inning of Game 3 of the 1955 World Series.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Roy Campanella (left) talks with an awed fan during spring training in 1959.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Red Sox star Ted Williams, all of 22 years old, demonstrates his batting technique in 1941.

Gjon Mili Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

In one of the most poignant pictures ever made of a great athlete in decline, 33-year-old Mickey Mantle—his electrifying talents blunted by injuries, age and years of alcohol abuse—tosses his helmet away in disgust after a weak at-bat at Yankee Stadium, June 1965.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dodger southpaw and 1955 World Series MVP Johnny Podres reads about his own and his teammates’ exploits while visiting a store in his hometown of Witherbee, New York, a small mining town in the Adirondacks, a few hundred miles north of Brooklyn.

Grey Villet/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Hall of Famer, linchpin of the Big Red Machine and the man ESPN once pegged as the greatest catcher in history, Johnny Bench displays the intensity that made him such a force on the diamond, Cincinnati, 1970.

Hall of Famer, linchpin of the Big Red Machine and the man ESPN once pegged as the greatest catcher in history, Johnny Bench displays the intensity that made him such a force on the diamond, Cincinnati, 1970.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Milwaukee Braves fans listen to a game against the Dodgers in 1956. The Dodgers ended the season one game ahead of Milwaukee in the National League, then lost in seven to the Yankees in the ’56 Series.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Leroy "Satchel" Paige, ageless relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, watches his teammates practice in 1948.

Leroy “Satchel” Paige, ageless relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, watches his teammates practice in 1948.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A rapt audience in a Chicago bar watches the 1952 Subway Series between the Yankees and Dodgers in 1952.

A rapt audience in a Chicago bar watches the 1952 Subway Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Willie Mays, arguably the greatest all-around ballplayer in major league history, poses for LIFE's Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1954, the year the Giants won the World Series.

Willie Mays, arguably the greatest all-around ballplayer in major league history, poses for LIFE’s Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1954, the year the Giants won the World Series the Series against the Indians in which Mays made his legendary, running, back-to-home-plate catch of a long Vic Wertz drive in the far reaches of the Polo Grounds.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Yogi Berra takes issue with the umpire's "safe" call after Jackie Robinson's electrifying steal of home in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series.

Yogi Berra takes issue with the umpire’s “safe” call after Jackie Robinson’s electrifying steal of home in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series.

Grey Villet/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Ailing baseball great Babe Ruth thanks the crowd at Yankee Stadium for their ovation on "Babe Ruth Day," April 27, 1947.

Ailing baseball great Babe Ruth thanks the crowd at Yankee Stadium for their ovation on “Babe Ruth Day,” April 27, 1947.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Baseball great Jackie Robinson during filming of "The Jackie Robinson Story."

Jackie Robinson during filming of The Jackie Robinson Story (in which he starred), 1950.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Little Leaguers in Manchester, N.H., dress in a schoolroom before their first game of the season, as their formidable leader, Dick Williams, demands to know where the rest of the uniforms are.

Little Leaguers in Manchester, N.H., dress in a schoolroom before their first game of the season, as their formidable leader, Dick Williams, demands to know where the rest of the uniforms are.

Yale Joel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

More Like This

arts & entertainment

Sophia, Marcello and a Movie Set to Remember

arts & entertainment

Muhammad Ali: Loud and Lyrical, 1963

arts & entertainment

Boss Mode: Springsteen in the 80s and 90s

arts & entertainment

Arnie and Jack: The Best of Rivals

arts & entertainment

Glenn Gould: Eccentric Genius at Play

arts & entertainment

The Greatest Motorcycle Photo Ever