“DeMille’s Greatest”: Making The Ten Commandments

The seasonal favorite The Ten Commandments was a crowning achievement for Cecil B. DeMille, the master of the Biblical epic. He started his career with a version of the film in 1923, and he returned to the story in the 1956 version, which turned out to be its last film. And what a way to go out— LIFE magazine dubbed it “DeMille’s Greatest” when it wrote about his technicolor telling of the Book of Exodus, starring Charlton Heston in the role of Moses.

“DeMille tells this story sumptuously,” LIFE wrote. “He built a huge set on Egypt’s sands—the gates of Per-Rameses and a 16-sphinx avenue—that drew more tourists than Giza’s single sphinx….The result is a film of reverent and massive significance.”

LIFE’s Ralph Crane went to Egypt to capture the scale of this grand production, and his pictures show what it took to make a big movie in the days before digital effects. (Though of course the film is remembered in part for a scene that did require special effects, however old school, the parting of the Red Sea. DeMille filmed that sequence back in Hollywood and used shots of pouring water in reverse to create the illusion of seawater pushed aside by the hand of God.) Plenty about this film required extraordinary effort, as can be seen in Crane’s shots of the massive sets and the hordes of extras—not to mention the caring of the many horses needed for the chariot scenes.

Another LIFE.com story shows captures a more intimate moment from this film, with baby Moses in the rushes—it was Heston’s son in the crib. Those moments great and small help make DeMille’s masterpiece one that families keep coming back to.

Charlton Heston (lower right), playing Moses, in a scene from the 1956 biblical epic ‘The Ten Commandments,’ directed by Cecil B. DeMille, Egypt.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charlton Heston, playing Moses, in a scene from the the 1956 biblical epic ‘The Ten Commandments.’ directed by Cecil B. DeMille, Egypt.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments in Egypt.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the Egypt set of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cecil B. DeMille on location in Egypt during the filming of the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Extras from the movie “The Ten Commandments” heading home after a day of shooting, Egypt, 1955

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A group of horses from The Ten Commandments drinking water at camp, Egypt, 1955

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Cecil B. DeMille directing a scene from the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments; on location in Egypt.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Extras pretending to a family during the filming of ‘The Ten Commandments in Egypt.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE’s Big Look the Beauty Industry, 1956

Much has changed for women in America since LIFE magazine had its original run from 1936 to 1972. But when it comes to the beauty industry, much remains the same. That is, women still spend an awful lot on their appearance. According to one survey 52 percent of Gen Z females regret how much money they spend on makeup, with a majority saying that social media has contributed to their overspending.

This generation is experiencing its own version of what has been going on for ages. The price of beauty was also an issue way back in 1956, when LIFE magazine ran an article headlined “Billions of Dollars For Prettiness: Big Industry Thrives on Woman’s Struggle to Stay Young.”

The story began by setting out the dilemma confronting women: “With youth and good looks bestowed upon her at birth, the American woman matures to face two mortal enemies. In a land where youth is at a premium, she finds age stalking her. And in a land of fried chicken and fudge sundaes, fat is dangerous sabotage.”

While the story presents the beauty industry as an “ally” for women, it also sound makes it sound like an enemy in some ways. Consider LIFE’s description of what women endure as they try to look young and slim:

In countless beauty shops and salons her flesh is mortified. She is shaken on tables, beaten by machines, starved, steamed, packed in mud and needled with cold water. In earnest conferences she picks her hair shades and face powders. And she pays. This year her defense budget will be: cosmetics and toiletries, $1.3 billion; beauty treatments, $600 million; soap and electric devices, $400 million; reducing, $65 million—a total more than double the defense budget of Italy.

The photographs by Leonard McCombe are impressive in their range. In addition to portraits of beauty moguls such as Elizabeth Arden, Lily Dache and Helena Rubenstein, McCombe shows women encountering the beauty industry at the grassroots. He is there for a moisturizing mask demonstration in San Antonio, at the cosmetics counter of a fancy department store in San Francisco, and during a salesperson’s visit to a California trailer park. The most distinctive pictures he took are inside an Elizabeth Arden weight-loss spa in Arizona called “Main Chance”; McCombe followed opera singer Martha Lipton as she went through treatments that ranged from the conventional (getting a scalp massage and pedicure by the pool) to one in which she is wearing a mask that was supposed to stimulate her circulation and looks better fit for Hannibal Lecter.

The technology has obviously advanced since 1956, but the quest goes on.

Customers at a beauty product demonstration in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers at a beauty product demonstration in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers learned how to use a moisturizing facial mask in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers learned how to use a moisturizing facial mask in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Charles of the Ritz powder bar at the I. Magnin department store in San Francisco, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Edna Courtney of Beauty Counselors Inc. operated a home demonstration in a trailer camp in Burbank, Calif.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Slenderella VP Irene Ward measured a client’s bust at a Slenderella salon; in 1956 the company operated 152 “slenderizing parlors.”

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women at a New York hair salon watched an instructional film on hair curling, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women at a New York hair salon watched an instructional film on hair curling, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women exercised at Elizabeth Arden’s reducing resort in Phoenix, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Singer Martha Lipton enjoyed a breakfast tailored and delivered to her at an Elizabeth Arden spa in Phoenix, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Elizabeth Arden’s ‘Maine Chance’ spa, singer Martha Lipton (center) sat poolside, along with several other women, as she received a simultaneous scalp massage and pedicure, Phoenix, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Elizabeth Arden’s ‘Maine Chance’ spa, singer Martha Lipton sat in a heat box, called a ‘Howard Cabinet,’ as attendant May Walsh applied ice eater to her forehead, Phoenix, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At the ‘Main Chance’ spa, American singer Martha Lipton received circulatory stimulation from a heat mask operated by therapist Gladys Horton, Phoenix, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Elizabeth Arden’s ‘Maine Chance’ spa, singer Martha Lipton received a hot paraffin treatment, called an ‘Ardena Bath,’ Phoenix, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At one of Elizabeth Arden’s spas, women sat under hair dryers in a rooftop garden, San Francisco, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hat designer Lily Dache trying on a new model, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hat designer Lily Dache trying on a new model, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lilly Dache, president of General Beauty Products and hat designer, read over advertising plans with her staff, New York, NY, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cosmetic executive Elizabeth Arden Graham in her salon. 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cosmetics magnate Helena Rubinstein (right) at work, 1956.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Revlon President Charles Revson (left) showed his hand painted with Revlon fingernail polish while executive Martin Revson (second from right) watched the demonstration of the new Revlon fingernail polish on model Suzy Parker’s hand.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Singular Spring Looks with Bill Ray

LIFE magazine loved to cover the spring fashion shows in Paris. In 1968 the news coming in from France was that there was no news—or at least, no specific emerging trend about how high or low hemlines should be. “This season it’s a potpourri, not pronouncements,” read the headline of the story in the March 1, 1968 issue (which also happened to feature on its cover a major feature on artist Georgia O’Keeffe).

For LIFE photographer Bill Ray the lack of a specific trend to highlight gave him license to be creative in his coverage, and he delivered a stunning set of photos with a singular feel. It was as if the fashion houses couldn’t decide on a look, so Ray created his own—one that is both sleek and striking and with hints of punk rock culture, just as its earliest seeds were starting to take hold.

This set includes the works of such big-name designers as Pierre Cardin, Marc Bohan and Yves Saint Laurent. If you like this collection, here’s a look at LIFE’s coverage of another picturesque fashion week in 1951. Enjoy!

Danielle Sauvajeon modeled an Yves St. Laurent dress with a Spanish influence, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Danielle Sauvajeon wore an Yves St. Laurent dress at a Paris fashion show in 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Danielle Sauvajeon modeled Yves St. Laurent’s evening Bermudas with schoolboy-size silk scarf, Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sin-May Zao modeled a late day dress (left) and a evening dress (right) from Pierre Cardin in this composite photo that appeared in LIFE magazine, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sin-May Zao modeled a Pierre Cardin dress in Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sin-May Zao modeled spring fashions in Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sin-May Zao modeled a Pierre Cardin dress. Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sin-May Zao modeled spring fashions in Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Prunelia showed off a 1930’s style look while modeling this dress by Marc Bohan of Dior, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Prunelia modeled a Marc Bohan daytime suit in Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Prunelia modeled a chiffon evening dress by Marc Bohan of Dior in Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

NIneteen-year-old model Agneta Bylander, who worked under the name Mouche, wore a dress of organza by Michel Goma with matching head scarf, Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Spring fashions from Paris, 1968.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Satchel Paige and Bill Veeck: Legends Meet at Spring Training, 1952

Spring training is a beloved ritual for baseball fans, heralding both the end of winter and the start of a new season. LIFE magazine loved to cover spring training. On this site you will find stories on the year the Dodgers held spring training in Havana and also on the legendary Dodgertown spring training complex in Vero Beach, Florida.

In 1952 LIFE turned its focus to the training camp of the St. Louis Browns. The main angle of LIFE’s story was about new owner Bill Veeck hiring the great Rogers Hornsby as his new manager to shake up a team that had finished last and was full of disgruntled players. The great promise of that spring renewal would prove false—Veeck fired Hornsby in June, much to the delight of the players who hated the hard ways of the seven-time batting champ.

But while Hornsby was the primary focus, photographer Edward Clark also captured some pictures of the other certified baseball legend in Browns camp that year, Satchel Paige. The greatest pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues, Paige was well past his prime when baseball finally integrated in 1947. In LIFE’s 1952 story he was only mentioned in a photo caption: “Oldest pitcher in the majors, Satchel Paige, probably over 50, is still effective for two or three innings. He is also the clubhouse comedian.”

Paige and Veeck were both singular characters. Veeck was a rare and imaginative impresario who once livened up the long summer of a losing team by signing midget Eddie Gaedel as a publicity stunt. Paige memorably bestowed on baseball his six rules for keeping young.

There is no record of what Paige and Veeck were talking about when Clark photographed them in the clubhouse of the Browns’ spring training facility in Burbank, California. But merely seeing them together is a reminder of a plan Veeck once had for bringing Negro League stars into major league baseball years before Jackie Robinson broke the sport’s color barrier.

In his autobiography Veeck wrote that in 1943 he had an agreement to buy the Philadelphia Phillies, with the intention of stocking the roster with the greatest stars of the Negro Leagues, which would surely have included Paige. Veeck wrote that the sale was quashed when his designs were learned. Baseball historians have since disputed the notion that the plan was as far along as Veeck claimed, and whether anyone actually quashed anything. But there is no doubt that Veeck was on the progressive side of history when it came to integration—soon after the Dodgers brought Jackie Robinson to the majors, Veeck signed Larry Doby, the majors’ second Black player, to the team he owned then, then Cleveland Indians. And in 1978, when Veeck owned the Chicago White Sox, he made Doby baseball’s second Black manager.

It’s nice to imagine that, during the slower-paced days of spring training, Veeck might have wanted to speculate with Paige about what an all-Black Phillies team might have accomplished in 1943. It’s also nice to imagine that Paige might have responded to Veeck with the most famous of his six rules for staying young: “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”

Bill Veeck (left) and Satchel Paige (center) in the clubhouse at spring training for the St. Louis Browns, 1952.

Ed Clark/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bill Veeck (left) and Satchel Paige (center) in the clubhouse at spring training for the St. Louis Browns, 1952.

Baseball St. Louis Browns

Bill Veeck (left) and Satchel Paige (center) in the clubhouse at spring training for the St. Louis Browns in Burbank, California, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bill Veeck (left) and Satchel Paige (center) in the clubhouse at spring training for the St. Louis Browns in Burbank, California, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Satchel Paige pitched at spring training for the St. Louis Browns in Burbank, California, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

New St. Louis Browns manager Rogers Hornsby signaled for a baserunner to stop during a spring training game, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

New St. Louis Browns manager Rogers Hornsby (left) spoke with team owner Bill Veeck during spring training, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Manager Rogers Hornsby instructed his players at spring training for the St. Louis Browns in 1952; he would be fired three months into his first season with the team.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Browns owner Bill Veeck (center), at spring training in Burbank, Calif., read a column picking the Browns to finish in first place in American League, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

St. Louis Browns manager Rogers Hornsby (right) drew a line in the dirt to cautiion Clint Courtney against crowding during spring training in Burbank, California, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Satchel Paige pitched at spring training for the St. Louis Browns in Burbank, California, 1952.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Michael Rougier and the Beauty of An Oklahoma Square Dance

A 1949 article in LIFE magazine titled “LIFE goes to a square dance” gloried in the appeal of the popular country pastime. It talked about the exuberance of the evening and the poetry to be found in the calls of the dance leaders, with lines such as, “Form a right eight hands across, turn right back and don’t get lost.”

That last call was for a maneuver called the eight-handed star, one of many that experienced dancers knew well. “There are innumerable variations on a single pattern based on a square of four men and four women,” LIFE wrote. (While the dance variations may have seemed innumerable, this website puts the total at 68).

In any case, it’s a bunch, and the spectacle of it all was enough to inspire LIFE photographer MIchael Rougier to take to the rafters at a square dance in Oklahoma City to capture the pattens from an aerial view. From that angle, the movements of the square dance are revealed to be a human kaleidoscope that is constantly shifting.

Rougier also took plenty of pictures from ground level, with a focus on the fabulous fashions of the female dancers, whose twirling skirts created their own visual display. Square dance clothing is indeed a world unto itself.

However brilliant it all looked through Rougier’s camera, the dances seems to have been a great night of family-friendly fun. “On the night of the big dance at Oklahoma City, the concessionaires sold tons of ice cream, gallons of soda pop, but only three bottles of beer,” LIFE’s story concluded.

It’s why square dancing carries on today, with this calendar forming a burgeoning database for people who still want to become a part of patterns like these.

John Steele Batson called a square dance in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

John Steele Batson called a square dance in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Square dancers in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Square dancers in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Square dancers in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Square dancers in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A child performed at a square dance in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Square dancers in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A square dance attendee in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A couple demonstrated the pigeon wing as they danced to “Cotton-eye Joe” in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The “eight hands across-form a star” formation at a square dance in Oklahoma City, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An overhead view of “Ring up four in the middle of the floor” at an Oklahoma City square dance, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An overhead view of “Circle eight and spread out wide, slide around the old cowhide” at an Oklahoma City square dance, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An overhead view of “swing your partner like swinging in a gate,” at an Oklahoma City square dance, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An overhead view of “balance four in line” at an Oklahoma City square dance, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Couples dancing to “Cotton-eye Joe” at an Oklahoma City square dance, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Overhead view of an Oklahoma City square dance, 1948.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates: When the Fitness Guru Trained an Opera Legend

Roberta Peters was a massive opera star in her day—and her day lasted for decades. For 35 years, beginning in 1950, when she was famously called on to take the place of an ailing performer at age 20, she was one of the leading lights of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

The singer was a great believer in the idea that opera was for everyone (here is one of many clips of her performing on the Ed Sullivan show), and Peters was likely showing her dedication to popularizing the art form when, in 1951, she allowed LIFE magazine photographer Michael Rougier to chronicle her fitness routine. Peters’ instructor was a supporting character in that story, but today his name is known to fitness devotees around the world.

For her instructor was Joseph Pilates. The fitness regimen that now bears his name is taught at gyms and training studios around the country. The pilates workout didn’t really mushroom in popularity until the early 2000s, but it is now everywhere, and its adherents include celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid.

At the time of the LIFE story the training method of Joseph Pilates was not actually known as “pilates,” but rather the term he had come up with for it, “contrology.” PIlates first made his name working with ballet stars such as Martha Graham and George Balanchine, so he was well-known in the New York arts world by the time he connected with Peters.

The LIFE article, headlined Diva With Muscle, described Peters as a longtime fitness fanatic, saying that “ever since she began taking singing lessons as a little girl in the Bronx, she has been making regular visits to the gym to build up her torso and strengthen her diaphragm.” Peters was so fit that the LIFE story said Joseph Pilates was “fond of asking strangers to feel her stomach, which is now `like iron.'”

Her dedication to taking care of her body paid off. She performed in recitals well into her 70s, before dying at age 86 of Parkinson’s disease. Pilates, who was born in Germany in 1883, would have been in his late 60s at the time of the LIFE photo shoot. He died in 1967, from emphysema, at the age of 83.

Opera singer Roberta Peters balanced her fitness trainer, Joseph Pilates, on what LIFE in 1951 called “her operatic breadbasket.”

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Opera singer Roberta Peters working with her trainer, Joseph Pilates, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates’ regimen for opera singer Roberta Peters included 20 squeezes with a springlike steel oval, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joseph Pilates training opera star Roberta Peters, 1951.

Michael Rougier/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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