Page 38 – LIFE

The American Northwest: Vintage Color Photos From an Epic Road Trip

November 16, 2022November 14, 2022 by

In August 1961, LIFE magazine published an ambitious, 10-page tribute to the American Northwest with the dramatic title: “Where God Sat When He Made America.” The title of the article, LIFE claimed, was inspired by a phrase uttered by an awe-struck visitor to Glacier National Park. Now, there’s nothing unusual, cheesy or suspect about the deep emotions that grand vistas can inspire in most anyone. Teddy Roosevelt, after all, reportedly wept upon first seeing Yosemite Valley.

And we can say this about the brilliant color photographs in this gallery, shot by long-time LIFE staffer J.R. Eyerman: they’re wonderful.

When he was a boy, Eyerman took thousands of pictures in Yellowstone, Glacier and other national parks while traveling and camping with his dad. Decades later, the professional photographer spent weeks in late 1960 traveling throughout Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and even as far south as San Francisco for the magazine’s tribute to “the stunning majesty of the Northwest.”

We hope you enjoy the view.

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Yosemite Valley, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Golden Gate Bridge, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Yosemite National Park, four bucks gathered to drink at the edge of the Merced Rover under the rock formations of El Capitan (far left) and North Dome (center, right).

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

he Grand Coulee Dam in Washington intercepted the Columbia River and sent its waters rushing down the 1,650-foot-wide spillway.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Northwest’s Pacific coast, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Roadside picnic, fall 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Driving through the famed Wawona Tree (est. 2,300 years old), Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park, 1960. The tree fell in 1969.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a road trip through the American Northwest, 1960.

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Anatomy of a Murder: On the Set of a Cinema Classic

November 11, 2022 by Bill Syken

The 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder has aged remarkably well, perhaps because it was so ahead of its time, both because of its nuanced depiction of the legal process and its anticipation of the popularity of stories that draw from true crime. The film is based on a novel written by the district attorney who tried the case that inspired the story, and that helps explain why Anatomy of a Murder is rated as one of the top-ten courtroom dramas ever by both the American Film Institute and the American Bar Association.

The pedigree of the film is world class. The movie stars Jimmy Stewart as the defense attorney in the case, Ben Gazzara as a soldier on trial for murder—one that he admits to, but claims that he is not legally responsible for because had gone temporarily insane after learning about the rape of his wife (played by Lee Remick). The movie was directed by Otto Preminger and the music was done by jazz legend Duke Ellington, who also makes a cameo in the movie. The film would be nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Stewart) and twice for best Supporting Actor (for both George C. Scott, who played the prosecutor, and Arthur O’Connell, who portrayed Stewart’s alcoholic friend).

But what inspired LIFE to send photographer Gjon Mili to document the making of Anatomy of a Murder was not any of the big-name cinematic talents involved. Rather it the presence of attorney Joseph Welch, who became famous for dressing down Sen. Joseph McCarthy during televised Senate hearings, memorably asking him, “Have you no sense of decency?”

In Anatomy of a Murder, Preminger cast Welch in the role of the judge.

LIFE’s story, headlined “Joe Welch In Juicy New Role,” was focussed on the acting efforts of the star attorney. “Unlike most celebrities who have been lured from the outside world, Welch took the job seriously.” LIFE wrote. “If anything, Preminger had to hold him down. After Welch had given his own interpretation of how to overrule an objection, Preminger suggested gently that a movie audience might grow somewhat restive if the camera dwelled so long upon one actor staring into space, however remarkable the play of emotion on the actor’s face.”

Even though LIFE’s primary focus at the time was Welch, Mili ranged widely enough to create a valuable document of the making of a cinema classic. When the Criterion Collection issued its DVD version of the movie, the LIFE story was included in the Blu-Ray version, and an extra feature on Mili’s LIFE photographs was included in all editions.

Ben Gazzara, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, and George C. Scott (right to left) in the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

George C. Scott, Joseph Welch and Lee Remick in the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Attorney Joseph N. Welch as Judge Weaver in a scene from the 1959 movie Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Director Otto Preminger was behind camera as Joseph Welch, a famed attorney from the McCarthy hearings, played the role of the judge during filming of Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart was coached by a dialogue director during the filming of Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Otto Preminger (center) and actor Murray Hamilton (in the witness stand) on set of Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Duke Ellington (right), who did the music for Anatomy of a Murder, played piano with John D. Voelker, who wrote the book on which the film was based.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Attorney Joseph Welch, who plays Judge Weaver in film Anatomy of a Murder, with his wife (left) and actress Lee Remick and her infant daughter in their hotel room on location in Michigan.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lee Remick (foreground) had her hair done for a scene of Anatomy of a Murder. Actress Eve Arden, who played the secretary for Jimmy Stewart’s lawyer character, sat knitting in the background

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actor George C. Scott on set of the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder. In the movie he played prosecutor Claude Dancer.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

George C. Scott, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick and Joseph Welch (left to right) acted out a contentious cross-examination in the 1959 movie Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart (left) and Ben Gazzara in a scene from the 1959 movie Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lee Remick in a scene from the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Otto Preminger (center) discussed a scene with Jimmy Stewart and other actors on set during the filming of Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Movie executive Sam Goldwyn (right) visited director Otto Preminger on the set of the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Otto Preminger looked at stray cats while attending Venice Film Festival at which his film Anatomy of a Murder was shown.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actress Lee Remick on location for the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder.

Gjon Mili/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Serious Drinking: LIFE at a Martini Contest

November 10, 2022 by Bill Syken

The writer H.L. Mencken memorably described the martini as the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.

The cocktail, invented in the second half of the 19th century, came into its heyday in the 20th Century, and it was the signature cocktail of the era in which the original LIFE magazine was published, from 1936 to 1972. Martinis frequently show up in cultural representations of those days, savored by the doctors of M*A*S*H during the Korean war and guzzled by the ad executives of Mad Men in the 1960s. This lengthy YouTube disquisition on Roger Sterling’s martini drinking is a good primer on its cultural significance.

In the Dec. 10, 1951 issue of LIFE—which featured one of the magazine’s odder covers, on the fashion evolution of Harry Truman— the editors ran a story on a contest for the best new martini recipe. The tone of the story was tongue-in-cheek disapproval of anyone who dared to tinker with the classic formula of four parts gin and one part vermouth, and it carried the headline, “Martini Heresy: Prize Recipes Will Have Purists Giving Up Their Gin for Ginger Beer.”

The contest was held at Chicago’s La Salle Hotel and sponsored by a local liquor dealer. The judges, all older men with the bearing of humorless villains in a Marx Brothers movie—considered 240 variations on the martini formula, though the actual taste-testing seems to have been limited to the 25 most promising ideas.

The winner of the contest used a recipe that was described by LIFE as “comparatively simple” and succeeded thanks to original details that were really minor tweaks: an olive stuffed with anchovy and a glass rinsed with Cointreau.

The story ended with a quote from one of the mixologists that was as somber as their attire: “The improvement of Martinis in this country is a noble cause.” But do let it be noted that, going by the pictures, by the end of the judging all those martinis seemed to have loosened up the crowd.

A martini recipe contest in Chicago, 1951.

Francis Miller/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At a 1951 martini recipe contest in Chicago, one version featured three drops of tequila as its special ingredient.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

One entrant in a martini recipe contest rubbed garlic around the rim of the glass, 1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Judges tested the entries at a martini recipe contest held at Chicago’s La Salle Hotel, 1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

During a martini competition at Chicago’s La Salle Hotel, a line of men prepared the cocktails as the judges (at left) watched,1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

During a martini competition at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, judge George Anderson toasted the finalists, 1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A judge at work during a martini competition at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, 1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

During a martini competition at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, a man added vermouth to a bottle of gin as he prepared his recipe, 1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Judges at a martini recipe contest at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, 1951.

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Three drink mixers tried singing in harmony after test tasting martinis at a 1951 contest in Chicago. Said one, “The improvement of Martinis in this country is a noble cause.”

Francis MillerLIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sleepy Hollow: Then & Now

October 31, 2022October 28, 2022 by Alexa Jade Frankelis

Seventy-eight years ago this week, LIFE published photographer Nina Leen’s first full-length photo essay: “The World of Washington Irving.” Now largely remembered for stories on America’s ghosts and the Salem witch trials (among hundreds of other assignments for the magazine), Leen spent part of her early career documenting sites associated with one of the most popular legend writers in US history, Washington Irving. To celebrate the release of a new book at the time by the same title, Leen set out to explore those Hudson River Valley and Catskill sites, including Sleepy Hollow, that reflected Irving’s life and tales.

You can still visit many of the sites that both Irving and Leen walked to this day. Below are images retracing the steps of Nina Leen, as she did of Irving over half a century ago.

Waterfalls in the Catskills Mountains, 1944 (left) & 2022 (right)

(Photo on the left by Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection © Dotdash Meredith Corporation) (Photo on the right by Alexa Jade Frankelis, 2022)

Irving’s first voyage up the Hudson from Manhattan to Albany was in 1800. On his journey he passed many sites pertaining to Dutch folklore and Indigenous tales that were haunted by sailors and shipwrecks. A combination of these stories fueled his tale called, Rip Van Winkle, who was a man that had slept for twenty-years in the Catskills due to the deception of mischievous Dutchmen, and awoke to an unknown world.

View of Hudson River from Dunderberg Mountain, once described by author Washington Irving, 1944.

(Photo by Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection © Dotdash Meredith Corporation)

View of Bear Mountain State park, which Dunderberg Mountain is a part of today, 2021.

(Photo by Alexa Jade Frankelis, 2021)

In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, many of Washington’s characters were inspired by locals now interred in the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow’s burial ground. Only a little up the hill from the burial ground where Irving would spend his days, begins Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, his final place of rest.

Night in cemetery of the The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow and the burial ground surrounding it at night, 1944.

(Photo by Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection © Dotdash Meredith Corporation)

Kallitype printing process of the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, 2015.

(Photo by Alexa Jade Frankelis, 2018)

Rows of tombstones in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, New York, 1944.

(Photo by Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection © Dotdash Meredith Corporation)

A draped urn, symbolizing life into death in Victorian mourning grave symbology.

(Photo by Alexa Jade Frankelis, 2020)

Gravesite of author Washington Irving, Sleepy Hollow, New York, 1944.

(Photo by Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection © Dotdash Meredith Corporation)

Life in the Age of Polio

October 27, 2022 by Bill Syken

If you want to know the value of the polio vaccine, take a look at what life was like without it. In a story grimly titled Infant Paralysis in the July 31, 1944 issue of LIFE, the magazine reported on an outbreak of the disease in rural North Carolina, and the emergency hospital that been erected outside the town of HIckory to deal with the surging number of patients.

Polio is a highly infectious disease that in mild cases resembles the flu. But in severe cases it affects the brain and spinal cord and can cause paralysis, and even those who recover can experience a recurrence of pain or paralysis years later. The disease was largely eradicated in the U.S. through vaccination, but memories of the damage done are why reports like the one in October 2022 about an unvaccinated man in New York state contracting polio and becoming paralyzed, in the first case in the United States in a decade, sets off alarms.

LIFE devoted plenty of coverage to this scourge in its early years of publication, and the photos by Alfred Eisenstaedt from 1944 are a valuable document of just what an outbreak looked like.

“The suddenness with which the disease struck in North Carolina overwhelmed ordinary medical facilities,” said the story. “The polio victims, mostly little children brought in from the little towns and backwoods, quickly filled the few local hospitals.”

To deal with the outbreak, the Army provided cots and tents. The Red Cross recruited nurses. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (which is now the March of Dimes) supplied doctors from Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. And locals rallied to provide assistance in whatever way they could, including bringing bushels of apples for patients and staff.

Ten years later, in 1954, LIFE was there to capture the joy and relief of when polio vaccine trials began. Photo essays like this one show exactly what people were so relieved.

Convicts from the state prison were under armed guard as they helped construct an additional ward for the emergency hospital that was built in Hickory, N.C., during a polio outbreak in the area, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Local farmers offering bushel of apples for kitchen of emergency hospital treating child victims of polio epidemic .

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A sick child was carried away by his brother after a preliminary examination; with the polio ward at the emergency hospital reserved for the most serious cases, he was sent home for observation, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nurses at emergency hospital treating child victims of polio epidemc used hot packs on the chest to relieve muscle spasms, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A doctor performs a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) on a polio patient at an emergency hospital set up during a polio outbreak in rural North Carolina; the drawn fluid was used to determine the white blood cell count and aid in disgnosis.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This child arrived at the emergency hospital set up for polio epidemic in grim transportation; a hearse was borrowed because all the ambulances were already in use, North Carolina, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At an emergency hospital treating child victims of polio epidemic in 1944, boards under mattresses and at the feet of the beds helped keep patients in a straight, braced position.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This 8-year-old polio patient needed a respirator to breathe; the most severe cases of the disease paralyzed the respiratory muscles. 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This 27-year-old polio patient needed an iron lung to breathe after the disease left his respiratory muscles paralyzed, Hickory N.C., 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A medical team made a preliminary diagnosis of a new patient at emergency hospital treating child victims of polio epidemic; at left, a doctor removed a splint from the patient’s foot that had been put on by a local doctor to support the muscles during transportation.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This fly trap collected specimen flies from outside a patient’s home to be sent to Yale University for polio research experiments, thinking the insects might be transmitting the disease. The disease is now known to be transmitted from person to person.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A recovering polio patient at an emergency hospital in Hickory, N.C., read a comic book donated by a local townsperson, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A blood specimen was taken from brother of a polio victim at at emergency hospital constructed during a polio outbreak in rural North Carolina, 1944.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Election Night Coverage When TV Was Young

October 19, 2022 by Bill Syken

In 1952 television was just beginning to make serious inroads in the American living room. Household penetration that year was at 34.2 percent, a sign of the coming boom that would take that number close to ninety percent by the end of the decade. The 1952 election marked a sea change in politics, in that it was the first year that candidates used television to communicate to voters.

That year also brought another new phenomenon: election night as a television event.

LIFE photographer Al Fenn spent election night in 1952 visiting network newsrooms to document their coverage, which was headlined by the presidential race between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson.

While the network news productions from 1952 inevitably look dated in comparison to what we see in modern digital age, plenty is not that different from what we know today.

For starters, the graphic concepts are more or less the same, even if the vote totals had to be changed manually. You see photos of Eisenhower and Stevenson hanging on the wall with their current electoral vote totals beneath them, providing a template for today’s digital equivalents that are flashed to full screen with the press of a button. CBS also had a dedicated wall for Senate races, with the familiar head shots of the opposing candidates side by side. Another graphic display charted the changing composition of the Congress.

But the most notable aspect of the 1952 election coverage was the urgency to let viewers know who was going to win—and it was especially true at CBS. The network deployed a room-filling UNIVAC computer that promised to predict the presidential election based on early voter returns. It was a good idea, but CBS’s problem in 1952 was that while the network had the technology, it didn’t trust the computer’s predictions, leading to a historic lost opportunity.

Political prognosticators had expected a close race between Eisenhower and Stevenson. So when the CBS computer predicted at 8:30 p.m. that Eisenhower would win the electoral vote by a landslide margin of 438-93, the network news director decided not to share the projection because it was so out of line with conventional wisdom. But in fact the computer had it right, almost exactly. The final electoral college result was 442-89 in favor of Eisenhower. Only hours after the original prediction did CBS reporter Charles Collingwood tell viewers that the computer had been way ahead of everyone else. This was a watershed demonstration of the power of technology, and of early data. In the coming years the practice of exit polling would help networks call many races as soon as the polls closed.

The modern detail that was notably missing from the 1952 election coverage was a big one—color coding for political parties. While you can see a shaded electoral map in the background of one photo, back then colors weren’t as meaningful or codified because Americans were watching in black-and-white. The idea of blue states and red states was still a ways away.

A young Walter Cronkite (center) manned the news desk for CBS on election night, 1952.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture CollectionShutterstock

Television news coverage of the 1952 election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture CollectionShutterstock

Television coverage of election night, 1952.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture CollectionShutterstock

A television newsroom during election night, 1952.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Walter Winchell during television coverage of election night, 1952.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture CollectionShutterstock

Walter Winchell (left) and John Daly during television coverage of election night in 1952.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture CollectionShutterstock

CBS correspondent Charles Collingwood (center) with the UNIVAC computer that forecasted the result of the 1952 presidential election based on early returns.

Al Fenn/LIFE Picture CollectionShutterstock