Page 70 – LIFE

Intimate Pictures of Audrey Hepburn at Home in 1953

December 10, 2020May 4, 2016 by

Audrey Hepburn had only had one major film role in 1953’s Roman Holiday when photographer Mark Shaw spent a day with the star. She was a 24-year-old waif (born on May 4, in 1929) who had made a good impression in Hollywood and on the stage but had yet to solidify her fame. Some, like director Billy Wilder, worried that she would somehow slip through the cracks, too hard to classify, neither sex goddess nor girl next door.

The nine-page photo essay that Shaw produced for LIFE’s December 7, 1953 issue, like the outtakes seen in this gallery, provides some hint of what made Hepburn different: rather than trailing her at parties or even in front of the camera, the photographer focused on her workaday life. She got up early for work, went to the studio, got ready to film Sabrina (referred to by the title of the play on which it’s based, Sabrina Fair, in the story), practiced ballet and got ready for another day of work. The most glamorous parts of the day, the actual filming, were elided in favor of behind-the-scenes prep. But the day was a fitting subject for a photo essay, the magazine noted, “not because there is anything so remarkable about it but because whatever Audrey does, she looks pretty remarkable doing it.”

As for the question of whether Hepburn would be more than a one-hit wonder, the years have provided an unassailable answer. In the decades that followed the release of Sabrina, Hepburn become one of the 20th century’s most iconic stars, and it was just as photographer Shaw predicted. In a note at the beginning of the issue, he commented that she was a “monster” when it came to productivity and that the studio technicians who worked with her guessed that she would have a long and illustrious career.

“We can tell,” they told Shaw, “when someone has got it.”

Audrey Hepburn, 1953.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Original caption: “Dinner alone is usually eaten on floor where she squats easily because of lifelong ballet training. While eating she often reads classical drama, with heavy helping of Shaw and Shakespeare.”

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Original caption: Being made up, Audrey has the contours of her eyes skillfully emphasized. They are naturally large, tilted at the corners, with heavy brows.”

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn, 1953.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn on the set of Sabrina.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn, 1953.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn photo essay that ran in LIFE magazine, December 7, 1953.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

When Schoolteachers Could Win Prizes for Being ‘Prettiest’

January 14, 2020May 3, 2016 by

In today’s world, the schoolteachers who are appreciated by society are, we hope, those who inspire children to learn and whose classrooms will long be remembered by their students as the places where education came alive. In 1953, those things were important too. But, judging by this LIFE story from that February, skill wasn’t all that mattered.

Nell Owen taught speech class to first- through sixth-graders in Dallas, and she was—according to a contest to which her students submitted her picture—the “prettiest teacher in the U.S.” The contest, as LIFE explained, was sponsored by the hit CBS radio (and later television) program Our Miss Brooks, which starred Eve Arden as a high-school teacher. The prize was a trip to meet Arden in Hollywood. Though the show was a comedy, its subject matter wasn’t all frivolous: the first episode starts with Miss Brooks’ enthusiasm for her work and another episode depicted Miss Brooks confronting the lack of resources for heating fuel at her school.

That juxtaposition of lightheartedness and serious education matters would also prove appropriate for a contest won by Owen. While the ranking of elementary-school teachers by their looks seems quite retrograde these days, her career was about more than her face. The principal of her school told LIFE that he had worried she would be “another discipline case” whom “those kiddos will take…by storm.” After a year of teaching, at only 21 years old, Owen had been dubbed “durable as she is fetching.”

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

Nell Owen, voted “prettiest school teacher in the U.S.” in 1953.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell Owen listened intently as sixth-grader Kathy Kennmer gave an extemporaneous speech to class.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mrs. Owen gave her students tips on speaking: “Don’t look off all around the room…if you don’t know what you’re talking about, nobody else will.”

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell Owen addressed her class in Dallas, 1953.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell Owen addressed her class, 1953.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell had been married for nearly two years to George Owen, a chemical manufacturer.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell’s students saw her off on her trip to Hollywood.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bound for Hollywood, Nell received farewell hugs from some of her students at the airport.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell and husband George boarded the plane for Hollywood.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nell enjoyed her visit to a Hollywood nightclub.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE’S Fashion Covers of the 1950s

November 22, 2019May 2, 2016 by

Today’s fashions are never divorced from those of the past—something to keep in mind while looking back at the fashions of the 1950s, as shown on the cover of LIFE. Throughout the decade, the magazine traced the evolution of fashion from demure tailored shirts and classic beach looks to casual college trends and elegant evening wear. (And, of course, “canasta pajamas.”) Perhaps these images will prove to be a trove of inspiration for the fashion-minded of today.

Liz Ronk, a photo editor at LIFE.com, curated this gallery. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

January 23, 1950 cover of LIFE magazine.

Gordon Parks LIFE Magazine

March 13, 1950 cover of LIFE magazine.

Gjon Mili LIFE Magazine

April 24, 1950 cover of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

May 15, 1950 cover of LIFE magazine.

Nina Leen LIFE Magazine

June 19, 1950 issue of LIFE magazine.

Nina Leen LIFE Magazine

September 11, 1950 cover of LIFE magazine.

Nina Leen LIFE Magazine

October 30, 1950 cover of LIFE magazine.

Martha Holmes LIFE Magazine

February 12, 1951 cover of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

March 5, 1951 cover of LIFE magazine.

Gordon Parks LIFE Magazine

May 21, 1951 cover of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

December 3, 1951 cover of LIFE magazine.

Sharland LIFE Magazine

January 7, 1952 cover of LIFE magazine.

Nina Leen LIFE Magazine

February 25, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

Nina Leen LIFE Magazine

April 14, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

June 2, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

June 23, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

Christa LIFE Magazine

August 25, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

John Raymond Solowinski LIFE Magazine

September 8, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

November 24, 1952 issue of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

January 26, 1953 issue of LIFE magazine.

Lisa Larsen LIFE Magazine

March 9, 1953 issue of LIFE magazine.

Philippe Halsman LIFE Magazine

May 11, 1953 issue of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

July 27, 1953 issue of LIFE magazine.

William Helburn LIFE Magazine

October 12, 1953 issue of LIFE magazine.

Sharland LIFE Magazine

December 21, 1953 issue of LIFE magazine.

Sharland LIFE Magazine

February 1, 1954 issue of LIFE magazine.

William Helburn LIFE Magazine

April 12, 1954 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

June 14, 1954 issue of LIFE magazine.

Christa LIFE Magazine

June 28, 1954 issue of LIFE magazine.

Paul Himmel LIFE Magazine

May 16, 1955 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

September 5, 1955 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

December 5, 1955 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

January 9, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

May 14, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

September 23, 1957 issue of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

January 27, 1958 issue of LIFE magazine.

Loomis Dean LIFE Magazine

March 11, 1958 issue of LIFE magazine.

William Helburn LIFE Magazine

August 11, 1958 issue of LIFE magazine.

Paul Schutzer LIFE Magazine

March 2, 1959 issue of LIFE magazine.

Milton H. Greene LIFE Magazine

November 16, 1959 issue of LIFE magazine.

Jack Robinson LIFE Magazine

Solving the Decades-Old Mystery of the Llama at the Party

January 19, 2022April 25, 2016 by

A llama walks into a party, and then what?

These photographs, taken by LIFE photographer Robert W. Kelley in 1959, show a very strange party in progress. A llama, a kangaroo, a monkey, some goats, several dogs and a couple of cats are all getting a bath in what appears to be an urban backyard. Later, in the same place and on what appears to be the same day, they attend a party with the pianist Skitch Henderson. The photographs never ran in the magazine, and nor did the story for which they were taken.

So what’s going on here?

Another LIFE story about a llama, published two years before these pictures were taken, offers a clue. It was a short one-page item about Animal Talent Scouts, a company run by Bernard and Lorrain D’Essen in New York City, who provided animal actors for theater and television—including Linda the Llama. A small photograph of Mrs. D’Essen in her living room shows a similar assortment of creatures: several dogs, a kangaroo and a llama. Among the dogs, the breeds also overlap—a basset hound, a sheepdog, a few greyhounds and what appears to be a saluki. The dark-haired woman in the later photos might be the same woman from the earlier photograph.

Contemporary news reports about the business which supply the information that Lorrain D’Essen worked in advertising, where she realized there was a market for trained animals for commercials also confirm that the D’Essen’s New York City home, at 331 West 18th St., had a yard. Other, wilder animals with the Animal Talent Scouts agency lived in New Jersey.

Here’s another clue: the date on the unpublished photos was May 1, 1959, just a couple of weeks before the release of Lorrain D’Essen’s well-reviewed memoir, Kangaroos in the Kitchen. (The book became a TV movie in 1982.) Was this perhaps a book party?

Though no record exists of that particular get-together, the evidence is overwhelming. These were no ordinary animals. They were—and remain—stars.

The llama smelled a woman’s hair, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The kangaroo and llama party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A group of animals, including a llama and kangaroo, were curious about bath time, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The kangaroo and llama party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The kangaroo was about to be bathed.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two cats looked down at the other animals getting a bath, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A small dog was bathed in a tub, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A llama and goat were bathed in the backyard, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Basset Hound was bathed in the backyard, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A kangaroo was dried off with a vacuum cleaner as a llama looked on, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A llama was dried off after a bath, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A llama dried off after a bath, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A monkey in the backyard, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pianist and conductor Skitch Henderson (center) enjoyed the llama’s company during a party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Siamese cat and kangaroo at the center of a party, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The backyard llama party as seen from above, 1959.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

See Photos of a Young Queen Elizabeth II Touring North America

August 11, 2021April 20, 2016 by

In 1957, when Queen Elizabeth II was about five years into her reign, she paid a visit to North America, complete with all the pomp and circumstance one might expect of a royal tour. She met with President Eisenhower and Vice-President Nixon; visited her subjects in Canada, where she opened a session of the country’s parliament; visited Jamestown, Va., site of the first permanent British settlement in America; and took in her very first American college football game, in which Maryland beat North Carolina. (Her take: “My, it’s exciting!”)

The visit wasn’t all parties. Coming in the midst of the Cold War, the alliance between the U.S. and Britain was as crucial as ever. As LIFE noted, the Queen’s visit coincided with another by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who was in Washington for “urgent policy talks” about Soviet accusations that the U.S. and Turkey were planning to attack Russian-armed Syria.

More than 60 years later, that alliance remains strong and so does the urge to celebrate.

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

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during their 1957 North America tour.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth II, 1957

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth at College Park’s Byrd Stadium during her 1957 North American tour.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “Close-up is provided as teams, Maryland, right, line up. Queen (center) is almost on scrimmage line.”

Hank Walker The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “Absorbed spectator, the Queen turns to question [University of Maryland President] Elkins. At right is Governor McKeldin.”

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “Accompanied by the President and met at the door by Mrs. Eisenhower, Elizabeth and Philip arrive at the White House for their four-day-stay.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth with Richard Nixon during her North American tour, 1957.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth II (L), Vice President Richard M. Nixon (C), and Prince Philip (2R), during a luncheon for the Queen during her North American tour in 1957.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth, Richard Nixon, Mrs. Eisenhower, and Prince Philip in Washington D.C. during the Queen’s North American tour in 1957.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth with U.K. Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd during her North American tour in 1957.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth visiting Jamestown, Va. Replica of colonists’ ship “Susan Constant” in the background.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “With `Parson,’ Queen visits James Fort Church replica.”

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: ” Decorated girl scout, Jennifer Ankers, gets notice. `You have a lot of medals,’ said Philip. `Six,’ she replied. In back is Governor Thomas Stanley.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “Mock prisoners, locked in the stocks for her edification, amuse the Queen. `Does it hurt?’ she asked, while Philip inquired, `Do they throw rotten eggs at you?’ The prisoners replied, `No.'”

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip during their North American tour in 1957.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and [Governor General of Canada] Vincent Massey during the Queen’s North American tour in 1957.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during their visit to Williamsburg, 1957.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth during her North American tour, 1957.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Grand Canyon: Stunning Color Photographs From 1947

January 14, 2020April 15, 2016 by

It could take up to five days for a tourist on muleback to reach Havasu Canyon in 1947. But take one look at the brilliant blue-green water of Havasu Falls, and it’s obvious why so many have decided to make that particular Grand Canyon excursion. As LIFE put it back then, “A tourist usually visits the Grand Canyon only long enough to realize how much more he could see and learn if he stayed longer.”

That image was one of the few photographs printed in color for a story LIFE ran that September about the Grand Canyon and its geology, history and wildlife and, last but not least, its appeal to tourists. The couple of color images that made it into the magazine, however, represented just a slice of what LIFE kept to itself or printed in black and white; a few of those unprinted images can be seen here. Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1919, and by the time that article was published, about a half a million visitors made their way there each year. Today, that annual count is ten times higher, with a whopping 5 million tourists exploring one of America’s greatest natural wonders.

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

Havasu Falls, at the canyon’s western end, are in the Havasupai Indian Reservation, which could be reached by a 14-mile horseback trip from the South Rim. The Indian name, Havasupai means “people of the blue-green water,” derived from the brilliant color of the lime-impregnated water of Havasu Creek.

Frank Scherschel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock