Page 72 – LIFE

Genius at Work: W. Eugene Smith with Sinatra, Stravinsky, and Other Masters

December 14, 2019February 11, 2016 by

When LIFE photographer W. Eugene Smith photographed Frank Sinatra, Marian Anderson, Igor Stravinsky, Benny Goodman and others at the RCA and Columbia studios in 1951, he didn’t just shoot them making music. He also captured quiet moments of self-evaluation that are in themselves a key part of the creative process. Knowing that the public would be listening to and judging these recordings for years to come, “they listen with feelings of despair, approval or plain exhaustion to the playbacks of their own music,” LIFE explained.

What follow is is a rare and intimate look at these artists in their times of creation.

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

Frank Sinatra and musicians in a studio during a recording session at CBS.

W. Eugene Smith The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Patrice Munsel, tea thermos handy, curled up and beat time to herself performing an aria from Fledermaus.

W. Eugene Smith The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gregor Piatigorsky unhappily listened to a movement being played back.

W. Eugene Smith The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rudolf Serkin, his hair bristling, listened with deep absorption to his Beethoven Emperor Concerto.

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Marian Anderson listened doubtfully to her Brahms Alto Rhapsody. But the orchestra applauded her performance.

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Eyes closed and their faces mask-like in deep reverie, Helen Traubel (left) and Herta Glaz (right) sat in recording booth with sound engineers listening to their duet from Tristan.

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The face of genius is here preoccupied with the correct time—a necessity for a man of Igor Stravinsky’s precise schedules.

W. Eugene Smith The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Comedian Jimmy Durante and opera star Helen Traubel join in A Real Piano Player. Jimmy was serious during his duet with her.

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Composer Marc Blitzstein and conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein (right) studied the score of a Blitzstein work during a recording session.

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Conductor Leopold Stokowsky smoked a cigarette and listened during a recording session.

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Pearl Bailey in a CBS recording session.

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Conductor Artur Rodzinski seems dejected as he heard playback of Franck’s D-Minor Symphony, which he had just led. But when it ended he said, “Fine! I like it.”

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Jazz musician Mary Lou Williams, music in front of her, listened to playback of a recording she has just made.

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Clarinetist Benny Goodman smoked a cigarette while listening in a CBS recording session.

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Dorothy Kirsten, glamour girl of the Met, recorded Puccini arias after first removing all her rings and bracelets, which might jingle and spoil the recording.

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An outtake from a 1951 LIFE photo essay on recording artists.

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Frank Sinatra and musicians in the studio during a recording session at CBS.

W. Eugene Smith The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shirtsleeved Isaac Stern played a Tchaikovsky concerto with Alexander Hilsberg.

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Opera singer Eleanor Streber drank water during a CBS recording session.

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Before Zoolander, There Was Harkrider: An Early Look at Male Models

January 14, 2020February 10, 2016 by

In 1961, LIFE’s Eleanor Graves profiled a man named John Harkrider, the founder, owner, talent scout and booking agent of the Harkrider male model agency. That such a profession even existed might have surprised many of the magazine’s readers, for whom Graves’ explained the phenomenon that was sweeping the world of fashion and advertising:

There was a time, not too long ago, when the best salesman for anything in the world was a pretty girl…If a man crept into any of these pictures, he supplied only a shoulder to lean on or a hand to light the match. Today all this has changed. Men, often especially rugged types distinguished by eye patches, beards or tattoos, have moved to center stage, and it is now often the young lady who holds the match.

For modern readers, the main point of reference for male models is the 2001 comedy classic Zoolander (“so hot right now.” ) But the real life of a man like Harkrider or one of his models wasn’t exactly the glamorous fictional fashion world of the movies. The majority of the scout’s roster of nearly 2,000 had been recruited by Harkrider himself, whose daily routine involved walking up to strangers on the streets of New York City and declaring, “You’ve got a million-dollar face!” before leaving them with his business card.

The agent trained his men in the art of yes. “Never say no,” he told them. “If they ask you if you can be there tomorrow afternoon in a suit of armor, say yes. I’ll get it.” And with a diverse roster of men and boys of varying ages and looks, his ability to meet clients” needs was second to none: “On a recent morning in his New York office he received requests for: a man covered with freckles from head to toe, a teen-ager willing to swim with a shark, a man who would remove his dentures on TV, a Chinese man with a pigtail. Within half an hour the requests were filled.”

He may be but a footnote in fashion history but, for the thousands whose face drew his attention, Harkrider was nothing if not the patron saint of the male model.

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

Agent John Harkrider gave orders to a large group of his young male models before he took them en masse to the office of prospective client.

Yale Joel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Harkrider talked to a construction worker about possible modeling work.

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John Harkrider talked to a group of construction workers.

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John Harkrider, 1961.

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Agent John Harkrider talked to a potential male model.

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Harkrider often roamed the streets of New York followed by a posse of models.

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Male models recruited by John Harkrider.

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Harkrider showed off fashion photos of male models.

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Harkrider and his recruits.

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Harkrider worked his magic on potential models.

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A male model received instruction during a photo shoot.

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The New Hampshire Primary, 1968: Nixon vs. Romney

January 19, 2024February 8, 2016 by

On Tuesday, Feb. 9, this year’s crop of presidential candidates will duke it It may look relatively mellow compared to the politics of today. But the 1968 New Hampshire primary, as it turns out, had its own fair share of crazy.

The major candidates in that year’s primary on the Republican side were George Romney and Richard Nixon—who would, of course, go on to become the 37th president of the United States. Despite Romney’s showing as the “most energetic by far of all the candidates,” the Michigan governor would collect less than 2% of votes. On the Democratic side, President Johnson had not yet decided whether to run (he ultimately would not) and Robert F. Kennedy had yet to announce his candidacy (he would be assassinated only months later), but Eugene McCarthy had already come out as a challenger.

But the most colorful stories from New Hampshire that year could be found with the lesser known candidates, in whom LIFE’s Assistant Editor Margery Byers took a special interest.

For example, there was Austin Burton, “a Republican who makes psychedelic posters in Greenwich Village.” Burton attempted (and was ultimately not allowed) to declare his candidacy under the name Chief Burning Wood, explaining that he was “one eighth Indian and was made a chief by three Oneida princesses on a TV show.”

There was also Don DuMont, a Republican Good Humor salesman from Chicago whose campaign cards described him as “a 64-year-old, up-to-date Good Humored square with rounded corners.” The only “false thing” about him, he said, were his brand new teeth. Meanwhile, Herbert F. Hoover, fourth cousin of the former president, was running an anti-war campaign but his slogan “Peace is Possible” was drowned out by detractors joking, “I thought you were dead.”

Then there was an Ozark farmer named Laurence Smith. If elected as vice president, Smith planned to “repatriate” black Americans to Africa.

Needless to say—considering that the governor of Michigan couldn’t even crack 2%—Smith, DuMont and their compatriots in the margins—barely registered on in the voting booths on that cold New England day.

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

In Rochester, N.H. a Nixon volunteer pushes cookies.

Arthur Schatz The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Supporters of Richard Nixon during the 1968 New Hampshire primary.

Arthur Schatz The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1968 New Hampshire Primary

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At the state university in Durham, George Romney pats a fraternity snowman.

Arthur Schatz The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

George Romney meets and greets during the 1968 New Hampshire primary.

Arthur Schatz The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “Romney’s campaign style on a street in Portsmouth, N.H., is to collar and sales-talk individual voters— even reluctant ones.”

Arthur Schatz The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Original caption: “[Romney’s] most valuable ally is his wife Lenore, a onetime actress and a better public speaker than her husband.”

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Republican candidate Austin Burton, who went by the name Chief Burning Wood.

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Richard Nixon campaigning in Nashua.

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Original caption: “Manning a receiving line were Pat Nixon, daughters Tricia, 22, and Julie 19, and David Eisenhower, 19—Ike’s grandson who is engaged to Julie.”

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Original caption: “David, Julie and Tricia hike the streets of Exeter.”

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Original caption: “David gives the girls an exuberant hug. All three attend college, but they hope to continue working part time for Nixon.”

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Supporters of Richard Nixon during the 1968 New Hampshire primary.

Arthur Schatz The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Skiing’s Early Days as a Popular American Pastime

November 24, 2019January 28, 2016 by

Skiing is somewhere in the vicinity of 22,000 years old not as sport or recreation, but as a critical mode of transportation for early hunters. But skiing as Americans know it today, complete with high-speed chairlifts and cozy lodges selling overpriced French fries, only began to boom in the mid-1950s. With the advent of artificial snow and metal skis during that decade and plastic boots the next, more Americans took up the sport. Ski resorts, in turn, introduced new amenities to attract bigger crowds with each passing year.

LIFE photographer George Silk hit the slopes in 1957 to capture the building frenzy. A record 3.5 million skiers ad made their ways down America’s mountains the previous year, and several of the resorts he visited in Vermont—Stowe, Mount Snow, Mad River Glen—were host to ever more luxurious lodges, high-end apparel and, most of all, epic crowds. “As the peak late-February season approached,” LIFE declared, “the question was where all the skiers would find room to ski.”

The more skiers there were, the more the businesses rose to meet their demands. Mount Snow served up almost 20,000 hot dogs in a single weekend. Equipment rentals, previously unavailable, now came with free lessons. At Mad River Glen, skiers at the end of a long run could shed their gear and slip into a Catholic Mass. The only folks who weren’t pleased were the “old-line ski addicts,” who viewed new adopters of their sport as “a nuisance that crowds the slopes and inns they once had to themselves.”

But the newcomers were there to stay. Before long they would have snowboarders up on the mountains too.

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

On Spruce Peak, VT., Harry Larsen climbs from her new lodge.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Skiers unload from a train at Stowe, Vermont, 1957.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Skiers board a chairlift at Mount Snow in Vermont, 1957.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fashion on the slopes at Mt. Snow, Vermont, 1957.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Workers maintain the slopes at Stowe, Vermont, 1957.

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A family before a run at Stowe.

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Patty McMahon gets a push from her mother at Stowe.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The McMahon kids get comfortable on their skis, Mount Snow, Vermont, 1957.

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Learning how to fall is an important part of the sport, 1957.

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A packed chairlift at Mount Snow in Vermont, 1957.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hooded skiers shuffle slowly toward a chair life at Mt. Snow. Cloaks were provided by lift operators to keep skiers warm on windy ride up the mountain.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The double-chair lift at Mt. Snow gave novices a luxury usually enjoyed only by crack skiers.

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Manufactured snow, blowing from nozzles, veils skiers in mists at Bousquet’s, near Pittsfield Mass. During a January thaw, Bousquet’s was jammed with skiers unable to ski elsewhere.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

12 Powerful Photos of Martin Luther King Jr.

January 15, 2021January 15, 2016 by

When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April 1968, LIFE magazine remembered him for his “exalted dream of freedom,” one he “died in Memphis for daring to have.” The editors’ words, wondering aloud how the movement would fare in the absence of its most outspoken leader, still resonate today as a new chapter in American civil rights continues to unfold:

King was a thoroughly good man who achieved greatness by showing forth the Negro cause at its best. His was the old American cause of equal rights for all men, and King put it in the form in which this generation of Americans must face it. His death may hinder or help that cause; perhaps both. But all of us owe him the honor of not letting ourselves distort, becloud or belittle the cause he brought to such noble purity of expression.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the anniversary of King’s birth on Jan. 15, 1929, here are some of the most powerful images of King made by LIFE’s photographers.

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

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. stands in front of a bus at the end of the Montgomery bus boycott, Montgomery, Alabama, Dec. 26, 1956.

Don Cravens / The LIFE Images Collection

Rev. Martin Luther King speaking from pulpit at mass meeting about principles of non-violence before leading an assembly to ride newly integrated busses after successful boycott.

Don Cravens / The LIFE Images Collection

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at ‘Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom’ at Lincoln Memorial, 1957.

Paul Schutzer / The LIFE Picture Collection

Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery Alabama, 1958.

Grey Villet / The LIFE Picture Collection

Martin Luther King Jr. holds his son Martin III as his daughter Bernice and wife Coretta greet him at the airport upon his release from Georgia State prison after his incarceration for leading boycotts, 1960.

Donald Uhrbrock / The LIFE Images Collection

Martin Luther King Jr. (center) speaks with Rev. Ralph Abernathy (2nd from right) and others, 1961.

Paul Schutzer / The LIFE Picture Collection

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. addressing rally in Detroit, 1963.

Francis Miller / The LIFE Picture Collection

Leaders of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom march with signs (from R-L): Matthew Ahmann, Floyd McKissick, Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Eugene Carson Blake and an unidentified man.

Robert W. Kelley / The LIFE Picture Collection

Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks with President Lyndon B. Johnson during a visit to the White House, 1963.

Stan Wayman / The LIFE Picture Collection

Martin Luther King, Jr leads a prayer in a church before the second Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights march, also known as ‘Turnaround Tuesday’, Selma, Ala., March 1965.

Frank Dandridge / The LIFE Images Collection

Floyd B. McKissick, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael participate in a voter registration march after its organizer, James H. Meredith, was shot and wounded, 1966.

Lynn Pelham / The LIFE Picture Collection

Martin Luther King, Jr. sits with demonstrators who walked through Mississippi to encourage voter registration, 1966.

Vernon Merritt III / The LIFE Images Collection

How Auto Shows Revved Up Excitement at the Apex of the Auto Age

December 15, 2021January 13, 2016 by

The cars of the 1950s were different. They were designed for looks as much as for aerodynamics. They were so about so much more than their utility, a way to get from point A to point B, They were vehicles of adventure and style, the things that popular musicians wrote songs about. And the arrival of the new model year created the kind of excitement that today we reserve today for announcements of the latest phones. ‘

LIFE’s Walter Sanders went to a New York car show previewing the new models for 1957—historically recognized a great year for cars—and captured the glitz and glamour of that particular moment in history, which tells plenty about the place that the car held in the imagination of America in that age.

The National Automobile Show, held at the now-demolished New York Coliseum, featured an older kind of pageantry. Automakers drew attention with models posing as hood ornaments and “a thirty-minute musical revue” called “”America on the Move,” repeated six times daily. A new vehicle model was rarely seen unaccompanied by a live human model, clad in a regal dress as she pointed out its features.

LIFE’s story in its Dec. 17, 1956 issue (which featured a baptism on its cover) was headlined “Car Makers Sound a Mighty Toot for 1957.”

“The color motif of turquoise, gold and red-orange mirrored the jaunty mood of the automobile industry,” LIFE magazine declared in its report, which said that the show presented 66 trucks and buses and 124 passenger cars. The show was a big enough of a cultural moment that Richard Nixon, then vice president of the United States, showed up and gave a speech.

Were those old cars better? It’s a matter of debate, especially when you consider that throughout the fifties those gas guzzlers averaged about nine miles per gallon and lacked all the high-tech safety features that have been the focus of the auto industry’s recent creations.

Still, it’s hard to look at these pictures and not get charmed by the excitement of that moment.

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