Page 78 – LIFE

See Photos of Disneyland When It Opened in 1955

January 19, 2023July 17, 2015 by

If a dream is a wish your heart makes, then Disneyland was, as LIFE declared one month after it opened on July 17, 1955, “the stuff children’s dreams are made on.” The brand new park featured a Frontierland complete with Davy Crockett museum, an Adventureland with hydraulically operated jungle animals and, of course, Sleeping Beauty’s castle, which would soon include a model torture chamber.

The $17 million park, built on a 160-acre site, was “the most lavish amusement park on earth,” but its opening day was a disaster. Traffic was backed up for hours, delaying celebrity guests. The temperature crept above 100 degrees, causing heels to sink into soft asphalt, while a plumbers” strike decommissioned all water fountains. Oh, and there was a gas leak, too. Practically everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Some parents also expressed dismay at the prices. “Disney had expected that $2 would see a child through enough of his $17 million wonderland, but mothers said twice that was needed to keep any enterprising small boy pacified,” LIFE wrote. Today, admission for a child under 10 is $93 not including the Mickey ears, Frozen wand or Goofyroni & Cheese.

But, said those mothers back in 1955, “as they emerged spent and spinning… it was probably well worth it.”

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

Correction, Aug. 10, 2018:
A caption in the original version of this gallery misstated the name of a train ridden by Mickey Mouse. The photo shows the Disneyland Railroad, not the Dumbo-inspired Casey Jr. Circus Train.

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland 1955

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland 1955

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Disneyland 1955

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Hole in its Dude Ranch Days

November 27, 2019July 10, 2015 by

The Jackson Hole valley today is a major hub of tourism in the American West: skiers in the winter, national park-goers in the summer and mountain lovers all year round. But long before the word “resort” became associated with the peaceful Wyoming locale its primary tourism draw was its dude ranches. Back then, its cowboy bars served actual cowboys, its main street was paved with dirt and its vast expanses were more populated with bison than with people. In 1948, LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the region’s quiet, dramatic beauty in vivid Technicolor, preserving it on film for posterity.

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

Jackson Hole 1948

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Young cowgirl Esther Allen trout fishing in String Lake. Teton Mountains behind.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Hole 1948

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Guests sitting around fireplace and listening to live music at Bearpaw Dude Ranch. Jack Huyler, the son of the owner, is playing guitar. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Room full of patrons gambling at The Cowboy Bar. Gambling was permitted during tourist season. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Hole 1948

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Highway 189 entering Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Hole 1948

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Lake and Grand Teton Mountain Range seen from the Ranch owned by Mr. and Mrs. Berol. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jackson Hole 1948

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moose feeding in stream, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Entering Jackson Hole from the east along the Blackrock Creek with the Grand Tetons in the background. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1948.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Satchel Paige When He Pitched for the Black Yankees

December 10, 2019July 9, 2015 by

Leroy “Satchel” Paige spent two decades pitching in the American Negro leagues before Major League Baseball, in 1947, began to integrate its ranks. When Paige debuted with the Cleveland Indians in July 1948, he was not only among the first black players in the league; he was also, at 42, the oldest rookie in the Major Leagues.

LIFE profiled Paige in 1941, years before joining Major League Baseball was a glimmer of a possibility. At that time, Paige pitched as a freelancer, working for whichever team would pay him the best fee. Major League pitchers, the magazine pointed out, typically played every fourth game, but Paige “pitches three games a week all season, winning most of them.”

Paige drew crowds thanks to his supreme talent—Joe DiMaggio said after facing him in a 1936 non-league game that Paige was the greatest pitcher he had ever batted against—and his outsize personality also attracted fans. He was a showman and a storyteller, bestowing playful nicknames upon his pitches (a changeup was a “two-hump blooper” and a medium-speed fastball was a “Little Tom”). And his performance seemed unaffected by his eating habits, which had him, reportedly, “consuming great quantities of ice-cold pop and hotdogs just before pitching.”

In 1971, Paige—who played his last game at the age of 59—became the first Negro leagues player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

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

Paige, here suiting up for the Black Yankees of the Negro Leagues, reared way back when he threw his best pitch, known as the cannonball.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige played some boogie woogie on the piano for his teammates.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige was as popular with the kids as boxer Joe Louis or dancer/actor Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige liked to drive big, fast automobiles, and his cars were usually bright red.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige was tough to beat on the baseball diamond but more prone to defeat at the pool table.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige’s wife, Lucy, was from Puerto Rico. They met while he was playing ball there. She didn’t speak English well at the time of the photo, and Paige knew only limited Spanish.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige got shined, clipped and manicured on three sides at once.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Paige, who hopped from team to team during his Negro Leauges career, warming up before a game.

George Strock The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The One Vintage Beach Accessory That Needs to Make a Comeback

August 7, 2021June 26, 2015 by

Outside of the Olympics and synchronized swimming competitions, it’s fairly rare to see swimming caps these days. It’s rarer still to see swim caps that give the illusion that the bather has two faces. But these poolside headpieces were all the rage in 1959, when LIFE featured them in a fashion story photographed by Ralph Crane called “Two-faced Swimmers in Crazy Caps.”

The caps were invented by a Long Island housewife, Betty Geib, to amuse her children. After they flew off the rack at a church bazaar, she started a new business, Betty Darling, selling her wares for $3 to $6. The serpent, kitty and sunflower designs, LIFE assured its readers, “are guaranteed to turn heads.”

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

Crazy Swim Caps 1959

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Crazy Swim Caps 1959

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Early Days of the Korean War

November 27, 2019June 25, 2015 by

On June 25, 1950, the Korean People’s Army of North Korea, with the backing of Joseph Stalin and against the backdrop of rising Cold War tensions, invaded South Korea. Two days later, having condemned the attack, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution recommending military assistance to the Republic of Korea, as South Korea was officially known. By July, the U.S. was embroiled in a war that would last three years and cost more than a million lives in battle and hundreds of thousands more among civilians.

Less than a month after fighting began, LIFE published a series of photos by photographer Carl Mydans, who had documented the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division’s landing in P’ohang-dong on July 18. Mydans captured the unease of entering the unknown in a very literal sense, as members of the Division set sail from Japan without knowing their destination. Two weeks later, the Battle of P’ohang-dong would begin, lasting for 15 days and ending with a victory for the U.N. Forces.

As Mydans wrote to LIFE’s editors in the letter below, which accompanied his film, much of this war photography had to be reviewed and approved by the U.S. government before publication, as it might otherwise weaken the security of a nation at war.

Though the impact of the war is still extremely palpable in North and South Korea–where the demilitarized zone divides an economic power from an impoverished, disconnected country, the Korean War is often referred to as a forgotten war in U.S. history, sandwiched as it is between World War II and the Vietnam War. Many Americans even during wartime tuned out news from the front lines after realizing that the conflict wouldn’t likely escalate to the level of the recently concluded Second World War. Congress never issued a declaration of war, with President Harry S. Truman calling it a “police action.” It wasn’t until the late 1950s that Congress formally designated the conflict a war.

Photographs like Mydans’, and those made by his LIFE colleagues David Douglas Duncan, Margaret Bourke-White and Michael Rougier, ensure that the war can never truly be forgotten. Though Mydans’ early photos document the quiet days before battle, it’s impossible to look at them now without knowing the horrors that each of those men would face in short order.

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

The first U.S. infantry outfit to shed blood in the Korean war was the 24th “Victory” Division, three of whose men are shown aboard a jeep in Korea. This image was on the cover of LIFE on July 31, 1950.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

These soldiers of the 1st Cavalry left Japan for what was, to them, an unknown destination.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

P’ohang-Dong’s harbor was dotted with landing craft to take men ashore. A scouting party had already reported there was no opposition. This was the fastest amphibious landing in history—planned and staged in 10 days.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

These GI’s didn’t yet know what mission they were on.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

General Hobart R. Gay and Rear Admiral J.H.Doyle, Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 1st Cavalry in Korea, July 1950.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Battle-dressed GIs boarded landing craft for a short ride to the beach at P’ohang-dong.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 1st Cavalry in Korea, July 1950.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1st Cavalry GI’s on a jetty leading to a harbor beacon at P’ohang-Dong.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jeeps being unloaded with help from Koresn people..

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Newly arrived troops gathering at the beach and awaiting orders. Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 1st Cavalry in Korea, July 1950.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A GI standing by tank-busting 75-mm, recoilless rifles.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The 1st Cavalry in Korea, July 1950.

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Korean War July 1950

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE’s Celebration of a Year in High School, 1958.

April 13, 2022June 18, 2015 by

The haircuts are different and the hemlines are shorter, but the 1958 graduating class at Long Island’s Hempstead High was as ready for a taste of freedom as today’s outgoing high school seniors are. To commemorate graduation season that year, LIFE’s Gordon Parks photographed the students for a mini-yearbook the magazine ran in that year’s June 23 issue.

LIFE’s yearbook assigned senior superlatives, such as most popular girl (Jeanette Duggan), most talkative girl (Judy Krug) and best student (Jimmy Edwards). It recognized the students” favorite teachers, like foreign language teacher Helen Ignelzi (“a fanatic on irregular verbs!”) and English teacher Mary Church (“she did a mean Charleston, but she really dug the cha-cha-cha”). And it recounted the students” fondest memories of their final year in high school, “like the time Mr. Zara came to school in a red nightgown.”

Despite LIFE’s yearbook’s similarities to the ones hot off the presses this year, perhaps the most striking difference between those students and today’s is one that’s not visible in the photographs: their future plans. In 1960, just a couple of years later, fewer than half of high school graduates enrolled in college. Nearly 50 years later, the number is approaching 70%.

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

Hempstead High School class of 1958.

Gordon Parks The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hempstead High School class of 1958.

GORDON PARKSGordon Parks The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hempstead High School class of 1958.

Gordon Parks The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hempstead High School football captain Butch Lopez scored a dramatic touchdown in a football game against Uniondale High School in New York, 1958.

Gordon Parks/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hempstead High School business teacher Louis Zara hiked up his pants while giving a lecture in his classroom, 1958.

Gordon Parks/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock