Page 85 – LIFE

Go For a Swim With Bellybutton the Diving Dog

January 14, 2020August 26, 2015 by

One of the coolest dogs to appear in the pages of LIFE has to be Bellybutton. The 3-year-old German shorthaired pointer made an impression in 1966 with his underwater agility.

Bellybutton was unique not for his swimming abilities, but for his willingness to dive to retrieve an object. Most dogs retrieve sticks and balls from the water’s surface, but Bellybutton would go as deep as 20 feet and remain submerged for up to 15 seconds. He even practiced his skill on his own one day, LIFE reported, “he dived unbidden into a lake and fetched his master a 10-inch catfish.”

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

Bellybutton would swim underwater for distances up to 20 feet.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

German pointer Bellybutton dove for a rubber bone.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton reached the pool’s bottom to retrieve the bone.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton neared the rubber bone.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton returned to the surface.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton raced against a human swimmer to capture the bone.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton exited the pool via the stairs.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton carried his rubber bone.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton shook himself dry.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton received a post-pool rubdown.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bellybutton after a swim.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Beyond Bond: Rare Photos Of Sean Connery from LIFE Magazine

November 1, 2020August 25, 2015 by

The link between the actor Sean Connery and the character James Bond has proved to be an indelible one, no matter what Connery himself thought of that fact. The Scottish actor, who passed away on October 31, told Playboy in a 1965 interview that although the role had treated him well he was “fed up to here with the whole Bond bit.” He found the fact that fans identified him with the secret agent “a bit of a bore,” and lamented the lack of recognition for his other roles.

Still, as the first man to play Bond on screen, the association stuck. And when LIFE Magazine featured Connery on its cover in 1966, he posed naturally as his famous alter ego, in a tattered, drenched wetsuit unzipped to his navel. The photograph accompanied a review, inside the magazine, of Thunderball, Connery’s fourth installment in the franchise and, according to LIFE, the “wildest 007 movie yet.”

LIFE’s reviewer, echoing some of the movie’s other critics, censured the film for being “just like the three James Bond movies that preceded it.” It’s an analysis that mirrors the feelings of ennui Connery spouted to Playboy but that doesn’t mean the fans didn’t flock to theaters to see more of the same: The movie was the most successful Bond flick yet.

Connery would, of course, go on to play a diverse array of roles in the 40 years to come. And if anyone pitied him for being temporarily pigeonholed, they needn’t have. “I have always moved around and kept my eyes open and been prepared to raise my middle finger at the world,” he told Playboy. “I always will.”

For more of our favorite Sean Connery photos from the LIFE Picture Collection, see the gallery below.

From the Movie “Another Time, Another Place”

Actors Sean Connery and Lana Turner in scene from movie “Another Time, Another Place,” 1958 (Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection)

Actor Sean Connery (L) starring in scene from motion picture ‘The Hill’.

Actor Sean Connery starring in scene from the film “The Hill,” 1965 (Al Fenn/LIFE Picture Collection)

Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot

Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot laughing on set of the film “Shalako,” 1968 (Bill Ray/LIFE Picture Collection)

Sean Connery

Sean Connery on set of the film “Shalako,” 1968 (Bill Ray/LIFE Picture Collection)

Brigitte Bardot and Sean Connery

Sean Connery on set of the film “Shalako,” 1968 (Bill Ray/LIFE Picture Collection)

Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot

Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot on set of the film “Shalako,” 1968 (Bill Ray/LIFE Picture Collection)

Sean Connery

Portrait of Sean Connery, 1982 (DMI/LIFE Picture Collection)

Sean Connery with Singer Diana Ross, 1997

Sean Connery with singer Diana Ross, 1997 (DMI/LIFE Picture Collection)

See Eero Saarinen’s Career in Photos

August 8, 2021August 20, 2015 by

We sit in his chairs, road-trip to his iconic landmarks and even worship in his churches. Eero Saarinen, born in Finland and educated in the U.S., was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. Since his death at age 51 from a brain tumor, he has been outlived as is the fate of all successful architects by the work he created, neofuturistic designs that have become a permanent fixture of our landscape.

The son of the renowned Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, the junior Saarinen grew up in his father’s workroom, and the two entered into a partnership after Eero completed his studies at the Yale School of Architecture. His work ranged from the grand the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch in St. Louis to the everyday, as with the chairs he designed both on his own and with Charles Eames.

Here, on what would have been his 105th birthday, is a selection of Saarinen’s work photographed for LIFE Magazine from the in-demand, design-oriented furniture to the landmarks that define American cities. Though his aesthetic was eclectic, it can be summed up in four words, as LIFE put it following Saarinen’s death in 1961: “poetic inventiveness, monumental simplicity.”

Eero Saarinen at home 1958

Frank Scherscehl The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen, 1953

Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Saarinen House in Detroit, 1958.

Frank Scherscehl The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fountain in front of new Law Library designed by Eerro Saarinen, 1961.

Andreas Feininger The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The TWA terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen, 1961.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch designed by Eero Saarinen, 1965.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch designed by Eero Saarinen, 1965.

A.Y. Owen The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Walled-in glass bank designed by Eero Saarinen, 1967.

John Loengard The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Interior of North Christian Church designed by Eero Saarinen, 1967.

John Loengard The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Crowds out side of the North Christian Church designed by Eero Saarinen, 1967.

John Loengard The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This Rescued Lion Became a National Sensation—and Father to 33 Cubs

January 14, 2020August 18, 2015 by

The story of Frasier the lion might have ended gruesomely. At the age of 19—the human equivalent of 75—and no longer of use to the Mexican circus that owned him, he faced a preemptive death. But fate twisted kindly for the aging lion. In 1972, he ended up south of Los Angeles at Lion Country Safari, along with a group of other wild cats that had been sent north for a new life.

From the way LIFE Magazine described him, the staff at Lion Country likely expected Frasier to live out his days in a lazy retirement. “He is underweight and splay-footed,” the editors wrote. “His fur resembles an old moth-balled coat, and he sleeps 19 hours a day. The muscles in his tongue are so shot that it unreels from his mouth like a slobbery red carpet.”

But, as LIFE interjected, “appearances aren’t everything.” Frasier was quickly placed on a special diet replete with vitamins, and he began to put on some weight. Much to his handlers” surprise, he then became a hit with the lionesses. Within one day of meeting him, the same lionesses that refused to mate with several young guns “were sprawled protectively around Frasier,” bringing him choice meats at mealtime and waiting to eat until he was finished. Seven weeks later, they were all pregnant. Within 16 months, he had fathered 33 cubs.

LIFE called him “the country’s reigning sex simba.” Frasier fan clubs sprung up, sending the lion more than 1,500 letters each month and purchasing t-shirts and bumper stickers emblazoned with his face.

Frasier’s virility was not entirely unusual for a lion, and its continuation into old age may be explained, at least in part, by a life in the circus, where there were no other lions to compete with. When Frasier died of pneumonia in July, 1972, members of the Scottish Fraser clan performed traditional funeral rites, donning kilts and playing dirges on the bagpipes. He was buried beneath a cross on the grounds of Lion Country.

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

Frasier the lion, 1972.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier with his lionesses and cubs.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier rested alongside some of his lionesses and cubs.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier enjoyed a nap.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

With most of his tongue muscles shot, Frasier’s tongue hung out of his mouth most of the time.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier merchandise included sweatshirts, buttons and bumper stickers.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A lioness and cubs nuzzled in close to a sleeping Frasier.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Most days, Frasier slept for around 19 hours.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier and several lionesses stood together at the Lion Country Safari, located south of Los Angeles.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier with his lionesses and cubs.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Frasier watched a school bus full of children drive by the Lion Safari.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

More From the Scene of That Famous V-J Day Kiss in Times Square

January 14, 2020August 14, 2015 by

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photograph of a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square, after news broke of the Japanese surrender in World War II, has lived a storied life since it was taken on August 15, 1945. Often called “The Kiss,” it became the iconic image of celebration at war’s end, a black-and-white bookend separating an era of darkness from the beginning of a time of peace. It has also in recent years received a sort of #metoo infamy, after the woman in the photo said that the kiss was nonconsensual.

But “The Kiss” was not the only photograph taken that day, nor was Eisenstaedt the only photographer navigating the boisterous New York City festivities. Another LIFE photographer, William C. Shrout, brought a different set of negatives back to the office that day, with his own perspective on the people’s response to peace.

While Shrout’s photos have much in common with Eisenstaedt’s—kisses abounded that day—they capture one thing that Eisenstaedt couldn’t easily have captured: images of Eisenstaedt himself. In one photo, Eisenstaedt kisses a reporter, his camera slung over his shoulder, in a pose not unlike that of the famous kiss he photographed that day. In another, he and that women walk toward Shrout, bright smiles on their faces.

Shrout’s images of a host of other anonymous embraces help put that famous kiss in context. And Shrout’s images of the man behind that photo remind us that, even if a photojournalist is meant to be an impartial witness to history, he is also a part of the history he is witnessing.

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

Eisenstaedt’s iconic photo: A jubilant American sailor clutched a dental assistant in a back-bending kiss at a moment of spontaneous joy about the long awaited WWII victory over Japan. Taken on V-J Day, 1945, as thousands jammed Times Square. In recent decades this iconic photograph has engendered condemnation, after Greta Zimmer Friedman, the woman being kissed by the sailor (believed to have been George Mendonsa) said that the kiss was nonconsensual. In 2019, shortly after Mendonsa died at age 95, a statue of the kiss in Florida was tagged with #metoo graffiti.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

V-J Day celebrations in Times Square, August 14, 1945.

William C. Shrout The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt and a reporter during V-J Day celebrations in Times Square, August 14, 1945.

William C. Shrout The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt kissed a reporter during V-J Day celebrations in Times Square, August 14, 1945.

William C. Shrout The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Endearing Deer of LIFE

January 14, 2020August 13, 2015 by

If there were a competition for saddest Disney movie, Bambi would be tough to beat. The 1942 animated film about a fawn whose mother is shot down by a deer hunter is, for unassuming tots, a brutal introduction to the hard knocks of life, its edges softened only by the cuteness of its woodland creatures and plucky orchestral soundtrack.

Bambi, like many of Disney’s disadvantaged heroes and heroines, ultimately perseveres to make a family of his own. In the spirit of persevering deer everywhere, here is a collection of LIFE Magazine’s most peaceful fawns, does, stags and bucks.

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

November 8, 1954 cover of LIFE magazine

Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tourists fed deer in the Redwood Forest, 1945.

Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mother and baby deer, 1946.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actor Claude Jarman Jr. held a baby deer for a scene in the movie “The Yearling,” 1947.

Walter SandersThe LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A tule elk and key deer photographed circa 1940s.

Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bucky the deer enjoyed life as a house pet, 1948.

Jon Brenneis The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

A 15-month-old pet deer named Bucky lies next to a small kitten, 1948.

Jon Brenneis The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Two men fed deer on the 1,000 acre park at Knole, the ancestral estate of Lord & Lady Sackville in England, 1949.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A deer stood in a wooded stream, with its reflection in the water, 1952.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Italian actress Pier Angeli posed with a deer, 1954.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Italian actress Pier Angeli with a deer, 1954.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A deer cooled his heels along the Oregon seashore, 1960.

Dmitri Kessel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Rainbow trout rested in tributary of the Madison River while a fawn drank at water’s edge; the photo was taken by camera placed inside partially submerged glass enclosure, 1961.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Father and son fed a wild deer in Yosemite National Park, 1962.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A young boy played with a fawn and deer at a petting zoo, 1962.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Animal rescuer John Walsh held onto a deer which he rescued out of the flood waters in Suriname, 1964.

Stan Wayman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A deer with large antlers stood silhouetted against the sky, 1966.

Stan Wayman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A park ranger held a deer rescued from flooded section of the Everglades, 1966.

Lynn Pelham The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Deer on Gardiners Island, 1966.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A white-tailed deer drank from the banks of Cheat River, 1967.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

More Like This

animals

Go For a Swim With Bellybutton the Diving Dog

Beyond Bond: Rare Photos Of Sean Connery from LIFE Magazine

See Eero Saarinen’s Career in Photos

This Rescued Lion Became a National Sensation—and Father to 33 Cubs

More From the Scene of That Famous V-J Day Kiss in Times Square

The Endearing Deer of LIFE

The Look of a Westminster Champion

When Tiger Cubs Come to Stay

Sharks: Fear and Fascination

Meet Lady Wonder, the Psychic Horse Who Appeared Twice in LIFE

Before Moo Deng: Little Hippos in LIFE

The First Beagles Whose Ears LBJ Just Had to Tug

More Like This

Subscribe to the LIFE Newsletter