Glenn Gould: Eccentric Genius at Play

In 1956, just as the age of Elvis Presley was dawning, classical music offered the world its own young superstar—one whose music would make a mark in a different but also enduring way.

Pianist Glenn Gould made his debut recording at age 23 with one of the most important classical recordings of the 20th century: his take on J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The record elevated both Gould and what had previously been regarded as a relatively minor piece of the Bach canon.

LIFE took readers inside the world of this budding star with a story headlined “Music World’s Young Wonder.” The story described Gould equally talented and peculiar:

Gould has…a set of the most earnest eccentricities in the music business. Almost everything gives young Glenn trouble. His health, always precarious, keeps him tossing down pills. His voice gets out of control as he plays and its crooning ruins some of his recordings.

The story made much of Gould’s mannerisms: “High-strung ball players stepping into the batter’s box have less ritual to run through than Gould requires before sitting down at the piano.” His pre-performance routine included removing the two sets of gloves that he wore to keep his fingers warm and then soaking his hands in warm water. Next he took what LIFE described as “circulation pills” before removing his shoes and setting himself down on a special chair.

LIFE photographer Gordon Parks joined Gould in the studio to capture the scene as Gould recording music by Beethoven and Bach. Parks’ photo of Gould bent over the piano in his signature posture as he records Bach while sound engineers hover overhead is one of the most popular in the LIFE print store.

Another of Parks’ photos captures the mannerism for which Gould was most famous—that previously-mentioned tendency to hum or vocalize when he was at the keyboard. Look at the photo which shows Gould leaning back and laughing. He is amused because the producers just played back a recording and he is realizing that he inadvertently ruined a take with his vocal noises.

All these decades later, Gould’s music continues to fascinate. In 2017 Columbia Masterworks released as a set the two separate records Gould had made of the Goldberg Variations—his debut record in 1956 and a fresh take on the music in 1981, a year before Gould died. Pitchfork gave the 2017 release a rare perfect 10 rating.

Preparing to make recordings of Bach and Beethoven at a Columbia recording studio, pianist Glenn Gould (right) discussed his approach to one of the pieces with a producer, 1956.

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Glenn Gould sampled pianos at a Steinway warehouse before choosing one for his recording session at a Columbia recording studio, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Glenn Gould sang as he sampled pianos at a Steinway warehouse before choosing one for his session at Columbia Recording studios, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould carried his special folding chair which he insisted upon using when he played the piano, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pianist Glenn Gould removed his outer gloves to reveal an underset of fingerless knitted ones which he wore even in the summer in order to keep his hands supple for performing, 1956.

Pianist Glenn Gould studied a Bach piano score while discussing with an engineer how he was going to record the sections in a Columbia recording studio, 1956.

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Glenn Gould, before a recording session, soaked his hands in lukewarm water to limber up his fingers, gradually raising temperature to hot before performing, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould performed Bach in a recording studio while engineers and directors followed the score and looked on from glassed-in booth, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A shoeless Glenn Gould listened to playback of his Bach performance at a Columbia recording studio; he would decide that he needed to do this section over, 1956.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Glenn Gould listened intensely to playback of his performance of Bach at a Columbia recording studio, 1956.

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Glenn Gould laughed as engineers let him hear how his singing spoiled his Bach recording. In response he offered to wear a gas mask to muffle the noises he made while performing, 1956.

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Pianist Glenn Gould at age 23, during a recording session in 1956.

Pianist Glenn Gould (right) ate a lunch consisting of graham crackers and milk cut to half strength with bottled sprig water while sitting at sound engineers table at Columbia recording studio, 1956.

The Greatest Motorcycle Photo Ever

Not only did Rollie Free set the world speed record for a motorcycle back in 1948—he looked darn good doing it.

The key to setting the record for Free was cutting down on wind resistance. So when the 47-year-old accelerated his Vincent HRD Black Shadow, he positioned his body to be as horizontal as it could. Also, he wore only swim trunks as he whipped across the hard pack of the Bonneville Salt Flats. His plan worked to perfection, setting a record of 150.313 miles per hour.

The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame calls the picture of Free’s record-setting ride “one of the most famous photos in the history of the sport.” LIFE staff photographer Peter Stackpole’s image of Free is also one of the most popular prints in the LIFE photo store.

In LIFE’s coverage of the event the magazine actually used a different photo, taken from a wider angle. That shot is majestic in its own right, giving more emphasis to the Utah landscape and also the black line that had been painted on the ground for Free to use as a guide.

All the shots in this gallery have their charm. The ones of Free’s friends giving him a push as he started out are pretty classic. The details in Stackpole’s photos are evocative of their era, from Free’s everyman physique to the media coverage of the speed record being dominated by still photography.

Free’s record has long since been broken. The current mark of 376.363 miles per hour was set in 2010 by Rocky Robinson—once again in Bonneville. While in 1948 Free rode a conventional-looking motorcycle, Robinson set his mark in a vehicle that looks more like a two-wheeled car, down to its encased cockpit. This meant that Robinson had no need to strip down to a bathing suit and position his body at an exotic angle, or do anything else that would result in a photo for the ages.

Rollie Free getting ready to break the motorcycle speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rollie Free getting ready to break the motorcycle world’s speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rollie Free getting ready to break the motorcycle world’s speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rollie Free accelerated as he readied to break the motorcycle world’s speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photographers captured Rollie Free breaking the motorcycle world’s speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rollie Free, laying horizontally on his bike to reduce wind resistance, broke the world’s speed record for a motorcycle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, September 13, 1948.

eter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rollie Free breaking the motorcycle world’s speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter StackpoleLife Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rollie Free on the day he broke the motorcycle world’s speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, 1948.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dearly Beloved: LIFE’s Best Prince Photos

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.”

Prince invoked those words at the beginning of his song Let’s Go Crazy, which opened Purple Rain (both the movie and the album). Even though Prince had been making records for years before 1984’s Purple Rain, that release established him as both a major music star and also a singular one.

In his prolific career Prince released 39 studio albums and five live albums, and while the recorded music has brought joy to millions, his greatest work of art may have been his persona. He was a musician who carried himself like some sort of high priest. He managed to look like he was about to do something amazing even before he had done anything.

So it’s no surprise that still images of the music-maker have a special power. Prince is the subject of many photos in the LIFE picture collection, and two of those images–one from the Purple Rain tour and another of him playing the guitar in 1985—are among the best-sellers in the LIFE Print Store.

Most of the photos in this collection are of Prince working his magic on stage. But the photo at the end of this gallery shows Prince, face covered with a jacket, attempting to get away from photographers. Despite being a master of public image, he was not always ready for his closeup.

Prince in concert, 1985.

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Prince At The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, 1986.

American musician Prince (1958 – 2016) performs on stage during a pre-tour concert at the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California, May 30, 1986

Prince, circa 1988.

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Prince On Stage

American musician Prince (1958 – 2016) plays guitar onstage during his ‘Purple Rain’ tour, Long Beach, California, March 10, 1985.

Prince, circa 1995.

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Prince, circa 1995.

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Prince, circa 1991.

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Prince, circa 1988.

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Prince

American singer, songwriter and musician Prince, circa 1985.

Prince performed at the Forum in Inglewood, California, February 17, 1985.

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Prince, with Wendy Melvoin in the background, performed in Los Angeles, March 1985.

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Prince in concert, circa 1995.

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Prince at a Hollywood event, January 12, 1986.

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Prince, 1996.

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Prince performned, circa 1985.

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Prince on stage, 1988.

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Prince doing his best to frustrate the paparazzi, circa 1985.

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Keeping a Historic Secret

The Aug. 20, 1945 issue of LIFE was filled with momentous news. It reported on the U.S. dropping the first atomic bombs, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, wrought unprecedented devastation and hastened the end of the World War II.

Along with coverage of the bombing, that issue of LIFE had a related story about the government’s massive facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. For years the doings at that facility had been a closely guarded secret, but now the truth could be told. LIFE’s story on Oak Ridge was headlined “Mystery Town Cradled Bomb.”

The goverment’s facility at Oak Ridge employed tens of thousands of people during the war. LIFE reported that Oak Ridge had dormitories for 13,000 people and barracks for 16,000, as well as 10,000 homes and apartments. There were also ten schools. That was all for a workforce that was largely unaware that Oak Ridge, along with locations in Los Alamos, N.M. and Hanford, Wash., was the home of the Manhattan Project.

Here’s how LIFE described the air of secrecy that permeated Oak Ridge:

Construction workers by the thousands came, labored and, sworn to secrecy, departed silently. Names famous the world over arrived anonymously, advised and departed like shadows. Guardedly—for over their heads always hung the threat of 10 years in prison or a $10,000 fine—Oak Ridge’s laboratory men, clerks, stenographers and scientists probed each other’s information without result. Supremely careful planning had compartmentalized work and therefore knowledge.

Photos by LIFE staff photographer Edward Clark helped pull back the veil. One distinctive trait of Oak Ridge was its sheer size—the facility was big enough to sustain its own economy, including shops and movie theater. The makeshift business district resembled an updated version of what one saw in the mining towns of the old West.

Then there was the signage around Oak Ridge, which hammered home the importance of secrecy.

One of Clark’s photos in particular captured the tight-lipped atmosphere. The photo shows a man reading a sign which says “What you see here/What you do here/What you hear here/Let it stay here.” Clark’s image is one of the most popular in the LIFE photo store. One imagines people are buying a reproduction of it to hang in their office—or, better yet, their rec room, where the photo might take on the spirit of “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

Of course the original purpose for this sign could not have been more serious. The secret of Oak Ridge was one that reshaped the world.

The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Security checked a visitor’s car at the government’s Oak Ridge facility entrance, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This sign at the government’s Oak Ridge facility, where the atomic bomb was developed, warned employees not to talk about their work, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A roadside sign on roadside near the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

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Workers leaving the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shops at the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shops at the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A movie theater at the government’s massive Oak Ridge facility, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A sign at the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus: Intellectual Titan

In 1968 LIFE magazine summed up the appeal of French philosopher and author Albert Camus with a single sentence: “Camus looked directly into the darkness as saw sun—the human spirit.” The line came from a review of Camus’ book “Lyrical and Critical Essays.” And the fact that LIFE was reviewing such books at all is a throwback to a time when mainstream American media regularly chronicled the doings of French intellectuals.

LIFE ran its biggest story on Camus in October 1957, right around the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for fictional works such as The Stranger, The Plague and The Fall, and philosophical writings such as “The Myth of Sisyphus.” Camus was a mere 44 years old at the time, and he remains the second-youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, after Rudyard Kipling.

LIFE’s 1957 story about Camus carried the headline “Action-Packed Intellectual” and began with the note that he “jealously guards his privacy.” But the author relented enough to allow LIFE staff photographer Loomis Dean a rare window into his life. Dean documented Camus at his publishing office, at home with his family, and preparing to direct a staging of his play Caligula. Camus declared to LIFE, “I consider myself an artist first, almost exclusively. What is an artist? Principally a vital force, and of that, frankly, I think I have almost too much. It wears me out.”

The most famous photo from Dean’s shoot—which is also one of the most popular images in LIFE’s online print store—is of Camus standing on the balcony of his Paris publishing offices. Camus looks like an avatar of 1950s intellectual cool. He even takes a drag on a cigarette, a throwback to the days when smoking was less taboo.

In the original story the image of Camus on the balcony ran with this quote from him: “I don’t like to work sitting down. I like to stand up—even at my desk. I probably need to wear myself out.”

It’s the kind of intellectual who could become popular—one who doesn’t take anything sitting down.

French author Albert Camus at the office of his Paris publishing house, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author and philosopher Albert Camus stands with an unidentified woman and reads one of a number of letters on a balcony outside his publishing office, Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus leaned against a radiator in his office, Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author Albert Camus, on the set of his play Caligula, 1957.

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Albert Camus directed a rehearsal of his play Caligula, Paris 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus directed actors during a rehearsal of his play ‘Caligula.’ Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus smoked a cigarette outside Theatre des Mathurins, where the rehearsals of his play Caligula were taking place, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus kissed actress Dominique Blanchar after a rehearsal of his play Caligula, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus and actress Dominique Blanchar after a rehearsal of his play Caligula, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus (center) rehearsed with actors for his play Caligula at an outdoor Shakespeare theater in Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus (center, next to woman in glasses) dined with a group at a Paris restaurant, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author Albert Camus sitting in the garden of his Paris home with his 11-year-old twins Jean and Catherine, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author Albert Camus poised at home with his 11-year-old twins Jean and Catherine, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gordon Parks on Alberto Giacometti and his “Skeletons in Space”

In its heyday LIFE magazine introduced a great many artists to the country at large. Perhaps the most famous instance of this was its star-making profile of Jackson Pollock, but there are many other examples.

In 1951 LIFE showcased the sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Like Pollock, Giacometti’s works were instantly recognizable. His style was bluntly captured in LIFE’s headline: “Skeletal Sculpture: Artist Whittles Men to Bone.”

The story described how Giacometti arrived what it called his ‘stalagmatic style”:

Sculptor Giacometti, son of Switzerland’s foremost impressionist painter, started out 30 years ago producing conventional statues. But he lost his way among the innumerable details of the head and body which seemed to clutter up and conceal the underlying form of human beings. “I felt I needed to realize the whole,” he says. “A structure, a sharpness….a kind of skeleton in space.” To arrive at this “essence of man,” Giacometti gradually reduced his figures to pin size, then gradually stretched them out again to pipeline silhouettes whose slender fragility suggests the perishable nature of man himself.

For that story Giacometti posed for legendary LIFE staff photographer Gordon Parks. The meeting of these two artists resulted in one of the most popular images for sale in the LIFE photo store.

That image is part of this gallery, as are several other frames that Parks took of Giacometti and of his work. Also included here is a photo of a Giacometti work taken by Yale Joel that cropped up in the background of a LIFE story from 1960 about art collector G. David Thompson. He was one of the most prominent art collectors of the 20th century, and he owned 70 works by Giacometti.

Alberto Giacometti in his studio, surrounded by his sculptures, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sculptor Alberto Giacometti in Paris, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti in his studio, 1951.

Gordon Parks.Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, surrounded by sculptures in his studio, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Giacometti sculpture on a Parisian street, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

These Giacometti animal sculptures lived not far from Giacometti’s Paris studio, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sculptor Alberto Giacometti, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Art collector G. David Thompson, 1959, with a Giacometti sculpture; he owned 70 works by the artist.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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