LIFE

Fairy Tale Moments: American Debutantes in Versailles

February 17, 2026 by Bill Syken

In 1958, a group of 48 young American women traveled to France to make their social debut in the most grand of settings—the Palace of Versailles.

The Versailles debutante ball was designed to be a counterpart to a New York City high society event called April in Paris that was a celebration of relations between France and America.

LIFE’s story on this event, headlined “U.S. Debs Go to Versailles” described at least one debutante as being driven to tears of joy from being celebrated in such a grand and historic setting— even if not every detail was perfect:

Showered with gifts from sponsors (among them Lanvin, Air France and Coty), the girls whirled through a non-stop 24-hour program. They roamed the Versailles gardens, lunched at the Ritz, finally danced all night at the glittering Orangerie on the palace grounds. There were some hitches in the elegant program: about 600 uninvited guests got in by flashing calling cards engraved with noble names. A sparrow swooped in and stole a ribbon off the dance floor and bats whirred about in the vaulted ceilings of the Orangerie. But nothing could spoil the evening for the dazzled—and dazzling—debutantes. As one tearfully happy girl said, “If I had known five years ago I would someday make my debut at Versailles!”

The pictures by LIFE staff photographer Loomis Dean capture the party in all its magnificence. The pictures of these young women in their flowing gowns moving about a palace and its grounds look like scenes from a fairy tale. One shot of the young women ascending a wide stone staircase looks particularly heavenly.

The debutante balls at Versailles were an annual event until 1968. That year France was in the grips of a massive general strike, and the vibes resembled those of the French Revolution, when Versailles was famously stormed by people who were infuriated by the gap between society’s haves and have-nots.

So the ball was cancelled that year, and it was not picked up again. And so a decade of debutante debuts at the old palace came to an end.

American debutantes visited Versailles for a coming-out ball, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the palace grounds of Versailles, debutantes Bonnie Wilkie (left) and Barbara Buchanau (right) rehearsed for their ball with Mrs. Hervey Kent, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American debutantes visited Versailles for a coming-out ball, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This formal luncheon preceded a ball for U.S. debutantes at the Palace of Versailles, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Debutantes Margery Shufford (left) and Sarah Bohannon descended the stairs at the Orangerie at the Palace of Versailles to rehearse for a ball for U.S. debutantes, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American debutantes visited Versailles for a coming-out ball, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Versailles was lit up for a ball featuring U.S. debutantes, 1958.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Making of Times Square’s “Anatomical Artistic Atrocity”

February 4, 2026 by Bill Syken

Times Square has long been known for its advertising displays. The Manhattan crossroads was termed an “illuminated theater of American commerce” in one history. And in 1948 one Times Square billboard ventured for theatricality in a way that caught the attention of the editors of LIFE magazine—whose offices were only a few blocks away.

The billboard promoted Bond Clothing, which was a major men’s retailer of that era and operated a store in Times Square from 1940 to 1977.

LIFE magazine’s story about it was headlined “New Spectacular.” (Back then the term “spectacular” referred to billboards that had an extra level of showmanship. The most famous example might be the cigar billboard that blew smoke rings.)

Here’s how the magazine described the arrival of the new Bond Clothing spectacular:

Last week the Square got its biggest and strangest sign—a hugely anatomical atrocity mounted on the roof of a block-long Bond clothing store. The sign’s most notable features: a waterfall 132 feet wide and figures of a man and a woman, each five stories high. The statues were draped only in 175 yards of neon tubing.

While claiming to be aghast at the “atrocity,” LIFE nonetheless ran seven photos of it in the magazine, tracking the giant figures from their construction to their installation in Times Square.

Looking at the photos taken by Martha Holmes, it’s hard not to appreciate the curiosity value. Whether it’s the image of a craftsman nonchalantly smoothing the surface of the giant breasts, or passers by in Times Square gawking at these massive pieces of shaped cement, the effect is an eye-catching mix of the surreal and the juvenile. It all brings to mind Julia Roberts’ musings about men’s anatomical fixations in the movie Notting Hill.

The photo which best captures the spirit of the moment is the shot of two women in overcoats posing next to the breasts, giddy smiles on their faces.

Back then it was Martha Holmes taking the photos. Were pieces of statuary like this set out in Times Square today, the number of selfies taken would be incalculable.

The heads of the figures that were going to be part of a Times Square display weighed about 600 pounds each, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man stood atop pieces of a giant statue about to be displayed in Times Square as an advertisement for Bond Clothing, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An artisan worked on part of an advertising display for Bond Clothing that was about to go into place in Times Square, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Parts of a giant display in Times Square awaited their deployment, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women posed alongside a part of a sculpture that was soon to be lifted into place in Times Square as part of a display for Bond Clothing, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This giant head was set to be part of a Times Square display for Bond Clothing, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man examined a sculpted pair of breasts, which sat next to an enormous head on a flatbed trailer in Times Square, New York, May 1948. The pieces were part of a building-mounted advertising campaign for Bond Clothing.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pieces of an advertising display for Bond Clothing were lifted into place in Times Square, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People in Times Square watch as pieces of a giant display for Bond Clothing are about to be lifted into place, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pieces of an advertising display for Bond Clothing were lifted into place in Times Square, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An enormous billboard display for Bond Clothing started to come together in Times Square, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Giant figures draped in neon were part of a Times Square display for Bond Clothing, 1948.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

George Silk’s Images of New Zealand: A LIFE Photographer Goes Home

January 30, 2026 by Bill Syken

A 1960 LIFE story carried the headline “Lovely Land Too Far Away.” The story was about the country of New Zealand, which is distant to everyone living in America, but must have seemed especially so to LIFE staff photographer George Silk when he was missing the country where he was born and raised.

The story was about Silk returning home and photographing his country of origin. Here’s the words LIFE used to introduce readers to New Zealand:

His homeland is a country roughly the size of Colorado, divided into two big islands, some little ones, and separated by a 1,000 miles of South Pacific from the nearest land mass. It is a land which, for its size, packs in more natural wonders than any on earth. They range from the beautiful, mile-deep waters of Milford Sound locked serenely within their mile-high mountains to caves, unmatched anywhere, which shimmer with a mystic blue illumination cast by the taillights of millions of glow worms.

This story was actually the second time that Silk had photographed his home country for LIFE. He also did so in 1946, about three years after he started with the magazine. Pictures from both photo essays are presented here.

New Zealand is known for its physical beauty—the popular Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, which was shot there and has inspired film-related tours, certainly helped get the word out. Many of Silk’s photos capture his homeland’s natural wonders. The 1946 set includes a stunning shot of tourists traversing the Fox Glacier. In 1960 Silk took another photograph of tourists in an ice cave at the Franz Josef Glacier that is every bit as breathtaking.

But Silk’s photos make clear that his affection for his homeland goes far beyond its natural wonders. The 1946 set highlights the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. His pride shines through in images of young White and Maori schoolgirls together at school, or of a former serviceman working to construct public housing, or of children receiving free dental care en masse at a government facility. (Back then New Zealand was on the forefront of socialized medicine, though the country’s approach to healthcare has actually evolved in a more capitalist direction in recent decades).

But no matter the subject, the photographs are suffused with the spirit of a photographer who wants to show the world how wonderful his homeland is.

The most personal shot in either set was taken in 1960. In that photo Silk’s niece stands on the shore and eats an oyster she has just plucked from the ocean, in violation of local fishing laws. The story said that when Silk was a boy his mother would send him to that beach to harvest oysters and bring them to her—she didn’t want to go herself for fear of getting caught.

It’s an of image of the joy of youth that people from anywhere can relate to.

A motorist was stuck on the highway amid a mob of sheep on their way to market, New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo essay on New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A White and Maori child at a New Zealand school, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo essay on New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In New Zealand, children received free dental care inside government-owned dental clinic, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo essay on New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

heep grazed in a pasture around a lake at the foot of the mountains, New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A black sand beach in New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A young woman fed trout by hand in New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dust rose up from the bed of the Waimakariri River in New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo essay on New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A former serviceman worked on a government housing project in New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A guide led tourists through the pinnacles and crevices on the Fox Glacier in New Zealand, 1946.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In New Zealand a tour guide led a vacationing farmgirl through a cave at the South Island’s Franz Josef Glacier, 1959.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo essay on New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hikers in New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hikers in New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo essay on New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mitre Peak (center( reflected in Milford Sound on the Southwest coast of New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children rode a tricycle with their school bags, New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A sailboat race in New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Volunteer lifeguards at a beach near Auckland, New Zealand, 1959.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jeanette Morgan, niece of LIFE photographer George Silk, swallowed a sweet rock oyster she had just caught, 1959.

George Silk/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hanging Out With Sheena, Queen of the Jungle

January 23, 2026 by Bill Syken

Wonder Woman gets more hype—and not without reason—but the first female character with her own comic book title was actually Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Sheena was basically a female version of Tarzan, and if she doesn’t linger in the collective consciousness the way that Wonder Woman does, it is due in part to the popularity of the adaptations that followed. Wonder Woman had a memorable 1970s TV show and a blockbuster movie in 2017. The only major movie treatment that Sheena ever received was a 1984 box-office dud starring Tanya Roberts, and on television the most recent effort was a syndicated TV series starring Gena Lee Nolin that ran from 2000 to 2002.

But Sheena did get come to life on the screen first, in a 1950s television show starring actress and model Irish McCalla. The strapping Nebraska native and Vargas girl was modest about her qualifications for the role. She later said “I couldn’t act, but I could swing through trees.”

And in fact McCalla did swing through trees for a photo session with LIFE photographer Loomis Dean. The shoot took place at the World Jungle Compound in Southern California, which was both a theme park and a training ground for movie animals. And while that first Sheena, Queen of the Jungle wasn’t a big hit—it lasted 26 episodes—McCalla made impression. One young fan named Carol Hatfield, who went on to become a writer, reminisced that McCalla presented a vision of femininty that was ahead of its time. “She was the only female portrayed on the tube who didn’t conform to the fifties stereotype,” Hatfield wrote. “Sheena was a real rugged individualist.”

In later life Hatfield would interview McCalla for a “Where are they now”-type television show, and she reported that during the filming of Sheena, McCalla did not get along with her chimpanzee co-star.

That’s surprising because, in the photos that Loomis Dean took, McCalla and the chimp seemed to have the kind of chemistry that most human actors can only dream of. The silhouetted photos of the two primates hanging from branches exude a flair that is rare to find in publicity shots.

One fun note about the character of Sheena is that her most lasting contribution to pop culture is likely a song from the Ramones, “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.” Nothing in these photos would do anything to dispel the notion that Sheena could rock.

Irish McCalla starred in ‘Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle,” 1955.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Irish McCalla, star of the television series ‘Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,’ posed with a chimpanzee named Neal at the World Jungle Compound, Thousand Oaks, California, 1955.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Irish McCalla, star of the television series ‘Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,’ posed with an elephant at the World Jungle Compound, Thousand Oaks, California, 1955.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Irish McCalla, star of the television series ‘Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,’ posed with a chimpanzee named Neal at the World Jungle Compound, Thousand Oaks, California, 1955.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Irish McCalla starred in ‘Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle,” 1955.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

See LIFE’s Best On Display in New York

January 20, 2026 by Bill Syken

Though February 21, 2026 the Staley Wise Gallery in New York City is running a show called “Looking at LIFE,” which features some of the most popular photos from the history of the magazine.

In this brief interview the gallery’s director, George Kocis, explains how the show came together.

LIFE: How did you select which photos would appear in this show?

GEORGE KOCIS: We made print-outs of every single photograph available from the LIFE archive – over 600 images! We also considered images by photographers Harry Benson, Abe Frajndlich, and William Helburn, who we work with directly and whose work appeared in the magazine. From this, we chose 75 or so of our favorites, and pretty quickly discovered thematic groups and stories that we could tell and which would inform the physical design of the exhibition. It was our privilege to have access to such a vast body of work, but painful to not include everything that we wanted due to space constraints!

LIFE: What would you describe as the distinctive appeal of the LIFE brand of photography?

GK: LIFE was particularly great at reflecting the “real life” of its readers right alongside images of aspiration and glamour. Our exhibition includes this kind of diversity as well – we have photographs of baseball fans in Brooklyn, oil field workers in Texas, and World War II soldiers saying goodbye to their wives at Penn Station – but also photographs of Al Pacino and Diane Keaton shooting “The Godfather”, Princess Margaret’s wedding, and Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn at the Academy Awards. There are even pictures that combine those perspectives, such as Peter Stackpole’s 1947 photograph of actor Jimmy Stewart in his Colonel’s uniform at his father’s hardware store in Pennsylvania when he left Hollywood to enlist in the Army Air Corps.

LIFE: The show has been up since December. What kind of reactions have you had from visitors?

GK: Many visitors to the exhibition have said that they remember waiting for LIFE magazine to arrive in the mail each week! We’ve also had a few editors that worked for the magazine and people currently and formerly in the publishing industry come to see the exhibition and that’s been very interesting to hear their perspective and experience. Younger visitors don’t share that nostalgia, of course . . . they’re as familiar with the brand of “LIFE” as they are with McDonald’s and Nike, but they have rarely seen the magazine or these images before.

LIFE: Are there particular images in the show that stand out to you as remarkable, or that exemplify LIFE’s appeal?
There’s hardly a more iconic image than the “VJ-Day Kiss” by Alfred Eisenstaedt, which has been a well-known symbol of patriotism and joy since it was taken in 1945 but which has also more recently been parodied by the Simpsons and inspired contemporary painter Amy Sherald. LIFE’s photographers also had the opportunity to highlight an outsider’s perspective of the familiar, which is why Leonard McCombe’s picture of men enjoying some ice cream in Iowa is unexpectedly poignant – as a Brit who recently obtained his US citizenship, McCombe noted that “I began to notice the difference in my own countrymen. I’d never even seen men eating ice cream (that was only a children’s treat in England). But by now . . . I feel I am a citizen of the place where I belong”. My personal favorite in the exhibition might be John Dominis’ photograph of a priest ice skating – another great union of a familiar subject in an unexpected context.

LIFE: What has your gallery done to display these photos in a way that gives their historical context?
GK: In addition to the photographs themselves, the exhibition includes scans from the actual pages of LIFE magazine with corresponding anecdotes about some of the photographers and the images – most of which are included on our website, too. This collection of work is informative and educational – and also entertaining and simply fun to see! We hope that visitors will enjoy each of these photographer’s contributions to LIFE magazine and recognize these images’ historical and cultural significance. Staley-Wise Gallery has always celebrated photography that has appeared primarily in magazines, and this exhibition continues that tradition.

Below are a selection of images from the show.

“Eyes right” is executed with near-military precision by men aboard a New York-bound 20th Century Limited train as movie star Kim Novak eases into her seat in the dining car. Originally published in the March 5, 1956, issue of LIFE.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collecltion/Shutterstock

Brooklyn went wild after the Dodgers’ win in 1955.

Photo by Martha Holmes/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shuttetrstock

Steve McQueen is seen driving a sleek and stylish sports car on the streets of Los Angeles, California in June 1963.

John Dominis / LIFE Picture Collection /Shutterstock

Jackson Pollock worked in his Long Island studio, 1949.

Martha Holmes/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962.

Paul Schutzer The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Models posed a race track betting window at Roosevelt Raceway., New York.

Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Little League 1954

Yale Joel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

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

While his father chatted with a customer at the hardware store, a uniformed Jimmy Stewart set up a date to go fishing, 1945.

Peter Stackpole/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Watching Bwana Devil in 3-D at the Paramount Theater, 1952

J.R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Green Pastures: The First Broadway Show With an All-Black Cast

January 8, 2026 by Bill Syken

When the play The Green Pastures debuted on the stage on February 26,1930, it was more than a groundbreaker. Not only was it the first Broadway show with an all-Black cast, but it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was so successful that the show ran for a year and a half, until August 29, 1931. After that the show toured the country, playing in all but eight U.S. states before coming back to Broadway in 1935.

LIFE, which published its first issue in 1936, wasn’t around for that original performance. But it was able to shine a spotlight on The Green Pastures during a 1951 revival, with staff photographer W. Eugene Smith documenting the action.

The play, adapted from a 1928 book Ol’ Man Adam an’ his Chillun by Roark Bradford, features stories of the Hebrew bible as told by a young Black child in the South. The central character of the play is De Lawd, who in the 1951 production was played by William Marshall, a deep-voiced 6’5″ actor whose long career on stage and screen would include many productions of Shakespeare’s Othello—and also the title role in the 1973 blaxploitation film Blacula.

LIFE’s opening of its 1951 story about The Green Pastures gives some of the flavor of the show:

Once again on Broadway the curtain went up on a heavenly fish fry, and Gabriel shouted, “Gangway for De Lawd…” De Lawd walked among his angels, and tasted a spoonful of custard. “I kin taste de eggs and de creme and de sugar,” he said, and then added, “It needs a little more firmament.” There was no firmament left in the jug so De Lawd passed a miracle to create some. And before you knew it, he had also created the Earth, complete with Adam and Eve.

While the play is historically significant for its casting and won decoration and success, it was not universally loved in its time. Black critics questioned the show’s idealized depiction of the Depression-era rural South for not reflecting the harsh reality of Jim Crow.

And while the show’s original run was a business success, the 1951 revival that LIFE covered was not. While the magazine termed The Green Pastures “a lovable piece of American folklore,” it also noted that ticket sales were weak and the show would close ahead of schedule.

Since that 1951 revival The Green Pastures has not been staged again on Broadway, making the show both a milestone and a relic all at once. LIFE’s headline “Last Glimpse of De Lawd” proved more prescient than the magazine’s editors might have expected.

A scene from a 1951 performance of The Green Pastures, which when it debuted in 1930 was the first Broadway show to feature an all-Black cast.

W. Eugene Smith/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In the play The Green Pastures, De Lawd (played by William Marshall) talks to a child about the evils of playing dice, 1951.

W. Eugene Smith/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a 1951 performance of The Green Pastures, which when it debuted in 1930 was the first Broadway show to feature an all-Black cast.

W. Eugene Smith/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In a scene from the 1951 performance of The Green Pastures, built around stories from the Old Testament, Hebrews march out of Egypt.

W. Eugene Smith/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scene from a 1951 performance of The Green Pastures, which when it debuted in 1930 was the first Broadway show to feature an all-Black cast.

W. Eugene Smith/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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The Green Pastures: The First Broadway Show With an All-Black Cast

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