Written By: Olivia B. Waxman, Liz Ronk
Friends are the best. In good times, in bad times… in these times. Here’s a survey of some of the best friendship photos from LIFE Magazine’s archive of iconic 20th-century photography. Along with some ordinary folks on a fence and some improbable inter-species bonds, you’ll find evidence of friendship among some of the greats of film, stage and song.
For Rita Hayworth in 1940, friendship meant packing up jelly sandwiches for a bicycle picnic. For Lauren Bacall, it meant being gabbing with girlfriends in her hotel suite at the Gotham in Manhattan—a meaningful location, as LIFE explained in 1945, because she and her friends had gone there as teens to gawk at celebrities. They had once followed Bette Davis into an elevator and had also been thrown out for trying to sneak into a party, which drove Bacall to announced that when she was famous, she would stay there. (“She not only did that when she and Bogart came to New York in February,” the article noted, “but brought along her dog Droopy, an elderly spaniel, despite a house rule prohibiting dogs in the hotel.”)
For Jimmy Stewart, friendship meant returning to his roots, bass fishing with a friend in for a 1945 series on the entertainer coming home to Indiana, Pa., after four years as an Army bomber pilot during World War II. Jimmy “did not catch any fish but enjoyed himself anyway,” LIFE reported.
And for renowned jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Carter, recognizing their friendship was even easier, thanks to a signature handshake that, as LIFE noted in 1948, was often imitated by the devotees of their music. It’s no wonder: the rituals of friendship give you the reassuring feeling that you’re all in this together.
Actress Rita Hayworth (2R) rode bikes with her friends Minerva Griswold, Jane Hopkins and Virginia Hovey, 1940.
Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Friends sat on a fence and sang along to the guitar, 1941.
Hansel Mieth The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A stallion tried to make friends with a barn cat, 1943.
Hansel Mieth The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Jimmy Stewart (right) went bass fishing with his friend Clyde “Woodie” Woodward, upon his return from World War II, 1945.
Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Kindergarten children played in Hawaii, 1945.
Eliot Elisofon The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Lauren Bacall with friends at the Gotham Hotel, 1945.
Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A boy and his dog, Oskallsa, LA, 1945.
Myron Davis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Actress Joan Caulfield and friends enjoyed the sun while a reporter interviewed her, 1946.
Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Suzy Creech and a friend played “Red Riding Hood,” 1946.
Frank Scherschel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Teenagers danced at a party, 1947.
Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
War veteran Donald Sonius (R), an Iowa Univ. student, held the hand of his daughter Karen, along with his friend and fellow veteran student Charles Smayda.
Margaret Bourke-White The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
“Bebop” jazzman Dizzy Gillespie showed his friend Benny Carter how to do a special handshake, 1947.
Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Donald, the dog-loving duck, rode on the back of his swimming pal Rusty, a cocker spaniel, 1949.
Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Good friends Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift had fun on a studio lot, 1950.
Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Young Richard Dale, left, began to adjust to his new environment when he found a friend, Ernest, during chapel services at a boy’s ranch.
Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Friends from the Children’s School of Modern Dancing played at the beach, 1953.
Lisa Larsen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Former Confederate soldier John Salling, estimated to be 106 years old, sat with friends in Scott County, 1953.
Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A baby chimpanzee held a kitten at Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s hospital, 1954.
W. Eugene Smith The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Archery provided entertainment for a group of friends at a teenage party, 1956.
Yale Joel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Two young girls washed their doll clothes, 1957.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Hempstead High School seniors roared with laughter as they looked over pictures in their newly published yearbook, 1958.
Gordon Parks The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Judge John D. Voelker relaxed with friends in a tavern, 1958.
Al Fenn The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Sophia Loren with her pal, LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1961.
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Friends walked on a summer day, 1962.
Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
