The Manson Family on Trial: Madness Visible

In 1971, Charles Manson and several of his followers—Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Louise Van Houten—were convicted in the era-defining Tate-LaBianca murders that horrified not only Los Angeles, where the murders took place in the summer of 1969, but the entire nation. (Manson was convicted, in essence, as a “conspirator,” as he was not present at the killings, but ordered them to be carried out.)

The ferocity of the murders; the seeming randomness of the violence; and the chilling, bottomless weirdness of the Manson cult itself incised a terrible, indelible black mark on the late 1960s.

But it was during grand jury testimony and at the trial of Manson and his followers with the trial itself serving as a kind of bleak circus that lasted nine months, from the summer of 1970 to the spring of 1971 that the nation was able to gauge just how deeply unhinged “the Family” truly was.

Carving x’s in their foreheads? No problem. Shaving their heads to show solidarity with their leader? Done. Blocking entrances to the courthouse, chanting, singing, treating the trial and, by extension, the murders themselves like a trip to the amusement park? For the Manson clan, it was all grist for their cheery, death-adoring psychopathy.

After all, if Manson, Krenwinkel and the rest were going to be tried and (quite obviously) convicted of mass murder by the “establishment” and “the pigs” they despised, the least their brothers and sisters in the Family could do was show the world that, in the universe they inhabited, the killers were not truly criminals at all, but instead were iconoclasts. Rebels. Heroes.

Here, LIFE.com presents pictures from late 1969, when Manson and his co-defendants were finally indicted and charged in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

All these years later, the sight of Manson and his dead-eyed acolytes is still ghastly. But as long as pictures like these bear witness, the people whose lives were taken—Sharon Tate; Jay Sebring; Wojciech Frykowski; Abigail Folger; Steven Parent; Leno and Rosemary LaBianca—will remain in sight, and those who slaughtered them will be remembered not (as some would have it) as wayward, misled children, but as men and women who entered the homes of strangers and in a spasm of savagery ended life after life after life.

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

Charles Manson is led to court for a grand jury appearance in California in 1969.

Charles Manson was led to court for a grand jury appearance in California in 1969.

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson in custody, 1969.

Charles Manson in custody, 1969.

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson in custody, 1969.

Charles Manson in custody, 1969.

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson supporter outside the courthouse during his murder trial, Los Angeles, 1970.

A Charles Manson supporter outside the courthouse during his murder trial, Los Angeles, 1970.

Michael Rougier The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson supporters outside the courthouse during his murder trial, Los Angeles, 1970.

Charles Manson supporters outside the courthouse during his murder trial, Los Angeles, 1970.

Michael Rougier The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson supporter outside the courthouse during his murder trial, Los Angeles, 1970.

A Charles Manson supporter outside the courthouse during his murder trial, Los Angeles, 1970.

Michael Rougier The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Deputy district attorney Vincent Bugliosi in the Los Angeles Hall of Justice being interviewed at the beginning of grand jury hearings in the Tate-LaBianca murders, 1969.

Deputy district attorney Vincent Bugliosi in the Los Angeles Hall of Justice was interviewed at the beginning of grand jury hearings in the Tate-LaBianca murders, 1969.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Manson Family member Susan Atkins leaves the Grand Jury room, Los Angeles Hall of Justice, December 1969.

Manson Family member Susan Atkins left the Grand Jury room, Los Angeles Hall of Justice, December 1969.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Manson Family member Susan Atkins, 21, emerges from a Los Angeles courtroom after grand jury testimony, December 1969.

Manson Family member Susan Atkins, 21, emerged from a Los Angeles courtroom after grand jury testimony, December 1969.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson in custody, 1969.

Charles Manson, 1969

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tate-LaBianca murders, grand jury hearings, 1969. "Manson Family members Lynn 'Squeaky' Fromme, 21, and Sandra Pugh, 26, who brought her 2 1/2 month-old baby, Ivan, to court, said they knew nothing of the Tate murders. 'Manson was magnetic," Sandra says. 'His motions were like magic.'"

Manson family members Lynn “Squeaky” Fromme, 21, and Sandra Pugh, 26. Pugh brought her two-and-a-half month-old baby, Ivan, to court. They said they knew nothing of the Tate murders. “Manson was magnetic,” Pugh said. “His motions were like magic.”

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Manson Family members, Lynn "Squeaky" Fromme and Sandra Pugh, 1969.

Manson Family members Lynn “Squeaky” Fromme and Sandra Pugh, 1969.

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Charles Manson and his attorney, 1969.

Charles Manson and his attorney, 1969.

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE Magazine December 19, 1969

LIFE Magazine December 19, 1969

Dustin Hoffman: Early Photos of an Actor on the Rise

Look at the titles and roles for which Dustin Hoffman is best known, and you’ll see clear proof that the Los Angeles native is one of the most accomplished screen actors America has ever produced: The Graduate. Midnight Cowboy. Little Big Man. Kramer vs. Kramer. Rain Man. Papillon. Tootise. Lenny. All the President’s Men. Wag the Dog.

And then, of course there’s his television work including his role voicing Lisa’s cool, sensitive, thoughtful substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom, in one of the greatest episodes of The Simpsons

Here, LIFE.com offers photographs of Dustin Hoffman—most of which never ran in LIFE—made by John Dominis when the actor was just coming into his own as an artist and a star. (Many of the photos here feature Hoffman with his first wife, Anne Byrne, and her daughter from a previous marriage, Karina.)

At the time these pictures were made, Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate were behind him. Many of his greatest, defining roles were still ahead of him. But Hoffman admitted something to the magazine in the July 11, 1969, issue of LIFE in which a few of these pictures first appeared that today sounds a bit jarring:

“I don’t think at 50 you should be doing what you did when you were 30,” he said, referring to his own plans to become a director as soon as possible. “Acting, especially film acting, seems to me to be more of a female profession. The director, who has all the creative power, really uses the actor. I don’t know many actors who enjoy the work of acting. I like the adulation, the money, the whole gimmick of it, but I don’t think I’m a natural actor.”

Then, in a kind of wistful coda, the 31-year-old Hoffman admits, “I don’t see how people who have done 70 movies keep going.”

Before he’s through, the man who has inhabited some of the most distinctive characters in film history might look back at that sort of declaration and crack that famous, crooked, knowing smile.

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

Dustin Hoffman, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

116982286.jpgDustin Hoffman with his stepdaughter Karina, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman with his stepdaughter Karina, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman with his stepdaughter Karina, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman with his stepdaughter Karina, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman with his stepdaughter Karina, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman with his stepdaughter Karina, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman signing autographs

Dustin Hoffman signs autographs outside the theater where he starred in the play (which he also directed), Jimmy Shine, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman in his dressing room

Dustin Hoffman in his dressing room for the play (which he also directed), Jimmy Shine, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman in his trailer during the filming of the movie, John and Mary, in which he starred with Mia Farrow, New York City, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman in his trailer during the filming of the movie, John and Mary, in which he starred with Mia Farrow, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman with his wife Anne and daughter Karina, New York, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman with his wife Anne and daughter Karina, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman and family, New York, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman and family, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman and family, New York, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman and family, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman on set of movie, 1969

Dustin Hoffman naps between takes on the set, 1969

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman and wife Anne, New York, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman and wife, Anne, and their dog Ratso, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman with his dog Ratso, New York, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman with his dog Ratso, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman on the way to the theater with his dog, Ratso, New York, 1969.

Dustin Hoffman on the way to the theater with his dog, Ratso, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow

Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow on set of the film, John and Mary, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman 1969

Dustin Hoffman plays tennis during filming of the movie, John and Mary, New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman asleep on the set of the 1969 movie, John and Mary.

Dustin Hoffman asleep on the set of the 1969 movie, John and Mary.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman, New York, 1969

Dustin Hoffman chases after his dog Ratso in New York’s Riverside Park, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman, New York, 1969

Dustin Hoffman during filming of the 1969 movie, John and Mary.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On a rare day away from work, Dustin Hoffman browsed in Greenwich Village shops with Anne and later kissed her in a taxi (above), New York, 1969.

Original caption: “On a rare day away from work, Dustin Hoffman browsed in Greenwich Village shops with Anne and later kissed her in a taxi (above), New York, 1969.”

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE on the Set of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

Few movies are as polarizing as Stanley Kubrick’s sui generis 1968 sci-fi opus, 2001: A Space Odyssey. A good number of film critics and movie buffs argue that it’s an indispensable cinematic masterwork. Others admire its technical brilliance and the uncompromising strength of Kubrick’s vision, but find the movie’s impenetrable philosophy—whatever it might be—forbidding, or off-putting, or both. And then there are those (few, and not terribly convincing) naysayers who deride 2001 as little more than self-absorbed, emotionally sterile twaddle not far removed from an elaborate, unfunny hoax.

But even the film’s most strident critics acknowledge that there’s something about Kubrick’s strange, insular onscreen universe that commands our attention. 

Here, LIFE.com offers a series of photos from the set of 2001 pictures that suggest the astonishing lengths to which Kubrick was willing to go in order to make his vision a reality. That the futuristic technology he envisioned feels authentic today speaks volumes about the man’s intellect, his dedication to the details of his craft and the boundless capacity for the human imagination to not only see, but to shape what’s to come.

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

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood listened to Stanley Kubrick on set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Director Stanley Kubrick lined up a shot through a camera on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey with a Polaroid camera.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Decades ago, during the long, hot summer of 1967, the city of Detroit erupted in one of the deadliest and costliest riots in the history of the United States. Reportedly sparked by a police raid on an unlicensed bar on July 23, the conflagration lasted four terrifying days and nights, left scores dead and hundreds injured, thousands arrested, untold numbers of businesses looted, hundreds of buildings utterly destroyed and Detroit’s reputation in tatters.

The reasons behind the riot, of course, are far thornier—socially, economically, racially —han a mere raid on a gin joint. While Detroit in the mid-Sixties had a larger black middle class than most American cities its size—thanks in large part to strong unions, high employment and the thriving, all-powerful auto industry—it was hardly a model of racial harmony. (During World War II, for example, Detroit was the scene of an infamous race riot caused in large part by tensions between whites and blacks over jobs in auto plants that were churning out tanks, planes and other war-related goods.)

But the 1967 eruption, also known as the 12th Street riot, was remarkable not only for how long it lasted, but for the force that the city, state and federal authorities brought to bear in an effort to impose order on a city in flames. Then-governor George Romney sent in thousands of National Guard troops, while President Lyndon Johnson eventually ordered paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne on to the streets.

Long before even a semblance of calm was restored, however, chaos reined, and horrific tales of assaults, beatings, robberies and killings poured out of the city including allegations, later reported on by the great journalist John Hersey, that Detroit police officers murdered three young black men at a Detroit motel in the midst of the riots.

Throughout it all, photographer Lee Balterman (who died in March 2012 at the age of 91) was there, recording the terrible scene. Here, LIFE.com presents a selection of his most powerful pictures, most of which were never published in LIFE, chronicling one of the bleakest chapters in American history four days that stunned a nation and left scars on a great city that are still seen and felt today.

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Determined to protect their property, both African-American and white store owners brought out weapons and stood ready to use them.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Police evacuated an apartment building in search of sniper suspects during the riots.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

A family took a walk in a neighborhood devastated by rioting.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

The aftermath of the riots, Detroit, 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

The aftermath of the riots, Detroit, 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

A Detroit police officer stood guard over a grocery store looted during race riots.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

Detroit, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

This family moved after the Detroit race riots.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

A statue of Jesus Christ was smeared with brown paint during the riots.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

The aftermath of the Detroit riots, July 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

The aftermath of the riots in Detroit, 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Detroit Burning: Photos From the 12th Street Riot, 1967

The aftermath of the riots, Detroit, 1967.

Lee Balterman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Martin and Lewis: Rare and Classic Photos of Madcap Comedy Stars

There’s a storied tradition in show business that involves two seemingly incompatible but ultimately inextricable buddies. It’s almost always two men, who turn out to be far more entertaining when they’re together than when they’re apart. Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Hope and Crosby, Penn and Teller, Gibson and Glover (for those who enjoy Gibson’s stock, “unpredictable crazy guy” characterizations) and on and on. At the risk of oversimplifying the ineffable chemistry that makes stars of some folks and also-rans of so many others, the dynamic driving these unlikely partnerships can be roughly represented as “straight man and clown,” with laughs arising, in large part, from the obvious friction between the near-lunacy (or idiocy) of the latter and the long-suffering patience of the former.

But no mismatched duo in showbiz history so reliably or profitably convulsed eager-to-roar audiences as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the middle part of the 20th century. For ten years (in fact, for almost exactly ten years, from July 25, 1946, to late July 1956), Martin and Lewis performed their manic magic on nightclub stages, the radio, television and the silver screen.

Here, LIFE.com offers a series of photos by Ralph Morse, most of which never ran in LIFE magazine, of the berserk superstars at their most frantic, during a series of shows at New York’s Copacabana club in 1949.

With Martin playing his suave but jokey singer role to perfection and Lewis acting like a cross between a vaudevillian chimpanzee and a sugar-addled 8-year-old, the pair positively owned the entertainment world for the better part of a decade. In the early 1950s, especially, the two were nothing less than the most popular showbiz act in America, selling out theaters and legendary nightclubs, making hit movies and guest-starring on countless TV variety shows. They worked nonstop, with an act that drew much of its energy and its appeal from the fact that the two were very, very close friends. (They would famously fall out after the act broke up in 1956, and even more famously reconcile in later years, before Martin died in the mid-1990s.)

As LIFE told its readers in an August 1951 issue:

During a personal appearance tour to promote their newest movie, That’s My Boy, the young comedy team of Martin and Lewis made history inside and outside theaters in new York, Detroit and Chicago. The tour began at New York’s paramount Theater, where the comedians were guaranteed $50,000 a week plus 50% of the the theater’s profit over $100,000. This meant that rapid audience turnover was the key to a big take, but after their first show few patrons budged from their seats. Lewis finally got the happy fans out of the theater by advising them that the next performance (free) would be presented from the dressing-room window.

From that time on the comedians put on short alfresco acts after each stage show, and the ruse worked so well jamming traffic but emptying and refilling the house that they repeated it, sometimes in windows, sometimes on fire escapes, everywhere they went. Indoors or out, the kind of bedlam that distinguished their tour was wilder than anything provoked by Bob Hope at his zaniest or Frank Sinatra at his swooniest. Clowning outrageously, throwing themselves and their clothes about with maniacal energy, they broke up their audiences, broke all attendance records and nearly broke themselves down.

After four weeks Martin and Lewis had earned $260,000 in the theaters, establishing them as the highest paid act in show business… The comedians, who have been together five frantic years, already are planning more movies, more TV shows and more nightclub appearances. Asked why they bother when their income (the 1951 gross should reach $1.5 million) will go mostly for taxes), Lewis replies, “The government needs tanks.”

 

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Original caption: “At Copa, Martin (under hat) and Lewis (falling at right) barge in on quartet and end on the floor in late show called ‘3 A.M. Mayhem.'”

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Photographer Spotlight: Fritz Goro and His Eye for Science

Capturing the utter weirdness and wonder of science through photography is a very tall order. Making those photographs beautiful is even more difficult.  Or rather, it’s a near-impossibility unless the photographer making those pictures is named Fritz Goro.

A LIFE staffer for four decades, the German-born Goro approached every story he worked on with a creativity and a kind of inspired deliberateness that earned him laurels as one of the 20th century’s very greatest science photographers.

In fact, for many photography critics and scientists alike, he was at-once the most original and the most accomplished photographer of science who ever lived.

Trained in the Bauhaus School of sculpture and design, Goro worked in Germany until the early Thirties, when he and his wife fled the country after Hitler gained power and, as Goro put it, the two of them “had to start a new life.” That new life, it turned out, would center around photography including freelance work for a brand new magazine based in New York called LIFE.

Goro liked to say that his expertise was due at least in part to his own ignorance. He photographed subjects that “more knowledgeable photographers might have considered unphotographable…. I began to take pictures of things I barely understood, using techniques I’d never used before.”

He designed his own optical systems to capture (often for the first time, by anyone) everything from bioluminescence to the mechanisms behind the circulation of blood through a living body. He traveled the globe while shooting for LIFE the Antarctic, Mexican jungles, the Australian outback enduring brutal cold and searing heat; but more often than not, it was in the controlled, cool space of a laboratory or a studio that he crafted his most breathtaking, groundbreaking work.

When he died in 1986, at the age of 85, a former science editor at LIFE named Gerard Piel said of Goro that “it was his artistry and ingenuity that made [his] photographs of abstractions, of the big ideas from the genetic code to plate tectonics” so effective and so utterly memorable. Here, LIFE.com presents a selection of photographs that hint at the scope of Goro’s achievement while paying tribute to the boundless range of human intellect, curiosity and imagination.

A pair of 90-day-old cow fetuses clearly visible inside an amniotic sac, 1965.

A pair of 90-day-old cow fetuses clearly visible inside an amniotic sac, 1965.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Fetus in an artificial womb, 1965.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Molecular electronics, 1961.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sheep that survived an atom bomb test are studied for radiation poisoning, 1949.

Sheep that survived an atom bomb test are studied for radiation poisoning, 1949.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

An anesthetized monkey has its brain activity monitored, 1971.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A scientist uses a quartz rod as a light conductor to observe a frog’s organs, 1948.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

An astronaut tests noise levels coming from giant speakers that mimic the high-decibel sound of a rocket launch, 1967.

An astronaut tests noise levels (coming from giant speakers) that mimic the high-decibel sound of a rocket launch, 1967.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Inspecting machinery that forges a large magnet to be used in a cyclotron, or early atom smasher, 1948.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Reactor dome is lowered, by means of a huge crane, into the reactor pit of the under-construction Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, 1957.

Reactor dome is lowered, by means of a huge crane, into the reactor pit of the under-construction Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, 1957.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Lasers, 1963.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A radio telescope listens to sounds from space, 1951.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Two perspectives of a single hologram, projected on screens when a laser passes through the hologram at different places, 1966. Hologram made by Juris Upatnieks.

Two perspectives of a single hologram, projected on screens when a laser passes through the hologram at different places, 1966. Hologram made by Juris Upatnieks.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A scientist holds a plastic block that he blasted with charged electric particle while investigating the notion of lightning as a rain trigger, 1962.

A scientist holds a plastic block that he blasted with charged electric particle while investigating the notion of lightning as a rain trigger, 1962.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A speck of the world’s first plutonium, 1946.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Blood circulating through a heart, 1948.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Shipboard laboratory equipment used for measuring sea water to detect any traces of radioactivity after an atomic bomb test in Bikini lagoon, 1946.

Shipboard laboratory equipment used for measuring sea water to detect any traces of radioactivity after an atomic bomb test in Bikini lagoon, 1946.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Representation of a segment of a DNA molecule, 1963.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Burning a candle in a sealed flask of oxygen on a balance shows that matter can not be destroyed, 1949.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A model of an Apollo capsule simulates the return to Earth in a NASA lab, 1961.

A model of a space capsule simulates the return to Earth in a NASA lab, 1961.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Research on cigarette smoking and lung cancer, 1953.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Demonstrating early fiber optics, 1960.

Demonstrating early fiber optics, 1960.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Newly hatched larvae of the Tubularia, a plantlike animal, primed to float away and lodge on a rock or a seashore piling, 1969.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A leaf-cutter ant carries away rose fragments, 1947.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A three-foot Caribbean octopus sucks the meat out of its favorite prey, the blue crab, 1953.

A three-foot-long Caribbean octopus sucks the meat out of its favorite prey, the blue crab, 1953.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Fritz Goro on assignment off Bikini Atoll, shooting photographs for LIFE magazine, 1953.

Fritz Goro on assignment off Bikini Atoll, shooting photographs for LIFE magazine, 1953.

Fritz Goro Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

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