A Lone Star Fashion Show, 1939

LIFE’s coverage of the fashion world inevitably leaned on stories about the latest looks from Paris and New York, but the magazine also cast its eye further afield. Consider its 1939 story on a major show that took place Dallas, whose claim to fame in the fashion world is that it was the home of the original Neiman Marcus department store. In 1939, according to the report in LIFE, more than 8,000 people flocked to the store in Dallas for an extravaganza that lasted three nights. It was “the most spectacular fashion show ever held in the great Southwest,” LIFE wrote.

And it was quite a scene: “The audience gasped, applauded and made mental notes of $200 costumes and $2,000 fur coats which would soon be bought to complete a winter wardrobe,” LIFE said. When assessing those prices, keep in mind that one dollar in 1939 is the equivalent of about $23 in 2024.

The customers might not have been daunted by those prices because they came to Neiman Marcus with oil money in their pockets, and also a dose of Lone Star pride. LIFE wrote that the wealthy shoppers of Texas ‘”spurn the labels of the great New York houses. Patriotically they prefer to flaunt the label of their great local store.”

LIFE assigned legendary photographer Alfred Eisenstadt to the Neiman Marcus show. While he did shoot the main event, he made more memorable images when he took models away from the runway and onto the streets of Dallas. A woman modeling a Hattie Carnegie dress in the parking lot of the Pig ‘n Whistle makes the point that these models are definitely not in Paris.

A model walked the runway during a fashion show in Dallas showcasing the fall lines at the Neiman Marcus department store, 1939

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled a dress by designer Hattie Carnegie, Texas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled a dress by designer Hattie Carnegie, Texas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled clothes by Hattie Carnegie in Texas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled clothes by fashion designer Hattie Carnegie in Dallas, October 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled for a story at the new lines available at the Neiman Marcus department store in Dallas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled sheared beaver mantelet and muff, Dallas, October 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A model wore a Russian ermine mantelet trimmed in ermine tails with muff, Dallas, Texas, October 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Woman wearing a suit and plaid trouser on sale at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, October 1939

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A model wore an elegant gown that was on sale at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Model wearing sable fur coat with feathered fur hat by designer John Frederics, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Model wearing Persian lamb hat, for sale at Neiman Marcus for $55 in 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A model wore a sweater and trousers on sale at Neiman Marcus, Texas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled harem-hemlined gown at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, October 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman modeled lounging pajamas featuring peg-top trousers like jodpurs for sale at Neiman Marcus for $89.50 in 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A model wore a $27.75 velvet turban with striped cloth handbag that was for sale at Neiman Marcus store in Dallas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The wall plaque outside the original Neiman-Marcus store in Dallas, 1939.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Eddie Murphy: Images of a Star Taking Flight

In its 50 years Saturday Night Live has been the launching pad for a great many stars of movies and television. The list includes Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, Adam Sander, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Chevy Chase, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, and many, many more (John Belushi, Dan Aykoryd, Kate McKinnon, David Spade, Chris Farley, Bill Hader….)

But none of these stars skyrocketed as high or as fast as Eddie Murphy. He debuted on Saturday Night Live in 1980, at the remarkable age of 19, and quickly caught fire behind the strength of such characters as Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat and Gumby. He then capitalized on that popularity with a string of hit movies that included 48 Hours, Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. Not to mention his wildly popular 1983 standup special Delirious.

Photos in the LIFE archive capture the public life of a young man taking flight. He is photographed in the company of such luminaries as Jerry Lewis, Liza Minelli, Michael Jackson, Sylvester Stallone, Rick James, Luther Vandross, Jamie Lee Curtis and Arsenio Hall.

The paparazzi shots are telling, and so are the images in this collection that were shot for LIFE by Ted Thai. For those photos Murphy posed shirtless, with track pants and a ball cap. If you saw those pictures without knowing why Murphy was famous, you might guess that he was an athlete—and that comparison is appropriate. He was the comedy equivalent of another 1980s contemporary, Michael Jordan, a young man electrifying the stage with his prodigal talent.

Cast members Eddie Murphy (left) and Joe Piscopo (right) appearing with guest Jerry Lewis on Saturday Night Live, 1984.

DMI/Shutterstock

Comedian Eddie Murphy, 1983

Ted Thai/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Eddie Murphy

Ted Thai/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Comedian Eddie Murphy (left) and singer Rick James following Murphy’s performance at Madison Square Garden, 1986.

David Mcgough/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Eddie Murphy and singer Luther Vandross after Vandross’ performance at Radio City Music Hall, 1985.

DAVID MCGOUGH/DMI

Singer Michael Jackson and actor Eddie Murphy in Press Room at American Music Awards, 1989.

Kevin Winter/DMI

Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy, 1991.

DMI

Eddie Murphy with Liza Minelli, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy posed with the poster of his hit comedy Beverly Hills Cop.

DMI

Eddie Murphy, 1987.

DMI

Jamie Lee Curtis and Eddie Murphy, co-stars of the film Trading Places, in 1993.

DMI

Eddie Murphy with Vanessa Williams.

DMI

Eddie Murphy with talk show host Arsenio Hall, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy

DMI

Michael Jordan: The One and Only

The following is excerpted from LIFE’s new special issue Michael Jordan: The Greatest of All Time, available at newsstands and here online.

When it dropped in the mid-’90s, the 30-second spot felt like just another quick and clever Nike ad, though if you go back now and watch “The Hundred-Foot Hoop,” it seems to speak to us on several levels. At the fade-in, we see a basket hanging mercilessly high in a dimly lit warehouse. The storyline, at least initially, is simple: Michael Jordan enters, dribbling, then, looking grim but confident, drives in and up (and up) for the unmakeable but of course inevitable jam. The spoonful of message—that the man inside those supercool shoes can perform superhuman feats—went down without question back then, when Jordan was still in his Chicago Bulls prime and on a nightly basis redefining what was possible in the game of basketball. But the commercial doesn’t stop there. 

In a spasm of celebratory ecstasy, our hero, we see, has grabbed onto the rim, as slam-dunkers do, and now finds himself swinging slowly above the hardwood at an unsafe altitude. The moment of triumph has passed. Jordan first looks down, then at us, the audience that he always wanted to impress. He does not speak, but his big brown eyes pose an excellent question: “Where do I go from here?”

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was a skinny middle-class kid from Wilmington, North Carolina, who put aside the doubters—no, who used the doubters who appeared at every stage—to have himself a storybook career. His breakthrough came in the spring of 1982, when, in a game played in the Louisiana Superdome against Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas,
he hit an electrifying jumper with 15 seconds left to give his Carolina Tar Heels the National Championship. “Your life will never be the same after that shot, son,” his father, James, told him soon afterward.

A few years later, Jordan revitalized the Bulls, a motley bunch that played in a dreary, half-empty arena, a team that according to its owner was regarded by Chicagoans as “somewhere between mud wrestling and tractor pulling,” eventually leading them to six NBA championships. Along the way, Jordan took the excitement generated by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson—stars a few years ahead of him—and brought it to a new level, helping shake the NBA out of its 1970s doldrums and usher its players and franchises onto an international stage. In Jordan’s spare time, he revolutionized the sneaker business. 

Jordan broke into the league exactly 40 years ago, in the fall of 1984, and he left it for good in the spring of 2003. Over a 15-season playing career, he won 10 scoring titles, five MVP awards, and six Finals MVP awards, and he was named to the All-Defensive first team nine times. He played in 14 NBA All-Star Games and, competing against Bird, Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and others in the pantheon of basketball gods, won three All-Star MVP trophies. He has the highest regular-season career scoring average and career playoff scoring average of all time (30.1 and 33.4 points per game, respectively). Numb yet? After a point, even such incomparable statistics don’t capture all of the player Jordan was. They say nothing about the way he did what he did, the rampaging love of the game he always demonstrated, or the role he played in the larger popular culture—the very things that made him the man and the brand we know and love.

Here is a selection of images from LIFE’s new special issue Michael Jordan: The Greatest of All Time.

Cover photo by Jerry Wachter/NBAE/Getty

Michael Jordan in his freshman year at North Carolina, January 1982.

Bettmann Archive

Michael Jordan, with Chicago Bulls general manager Rod Thorn, signed his first NBA contract in 1984.

Bettmann Archive

Michael Jordan in 1989 took on the Detroit Pistons, a team that served as an early foil on his way to the top.

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan celebrated winning his first NBA title in 1991.

Richard Mackson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Michael Jordan led the Dream Team to a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Richard Mackson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Michael Jordan in 1994, when he took time off from the NBA and tried his hand at minor-league baseball with the Birmingham Barons.

Photo by Focus On Sport/Getty Images

Michael Jordan, when he returned to the NBA following his time in minor league baseball, briefly wore No. 45 before returning to his familiar No. 23.

NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan in 2003, his final season.

Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images

Michael Jordan waved farewell after playing his final NBA game in April 2003, when he was a member of the Washington Wizards.

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan, representing his Jordan Brand, visited Paris in 2015 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his signature Air Jordan shoe.

Jordan Brand via Getty Images

“The Most Thrilling Ride in the U.S.”

In 1949 LIFE magazine took its readers on an extreme river adventure in a story headlined “Shooting the Salmon.” The headline referred to the Salmon River, which cuts through central Idaho.

The magazine opened its story breathlessly:

The most thrilling ride in the U.S. is in a 12-foot rubber boat down 55 miles of the middle fork of the Salmon River in Lemhi County, Idaho. For years the river with its boiling rapids and so-called Impassible Gorge with its 3,000-foot walls was thought so dangerous that only two dozen of the most daring white-water boatmen in the U.S. had ever tackled it.

But in 1949 some river guides had mastered the Middle Fork to the point that they began leading expeditions, and LIFE photographer Loomis Dean rode with one group. The trek down river took nine days, with people often camping near winter snow that had yet to melt. Some nights the temperatures dipped to 25 degrees. During those nine days the trekkers also caught—and ate—an estimated 200 pounds of trout. (If you are wondering, you can also catch salmon in the Salmon River) .

After finishing their trip the adventures concluded that, having survived the Salmon River, “the only thing left was Niagara Falls in a barrel.”

Today the Salmon River remains an esteemed destination, and one that is not easy to gain access to. The Middle Fork is now federally protected and adventure-seekers must enter a lottery for the right to travel its class III and IV+ rapids.

A Salmon River adventure in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Men horseback riding along the Salmon River.

Guide Hank Hastings scanned the wild rapids ahead on the Salmon River, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Adventurers shot the rapids on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Adventurers shot the rapids on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Adventurers rode the rapids on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Helen and Peter Brooks explored an ice cone in Impassable Gorge during their nine-day trek down the Salmon River, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Helen and Peter Brooks explored an ice cone in Impassable Gorge during their nine-day trek down the Salmon River, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The adventurers set up camp during a nine-day trek down the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The trekkers caught and dined on trout during their expedition down the Salmon River, Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Helen Brooks held a string of trouts caught during a nine-day expedition down the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Helen Brooks washing dishes in the Salmon River, Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

One of the trekkers took a bath in frigid waters during a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Men horseback riding along the Salmon River.

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scenes from a nine-day adventure on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, 1949.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Mysterious Italy: The Mummies of Venzone

One of the stranger photosets in the LIFE archives was shot in a bucolic small town in Northern Italy—one in which the ancient architecture was not the only thing that was well-preserved.

The town’s name is Venzone, and among its claims to fame are a collection of mummified remains that date back as far as the 14th century, when a time of plague led to some bodies being kept in a church basement, where they mummified naturally. No one knows for certain why these bodies became mummified, though speculation centers on the presence of limestone and certain fungi in the basement.

But what is particularly interesting is not just that these mummies existed, but how the local townsfolk regarded them. Rather than being freaked out by these figures that would become horror movie staples, the townsfolk decided to celebrate the mummies as a connection to their own ancestry.

Here’s what the website Weird Italy had to say about the mummies of Venzone:

The residents thought that God had sent their forefathers to guard the village while still living (since they were unaware of the term “mummy” at the time). Then the locals wished the mummies luck and begged for assistance with any difficulties. As the village’s elders, the mummies were accorded excellent treatment. And this custom persisted up until 1950. The townspeople had to value the mummies as their forefathers.

The photos by LIFE’s Jack Birns capture the warm relations between the townsfolk and their mummified ancestors as they pose for photos together. Birns also photographed a museum where some of the mummies were on display. The ancestors are no longer paraded around town like they once were, but the museum remains open today, with five of the mummies available for viewing.

View of the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle and the village of Venzone in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, September 1950.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man posed for a portrait with one of the mummified bodies displayed in the Cemetery Chapel of Saint Michael on the grounds of the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Locals in Venzone, Italy, 1950, pose with the mummified bodies that had been found years before in the crypt of a church there.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A local woman held up one of the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A local woman held up one of the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man in Venzone, Italy, 1950, poses with a mummified body, one of many found in the crypt of the local church.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A priest held up one of the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Venzonea Skeletons

The townspeople of Venzone, Italy, posed with their mummified ancestors, 1950.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Local boys carried the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, back into the crypt museum, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Monsignor Simeone Guglielmi stood above the opening to one of the burial vaults under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. When the crypts were being relocated, the citizens of Venzone discovered that several of the bodies interred there had been naturally mummified.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The museum inside of the rotunda of Saint Michael displayed the natural mummies found in the crypts beneath the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

“Robot Planes”: When the U.S. Military Unveiled Its First Drones

The idea of using unmanned aircraft for military purposes has been around for centuries. The first actual attack may have come in 1849, when Austria launched 200 incendiary balloons in the direction of Venice, though the assault was ineffective because the wind blew all but one of those balloons off course.

In the early 20th century, not long after the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, the race to develop unmanned aircraft stepped into high gear. It was fitting that when the U.S. military demonstrated its technologies for the first time to LIFE readers, it did so at Wright Field in Ohio.

The military pulled the wraps off two experimental models of “robot planes,” as they were then termed, for a story in LIFE’s issue of Oct. 15, 1945. The story, featuring photos by Sam Shere, said that the military had been working on unmanned military aircraft “for more than 20 years.”

Here’s how LIFE described those early models:

The robot plane is flown by a man on the ground or by a pilot on another plane which accompanies it in flight. The remote-control operator holds a radio control box, moves the pencil-like stick to transmit signals over a frequency-modulated wave to a radio receiver in the plane. These signals activate a Servo unit, nicknamed “the muscle,” which transforms electrical impressions into mechanical action and moves the airplane’s controls.

The story said that the robot planes needed to be operated by someone who was within four miles. Consider that a first step toward today’s technology, where drones have a range of hundreds of miles. Today the U.S. Department of Defense says that is has more than 11,000 military drones in its fleet.

The LIFE story concluded with a turn toward consumer uses of this technology and said, “Not inconceivable for the future is an awesome peacetime application which may make possible radio-controlled, wireless airliners.” While computers do aid in 21st century air travel, human pilots remain essential figures.

A soldier demonstrated an experimental “robot plane” that the U.S. military was developing, 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A soldier demonstrated the experimental “robot plane” that the U.S. military was developing, 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The remote control unit used for the “robot planes” the U.S. military demonstrated to LIFE magazine in 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

One of the U.S. military’s robot planes in development in 1945 needed to be controlled by a manned plane that was flying nearby.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A soldier at Wright Field in Ohio demonstrated an experimental “robot plane” that the U.S. military was developing, 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An experimental robot plane about to take off was being guided by a person in the plane behind it, 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A soldier demonstrated a radio-controlled “robot plane” that the U.S. military was developing, 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In the foreground is a “robot plane” being developed by the U.S. military that could be controlled from its ‘mother plane,” 1945.

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A demonstration of a “robot plane” being developed by the U.S. military, 1945

Sam Shere/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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