Page 26 – LIFE

Before There Was #VanLife, There Was Trailer Mania

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023 by Bill Syken

The cover story of the Aug. 14, 1970 issue of LIFE magazine highlighted the “Summer Nomads” who hit the road in the latest and greatest recreational vehicles.

The phenomenon was burgeoning then, but it was not new. The history of the RV dates back to 1915, when the Conklin family retrofitted a bus by installing four beds and traveled the country in it. That started a craze which has continued and recently took new form with the #vanlife craze that flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.

LIFE’s story, titled “Home, Home on the Road,” talked about how travelers in 1970 were flooding America’s national parks, and one big reason for this was the success of the recreational vehicle.

Part of the crush [at national parks] comes from the recent popularity of house trailers, truck-mounted “campers” and van-like motor homes, which can simply be wheeled into place at a campsite. There are more than 2.5 million of these, some of them elegantly furnished, with double beds, television and air conditioning, and many owners freely admit they aren’t nearly so interested in the great outdoors as they are in camaraderie of their fellow wheeled nomads.

The photos by Ralph Crane captured the great variety of mobile homes of that era. The star of the story was the Airstream, a trailer with a distinctive rounded aluminum body that had been around since 1936. Crane chronicled an annual gathering of Airstream devotees in Hershey, Pa., and also group of Airstream users who met in Great Falls, Mont., in advance of taking a group trek through Canada and up to Alaska. The Airstream remains popular today as do the gatherings: the big 2023 rally is slated for Rock Springs, Wyoming.

The story also surveyed other recreational vehicles, noting that what LIFE called “self-contained motor homes” such as the Winnebago were the fastest growing sector of the market.

And the essay included a tricked out van that is a forebear of the sort of vehicles that gained in popularity during the COVID pandemic age as #vanlife become a hot hashtag and more people pursued the dream of living a nomadic life.

Look through these pictures by Ralph Crane, and you’ll see people who used trailers find not just mobility but also community at the same time that they were getting away from it all.

Airstream trailers converged on a campground for a rally in Hershey, Pa., 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene from a gathering of Airstream uses in Hershey, Pa., 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

George Grening and his wife (right) at an Airstream trailer rally, 1970; they brought their motorcycle along for quick side excursions.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Newcomb and his family posed in front of their trailer at an Airstream convention in Hershey, Pa., 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Newcomb with a 16-month-old in his trailer, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Attendees at a trailer rally, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scene from an Airstream trailer rally, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

About 10,000 trailer fans converged on Hershey, Pa. for an annual gathering, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Aerial view of an annual gathering of Airstream travelers in Hershey, Pa., 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Attendees at a trailer rally, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A group of Airstream travelers gathered in Great Falls, Montana before heading out on a trek across Canada and Alaska, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This model of trailer was 25 feet long and capable of sleeping up to 11 people, depending on the layout plan. Its cost in 1970 was $5,400.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a 1970 LIFE story on the burgeoning popularity of trailer travel.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This wheeled bed by Wheel Mate was designed to be towed by motorcycle or small car. It came with a mattress and folding frame top and cost $480 in 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The tent trailer, described by LIFE in 1970 as a common starter mobile home, cost between $300 and $2,000. The tent collapsed into the trailer for towing, and one model included a pullout kitchen.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This Gypsy Mini-Home was a 1970 example of a converted van; they sold for between $3,000 and $7,000 and included beds for up to five people.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This amphibious unit could slip off its trailer and become a houseboat; it featured wall-to-wall carpeting and cost $10,800 in 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Self-contained motor homes like this one were in 1970 the fastest-growing category of recreational vehicle; this couple played cards in a 36-foot Winnebago that cost $8,500.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a 1970 story on the burgeoning popularity of trailer life.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Skirted Subjects: Classic Images from LIFE

March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 by Bill Syken

When talking about skirts, the most obvious point of discussion is their length. This collection of LIFE skirt photographs certainly runs the gamut, from antebellum-style hoop skirts to the thigh-baring minis that made a splash in the later years of the magazine’s original run.

But in addition to revealing a little (or a lot of) leg, these photos of skirts also show something else. They highlight the many different approaches that great photographers can take to a subject.

For instance, the pictures of John Dominis and Carlo Bavagnoli in this collection take a documentary approach to fashion, showing skirt-wearing women as they moved about the world. Then there was Gjon Mili, a master technician who brought models into his studio, where his use of strobe lighting created images that are as striking as they are distinctive.

Then there are photographers such as Nina Leen and Gordon Parks, who took an approach that is somewhere between the two, placing their models out in the world but crafting images that are as stylish as the clothing trends they sought to illustrate.

See for yourself. Like the skirts themselves, the variation adds to the fascination.

Circle skirts, 1950.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE magazine’s original caption: “Surrounded by a skirt full of her own pretty face, model Norma Richter shows off dress made especially to demonstrate photographic fabrics.”

Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A French model showed a small print dress with triple-flounced skirt and long sleeves by designer Jacques Fath, Paris 1951.

Gordon Parks/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Fashion, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A polka dotted smock top over black skirt by Balenciaga, Paris, 1951.

Gordon Parks/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Model showing skirt featuring three-tiers of ruffles, 1951.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Photo from a story on Big Ten college fashions, Bloomington, Indiana, 1954.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The new skirts of 1947.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Space fashions rushed onto the market in 1957 included skirts, jackets, hats, and balloons with a satellite motif.

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Kansas high school student wore a mini skirt, 1969.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

In 1950 career girl hostess Joan Wilson wore a cotton circle skirt that retailed for $17.95.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Skirt fashions, 1938.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The New York Look, 1969.

Vernon Merritt III/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From a story on summer beach fashions, 1950.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fashion shoot, 1946.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C., April 1947.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

From an April 20, 1942, LIFE story about proper skirt-hem lengths.

Nina Leen/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

In Columbus, Missiissippi, coffee was served on porch of ante-bellum mansion, Riverview, by young ladies wearing hoop skirts at a party for cadets from the local Army flying school, 1953.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cotton skirt, New York City, 1941.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Model Dorian Leigh showed off the accordion pleats of a straight-hanging sheer dress (Jane Derby, $250) which could swirl into a ten-yard circle of flesh-colored chiffon, 1950.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A double image from a story on college fashions, 1948.

Gjon Mili/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Employees of Saks Fifth Avenue watching a fashion show promoting midi-length skirts, 1970.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actor Rock Hudson (center) sitting on MGM lot with eight midi-skirted starlets who play opposite him in the Roger Vadim-directed film Pretty Maids All In a Row.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shuttetstock

A women in a miniskirt considered the midi-skirt look, 1970.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Short skirts hit London, 1966

Carlo Bavagnoli/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Short skirts hit the street of London, 1966

Carlo Bavagnoli/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Factory Chic: Overhauling the Overalls

March 9, 2023March 9, 2023 by Bill Syken

In April 1953 about 16 million Americans worked in manufacturing jobs—many more than today, where the number is about 11 million. And roughly a quarter of those workers back then were women.

Enter noted designer Tina Leser, who debuted a fashion line that year for the burgeoning female lunchpail set.

In a story titled “Overhauled Overalls” in its April 13, 1953 issue, LIFE broke down the new look and also the logic behind it:

What to wear to work is not a matter of much choice to the 4.5 million women in U.S. factories. Many work near moving machinery or poisonous dusts and acids, and must wear coveralls, made for safety and comfort but seldom for style. Now designer Tina Leser, who usually concerns herself with how to look elegant at expensive resorts, has taken up the problem of how to look snappy at a workbench. In a group of clothes called Fashion for Industry released in stores this week, Miss Leser presents her solutions. The standard, safe—but usually shapeless—factory coverall appears in practical but neatly fitted and attractive versions…Some designs have pants legs narrowed so that they can be pushed up and hidden under a skirt on the way to work.

The photos for the article, taken by Yale Joel, tell a story not just of a clothing line but of women’s increased prominence in the workforce, with the fashion world looking to address needs beyond the social and domestic realms. Some of the photos were set in the Long Island, N.Y. factory of cosmetics magnate Helena Rubinstein, who is herself a fascinating tale of female entrepreneurship.

The article’s closing line proposed one more feminine touch for the factory: “Miss Leser suggests that instead of the standard tin lunchbox a stylish imported straw basket.”

This Orlon coverall, which retailed for $16.95 with turban, was modeled in the Long Islamd factory of Helena Robenstein’s makeup company, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tina Leser’s factory fashions, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This outfit, modelled at Fairchild Aircraft, had an elastic belt and a pocket for tools, which LIFE said made it perfect for sailing and gardening as well as the factory, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tina Leser’s factory fashions, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

This model’s factory pants were pushed up under her skirt when it was time to clock out, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

These coveralls, examples of Tina Leser’s factory chic line, retailed for $7 to $10, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tina Leser’s factory fashions, 1953.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Female Jockeys Who Broke Down Barriers

March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 by Bill Syken

In 2022 more than a quarter of all jockeys—27.2 percent—were female. That is only true because of the pioneering women of the late 1960s who fought for the right to compete.

In its Dec. 13, 1968 issue LIFE wrote about Penny Ann Early and her battle to break the gender barrier in horse racing. At age 25 she was one of the first women to become a licensed jockey in the U.S. (The first was 1968 Olympic equestrian star Kathryn Kusner, who sued for that right but then suffered a broken leg before she could attempt to race). Early’s battle to get on the track was chronicled for LIFE by photographer Bob Gomel.

When Penny Ann Early attempted to compete at Churchill Downs, male jockeys were so opposed that they boycotted the races she was set to appear in. One male jockey cast the boycott as defending his livelihood. “If you let one woman ride one race, we are all dead,” he told LIFE.

Early told LIFE, “I have nothing against men. Next to horses I like men best. All I want is a chance to race against them. Is that so bad?”

Apparently it was. That issue of LIFE included a startlingly brazen guest editorial from Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack. He acknowledged that women had a legal right to ride and criticized the boycotts of Early as a misguided tactic. But Hartack also predicted that once women had the chance to compete, they would fail.

Hartack wrote:

“They’ll find out how tough it is and they’ll give it up. The tracks won’t have to worry about being flooded with women because a female cannot compete against a male doing anything….They might weigh the same as male jockeys, but they aren’t as strong. And as a group, I don’t think their brains are as capable of making fast decisions. Women are also more likely to panic. It’s their nature.”

Hartrack also dreamed up a scenario where women might use sex to get male jockeys to take it easy on them in a race. “If she was sharp enough I might take advantage of the situation myself,” Hartack wrote. “I wouldn’t ease up in the race, but I wouldn’t put it past me to con her into thinking that I would.”

While Early was ultimately unsuccessful in her attempts to break the gender barrier at the track, she did compete against men in another professional sport: basketball. Her battles at Churchill Downs caught the attention of the Kentucky Colonels of the fledging American Basketball Association, and the Colonels signed her to a one-day contract. She checked into a game long enough to receive an inbounds pass while wearing a sweater with the number 3, representing the number of times that male jockeys had boycotted her races.

But it didn’t take long until the gender barrier was broken—by Diane Crump, racing at another track. On February 7, 1969, became the first women to compete in a pari-mutuel race, at Hialeah Park Race Track in Florida, with LIFE photographer George Silk on hand. Her appearance was controversial enough that she needed police protection from the crowd before the race.

Crump finished ninth at Hialeah. Two weeks later she won her first race, and in 1970 she competed in the Kentucky Derby. And she and Early helped clear the path for other groundbreaking jockeys such as Julie Krone, who in 1993 became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race, atop Colonial Affair in the Belmont Stakes.

In an interview with CNN in 2012, Crump modestly said, “I like to think I was a little inroad on the path to equality.”

Jockey Penny Ann Early with her horse Randy in Louisville, Kentucky, 1968.

Bob Gomel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Penny Ann Early, whose attempts to become to first female competitive jockey were met with boycotts, 1968.

Bob Gomel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Diane Crump, the first female jockey to compete in a pari-mutuel race, Hialeah, Florida, 1969.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Diane Crump, the first female jockey to compete against men, Hialeah, Florida, 1969.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Diane Crump readies to become the first female jockey to race against men, Hialeah, Florida, 1969

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Diane Crump races against men for the first time in Hialeah, Florida, 1969.

George Silk/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Too Close for Comfort? LIFE’s Look at Short Hair

March 2, 2023March 2, 2023 by Bill Syken

For a long time, dating back to at least to the ancient Greeks and Romans, cultures have insisted that women should have longer hair than men.

So when LIFE look up the topic of short hair on women in its July 19, 1954 issue, the magazine moved with caution—likely too much for the modern reader. LIFE’s story acknowledged the trend, even as it took pains to not endorse it.

LIFE wrote:

What is probably the nadir of the short haircut has been reached by shorn young women who are trying out the male butch haircut for hot weather. Although the style can look feminine on young wearers and is convenient for such midsummer pleasures as swimming and driving in open cars, it has dismayed many males. They will be heartened by the word out of Paris that the long glamor girl bob is coming back for fall.

The text, from a story which carried the pejorative headline “Feminine Butch,” betrays the anxiety of a Barbie-and-Ken age. It is also telling that this shoot illustrating a story on women’s hairstyles gave unusual prominence to men. In a couple cases, the models were actually photographed with their husbands.

But seven decades later, even after societal standards have loosened, after beauty icons ranging from Twiggy to Scarlett Johansson have rocked the short look, and after millions of women have deployed the hashtag #shorthairdontcare, a haircut can still provoke an inordinate amount of hand-wringing. This 2022 story agonizes over all the deeper meanings that get attached to short hair, touching on such issues as femininity, age, power, career aspirations and what a haircut says about one’s emotional state.

And it’s worth recognizing that however disdainful the tone of the words in LIFE article, the pictures that accompanied it, taken by Nina Leen, tell a story of their own, especially the shots of model Jackie Dunne and her husband together in a restaurant. Those photos have the quality of a movie still, capturing not just a look but a relationship. “Unlike the majority of men, he has decided he likes it fine,” LIFE wrote of the pictures in which Mr. Dunne stares at his wife’s newly-cropped hair.

Meanwhile, Jackie’s gaze is elsewhere. She is not looking at her husband at all.

A barber delivers a touch-up trim, New York, 1954.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Short hair fashion, 1954.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Short hair fashion, 1954.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

The shortly cropped hairstyle that LIFE dubbed “Feminine Butch,” 1954.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Model Jackie Dunne with her husband after getting her new short haircut. “Unlike the majority of men, he has decided he likes it fine,” LIFE said.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shuttertstock

Short hair fashion, 1954.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Meet the Real Women Who Inspired A League of Their Own

March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 by

When Philip K. Wrigley spearheaded the effort to remedy professional baseball’s wartime decline with a women’s league, one question dogged the league’s founders: what, exactly, to call it. It wasn’t technically softball. The ball was smaller, the bases farther apart and stealing bases forbidden in softball was permitted. But it wasn’t baseball, either: the ball was larger and the bases, closer. They settled on a compromise: The All-American Girls Professional Ball League.

The league that would later inspire the 1992 movie A League of Their Own and the enduring exclamation, “There’s no crying in baseball!” had just kicked off its third season when LIFE featured it in a photo essay in 1945. The six teams, all based in the Midwest, were comprised of nearly 100 women between the ages of 16 and 27 who played for $50 to $85 per week. Eight were married and three had children. Nearly half a million spectators were expected to turn out over the course of that season, shelling out $0.74 for a seat to watch the Rockford Peaches face the South Bend Blue Sox and the Grand Rapid Chicks take on the Racine Belles.

As exciting as it was to watch women slide and steal and scuff their knees, the league was a product of its time, and its strict rules of conduct reflected this. As LIFE reported in its story, “League rules establish she must always wear feminine attire, cannot smoke or drink in public, cannot have dates except with “old friends” and then only with the approval of the ever-present team chaperone.”

But as demure as the players may have been off the field, they were serious athletes as soon as the first pitch was thrown. Blue Sox Catcher Mary “Bonnie” Baker could throw 345 feet. Lefty pitcher Annabelle Lee threw a perfect game. And Sophie Kurys stole 1,114 bases during her ten-year career. The appeal of players” athleticism kept the league going for more than a decade, with attendance peaking in the late 1940s at 910,000 fans. But the league’s decentralization, a dearth of qualified players and the rise of televised major league games eventually led to its demise, with players retiring their gloves after the close of the 1954 season.

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Catcher May “Bonnie” Baker of the South Bend Blue Sox, 1945; she had five brothers, four sisters, all of them catchers on Canadian ball teams.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pitcher Carolyn Morris of Rockford Peaches, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Outfielder Faye Dancer, Fort Wayne Daisies, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945. She served as an adviser for the 1992 movie A League of Their Own and was a model for Geena Davis’ character.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pitcher Annabelle Lee, Fort Wayne Daisies southpaw, of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Her nephew, Bill Lee of Major League Baseball, credited her with teaching him how to pitch.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The All-American Girls Professional Bsaeball League, 1945

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Anastasia Batikis, a Racine Belles’ outfielder, in action in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball Laegue, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Penny O’Brian, Fort Wayne Daisies rookie infielder in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Faye Dancer of the Fort Wayne Daisies paid the price for sliding while wearing a league-mandated skirt in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gear from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Members from all six teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League posed for a group portrait, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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