Culture Photo Archives - LIFE

Coca-Cola Comes to France!

Taylor Gilkison — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:43:09 +0000

In 1950, LIFE Photographer Mark Kauffman captured the so-called “Coca-Colonization” of the sugary soft drink’s formal introduction to France. The drink had been unofficially available for consumption in France before World War II, and the first bottle was imported to Bordeaux in 1919. However, the American company began an energetic marketing campaign in France in 1950 to maximize the popularity the drink had gained in the United States.

Created in the late 19th century as a pseudo-medicinal beverage, Coca-Cola soon became a sweet, artificial refreshment that reflected American capitalism, culture, and society. And while Coca-Cola was initially based on French coca wine, the people of France were skeptical of the first widely-marketed, flavorful nonalcoholic beverage.

Coca-Cola Comes to France, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Coca-Cola crew giving a free taste in France, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

The French did not want their country to be overtaken by American enterprises and so they tried to prevent the mass production of ‘Coke’ (as the beverage would come to be known) in France. Today, however, the beverage is manufactured in France, and all across Europe, although the recipe varies slightly from the original American version.

Squeezing through the narrow streets of Paris, and zooming past iconic landmarks in the French capital, Mark Kauffman snapped photographs of a Coca-Cola delivery truck bringing the beverage to the people of France in 1950. “Buvez Coca-Cola Bien Glace” (translated to “Drink Ice Cold Coca-Cola”) emblazoned on the vehicle captured the attention of both the young and old. However, skeptics of the drink also ranged in age, and winegrowers in the famous wine region strongly suggested that the drink was addictive.

A man in a beret spits a mouthful of Coca-Cola at the camera – Paris, France, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Skeptical French winemaker tasting Coca-Cola for the first time, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Regardless of the initial protest against the splendidly sweet beverage, the French government granted Coca-Cola a license in 1952 and the consumption in France officially began. However, even today, on a per capita basis, the French drink less Coke than any other European country. The sugary beverage may still be popular worldwide, but scroll through the rest of the gallery below to see initial reactions to Coca-Cola coming to France!

Couple drinking Cola-Cola at a French Cafe in Paris, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Coca-Cola Comes to France, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Coca-Cola truck driving past Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Woman drinking Coca-Cola at a wine shop in Paris, France – 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Coca-Cola representative pouring a glass of Coke for a Parisian to taste, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Coca-Cola truck driving though Paris, France – 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

A Coca-Cola delivery driver sits in the open door of his truck while on a break, France, 1950. (Mark Kauffman/LIFE Picture Collection)

Craving more Coke? Click here to view images of vintage Coca-Cola ads all across the world!

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Women of the Winter Olympics: Amazing Athletes in Action

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 19:13:00 +0000

Ever since the first Winter Olympics in 1924, women athletes have competed for gold with the same intensity, grace and power as their male counterparts — even if, in ’24, the only events in which women were allowed to take part were figure- and pairs-skating. At the 2022 edition of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, meanwhile, competitors from around the globe will put it all on the line in a diverse array of events that includes new events such as big air freestyle, monobob (or one-person bobsleedding) and snowboard cross. Among the star attractions on the U.S. team are women such as skier Mikaela Shiffrin, bobsledder Lolo Jones, snowboarder Chloe Kim, and short track speed skater Maame Biney.

Here, in acknowledgement of the long, icy, often-uphill trail that sportswomen have had to navigate through the years, LIFE offers a series of Winter Olympics photos from the 1940s to the 1970s — pictures featuring the still-famous (Peggy Fleming, Lidiya Skoblikova, Andrea Mead Lawrence) as well as more than a few largely forgotten female athletes who made a mark in the Olympics, whether they medaled or not.

Fifteen-year-old Andrea Mead Lawrence, the first American alpine skier to win Olympic gold, trained in 1947.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Six-time U.S. national figure-skating champion Gretchen Merrill, St. Moritz Olympics, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

French figure skater Jacqueline du Bief, St. Moritz, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

British figure skater Jeanette Altwegg, bronze medalist at St. Moritz, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Canadian Patricia Gault, St. Moritz, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Olympic figure skater, St. Moritz, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Gretchen Merrill, St. Moritz Olympics, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American skier Brynhild Grasmoen, St. Moritz, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Great Britain’s Sue Holmes, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified skater, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure-skating silver medalist Carol Heiss, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Russian cross-country skiers Radya Yeroshina (silver) and Lyubov Kozyreva (gold), Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American silver medalist Penny Pitou (left) and German downhill gold medalist Heidi Biebl, Squaw Valley, 1960.

Nat Farbman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Slalom silver medalist Betsy Snite (USA), Squaw Valley, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American downhill skier Penny Pitou (silver medalist), Squaw Valley, 1960.

Nat Farbman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American downhill skier Penny Pitou (silver medalist), Squaw Valley, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Squaw Valley, 1960.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Figure skater Carol Heiss (gold medal, Ladies Singles), Squaw Valley, 1960.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Figure skater Carol Heiss (gold medal, Ladies Singles), Squaw Valley, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Russian speed-skating gold medalist Lidiya Skoblikova (center), with Poland’s Elwira Seroczynska (left, silver) and Helena Pilejczyk (right, bronze), Squaw Valley, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American skier Jean Saubert (center) received kisses from French downhill gold and silver medalists (and sisters), Christine and Marielle Goitschel, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

Ralph Crane/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Left to right: Christine Goitschel, Jean Saubert, and Marielle Goitschel, Innsbruck, 1964

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American speed skater and four-time Olympic medalist Dianne Holum, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Three-time Olympic medalist Lyudmila Titova, Russian speed skater, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure skater Peggy Fleming, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Twelve-year-old Romanian figure skater Beatrice Hustiu, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure skater Janet Lynn, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure skater Peggy Fleming, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Peggy Fleming, gold medalist, Ladies Singles figure skating, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Anne Henning, 16, won the 500-meter speed skating race at the Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Figure skaters Janet Lynn (American, bronze), Beatrix Schuba (Austrian, gold) and Karin Manguessen (Canadian, silver), Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American speed skater and four-time Olympic medalist Dianne Holum, Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Women’s luge, Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

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A Vintage View of Fun in the Sun

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 08:00:28 +0000

Fun in the sun is one of the constants in American life. The impulses don’t change, even if the fashions do.

In 1947, when LIFE accompanied 10,000 young men and women to Balboa Beach in Southern California for a seaside romp. This day of surf and sand took place during spring break, and was marked by dancing, boat races, beauty pageants and sunbathing. The evening hours found students aglow in the warmth of bonfires as portable radios churned out the tunes of the day. (Top hits that year included “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep).“)

The fashion looks tell you that you are in another era. But not much else does, really. The pleasures of the beach remain more alike than not, regardless of the age that you are in—or the age of the beachgoers, for that matter. By the seaside, people become kids again, and that’s part of the fun of being there.

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

Balboa Beach Party

Glendale college students partying on a beach in Balboa, Newport Beach, California, April 1947

Spring Break 1947

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Glendale College students at Balboa Beach Party in California, in April of 1947; Possibly for Spring Break.

Spring Break 1947

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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See Photos of Vintage Coca-Cola Signs from New York City to Bangkok

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 08:30:09 +0000

In 1891, Asa Candler bought a company for $2,300. That price tag in today’s dollars is closer to $60,000, but still, not a bad deal for a business that would gross a profit of more than $30 billion in 2014. During the early years, Candler focused his efforts on building his brand, offering coupons for free samples and distributing tchotchkes with the company’s logo on them. The aggressive marketing paid off. By 1895, a glass of [f500link]Coca-Cola[/f500link] could be found in every state in America.

By the time Henry Luce purchased LIFE Magazine in 1936, Coca-Cola was just years away from producing its billionth gallon of its trademark soda syrup. The pages of LIFE bubble with Coke ads, the first one appearing in 1937, and many issues included multiple invitations to “add zest to the hour” and take “the pause that refreshes.”

But LIFE was not only a purchaser of Coca-Cola advertising. LIFE’s photographers were also capturing the growing ubiquity of that Spencerian Script the looping, cursive font of Coke’s logo in places as far-reaching as Bangkok and the Autobahn. During the 1930s, the company had begun to set up bottling plants in other countries. But when General Eisenhower sent an urgent cable from North Africa in 1943, requesting that Coca-Cola establish more overseas bottling plants in order to boost soldiers” morale, the wheels were set in motion for rapid international expansion. Wartime saw the addition of 64 foreign plants to the existing 44, and post-war growth continued steadily.

The photos here depict not just the way Coke began to blend into international surroundings by the late 1960s, half of the company’s profits would come from foreign outposts but also the wide array of American locales and subcultures the brand was penetrating. Led by company president Robert Woodruff, whose term began in 1923, Coca-Cola’s vigorous marketing efforts found footholds for the brand from segregated country stores to New York City’s Columbus Circle to roadside stands in Puerto Rico.

Of the dozens of slogans Coca-Cola has had over the years, the one it debuted in 1945 was certainly aligned with the global domination the company had set its sights on. “Passport to refreshment” was not just a clever pun, but a sign of things to come.

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

Coca Cola, 1938

Margaret Bourke-White The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca-Cola, 1944

Marie Hansen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Frenchman considers Coke’s allure in 1950.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Coke truck makes its rounds in 1950 France.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca-Cola sign, 1938

Margaret Bourke-White The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca Cola truck, 1950

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca Cola sign 1947, Germany

Walter Sanders The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca Cola, 1938

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca Cola, 1950

Dmitri Kessel The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Summer Days on Cape Cod, 1946

Cornell Capa The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Coca Cola 1943

THOMAS D. MCAVOY

Boy selling Coca Cola from roadside stand., 1936

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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LIFE With Billy Graham: Rare Photos From the Early Years of His Career

Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:11:40 +0000

Over a career spanning more than 70 years, the Rev. Billy Graham preached the Gospel, in person, to an estimated 200 million people around the world and another two billion via radio, television and the Internet, and he ministered to a dozen U.S. presidents. Throughout many of those decades, Graham enjoyed a special relationship with LIFE magazine, which published his essays and followed him on more than a few of his travels around the country and across the world.

In fact, Graham owes much of his fame to two media moguls: newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce, co-founder of Time Inc. and creator of TIME, LIFE, Fortune, and other influential American publications. Both Hearst and Luce were impressed by Graham’s first major crusade, a marathon revival in a tent in Los Angeles in 1949. They were also impressed by the combination of his message of spiritual renewal and his strong anti-communist politics. Hearst sent his editors a telegram with the two-word order, “Puff Graham.” For his part, Luce had the L.A. crusade covered favorably in both TIME and LIFE.

Long a spiritual adviser to people in power, Graham’s first visit to Washington to counsel a president didn’t go very well. After blabbing to the press about what he and Harry Truman had discussed, Truman blasted him as a “counterfeit” and a publicity hound. Thereafter, he kept the topics of his Oval Office meetings to himself. He also held considerable sway over other Washington politicians. In 1952, during a crusade in D.C., Graham persuaded Congress to pass a law allowing him to conduct a service on the Capitol steps. Unlike other Evangelical preachers who rose to political prominence, Graham seldom advocated policy; sometimes, he was just a sympathetic shoulder, as when he spent the night in the White House praying with the Bushes in 1991 on the eve of the Gulf War.

He is one of the most famous ministers who ever lived, but Billy Graham had no formal theological training. Born in 1918 and raised on a dairy farm outside Charlotte, N.C., he received undergraduate degrees from the Florida Bible Institute and Wheaton College. Still, in 1947, when he was just 30 years old, he was named president of Northwestern Bible College in Minnesota. He served from 1948 to 1952, the years that also marked the beginning of his international celebrity as a traveling evangelist.

Graham’s road as a preacher has not always been an easy one. For example, at the height of tension over integration in Little Rock, Ark., in 1959, Billy Graham held one of his crusades there and stipulated, as he always did, that the seating be desegregated. Graham’s refusal to knuckle under to the threats of segregationists and white supremacists made a big impression on a 13-year-old in attendance with his Sunday school class, a teenager named William Jefferson Clinton. “I was just a little boy,” Clinton recalled nearly 50 years later, after he’d served as president and received Graham at the White House, “and I never forgot it, and I’ve loved him ever since.”

Controversy has occasionally tarnished, if only temporarily, Graham’s reputation as a man of God, as in 2002 when declassified White House audio tapes from 1972 revealed him uttering to then-President Richard Nixon blatantly anti-Semitic remarks about, among other things, Jews controlling the American media. In the midst of the subsequent uproar, Graham abjectly apologized, saying that “if it wasn’t on tape, I would not have believed it [was me speaking]. I guess I was trying to please [Nixon]. I felt so badly about myself I couldn’t believe it. I went to a meeting with Jewish leaders and I told them I would crawl to them to ask their forgiveness.”

Many of the photographs of Graham that LIFE published over the years captured the public man, but the private Billy Graham seen in these rare pictures relaxing with his family, preaching one-on-one to the world’s most powerful people and to the poorest of the poor, wrestling with God on the golf course may prove something of a minor revelation even to those who thought they knew all there was to know about the the man.

Not published in LIFE. The Rev. Billy Graham in 1952." caption="Mark Kauffman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="The Rev. Billy Graham in 1952." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1142391.jpg" alt="The Rev. Billy Graham in 1952." />

The Rev. Billy Graham in 1952.

Mark Kauffman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham, Washington, D.C., 1952. " caption="Mark Kauffman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham, Washington, D.C., 1952." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222181-1024x661.jpg" alt="Billy Graham, Washington, D.C., 1952." />

Billy Graham, Washington, D.C., 1952.

Mark Kauffman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham in Washington, D.C., 1952." caption="Mark Kauffman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham, Washington, D.C., 1952." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222191-800x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham in Washington, D.C., 1952." />

Billy Graham, Washington, D.C., 1952.

Mark Kauffman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham and his daughter, Ruth, in 1956." caption="Ed Clark/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham and his daughter, Ruth, in 1956." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222231-679x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham and his daughter, Ruth, in 1956." />

Billy Graham and his daughter, Ruth, in 1956.

Ed Clark/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy and Ruth Graham and their four children in North Carolina in 1956: Franklin (who would become the pastor's designated successor as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), Virginia, Anne and Ruth. " caption="Ed Clark/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy and Ruth Graham and their four children in North Carolina in 1956: Franklin (who would become the pastor's designated successor as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), Virginia, Anne and Ruth." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222221-1024x679.jpg" alt="Billy and Ruth Graham and their four children in North Carolina in 1956: Franklin (who would become the pastor's designated successor as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), Virginia, Anne and Ruth." />

Billy and Ruth Graham and their four children in North Carolina in 1956: Franklin (who would become the pastor’s designated successor as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), Virginia, Anne and Ruth.

Ed Clark/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham and family in North Carolina in 1956. " caption="Ed Clark/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham and family in North Carolina in 1956." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222201-1024x679.jpg" alt="Billy Graham and family in North Carolina in 1956." />

Billy Graham and family in North Carolina in 1956.

Ed Clark/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham preaches in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959." caption="Francis Miller/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham preached in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222241.jpg" alt="Billy Graham preaches in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959." />

Billy Graham preached in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959.

Francis Miller/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham in Africa on a six-week crusade in 1960. He traveled 14,000 miles and preached to a third of a million people, some 20,000 of whom raised their hands as a sign of their born-again experience. " caption="James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham in Africa on a six-week crusade in 1960. He traveled 14,000 miles and preached to a third of a million people, some 20,000 of whom raised their hands as a sign of their born-again experience." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222271-680x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham in Africa, 1960" />

Billy Graham in Africa on a six-week crusade in 1960. He traveled 14,000 miles and preached to a third of a million people, some 20,000 of whom raised their hands as a sign of their born-again experience.

James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. While in Africa in 1960, Graham preached in stadiums, on banana plantations and in mud huts. One place he did not preach was South Africa. He was a vocal opponent of apartheid and insisted on desegregated seating at his rallies in Africa, as he did in the American South and everywhere else he preached." caption="James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="While in Africa in 1960, Graham preached in stadiums, on banana plantations and in mud huts. One place he did not preach was South Africa. He was a vocal opponent of apartheid and insisted on desegregated seating at his rallies in Africa, as he did in the American South and everywhere else he preached." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222281-1024x680.jpg" alt="Billy Graham in Africa, 1960" />

While in Africa in 1960, Graham preached in stadiums, on banana plantations and in mud huts. One place he did not preach was South Africa. He was a vocal opponent of apartheid and insisted on desegregated seating at his rallies in Africa, as he did in the American South and everywhere else he preached.

James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham during his 1960 crusade through Africa. " caption="James Burke TIME & LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham during his 1960 crusade through Africa." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1142401-1024x680.jpg" alt="Billy Graham during his 1960 crusade through Africa." />

Billy Graham during his 1960 crusade through Africa.

James Burke TIME & LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham in Africa, 1960. When he first began to preach, as a student at the Florida Bible Institute, he would paddle a canoe across the Hillsborough River to a little island where, as he wrote in his autobiography, "I could address all creatures great and small, from alligators to birds. If they would not stop to listen, there was always a congregation of cypress stumps that could neither slither nor fly away." Today, the area is the site of Rev. Billy Graham Memorial Park." caption="James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham in Africa, 1960. When he first began to preach, as a student at the Florida Bible Institute, he would paddle a canoe across the Hillsborough River to a little island where, as he wrote in his autobiography, "I could address all creatures great and small, from alligators to birds. If they would not stop to listen, there was always a congregation of cypress stumps that could neither slither nor fly away." Today, the area is the site of Rev. Billy Graham Memorial Park." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222261-1024x680.jpg" alt="Billy Graham in Africa, 1960" />

Billy Graham in Africa, 1960. When he first began to preach, as a student at the Florida Bible Institute, he would paddle a canoe across the Hillsborough River to a little island where, as he wrote in his autobiography, “I could address all creatures great and small, from alligators to birds. If they would not stop to listen, there was always a congregation of cypress stumps that could neither slither nor fly away.” Today, the area is the site of Rev. Billy Graham Memorial Park.

James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. During his 1960 African crusade, Graham explained the Bible to a group of Waarusha warriors living in a village at the base of Mount Meru, not far from Kilimanjaro, in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). " caption="James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="During his 1960 African crusade, Graham explained the Bible to a group of Waarusha warriors living in a village at the base of Mount Meru, not far from Kilimanjaro, in Tanganyika (now Tanzania)." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1142411-680x1024.jpg" alt="During his 1960 African crusade, Graham explained the Bible to a group of Waarusha warriors living in a village at the base of Mount Meru, not far from Kilimanjaro, in Tanganyika (now Tanzania)." />

During his 1960 African crusade, Graham explained the Bible to a group of Waarusha warriors living in a village at the base of Mount Meru, not far from Kilimanjaro, in Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. "My home is in Heaven," said Graham. "I'm just traveling through this world."" caption="James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham, 1960." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222251-680x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham, 1960." />

Billy Graham, 1960.

James Burke/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. As the 1960 presidential campaign heated up, LIFE asked several leaders and thinkers to address the topic of "The National Purpose" in a series of essays. Graham wrote that, despite America's postwar prosperity, there was a nationwide sense of unfulfillment, a "moral and spiritual cancer" that could only be cured by a return to God." caption="Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="As the 1960 presidential campaign heated up, LIFE asked several leaders and thinkers to address the topic of "The National Purpose" in a series of essays. Graham wrote that, despite America's postwar prosperity, there was a nationwide sense of unfulfillment, a "moral and spiritual cancer" that could only be cured by a return to God." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222301-688x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham, 1960" />

As the 1960 presidential campaign heated up, LIFE asked several leaders and thinkers to address the topic of “The National Purpose” in a series of essays. Graham wrote that, despite America’s postwar prosperity, there was a nationwide sense of unfulfillment, a “moral and spiritual cancer” that could only be cured by a return to God.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham, 1960. Golf played a key role in Graham's life; he wrote in his autobiography that he received his calling to preach the gospel on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club. He joked that God wouldn't let him get too good at golf, or else he'd spend too much time playing." caption="Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham, 1960. Golf played a key role in Graham's life; he wrote in his autobiography that he received his calling to preach the gospel on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222321-688x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham, 1960. Golf played a key role in Graham's life; he wrote in his autobiography that he received his calling to preach the gospel on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club." />

Billy Graham, 1960. Golf played a key role in Graham’s life; he wrote in his autobiography that he received his calling to preach the gospel on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham in 1960." caption="Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham in 1960" src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1222311-688x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham in 1960." />

Billy Graham in 1960

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Billy Graham reads from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 33, Verse 2: "O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble." " caption="Alfred Eisenstaedt/ LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Billy Graham read from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 33, Verse 2: "O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble."" src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/ugc1142421-688x1024.jpg" alt="Billy Graham reads from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 33, Verse 2: "O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble."" />

Billy Graham read from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 33, Verse 2: “O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/ LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Billy Graham joined newly inaugurated president John F. Kennedy at a national prayer breakfast at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel in February 1961.

Paul Schutzer/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

The post LIFE With Billy Graham: Rare Photos From the Early Years of His Career appeared first on LIFE.

The Haunts of Famous American Ghosts

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 17:11:15 +0000

This October 31st costumed kids and a good number of grown-ups will be fanning out across neighborhoods and going to parties in cities and towns all over the world. The creatures and characters on display will range from the topical (covid, anyone?) to the classic (ghouls, pirates, witches, superheroes, zombies).

But no single emblem captures the spirit of the holiday quite as neatly as that old stand-by: a ghost.

Way back in 1957, in an article titled “American Ghostly Legends,” LIFE magazine paid spooky tribute to some of the country’s most celebrated ghosts and ghost stories. The magazine’s editors introduced the elaborate, multi-page feature thus:

The native ghosts of the U.S. are less famous than their Old World, other-world counterparts. But there are a surprising number of them and they make up a colorful and diverse group.

Most American ghosts were born in the simpler past of colonial or frontier days. Even in today’s scientific age their stories, like the ghosts themselves, die hard. From the annals of unearthly Americana, nine of the most fascinating stories were selected [for this feature]. At their sites photographer Nina Leen caught the haunting and haunted atmosphere which might make any man, having heard the creaks and seen the eerie moving lights and shadows, believe that ghosts still walk.

Here, on Halloween a six full decades after it first published, LIFE.com recalls “American Ghostly Legends” with a gallery of Nina Leen‘s striking color pictures, as well as reproductions of the article’s pages as they ran in LIFE.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Leen’s work while perhaps rather staid when compared with the filters and effects available via Instagram, Photoshop and other modern media was impressive enough at the time to win first prize for Magazine Color Story in a 1958 contest sponsored by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the National Press Photographers Association and the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Ghostly American Legends

Nina Leen Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Photo made for the article, "Ghostly American Legends," LIFE, Oct. 28, 1957." caption="Nina Leen Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Ghostly American Legends" src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2013/10/131029-ghostly-legends-15.jpg" alt="Photo made for the article, "Ghostly American Legends," LIFE, Oct. 28, 1957." />

Ghostly American Legends

Nina Leen Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Ghostly American Legends

LIFE Magazine

The post The Haunts of Famous American Ghosts appeared first on LIFE.