10 Legendary covers of Life magazine

Explore 10 legendary Life magazine covers. I'll explain what Life magazine was for the youngsters:

Life is an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, a monthly from 1978 until 2000, and an online supplement since 2008. The latter was way less successful... But keep in mind, that they now have to compete with the quasi-infinite pictures uploaded to Instagram every day...

Although, no youngster is going to read this, anyways. This article is purely dedicated to nostalgia fetishists... I hope you haven't become one of those, yet!

1. The Beatles (1964)

This is only the first time The Beatles appeared in the famous magazine... Keep in mind the english band was formed in 1960, so in only four years they got to be the most famous band in the world...! Did you form a band with your friends four years ago and you haven't appeared in Life magazine, yet? Don't worry, that wouldn't get you the same attention, nowadays...!

In this edition the Fab Four (not to be confused with their homage band of the same name!) are still the cute smiling bunch... They weren't enlightened just, yet! Although, you can see George Harrison already has an inkling of what's to come! His smile isn't as wide as the other's, but perhaps this is simply because his songs weren't passing Paul and Lennon's tests to be on the first albums...! And yet, that doesn't seem to be bothering Ringo!

2. Marilyn Monroe (1952)

No more British crooket teeth! The talk of Hollywood in 1954 was Marilyn Monroe for only 20 cents...

In that same year Monroe became one of 20th Century-Fox's biggest stars, but her contract had not changed since 1950, meaning she was paid much less than other stars of her stature and could not choose her projects.

In January, 1954, the studio executives finally suspended Monroe when she refused to begin filming another musical comedy, The Girl in Pink Tights, opposite Frank Sinatra. So Sinatra played the part, instead... Wait, what?

This was the first time Marilyn was the cover of Life magazine but it wouldn't be the last. Almost a decade later the time came! Monroe's doctors stated that she had been "prone to severe fears and frequent depression." with "abrupt and unpredictable mood swings," and that she had overdosed several times in the past, possibly intentionally.​ Deputy Coroner Thomas Noguchi classified her death as as a probable suicide in 1962.

Due to the lack of evidence, many believe that she was murdered. Her doctors, Greenson and Engelberg, prescribed various barbiturates that could accumulate in her body to reach life-threatening levels. It is believed that Marilyn died several hours before the authorities were notified and that her room had been manipulated and arranged conveniently before the phone call...

I don't know who called but if either of the doctors did that would be case closed for me...! Did they also imitate Monroe's voice on the phone call?

Monroe's sudden death was front-page news in the United States and Europe including Life magazine. According to Lois Banner, "the suicide rate in Los Angeles is said to have doubled the month after her death; The circulation rate of most newspapers expanded that month." There seems to be a correlation between the two...!

3. Batman, Superman and the Marquis de Sade

Okey, sure Batman and Superman were popular in the 60s. What is Marquis de Sade doing there, though...?

Let's focus on the fictional characters today...! Although, I guess it's true that The Joker tends to torture Batman trapping him in "sadistic" contraptions using tight leather "belts"... And superheroes tend to wear tight spandex and leather uniforms... I guess I see the correlation, now!

Well, in 1966 Batman: The Movie directed by Leslie H. Martinson was released. The film stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. The outfits were "wild" back then... I guess a very different approach to today's superhero costumes...

Adam didn't need take steroids to prepare himself for this movie, that's for sure... Yes, they all take steroids now... Broccoli and chicken doesn't cut it! Try it out if you don't believe me. But be careful, you could become too swole, irreversibly...!

4. Disney World Opens (1971)

Isn't there something nightmarish about this picture? Maybe the previous subject didn't help! The resemblance between the "Life" logo and the "Obey" logo from the B-movie "They Live" doesn't help either

I guess Disneyland's great success (1955) wasn't enough for Walt Disney... They needed a whole world of Disney...! A bigger and arguably better park, with all of the space needed for the dreams (and nightmares) contained in the Disney company.

Walt selected a central location near Bay Lake, Florida. To avoid land speculation, Disney used several shell companies to acquire 27,443 acres of land which is equivalent to 183 football stadiums...! Disney also ended up buying those (even if I just made them up)!

5. Snow monkeys of Japan (1970)

We could talk about ecology all day long but I wouldn't want to bore you with such depressing tales...!

If you'd like to get this issue for yourselves, it is now on sale on eBay for 10 dollars... Much more than the 50 cents you had to pay back then (if you don't count for inflation of course!). $1 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $7.81 today. So, it is a little over prized, still...!

Don't be a tightwad and buy it... That way I wouldn't need to regurgitate magazine articles inside a blog's article... For the tightwads:

The picture was taken at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. It's located in Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, and is located in the valley of the Yokoyu-River (the body of water the monkey in the picture is probably bathing in). The name Jigokudani, meaning "Hell's Valley", is due to the steam and boiling water that bubbles out of small crevices in the frozen ground, surrounded by steep cliffs and formidably cold and hostile forests.

A nice warm bath...! I hope I could one day bathe in a warm ocean...! I mean, no! That would be horrible, right?

6. Deeper into the Vietnam War (1965)

Here come more serious matters... Is Domestika ready for my nuanced insight on the Vietnam War? My inside is nuanced because it comes from all the Hollywood movies I've watched made on the topic... Mainly Tropic Thunder...! Maybe, I got the meaning of the word "nuanced" wrong... But Tropic Thunder would've been a pretty unique view on the war in 1965, nevertheless...!

This issue was published in the middle of the almost 20 year long proxy war between North and South Vietnam. The north was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist states. And the south by the United States and other anti-communist allies.

I don't know when or where exactly the picture was taken but their smiles remind me of the photographer scene in Full Metal Jacket...! Again, I haven't seen any combat in my life... Hollywood movies is what I lived through...!

7. Dimitri Tsafendas and Alfred Eisenstaedt (1966)

Eisenstaedt, was a German-American photographer, photojournalist, and photography theorist that took now famous photographs of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Goebbels, Thomas Mann, Richard Strauss, Albert Einstein... Why did they choose, Sophia Loren out of all his portraits? I personally think that the magazine issue would've sold way less with Joseph Goebbels' face on the cover... I've just got a hunch!

In the 60s Sophia Loren was a bigger star than the Vietnam War even! She had worked with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and many more during the previous decade. Not even the assassination of the former Prime Minister of South Africa Hendrik Verwoerd could compare!

Dimitri Tsafendas was a Greek-Mozambican lifelong political militant... Oh, and he stabbed Verwoerd, who was commonly regarded as the architect of apartheid (a system of racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa), to death during a sitting of the House of Assembly in Cape Town...

Domestika is on fire, today! Changing topics: Did you know that the Mozambican flag features a drawing of an AK-47? I just thought you should know before visiting, like I'm sure you were so eager to do during the Easter holidays!

8. The Jackson Five (1971)

Couldn't we get off heavy topics for once...? I guess that's "Life", huh...!

The Jacksons were a working class family from Gary, Indiana. The mom, a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, raised her children under that belief. Their father (Joseph), a steel mill employee who often played in a rhythm & blues group called The Falcons with his brother Luther, strictly disciplined them. The Jackson children remember being beaten or spanked many times by Joseph for their bad behavior...

But hey, who can't deny that I Want You Back is a great song...! Each beating made the song much better I'm sure... Actually, I'm not so sure...! Did Joseph Jackson also spanked the audio engineer to get a better mix?

That's as far as I'm willing to go on The Jacksons... Suffice it to say, there are way worse stories about them...! But this is not the time or place for those. Domestika's focus tends to be more on crochet amigurumis and cute stuff like that, you know?

9. To the Moon and Back (1969)

Oh, so they had AI pictures back in the day? Is this the unreleased fourth Back to the Future movie?

I'm going to attempt to be non-partisan on this controversial issue (like all of them can be made to be) first I'll give the perspective of the astronauts:

Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC (NASA, you can chill out! You don't need to be that exact... I believe you, okey...?).

But here's the hard hitting question: how did he play the trumpet? There's no air in space, right? Oh wait, I got confused with Louis Armstrong...! I'll be honest, as a kid I thought the famous musician went to the moon and sang "Over the Rainbow" in space...

And the alternative view is that this is the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey...! I like the first movie better, honestly... And I'm not the biggest fan!

10. Life (1946)

Had you seen these magazine covers before? Do you have a copy at home? Let me tell you: the Life collection you saved over the years won't make you the fortune you were thinking of...! But the information it holds, might... I don't know, I haven't read it, yet!

The Life logo is a good bold, red design like Domestika's logo, Coca-Cola and the Nazi's too...! Here are some editorial design courses and articles to help you create your new "movement", make it bold and red, it always makes for a "killer" look:

- Join our courses on editorial design
- What is an Editorial Illustrator?
- 6 Innovative Print and Web Examples An article by Lauren du Plessis