Natalie Wood and Steve Rowland apparently on their way to a game of Chicken at the Thalians Beach Ball in Malibu, 1956. BY EARL LEAF/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES. via
San Onofre, California, 1950. Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock via
Spring Break by Slim Aarons. High schoolers picnic on the beach at Bonita Springs, Florida, 1955 via
Sandra Dee plays with her pet poodle, while filming Gidget on the beach in 1958 via
1950s Beach Fashion by Nina Leen. The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
Marilyn Monroe goofs around on the beach, while filming for a project in Los Angeles, California in 1950 via
San Onofre, Calif., 1950. Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock via
Crazy Swim Caps 1959 by Ralph Crane. The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
Young people 16 to 20 are the beneficiaries of the very economic collapse that brought chaos almost a generation ago. The Depression tumbled the nation’s birth rate to an all-time low in 1933, and today’s teenage group is proportionately a smaller part of the total population than in more than 70 years. Since there are fewer of them, each in the most prosperous time in U.S. history gets a bigger piece of the nation’s economic pie than any previous generation ever got. This means they can almost have their pick of the jobs that are around. . . . To them working has a double attraction: the pay is good and, since their parents are earning more too, they are often able to keep the money for themselves.
‘The Luckiest Generation’: Teenagers in the ’50s
Jere Reid Jr., 17, who bred chinchillas, held one valued at $3,000. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
A young sales girl holding up a blouse to a store customer. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
A young investor, David Lenske, 17, having bought four shares of A.T.&T., talked with a banker. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
Pay in trade was taken by Margaret High, 17, who worked in a music store and spent her salary on records. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
The Luckiest Generation Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
Rada Alexander, 19, a bookkeeper, earned $200 a month in a job she got with an auto firm after graduation. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
An electrician, Jack Harris, 16, still in school, picked up good pay doing part-time repair jobs. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
The prosperous pay-off of after-school jobs brought Mike Sweeney and Harold Riley (right) with Pat Marsh (left) and Nita Wheeler, all 17, to Carlsbad’s Red Barn restaurant, a favorite party spot. Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock via
Jean Patchett (1926 – 2002) was a leading fashion model of the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. She was among the best known models of that era, which included Dovima, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, Evelyn Tripp and Lisa Fonssagrives.
She was famous for being one of the first high-fashion models to appear remote; previously, models had appeared warm and friendly.
During her career, she appeared on over 40 magazine covers. Patchett modeled for brands including Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel and Revlon.
Lauren Bacall (1924 – 2014) began her career in the 1940s as a model, before making her debut as a leading lady with Humphrey Bogart in the film To Have and Have Not in 1944. She continued in the film noir genre with appearances with Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948).
Nina Leen (d. 1995) was a Russian-born American photographer and a constant contributor to Life. A self-taught photographer she never became a staff photographer, but she contributed as a contract photographer until the magazine closed in 1972.
In 1949 she shot the sassy subculture of circus girls in Sarasota, Florida, dubbed “the home of the American circus” for the magazine.
FROM THE BYGONE 