LIFE ran its biggest story on Camus in October 1957, right around the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for fictional works such as The Stranger, The Plague and The Fall, and philosophical writings such as “The Myth of Sisyphus.” Camus was a mere 44 years old at the time, and he remains the second-youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, after Rudyard Kipling.

LIFE’s 1957 story about Camus carried the headline “Action-Packed Intellectual” and began with the note that he “jealously guards his privacy.” But the author relented enough to allow LIFE staff photographer Loomis Dean a rare window into his life. Dean documented Camus at his publishing office, at home with his family, and preparing to direct a staging of his play Caligula. Camus declared to LIFE, “I consider myself an artist first, almost exclusively. What is an artist? Principally a vital force, and of that, frankly, I think I have almost too much. It wears me out.”

The most famous photo from Dean’s shoot—which is also one of the most popular images in LIFE’s online print store—is of Camus standing on the balcony of his Paris publishing offices. Camus looks like an avatar of 1950s intellectual cool. He even takes a drag on a cigarette, a throwback to the days when smoking was less taboo.

In the original story the image of Camus on the balcony ran with this quote from him: “I don’t like to work sitting down. I like to stand up—even at my desk. I probably need to wear myself out.”

It’s the kind of intellectual who could become popular—one who doesn’t take anything sitting down.

French author Albert Camus at the office of his Paris publishing house, 1957.

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French author and philosopher Albert Camus stands with an unidentified woman and reads one of a number of letters on a balcony outside his publishing office, Paris, 1957.

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Albert Camus leaned against a radiator in his office, Paris, 1957.

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French author Albert Camus, on the set of his play Caligula, 1957.

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Albert Camus directed a rehearsal of his play Caligula, Paris 1957.

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Albert Camus directed actors during a rehearsal of his play ‘Caligula.’ Paris, 1957.

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Albert Camus smoked a cigarette outside Theatre des Mathurins, where the rehearsals of his play Caligula were taking place, 1957.

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Albert Camus kissed actress Dominique Blanchar after a rehearsal of his play Caligula, 1957.

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Albert Camus and actress Dominique Blanchar after a rehearsal of his play Caligula, 1957.

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Albert Camus (center) rehearsed with actors for his play Caligula at an outdoor Shakespeare theater in Paris, 1957.

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Albert Camus (center, next to woman in glasses) dined with a group at a Paris restaurant, 1957.

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French author Albert Camus sitting in the garden of his Paris home with his 11-year-old twins Jean and Catherine, 1957.

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French author Albert Camus poised at home with his 11-year-old twins Jean and Catherine, 1957.

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The post Albert Camus: Intellectual Titan appeared first on LIFE.

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.

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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

The post “The Most Thrilling Ride in the U.S.” appeared first on LIFE.

In its April 18, 1955 issue LIFE magazine reported on—with a fair amount of concern—the onset of the defining evolution of popular music in the 20th century. The story was titled “Rock ‘N Roll: A Frenzied Teenage Music Craze Kicks Up a Big Fuss.“

Here’s how LIFE described what the “big fuss” was all about:

The nation’s teenagers are dancing their way into an enlarging controversy over rock ‘n roll. In New Haven, Connecticut the police chief has put a damper on rock ‘n roll parties and other towns are following suit. Radio networks are worried over questionable lyrics in rock ‘n roll. And some American parents, without quite knowing what it is their kids are up to, are worried that it’s something they shouldn’t be.

But like it or not, rock and roll was here to stay. Standing in the heart of the moment, LIFE saw dancing as a big part of the new music’s appeal. The magazine, grasping to connect this revolutionary moment to the recent past, described rock and roll dancing as “a combination of “the Lindy and the Charleston, and almost anything else.” The story, shot by staff photographers Walter Sanders and Loomis Dean, had more pictures of kids dancing than of musicians performing. One of the shoots took place at the dance studio of Arthur Murray, where kids demonstrated their new moves.

LIFE acknowledged the roots of this new music, saying “The heavy-beat and honking-melody tunes of today’s rock ‘n roll have a clearly defined ancestry in U.S. jazz going back to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith of 30 years ago.” The broader market was now turning to a style of music that first became popular in the Black community because record companies had been focussing on “mambos and ballads,” and as a result “the country’s teenagers found themselves without snappy dance tunes to their taste.”

Some adults fretted over lyrics that seemed to be laden with innuendo and double meanings. But even as the LIFE article adopted the tone of a worried parent, the pictures in the magazine told another story. The photos showed exuberance and joy. And by today’s standards, everything looks extremely proper. The main concert photos feature the great Fats Domino, who is wearing a suit and playing a grand piano. The young fans are dressed as if they were going to a formal occasion, without any jeans or T-shirts in sight.

It’s mind-boggling to think that a mere 14 years from when this story ran, rock fans would be mucking around in the mud at Woodstock. But there was no stopping it at this point. The revolution was on, and it was coming fast.

Teenagers demonstrated their rock music dance moves for Arthur Murray and his wife, in background, at Murray’s dance studio.

Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Arthur Murray and wife (in the background to the left) enjoyed a demonstration by teen-agers of rock`n roll dancing, 1955..

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Young dancers from a 1955 story on rock music.

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A couple dancing from a story on rock music, 1955.

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A young couple danced to rock music, 1955.

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Pioneering rock DJ Allen Freed did a show from a studio in Boston, 1955.

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A sign for an early rock show presented by pioneering DJ Allan Freed, 1955.

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Teenagers danced to rock music being spun by DJ Al Jarvis in the parking lot of a Los Angeles supermarket, 1955.

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Audience members enjoying Alan Freed’s Easter show at Brooklyn Paramount Theater, 1955.

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Saxophonist Herbert Hardesty (center), a member of Fats Domino’s band, let loose at 54 Ballroom in Los Angeles, 1955.

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Fats Domino’s band performed in Los Angeles, 1955.

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Fats Domino’s band rocked out in Los Angeles, 1955.

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Fats Domino in concert in Los Angeles, 1955.

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Fats Domino and his band performed in Los Angeles, 1955.

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Young dancers from a 1955 story on rock music.

Walter Sanders/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A show from the early days of rock and roll, 1955.

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The post The Dawn of Rock: America Finds Its Thrill appeared first on LIFE.

But those heady days were in front of her when LIFE’s Loomis Dean photographed Deneuve in 1961. At that point, even though this child of stage actors had been appearing in movies since she was 12, she was identified in the LIFE archival captions as “fashion model Catherine Deveuve.” (Though to be fair, Deneuve is known as a style icon as well as an actress).

Deneuve, who was born in Paris on October 22, 1943, would have been around 18 years old when she posed for Dean. Her hair was dark then, and when she appeared in LIFE’s April 3, 1962 issue, in a story headlined ‘Windfall of New Beauties,” about a new crop of young European actresses. (The photo of Deneuve which ran in that story was not from the Dean shoot but by noted glamour photographer Peter Basch). Deneuve was one of five young actresses featured in that story, along with another future star, Claudia Cardinale.

LIFE’s terse write-up about the young actress was: “France’s Catherine Deneuve, 18, is the fawnlake protege of director Roger Vadim, who made a star of Bardot. Direct in manner, haughty offstage but appealing in her roles, she excels in portraying adolescents emerging into womanhood.”

It was at the urging of Vadim, who also fathered a child with Deneuve, that she later dyed her hair blonde. She was blonde in her most memorable films, including Bunuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), in which Deneuve played a bored housewife who filled her afternoons by working as a prostitute.

Deneuve is often written about as appearing cool and aloof, which is not something she appreciated. In a lengthy interview in 2008 in Film Comment, she said, “I am shocked when people talk about me and sum me up as: blonde, cold, and solemn,” she said. “People will cling on to whatever reinforces their own assumptions about a person.”

In Loomis Dean’s photos, Deneuve’s eyes suggest a woman who knew much, even at age 18. In 2023, at age 80, Deneuve is still acting, appearing in the 2023 French film Bernadette, in which she played the widow for former French president Jacques Chirac.

Whatever it is behind those eyes, they still have plenty to say.

Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve (center) prepared for a photo shoot, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve and her father, actor Maurice Docleac, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve with fashion designer Louis Feraud, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve with French TV director Marcel Cravenne, 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve talking with French actor Christian Marquand (left) and actor-director Francois Moreuil (right), 1961.

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Catherine Deneuve with French actor Christian Marquand, 1961.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Catherine Deneuve: The Eyes Have It appeared first on LIFE.

Here was the setup offered in LIFE, in an article titled “The Case of the Skating Stones”:

On a dry lake bed high in the Panamint Mountains near Death Valley sit several dozen boulders whose peculiar behavior has long been a nightmare to geologists. The boulders, which weigh up to a quarter ton, stand at the ends of long, gouged-out paths which show that they periodically respond to unknown forces and skate about on the flat earthen floor.

LIFE painted the situation as a complete mystery, mentioning disproved theories from everyday folks that attributed the stones’ movement to the lake bed tilting back and forth, or perhaps to “Russians tampering with the magnetic pole.” (This was the early days of the Cold War, mind you). LIFE ended its writeup by saying “The mystery may never be completely solved. When humans observers are about, the stones refuse to budge an inch.”

But since 1952 scientists, when not busy exploring space and inventing cell phones and so forth, did come up with a leading hypothesis, which is that the stones’ skating is likely caused by the movement of thin sheets of ice that can form there in wintertime, with high winds perhaps helping to push stones along.

Though sometimes the stones have moved for reasons that are all too explicable—such as in 2013, when some stones were stolen. A park spokesman expressed both disappointment and confusion at the theft, saying “They don’t seem to understand that outside the Racetrack, these stones have no value.” Other visitors have damaged the site by taking the “Racetrack” name literally and driving their cars on it.

Sometimes human behavior is a mystery all its own.

The “sailing stones” of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, 1952.

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The “sailing stones” of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, 1952.

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LIFE’s 1952 story on the sailing stones of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley included this photo of stone-like objects described as “burro droppings” that had likely been moved by the same forces as the stones.

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The sailing stones of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, 1952.

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This three-quarter-ton stone left its mark after moving across a dry lake bed in Death Valley, 1952.

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“Sailing stones” left tracks as they drifted across Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, 1952.

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A small stone left these intricate tracks on the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, 1952.

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LIFE’s 1952 story on the Racetrack Playa described this photo as being from a “ghost experiment,” guessing that an amateur scientist had tied up the rock to keep it from moving, but over time the rope had eventually rotted away.

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The post Stones on the Run: A Death Valley Spectacle appeared first on LIFE.

The wonderful watermelon popped up many times over the years in the pages of LIFE, and in all kinds of settings. It was once even the centerpiece of a boozy beach blowout.

A 1948 story in LIFE carried the oh-so-tantalizing title Fun on the Beach: Summer Finds Americans Shedding Clothing and Inhibitions at Seaside. The watermelon was the star of the party, as revelers turned it into a vehicle for alcohol. One caption spoke enviously of the young people “stretching out and sipping spiked watermelon punch.” The photos here give rich documentation of the party people arriving at the San Diego beach with watermelons in tow, infusing the watermelons with alcohol, and then drinking from the watermelons as day turned to night.

LIFE has on more than one occasion gone to the farms to show where these mighty melons are harvested. LIFE staff photographers Wallace Kirkland, chronicler of so many scenes of American agriculture, took photos of a watermelon harvest in Illinois in the 1940s, and the legendary Loomis Dean documented workers in the fields of Imperial Valley in Califlornia, showing in one beautiful picture how the laborers formed a human conveyer belt to help get the melons into the back of a truck.

In 1960 LIFE applied a deliriously dramatic headline, “Major Melon Massace in Metuchen” to the story of a watermelon eating contest in New Jersey. A local real estate agency had sponsored the contest in an example of old-school brand building. The photos, in addition to showing cute kids chomping away, show how watermelons have evolved between then and now, because all those melons had the black mature seeds that have all but been eliminated from the product on sale in today’s grocery stores. (Seedless watermelons, a testimony to the power fo plant breeding, began to take over the market in the 1990s, ). At the New Jersey contest those black seeds inspired gamesmanship among contests who picked them out before the contest’s official start. The story closed with a quote from one boy who hadn’t. He complained, “I swallowed so many seeds I’m going to grow a watermelon patch in my stomach.”

A spiked watermelon beach party in San Diego, 1948.

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A spiked watermelon beach party in San Diego, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A spiked watermelon beach party in San Diego, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A spiked watermelon beach party in San Diego, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A spiked watermelon beach party in San Diego, 1948.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Migrant workers harvesting watermelons in the Imperial Valley, California, 1947.

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Migrant workers harvesting watermelons in the Imperial Valley, California, 1947.

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Workers harvesting watermelons in the Imperial Valley, California, 1947.

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An Illinois watermelon harvest, 1946.

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A little boy eating watermelon by the handful while sitting on a pile of melons, 1946.

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Watermelon harvesting, 1943.

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Watermelon harvest, 1943.

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Scene from a watermelon harvest, 1943.

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Watermelon-eating contest, New Jersey, 1960

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After the watermelon-eating contest, New Jersey, 1960.

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Watermelon eating contest in New Jersey, 1960.

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Watermelon contest, 1960.

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Watermelon contest, 1960.

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Watermelon contest, 1960.

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Watermelon-eating contest, New Jersey, 1960.

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Watermelon-eating contest winners Barbara Walp, 10, and Willy Jones, 13, were crowned king and queen of the watermelon festival by Miss New Jersey, Susan Barber, 1960.

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The post Seeds of Inspiration: Wonderful Watermelon Moments appeared first on LIFE.