May 1964. 35mm Kodachrome by Toni Frissell for the Life magazine assignment "The Splendor of a Great Family: The Vanderbilts." View full size.

        On her country estate near Stamford, Connecticut, Gloria Vanderbilt enjoys a picnic with her husband, Wyatt Cooper, and two sons by her marriage to Leopold Stokowski -- Chris, 12, and Stan, 13. She came upon the picturesque waterfall with its secluded cottage one day and couldn't resist buying it. "It was like something out of a fairy tale," she exclaims.

July 1944. New York. "Under the Third Avenue IRT elevated train line, looking north at East 58th Street." Color transparency by Andreas Feininger for Life magazine. View full size.

        "In my studio Elizabeth was quiet and shy. She struck me as an average teenager, except that she was incredibly beautiful." -- Philippe Halsman

"In a décolleté silk evening dress Elizabeth Taylor sits for photographer Philippe Halsman. The former child star will be 17 next week." (Life magazine, February 21, 1949; photo taken in New York, October 1948.) Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division. View full size.

1956. Edina, Minnesota. "Interior Garden Court with stairway to upper level in Southdale Regional Shopping Center, the first enclosed shopping mall." Color transparency by Grey Villet, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

Hollywood, 1953. "Actress Marilyn Monroe at home." 35mm color transparency by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life magazine image archive. View full size.

New York, June 1952. Eartha Kitt, the self-styled "sex kitten" who made "Santa Baby" a staple of the holiday airwaves in a career that spanned half a century, died today at the age of 81. Photo by Gordon Parks, Life archive. View full size.

New York, July 1948. "Young boy tossing a ball on a city street." Photograph by Cornell Capa, Life image archive. View full size.

Hollywood, 1953. "Actress Marilyn Monroe at home." 35mm color transparency by Alfred Eisenstaedt. View full size.

Hollywood, 1953. "Actress Marilyn Monroe, playfully elegant at home." 35mm negative by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life photo archive. View full size.

Los Angeles, February 1947. "Young upcoming Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe practicing in dance class." Photo by J.R. Eyerman. View full size.

Hollywood, February 1947. "Movie starlet Marilyn Monroe." And the world's luckiest phone book. Photograph by J.R. Eyerman. View full size.

December 1941. "Pearl Harbor burns at Mare Island Navy Yard, California." Color transparency by J.R. Eyerman, Life photo archive. View full size.

Christmas 1960. "Mrs. McKone, RB-47 wife." John McKone, an Air Force lieutenant whose plane was shot down over the Arctic Ocean by the Russians, came home in January 1961 after six months in Lyubyanka Prison. Blurry but atmospheric Kodachrome by Grey Villet, Life photo archive. View full size.

"Experimental housing. Storage shed & garage." Remember that this garage is experimental, and that the slightest little bump could could send the whole business -- prototype potting bench, bleeding-edge tool storage -- pinwheeling off into the next dimension. Eric Schaal, Life photo archive. View full size.

Circa 1945-47. "Experimental kitchen model." Our second picture in this series of speculative designs addressing the postwar shortage of housing for mice. This model home has an open floorplan and open ceiling plan as well, with attic storage for giant cigars and oversize tins. Photo: Eric Schaal, Life archive. View full size.