MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME
 
JUMP TO PAGE   100  >  200  >  300  >  400  >  500  >  600
VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

Cover Girl: 1950

Winnetka, Illinois. June 1950. "Student Rue Lawrence wearing frilly summer dress and bright lipstick in classroom at New Trier High School." Rue was on the cover of the October 16, 1950, issue of Life. Color transparency by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

Winnetka, Illinois. June 1950. "Student Rue Lawrence wearing frilly summer dress and bright lipstick in classroom at New Trier High School." Rue was on the cover of the October 16, 1950, issue of Life. Color transparency by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Wow this woman is stunning!

I would so love to see her now.

Ohhh

Oh to find an American woman today with as much class, elegance, and beauty. And this girl probably didn't curse every other word or drink like a sailor.

Rue: Cover Girl

This is Joe Manning. I found Rue, and I talked to her briefly today. She was not interested in submitting to an interview or having an article written about her. However, she was very gracious and shared a few thoughts and stories about the photo and its aftermath, but I have promised not to repeat them. She married, has five children, and seems to be living a full and interesting life.

Rue-more mongering

Donald Rumsfeld might know how to find her. Not only was he the ultimate spybiz insider, but he was a member of the New Trier Class of '50, and thus graduated about the time this picture was taken.

An Alum's thoughts:

An incredible picture from the days of Americana embodied. As a recent alum of New Trier, I can say that in most ways not much has changed from this picture. My mother not only attended New Trier, too, but the same junior high school as well. Needless to say, there have been countless conversations comparing and contrasting the ages. NTHS has garnered much attention in the press for its famous alumni, high academic standards, liberal social policies, and social practices of students. Not to be swept under the rug is an article in Time about the rampant recreational drug use of NTHS students. True as it may be, and debatable as these aforementioned issues certainly are, the education provided to the students is of an unparalleled caliber, certainly attested to by the consistent achievements of its alumni. As one who has chosen a path in the arts, not politics, law, or business (and certainly receives much less attention from the press), I found the school's image to be paradoxically inspiring. What an iconic institution, delightfully distant from the usual East coast boarding school (or even the heartwarming economically disadvantaged school overcoming adversity) to be profiled.

Most important, it's a timeless picture.

Rue

I couldn't find anything about Rue we didn't already know. She looks so perfect, she probably became the quintessential 50's wife and mother. But I never knew about Eisenstaedt's work or that he was the one who took that photograph (V-J Day).

Nice outfit.

My mother had a square dance dress just like that, with the full skirt and many petticoats underneath.

But I never saw one at high school in the 60s! (Tamalpais '67 here).

Now to go LOOK for the LIFE archives..

So ... Whatever became of Rue?

Anybody know?

Those eyes

Her eyes are looking into my soul. I can't stop looking at those eyes.

Eyes V.2

... and Bill Murray and Frankie B. Rhodes, who claims to have been Murray's straight man through high school!

Steve Miller
Someplace near the crossroads of America

More New Trier Trivia

They split the New Trier district into East and West in the late 1960's. The original, called New Trier East, used the green and gray colors, while the little brother New Trier West used blue and gray. The two schools were reunited a few years ago and now use green, blue and gray as their colors. New Trier East's teams were the Indians, West's were the Cowboys, and the teams for the reconstituted school are the Trevians.

Christie Hefner is a graduate (1970 or 1971) of New Trier West.

John Holton, New Trier West Class of 1974

Beautiful picture, beautiful

Beautiful picture, beautiful girl, but that bra strap sticking out drives me nuts!

Green?

Am I totally insane, because to me everything is blue not green...

[After a bit of tweaking, what once was green now is blue. - Dave]

Re: Pen of Choice

Looks more like a Sheaffer pen - they made several similar models in that era.

Not as green

Tricky ol' Dave did some additional color correction since this was first posted. In looking through the New Trier High School color photos there, it's interesting trying to figure out what films Eisenstaedt used. The purplish-red fading on most of the large- and medium-format is a dead giveaway that it was Ektachrome, but a number of shots (like that of our Cover Girl here) can be seen in various states of correction. I did spot a couple 4x5 Kodachromes, which you can tell from the color as well as the fact that it said so right on the edge. The 35mm shots are almost all pretty good, indicating either Kodachrome or perhaps Anscochrome/color.

On a related note, anybody know how to get more than 200 results in searching the LIFE archive?

Pen of Choice

Is that a Parker pen? Also green.

Cheer, Cheer

"Cheer, Cheer, Beat New Trier!"

That was an unofficial part of my (Evanston Township) high school fight song.

[So what rhymes with "Evanston"? - Dave]

Green & Gray

At that time the school colors were green and gray.

High school eyes

New Trier H.S. had some other interesting sets of eyes enrolled... Charlton Heston, Rock Hudson, Ann-Margret.

Holy Toledo!

Please! No smoking in class...

Another Possibility

Perhaps it was Saint Patrick's Day.

[In June? - Dave]

Yes Yes Hubba Hubba

Essie always had a good eye for the ladies. He sure knew how to pick 'em.

A Model Student

On first glance it looks obvious why a teacher would want a stunner like Rue in the front row. But behind her are more stunning girls. This was no high school, it's a model school.

Green Day

I like how everyone is color-coordinated with Rue's eyes.

Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.