Drinking milkshakes, an evening at the drive-in and dancing the night away: Candid pictures capture the birth of the 'teenage' generation having a gas in 1940s America
Before Justin Bieber, One Direction
and Gossip Girl, the carefree teens of the early 1940s sipped
milkshakes, listened to records and went on their first dates - usually
to the movies to catch a flick.
The stunning images by photographer Nina Leen, captured daily life of the American teenager as the country emerged from the Great Depression and World War II was waged abroad.
The photos highlighted on LIFE.com center around the birth of the so-called 'teenage' generation, which was marked by its own fashion, music and shoulder-length hairstyle.
One
image shows a group of teens working together to push a Ford model T
down the street after it wouldn't start. Another shows a group of girls
huddled around a record player, likely listening to Bing Crosby, the top
artist of 1944.
An adolescent boy puts his arm around his date during a trip to the movies in one of Leen's photos, as 1944 was a popular year for films. Casablanca won the best picture Oscar that year.
The young women of the day emerged as a distinctive generation between childhood and adulthood in post-Depression America.
As the feature in Life magazine put it: 'There is a time in the life of every American girl when the most important thing in the world is to be one of a crowd of other girls and to act and speak and dress exactly as they do. This is the teen age.
'Some 6,000,000 U.S. teen-age girls
live in a world all their own - a lovely, gay, enthusiastic, funny and
blissful society almost untouched by the war. It is a world of sweaters
and skirts and bobby sox and loafers, of hair worn long, of eye-glass
rims painted red with nail polish, of high school boys [not] yet gone to
war.'
For the story, Leen followed around a group of 12 teenage girls in Webster Groves, Missouri, snapping various pictures as they hung out together, dressed alike and met up with boys at local sweet shops and movie theaters.
If alive today, the women would be between 83 and 85 years old.
The stunning images by photographer Nina Leen, captured daily life of the American teenager as the country emerged from the Great Depression and World War II was waged abroad.
The photos highlighted on LIFE.com center around the birth of the so-called 'teenage' generation, which was marked by its own fashion, music and shoulder-length hairstyle.
A little help: A gaggle of teens try to push
their broken down model T down the street in this image featured in Life
magazine in 1944
Flirting: A young women flaunts her charm while sipping a milkshake with some teenage boys
Gathering: If alive today, the women featured in the photographs would be between 83 and 85 years old
An adolescent boy puts his arm around his date during a trip to the movies in one of Leen's photos, as 1944 was a popular year for films. Casablanca won the best picture Oscar that year.
The young women of the day emerged as a distinctive generation between childhood and adulthood in post-Depression America.
As the feature in Life magazine put it: 'There is a time in the life of every American girl when the most important thing in the world is to be one of a crowd of other girls and to act and speak and dress exactly as they do. This is the teen age.
Dining out: A group of teens enjoy some fruit, cake and milk in one of Leen's images from 1944
Daily life: At left, women listen to a record as
two boys glance at a magazine. At right, a young couple gets romantic
as they take in a movie
Fashion firsts: The so-called 'teenage' generation, which was marked by its own style, music and shoulder-length hairstyle
For the story, Leen followed around a group of 12 teenage girls in Webster Groves, Missouri, snapping various pictures as they hung out together, dressed alike and met up with boys at local sweet shops and movie theaters.
If alive today, the women would be between 83 and 85 years old.
Carefree: The women of 1940s America had little to worry about while World War II was waged overseas
Dawn of a new age: The young women of the day
emerged as a distinctive generation between childhood and adulthood in
post-Depression America