LIFE at the Oscars: Rare Rehearsal Photos From 1958
LIFE at the Oscars: Rare Rehearsal Photos From 1958
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Top row, from left: Shirley Jones, Van Johnson, Mae West, Rock Hudson, and husband-and-wife dancing team Marge and Gower Champion. Bottom: Janet Leigh, Rhonda Fleming, Bob Hope, and Shirley MacLaine.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Back in the day, being a genuine Hollywood star entailed more than just acting (or looking good while sort of acting): leading men and women had to sing, dance, play it straight, play the clown — in short, they had to know how to entertain.
Little wonder, then, that in 1958, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences planned its 30th Oscars ceremony — the fifth ever to be televised — it called upon the town’s multi-talented screen icons to do what they did best: namely, put on a barn-burner of a show.
LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe was a fly on the wall that year as stars from Paul Newman and Zsa Zsa Gabor to Kirk Douglas and Mae West dropped in to rehearse for the big event. As it turned out, however, only a handful of McCombe’s marvelous photos were published in the magazine. Here, 55 years later, are the pictures that ran in LIFE, and many more that didn’t.
Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster with choreographer Jack Cole, practicing a mock-bitter song-and-dance number called "It's Great Not to Be Nominated"; the tune ribbed many of the year's Oscar contenders.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesInside Los Angeles' RKO Pantages theater, home of the Academy Awards from 1949 through 1959, Janet Leigh and Shirley MacLaine practice a tune.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesZsa Zsa Gabor arrives at the 1958 Oscar rehearsals in pearls and a fur stole.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPaul Newman appears to wait for a cue, as fellow Oscar presenter Doris Day consults with a director (gesturing toward the audience). On the big night itself, Newman's wife Joanne Woodward won Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve .Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMae West and Rock Hudson snuggle while rehearsing the flirty pop standard, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," as Academy president George Seaton looks on.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesClark Gable, known for years as "The King of Hollywood," chats with the band during a break in rehearsals, 1958.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesShirley MacLaine shows off the pixie-cute style that helped make her a "mascot" of the Rat Pack throughout the Fifties and early Sixties.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesDoris Day and Clark Gable prepare to present the winners of the writing awards, 1958. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Bob Hope, who hosted (or co-hosted) the Academy Awards 19 times over his long career, appears to pick something off Betty Grable's sweater; standing above them on the steps are Shirley Jones -- then famous for the movie musicals Oklahoma! and Carousel -- and MGM idol Van Johnson. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Debbie Reynolds practices her big number: She was tackling "Tammy," the Oscar-nominated song from her romantic comedy Tammy and the Bachelor.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesRuss Tamblyn (center, in dark jacket and shirt with huge lapels), 23-year-old Best Supporting Actor nominee for Peyton Place, stands in a group with other unidentified young actors; to the lower right of the frame are Rock Hudson and Mae West. Three years later, Tamblyn become even more famous playing the Jets' leader Riff in West Side Story.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster check out the scene from the seats. On March 27, 1958 -- the day after the Oscars ceremony -- their war film, Run Silent, Run Deep, was released.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesShirley MacLaine checks in with the orchestra, 1958 Oscars rehearsal.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Just a few months away from the release the Hitchcock classic, Vertigo, Jimmy Stewart (a co-host in 1958) pops up at rehearsals in a jaunty fedora.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesTop row, from left: Shirley Jones, Van Johnson, Mae West, Rock Hudson, and husband-and-wife dancing team Marge and Gower Champion. Bottom: Janet Leigh, Rhonda Fleming, Bob Hope, and Shirley MacLaine.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesBob Hope, photographed in a quiet moment at the 1958 Oscar rehearsals. According to notes taken during Leonard McCombe's photo shoot, Hope cracked up the likes of Clark Gable and Cary Grant with new material: "Tovarich Hope, newly returned from Moscow, unlimbers his Russian jokes."Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
