--- title: Teenage Boys in '45: Faced With War, They Act Seriously Playful description: Photos of Iowa teens in June 1945 illustrate that some young Americans refused to let the war overseas define their day-to-day lives. canonical: https://time.com/3879165/teenage-boys-in-45-faced-with-war-they-act-seriously-playful/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-20T02:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:46.367Z og:title: Teenage Boys in '45: Faced With War, They Act Seriously Playful og:description: Photos of Iowa teens in June 1945 illustrate that some young Americans refused to let the war overseas define their day-to-day lives. og:url: https://time.com/3879165/teenage-boys-in-45-faced-with-war-they-act-seriously-playful/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dc3398c02b227c4/69884b5c524fc06951df21dd/140212-teenage-boys-1945-19.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Teenage Boys 1945 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Teenage Boys in '45: Faced With War, They Act Seriously Playful twitter:description: Photos of Iowa teens in June 1945 illustrate that some young Americans refused to let the war overseas define their day-to-day lives. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dc3398c02b227c4/69884b5c524fc06951df21dd/140212-teenage-boys-1945-19.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Teenage Boys in '45: Faced With War, They Act Seriously Playful by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 20, 2014 2:00 AM UTC  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945.Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 20, 2014 2:00 AM UTC “The most important fact right now in the lives of American teen-age boys,” LIFE magazine informed its readers in a June 1945 cover story, “is that they may have to go and fight Japan. They have responded to this stern prospect by behaving exactly as they have always behaved, devoting themselves to all the vastly important details connected with the complete enjoyment of playing, eating, and sleeping, the doubtful enjoyment of exploring the world of men and women.” The article in that long-ago issue of LIFE — titled, simply, “Teen-Age Boys” — featured photographs by the incomparable Nina Leen, and came a half-year after the magazine’s first foray into the strange universe of teens: a December 1944 article called, “Teen-Age Girls: They Live in a Wonderful World of Their Own.” (See LIFE.com’s [“The Invention of Teenagers: LIFE and the Triumph of Youth Culture.”)](http://life.time.com/popular-culture/teenagers-a-1944-photo-essay-on-a-new-american-phenomenon/#1) That feature was shot by the same photographer who so neatly captured the teenage boys — offering more evidence that, among LIFE’s enormously talented and versatile photographers of the 1940s, perhaps none were as adept at capturing the fluid, emotionally charged lives of teens with quite the same cool sensitivity as the Russian-born [Leen](http://life.time.com/photographers/photographer-spotlight-nina-leen/#1). Of the (all-white) male teens Nina Leen photographed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1945, LIFE went on to wryly observe that, among the boys, “the old skills are still admired – -” --- > “” --- The war that shadowed all of these photos — for LIFE’s readers, and for the boys in the photographs themselves — lasted another two months, until American planes dropped bombs on two Japanese cities that, one suspects, few if any residents of 1945 Des Moines, Iowa, had ever heard of: Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. "Tom Moore, 17, of Des Moines, examines results of first shave, necessity for which only he could see. Most teen-age boys prefer safety to electric razor." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Comb in hip pocket is standard equipment. Boys seldom pass car window or store front without taking a quick comb." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Souvenirs clutter every boy's dresser. Shown here: pickled snake, a wig, set of false teeth, a razor blade, candy, a nail." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Wavy pompadour is current hair style. It is set into wet hair every morning by twist of comb. Some boys bleach hair." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Classroom uniform worn by Bill Parks consists of rolled jeans, white socks, moccasins, flannel shirt with tail flapping." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Saturday variation of tailless sport shirt, saddle shoes is worn by Bud Kepford. A regular shirt is worn underneath." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "On weeknight dates Phil Pfeiffer wears two-tone jacket, oxfords and a tie. Wearing tie is a real concession to his girl." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Legs, which always give trouble, sprawl in aisle at the movies." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Thumbing through the magazines on the rack outside the drugstore usually consumes several hours a week. Boys never buy any, look only at comic books, pictures magazines, Esquire." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Boy's room is sanctum where pals gather after school leaving the rest of the house to the girls. Fad for stealing signs and decking room with knickknacks and models is still going strong." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Dinner: soup, chops, potatoes, string beans, ice cream." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "First afternoon snack: chocolate ice-cream soda." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Evening snack: apples plus candy bar while studying." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Just before going to sleep Richie eats half box of crackers, drinks Pepsi-Cola." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Jalopies are kept running only by dint of much taking apart and putting together again. This is a 1927 Model T called Tooty. Big M's designate boys as members of the Molesters club." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "All Junior Molestors must always enter a house through window and leave shoes outside until initiation period is up. Club has sprung up in place of banned high-school fraternities." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "In an idle evening the boys like to heckle girls at a hen party." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for (but not used in) article on teenage boys, Des Moines, Iowa, 1945. 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