--- description: These images were taken in 1959 for LIFE Magazine, but the story never ran title: Llama and Kangaroo at a Party: What's Going On Here? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte699526d7b41aca7/6988768cbc6cfc8dbc3dafa4/151222-kangaroo-llama-party-08.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Solving the Decades-Old Mystery of the Llama at the Party  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 25, 2016 3:00 PM CUT  A llama and goat being bathed in the backyard, 1959. A llama and goat being bathed in the backyard, 1959.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 25, 2016 3:00 PM CUT A llama walks into a party—and then what? These photographs, taken by LIFE photographer Robert W. Kelley in 1959, show a very strange party in progress. A llama, a kangaroo, a monkey, some goats, several dogs and a couple of cats all get a bath in what appears to be an urban backyard, and—later on, in the same place and on what appears to be the same day—they attend a party with the pianist Skitch Henderson. The photographs never ran in the magazine, and nor did the story for which they were taken. So what’s going on here? It’s a question that fans of Kelley’s work have [wondered](http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/11/19/kangaroo-bathtime-at-the-new-york-city-madhouse/ "undefined") for a while, but [another LIFE story about a llama](https://books.google.com/books?id=j1YEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA68&dq=llama&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi%5FhIu8547MAhUH8z4KHeYlBD8Q6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=llama&f=false "undefined"), published two years before these pictures were taken, can perhaps offer a clue. It was a short one-page item about Animal Talent Scouts, a company run by Bernard and Lorrain D’Essen in New York City, who provided animal actors for theater and television—including Linda the Llama. A small photograph of Mrs. D’Essen in her living room shows a similar assortment of creatures: several dogs, a kangaroo and a llama. Among the dogs, the breeds also overlap—a basset hound, a sheepdog, a few greyhounds and what appears to be a saluki. The dark-haired woman in the later photos above might also be the same woman from the earlier photograph. Contemporary news [reports](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19531127&id=scctAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hJsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6193,4635980&hl=en "undefined") about the business—which supply the information that Lorrain D’Essen worked in advertising, where she realized there was a market for trained animals for commercials—also confirm that the D’Essen’s New York City home, at [331 West 18th St.](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19590926&id=FDNWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=n-cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2905,3945359&hl=en "undefined"), did have a yard. (According to Google Maps, it still does.) Other, wilder animals with the Animal Talent Scouts agency lived in New Jersey. And here’s another clue: the date on the unpublished photos was May 1, 1959—just a couple of weeks before the release of Lorrain D’Essen’s [well-reviewed](http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/06/14/89126780.html?pageNumber=171 "undefined") memoir, [_Kangaroos in the Kitchen_](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lorrain-dessen/kangaroos-in-the-kitchen-2/ "undefined"). (The book became a TV movie in 1982.) Was this perhaps a book party? Though no record appears to exist of that particular get-together, the evidence is overwhelming. These were no ordinary animals. They were—and remain—stars. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  Llama smelling a woman's hair, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Animals gathered around a door way, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A group of animals including a llama and kangaroo curious about bath time, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A group of animals including a llama and kangaroo curious about bath time, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Woman carrying kangaroo to be bathed, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two cats looking down at the other animals getting a bath, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A small dog being bathed in a tub, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A llama and goat being bathed in the backyard, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Basset Hound being bathed in backyard, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A kangaroo getting dried off with a vacuum cleaner as the llama looks on, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A llama getting dried off after a bath, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Portrait of a llama drying off after a bath, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A monkey in the backyard, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Skitch Henderson (C) standing with a llama during a party, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Siamese cat and kangaroo at the center of a party, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A backyard party with animals including a llama, 1959. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4158994/llama-kangaroo-party-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4158994/llama-kangaroo-party-photos/"},"headline":"Solving the Decades-Old Mystery of the Llama at the Party","datePublished":"2016-04-25T15:00:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:44.980Z","description":"These images were taken in 1959 for LIFE Magazine, but the story never ran","url":"https://time.com/4158994/llama-kangaroo-party-photos/","keywords":["animals","Newsfeed","photography","LIFE Magazine","1959"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte699526d7b41aca7/6988768cbc6cfc8dbc3dafa4/151222-kangaroo-llama-party-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte699526d7b41aca7/6988768cbc6cfc8dbc3dafa4/151222-kangaroo-llama-party-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kangaroo and Llama Party 1959","caption":"Kangaroo and Llama Party 1959","creditText":"Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4158994/llama-kangaroo-party-photos/","name":"Solving the Decades-Old Mystery of the Llama at the Party"}}]}] ```