In 1944, LIFE magazine made a bold suggestion that dogs in the city were better off than those in the country. “Deprived of wide open spaces, they are just as happy and healthy as country dogs and live years longer,” declared the headline in the April 1944 issue. Using a book called How to Raise a Dog in the City and In the Suburbs by Dr. James Kinney as its main source, the article cited that “the average city dogs live two or three years longer than his average country cousin.”
For such difference, the story offered its reason: “City owners lavish more affection on dogs than country owners, not because city dogs are more lovable but because they are more often underfoot. A dog thrives as much on affection as it does on wide-open spaces.”
The pictures in the article, taken by LIFE photographer Nina Leen, somehow seemed to run counter to the story's premise. Some of the dogs did not look at all happy to go on their walks in New York, one terrified terrier even attempted to hide away in the hedges. Not to mention that almost all the dogs featured in the story belonged to public figures, such as actors Frederic March and Ruth Gordon.
Take a look at these 25 fascinating photographs of famous people walking their dogs on the streets of New York taken by Nina Leen in 1944:
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| Actor Fredric March w.alked his cocker spaniel in the rain, 1944. |
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| Actress Joan Caulfield briskly walked her West Highland terrier Witty, down Fifth Avenue in New York City, 1944. |
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| Actress Joan Caulfield reached deep down behind a hedge to extract her West Highland terrier Witty, while trying to take him for a walk in New York City, 1944. |
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| Actress Joan Caulfield lifted her West Highland terrier Witty, out from behind a hedge, while trying to take him for a walk, 1944. |
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| Artist Earle Winslow, with a painting under his arm, struggled to control his stubborn Irish setter, New York City, 1944. |
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| Artist Earle Winslow (right) showed his painting to a friend while struggling to keep his Irish setter under control, New York City, 1944. |
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| Artist Earle Winslow, with a painting under his arm, struggled to keep his Irish setter under control, New York City, 1944. |
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| Model Mimi Berry walked her cocker spaniel, who carried a package for her, 1944. |
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| Metropolitan Opera singer Lauritz Melchior with his wife and their Great Dane, 1944. |
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| Sportscaster Bill Stern read a newspaper as his Chesapeake Bay retriever sniffed a sidewalk grate, New York City, 1944. |
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| Ed Sullivan, then an entertainment columnist before he became a television host, brought his black Scottie dog to a fenced-in area on the street in New York City, 1944. |
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| Conductor Artur Rodzinski and his wife with their poodle at 57th St. and 5th Ave in New York City, 1944. |
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| Actress Joan Roberts, wearing a costume for the musical Oklahoma, walked her English bulldog Goggles during intermission, 1944. |
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| Actress Joan Roberts, wearing a costume for the musical Oklahoma, walked her English bulldog Goggles during intermission, 1944. |
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| Actor John Boles coaxed his stubborn schnauzer puppy to jump a concrete barrier New York City, 1944. |
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| Actress Margaret Webster’s two Cairn terriers checked out a cat perched in the window, New York City, 1944. |
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| William F. Schlemmer, of Hammacher-Schlemmer, walked his Yorkshire terriers, New York City, 1944. |
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| Comedian Jimmy Durante walked his Irish setter in Times Square, 1944. |
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| Author Fannie Hurst enjoyed the jumping antics of her Yorkshire terrier Orphan Annie, New York City, 1944. |
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| Actress Ruth Gordon walked her black poodle, New York City 1944. |
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| Actress Cornelia Otis Skinner, clad in a sheared beaver fur coat, walking her dogs in New York City, 1944. |
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| Music conductor Andre Kostelanetz with his sheep dog Puff, New York City, 1944. |
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| This Maltese poodle/wire-haired terrier mix called Pooch was cuddled by its owner, former Metropolitan Opera singer Thalia Sabaneev, New York City, 1944. |
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| Former Metropolitan Opera singer Thalia Sabaneev’s Maltese poodle/wire-haired terrier mix called Pooch was featured on the cover of LIFE magazine’s issue of April 3, 1944. |
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| A boy read newspaper comics while his leash-tethered mutt waited, New York City, 1944. |
