On 23rd August 1943, LIFE Magazine featured the Lindy Hop and declared that “a true national folk dance has been born in the USA”. It featured a short article and a 10 page photographic editorial (pages 95-103). The dancers were Leon James and Willa Mae Ricker (of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers fame), and Stanley Catron and Kaye Popp, teenagers who had been performing Lindy Hop in the Broadway musical, Something for the Boys.

Here are the famous photos from that editorial, that I see on t-shirts and posters in Lindy Hoppers’ homes all around the world (click to enlarge):

But here are some other photos from the shoot that I see far less often, and are just wonderful:

Download a PDF version of the article here: LIFE Magazine August 1943.

Or you can read the issue, in its entirety, on Google Books here.

You can also download all the Lindy Hop images from the magazine here.