30 Lovely Photos of the 1960s Family Portraits

Family life in the 1960s was shaped by the times. It was a decade of war, rebellion, drugs, sex, peace, love, and rock-and-roll. These years brought considerable advances in women's rights, civil rights, and space travel.

Still, the 60s also saw the Vietnam war, war protests, assassinations, and an ever-widening “generation gap” between parents and their more liberal offspring.

One key fact about family life during the 60s was that over the decade, family life changed from the more traditional Father knows Best family lifestyle of the 50s to the more questioning, rebellious, and colorful All in the Family family lifestyle of the 70s.

Here below is a set of lovely photos that shows beautiful portraits of families in the 1960s.

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Photos of John Lennon With Yoko Ono & His Son Julian During Rehearsals for the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, 1968

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was a concert show organised by the Rolling Stones on December 11, 1968. The show was filmed on a makeshift circus stage with Jethro Tull, the Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Rolling Stones. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono also performed as part of a one-shot supergroup called the Dirty Mac, featuring Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards.

The original idea for the concert was going to include the Small Faces, the Rolling Stones, and the Who, and the concept of a circus was first thought up between Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane. It was meant to be aired on the BBC, but instead the Rolling Stones withheld it. The Rolling Stones contended they did so because of their substandard performance, clearly exhausted after 15 hours (and some indulgence in drugs).

There is also the fact that this was Brian Jones’ last appearance with the Rolling Stones; he drowned some seven months later while the film was being edited. Some speculate that another reason for not releasing the film was that the Who, who were fresh off a concert tour, seemingly upstaged the Stones on their own production. Led Zeppelin was considered for inclusion but the idea was dropped.

The show was not released commercially until 1996.

These vintage photos captured moments of John Lennon with Yoko Ono and his son Julian Lennon during rehearsals for the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus in London on December 10, 1968.

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Lovely Portrait Photos of Lisa Marie Presley and Her Mother in 1974

Just nine months after Priscilla and Elvis Presley celebrated their long-awaited nuptials, the former lovebirds welcomed their first and only daughter. Priscilla and Elvis became the mom and dad of Lisa Marie Presley after she arrived on February 1, 1968.

Although she said the “Can’t Help Falling in Love” crooner was “a great dad,” Priscilla joked that Elvis never changed a diaper. “Not ever. That wasn’t a man’s job,” she said.

Instead, Elvis figured his job as a dad was to give his daughter everything, including a fur coat. “I didn’t let her have it much because she was three!” Priscilla admitted to Closer. “Even when she lost a tooth, he gave her five bucks. I said, ‘Look, you can’t give her five dollars!’” But Elvis would say, “She’s Elvis Presley’s daughter!”

Life before Lisa was much different for Elvis and Priscilla. After welcoming their adorable little girl, Priscilla told Closer that their relationship went south.

“It was really difficult because we would still go out at night,” she explained, adding that both parties were to blame when it came to infidelity. “Elvis kept up his lifestyle.” Priscilla explained that she turned a blind eye “for as long as I could. But I did know that there was some finagling going on.”

The mom of one revealed she had enough of their tumultuous marriage when she filed for divorce in 1972, which ultimately became final in 1973.

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40 Intimate Photos of Family Portraits in the Mid-19th Century

The relatively low cost of the daguerreotype in the middle of the 19th century and the reduced sitting time for the subject, though still much longer than now, led to a general rise in the popularity of portrait photography over painted portraiture.

The style of these early works reflected the technical challenges associated with long exposure times and the painterly aesthetic of the time.

Subjects were generally seated against plain backgrounds, lit with the soft light of an overhead window, and whatever else could be reflected with mirrors.

Here below is a set of intimate photos that captured family portraits from between the 1840s and 1860s.

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22 Beautiful Photos of Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger With Their Children in the 1980s and ’90s

Jerry Hall started dating musician Bryan Ferry in 1975, leaving him for Mick Jagger in 1977. Jagger and Hall held a marriage ceremony on November 21, 1990, in Bali, Indonesia. The putative marriage was later declared null by the High Court of England and Wales, which ruled in London in 1999 that the marriage was not legal according to Indonesian or English law.

The couple have four children together: Elizabeth Scarlett (born 1984), James Leroy (born 1985), Georgia May (born 1992), and Gabriel Luke (born 1997). The couple lived together at Downe House, Richmond Hill, in Greater London, which Jagger purchased in the early 1990s. 

During his relationship with Hall, Jagger had an affair with Italian singer/model Carla Bruni, from 1991 to 1994. Jagger’s relationship with Hall ended after it was discovered that he had had an affair with Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez Morad.

These vintage photos captured beautiful moments of Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger with their children in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Vintage Family Matching Christmas Pajamas From the 1970s

Sears and J.C. Penney offered this holiday attire in their Christmas catalogs year after year for over a decade in the 1970s. If you have a family Christmas pajama tradition, you know how fun it is to receive a new pair of cozy PJs each year. If your family doesn’t wear matching pajamas, this might be the year to start.

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Rare Photos of Michael Jackson With Sisters Janet, Latoya and Their Mother Katherine for Jet Magazine, 1979

The Jackson family, both as a musical group and as solo artists, have achieved success in the field of popular music from the late 1960s and onward. They are sometimes called the “First Family of Soul” or the “Royal Family of Pop,” especially following the success of Michael and Janet Jackson, the former of whom is frequently dubbed the “King of Pop”.

Regarded as the most popular members of the family are Michael and Janet, both of whom have had highly distinguished solo careers and are often hailed as two of the most influential pop and R&B artists in history. All nine of the Jackson siblings have gold records to their credits with La Toya holding the distinction of being the first Jackson sister to attain one (awarded by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique for “Reggae Night”, which she co-wrote for Jimmy Cliff). Janet is the first black female to receive the Billboard Icon Award.

The Jacksons are one of the most influential families in music history. In 1997, the Jackson 5 was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Michael was inducted as a solo artist in 2001, making him one of the few who have been inducted twice. Joining her brothers, Janet was inducted in 2019.

Michael, Janet and the Jacksons were awarded stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, 1990 and 1980, respectively. In 2009, a television series entitled The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty premiered on A&E, documenting the Jackson brothers dealing with the sudden loss of Michael and preparing for a Jackson 5 reunion tour.

These rare photos captured beautiful moments of Michael Jackson his with sisters Janet, LaToya and their mother Katherine for Jet Magazine in 1979.

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Lovely Photos of Debbie Reynolds With Her Children Todd Fisher and Carrie Fisher in 1961

Debbie Reynolds was married three times. Her first marriage was to singer Eddie Fisher in 1955. They became the parents of Carrie (1956–2016) and Todd Fisher (1958).

The couple divorced in 1959 when it was revealed shortly after the death of Elizabeth Taylor’s husband Mike Todd that Fisher had been having an affair with her; Taylor and Reynolds were good friends at the time.

The Eddie Fisher – Elizabeth Taylor affair was a great public scandal which led to the cancellation of Eddie Fisher’s television show.

In 1972, she noted the bright side of the divorce and her remarriage:

“Now in retrospect, though it was not my will, I think it probably was the best thing that ever happened to me. He did give me two great children and for that I will ever be grateful. Our door is always open to him. I believe in peaceful coexistence and being friends with the father of your children.”

These vintage photos were taken by David Sutton that show lovely moments of Debbie Reynolds with her children Todd Fisher and Carrie Fisher in 1961.

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The Story Behind the Cooper Family Falling Body Photo

Sometime in the mid 1950s the Cooper family of Texas bought an old house and moved into it. On their first night in the house the father took a photograph of the family to commemorate the event. Posed at the dinning room table were Mr. Cooper’s wife, their two young sons and his mother. Everyone was happy, it was their first home, their first slice of the American Dream.

Days (maybe weeks) passed and finally the father took the exposed roll of film to the local pharmacy to have the pictures “developed”. He was told he could pick them up a week later; this was common in the chemical years of photography. One week later Mr. Cooper retrieved the small packet of snapshots from the pharmacy and returned home with them. When he came to the picture he had taken of his family on that first night in their “new” home, he saw what looked like a body, hanging from the ceiling. It hadn’t been there when the father took the photo. So where had it come from? Was it an apparition of a deceased former tenant of the house? No one knew.

The first evidence of the image you see above being posted online from 2009, where it was named as “Family Gathering”. Some called it’s fake. The only other explanation would be double exposure. If the “body” in the picture is that of the photographer from an earlier accidental exposure, and is upside down because the camera flipped over as it fell from his grasp, then his body is positioned exceedingly oddly. If one were to invert his form in the picture, as if he were standing up, then he would have both hands raised above his head, which is a rather strange position for taking a picture. It could be anything really.

Maybe the uncle was a gymnast and that’s him.

Cold War: Dieselpunk Gas Mask Fashion, 1963

October 19, 1963, USA: Though this looks like a page from a science fiction book, it may be an accurate preview of things to come.

(UPI)

Failure to cope with growing air pollution problems could have adverse affects on the health of every man, woman and child in metropolitan areas. So far, there’s no adequate protection for city dwellers against poisonous auto exhausts, industrial gases, a smog and other vaporous impurities. If the situation worsens, as some scientists predict, our only safeguard may be equipping everyone in the family with gas masks for the daily trek to work and to school. Black magic again!

Historic Photo of the Van Halen Family on a Boat on Their Way to America, 1962

This truly historic photo was taken on the very boat that carried the Van Halen family to America in 1962. It was a nine-day boat ride, and to help pay their fare, Jan, Edward, and Alex provided the ships musical entertainment.

(Left to right: Alex, Jan, Eugenia and Edward)

According to Van Halen News Desk, while living in Holland, Jan and Eugenia Van Halen received letters from relatives describing the wonders of California. Despite Jan’s achievements in his musical career, the family was convinced Jan could find even greater success in America.

So, on March 9, 1962, the Van Halen family departed Holland by steamship. In their possession were a few suitcases, 75 Dutch guilders (the equivalent of about 15 American dollars) and a piano. It was a nine-day boat ride, and to help pay their fare, Jan, Edward, and Alex provided the ship’s musical entertainment. From New York the family took a four day trip by train to California.

In an interview with the Rolling Stone in 1995, Eddie recalled: “My dad played on the boat, and Alex and I did our little piano thing as a sideshow. Dad would pass the hat, and we’d make another $20. We moved to the U.S. when I was 8, and my dad ended up having to walk, like, six miles from Pasadena [Calif.], where we lived, to the Arcadia Methodist Hospital to wash dishes because he couldn’t make it playing music. He had, like, four jobs, and he would gig on weekends playing proms and bar mitzvahs, anything he could get. When we got here, his first thing was to find us a great piano teacher. And he found this Russian guy named Stasskalvitis. We were being trained to be classical pianists, little Vladimir Horowitzes. I actually won first place three years in a row at Long Beach City College.”

Jan and Eugenia risked everything by taking their two beautiful boys and immigrating to America. Once they settled in California, they continued to inspire his boys to become musicians.

Here’s the ship’s manifest showing the Dutch immigrants on the ship. The Van Halen family is listed on lines 11 through 14:

Pregnant Jackie Kennedy Enjoying a Cigarette, 1963

Jackie Kennedy was a closet chain-smoker who smoked Newport, Salem, L&Ms, Marlboros or Parliaments, depending on which story you read. She was careful to keep her smoking private and asked not to be photographed holding a cigarette as it was unladylike, but pictures can be found.

Official White House cigarettes were provided to dinner guests after formal occasions or when people were aboard Air Force One, the President’s official airplane. JFK was a smoker of cigars and a story on the Cigar Aficionado says he ordered his press secretary to buy up as many of his favorite petite Cuban cigars as he could find before Kennedy signed the Cuban embargo.

Times have changed and attitudes about smoking have too. The White House no longer provides official cigarettes to guests and has had a smoke ban since the Clinton administration.  However, during the recent state dinner in honor of the French President Hollande, one French dinner guest broke that rule as he pulled out his e-cigarette. Considering guests should follow their hosts’ lead, not only did he defy the ban, he broke protocol. Not a very good start to relations.

Here are some rare photographs of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy smoking a cigarette while pregnant in 1963: