LIFE Magazine – April 29 1946

LIFE Magazine – April 29, 1946 features Peiping, China — now Beijing — on the cover, photographed by renowned LIFE photographer Dmitri Kessel. The issue’s major color photographic essay presents the city’s architecture, streets and daily life during a pivotal period in modern Chinese history, just months after the end of World War II and amid growing political upheaval in China.

The issue also captures the rapidly hardening postwar world. LIFE reports on Russia drawing an “Iron Curtain” over Eastern Europe, Japanese political unrest, and the historic moment when Japanese women voted in national elections. In the United States, President Harry S. Truman appears throwing out the first ball of the baseball season, while another feature examines Oklahoma City’s campaign against venereal disease.

Culture and entertainment are strongly represented as well. LIFE covers Pearl Bailey in the Broadway musical St. Louis Woman, bullfighting star Manolete, the film The Postman Always Rings Twice, longer postwar hemlines, artist William Thon, radio detective The Fat Man, and LIFE’s visit to Nassau. The result is an unusually wide-ranging issue combining China, Cold War tensions, politics, fashion, theater, movies, science and everyday life in 1946.

Inside This Issue

• Peiping, China — a major photographic essay by Dmitri Kessel, including striking color photography of the city now known as Beijing.
• The Iron Curtain — LIFE reports on Soviet influence expanding across Eastern Europe in the early stages of the Cold War.
• Japanese Women Vote — coverage of Japanese women participating in national elections during the country’s postwar transformation.
• Harry S. Truman — the president throws the ceremonial first pitch to open the baseball season.
• Pearl Bailey / St. Louis Woman — theater coverage of the Broadway musical starring the young Pearl Bailey.
• Manolete — a close-up profile of the internationally famous bullfighter, described by LIFE as Mexico’s bullfighting idol.
• The Postman Always Rings Twice — movie coverage of the 1946 film noir adaptation.
• Longer Hemlines — a fashion feature documenting changing women’s styles in the immediate postwar period.
• Radar Blind Landings — an aviation feature on the developing technology of radar-assisted aircraft landings.
• William Thon & The Fat Man — additional features on marine artist William Thon and the popular radio detective program The Fat Man.

Original LIFE Magazines are authentic issues published between 1936 and 2000.