The Photographer's Cat

Gjon Mili is one of my favourite photographers, and I've shared photographs of his on many occasions (A general selection, stroboscopic photographs, filming of West Side Story, and 1940s nightlife in Paris). He did a lot of shooting in his own studio where he could control the lighting, of which he was a master. 

Also at his studio was his gorgeous black cat, Blackie. Blackie, it seems, never hesitated to make friends with Mili's sitters, and Mili in turn didn't hesitate to use Blackie in his shots. He also used Blackie as a sitter himself, resulting in the kind of gorgeously lit black-on-black shots only Mili could create. 

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

Blackie and nightclub entertainer Maune de Revel, 1946. Source

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

Blackie joining a model in a bridal fashion shoot, 1945. Source

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

Blackie sitting on a piano as opera star Jennie Tourel plays and sings, 1952. Source

Shadow and Light

A showcase of incredible photographs by Hungarian-born photographer Gjon Mili. Unless otherwise specified, taken in Mili's studio in NYC. 

From the LIFE archives. 

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

Skaters of the Hollywood Ice Revue at Madison Square Gardens, NYC, 1948. Source

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

A model in raincoat, umbrella and galoshes, 1943. Source

Gjon Mili, LIFE © Time Inc.

A little girl watching soap bubbles, 1941. Source

When You're a Jet

Photographs of West Side Story, today-- but not film stills, rather a set taken by photographer Gjon Mili at filming of the movie, during the opening and rumble scenes. So we have different views, different compositions, and some different shots entirely, all by a master photographer. 

From the LIFE archives, 1960 (the tag is 40s/50s because the original musical premièred in 1957). 

Riff leads the Jets in a dance down a New York street. Source

Source

The Sharks (with Jets close behind). Source

Stroboscopic

A stroboscopic photograph is created by using an open shutter, a strobe light, and a moving subject-- each flash of the strobe light creates an exposure on the film of that specific moment in the movement, so the final photograph is a collection of moments in the movement. A master of this technique was photographer Gjon Mili (who we shall return to); today, some of his best. All photographs taken in his own NYC studio, as far as I know.

From the LIFE archives.

Ballerina Nora Kaye does a pas de bourree, 1947. Source

Gene Kelly does a dance sequence, 1944. Source

A little girl skips, 1941. Source

Nightlife in Paris, 1949

All kinds of clubs for all kinds of tastes, Paris, 1949.

Photos by Gjon Mili for LIFE.

Content advisory: partial nudity

Jitterbugging and saxophones at La Rose Rouge. Source

Inside La Scheherazde. Source

Clowns performing among patrons at Caveau des Oubliettes. Source