In the spring of 1944, LIFE magazine made a bold claim: dogs living in New York City were healthier and longer-lived than dogs in the country. The April 1944 issue pointed to Dr. James Kinney’s book, “How to Raise a Dog in the City and In the Suburbs,” which stated that city dogs lived two to three years longer on average. The reason, Kinney argued, was affection. City dogs lived underfoot, sharing tight quarters with their owners, and that closeness translated into constant attention and care.
To illustrate the story, LIFE sent photographer Nina Leen into the streets of Manhattan to photograph the city’s well-known residents with their dogs. The result was a remarkable set of images showing actors, musicians, comedians, and artists navigating sidewalks, avenues, and park edges with their four-legged companions.
Actor Fredric March walked his cocker spaniel through the rain, while actress Joan Caulfield took her West Highland terrier, Witty, down Fifth Avenue. Witty, however, had other ideas. At one point, the little dog dove behind a hedge and refused to come out, forcing Caulfield to reach in and physically retrieve him.
Not every dog in Leen’s photographs looked like the picture of urban contentment. Artist Earle Winslow had his hands full with an energetic Irish setter, juggling a painting under one arm while the dog strained at the leash. The images of Winslow capture the chaotic reality of city dog ownership in three separate frames.
Model Mimi Berry’s cocker spaniel earned its keep by carrying a package during their walk. Metropolitan Opera singer Lauritz Melchior strolled with his wife and a towering Great Dane, while sportscaster Bill Stern read a newspaper as his Chesapeake Bay retriever sniffed a sidewalk grate.
Ed Sullivan, at the time a newspaper entertainment columnist years before his television career, brought his black Scottie to a small fenced-in area on the street. Conductor Artur Rodzinski and his wife posed with their poodle at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue.
One of the more striking images shows actress Joan Roberts still in her Oklahoma costume during intermission, walking her English bulldog, Goggles, on the sidewalk outside the theater.
Actor John Boles crouched down to coax his stubborn schnauzer puppy over a concrete barrier, while actress Margaret Webster’s two Cairn terriers fixed their attention on a cat sitting in a window above them.
William F. Schlemmer of Hammacher-Schlemmer walked a pair of Yorkshire terriers, and comedian Jimmy Durante was photographed with his Irish setter in Times Square. Author Fannie Hurst laughed as her Yorkshire terrier, Orphan Annie, leapt around her on the sidewalk.
Actress Ruth Gordon walked her black poodle through the city streets, while actress Cornelia Otis Skinner, dressed in a sheared beaver fur coat, made her way through Manhattan with her dogs in tow. Music conductor Andre Kostelanetz was photographed with his sheepdog, Puff.
The dog that appeared on the cover of LIFE’s April 3, 1944 issue was a Maltese poodle and wire-haired terrier mix named Pooch, owned by former Metropolitan Opera singer Thalia Sabaneev. Pooch was photographed both in Sabaneev’s arms and as the cover star of the issue that sparked the whole debate.
Not every dog owner in Leen’s photographs was famous. One quiet image shows a young boy absorbed in reading newspaper comics on the sidewalk, his leashed mutt waiting patiently beside him — a small, ordinary moment amid a collection full of celebrated New Yorkers.
