Works copyrighted before 1964 had to have the copyright renewed sometime in the 28th year. If the copyright was not renewed the work is in the public domain. It is best to search 6 months before and after the required year. Some magazines are published the month before the cover date and some registrations may be delayed for a few months.

The December 14 1953 issue of LIFE would have to be renewed in 1982. Online page scans of the Catalog of Copyright Entries, published by the US Copyright Office can be found here. http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/

The search of the Renewals for Periodicals for 1982, 1983 and 1984 show no renewal entries for this issue. The LIFE issues from vol. 18 n. 13 1945 to vol. 35 n. 24 1953 issue are in Public Domain as their copyright was not renewed.