Weegee Daily… December 26, 1943

PM Daily, December 26, 1943, p. 13.
Fatal Fire on 42nd Street.
Firemen try to rescue some of the men trapped in the flaming W. 42nd St. lodging house in which 16 perished.
A chaplain performs the last rites for one of the men burned to death. Bodies were taken to the next door garage.
They spent their Christmas in the Bellevue Morgue. These are some of the 16 bodies removed from the Standard Hotel, which was gutted by the fire Friday.

16 Men Killed in 42d St. Fire
“…a fire in the Standard Hotel, rooming house for night workers at 439 W. 42d St., which took the lives of 16 men and sent 20 to hospitals Friday.
The fire broke out suddenly after it had apparently been smoldering for several hours. Most of the 200 men estimated to have been in the place were asleep at the time…
Commissioner of Building and Housing William Wilson, who was at the scene, said the city had no control over this type of building.
He said that he and Mayor La Guardia had asked for legislation requiring greater safety devices at the last session of the State Legislature but were turned down.
Thousands of persons gathered along 42d St. to watch the horrible scene.” PM Daily, December 26, 1943, p. 13.

Weegee Daily, December 26, 2012. Photos by Ceegee.
One of the least attractive, (and least pedestrian friendly) areas of Manhattan, West 42d. St., saw snow and wind and too many cars…

“These published photos are a small discovery: One of the three uncredited photos, made by Weegee, of a ‘Fatal Fire on 42d Street’ in 1943, is the well-known ‘Smiling Irishman’ photo, tastefully and respectfully cropped…” Published 28 years to the day, before the Weegee’s Death…