($4 in July 1945 = $71 in June 2025.)
Weegee, Naked City, 1945
Happy Birthday “Naked City”!!!
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Weegee, Naked City, 1945
1945
“It’s a Weegee!”
“The Hard Life of Billie Holiday”
Billie Holiday, Joe Guy, her trumpeter-husband, and Mister, her dog, photographed in Billie’s dressing room at the Downbeat Club. Photo by Skippy Adelman.
Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit. Billie says: “It depresses me every time I sing it. It reminds me of how Pop died. But I have to sing it. Things are still going on in the south.
PM, 1945, Photos by Skippy Adelman.
PM, 1945, Photos by Skippy Adelman.
“One of the these days things will get better,” she sighed. “They’ll get better for everybody. We’ll all have a chance to eat and sleep in peace. I just know it will come about. It will take a long time, but it will come about. It won’t be in my lifetime, though. Oh, no, I’ll never profit by it.” PM, 1945.
Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959).
“Happy New Year”
Weegee, Naked City, p.76
Happy New Year
Tavern on ground floor of burning building is shelter for firemen overcome by smoke New Year’s Eve. Customers also had a hot time. PM Photos by Weegee.
PM, January 2, 1945, p.13
Celluloid factory provides Fourth of July welcome for 1945.
Happy Birthday Weegee
Weegee (1899-1968), [Weegee typing captions], 1943
Photography’s self-nominated genius at his portable office, typing captions at two A.M.
Weegee (1899-1968), Naked City, 1945
“Weegee Tells How,” 1958
Happy Birthday Weegee
Cake Eaters and Coffee Drinkers
“Aurora”; Xavier Cugat and his Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra; Margo; Adamson; Berrios; Lago; Roberti; Columbia (36139); 1941
PM, October 28, 1945, p. m12
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Margo gets in Fredric March’s hair. The Tina and Maj. Joppolo of the play, A Bell for Adano, which closed Saturday night, photographed at a farewell party for the cast… Margo [1917-1985] had just smeared March’s [1897-1975] hair with icing from the party’s 450-pound, bell-shaped cake… Photo By Weegee
“I Said No”; Xavier Cugat and his Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra; Margo and Xavier Cugat; Loesser; Styne; Columbia (36488); 1941
PM, October 28, 1945, p. m13
Leahy Honors PM Coast Guardsman Adm William Leahy presenting a Navy citation to Chief Photographer’s Mate Ray Platnick, in Washington this week. Chief Platnick, in the service more than three years, returns to PM Nov 5. His photo, Coffee Drinkers, taken during the battle for Eniwetok Atoll, won second prize in work of 100 Navy combat photographers in the Pacific.
“40 Cups of Coffee”; Danny Overbea; King Kolex and his Orchestra; D. Overbea; Checker (774); 1953
“Photography Casualties From N.Y.”
“When My Baby Left Me”; Cootie Williams and his Orchestra; Williams; Vinson; Eddie Vinson; Capitol (266); Publication date: July 19, 1945
The New York Post, July 19, p. 19
Photography
By John Adam Knight
Worth Anyone’s $4
[$4 in July 1945 had the same buying power as $65.48 in June 2022.]All of this is background for a brief review of a fine new picture book, Weegee’s “Naked City” (Essential Books, 243 pp., $4). This is Weegee at his former best, which means virtually unequaled. Most of these pictures were made before the Museum of Modern Art’s kiss of death took effect, and the purchaser need have little fear of being stuck with serious “art.”
What he will get for his $4 is a collection of grauvre reproductions of about 200 stark almost primitive photographs of death, despair and degeneracy in New York between midnight and morning. Though technically poor photographs, almost every one of them tells a gripping, human story, one of the best reasons I know for the invention of the camera.
The paper shortage denies me the pleasure of describing dozens of these pictures individually. I have space only to urge every one interested to buy the book and learn the lesson that Weegee once knew that honesty, a genuine interest in people – all people – and a recognition of what constitutes human interest in pictures can make any of you nearly as great as Weegee once was.
The New York Post, July 19, p. 19
“Echoes Of Harlem”; Cootie Williams And His Orchestra; Cootie Williams; Duke Ellington; Capitol (266); Publication date: July 19, 1945
“…pictures such as you’ve never seen before…”
“Don’t Worry ‘Bout That Mule”; Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five; Louis Jordan; C. Stewart; W. Davis; D. Groaner; F. Moore; Decca (18734 A); Publication date: July 18, 1945
PM, July 18, 1945
Rave Notice
There’s a new book in the stores today by Weegee, who bills himself as “the famous” – and is…
PM, July 18, 1945
Weegee, Naked City, 1945
77 years ago today…
Happy “Naked City” Day!
“Buzz Me”; Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five; Louis Jordan; F. Moore; D. Baxter; Decca (18734 B); Publication date: July 18, 1945
“GUN CAMERA…”
“GUN CAMERA OF ATTACKS ON TOKYO BAY AND THE NAGOYA AREA”; Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center; July 17, 24, 25, 1945, etc.
“Organ Reveries”; Dick Leibert at the Organ of the Radio City Music Hall, New York City; Bach; Gounod; Lucille Lawrence; Offenbach; Victor (27729-A / 27729-B); Publication date: July 17, 1945
77 years ago today…
“All Around the Town… Our Unofficial Victory Celebration”
V-E-News – Flashes (Recorded Tuesday, May 8, 1945) No. 1
“V-E Day”
V-E-News – Flashes (Recorded Tuesday, May 8, 1945); No. 2
“The Big Celebration in Times Square”
“Wartime broadcast speech by Sir Winston Churchill”; Winston Churchill; May 8, 1945
“All Around the Town… Our Unofficial Victory Celebration”
PM, Nay 8, 1945
“On A Note Of Triumph A CBS Broadcast Commemorating V-E Day (Part 1)”; Martin Gabel; Norman Corwin; Bernard Herrmann; Lud Gluskin; Columbia Masterworks (71664-D)
WEEGEEWEEGEEWEEGEE 