&mdash; WEEGEEWEEGEEWEEGEE

49 years ago today: “No Naked Ladies in Front of Giovanni’s House!”

We’ve walked past Giovanni’s house many times… We were surprised that Giovanni’s house (132 East 29th St.) played a starring role in an episode of the television series Naked City (first aired April 17, 1963).
The main character, Ben Giovanni, is seen sleeping on a cot in a kitchen, and as the narrator says: “was being attacked by a house… This house!” then there’s a cut and we zoom into architectural decorative elements (like an eagle and devilish faces) on the exterior of 132 East 29th St…
The narrator continues: “How does one attack a house… when does one attack a house?”
Ben Giovanni concludes that a house is weak on rent day. (What in the world does that mean?) Which is also “Free Ben Giovanni Day.”

It’s one of the most bizarre stories in an often bizarre series. Al Lewis plays a tall, pajama-clad, very-Italian tenant and is punched in the eye. The main character has a “brain trust” that both studies and advises him. And Marisa Pavan plays an exquisitely beautiful Italian woman (which she is).

It’s an attractive building, unique, with less gothic detail/elements in real life… we’ve watched it slowly decay during the last ten years.
Now it’s no longer naked and surrounded by scaffolding…
Giovani’s house must contain a few more stories in the (formerly) naked city..

Misc. credits (and nonsense):
The main characters in the series (Paul Burke and Horace McMahon) play a small role in this episode…
Marisa Pavan as Francesca
Harry Guardino as Ben Giovanni
Al Lewis as Mr. Carrari
Written by Abram S. Ginnes
Directed by Ralph Senensky
Music composed and conducted by Nelson Riddle

(The florist in the background, on Lexington Ave. is now a check cashing operation, the sign store is an Indian restaurant, Curry Express…)

PS. 1963!?!? Same year Dr. Strangelove and My Bare Lady were filmed…

Photography On the Radio… “The exciting adventures of a man with a camera…”

April 15, 2012

Flash Gun Casey: Crime Scene Photographer…

At least 77 episodes of the radio show Casey, Crime Photographer (July 7, 1943 – April 22, 1955) can be heard, on Archive.org…

One of the highlights (besides the sounds of processing film in a dark room on the radio) is the amazing piano player, Herman Chittison, at the “Blue Note”…

65 Years ago today…

PM Daily, April 13, 1947

“I hope she has as much fun looking at them, as I did taking them…”

I guess the most important question is: did Weegee photograph Marilyn Monroe at a pool sometime between 1949 and 1954? And if so, where? Was it in the Bronx or Jones Beach? Did he use color film? Did he use just kaleidoscope and distortion lenses?

This website (My Marilyn) says the color photos of Marilyn Monroe were made in 1949 at Jones Beach.
At this moment, the earliest publication that we have found is from 1954…

Having Fun With Marilyn Monroe, May 1955

Oh, Marilyn! What Long Legs You Have! January 1954

(To Be Continued…)

65 Years Ago Today…

Meet Miss Virginia Kinn, PM Daily, Photo by Bernie Aumuller, April 13, 1947

Virginia Kinn is a 23-year-old burlesque stripteaser. When she’s in the metropolitan area, she has to play across the river at the Hudson Theater, Union City, or the Empire Theater in Newark because of the local license regulations. “Being in burlesque is like just like any other job,” she said. “As far as own time, we live like anybody else lives – we eat and we sleep. A lot of people have the wrong impression. They think we’re freaks or something…

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 11, 1947

Unexpected Weegee reference of the week…