A Page from History: January 18, 1943

January 19, 2011
1943, PM Daily
Leave a comment




Weegee, PM Daily, January 18, 1943, Vol.III, No.184, p.5

Thirteen-Ton Roosevelt Bust Placed Before Post Office
Heroic bust of President Roosevelt, 13 feet high, is lowered to its pedestal in front of the General Post Office, Eighth Ave. and 33d St. Its unveiling is set for today, to open officially the fund campaign of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Sculptor is Pvt. Stanley Martineau, U.S. Army, PM Photo by Weegee

A Page from History: January 18, 1943… There’s a barber shortage on the Bowery…

January 19, 2011
1943
Leave a comment


Weegee, PM Daily, January 18, 1943, Vol.III, No.184, p.7

Wartime New York:
Our Little Businessmen Bounced Around by War
Signs of the times are reproduced below. All were photographed this weekend in New York. The closings and removals had a variety of causes; drafting of proprietors, shortage of manpower, gas rationing that prevents regular customers from reaching retail establishments, shortage of materials for manufacture. Weegee, who took these pictures, reports that the Chinese laundries are closed in bunches, because the men are enlisting, or answering draft calls. Pool rooms and candy stores have been hit, partly by war, partly by removal of slot machines. PM Photos by Weegee

"It seemed that the whole world had assembled on this beach, casting off its sinful, soiled clothes, and had established a naked city…"

January 18, 2011
1940, Coney Island
Leave a comment


Uncle Moses: a novel, By Sholem Asch, p.134, 1918


Weegee, PM, July 22, 1940

“The entire beach, as far as the eye could see, was inundated with wet, barefoot, half-naked people. Bodies, bodies, bodies everywhere… ‘And here we are now, all lying naked on Coney Island beach.'”

Large number of similarities between this passage from Sholem Asch’s “Uncle Moses” and Weegee’s text and photo…

According to the NY Times, from a review of a re-release of the 1932 film: “‘Uncle Moses,’ which is based on a 1918 novel by Sholem Asch (originally published in The Jewish Daily Forward in serial form), offers today’s audiences a glimpse of Maurice Schwartz…” (Maurice Schwartz! Another Weegee connection…)

The book can be read, downloaded, etc. here…

Kitty and Siri… iriS and yttiK

January 18, 2011
1947
Leave a comment


PM Daily, June and July 1947
(Context: 1947)
Violins Over Broadway…
…Broadway Over Violins
Sure it was a sad and unfortunate inevitability when PM started to accept advertising, nevertheless some of the ads were kinda interesting… Graphically and typographically they add some contours and spark and liven up the texts…