One of the most interesting Weegee photos on eebay, that wee’ve seen recently…
from the listing:
“n.d. Gelatin silver photograph (Transvestite coming out of courthouse) by WeeGee.
Ferrotyped print. With ‘A. Fellig’ artist’s stamp on print verso. approx. 9.5 x 7.5″ Like many of WeeGee’s press prints this print has some condition issues, small tear to bottom left corner non-image area.”
Sold for a mere $300…
November 1, 1942 Vol. III, No. 117 page 19
Sailor Captures Hirohito’s Head at Waldorf-Astoria Ball
“The high spot for most guests at the Incendiary Blondes benefit for the American Theater Wing War service, Inc., at the Waldorf-Astoria last week came when Igor Pantuhoff paid $1,500 for the privilege of leading Veronica Lake onto the floor for a two minute dance. But not for this sailor. He’d been waiting all night to get at dummies of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito, which had been set up in a hallway for guests to toss balls at – three balls for a quarter. When all eyes were on Veronica, the sailor tacked Hirohito and had torn him limb form limb when bouncers came running up. The sailor shoved off at command – with Hirohito’s head tacked underneath his arm.
Photo by Weegee”
in an urgent late night session with our ouija board,
it was revealed to us that, yes, Weegee unequivocally
voiced support and endorses fully Barack Obama!
Weegee clearly spelled out: “Obama, Obama, Obama…”
Weegee’s last words, before he disappeared, were: “GO VOTE…”
SWAN N GALLERIES, INC.
104 East 25th Street
New York, New York 10010
Sale 2158
Rent Party
Unsold
“Rent Party.” Ferrotyped silver print, 7 1/4×9 1/4 inches (18.4×23.5 cm.), with a caption label and the “Estate of Peter B. Martin Sr. Collection” hand stamp on verso. Circa 1950
Estimate $1,800-2,200
From the estate of Peter B. Martin, Sr.; by agent to A Private West Coast Collection.
Weegee: The Village, unpaginated.
Untitled (Janitor watches rehearsal at the Yiddish Theater)
Unsold
Untitled (Janitor watches rehearsal at the Yiddish Theater). Silver print, 13 1/2×10 1/2 inches (34.3×26.7 cm.), with the “Weegee the Famous” and Arthur Felig hand stamp on verso. 1945; printed 1950s
Estimate $1,800-2,200
Weegee”s People, unpaginated (cropped).
Weegee (Knopf, 1977), 113.
M. Monroe — Fly Eye View
Unsold
Lot 204
“M. Monroe — Fly Eye View.” Silver print, 8×10 inches (20.3×25.4 cm.), with Weegee’s title, in blue ink, on margin recto and a Photo-Representatives hand stamp and the penciled notations “Hecht,” in an unknown hand, on verso. Circa 1952
Estimate $2,000-3,000
Frank Sinatra Fan at the Paramount Theatre. $2500-$3500
$2,000
“Frank Sinatra Fan at the Paramount Theatre.” Ferrotyped silver print, 13 1/2×10 1/2 inches (34.5×26.7 cm.), with the “Weegee The Famous” and Photo-Representatives hand stamps on verso. 1944
Estimate $2,500-3,500
From A Private West Coast Collection.
Naked City, 119; Weegee (Stettner), 165 (variant); Weegee”s World, 207.
Movie Theatre Projection
$2,000
Lot 207
Movie Theatre Projection. Unique ferrotyped silver print, 8×10 inches (20.3×25.4 cm.), with 2 “Photo by Weegee, Collection of Suzanne and Hugh Johnston” hand stamps on verso and penciled notations. 1955-1957
Estimate $2,500-3,500
This unique photograph was commissioned by the Johnstons and was then subsequently gifted by Weegee to the couple. An variant “straight” version of this image appears in “Weegee”s People,” 1946.
Empire State Building Distortion
$1,600
Lot 208
Empire State Building Distortion. Silver print, 6 3/4×5 1/4 inches (17.1×13.3 cm.), with penciled numeric notations and a “Photo by Weegee, From the Collection of Suzanne and Hugh Johnston” hand stamp on verso. 1955
Estimate $2,000-3,000
Phillips de Pury & Company
US $2,000.00
1052: WEEGEE (ARTHUR FELLIG), 1899-1968 Untitled (distortion)
WEEGEE (ARTHUR FELLIG), 1899-1968
Untitled (distortion), n.d.
Gelatin silver print. 9 ⅛ x 7 ⅛ in. (23.2 x 18.1 cm). Annotated ‘My husband doesn’t understand me’ in ink on the verso.
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR, NEW YORK
Phillips de Pury & Company
US $1,300.00
WEEGEE (ARTHUR FELLIG), 1899-1968
Untitled (distortion), 1950s
Gelatin silver print. 7 ⅝ x 9 ½ in. (19.4 x 24.1 cm). Photo-Representatives’ and ‘Credit Photo by Weegee’ stamps on the verso.
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR, NEW YORK
Although a Weegee museum would be a dream come true…
In Finland there’s the Weegee Exhibition Centre:
“EMMA is a centre providing experiences and knowledge. The new premises in the WeeGee building will be the setting for quality international exhibitions. The 5000 square metres exhibition area is the largest of any museum in Finland.”
With a Weegee Shop! and a Weegee Cafe!!!
“Café WeeGee in the entrance lobby is open to visitors during EMMA’s opening hours:
Tues. 11.00-18.00
Wed.-Thurs. 11.00-20-00
Fri-Sun. 11.00-18.00
The Café offers quality café, lunch and catering services.”
http://emma.museum/eng/info/weegee.php
When in Finland…
http://www.photoformulary.com/images/2008Newsletters%20folder/June2008NL.pdf
From the Photographer’s Form-ulary June 2008 newsletter, a tip of the hat to photographer Bill J ay, who took the above photo of Fellig, has a new book of portraits, and owns a dog named Weegee…
“Another portrait,
this one of Arthur
Fellig, the crime photographer of
the streets of New York City, was
taken under a bare bulb in Fellig’s
seedy hotel room. Bill didn’t know
it at the time, nor perhaps did Fel-
lig but Fellig was dying of a brain
tumor.
Earlier in his career Fellig slept
in his clothes, a police radio
nearby. When he heard a radio call
about a crime serious enough for
his attention, he raced to the scene,
often beating the cops. His seem-
ing uncanny ability to pop up out
of nowhere earned him the nick-
name of Ouija. Fellig couldn’t
spell, but liked it enough that he
changed his name to Weegee the
Famous, even
stamping it on
the back of his
prints.
Weegee’s room
was filled with
stuff of all kinds.
There was no
place to sit other
than on Wee-
gee’s single bed,
so Bill stood. The room was
packed with prints and photo-
graphic paraphernalia. Weegee
was in and out of consciousness as
Bill attempted to interview him.
Then, during one of Weegee’s
more lucid moments, (which looks
more than slightly deranged,) Bill
caught him on camera under the
glaring light of the single bare
bulb above the bed. The look in
Weegee’s eye says it all.
Of that moment, Bill says, “Wee-
gee was obviously tiring so I left
him, a sad sick old man, alone with
his life’s work. I knew I would
never see him, or his like, again.”
Where was “Fellig’s seedy hotel room?”
Wilma’s beautiful brownstone, neither seedy nor a hotel, at 451 West 47th St. perhaps…
Three months before his death…
Time Out, London, April 19, 2006
The Times, April 12, 2006
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/WeeGee
from the wookieepedia:
“WeeGee, nicknamed Weeg, was the Katarns’ multi-purpose droid, hand-built by Morgan Katarn.
The shape of an inverted “U”, WeeGee was equipped with an extremely powerful, four-jointed heavy-duty arm that ended with a C-shaped grasping appendage. It was three times stronger than the left arm, which had a Human-shaped hand designed for using tools. WeeGee hovered two meters off the ground using a repulsorlift from an Imperial speeder bike and steering jets from a probe droid. On top of the drive assembly was a vertical sensor stack that contained WeeGee’s oval-shaped optical lens. WeeGee communicated via beeps and whisles like a standard Astromech-unit and wore a tool belt around his “waist”.
WeeGee’s name could be a reference to Arthur “Weegee” Fellig, a famous photojournalist, or Luigi from Nintendo…”
