Weegee, Herald Tribune, August 4, 1940
Heat-Wave Nocturne in Downtown New York
Weegee, “Naked City,” 1945
Tag Archives: Naked City
“…the picture became greater and greater…”
Jim Bishop, The Mark Hellinger Story, 1952, pp. 330-331
…He showed the producer a new picture book of New York City entitled The Naked City. The author of it was Weegee, a fat little cigar-smoking photographer who literally slept in his car near a short-wave radio. He picked up all the police calls and, because he was already on the road when an exciting call came in, Weegee very often was at the scene of a crime before the police. His book of photos was stark and hard…
…When Hellinger decided to use it he phoned Weegee. He explained that there was no value in the book, as such, for a motion picture. But that he liked the title. Instead of buying the name outright, Mark said, he’d put Weegee on the payroll at a hundred a week as still photographer for the period during which the picture was being shot. Weegee accepted. Hellinger explained that the photographer wouldn’t be expected to give up his regular daily work at all; in sum, the hundred [$100 in April 1947 had the same buying power as $1,408.30 in January 2024] a week would be side money…
Jim Bishop, The Mark Hellinger Story, 1952, pp. 330-331
Mark Hellinger (March 21, 1903 – December 21, 1947)
“…it’s Christmas.”
Weegee, Naked City, 1945, pp.158-159
Not so long ago I, too, used to walk on the Bowery, broke, “carrying the banner.” The sight of a bed with white sheets in a furniture store window, almost drove me crazy. God… a bed was the most desirable thing in the world.
In the summer I would sleep in Bryant Park… But when it got colder I transferred to the Municipal Lodging House… I saw this sign on the wall there. A Sadist must have put it up. I laughed to myself… what Cash and Valuables… I didn’t have a nickel to my name, but I was a Free Soul… with no responsibilities…
Slumber-time in a mission… it’s Christmas.
Weegee, Naked City, 1945, p. 159
“He and his cameraman even went into Bellevue Morgue…”
PM, March 9, 1948
Dassin Brings ‘Joy to the World”
by Seymour Peck
Screenshots, Naked City, (1948), (Bellevue morgue episode)
“Hellinger Film Is Love Song to NYC”
PM, March 5, 1948, pp. 15 and 16, Cecelia Ager
Hellinger Film Is Love Song to NYC
by Cecelia Ager
“Heat-Wave Nocturne in Downtown New York”
“Heat Wave”; Ethel Waters; Berlin; Columbia (2826-D); 1933
Weegee, Herald Tribune, August 4, 1940
Heat-Wave Nocturne in Downtown New York
Weegee, “Naked City,” 1945
“Heat Wave”; Marilyn Monroe; 20th Century-Fox Orchestra and Chorus; Irving Berlin; RCA Victor (20-6033); 1955
“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
“Shorty, the Bowery cherub, welcomes the New Year…”
“Shorty George”; Count Basie And His Orchestra; Count Basie; Brunswick (80134); Publication date: February 16, 1938
Weegee, Naked City, 1945, pp. 148-149
Shorty, the Bowery cherub, welcomed the New Year… Sophisticated Lady
“So Long, Shorty”; Erskine Hawkins (The Twentieth Century Gabriel) and his Orchestra; Ida James; Wilbur “Shorty” Bascomb; Livingston; Symes; Neiburg; Bluebird (B-11485-B); 1941
Barth, Miles, Weegee’s World, New York: Bullfinch Press, 1997, p.139
Shorty, the Bowery Cherub, New Years Eve at Sammy’s Bar, 1943
“So Long, Shorty (You’ve Got a Long Way to Go)”; Una Mae Carlisle; Barney Young; Bluebird (B-11507-B); Publication date: February 13, 1942
Weegee, Naked City, 1945, p. 148
Shorty, the Bowery cherub, welcomed the New Year…
“Shorty’s Got to Go”; Bill Johnson and his Musical Notes; Bill Johnson; Lucky Millinder; RCA Victor (20-2225-B); 1947
Weegee, Naked City, Cincinnati, Ohio: Zebra Picture Books, 1948
Shorty, the Bowery cherub, welcomes the New Year…
“Shorty George Blues”; Sippie Wallace; Eddie Heywood; Geo. W. Thomas; H. Thomas; Okeh (8106-A); Publication date: October 26, 1923
“Trapped in Flames…”
“Blues in the Groove”; Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra; Durham”; Vocalion (5395); Publication date: December 14, 1939
Batavia Daily News, December 14, 1939, p.1
TRAPPED IN FLAMES MOTHER AND SON DIE
Burn to Death in New York When Flames Destroy Tenement Building
OTHERS ESCAPE IN NIGHT
The New York Post, December 14, 1939 (Photo by Irving Haberman)
“THEY’RE STILL UP THERE!”
Mrs. Henrietta Torres and her daughter, Ada, photographed just after they were rescued from a two-alarm fire at 41 Bartlett Street, Brooklyn, early today. Mrs. Ramona Malave and her son, Edward, relatives of Mrs, Torres, were brought down later – dead.
“Uptown Blues”; Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra; Lunceford; Columbia (30232); Publication date: December 14, 1939
The New York Sun, December 14, 1939 (Photo by Irving Haberman)
FIREMEN MAKE RESCUES AT FATAL BLAZE
A scene at 41 Bartlett street, Brooklyn, early today as firemen engaged in rescue work in the four-story tenement house where two persons lost their lives. One of the tenants of an adjoining building is shown near the lower corner of the picture.
The New York Sun, December 14, 1939
WOMAN AND SON PERISH IN FIRE
Trapped at Window of Their Brooklyn Home
Weegee, Naked City, 1945, pp. 74-75
I Cried When I took This Picture
Mother and daughter cry and look up hopelessly as another daughter and her young baby are burning to death in the top floor of the tenement… firemen couldn’t reach them in time… on account of the stairway collapsing.
“Lunceford Special”; Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra; Lunceford; Durham; Gerald Wilson; Willie Smith; Trummy Young; Joe Thomas; Columbia (38338); Publication date: December 14, 1939
The New York Times, December 14, 1939
GOVERNMENT ENDS LEPKE TESTIMONY
Completes Its Case as 23d Witness Testifies Against Narcotics Defendant
“It’s Time To Jump and Shout”; Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra; Durham; Vocalion (5430); Publication date: December 14, 1939
“Hints For Homemakers…”
“Sherry Lynn Flip,” by Slam Stewart Trio; Errol Garner; Stewart; Harold West; Publication date: September 7, 1945
Daily Argus, September 7, 1945
…”Naked City,” by Arthur Fellig, is a collection of satiric photographs, showing a cross-section of life in New York…”
“…held on display for one week at the Public Library so that readers may have an opportunity to examine them before they are circulated.”
Daily Argus, September 7, 1945, p.4
“Blue, Brown, and Beige,” by Slam Stewart Trio; Errol Garner; Stewart; Harold West; Publication date: September 7, 1945
WEEGEEWEEGEEWEEGEE 