Tag Archives: PM

“Body and Soul”; Dinah Shore; Henry Levine and his Dixieland Octet of NBC’s Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street; Heyman; Sour; Eyton; Green; Publication date: September 9, 1941

PM, September 9, 1941, p.18

PM’s Weegee Exhibits More Of His Police-News Photos

Our Police Headquarters photographer, Weegee, got his name in all the camera magazines last month when the Photo League put on a show of his news pictures. Yesterday, prompted by gallery-visitor response to the first, the League opened a second edition of the exhibition in its clubroom at 31 E. 21st St. The new show, a complete change of pictures from the first, will run throgh Sept. 27 – 1 to 10 p.m. weekdays, 2 to 6 on Saturdays, no admission charge. Above, in a photo by one of the League members, Weegee puts finishing touches to the display. Typical comments in the visitors’ book: “Great pictures”… “Terrific”… “Could do better with a Brownie”… Have gone away for the week end to recuperate.”

“Miss You”; Dinah Shore; Charlie, Harry and Henry M. Tobias; Publication date: September 9, 1941

“Buggsy was laughing…”

September 9, 2021

1940, PM

“Laughing Record”; 1960

PM, September 9, 1940, p.9

Pittsburgh Phil Pleads Insanity

Strauss-Goldstein Trial Opens; Right to Be Examined by Psychiatrist Granted

…This was the prelude today of the trial of Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein and Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss, of Brooklyn’s Murder, Inc, for the 1939 murder of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein…

“Woman Laughing (Continuous)”; 1960

“When Is a Subject too Old to Photograph?”

September 8, 2021

1940, PM

“Goin’ to Chicago Blues“; Joe Turner; Freddie Slack Trio; Count Basie; James Rushing; Publication date: September 8, 1941

New York Is a City Of Flat Topped Roofs
By Ralph Ingersoll
(Photos by Alan Fisher)

“Watch the Birdie“; Sonny Dunham and his Orch.; Don Raye; Gene dePaul; Harriet Clark; Publication date: September 8, 1941

When Is a Subject too Old to Photograph?
By Ralph Steiner
(Photos by Harold Corsini)

…What the photographer must realize is this: the Brooklyn Bridge is old, but life goes on around and over and under it, and life is always new. Mother and Child is an older subject than Brooklyn Bridge, yet it is still a good subject for painters and photographers who are sensitive enough to the ever-new qualities in their relationship.

The photographs of Brooklyn Bridge on this page look new because they show the relationship between the bridge and its neighbors. The elements are old but they add up to a new total.

If a photographer follows in the footsteps of the great who have gone before, [they] will end up without having made any interesting footsteps [themselves]. No artist in any medium has ever slavishly copied the approach and style of a great master and become a master in [their] own right. Strike out for yourself: see and photograph things you like in such a way that others will know why you like them. And since there is no one in the world exactly like you – this sounds like the last line of a love letter – your photographs will be fresh and interesting.

The Problem of Keeping City Kids Off the Streets
By Raymond Abrashkin
(Photographs by Mary Morris)

PLAY PLACES: There Aren’t Enough Satisfactory Playgrounds in New York
…and Many Kids Think It’s More Fun to Run Wild in the Streets
(Photographs by Mary Morris)

PM, September 8, 1940

“Rocks in My Bed“; Joe Turner; Freddie Slack Trio; Duke Ellington; Publication date: September 8, 1941

“Ladies keep their money in their stockings…”

July 18, 2021

1941, Naked City

“Don’t Worry ‘Bout That Mule”; Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five; Louis Jordan; C. Stewart; W. Davis; D. Groaner; F. Moore; July 18, 1945

PM, July 18, 1945

From the Editor

Rave Notice

There’s a new book in the stores today by Weegee, who bills himself as “the famous” – and is.

It’s a book of pictures – pictures such as you’ve never seen before, except maybe in PM. it is called Naked City, published by Essential Books, sells for $4 – and is worth it…

“Buzz Me,” Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five; Louis Jordan; F. Moore; D. Baxter; July 18, 1945

PM, July 18, 1941

Wrong Number: At least that’s the expression on Rainbow’s face…

“Wrong Number”; Red River Dave; McEnery; The Texas Tophands; 1949

“Patience Is What You Need to Take Cat Pictures”

July 13, 2021

1941, PM

“Patience And Fortitude”; Count Basie and his Orchestra; Jimmy Rushing; Warren; Moore, Jr.; 1946

“Patience And Fortitude”; BENNY CARTER and his ORCHESTRA; Benny Carter and Bixie Harris; Warren & Moore; Walter Fuller; 1946

PM, July 13, 1941, pp. 48-49 (photos by Thurman Rotan, Torkel Korling, Ruth Bernhard, and R.L. Doty, etc.)

PATIENCE Is What You Need to Take Cat Pictures

by Ralph Steiner

Cats are like children in that most people like them. Many people photograph them. They both are easy to photograph: they aren’t camera shy, and they assume an infinity of expressions and positions. There should be a wealth of good pictures of cats and children, yet there isn’t. It has taken a long time and a lot of searching to assemble the few good cat pictures you see here.

To make good photographs of cats the photographer does not have to be a great mind, a deep thinker, or a super-sensitive artist. He just has to be patient enough to wait until his subject is most expressive of some cat quality that appeals to him. Cats can be wise, foolish, elegant, awkward, playful, serious, tame, wild, social, independent, active and passive. They can react like humans to a situation, and some of their expressions can resemble ours.

Cat photographers should use their own observation to add to this catalog of cat facets. They should then use it as a guide to more interesting and more cat-like pictures.

PM Weekly, July 13, 1941, pp. 48-49 (photos by Thurman Rotan, Torkel Korling, Ruth Bernhard, and R.L. Doty, etc.)

“Patience and Fortitude”; Andrews Sisters; Vic Schoen and His Orchestra; Billy Moore, Jr.; Blackie Warren; 1945

PM, July 13, 1941, pp. 48-49 (photos by Thurman Rotan, Torkel Korling, Ruth Bernhard, and R.L. Doty, etc.)

Entirely irrelevant, a few songs released today, July 13, 1942:

“Swing Out To Victory”; “Fats” Waller and his Rhythm; Ed Kirkeby; Thos. “Fats” Waller; “Fats” Waller; July 13, 1942.

“Up Jumped You with Love”; “Fats” Waller and his Rhythm; “Fats” Waller; Ed Kirkeby; Thos. “Fats” Waller; July 13, 1942.

“…Finds a Camera Man There…”

July 12, 2021

1940, PM

“Cuba Libre”; Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra; Lina Romay; Stillman; Cugat; Asherman; November 26, 1940

Batista Favored in Cuban Elections

“Planes”; [“(1) Dive Bomber Zooming; (2) Dive Bomber Zooming; (3) PB40 Plane Zooming; (4) P84 Plane Zooming; (5) P84 Plane Zooming; (6) Tri-Motor Bomber Passing Overhead”]; 1960

Arming The U.S.A.

Building and equipping war planes has become a major industry in Jamaica, Queens… The instrument is the view finder of an aerial military camera. It acts like the wrong end of a telescope in distorting the man’s face… Aerial cameras are indispensable in modern war… Photo by Alan Fisher.

“Air Raid”; [(Alert Sirens, Planes, Planes Overhead, Bursting Bombs, Building Crashing, Glass Splinters, and All Clear)], ca. 1960

Lightning, Rain, Trouble

Lightning smashed the skylight on Kanter’s Department Store, 132 W. 125th St. did $5,000 damage (estimated) to the stock. Photo by Weegee

[$5,000, in July 1940, had the same buying power as $96,141.07, in May 2021.]

“Continuous Thunder”; 1960

Joan Crawford, Shopping at Macy’s Finds a Camera Man There
Photo by Peter Killian, PM Staff

“IT’S ALL SO NEW TO ME (Todo es Tan Distinto)”; Joan Crawford Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Star; Marty Symes; Bernice Petkere; Nat W. Finston; 1939

“I’M NO COMMUNIST”; LULU BELLE AND SCOTTY; Lulu Belle & Scotty; Wiseman; 1952

Family Album

John Albert, of PM’s photographic staff, is the first entry in out Family Album who’s a native New Yorker. Here he’s shown working in PM’s laboratory… Photo by Leo Lieb, PM Staff

“The Camera Doesn’t Lie (Neither Do I) (La Camara No Miente),” Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra; Buddy Clarke; Edgar Leslie; Joe Burke, 1937

PM, July 12, 1940

A few songs released today, July 12, 1940:

“SULTAN SERENADE”; HORACE HENDERSON and his ORCHESTRA; F. Henderson; July 12, 1940

“DO RE MI”; Horace Henderson and his Orchestra; H. Henderson; July 12, 1940

“SOMETIMES I’M HAPPY”; “Music of Yesterday and Today Styled the Blue Barron Way”; Russ Carlyle; Irving Caesar; Vincent Youmans; July 12, 1940 [Thinking of Sun Ra and June Tyson…]

“NO PARKING”

July 9, 2021

1941, PM

“NO PARKING,” Paul Quinichette and his Orchestra; Quinichette; 1953

PM, July 9, 1941, p.19

Department of Indignation: Illegal Signs

No sign, painting, or printing purporting to give directions, speed limits or other provisions of the Traffic Regulations or manner of driving shall be permitted on the streets or sidewalks or buildings without proper authority. – Section 7 of the Police Department’s Traffic Regulations, as amended Nov. 4, 1940.

Quote that to the doorman who, pointing to a sign like those pictured at right and below, says: You can’t park here!”

For the only No parking sign that can make it stick is the official Police Department sign pictured here.
PM, July 9, 1941, p.19

“NO PARKING HERE,” GENE O’QUIN; Billy Fairman; Billey Willey; 1951

1026 Fifth Ave.
1130 Fifth Ave.
233 W. 125th St.
601 Cathedral Pkwy.
13 E. 70h St.
935 Fifth Ave.
2510 Broadway
PM, July 9, 1941, p.19

“No Parking (No estacionarse)“, The Cotton Pickers; Napoleon; Raph; Chase; 1929

The superintendent at 789 West End Ave., an apartment house, put on this demonstration for Weegee, who took the pictures, on the page. The sign keeps most parkers away, he said. But once in a while a driver simply pulls up there and, when challenged, “answers with a four-letter word” telling the superintendent what he can do.
PM, July 9, 1941, p.19

“Parking Meter Blues,” Shelton Bros. (Bob and Joe); Johnny Hodges; 1939

“YOU AIN’T NOWHERE,” Jimmie Lunceford and his Orch.; Edwin Wilcox; James Crawford; Moses Allen; Al Norris; Willie Smith; Joe Thomas; Ted Buchner; Earl Carruthers; Dan Grisson; Gerald Wilson; Paul Webster; Snookie Young; Elmer Crumbley; James Young; Russell Bowles; Dandridge Sisters; Jordan Redman; Segure; July 9, 1941

…”looking toward his future…”

July 8, 2021

1940, PM

(1) Horses and Wagon; (2) Horses Gallop By; (3) One Horse Galloping By Fast

PM, July 8, 1940

McWilliams, Fascist Candidate, Faces His Future Undiscouraged

Joseph Ellsberry McWilliams, Fascist-type candidate of his American Destiny Party for Congressman, is still speaking at Yorkville street-corner meetings undiscouraged by his conviction in court Saturday of disorderly conduct. McWilliams is shown in the driver’s seat of a covered wagon, the emblem of his party. He must appear Wednesday in Felony court to pay a $50 fine or start serving a 30-day jail sentence. Meantime police officials of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut meet here today to study fifth-column problems. Photo by Weegee

1. Horses Hoofs (Turf) 2. Horses Hoofs (Turf) 3. Horses Hoofs (Cobbles), 1932

Weegee, Naked City, 1945, p.231

This is Joe McWilliams, professional anti-Semite and Nazi lover… Don’t make any mistake… that’s handsome Joe at the top of the picture… looking toward his future….

“Horses Don’t Bet on People,” Kay Kyser and his Orchestra; Clyde Rogers; Loeb; 1945

The New York Times, July 7, 1940

“My Pony’s Hair Turned Gray (When My Darling Ran Away),” Texas Jim Robertson; Bernard Houben; Mack Kaye; 1940

The New York Times, July 7, 1940 [$1.00 had the same buying power in July 1940 as $19.23 in May 2021.]

We Will Copy Your Favorite Old Photograph
There’s only one way to save those beloved old heirlooms – and that’s to copy them before they fade away forever…

Entirely irrelevant… a few great songs published on July 8, 1940:

“There is No Greater LoveAndy Kirk And His Clouds of Joy; Pha Terrell; Isham Jones; Marty Symes; July 8, 1940

“Midnight Stroll,” Andy Kirk And His Clouds of Joy; June Richmond; Sammy Lowe; Stanley Adams; July 8, 1940

“Now I Lay Me Down To Dream,” Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy; Ted Fio Rito; Eddy Howard; Pha Terrell; July 8, 1940

“Coney Island At Noon Saturday”

July 5, 2021

1942, PM

“Spider Sent Me,” Paul Williams Sextette; Paul Williams; Spider Burks St. Louis, 1948

PM, July 5, 1942, p. 7

Coney Island At Noon Saturday

The crowd came later, according to Weegee who wanted a photo that showed some beach and not too many people. The masked man said that he was a laundry man, but would only be photographed incognito. The mask is a gag of his; he call himself the Spider, and likes to frighten people. Weegee didn’t get the names and addresses of the others in the photo, either. PM Photo by Weegee.
PM, July 5, 1942, p. 7

“Just Like a Spider,” Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup; Arthur Crudup, 1947