Murder, Mayhem, and Mishaps: Inside Weegee’s New York (PHOTOS)
<p>The peripatetic freelance photographer Arthur Fellig (1899-1968), nicknamed Weegee for his seemingly paranormal ability to turn up at the scene of a crime even before the cops, was a connoiseur of murder. Nothing elicited his admiration like a good mob hit. “Each one of their murders was a classic,” he once wrote of Murder Inc., and then crossed out “classic” and wrote, “masterpiece they were perfectionists.” It takes one to know one. Using a big Speed Graphic camera with a flash, Weegee immortalized Big Apple crime and mid-century street life like no one else before or since. Exhibit A: “Anthony Esposito (left), booked on suspicion of killing a policeman, New York” in 1941. Most of the captions that follow are Weegee’s own descriptions. The photographs are from <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Weegee-Murder-Business-Brian-Wallis/dp/3791353136/" target="_blank">Weegee: Murder Is My Business</a>, </i>by Brian Wallis.</p>
Weegee/International Center of Photography,Weegee,Weegee
The peripatetic freelance photographer Arthur Fellig (1899-1968), nicknamed Weegee for his seemingly paranormal ability to turn up at the scene of a crime even before the cops, was a connoiseur of murder. Nothing elicited his admiration like a good mob hit. “Each one of their murders was a classic,” he once wrote of Murder Inc., and then crossed out “classic” and wrote, “masterpiece they were perfectionists.” It takes one to know one. Using a big Speed Graphic camera with a flash, Weegee immortalized Big Apple crime and mid-century street life like no one else before or since. Exhibit A: “Anthony Esposito (left), booked on suspicion of killing a policeman, New York” in 1941. Most of the captions that follow are Weegee’s own descriptions. The photographs are from Weegee: Murder Is My Business, by Brian Wallis.
Weegee/International Center of Photography,Weegee
[Anthony Esposito, booked on suspicion of killing a policeman, New York], January 16, 1941.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
Simply Add Boiling Water, December 19, 1943.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
[Manuel Jiminez lies wounded in the lap of Manuelda Hernandez, New York], July 29, 1941.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
Murder on the roof, August 13, 1941.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
Accident on upper roadway of Grand Central Station, New York 1944.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
[Wife of murder victim collapses in the arms of policemen upon arrival to scene, New York], ca. 1940.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
[Charles Sodokoff and Arthur Webber using their top hats to hide their faces, New York], January 27, 1942.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
[Afternoon crowd at Coney Island, Brooklyn], July 21, 1940.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
[Tenement sleeping, New York], June 1943.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
Children playing in water sprayed from open fire hydrant, Lower East Side, New York], July 20, 1942.
Weegee/International Center of Photography
[Weegee lying on bed in his studio, New York]
Weegee/International Center of Photography
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