‘Murder Is My Business’: The startling black and white images of New York crime scenes that gave rise to storied photojournalist Weegee

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‘Murder Is My Business’: The startling black and white images of New York crime scenes that gave rise to storied photojournalist Weegee

January 4th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Jennifer Madison

Last updated at 10:50 AM on 4th January 2012

The hard shadows and dark imagery, these photos shot by Arthur Fellig look as though they could have been taken from any number of crime scenes featured in a melodramatic film noir.

But these grisly photos are no movie magic. In fact, they inspired the genre.

What follows are the real-life depictions of New York between 1935 and 1946, when Fellig, or Weegee as he’s was known, covered the police beat on the Lower East Side.

Grief: The wife of man who has just been killed tries desperately to get to his body before collapsing in New York in 1940

Weegee, Fellig’s pseudonym derived from a Ouija board (chosen for his ability to arrive at crime scenes before police) set a new standard for tabloid photojournalism with his distinctly dramatic black and white street photography.

He started out as a Hollywood paparazzo but his talents eventually landed him freelance jobs for a variety of New York newspapers and photo agencies, such as the Daily News and the Daily Mirror.

In a 2006 article entitled ‘Unknown Weegee, On Photographer Who Made The Night Noir’, New York Times reporter Holland Cotter described his storied technique.

‘He prowled the streets in a car equipped with a police radio, a typewriter, developing equipment, a supply of cigars and a change of underwear,’ Mr Cotter wrote, dubbing Weegee a ‘one-man photo factory’.

‘He drove to a crime site; took pictures; developed the film, using the trunk as a darkroom; and delivered the prints.’

Rogue's gallery: The line-up for a session of the night court is led into the building in handcuffs in 1941

Rogue’s gallery: The line-up for a session of the night court is led into the building in handcuffs in 1941

Caught: Anthony Esposito is booked on suspicion of killing a policeman in New York on January 16, 1941

Crime scene: Police officers stand outside a restaurant in front of the body of someone shot dead in 1943

Weegee was born Usher Fellig in Zlockzów, Austrian Galicia (now Ukraine), and his name was changed to Arthur when his family emigrated to New York in 1909.

After working in New York’s crime-ridden Lower East Side, he began work again for Hollywood, where he was credited as a still photographer in the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr Strangelove.

His 1945 book of photographs, Naked City, was also the inspiration behind the 1947 film The Naked City and he revelled in his own notoriety, stamping the back of his pictures with ‘Credit Photo by Weegee the Famous’.

Speaking in his archive, he said: ‘The easiest kind of a job to cover was a murder. The stiff would be laying on the ground.

‘He couldn’t get up and walk away or get temperamental.’

He died in December 1968 at the age of 69.

Grisly: But this is in fact a wax display or a murder at Eden Museé, on Coney Island, created in 1941

Duty calls: An installation view of 'Weegee: Murder Is My Business' at the Photo League in New York in 1941. Arthur Fellig, aka Weegee, was often at crime scenes before the police

Duty calls: An installation view of ‘Weegee: Murder Is My Business’ at the Photo League in New York in 1941. Arthur Fellig, aka Weegee, was often at crime scenes before the police

Ghoulish: A crowd of onlookers at the scene of a murder on the East Side in 1943

Body of Dominick Didato in New York, 1936, taken by Weegee

Weegee: Police recover body of ambulance driver from the East River in 1943

Macabre: The blood-spattered body of Dominick Didato is shown in Elizabeth Street, New York, in 1936 and, right, Weegee captures police recovering the body of Reception Hospital ambulance driver Morris Linker, along with his vehicle, from the East River in 1943

Clues: Police officers search around the body of a murder victim lying in front of a pram in 1940

Tragic: A police officer and a lodge member look at the blanket-covered body of a woman trampled to death during an excursion ship stampede in 1941. Other bodies are also visible in the scene

Clues: Police officers search around the body of a murder victim lying in front of a pram in 1940 and, right, a police officer and a lodge member look at the blanket-covered body of a woman trampled to death during an excursion ship stampede in 1941. Other bodies are also visible in the scene

In 1980, his widow Wilma Wilcox formed The Weegee Portfolio Incorporated to create an collection of his works from the original negatives and his entire archive was donated to the International Center of Photography in New York in 1993.

In the 1992 film The Public Eye, the lead character Bernzy – played by actor Joe Pesci – was largely inspired by Weegee’s character.

Weegee’s work from the 1930s and 1940s – 100 framed photographs, magazine, newspapers and films – is now on display as part of a travelling exhibition called ‘Weegee: Murder Is My Business’, opening at the International Center for Photography on January 20.

Running 400ft, the exhibit features the museum’s extensive Weegee Archive, including lurid highlights of crime scenes, murder victims covered by blankets and crowds gathered around bodies – scenes that have been repeatedly replicated in film noir.

It will also include ‘environmental recreations of Weegee’s apartment and exhibitions’.

The exhibit will be on display until September 2.

Accident: This girl was killed after jumping out of a car on Park Avenue, New York, in 1938

Gun fight: This well-dressed man was shot dead during a hold up on November 24, 1941

Debonnaire: Hats hang from hooks in a pool room on Mulberry Street around 1943

Headlines: More images from the Photo League in 1941. Weegee generated his name from the Ouija Board, and his ability to get to crime scenes before the police

Disaster: A display showing images from the excursion ship stampede in 1941

Society: Visitors take a good look at some of Weegee's grisly images at the 1941 exhibition

Society: Visitors take a good look at some of Weegee’s grisly images at the 1941 exhibition

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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Morbidly fascinating.

– Abi, Essex, 04/1/2012 11:52

Very intriguing. Hopefully the exhibition will come to the U.K

– Sarah, Belfast, 04/1/2012 11:47

Love the woolen beanie hat on the hat stand

– bob, Oz, 04/1/2012 11:44

And you think the Portas comedy sketch was in bad taste!

– Justin Canham, Redditch, 04/1/2012 11:40

Is it just me or does the guy in handcuffs waiting to into night court look like Elvis

– bob, Oz, 04/1/2012 11:38

I get the feeling that behind all of this macabre DM report is the continual systematic subliminal message of exposing our todays society to accept that a violent society is nothing to be shocked by. Possibly the British media have had to change their tactics and reporting to compensate for the disgusting revelation of last years exposure on how some unscrupulous journalists gathered their leads for some of their stories.

– Mr Veri Gullible, Dumb Down Valley, UK, 04/1/2012 11:16

I would be interested in seeing Weegee’s car all the equipment in there and how he actually got the pictures developed in the method mentioned above.

– mysslo, London, UK, 04/1/2012 10:00

Absolutely legendary…a big source for Noir films.

– Maria, Birmingham, 04/1/2012 09:43

Some time ago, I went to an exhibition of this mans work at the Museum of Modern Art, in Oxford. Quite amazing. I think I am right in saying, George Michael chose one of his images for the front cover of his ” Listen Without Prejudice” C.D

– david johnson, abingdon oxon, 04/1/2012 09:33

Saw this exhibition in New York five years ago…brilliant..!

– jack russell, away from pollution, 04/1/2012 09:33

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