[Trivia] “Here’s looking at you, kid” - 5 Famous Photos

The other week, as I was looking for a good classic movie to watch and at the same time reading a bit about Marilyn Monroe, I came across the famous classic shot of Marilyn with her dress blowing up around her legs as she stands over a subway grating. And I thought, “Now, here’s a picture I’ve seen a couple of times but what do I know about it? I only know that it’s Marilyn with her dress blowing up. Why is it famous?” Being a trivia buff that I am, I looked for some details about that famous pic and while researching in the net, I found a lot more other famous photos. Each of these photos, some of which I am happy share to you now, have its own little story or trivia to tell.

Before I list down the five ones I’ve chosen, I want to make clear the sole criterion I used in choosing them – I want the readers to have a light, casual and relaxed reading experience. I intentionally did not choose any violence- or war-related photographs as I might offend some people. But for those who are interested in these (including myself), I’ve listed some sources below for them to explore later.

The Blue Marble

Figure 1 The Blue Marble (from http://www.ehartwell.com/Apollo17/)

Yes, the picture of the Earth that we’ve seen a lot times has a name. The Blue Marble is the famous photograph of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 spacecraft and was the first clear image of an illuminated face of Earth. This photo was taken on December 7, 1072 and is officially credited to the whole Apollo 17 crew, namely Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt. This famous photograph’s official name is AS17-148-22727 and was originally taken upside but was rotated before it was distributed.

In 2005, NASA released a new version of the spectacular image collection called Blue Marble: Next Generation. It provides a full year’s worth of monthly observations with twice the level of detail as the original.

[More Trivia] The original caption: "View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon. This translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is Madagascar. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast."

Guerrillero Heroico

Figure 2 Guerrillero Heroico - Che's famous shot by Alberto Korda (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara_(photo))

Figure 3 The original 1968 stylized image created by Jim Fitzpatrick. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara_(photo))

Guerrillero Heroico is the title of Ernesto "Che" Guevara’s famous photo. Translated, this means “Heroic Guerilla”. The picture was taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960 at the memorial service for the victims of the explosin of the Belgian arms transport "La Coubre".

However, it was Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick’s stylized 1968 image, adapted from Korda’s original, which paved the way for Che’s iconic status in art and pop culture.

[More Trivia] In 1968, Gerard Malanga painted tiled variation of the Fitzpatrick stylized image sold it to a gallery in Rome. It was initially attributed to Andy Warhol, a central figure in pop art movement.

Maryland Institute College of Art called Guerrillero Heroico "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century”.

Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue

Figure 4 The famous Einstein photo showing him sticking his tongue out (from http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/albert-einstein-1951.html)

This picture was taken on Einstein’s 72nd birthday in Princeton on March 14, 1951 by a press photographer, Arthur Sasse. According to stories, Einstein and some friends were returning from an event when reporters and photographers followed them to the car, trying to get shots of Einstein. Though already sitting in the car, he was still bullied by the press and eventually got annoyed at their persistence. He stuck out his tongue in response for more requests to pose and smile and Arthur Sasse pressed the button of his camera in just this moment.

The original picture shows Einstein sitting on the backseat of a car between Dr Frank Aydelotte, the former head of the Institute for Advanced Study, and his wife. Einstein liked the picture very much that he cut it into shape so only he can still be seen. He had made several copies of it and sent the edited picture as a greeting card to friends later on.

[More Trivia] Though Einstein is known for his work on the Theory of Relativity, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.


Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Figure 5 Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (from http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/us-marines-raising-the-flag-on-iwo-jima-1945.html)

The famous picture Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. It shows six US soldiers raising the American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima (lit. sulfur island) during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was of strategic importance to the Allies campaign in the Pacific during WW II. This photograph won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, the only picture to do so.

[More Trivia] The picture of Rosenthal was actually the second flag-raising. The first one was captured by Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery. It was decided to raise a second flag after the first one was determined to be small. Incidentally, the two flags are both 48-starred flags and are currently stored in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Also, more than a quarter of all the Medals of Honor given to Marines in World War II were for the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The Famous Scene from the The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Figure 6 The Famous Scene from the The Seven Year Itch by Sam Shaw’s (from http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/TGP_Choice/Details/Marilyn_Monroe.fci)

This classic and famous shot from the classic scene of the movie The Seven Year Itch (1955) was taken from late Sept 14 to early morning of Sept 15, 1954. The place was Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street close to the Trans-Lux theatre. This famous shot actually has a lot of variations as a lot of press photographers were present at the publicity stunt organized by director Billy Wilder and team to promote the said movie. The movie starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. The event was the filming of the sidewalk scene of Marilyn’s character enjoying the breeze coming up from the subway grating on a hot New York evening.

Of the many pictures taken at that famous event, one pictures that attained iconic status was that of Sam Shaw. Shaw was hired by the studio to shoot the film's poster. His pictures became one of the most reproduced photos over the last 50 years.

[More Trivia] Marilyn’s character name in the movie is The Girl. In the said scene, the type of full skirt she is seen wearing was first introduced by Christian Dior in 1948, the Carolle Line (from French corolla, roughly “petal”. This style was christened the New Look by American Journalists, the term being coined by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar).

Marilyn was also the very first Playboy playmate, gracing the cover and the centerfold of the mag’s very first issue on December 1953.

Shortly before her death, Marilyn had a photo shoot with photographer Bert Stern. This photo shoot was commissioned by Vogue magazine in late June 1962. It was later published as a book and photo shoot entitled The Last Sitting. (In 2008, Stern shot recreations of the images used by Vogue with actress Lindsay Lohan as the model this time. It came out on the February 25, 2008 issue of New York.)

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.ehartwell.com/Apollo17/

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

http://www.famouspictures.org/

http://www.cameranaked.com/

http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/

http://www.einstein-website.de/z_information/variousthings.html#tongue

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm_index.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2276305/The-Subway-Grate-Scene-in-The-Seven-Year-Itch-The-Staging-of-an-AppearanceAsDisappearance

http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/TGP_Choice/Details/Marilyn_Monroe.fci

http://jabberclarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/test-pattern.html

http://www.breakingnewsbook.com/

This sight contains recreations of famous ad memorable photograph scenes using Lego - http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/sets/72157602602191858

For comments, suggestions and requests, you can contact me at Eyes.X.Only@gmail.com