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When men were REAL MEN... 1932/33 New York
retroxler58
Member Posts: 32,693 ✭✭✭
"Lunch Atop A Skyscraper" a photo to publicize the Rockefeller Center
Story Behind the Photograph Video LINK
Critics today claim this was a fake. A publicity stunt to promote the new Rockefeller Center.
Regardless... These guys are sitting on a beam, at the 69th floor, some 800+ feet off the ground.
Who amongst us would do that today??? Not me!
The text attached to the photograph... quote:Lunch Atop a Skyscraper
Unknown
1932
It?s the most perilous yet playful lunch break ever captured: 11 men casually eating, chatting and sneaking a smoke as if they weren?t 840 feet above Manhattan with nothing but a thin beam keeping them aloft. That comfort is real; the men are among the construction workers who helped build Rockefeller Center.
But the picture, taken on the 69th floor of the flagship RCA Building (now the GE Building), was staged as part of a promotional campaign for the massive skyscraper complex. While the photographer and the identities of most of the subjects remain a mystery?the photographers Charles C. Ebbets, Thomas Kelley and William Leftwich were all present that day, and it?s not known which one took it?there isn?t an ironworker in New York City who doesn?t see the picture as a badge of their bold tribe. In that way they are not alone. By thumbing its nose at both danger and the Depression, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper came to symbolize American resilience and ambition at a time when both were desperately needed.
It has since become an iconic emblem of the city in which it was taken, affirming the romantic belief that New York is a place unafraid to tackle projects that would cow less brazen cities. And like all symbols in a city built on hustle, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper has spawned its own economy. It is the Corbis photo agency?s most reproduced image. And good luck walking through Times Square without someone hawking it on a mug, magnet or T-shirt.
Story Behind the Photograph Video LINK
Critics today claim this was a fake. A publicity stunt to promote the new Rockefeller Center.
Regardless... These guys are sitting on a beam, at the 69th floor, some 800+ feet off the ground.
Who amongst us would do that today??? Not me!
The text attached to the photograph... quote:Lunch Atop a Skyscraper
Unknown
1932
It?s the most perilous yet playful lunch break ever captured: 11 men casually eating, chatting and sneaking a smoke as if they weren?t 840 feet above Manhattan with nothing but a thin beam keeping them aloft. That comfort is real; the men are among the construction workers who helped build Rockefeller Center.
But the picture, taken on the 69th floor of the flagship RCA Building (now the GE Building), was staged as part of a promotional campaign for the massive skyscraper complex. While the photographer and the identities of most of the subjects remain a mystery?the photographers Charles C. Ebbets, Thomas Kelley and William Leftwich were all present that day, and it?s not known which one took it?there isn?t an ironworker in New York City who doesn?t see the picture as a badge of their bold tribe. In that way they are not alone. By thumbing its nose at both danger and the Depression, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper came to symbolize American resilience and ambition at a time when both were desperately needed.
It has since become an iconic emblem of the city in which it was taken, affirming the romantic belief that New York is a place unafraid to tackle projects that would cow less brazen cities. And like all symbols in a city built on hustle, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper has spawned its own economy. It is the Corbis photo agency?s most reproduced image. And good luck walking through Times Square without someone hawking it on a mug, magnet or T-shirt.
Comments
I get the shakes in a 8'deer stand.
IIRC, that's a faked picture.
That's the claim... I'm thinking in 1932 New York, You'd be hard pressed to get those guys to "fake" anything.
The video has footage of the photographers walking the same beams... Fake?
Me...I'm the black sheep of the family..no way in hell..[:)]
It gave me the hee-bee-gee-bees just looking at the video! Flying an airplane never bothers me even in steep turns looking straight down at the ground but heights scare the crap outta me. Go figure.
I'm with ya Bruce.
I think it's because while I'm in an airplane I feel 'enclosed" as if in a cocoon.
But, once I'm standing free above the ground... I get awfully weak kneed.
And when that happens, VERTIGO sets in.
That pic scares the hell out of me. Those guys were some bad *.
Agree,,+100
"Although the models were real workers, the moment was staged by the Rockefeller Center to promote their new skyscraper..."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206050/The-picture-proves-iconic-photograph-workers-eating-lunch-Rockefeller-beam-publicity-stunt.html
This was driven around the city post 9-11.
https://findingnyc.com/2016/05/01/lunchtime-on-a-skyscraper/
The ironworkers were amazing during the rescue and recovery phase and beyond.
BIG RESPECT and Thank you!!!
It's not a real photo.
"Although the models were real workers, the moment was staged by the Rockefeller Center to promote their new skyscraper..."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206050/The-picture-proves-iconic-photograph-workers-eating-lunch-Rockefeller-beam-publicity-stunt.html
It's a real photo. They really are sitting there on the beam, 800 feet up. They were posed, however, not just having lunch.
Nevertheless, pretty ballsy.
Funny how the term stuck![:D][:I]