'Murder Is My Business': Startling black and white images of 1940s' New York crime scenes by photojournalist Weegee that inspired film noir




With their hard shadows and dark imagery, these pictures could have been taken from any number of crime scenes in a melodramatic film noir.

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

What follows are real-life pictures of New York between 1935 and 1946, when photographer Arthur Fellig , or Weegee as he became 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 distinct and 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.

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

In a 2006 article entitled 'Unknown Weegee, on Photographer Who Made The Night Noir', New York Times reporter Holland Cotter described his 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.'

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

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

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

He became known for his obsession with the macabre with his stills of New York's crime-ridden Lower East Side, but eventually returned to his roots in Hollywood. Inspiration: Joe Pesci's character Bernzy, pictured alongside Barbara Hershey in the 1992 film The Public Eye, was based on Weegee His 1945 book of photographs, Naked City, was the inspiration behind the 1947 film of the same name and he was uncredited as a still photographer in the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr Strangelove. He revelled in his own notoriety, stamping the back of his pictures with 'Credit Photo by Weegee the Famous'. Speaking of his archive, he once 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. In 1980, his widow Wilma Wilcox formed The Weegee Portfolio Incorporated to create a 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 the photographer's public persona. 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. 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