Weegee (1899-1968), L Pillar Cracks Stepin Fetchit's Skull, Harlem Car Crash, April 25 (1937)
Weegee (American, 1899-1968) L Pillar Cracks Stepin Fetchit's Skull, Harlem Car Crash, April 25, 1937 (3 works) Gelatin silver 6-5/8 x 8-3/4 inches (16.8 x 22.2 cm) Stepin Fetchit, the tired man of the movies, was critically injured at 9:50 A.M. yesterday in an auto crash in the heart of Harlem. The comedian, internationally famous for his favorite role of the indolent, slow-spoken hired man who falls asleep standing over a broom or just standing, suffered a fractured skull when his car struck an L pillar at 135th St. and Eight Ave. At the peak of prosperity he had three automobiles, one of them a lavender Rolls-Royce, and thirty-six suits. The two photographs of neighborhood kids gawking across the street as a nearby woman shows her displeasure was probably staged by Weegee later in the day. LITERATURE: Lost Weegee Crime Photos Revealed!, Christopher Bonanos, New York Magazine, May 13-26, 2019, p. 37, one of these photographs illustrated; Daily News, April 26, 1937.
HID09710052018
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Condition Report: Sheets are loose; one approximate 3 inch crease with associated loss to the upper right quadrant of one sheet; overall yellowing, creasing, and edgewear to the sheets that is commensurate with age.
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Weegee (American, 1899-1968) L Pillar Cracks Stepin Fetchit's Skull, Harlem Car Crash, April 25, 1937 (3 works) Gelatin silver 6-5/8 x 8-3/4 inches (16.8 x 22.2 cm) Stepin Fetchit, the tired man of the movies, was critically injured at 9:50 A.M. yesterday in an auto crash in the heart of Harlem. The comedian, internationally famous for his favorite role of the indolent, slow-spoken hired man who falls asleep standing over a broom or just standing, suffered a fractured skull when his car struck an L pillar at 135th St. and Eight Ave. At the peak of prosperity he had three automobiles, one of them a lavender Rolls-Royce, and thirty-six suits. The two photographs of neighborhood kids gawking across the street as a nearby woman shows her displeasure was probably staged by Weegee later in the day. LITERATURE: Lost Weegee Crime Photos Revealed!, Christopher Bonanos, New York Magazine, May 13-26, 2019, p. 37, one of these photographs illustrated; Daily News, April 26, 1937.
HID09710052018
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Condition Report: Sheets are loose; one approximate 3 inch crease with associated loss to the upper right quadrant of one sheet; overall yellowing, creasing, and edgewear to the sheets that is commensurate with age.
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Time, Location
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