This is a well-written and vivid biography of one of the hardest-working professional photographers of the 20th Century. This is also the story of a man who was incredibly skilled at news photography and pursued what is now known as personal branding to an extreme degree, going from admirable hustler Arthur Fellig to boastful and overbearing Weegee. It's a complex story, following Weegee's rise from fairly low-status jobs in newspaper darkrooms to becoming the premier crime photographer in the United States in the 1940s, and then onwards to his seduction into Hollywood and his descent into trick photography and questionable outre projects.
Throughout, while author Christopher Bonanos gladly debunks many of Weegee's oft-repeated self-mythologizing, he also lends a considerable amount of sympathy to a largely self-educated immigrant whose appearance, accent, and lack of WASP decorum led to him being a punchline to many mainstreamers even at the height of his fame. This never devolves into armchair psychoanalysis, but one gets the sense from reading this book that much of Weegee's pushiness and misogyny were covers for a deep-seated loneliness. He certainly comes across as misunderstood, and seems to have been a man whose work was primarily his life.
Truth be told, Weegee is a very hard figure to get a handle on, and it hasn't gotten easier with the many Weegee museum retrospectives over the past 20 years. But Bonanos is the first I've read who doesn't try to make the claim that everything Weegee did was high art, or that he was the "American Brassai" or other high-sounding claims. Bonanos gives enough room in most chapters for Weegee to breathe, and places him within the context of changing trends in newspaper and magazine publication in the United States. I can't say that I feel as though I finally know Weegee, but I certainly feel much closer to his essence than I did seeing his old photos at several gallery shows.
One important last note. While many Weegee photos are reproduced in this book, the reproductions themselves are not of the highest quality. This is a biography, not an art book. If you're looking for a coffee table book of Weegee's crime photos, you'll have to go elsewhere. But if you're looking for a true biography of the man, this is the only show in town.
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Reviews with images
Just finished this WONDERFUL book in one sitting while on vacation in Spain.
As a New Yorker that's seen and heard just about every classic New York Story, Christopher Bonanos's "FLASH: The Making of WEEGEE THE FAMOUS" is as fresh and charming a story as I've read in years. It's actually amazing there hasn't already been a biography written about one of the most iconic and eccentric news photographers of the golden age of newspapers. Mr. Bonanos clearly has done extensive research into the man and his passion for telling the visual stories of countless New Yorkers with a million stories to tell. The writing is witty, informed and confident. I particularly appreciated the background on what was happening in NYC politically, economically, socially through Prohibition, the Great Depression and beyond, all the while WEEGEE (Arthur Fellig) was making an international name for himself navigating the red tape and fierce competition in the world of journalism. "FLASH: The Making of WEEGEE THE FAMOUS" would make a fantastic film. Kudos!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2018
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018
Just finished this WONDERFUL book in one sitting while on vacation in Spain.
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018
As a New Yorker that's seen and heard just about every classic New York Story, Christopher Bonanos's "FLASH: The Making of WEEGEE THE FAMOUS" is as fresh and charming a story as I've read in years. It's actually amazing there hasn't already been a biography written about one of the most iconic and eccentric news photographers of the golden age of newspapers. Mr. Bonanos clearly has done extensive research into the man and his passion for telling the visual stories of countless New Yorkers with a million stories to tell. The writing is witty, informed and confident. I particularly appreciated the background on what was happening in NYC politically, economically, socially through Prohibition, the Great Depression and beyond, all the while WEEGEE (Arthur Fellig) was making an international name for himself navigating the red tape and fierce competition in the world of journalism. "FLASH: The Making of WEEGEE THE FAMOUS" would make a fantastic film. Kudos!
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018
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Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2018
When I read a biography I want the text to read like a photograph. Nothing more between the edges of the image, nothing more between me and what is important about the subject. The author wrote too wordy and too much of a story about a shy, lonely, nightcrawler. Mr Fellig‘s autobiography is much closer to the edges of his own life.
Mr. Squeegee was an immigrant boy who took what he learned from the mean streets of New York and pointed his camera at it. He invented the saying, “ƒ/8 and be there.“
I would hand this book to any young person wanting to be something or anything.
It was a perfect time to have been Weegee: it was a time for Flash.
Mr. Squeegee was an immigrant boy who took what he learned from the mean streets of New York and pointed his camera at it. He invented the saying, “ƒ/8 and be there.“
I would hand this book to any young person wanting to be something or anything.
It was a perfect time to have been Weegee: it was a time for Flash.
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