V–J day in Times Square

"V–J day in Times Square", perhaps the most famous photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, is of an American sailor kissing a young woman on V-J Day in Times Square on August 14, 1945, that was originally published in "Life" magazine. (The photograph is known under various names: "V-J day in Times Square, V-Day," etc. ["V-J day in Times Square": "The Photo Book" (London: Phaidon, 2000; ISBN 0-7148-3937-X), p.134. "V–Day": "Twentieth Century Photography: Museum Ludwig Cologne" (Cologne: Taschen, 2005; ISBN 3-8228-4083-1), pp. 148–9.] )

Because Eisenstaedt was photographing rapidly changing events during the V-J celebrations he didn't get a chance to get names and details. The photograph does not clearly show the faces of either kisser and several people have laid claim to being the subjects. The photo was shot just south of 45th Street looking north from a location where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge. (Today, the spot where the kiss took place is on the small island separating Broadway and Seventh Avenue between the Toys R Us and MTV studios in Times Square.)

The photograph, as described by Alfred Eisenstaedt

In two different books he wrote, Alfred Eisenstaedt gave two (slightly) different accounts of taking the photograph.

From "Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt" [Eisenstaedt, Alfred, " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0500540012] "] ::In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.

:Only one is right, on account of the balance. In the others the emphasis is wrong — the sailor on the left side is either too small or too tall. People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture.

From "The Eye of Eisenstaedt" [Eisenstaedt, Alfred, " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0896595153] "] ::I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I'd hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her. Now if this girl hadn't been a nurse, if she'd been dressed dark clothes, I wouldn't have had a picture. The contrast between her white dress and the sailor's dark uniform gives the photograph its extra impact.

Another view

U.S. Navy photo journalist Victor Jorgensen captured another view of the same scene, which was published in the "New York Times".cite web |date=March / April issue 2007 |url = http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/mar_apr07/forum.php|title = Everyman in Times Square|format = HTML |publisher = Columbia Forum| accessdate = 2007-09-24 | last=Marshall Berman |quote=They were also photographed at just about the same moment, from a slightly different (and less exciting) angle, by U.S. Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen; Jorgensen’s photo was reprinted in the next day’s New York Times. ] This photograph shows less of Times Square in the background and does not show the full body of either the sailor or the nurse. Unlike the Eisenstaedt photograph, this photograph is in the public domain (by virtue of being produced by a federal government employee on official position).

Who are the kissers?

In its August 1980 issue, the editors of LIFE Magazine asked that the kissing sailor come forward. In the October 1980 issue, the editors reported that eleven men and three women had come forward to claim to be the kissers. Listed in the October 1980 issue were: Donald Bonsack, John Edmonson, Wallace C. Fowler, Clarence "Bud" Harding, Walker Irving, James Kearney, Marvin Kingsburg, Arthur Leask, George Mendonsa, Jack Russell and Bill Swicegood. The October 1980 issue also listed Edith Shain, Greta Friedman, and Barbara Sokol as the nurse. [ [http://www.life.com/Life/special/kiss03.html/ Who is the Kissing Sailor? - LIFE Magazine - October 1980] ] LIFE's October 1980 issue did not include Carl Muscarello or Glenn McDuffie, who are described below. [ [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/that-times-square-smooch-right-to-the-kisser/ When a Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss - New York Times - August 6, 2007] ]

Edith Shain

One Edith Shain wrote to Eisenstaedt in the late 1970s claiming to be the woman in the picture.Citation| last1 = Lucas| first1 = Dean| title = Famous Pictures Magazine - VJday Times Square Kiss | date = 2007-04-17 | year = 2007 | url = http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=VJday_Times_Square_Kiss] Shain was working at Doctor's Hospital in New York City when she and a friend heard on the radio that World War II had ended. They went to Times Square where all the celebrating was and as soon as she got off the subway, the sailor grabbed and kissed her. She thought she might as well let him kiss her since he fought for her in war. Shain did not tell the world who she was until many years later when she wrote Eisenstaedt a letter. Subsequently they became very good friends.Fact|date=October 2007

Carl S. Muscarello

Carl Muscarello is a retired police officer with the NYPD, now living in Plantation, Florida. In 1995, Muscarello came forward and claimed to be the kissing sailor. Muscarello claims that he was in Times Square on August 14, 1945, that he had consumed several beers, and that he kissed numerous women. Edith Shain, who is widely accepted as the nurse in the photograph, initially said she believed Muscarello's claim to be the sailor. But in 2005, Shain was much less certain, telling the New York Times, "I can't say he isn't. I just can't say he is. There is no way to tell." [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/nyregion/15kiss.html/ V-J Day Is Replayed, but the Lip-Lock's Tamer This Time - New York Times - August 15, 2005] ]

George Mendonça

George Mendonça of Newport, Rhode Island, was identified by a team of volunteers from the Naval War College in August 2005 as "the kisser". His claim was based on matching his scars and tattoos to scars and tattoos in the picture. They made their choice after much study including picture analysis by the Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab (MERL) in Cambridge, Mass., who were able to match scars and tattoo spotted by photo experts, and the testimony of one Richard M Benson a photo analysis expert and professor of photographic studies plus the former Dean of the School of Arts at Yale University. Mr Benson has stated that, "It is therefore my opinion, based upon a reasonable degree of certainty, that George Mendonça is the sailor in Mr. Eisenstaedt's famous photograph."

Mendonça, on leave from the USS The Sullivans (DD-537), was watching a movie with his date, future wife Rita, at Radio City Music Hall when the doors opened and people started screaming the war was over. George and Rita took part in the partying on the street but when they couldn't get into the packed bars decided to walk down the street. It was then that George saw a nurse walk by and took her into his arms and kissed her, "I had quite a few drinks that day and I considered her one of the troops--she was a nurse." In one of the four pictures that Eisenstaedt took, Mendonça claims that Rita is visible in the background behind the kissing couple.

In 1987, George Mendonça filed a lawsuit against Time Inc. in Rhode Island state court, alleging that he was the sailor in the photograph and that both TIME and LIFE Magazines had violated his right of publicity by using the photograph without his permission. After Time removed the case to federal court, Mendonça survived a motion to dismiss. ["Mendonça v. Time Inc.", 678 F.Supp. 967 (D. R.I. 1988)] Subsequently, when Mendonça had to prove that he was, in fact, the sailor in the photograph, Mendonça dismissed his lawsuit.

Glenn McDuffie

In 2007 Glenn McDuffie laid claim and was supported by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson. [Juan A. Lozano, " [http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/659188.html Forensic expert: N.C. native is sailor in famous wartime photo] ", "The News and Observer," 3 August 2007; Juan A. Lozano, " [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070803/ap_on_re_us/kissing_sailor_1;_ylt=AtZvuKNpyW0vDj.Ywu_On9dsaMYA Man says he's the sailor in famous photo] ", Associated Press, 3 August 2007, Yahoo News.] Gibson's forensic analysis compared the Eisenstaedt photos with current-day photos of McDuffie, analyzing key facial features identical on both sets.

:She measured his ears, facial bones, hairline, wrist, knuckles and hand and compared those to enlargements of Eisenstaedt's picture.

:"I could tell just in general that yes, it's him," said Gibson, a 25-year department veteran. "But I wanted to be able to tell other people so I replicated the pose." [Juan A. Lozano, " [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3445114 Man Says He's the Sailor in Famous Photo] "]

McDuffie in the August 14, 2007, issue of AM New York said he has passed five polygraph tests confirming his claim. [Dispute over famed smooch - AM New York - August 14, 2007]

McDuffie says the photograph is of him. McDuffie says that on August 14, 1945, he was on the subway to Brooklyn to visit his girlfriend, Ardith Bloomfield. [Dispute over famed smooch - AM New York - August 14, 2007] He came out of the subway at Times Square, where people were celebrating in the streets. Excited that his brother, who was being held by the Japanese as a prisoner of war, would be released, McDuffie began hollering and jumping up and down. A nurse saw him, and opened her arms to him. He ran over to her and kissed her, kissing her for a long time so that Eisenstadt could take the photo:

:I went over there and kissed her and saw a man running at us...I thought it was a jealous husband or boyfriend coming to poke me in the eyes. I looked up and saw he was taking the picture and I kissed her as long as took for him to take it. [ [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnlyinAmerica/story?id=3422191&page=1/] Man Claims He's the Mystery Sailor in 'The Kiss' - ABC News, August 7, 2007]

Gibson also forensically analyzed photographs of other men who have claimed to be the sailor, including Muscarello and Mendonsa. Gibson has conclusively excluded both men, as neither man's facial bones or other features match those of the sailor in the photograph.

On August 3, 2008, Glenn McDuffie was recognized for his 81st birthday as the “Kissing Sailor” during the seventh-inning stretch of the Houston Astros and New York Mets game at Minute Maid Park.

Commemorations

Since 2005 the event has been commemorated by an annual kiss in Times Square. In 2005 J. Seward Johnson Jr made a sculpture based on Eisenstaedt's photo of V-J Day, titled "Unconditional Surrender." The sculpture has been temporarily been put on display on the anniversary in subsequent years at the Times Square Information Center near the site of the kiss.

References

ee also

*Dancing Man, an iconic image of V-J Day in Australia

External links

* [http://www.nwc.navy.mil/museum/vjdaysailor/ Naval War College: VJ Day Sailor]
* " [http://www.life.com/Life/special/kiss03.html Who is the kissing sailor?] " ("Life" article from 1980)