Lunch photos on the top of skyscrapers: the story behind famous photos

On September 20th, 1932, 1 1 Steel workers took part in a bold publicity stunt on Manhattan Avenue at 4 1. These people are used to walking along the girders of the RCA building (now called the GE building) they built at Rockefeller Center. However, on this day, they also said humorously that a photographer was excited about the completion of this project. Some businessmen threw a football; Some people pretend to doze off However, the most famous thing is that all 1 1 people have lunch on steel beams, and their feet are hanging on the 850-foot-high city streets.

You have seen this photo before, and there may be some funny imitations. In my brother's childhood bedroom, there was a poster with actors such as Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio on it, which replaced steel workers with photos. This portrait is a masterpiece of American photography in the 20th century.

But what do you know about it?

For Irish filmmaker Thain Curran, the mystery of this photo is a big part of its attraction. He said: "There are too many unknowns. Who is the photographer? Who are they? "

"They can be anyone," Karen said. "We can all put ourselves on that beam. I think that's why this photo works.

? Cualáin doesn't intend to tell the story of this photo, but this is exactly what he did in the latest documentary "Men at Lunch", which was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

Is this a pleasant accident? Cualáin said. He and his brother, film producer Emmon, were in a bar in Galway when they noticed a copy of a photo hanging in the corner. Next to the photo is a note written by the son of a local immigrant who left Ireland for new york in the 1920s: "My father is on the far right and my uncle is on the far left." They asked the bartender about the note. "Just like all good Irish bartenders," Karen said, and he put them in touch with Pat Green, a Boston man who wrote this note. That night,

The filmmakers' curiosity led them to set off from the relatives of a couple in the photo to the Rockefeller Center Photography Archives in new york City and a storage facility in Pennsylvania, where the license company Corbis kept the original glass negatives.

In the process of shooting? The Cualáin brothers confirmed that this photo is true, not a darkroom trick speculated by the outside world. They found three possible photographers, and for the first time in history, they undoubtedly recognized two people on the balance beam.

Click on the highlight of this famous photo below to learn more about its long-standing secret. These notes are based on conversations with Thain Kualan and Ken Johnston, the director of Colby's historical photography department. This photo is part of the famous Bateman file in Corbis.

Lunch on the top of a skyscraper (PDF) Lunch on the top of a skyscraper (text)