During Jeff's career he was famous for making real people look their best. He also came across many famous people during his career. Here are a few of them.
I photographed a lot of famous people, but some are more special than others. Mies was one of those. Of the several rolls I shot, about five images appeal to me. One I sent to him, with a request that he sign it and return it ot me, which he gracefully did, I put it into a frame, but due to my lack of experience with signed pictures, it later appeared ferrotyped to the front glass, because I had not matted the print. Now, to have it properly framed would likely destroy the signature. Live and learn.
This is another image from the same session.
This picture was taken on my only date with a movie star. I completed my assignment at Sissy’s home town of Quitman, TX. I had another two days in Quitman, her husband Jack had returned to Los Angeles, and Sissy suggested that we ride bikes around the town, and she would show me the sights. How could I refuse?
Ironically, Quitman’s one movie theatre had closed for good before Carrie came out, so people had to go to the next town over to see it. But the natural features of the area were still available, so we just rode around. And I shot a few pictures of Sissy, who was a great “date.” This is one of my favorites, and I’m happy to share it. Sissy was very open and normail, with none of the unfortunate characteristics of a “movie star.”
I hadn’t seen Carrie but when I returned to Oak Park, I suggested that my wife and I see it. Which we did. It was something of a shock to see the end of the movie, with a 30 foot high representation of a semi-nude girl I’d just had a date with!
I really like photographing authors. They are generally engaging, interesting people, and meeting them is fun. Algren certainly was, and we talked about one of his interests, boxing. Before the assignment, I was having trouble finding a phone number for Nelson, so I called Saul Bellow, who I thought would have his number. He had some advice for me too: “Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve when you meet him!”
I didn’t, and it was an enjoyable time.
I saw Lenny every night of his engagement at The Gate of Horn – except the one where he was arrested for “obscenity.”
Here’s another photograph of Lenny, during his engagement at The Gate of Horn. Alan Ribback, the owner of The Gate, lost his liquor license as a result of Lenny’s arrest, and later the whole club.
I was a fledgling photographer when Saul ( family friend) called to ask if I’d like to try my hand at photographing him “Because everybody’s been here, and I don’t like anything they’ve done….”
Saul was one of my favorite authors, having written The Adventures of Augie March, one of my favorite books. I went to meet him at his Hyde Park apartment on a Sunday. After greeting me, he asked if I’d had breakfast yet, and I said no. He pressed a bill into my hand and said “Go to the deli across the street, get some salami, and I’ll make you a fried salami sandwich!” So I did, and he did. It was great, and then I shot two rolls, very carefully, my Pentax on a tripod, using a 50. I know they tell you not to shoot portarits with a 50, but I think it worked. Originally shot for a University of Chicago Press book, Saul later completed Hertzog, and Viking Press used the image on the back cover. But only on the first printing, because the reviews were so excellent they excerpted them on the cover.
And the pictures from that day have sold almost every year since they were taken!
Another image from the two rolls I shot.
And another. These images have sold for years, for which I am thankful. They were the first “big time” assignment I ever shot.
One of the first comics to show the new wave in comedy, he was funny and inciteful for many years after.
Perhaps not as well known as other labor and civil rights leaders, he was one of those who planned the massive march on Washinton in 1963. But earlier in life he took on the millionaire George Pullman and against all odds, was successful in starting the Pullman Porter’s union.
At the time I took this photograph, I mentioned to the Newsweek reporter I was with that it was like listening to a minister. And the reporter replied “That’s because he is one!”
Elliade was a religious historian, last at The University of Chicago, who at an advanced age undertook to revise a renowned multi-volume History of Religion.
