"40s photograph

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Some time ago I saw a photograph in a book, of a woman who either fell or jumped off of a building and landed on a car roof. It has been years since I saw this but I think that the woman looked asleep on the crumpled roof. The car looked to be from the '40s. Does anyone know who took this photo?

-- shannon (shannon76@anglefire.com), January 13, 2002

Answers

I too remember that photograph. I believe she had jumped from the top of Empire State Building. The photograph might be by "Weegee the Famous" but I am not sure.

-- Ellis Vener Photography (ellis@ellisvener.com), January 13, 2002.

I have the Life magazine (May 12, 1947) that photo appeared in. "On May Day, just after leaving her fiance, 23 year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note...He is much better off without me...I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody, she wrote. She then crossed it out and went to the observation platform and jumped 86 floors to her death. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death, Wiles took the picture.

-- Don Sparks (harleyman7@aol.com), January 13, 2002.

Thank you all very much. I was begining to think that I imagined it as it has been many years since I have seen that photograph.

-- Shannon (shannon76@angelfire.com), January 14, 2002.

I think that it's in the original "Best of Life" book as well.

-- David Grandy (dgrandy@accesscable.net), January 15, 2002.

I remember this photograph but have not seen it in years. Looked for it on the net after reading this post, but unable to find it. Anyone know if it is out there on the net?

-- Mar Johnson (majorbanks@hotmail.com), January 21, 2002.


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