"His name became synonymous with chiaroscuro night scenes of murdered corpses, crashed automobiles, and tenement fires and, as often, shocked onlookers in moments of touching humanity - the police officer with the mournful expression of a priest or the young woman swooning over a sidewalk murder. Weegee's style became the essence of film noir and it helped define the age.
Weegee's legend was partly his own eccentric creation. He playfully attributed his knack for arriving first at crime and accident scenes to premonitory powers, when in fact his 1938 Chevy carried a police dispatch radio. He stamped his prints on the back with the circular legend 'Weegee the Famous,' and introduced himself with those words, long before he had become well-known."
Art Access, Weegee the Famous
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