Artist Charles Clyde Ebbets | Created 20 September 1932 | |
 | ||
Similar Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, V‑J Day in Times Square, Dali Atomicus, The Falling Soldier, The Falling Man | ||
Lunch atop a skyscraper the story behind the 1932 photo 100 photos time
Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous black-and-white photograph taken during construction of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, New York City, United States.
Contents
- Lunch atop a skyscraper the story behind the 1932 photo 100 photos time
- Lunch atop a skyscraper real or fake i iconic photographs 5
- Overview
- Ownership
- Author
- Men in the image
- Facts
- References
Lunch atop a skyscraper real or fake i iconic photographs 5
Overview
The photograph depicts eleven men eating lunch, seated on a girder with their feet dangling 840 feet (260 meters) above the New York City streets. The photo was taken on September 20, 1932, on the 69th floor of the RCA Building during the last months of construction. According to archivists, the photo was in fact prearranged. Although the photo shows real ironworkers, it is believed that the moment was staged by Rockefeller Center to promote its new skyscraper. The photo appeared in the Sunday photo supplement of the New York Herald Tribune on October 2.
Ownership
The glass negative is now owned by Branded Entertainment Network, who acquired it from the Acme Newspictures archive in 1995.
Author
Formerly attributed to "unknown", it has been credited to Charles C. Ebbets since 2003 and erroneously to Lewis Hine. The Corbis corporation officially returned its status to unknown although sources continue to credit Ebbets.
Men in the image
There have been numerous claims regarding the identities of the men in the image. The movie Men at Lunch traces some of the men to possible Irish origin, but the director plans to do further interviews to follow up among other claims from Swedish relatives. From the left, number three is Joseph Eckner, number four is Michael Breheny, number five is Albin Svensson and number six with the cigarette is Peter Rice, a Mohawk ironworker from Kahnawake, Canada. The first man from the right is Slovak worker Gustáv (Gusti) Popovič from the village of Vyšný Slavkov in the Levoča District. Gusti was originally a lumberjack and carpenter. In 1932 he sent his wife Mariška a postcard with this photograph on which he wrote, "Don´t you worry, my dear Mariska, as you can see I'm still with bottle. Your Gusti." He came back to Vyšný Slavkov at the beginning of World War II and became a farmer. By the end of World War II, Gusti was killed by a grenade in his village. His and Mariška's joint grave is in the Vyšný Slavkov cemetery. The third from the right is Joe Curtis. The man sitting fourth from the right is allegedly Irishman Francis Michael Rafferty with his lifelong best friend and fellow Irishman, Stretch Donahue, sitting to his right.
Facts
Throughout his time as Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson used the image as a motivational tool, showing it to all his players when they made the team. Noting that there are eleven men in the picture, Sir Alex said, "What is the greatest thing a team can do? They can sacrifice their life for each other and sometimes when one falls two can save him."