Fire in New York City,

1947

<p> Weegee, whose real name was Arthur Fellig, immigrated to New York’s Lower East Side from Austria-Hungary as a child. His family had little <br> money, prompting Fellig to leave school for work in the eighth grade. He later joined the staff of the newly formed Acme Newspictures as a darkroom technician and began to fill in for them as a news photographer. Weegee would monitor the police and fire radio, and he became famous for arriving at crime and disaster scenes at the same time as civic authorities—a skill that earned him the nickname “Weegee” for his uncanny, Ouija board–like knowledge. Images such as <em>Fire in New York City</em>, made exclusively for reproduction in the popular press, were shot with a sharp contrast that heightens their sensationalism. </p>