“An End To Liberty”

Weegee (1899-1968), An End to Liberty, June 1, 1941 (16741.1993)

PM, June 1, 1941, p. 12, Vol. I, No. 50. p. 12

75 years ago today the PM printed the above photo and caption:

An End To Liberty
This Rhesus monkey went AWOL from his unknown owner and tore around Duane Street until ASPCA inspectors cornered him in the girl’s room of the Star Bookbinding Co.
[Possibly the Star Ruling & Binding Co., 66 Duane St.] Tom Barnshaw lured him with a banana. Photo by Weegee.” PM, June 1, 1941, p. 12, Vol. I, No. 50. p. 12

PM, June 1, 1941, p. 12, Vol. I, No. 50. pp. 12-13

Weegee (1899-1968), [Monkey], ca. 1941 (9949.1993)

Possibly the same liberty-less rhesus monkey, or a similar simian, on its way to the ASPCA.

Weegee (1899-1968), An End to Liberty, June 1, 1941 (16741.1993_verso)

(Perhaps just to be funny, a few years before The Critic was made, or possibly making an ASPCA, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, joke, or offering a savvy and subtle bit of media criticism, or presciently predicting the Nonhuman Rights Project, or acknowledging that to live in “society” one must sacrifice some liberties, or questioning the nature of existence and the existence of nature, or anachronistically illustrating the lyric “It’s like a jungle sometimes,” or typically topical, or playfully and intentionally confounding archivists who would one day ponder the significance of a seventy-year-old scribbled sentence, Weegee wrote on the back of this print: “This is going into Society Panel.”)

Perhaps more significantly, what happened in Weegee’s world 72 years ago tomorrow, June 2, 1944: “A Weegee Gets Attention at Museum of Modern Art” – “The opera shot got the most laughs.”