September 29, 1932

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Martin Antonenko

A Fixture
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Jul 11, 2008
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One Of The Most Famous Photos Of All Times!


On September 29, 1932 Charles Clyde Ebbets ...





... photographed during the construction of the "Rockefeller Center" at New York ...





... eleven construction workers sitting on a steel beam on the 69th floor of the half-finished building and taking their lunch break.

"Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" will be one of the most famous photos of all times ...:



There are several other - albeit largely unknown - shots of the scene, namely those when the pausing workers discover the photographer and start to pose for him ...:





The identities of most of the men today have largely been clarified - most of them were probably Irish!

Starting from the left, the first steel worker is Matty O'Shaughnessy from County Galway, Ireland ...:



The third man has been identified as Austin Lawton from King’s Cove, Newfoundland, although the same man has been identified as Sheldon London from New York by his great-niece and also as Ralph Rawding from New York by his granddaughter ...:



The fifth man is Claude Stagg from Catalina (Newfoundland) ...:



The sixth man is according to the husband of a niece John Johansson from Okome in Sweden, according to other information (namely the son) but John Patrick Madden from Ireland ...:



The seventh man was recognized by his daughter as John Doucette ...:



A nephew recognized Francis Michael Rafferty in the eighth person ...:



The ninth man is said to have been his best friend, Pete "Stretch" Donahue ...:



The tenth husband is Thomas Norton (born Naughton) from County Galway, Ireland ...:



The eleventh man was identified both as Patrick "Sonny" Glynn from County Galway, Ireland - but also as Gusti Popovič, a Slovak from what was then Czechoslovakia ...:



The identities of the second as well as the third and fourth man are unclear ...

 
I've always had a good head for heights but that photo always makes the hairs on my neck stand up.:eek:

Phil
 
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