Strange Days Dangerous Nights: Photos From the Speed Graphic Era [Hardcover]

Larry Millett (Author), John Sandford (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

Fat men's races and fall-out shelters, murder victims and loose women, cheerleaders and immigrants, celebrities and children in distress were just some of the urban curiosities splashed across the pages of city newspapers during the Speed Graphic era (1930s-1950s). Championed by acclaimed news photographers like Arthur Fellig (a.k.a. Weegee), the Speed Graphic camera produced a new visual style that was as blunt, powerful, and immediate as a left hook. Driven by the desire to fill newspaper pages with sensational images, press photographers shot everything, day and night: automobile accidents, fires, murders, all the cop news that fought for a hot spot on the Front Page. And they covered uncounted numbers of social affairs?pictures called "grip-and-grins" in the trade: school events, sports, celebrities, oddities both of nature and humanity. Veteran journalist and mystery writer Larry Millett has unearthed over 200 of the best photos from the archives of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the St. Paul Dispatch for Strange Days, Dangerous Nights. Included are the sensational stories behind the photos and biographies of some of the top press photographers of the day. An evocative look at another time, this is a visual history like no other, a feast for fans of photography and photojournalism, crime buffs, and urban historians?and a testament to the craft of those photographers who documented their era one shot at a time. "A collection of vivid and sometimes spectacular photographs that throw new light on the not-so-distant past, a place that is a bit like home, a bit like a movie, and a bit like another planet. It is heartening to find such stuff so well preserved and so expertly annotated.? -- Luc Sante, author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, Evidence and The Factory of Facts

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

The photographs in this collection are taken from the files of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the St. Paul Dispatch, and span a period from the nineteen-forties to the mid-sixties. Among the many records of long-forgotten civic functions are shocking crime-scene photographs, a reminder of an era when the country's newspaper photographers—an army of Weegees, equipped with oversized Speed Graphic flash cameras and radios tuned to the police scanners—regularly provided readers with lurid coverage of violent crimes and spectacular accidents. There is a harsh intimacy to these photographs, which bring us as close as possible to car-crash victims, suicides, and mass murderers confessing their crimes. But the welter of detail in the pictures—the seamed stockings of a murder victim, the huddle of bystanders after a bar shooting—provides a nuanced portrait of a Midwestern city and of American culture at midcentury.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Review

"A collection of vivid and sometimes spectacular photographs that throw new light on the not-so-distant past, a place that is a bit like home, a bit like a movie, and a bit like another planet. It is heartening to find such stuff so well preserved and so expertly annotated.? -- Luc Sante, author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, Evidence, and The Factory of Facts

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Borealis Books (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873515048
• ISBN-13: 978-0873515047
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 10.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GRIST FOR THE DAILY NEWSPAPER MILL, November 19, 2004

By 

John M. Doman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strange Days Dangerous Nights: Photos From the Speed Graphic Era (Hardcover)

This book takes a wonderful look at the reportage of daily life in a small market daily newspaper before the advent of television, 35mm cameras and yuppified editors with abyssmally sophisticated news judgements. It speaks to the days when a newspaper was the important disseminator of news to the folks of post WW II America, the interpreter of what we were. The everyday stuff, ingeniusly putting their personal stamps on mundane photo assignments, illustrating everyday life, blood and gore, bad guys and good guys--the stuff the everyday Jane and Joe wanted to look at. Probably still do.

This book takes a different view from those historical photographic compilations of the NY Times, or LA Times or the Chicago Tribune, even AP. The photogs at St Paul did not get a chance to shoot the Hindenburg; but they did have plenty of chances to shoot snow storms, floods, and local queens of every sort. They did it with aplomb, and Larry Millett does a wonderful job writing about it, and an even better job of photo editing.

As a current photographer at the St PaulPioneer Press; I am blown away by the work of these guys. Really. I just never knew what these guys did on a daily basis--now I do, and I respect my profession even more.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A flash of light and instant fame for every body, April 24, 2006

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strange Days Dangerous Nights: Photos From the Speed Graphic Era (Hardcover)

One advantage of this fascinating book is that you'll see these photos in about the same quality as the original prints. The readers of the two St Paul dailies only saw them printed in a relatively coarse screen but here they are presented in 175dpi on quality paper. The old Speed Graphic captured every detail with its in-your-face blinding flash.

The photos in the eight chapters show an intriguing look back to life in the city from 1945 to 1965, plenty of crime scene stuff (a few are very graphic if your are worried about seeing such photos) but also the regular city newspaper fare, celebrities, civic functions, public gatherings, kids having fun and plenty of sports coverage. An interesting chapter covers the changing face of St Paul, as old buildings are torn down to be replaced with new commercial units and suburbs.

Larry Millet does an excellent job of captioning the two hundred photos (mostly one to a page) not just a few words but two hundred or so for each image and his intro is a succinct review of the importance of news photos to local and city papers across America decades ago. Books about such photos from this period do rather concentrate on sensational crime and blood because they are mostly missing from today's papers. Millett explains that back then the press and the police enjoyed a cosy relationship and mostly didn't ask too many awkward questions about the police version of events. The papers got access to crime scenes for graphic photos and the cops had their faces in the morning editions for fighting crime. TV covers it all today but really gets no closer than the yellow crime-scene tape.

Many of the photos in the book are specific to St Paul but there a plenty that show a past America that applies to any city and so is a good visual record of news focussed events. My only criticism is that I would have expected to see some small thumbnails of pages from the papers showing how the photos were used with their headlines. The essential visual thing about tabloid papers are the headlines and eye-grabbing photos that pull the reader into the story. Apart from that I thought the book was first class, beautifully designed and printed with a really strong editorial content.

BTW I noticed that some reviewers expected to find background information about the Speed Graphic camera, the book is not about the camera but what it produced. There is a ton of information about the camera on the Graflex website, just put the name into A9 or Google.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great photography, January 20, 2005

By 

M. A. Filippelli "Marc12074" (Roseville, CA, US) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strange Days Dangerous Nights: Photos From the Speed Graphic Era (Hardcover)

This is an outstanding look at Photo journalism in the 40s, 50s and 60s.There is a story for each of the photos. The book is not so much about the Speed Graphic camera its self but about the era in which the Speed Graphic camera was used from the 1940's to the 1960's at a small town newspaper. The are some amazing crime scene photos that you just dont see in newspapers today.

The book covers the use of photos and how they where touched up to enhance the photo and therefore enhance the story. All photo's are in black and white.