VJ Day Kiss, 2005 Version

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MrsSpringsteen

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nytimes.com

V-J Day Is Replayed, but the Lip-Lock's Tamer This Time
By ANDREA ELLIOTT

A hot, angry mob of photographers stood pressed together yesterday on a platform in Times Square, shouting orders at a tiny old lady.

"This way!" hollered one photographer.

"One more time!" yelled another.

"You got to kiss him on the lips!"

"She doesn't want it!" said another.

The woman, Edith Shain, 87, smiled politely but refused to grant the man by her side a kiss on the lips as she says she did 60 years earlier in the Alfred Eisenstadt photograph that captured the euphoric end of World War II. In that picture, a sailor dips a nurse in an embrace that Mr. Eisenstadt likened to "sculpture."

But yesterday, each time Carl Muscarello, 78, pulled Ms. Shain in for a kiss, he got her cheek.

The photographers moaned. The event organizers pleaded. The sun beat mercilessly down. Then, finally, Ms. Shain relented.

A kiss was exchanged between the diminutive woman and the former New York police detective that held all the passion of brushing elbows. It was hardly the spontaneous picture of elation captured in 1945, but the cameras clicked and rolled, their operators satiated.

The re-enacted kiss was staged by the Times Square Alliance to commemorate the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, when thousands of ebullient New Yorkers spilled into the streets to celebrate the Japanese surrender. Veterans also gathered yesterday aboard the aircraft carrier-turned-museum Intrepid.

Vintage aircraft flew over, a memorial wreath was tossed into the Hudson River and a swing band played 1940's favorites.

An aluminum statue depicting the famous kiss drew crowds yesterday afternoon to Broadway and 43rd Street, where organizers handed out white sailor caps and roses, encouraging people to join in the kiss re-enactment.

"Who do we have to kiss?" asked Bernice Bohlman, 71, of Mastic Beach on Long Island, who came upon the scene on her way to see "Wicked." "Anyone? O.K., give me one," she said, taking a rose.

The event drew more than the spontaneous partaker. Marc Hermann, 23, a freelance photographer, came dressed in an authentic Navy wool uniform, 1940's-era sailor shoes and a military watch. "The best way to learn about it is by doing it," he said.

Mel Levey, 20, came to meet Ms. Shain. "It's part of humanitarian history," said Mr. Levey, , a junior at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"Humanitarian?" asked his friend, Beth Sutey, also a West Point junior.

"Well, it's like pop culture," he said. "The poster's more famous than the fact that it was the end of the war."

By far, the most perfect kiss re-enactment came in the form of the statue, which depicts a brawny sailor holding a lithe blond nurse in white heels and deep surrender.

Ms. Shain, a more shrunken version of the nurse, stepped on stage in white New Balance sneakers and an imitation nurse uniform, beaming at the crowd. As the heat bore down, Ms. Shain grabbed the statue and held onto it, steadying herself with the taller nurse while answering questions from reporters.

Ms. Shain was a part-time nurse at the Doctors Hospital in 1945 when she heard reports of the surrender on the radio at work and headed to Times Square to celebrate with a friend.

"I didn't walk very far before the sailor grabbed me," she said. "It was the time to do that.

"The happiness was indescribable," she said. "It was a very long kiss."

Her shyness about kissing is nothing new, she said, though a recent eye ailment caused her to be especially careful yesterday, she said.

During the original kiss, she closed her eyes and then rushed home, telling no one. She saw the photograph on the cover of Life magazine the following week, but kept her secret until 1980 when she contacted the magazine.

Mr. Eisenstadt met with her and confirmed his belief that she was the nurse.

The identity of the sailor has been a trickier matter. Ms. Shain says she has been approached by 20 sailors who claim to be the one she embraced. As for whether Mr. Muscarello is the one, she says only: "I can't say he isn't. I just can't say he is. There is no way to tell."

Mr. Muscarello said he had had a few beers that day. "Everyone was kissing everyone so I decided to join in the fun," he said. "I saw Edith and she looked very appealing, so I went to her and I planted a hug and a kiss."


check out the photo

kiss.184.1.650.jpg
 
nbcrusader said:
As we sit in peace behind the security of our home PC's, we will never really understand the joy experienced that day.....



that would quickly dissipate as we came to terms with the consequences of dropping the Atom Bomb ...

i'm actually kind of serious about that. on the whole, i understand why it was dropped; but damned if we didn't open up a rather scary can of worms ...

still, what a romantic image.
 
nbcrusader said:


The discussion about VJ Day is now over.....

sorry, that's fine if you want to make it a discussion about VJ Day I was just wondering if no one noticed, that's all. lI didn't mean it to turn out to be about that.

I give up, it seems perhaps I shouldn't participate in this forum any more. I don't mean that in some whiny woe is me way, it just seems that everyone is angry about one thing or another and everything I try is wrong or degenerates into something else entirely.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


sorry, that's fine if you want to make it a discussion about VJ Day I was just wondering if no one noticed, that's all. lI didn't mean it to turn out to be about that.

I give up, it seems perhaps I shouldn't participate in this forum any more. I don't mean that in some whiny woe is me way, it just seems that everyone is angry about one thing or another and everything I try is wrong or degenerates into something else entirely.

Sorry, that wasn't directed to you (and I realize the way it was said was a little harsh - me edit is too late). Frankly, I didn't look at the picture closely after reading the article.

I guess I have FYM fatigue - when threads all tend to return to the same couple of themes.
 
nbcrusader said:

I guess I have FYM fatigue - when threads all tend to return to the same couple of themes.

I understand that, and I should have kept that in mind. The only reason I posted it was that I was curious about whether people would notice, and no one did..or no one said they did. So I think perhaps that's a good thing.

I have that fatigue too, I mean look at my other thread about men and sperm :wink: and what happened to that. I was trying to start a discussion totally devoid of those issues and voila...poof
 
Bono's American Wife said:



I noticed ;)

Well, the Village People did write that song "In the Navy" :lmao:


Where can you find pleasure
Search the world for treasure
Learn science technology
Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true
On the land or on the sea
Where can you learn to fly
Play in sports and skin dive
Study oceanography
Sign of for the big band
Or sit in the grandstand
When your team and others meet

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now, fall in 'n' make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

If you like adventure
Don't you wait to enter
The recruiting office fast
Don't you hesitate
There is no need to wait
They're signing up new seamen fast
Maybe you are too young
To join up today
Bout don't you worry 'bout a thing
For I'm sure there will be
Always a good navy
Protecting the land and sea

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now, fall in 'n' make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

Who me?

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

But, but but I'm afraid of water.
Hey, hey look
Man, I get seasick even watchin' it on TV!

They want you, they want you in the navy

Oh my goodness.
What am I gonna do in a submarine?

They want you, they want you in the navy
 
So we have a mixed race couple kissing?


I guess that would have disgusted people in 1945
and would have never made it on the cover on a national magazine then.


I remember the 60s, why did everything have to be about race?

Why could not the Negoes be happy they were not slaves anymore
and just fade into the background.

and stop demanding rights.
 
I don't know what y'all are referring to :eyebrow: I was merely noting the velcro on Edith's sneakers, which they didn't have in 1945. So it is not an accurate re -creation and I'm hopping mad about that :mad:
 
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