MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
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
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