January 18 March 10, 2017 Smathers Library Lobby Photo-Reporter: The Martin Harris Collection EXHIBITION Curated by Jim Liversidge George A. Smathers Libraries
Photo-Reporter: The Martin Harris Collection EXHIBITION Curated by Jim Liversidge George A. Smathers Libraries
JUNE 2017 The Martin Harris Collection was presented as a gift to the University of Florida by Dr. Gregg M. Harris and his brother David Harris (grandchildren of Martin Harris) in 2009.
3 Martin Harris and his camera from the 1930s through the 1960s.
From the 1930s through the late 1960s, photographer Martin Harris was an eyewitness to the history and culture of the mid-20th century. He recorded images of Depression-era labor unrest for PM New York, the horrors of World War II for Stars And Stripes and the stars of stage screen, radio and television for Collier s Magazine, Life Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post. His iconic images of Dwight Eisenhower, Albert Einstein, Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Steve Allen, etc. graced the pages of daily newspapers and weekly magazines across the United States and Europe. 4
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Mr. Harris began taking amateur photographs in the late 1920s graduating to guest photographer at hotels in the Catskills and double truck color photography for Life Magazine in the mid-1930s. Born on February 4, 1908 in Manhattan, as Moses Haber, he legally changed his name to Martin Harris, for professional reasons, in 1939. The vast bulk of his work during this period was as a people photographer capturing the every-day life of the average American citizen. ABOVE: Zero Mostel the Broadway (Fiddler on the Roof), film (The Producers) and nightclub comedian works on his hobby in his NYC studio c. 1942. LEFT: Arthur Miller at Home The playwright (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, etc.), photographed for Cue Magazine at home in New York City, with Death of a Salesman star Lee J. Cobb 1949. 6
ABOVE: Pinocchio WPA Stages A Children s Classic One of the first double truck (facing magazine pages with content stretching over both pages) color layouts for Life Magazine of a Works Progress Administration production of Pinocchio 1939. ABOVE: Bucks County Playhouse Grand Opening Springtime for Henry. An original pen and ink sketch of the festivities at the State Theatre of Pennsylvania in New Hope (July 1939) by famed theatrical artist Al Hirschfeld. The sketch (which includes a caricature of Life Magazine photographer Martin Harris under tree with camera) was presented to Mr. Harris by the artist in 1939. The play Springtime for Henry starred Edward Everett Horton, Gordon Richards, Haila Stoddard and Julie Haydon (all, also, depicted in the sketch). 7
LEFT: General George Patton Commander of the United States Third Army in France and Germany visiting wounded soldiers at the estate of German Chancellor Franz Von Papen in Wallerfangen, Germany (1944). Photo by Martin Harris BELOW: The Stars And Stripes staff photographer Martin Harris received by Pope Pius XII at Vatican City June 11, 1944. In his capacity as a staffer for The Stars And Stripes during the Second World War, Harris served in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany photographing most of the Allied military brass as well as world leaders, weary GIs and Nazi POWs. 8
ABOVE: German Battlefield Scene Allied view of military action at an unidentified location 1945. Photo by Martin Harris RIGHT: General Dwight D. Eisenhower The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces departing Europe following the Allied Victory in 1945. Photo by Martin Harris 9
ABOVE: Yank Magazine In addition to his work with The Stars and Stripes, Martin Harris photographs were also published in Yank The Army Weekly during World War II including the two cover stories included here. RIGHT: PEACE A civilian s reaction to the news printed in The Stars And Stripes August 14, 1945. Photo by Martin Harris 10
Martin Harris most famous work included a portrait of Albert Einstein at the Palestine Pavilion at the 1939 World s Fair (a Life Magazine Picture of the Week ), multiple photo essays featuring film legend Gloria Swanson, a color layout (Collier s Magazine) of Gary Cooper in an emotion-filled meeting with his foster child in a rural Italian village, a tour of Europe and the Middle East with the then New York City Mayor Robert Wagner in 1955, the definitive documentation of the postwar rebirth of the German army under the supervision of NATO and a colorful tour of the 1958 Brussels World s Fair. PICTURE OF THE WEEK Albert Einstein leaves the Palestine Pavilion at the New York World s Fair a singlepage photograph, taken by Martin Harris (May 28, 1939), published in Life Magazne (1939). 11
LEFT: Martin Harris (front row, 2nd from left) and members of the NATO photographic tour at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers Europe in Paris September 1960. NEAR RIGHT: Gary Cooper: An American Tourist a 3-page article published in Collier s Magazine (1953) with photos by Martin Harris. FAR RIGHT: Gloria Swanson Silent film legend photographed during a publicity tour for her classic comeback film Sunset Boulevard 1950. 12
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In his 40-year career, for various publications, Harris photographed an extensive list of celebrities including Mae West, Babe Ruth, Walter Winchell, artist Marc Chagall, Nelson Rockefeller, Paul Robeson, Richard and Dorothy Rodgers, Marilyn Monroe (at the famous NYC street photo-shoot for The Seven Year Itch), Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Burl Ives, Bert Parks, Samuel Goldwyn, photographers Margaret Bourke-White and Alfred Eisenstaedt, Jimmy Durante, NYC Mayor Lindsay and many, many more. ABOVE: Boris Karloff Hollywood s Master of Horror (Frankenstein, The Mummy, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc.) enjoys an ice cream soda in his back stage dressing room (Baltimore) during a tour of Arsenic And Old Lace 1940. RIGHT: Marlon Brando the Broadway and film sensation at home in his New York City apartment 1950. 14
ABOVE: Paul Robeson, activist and Broadway, film concert and recording star greeting a soldier at the Hollywood Canteen c. 1942. TOP LEFT: Jimmy Durante the comedian, starring in Broadway s Jumbo, stops for a shoeshine in 1935. LEFT: Richard Rodgers a domestic photo essay featuring the popular Broadway and film composer (Pal Joey, Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, etc.) and his wife, Dorothy 1950. 15
In his later years, he collaborated on children s books with his wife, Johanna Johnston (What Does a Policeman Do? 1959, etc.), and he became a still promotional photographer for motion picture productions (Betrayed starring Clark Gable, The Big Country starring Gregory Peck, Scandal In Sorrento starring Sophia Loren, Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue starring Richard Todd and Glynis Johns, Gigot starring Jackie Gleason, The Producers starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, The Odd Couple starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, etc.). Martin Harris died in 1971. LEFT: Martin Harris with motion picture actress Sophia Loren (Two Women, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, etc.) in Italy, on the set of Scandal In Sorrento (aka Bread, Love and Lady Sophia) 1955. ABOVE LEFT: Film star Clark Gable (in Arnhem, Holland while filming Betrayed for MGM) photographed by Martin Harris (for a Collier s Magazine article Who, Gable? 1954). ABOVE RIGHT: What Does a Policeman Do? by Johanna Johnston and Martin Harris. 16
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