The Picture Behind the Picture

ELEVATOR WORLD is probably not alone in having the “Lunchtime Atop a Skyscraper” photograph, taken in 1932 by Charles C. Ebbets during construction of Rockefeller Center in NYC, displayed prominently in its offices. Over the years, the image has become iconic, recreated over and over by famous artists and photographers. It recently was the cartoon caption contest subject in The New Yorker, showing a deliveryman bringing a pizza to the guys seated atop the beam. One of the finalist captions has the deliveryman saying, “This pizza’s on me if you never order from us again.”^[1]

While the idea of being untethered atop buildings and beams with people, cars and other buildings rendered tiny in the distance below makes most people queasy, it certainly did not bother Ebbets or his subjects. Some of his other photos show people swinging a golf club, fencing, being served a fancy meal on silver trays or simply enjoying a smoke break high above Manhattan.

TK Elevator photographer Ron Acord recently shared more about the unforgettable image in a LinkedIn post titled “The Picture Behind the Picture.” That picture (the one behind “Lunchtime”) shows Ebbets, the “dapper daredevil” who was finally recognized as the photographer in 2003. Besides a photographer, Ebbets had worked as a Hollywood stuntman, an actor, an airplane “wing walker,” a car racer, a wrestler and a hunter. At the young age of 27, he was hired as photographic director for the under-development Rockefeller Center, during which time he took the famous photo. The reason it took so long to give Ebbets credit could have been that a team of photographers was responsible. Of course, someone else obviously took the photograph of Ebbets in wingtip shoes and suspenders, delicately holding a giant camera with his legs balanced “Gene Kelly”-style, on either side of the beam.^[2] As one of the commenters on Acord’s post said, the photo of Ebbets begs the question, “Who took that photo?” Acord replied, “That would be Inception, my Friend.”

References

[1] Cartoon Caption Contest, The New Yorker, May 30, 2022.

[2] “The Dapper Daredevil Who Documented America’s Skyline in the Making,” messynessychic.com