Frankophelia
Frank by Allen Ginsberg, 1988This is a fun little Frank-related item from NPR.
August 30, 2009: One of photographer Robert Frank's most famous images aroused a particular interest from his friend, beat writer Jack Kerouac.
In his introduction to Frank's book of photos The Americans, Kerouac writes, "That little ole lonely elevator girl looking up sighing in an elevator full of blurred demons, what's her name & address?"
Now we know.
Today, Sharon Collins lives in San Francisco. About 10 years ago she visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and found herself drawn to a particular photo — the same photo Jack Kerouac wrote about.
"I stood in front of this particular photograph for probably a full five minutes, not knowing why I was staring at it," she says. "And then it really dawned on me that the girl in the picture was me."
The iconic shot shows a young girl, pressing an elevator button, looking up with an unreadable expression.
At the time, her name was Sharon Goldstein, growing up in Miami Beach. At fifteen, she got a summer job as an elevator girl at the Sherry Frontenac Hotel. She says the hotel was always full of tourists, and many of them had cameras. Although she wishes she remembers this particular tourist, she doesn't. But she pieced together what happened by looking at Frank's contact sheet.
"Robert Frank took about four photos of me without a flash in the elevator. I didn't know he was taking them. And then when the elevator emptied of its 'blurred demons,'" she says, "he asked me to turn around and smile at the camera. And I flashed a smile, put my hands on my hips. I hammed it up for about eight or ten frames."
But from the single image that was chosen for The Americans, Kerouac guessed she was lonely. Collins thinks he was pretty close.
"He saw in me something that most people didn't see. I have a big smile and a big laugh, and I'm usually pretty funny. So people see one thing in me. And I suspect Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac saw something that was deeper. That only people who were really close to me can see. It's not necessarily loneliness, it's ... dreaminess." ©NPR
Sharon Goldstein today, by Ian Padgham/SFMOMA'The Americans': The Book That Changed Photography
Other recent meditations on Frank and the book:
America, Captured in a Flash by Holland Cotter, NY Times
Road Show by Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
Furthermore, Robert Frank will be at the MET, NYC, for "An Evening with Robert Frank" on Friday, October 9, 2009, at 6:00 PM. (Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, $23.00)
Now, this is not necessarily a good thing, given Frank's last two public appearances in New York City. Both were disappointments in one way or another. The advantage this particular evening has over the others is that academics will be moderating and asking the questions. Jeff L. Rosenheim, Curator, Department of Photographs, MET, and Sarah Greenough, Senior Curator of Photographs, National Gallery of Art, Washington, have the honor of presenting the performance and I think there should be a higher level of conversation. Also, the event is not being held at the main Public Library on Fifth Avenue; always a plus.
Now the bad news:
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. STANDING ROOM TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE AT THE BOX OFFICE BEGINNING ONE HOUR PRIOR TO THE EVENT.
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