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16
Jan 2010

Elevator-Time Machine?

Robert Frank, 
Elevator—Miami Beach, 1955; gelatin silver print; 12 3/8 × 18 13/16 in.; Collection Philadelphia Museum of Art, purchased with funds contributed by Dorothy Norman, 1969; © Robert Frank

As I was reading about the photographer Robert Frank, I came across this article that tells a remarkable story about the girl in Frank's famous photograph 'Elevator - Miami Beach, 1955'.  Jack Kerouac wrote of this girl in his introduction to 'The Americans': "That little ole lonely elevator girl looking up sighing in an elevator full of blurred demons, what's her name & address?". 

Photographers don't write down the names of all the people they photograph, so Kerouac did never find out her name.  He would have now though, 50 years later...

Filed under  //   art   jack kerouac   photography