Thursday, June 24, 2010

Edith Shain: A Kiss to Build an American Dream On

Photo ©Life Magazine

Edith Shain, the nurse in Eisenstadt's famous V-J Day photo, has passed away. Hear Eisenstadt's commentary on the photo here.

Here's Shain interviewed for NPR's All Things Considered in 2005, discussing the end of the war and the moment captured in the photograph.

Shain's passing is the sort that makes one wish Robert McG Thomas was still alive and writing obituaries. The one in The Washington Post is about as solid as any I've found.

The photo of Shain and an unidentified sailor has become a part of our cultural lexicon, inspiring countless tributes and homages, from similar photos and appearances in film and television to a statue of the pose. (That statue, Seward Johnson's Unconditional Surrender, has been a bit controversial in its current home, Sarasota, FL.)

BONUS:Footage of NYC, Chicago, and Seattle on V-J Day

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