To Robert Frank I now give this message: You got eyes.

August 23, 2009 9:33 AM

And I say: That little ole lonely elevator girl looking up sighing in an elevator full of blurred demons, what’s her name & address?”

The unnamed girl in Robert Frank's collection of photographs, The Americans, to which Jack Kerouac wrote those introductory sentences, has come forward after recognizing herself in the iconic photograph, republished in the SF Chronicle. (Previously: 1, 2, 3)

posted by Astro Zombie (20 comments total)

Hey, Jack Kerouac, go home to your wife and kids.
posted by jfwlucy at 9:36 AM on August 23, 2009

The hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts, in Chinatown howling at night.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 9:56 AM on August 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

Last year, another unidentified couple were connected back to their picture, thanks to the iconic image being run in a local paper for the book's 50th anniversary re-issue.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:39 AM on August 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

I recognize myself in many of the images from The Americans and I'm not actually in any of them.
posted by barrett caulk at 10:44 AM on August 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

Boy, was I surprised to hear that one of my old vacation photos was famous!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:56 AM on August 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

that was you!?! how did you survive?!
posted by ElmerFishpaw at 11:10 AM on August 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Great story—thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 11:35 AM on August 23, 2009

Does anyone have a link to the complete set of images in 'The Americans'?
posted by kuatto at 11:39 AM on August 23, 2009

Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice, with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film

An image, no words, and yet in my mind a whole story of unappreciated and underpaid hard physical work, of tragic loss of a loved one, of loss of hope.
posted by francesca too at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2009

Great post! What a cool story.
posted by TBoneMcCool at 12:05 PM on August 23, 2009

Today I'm going to see the show at SFMOMA for the second time. My god it's so good.
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:14 PM on August 23, 2009

Very cool. It reminds me of how many people claimed to be the soldier and the nurse kissing after the end of World War 2. Hopefully this doesn't turn into somethingl ike it.
posted by kylej at 12:25 PM on August 23, 2009

> Does anyone have a link to the complete set of images in 'The Americans'?

It's a book. Your library may have it.
posted by ardgedee at 12:40 PM on August 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

the home office of the otis elevator company is a one storey building.
posted by kitchenrat at 2:47 PM on August 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm the guy on the left in Nighthawks.
posted by Evilspork at 4:14 PM on August 23, 2009

I pushed Christina down that hill.
posted by The Whelk at 4:42 PM on August 23, 2009 [3 favorites]

the home office of the otis elevator company is a one storey building.
It used to have two floors, but that's another story.
posted by Floydd at 5:16 PM on August 23, 2009 [3 favorites]

I love these stories of finding people years after they were captured in a famous image but I always hate the clumsy recreation photos that seem to be mandatory. Let me just enjoy the original image and leave it at that please.
posted by photoslob at 6:19 PM on August 23, 2009

Neat story! Thanks for this great post! :)
posted by zarq at 5:58 AM on August 24, 2009

Robert Frank lives in Cape Breton, and while I was majoring in Photography at a certain college of art and design in Nova Scotia, every one of my Caper classmates had a story about meeting him. God, do I ever hate those motherfucking Capers!
/jealousy

I don't recall hearing any Phillip Glass stories, though.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:54 PM on August 27, 2009