Online Collections

In the primordial days of search engines such as Google, I typed in the name "George Lacks" to see what might turn up. That search yielded exactly one verbal reference—and no photographs. (But consider that in those days I was constrained to using a dial-up connection to a server at the college where I taught.) Today, at the centennial of my father's birth, one can find approximately 400 of his photos posted on Google Images, which retains a vast repository of images from LIFE Magazine. An even larger collection containing nearly 700 photos by George Lacks can be found on Getty Images.

Rolling a jeep down an improvised ramp, May 1946 ~ Click here to view this image in context

The extraordinary breadth and depth of these collections belie this astonishing fact: nearly all of these images were produced during a most propitious and fecund period in George's life that lasted about one year. In 1945 and 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, he was assigned to several posts in Asia to collect photos as a war correspondent for LIFE Magazine. During that time he also shuttled to and from his home base in Los Angeles to capture a number of choice photos from movie sets in Hollywood. On the home front he photographed the likes of Howard Hughes, Richard M. Nixon, Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, Mickey Rooney, Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Humphrey Bogart, Bron Clifford, Jane Russell, and movie mogul Jack Warner. In China, Japan, and the Philippines he preserved the images of such dignitaries as General Douglas MacArthur, General George C. Marshall, General Chou En-lai, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. However, as a photographer he also favored "the salt of the earth," the grittiness of common people often situated in most uncommon circumstances. He took innumerable pictures of Japanese citizens in Chinese internment camps, wounded soldiers in Chinese hospitals, and Mongolian peoples on city streets and rural landscapes. I'm confident that you'll find all of these images to be deeply impressive, each one conveying a startling—and sometimes unnerving—immediacy and intimacy with the subject.

It is no exaggeration to say that this brief period marked the apogee of my father's career. If a similar set of images can be found by sifting through the final decade of his life, that set has not been discovered—at least not yet. Only time will tell whether the Getty Museum—which purchased a substantial portion of the more than two million photographs housed and maintained by George's much-beloved colleague, Delmar Watson—will unearth a likewise repository of George Lacks' photographic take on the city of Los Angeles, which may be sitting quietly among the many thousands of photos now in the Getty's possession, many of which were shot anonymously.

George Lacks at Google Images Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, January 1946 ~ Click here to view this image in context

On this page I've attempted to collect 60 of the most arresting photos to be found within the Google Images/LIFE Magazine collection. The 60 are arranged firstly in rough chronological order, then according to location and theme, in order to approximate the actual sequence in which George produced them. You will see shots of General George C. Marshall as he negotiates a truce with Generals Chou En-lai and Chang Chun to forestall civil war in China; a series of amazing photos showing hundreds of soldiers marching in lockstep as part of the newly emerging Red Chinese Army; an equally amazing set showing a number of Chinese commoners grasping for a bit of pleasure in the opium dens of Mukden, while Chinese prostitutes (cheekily referred to as "GIrls" by my father) work the streets of Mukden out of makeshift brothels; compelling shots of the American military presence in the city of Shanghai, where Lacks News Photos set up shop in the Thirties and Forties; a fascinating set of photos depicting Helen Howe, an American monologist (whom we might today call a "performance artist," and a precursor to (next column)

such as Lily Tomlin and Julia Sweeney) who was related by marriage to U.S. president John Quincy Adams; and many others. Among the photos that George shot on Hollywood movie lots, you'll even see a few taken in (gasp!) color (such as it was in the '40s, at any rate).

George Lacks at Getty Images

Following an unsettling series of photos of George W. Bush, one gets to the heart of this collection, which contains nearly 700 photos produced by George Lacks. Many of them are duplicates of the images available at Google Images. On the downside, low marks to Getty for its ungenerously-sized photo enlargements; its watermark, which is more intrusive (and, in my opinion, less handsome) than the LIFE Magazine watermark; and its search engine, which attempts to break the collection down by category but sometimes produces laughable results, as noted above. Cf. George Lacks at Getty Images

Other Online Collections

George Lacks Posters at AllPosters.com: Contains 27 of the best photos from mid-1940s China, as well as the photo of Richard Nixon resuming his law practice, all available as posters in a wide variety of sizes and photographic media.

USC Digital Library: Contains two photos taken by George on February 26, 1958. Both show Samuel Sansone of the Los Angeles Examiner handing out National Press Photographers Association awards to two Superior Court Judges, Kenneth E. Morrison of Santa Ana, and Stanley Mosk of Los Angeles. From the Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, consisting of approximately 215,000 4x5-inch negatives from the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, all produced between 1950 and 1961. The USC Digital Library notes that this collection forms part of the Hearst Collection, and was a gift from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Division of the Hearst Corporation in 1978.

Production Notes Monologist Helen Howe, November 1946 ~ Click here to view this image in context

Just as for the other categories on this website, the 60 photos are presented here as a slide show with associated thumbnail images. Unlike the other categories, however, when you click on a spyglass icon, you'll be taken directly to an enlargement that is hosted by Google Images, rather than to a page of my own making that is hosted on XGB Design's server. Thus this slide show provides a good intro- duction to the entire suite of Lacks photos posted on Google. While I deeply admire the Google enterprise generally, I do not regard Google Images' user interface to be either the prettiest or the most user-friendly avail- able. Nevertheless, if you expend a bit of effort, and backtrack from each enlarged image posted there, you can often access a set of photos that are related to the one you've just viewed. Another good way to examine the hundreds of Lacks photos not posted on this webpage is to access George Lacks at Google Images directly, and work from there.

On many of the slides I've taken some pains to repair minor defects such as spotting, scratching, edge irregularities, and delamination damage wherever I could (with one notable exception, as this image has extensive damage throughout, especially the irreparable emulsion-smearing behind Chang Chun's head). Any purists out there who decry such attempts at photographic revisionism can view the unretouched photos on Google Images, where all the warts and dung are resplendently displayed to full advantage!

Jump down to photo-viewing area

General Douglas MacArthur standing in front of Manila City Hall (1945)

A woman posing for photographers in the pressroom of a courthouse just after winning a divorce (Los Angeles, CA USA, probably May 1945)

A woman posing for photographers in the pressroom of a courthouse just after winning a divorce (Los Angeles, CA USA, probably May 1945)

A woman (dark dress at left) posing for photographers in the pressroom of a courthouse along with her witness just after winning a divorce (Los Angeles, CA USA, probably May 1945)

Aerial view of Okinawa base showing planes being overhauled (Ryukyu Islands, September 1945)

Okinawan girl dancing "Going Back to Japanese Mainland" wearing kimono and using two fans (Ryukyu Islands, September 1945)

Okinawans sitting on ground and cutting logs (Ryukyu Islands, September 1945)

Troops that participated in morning celebrations at Municipal Airport marching through victory arches made of bamboo and greenery (Nanking, China, November 1945)

Boy sitting in the lap of a stone lion (Tientsin, China, November 1945)

An aerial view of the city of Shanghai with the American fleet coming in (December 1945)

A victory arch topped by a portrait of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek (Shanghai, China, December 1945)

U.S. Army personnel participating in a rickshaw race (Shanghai, China, December 1945)

An American man, a resident of Shanghai, stirring soup in one of the big pots in which he used to boil a thin soup for 1000 internees when he was in the internment camp (Shanghai, China, December 1945)

Japanese citizens waiting for examination of luggage and clothing prior to repatriation to Japan (Shanghai, China, December 1945)

Chinese army officer examining clothing of repatriated Japanese citizens to look for contraband (Shanghai, China, December 1945)

General George C. Marshall (center) meeting with Chou En-Lai (right) and Chang Chun (January 1946)

(Left to right) General Chang Chun, General George C. Marshall, General Chou En-Lai, and Dr. Hsu Mo (January 1946)

General George C. Marshall signing autographs at People's Consultation Conference (January 1946)

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek addressing the People's Consultation Conference (January 1946)

Prostitutes ("GIrls") standing outside their "rooms" (Mukden, China, March 1946)

Customers at an opium den preparing the drug for use (probably Mukden, China, March 1946)

A customer cooking up the opium to prepare it for smoking (probably Mukden, China, March 1946)

A customer smoking opium at an opium den (probably Mukden, China, March 1946)

A customer smoking opium at an opium den (probably Mukden, China, March 1946)

A customer smoking opium at an opium den (probably Mukden, China, March 1946)

Japanese actors performing at the Soviets party during the floor show (Mukden, China, March 1946)

A variety of drinks being served at the Soviets party (Mukden, China, March 1946)

Russian officers sitting with Japanese hostesses at the Soviets party (Mukden, China, March 1946)

Typical Mongol sitting by the street (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

Typical Mongol sitting by the street (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

Donkey carrying bags of salt (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

General Nieh Jung Chen posing beside sign (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

Communist soldiers marching through gates of the Great Wall ~ No. 1 (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

Communist soldiers marching through gates of the Great Wall ~ No. 2 (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

Communist soldiers marching through gates of the Great Wall ~ No. 3 (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

Communist soldiers marching through Kalgan, China (April 1946)

People walking on stilts at Spring Festival (Kalgan, China, April 1946)

The old Imperial Hotel, now called the Tung Pec or North Eastern Hotel (Mukden, China, May 1946)

Father Jhuda Prihodko, head of Orthodox church who came from Ukraine 22 years ago, standing before a decorated grave (Mukden, China, May 1946)

Propellers from downed Soviet planes serve as markers for dead Soviet pilots (Mukden, China, May 1946)

Rolling a jeep down an improvised ramp (possibly Mukden, China, May 1946)

Villager leaning against his bicycle (possibly Mukden, China, May 1946)

Artist Alex Rosenfeld painting with both hands (probably Los Angeles, CA USA, July 1946)

Painting by artist Alex Rosenfeld (probably Los Angeles, CA USA, July 1946)

Actor Mickey Rooney driving car in scene from motion picture "Summer Holiday" (Hollywood, CA USA, August 1946)

Actress Angela Lansbury being slapped in film "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (Hollywood, CA USA, probably August or September 1946)

On the set of "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" with Danny Kaye ~ No. 1 (Hollywood, CA USA, probably August or September 1946)

On the set of "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" with Danny Kaye ~ No. 2 (Hollywood, CA USA, probably August or September 1946)

A dancing scene on a carousel from the film "Down to Earth" (Hollywood, CA USA, September 1946)

A dancing scene from the film "Down to Earth" (Hollywood, CA USA, September 1946)

Hollywood Labor "Falsies" (Hollywood, CA USA, circa 1946-47)

Election night At Republican and Democratic headquarters (November 5, 1946)

Ensign George T. Weems (November 1946)

Helen Howe, Monologist ~ No. 1 (November 1946)

Helen Howe, Monologist ~ No. 2 (November 1946)

Helen Howe, Monologist ~ No. 3 (November 1946)

Helen Howe, Monologist ~ No. 4 (November 1946)

Attorney Richard Nixon in the doorway of his law office to resume his career after returning from World War II (Whittier, CA USA, 1947)

Howard Hughes (right) walking towards press following his successful flight in the Hughes XF-11 reconnaissance plane (Culver City, CA USA, April 5, 1947)

Howard Hughes meeting the press after his successful flight in the Hughes XF-11 reconnaissance plane (Culver City, CA USA, April 5, 1947)

 

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