The man known as "Weegee" was born as Usher Fellig on June 12, 1899 in Austria (now Ukraine). In 1910, his family moved to the United States, moved to New York, and Usher adopted the name Arthur. After arriving in American, the family faced financial struggles and Fellig left school in order to assist his family. His first job was as a tintype photographer and subsequently taught himself how to work a camera. He then became a street photographer, taking pictures of Lower East Side Manhatten.
In 1924, Fellig was offered a job at Acme Newspaper and filled in as a news photographer. This is the moment in Fellig's career where he coined the title "Weegee" based off the work Ouija because he could magically get to breaking news scenes minutes after occuring. In 1935, Fellig left Acme to persue a career in freelance photography centered around Manhattan police headquarters and in 1938, "Weegee" became the first photographer in history to be allowed a police radio in his car.
For the remainder of his life, Weegee became notorious for his photojournalistic black and white photography of crime scenes, New York society, and paparazzi-like photographs. He placed his photography in numerous art exhibits and also started work in Hollywood as a filmmaker, performer, and technical consultant. His book Naked City was tranformed into the 1947 film The Naked City and the 1992 film The Public Eye was based on his life. Arthur Fellig died in New York on December 26, 1968.
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