Photo of famed smooch researched

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Rick Ruggles

Alfred Eisenstaedt took a great photograph of a kissing couple in Times Square at the end of World War II, and a mystery developed.

Who were they?

Through the years, various men and women have claimed to be the subjects of that photo — a big sailor holding a woman in white who leaned back and accepted his kiss.

A Rhode Island teacher and writer said Saturday in Papillion that he knows.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20100919/NEWS01/709199891#photo-of-famed-smooch-researched

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Photo here: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20100919&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=709199891&Ref=AR&Profile=473&maxw=600&maxh=400
In front of a blowup of the iconic photograph “Kissing Sailor,” Greta Friedman and George Mendonsa react to Larry Verria's presentation on the evidence that they are the couple in the photograph.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. How very cool!

[dipsydoodle]

2. Thanks for posting.

:thumbsup:

[AlecBGreen]

3. i thought they already found the couple

or at least the nurse. She said in the interview that she had no idea who the guy was and belted him across the face after he kissed her!

[kirby]

7. This contradicts earlier claims...

"He said solid evidence shows they were Greta Friedman, now 86 and living in Maryland, and George Mendonsa, now 87 and living in Rhode Island."

"The evidence isn't quite as strong for Friedman, but Verria is confident it was her. The late Edith Shain gained acclaim for years as the woman in the photo. Verria said Shain was far too short and not as slender as the woman in the photo."

[pnorman]

4. From that article:

"The evidence includes a cyst that remains on his left arm, a scar over his right eyebrow and his huge hands. Mendonsa says the woman he was dating and would marry, Rita Petry, can be seen in the background of the photo."

I wonder what his date, thought of that?

[jaxx]

5. That has always been one of my favorite pics from the war years.

The happy homecomings...they are wonderful.

[obxhead]

6. The pic

http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20100919&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=709199891&Ref=AR&maxw=490&maxh=275