Toronto. Clive Chan replied to my posting of Geroge Dunbar’s observation on Weegee…
Clive replies,”Just saw the Letter to the Editor post on the PHSC site regarding the origin of Weegee’s name. The following tidbit seems to confirm Mr. Dunbar’s assertions. Fellig is quoted by Harvey V. Fondiller in an article that appeared in Popular Photography, June 1978 (he interviewed Fellig some years prior) titled “Weegee’s New York”.
“The article itself was collected in a book titled The Best of Popular Photography.:
“When I was around 24, I got a job at Acme News Service. I learned a lot there. That’s where I was first called Weegee. I used to dry glossy prints and ferrotype tins, see, and after the darkroom guy made a batch of prints, he’d yell squeegee! It sounded like Weegee and the name stuck to me like glue.”
“Though he does go on to say:
“I put a police radio in my car, and I’d get to the scene of the crime before the cops. I told ’em I was psychic and that I used a Ouija board to find out where the murder was gonna happen.”
George responded with this April 12, 1937 LIFE magazine reprint about Arthur Fellig when he was known as Oujia:
