Irving Haberman: A Life in Photography by Miles Barth
(Former Curator at the International Center of Photography)
The ability to visually document ourselves has significantly changed the course of our world and the way we see, public and private, past and present, yielding an unprecedented record of human activity. Historic twentieth-century photographs remind us of events that have significantly changed the course of our world, serving as concrete remembrances capable of eliciting a wide range of nostalgic emotions. For more than four decades, Irving Haberman used his cameras and his creative intellect to provide us with an irreplaceable photographic history, a visual data bank of American culture.
Born in the Bronx, New York, on June 1, 1916, Irving Haberman was the fourth of five children. His Russian father and Polish mother had married in Europe, immigrating to this country to start their family. When Haberman was young, his family relocated to Brooklyn, where his father owned a dry-cleaning and tailoring business. Haberman’s youngest brother, Henry, would also become a photographer, specializing in fashion and advertising through his studio, Habershore.
The 1920’s and 1930’s represented a heady time in aviation, with celebrities like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart setting records and making headlines. Fascinated by this burgeoning mode of transportation, the young Haberman decided he wanted to be a pilot and spent all his spare time at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field. At the age of thirteen, Haberman asked his father for a camera so he could document the activities associated with the planes he so desperately aspired to fly. He received a Kodak folding camera and consequently his first photographs depicted pilots, meets, and races; at the field, Haberman also came into contact with the expanding leagues of press photographers and journalists. In 1932, while Haberman was studying to become a pilot, his teacher, Bill Ulbrich, was killed in a crash. As a result, Haberman lost all interest in pursuing a career as a pilot and that part of his life ended.
Haberman’s high school employed the Arthur Studio to conduct school photography, and when someone from the studio saw Haberman’s work in a Midwood Camera Club display, the studio promptly offered him a job. It had been Haberman’s desire during his last years of high school to enter medical school. With no family money for tuition, however, Haberman accepted the position and began working in 1934 after graduating from high school. Operating out of New York City, the Arthur Studio specialized in individual and group portraits of students, in the studio and on location. Haberman was comfortable with both the small-format 35-mm roll-film camera (Leica) and with the larger format 4x5” sheet-film camera (Speed Graphic). This versatility allowed him to supplement the stock work he was doing for the Arthur Studio with freelance candid photographs of school activities. The mundane routine of the portrait studio, however, coupled with Haberman’s interest in current affairs, convinced him that his skill in photography would be better served in a different environment. When Haberman was denied a raise to eighteen dollars a week, he left the Arthur Studio after a two-year tenure. Shortly thereafter Haberman joined the staff of the Brooklyn Eagle in 1936, launching a fifty-year career as a news photographer.
IRVING HABERMAN: PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER
Over the course of his career, Haberman distinguished himself with a remarkable breadth of work. Press photography – the making of pictures for periodical publications – divides into three basic categories: “spot” or breaking-news photography, feature photography, and photojournalism; Haberman’s ability to excel in all three arenas set him apart.
The breaking-news photographer is responsible for recording newsworthy events as they occur. News photographers generally work as staff members of publications, dispatched with reporters to cover stories or events. Often breaking-news photographers are not on the scene as an event unfolds and are left to record only the aftermath; many of the published photographs that depict moments of unexpected drama or disaster are caught by amateurs, on the scene by chance as the event occurred. In most cases, news photographers’ assignments are of an ongoing ore predictable nature, and they must provide the publication with images that clearly and powerfully depict the event, complement the reportage, and visually entice the reader into the story. Haberman’s photographs of labor demonstrations and crime are classic examples of this form of coverage.
Feature photography – found, for example, in Sunday supplements and magazine sections of newspapers – allows the photographer to plan a series of pictures that extensively illustrate an event or subject. Features can range from the domestic to the dramatic, and photographers are often summoned from beyond the publication’s core staff by virtue of a particular specialty, while more general features might be covered by staff photographers. Haberman’s coverage of domestic life during World War II – scrap metal and rubber drives, women lifeguards, or convalescing veterans – exemplify the extended photo story.
Photojournalism, often used loosely to describe any news photography, is actually the extended photographic treatment of a specific newsworthy topic. Rather than making photographs to augment a text, the photojournalist spearheads the story, lending photographs an editorial slant. The text in this case acts as a complement to the pictures. Many photojournalistic essays are initiated by the photographers themselves, later to be proposed for publication. Haberman shaped his documentation of the television medium into photojournalistic form, narrating it with his own texts.
Modern photojournalism began to emerge as a distinctive mode of communication in the 1920’s, but its origins can be traced to the mid-nineteenth century. Roger Fenton’s Crimean War photographs (1855) and depictions of the Civil War by Mathew Brady and his corps of photographers (1861-65) are generally regarded as the firs major reportage-documentary uses of the medium.
The slow evolution of photojournalism, however, can be attributed to technical and cultural delays. Through World War I, government agencies exercised a fairly substantial degree of censorship, prohibiting publications from freely illustrating certain topics or events. It was not until the 1920’s that several landmark legal cases upheld the notion of the free press, allowing these publications more credibility in their ability to document current affairs. In the technological arena, advances in reproduction lagged behind photographic capabilities. In 1880, the first use of the halftone process allowed the New York Daily Graphic to reproduce a picture of shanties in New York City’s Central Park, marking the first direct reproduction of a photograph in a newspaper without hand-copying or engraving. The halftone divides the image into tiny elements – dots or lines – that deposit ink in proportion to the strength of the original tones in the image. Improvements in the halftone process in the 1880’s and 1890’s expanded the use of journalistic photographs and began to bring a new veracity to periodical illustrations, laying the foundation for the truly visual mode of reporting that appeared after World War I.
As documented by his book (Eyes on an Era: 4 Decades of Photojournalism), Haberman’s photographic versatility leaves us with an unparalleled history of four decades of American life. While many of his photographic contemporaries in the 1930’s were preoccupied with documenting the ravages of the Great Depression, some under the auspices of Roosevelt’s Farm Security Administration, there were only a handful of photographs who addressed life in large cities. Haberman’s work establishes him as a dominant force among photographers who specialized in the urban environment.
When Haberman joined the Brooklyn Eagle in 1936, the paper, with its circulation of over one hundred thousand, was one of two major daily newspapers in Brooklyn and was known for its fierce loyalty to New York’s most populous borough. The Eagle afforded wide distribution for Haberman’s photography and freed him to pursue a variety of subjects. Haberman’s large frame – he stood 6’2” and weighed 230 pounds – allowed him to undertake stories that required an extra measure of strength. The paper directed him to sporting events, labor strikes and disputes, crime scenes, and street demonstrations; strenuous or hazardous activities became Haberman’s specialty, and he received numerous citations for his work.
After two years on the Brooklyn Eagle staff, Haberman left to pursue the reputedly better money of freelance photography and, at the urging of his Eagle colleagues, opened his own one-man photo syndication, Newsphotos, Inc. Located in an office across the street from the Brooklyn police headquarters, Newsphotos, Inc. permitted Haberman easy access to breaking crime stories. Only recently repealed, Prohibition had the activities of organized crime, while large groups of European immigrants who arrived in the 1910’s and 1920’s fought amongst themselves for survival. Hollywood and the film-going public’s fascination with crime translated to journalism as well – crime was everywhere, and it was subject matter that sold newspapers during the late 1930’s.
While on the Brooklyn Eagle staff, Haberman had formed a close association with William O’Dwyer, the Brooklyn district attorney, who later would become major of New York City. As district attorney, O’Dwyer concentrated on Murder Inc., the notorious Brooklyn-based arm of organized crime that employed killers and promoted their services to other crime organizations across the country. During his Newsphotos, Inc., period, Haberman worked the 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M. shift out of Brooklyn police headquarters, documenting O’Dwyer’s crime beat. Like Weegee (Arthur Fellig), his future colleague at the newspaper PM, Haberman was given access to information, crime scenes, evidence, and news before the other press photographers.
With the outbreak of World War II, local news and crime photography was overshadowed by news from Europe and reports on American reactions to the war. Although Haberman had applied to both the army and its air corps, he was rejected for a severe hearing problem. Early in 1941, Haberman used the money he had made freelancing and married Beulah Workman. That same year, he closed his one-man syndicate and joined the staff of the young PM, where he had been freelancing since its 1940 inception.
PM had been created by publisher Ralph Ingersoll, a maverick newspaper entrepreneur, and became one of the most popular daily newspapers in New York City with an average circulation of 175,000. Its outstanding staff of writers, editors, illustrators, and photographers made it one of the most highly respected news periodicals of all time. Shortly after its debut issue, a reader wrote to John P. Lewis, the paper’s founding managing editor, and asked: “How come, if your paper is the protection and mouthpiece of the laboring working class and the common man, these people who can least afford to pay 5 cents for your daily edition or morning edition, while the plutocrat can purchase his Times or Herald Tribune for 3 cents?” Lewis’s response summed up the paper and its founding philosophy: “The price of PM on the newsstands is more deeply tied up with the kind of paper PM is than in the case of any other paper about which I know. PM was started on June 18, 1940, as an experiment in journalism to see if independent journalists, operating without restriction but the limits of their own consciences, could do a better job of getting to the truth about the news. To guarantee this freedom to the men who put out the paper, it was decided at the time that PM would sell no advertising, but would depend for its income only on the man or woman who bought it at the corner newsstand. That doesn’t mean that PM has an argument with advertising as such. It does mean that we preferred to do business not with advertisers, but with out readers. We preferred to enter journalism without any interests other than journalism – to sell nothing but news, and our opinions of the news, and not to set ourselves up on conventional lines as sellers of advertising space mixed up with the news.” Sometimes referred to as the “Phi Beta Kappa” of newspapers, PM set a new standard for the illustrated newspaper, as Life had redefined the weekly news magazine. Without advertising, PM’s distinctive design could incorporate more photographs and afford them more space. This emphasis lent the newspaper a prestige that drew important photographers of the time, including Margaret Bourke-White, Morris Engel, Morris Gordon, Helen Leavitt, and Weegee. Haberman was one of the PM elite.
By 1948, diminishing revenues and declining readership, in part due to radio and television competition, forced many major New York dailies to abbreviate their formats and, in some case, to close their operations. In June 1948, PM was sold and became the New York Star. Under its new name and leadership, the paper added advertising but rapidly lost readers and in January 1949 ceased operation. At the time, PM was considered one of the most innovative newspapers in New York City history, a reputation that has not diminished over the years.
During the last years of PM, Haberman accepted several freelance assignments from Bill Golden, the chief art director of CBS and designer of its “eye” logo. The two became close friends, and in February 1949, in the second year of the network’s television operation, Haberman was hired by CBS as a staff photographer.
IRVING HABERMAN: THE TELEVISION YEARS
When he was hired by Bill Golden (at the time director of advertising and promotion at CBS) in February 1949, Haberman was one of only five photographers employed to document the production techniques, technical advances, celebrity activities, news coverage, and other aspects of early television at CBS. Golden immediately assigned Haberman to document the inner workings of network television in order to produce a publication for current and prospective sponsors explaining the network’s state-of-the-art production techniques. The publication would hopefully encourage future sponsorship of CBS programming and sell programs to CBS affiliate stations. Haberman’s efforts were published in 1949 as Close-Up: A Picture of Men and Methods that Make CBS Television (Columbia Broadcasting System: New York, 1949). In its introduction, the book states: “The story is told here for merchants and students, advertisers and actors, technicians and writers – all who see in television many shining possibilities, and want to know more about it.”
This early and historic monograph on television was succeeded in 1952 by Follow-Up: How Creative Production Translated a Point of View about Television into an Important Success Story (Columbia Broadcasting System: New York, 1952). Illustrated by Haberman’s photography, the book documented the beginnings of one of television’s most important dramatic series, Studio One. In the form of a dialogue, Follow-Up presented the various production techniques CBS employed in converting some of the great dramatic theater classics to television. The publication also promoted network services and emphasized television’s ability to advertise products and consequently lost its opportunity to critically document early television, becoming a publicity brochure for CBS. Although both books had the design and look of photography publications of the period, neither were sold publicly and were instead distributed as promotional material for CBS.
Haberman’s commitment to television and its photographic documentation inspired him in October 1950, with partner Mort Rubenstein, an art director at CBS, to produce a prototype for a weekly television magazine. The magazine was to be the first devoted to television news and schedules, and would feature stories on celebrities and future programming, also providing day-by-day television calendars. Calling their creation Vision: The Picture Weekly of Television and Radio, the two men secured the primary financial backing of businessman Louis S. Weiss. A few days before the final prototype was to be presented, Rubenstein happened upon Weiss’s obituary in the newspaper while riding home on the train. Unable to find other investors, the project folded, never progressing beyond the pilot state. The ideas was perhaps ahead of its time; on April 3, 1953, the first issue of TV Guide hit the newsstands with an almost identical format, and within a year the magazine boasted a circulation of 1.5 million.
Producing full-length photojournalistic stories of television’s early days while enjoying the opportunity to join news crews on assignment, Haberman found himself in a rare position. CBS encouraged Haberman to cover everything involving television news and network production. Subjects included Nikita Khrushchev’s trip through the United States; Eisenhower’s travels through Europe and India; all manned Cape Canaveral (called Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973) space flights; every major political convention from 1949 to 1986; important studio events such as Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now episode on Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the 1960 John F. Kennedy-Richard Nixon television debate (for which he was the only photographer allowed on the set); and the CBS reenactment of the Warren Commission’s report on the assassination of President Kennedy.
Haberman became friends with many of the celebrities, news personalities, and politicians who appeared on CBS. On occasion, at the request of the advertising and promotion departments, Haberman would produce extended stories, organized into the form of personal photo albums. Subjects included Edward R. Murrow, the Kennedy family, Lucille Ball, and Jackie Gleason. These albums incorporated an introductory text, handwritten by Haberman, that contextualized the photographs and expressed his affection for his subjects. One copy of these albums was given to its respective subject, while another copy was retained for the CBS archives. The albums served as a token of the network’s gratitude for the personalities’ cooperation with and endorsement of CBS activities.
In 1968, Haberman took a leave of absence from CBS to serve as Richard Nixon’s official presidential campaign photographer; after Nixon’s victory, he was asked to stay with the Nixon administration, but preferred his CBS duties and returned to his position with the network. For thirty-seven years, Irving Haberman was the pioneering photographer at CBS, injecting style and humanity into the formerly posed depiction of celebrity and television affairs.
Over the course of his fifty-year career, tens of thousands of Haberman’s photographs have been published in every major American periodical. While his name has not been widely known, in part due to the photographs’ anonymous syndication throughout wire services and other modes of photojournalistic distribution, his images are immediately familiar. He has received over seventy awards and citations and was a member of both the New York and National Press Photographers Associations. Remembered by former colleagues as a selfless individual and a good friend, his generosity extends to the visual record he created. Haberman’s ample and expressive work allows us to live or relive the era he so thoroughly and compassionately documents.
