Who are the people in the famous 1945 photograph "The Kiss" ?
As you may have guessed given the name of this newsletter, I am curious about a lot of things.
The more I read, the more curious I become.
I often start looking up one thing and end up falling down the rabbit hole and learning about something entirely unexpected.
And that’s exactly what happened recently when I began researching the history of V-J Day and the end of World War II.
As I was digging into V-J Day, I was reminded of a famous photograph:
That photo was taken on August 14, 1945 – after the news of Japan’s surrender reached the US.
But who took the famous photo?
And what was the story behind it?
I was curious…
Our story begins in New York City with a 21-year-old dental assistant named Greta Zimmer.
On August 14, 1945, Greta arrived at her job at a dentist office and changed into her uniform: white stockings, white dress, white shoes, white cap – similar to that of a nurse.
As she was working that morning, patients came into the office sharing the news that the war was ending.
But Greta wasn’t convinced.
“I wasn’t very far from Times Square, I could just walk over there and see for myself,” she said in a 2005 interview.
“So when my bosses came back from their lunch hour, I went straight to Times Square where I saw on the lighted billboard that goes around the building.
“[It said] V-J Day V-J Day, and that really confirmed what the people have said in the office.”
Suddenly Greta was grabbed by a sailor.
He bent her back and kissed her.
“And it wasn't that much of a kiss,” she said.
“It was more of a jubilant act that he didn't have to go back.
“I found out later, he was so happy that he did not have to go back to the Pacific where they already had been through the war.”
The man kissing Greta was Petty Officer First Class George Mendonsa.
Earlier that day, George had gone to see a matinee at Radio City Music Hall with Rita Petry, a girl he had met a few weeks earlier.
They sat down for the 1:05 pm showing of A Bell for Adano, but a theater employee interrupted the show not long after its start and announced that World War II was ending.
George, Rita, and most other moviegoers left the theater and found a frenzied scene outside.
George and Rita stopped at a bar, had a few drinks, and then headed towards Times Square, where they found a growing crowd of people celebrating.
“Times Square was wild,” George said in a 2005 interview.
A boozed George was walking ahead of Rita when he first saw Greta – wearing what appeared to be a nurse’s uniform.
“Between the excitement of the whole works and probably a few drinks… but most important it was the uniform she had,” George said.
Greta’s white uniform reminded George of the nurses he’d seen care for sailors on a hospital ship after his experience of an attack in the Pacific.
“From that day on I had a soft spot for nurses, and when I saw that nurse in Times Square many months later, it was the uniform that did it.
“I believe if that girl did not have a nurse’s uniform on, that I never would have grabbed her.”
And at the moment George grabbed Greta and kissed her, German-born American photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt was there.
With his Leica Illa camera, he began clicking, forever capturing the moment.
He managed to snap four pictures – and the second shot he took, titled “V-J Day, 1945, Times Square” would get a full-page treatment in the August 27, 1945 issue of Life (though not the cover, as many believe).
In his book The Eye of Eisenstaedt (1969) he wrote about the moment he captured:
“I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all, young girls and old ladies alike.
“Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I’d hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her.
“Now if this girl hadn’t been a nurse, if she’d been dressed in dark clothes, I wouldn’t have had a picture.
“The contrast between her white dress and the sailor’s dark uniform gives the photograph its extra impact.”
The moment was quickly over – and neither George nor Greta spoke to each other afterward.
“She went her way and I went mine,” George said.
“Plus, I was with a date.”
In all the excitement, Alfred did not ask the subjects their names – and George and Greta didn’t realize they had been photographed.
Greta first saw the photo decades later, when she saw a book of Eisenstaedt’s photography.
She wrote to Life, and told them she was the woman in the photograph.
Life responded that another person had been identified as the woman in the photograph.
“I didn’t believe that because I knew it happened to me,” Greta said.
“It’s exactly my figure, and what I wore, and my hairdo especially.”
So who’s in the picture?
This is the million dollar question – and one that has been disputed for generations.
As The Washington Post reported in 2019, “at least a dozen sailors confessed to grabbing women in Times Square during the celebrations.”
Many men (20+) and a few women have claimed to be the subjects in the photograph.
Before Greta and George, there were Carl Muscarello and Edith Shain.
They made public appearances in the 1980s and 90s as the couple from the photograph (even re-enacting the kiss in Times Square).
Another man, Glenn McDuffie, was also identified as the sailor by a forensic artist. In a 2013 interview, McDuffie said:
“I was very, very happy. I would kiss all of the girls who would stand still - I even kissed a couple of guys. I was just in a kissing mood, it was great.”
All this confusion led history teacher Lawrence Verria and retired naval aviator George Galdorisi to write a book called The Kissing Sailor in 2012 to settle the debate once and for all.
They argued that Greta and George were the couple in the photograph, supported by experts in photography, facial recognition technology, and forensic anthropology.
But just as it seemed this case was closed, in 2015, astronomers analyzed the shadows in the photograph, and argued that it was taken at 5:51 pm, hours later than the timeline Greta and George originally suggested.
So, again I ask, who’s in the picture?
I don’t know – and not for lack of trying!
From what I read (and I read a lot about this), I lean toward the George and Greta version of events.
But perhaps we’ll never know.
And sadly, Alfred Eisenstaedt died in 1995, and most of the people who claimed to be in the photographs have passed away, too.
The interview transcripts of George and Greta (which are held by the Library of Congress) give us their personal accounts, as does an interview with Kissing Sailor author Verria that includes them.
But honestly, this is one of the most interesting – and infuriating – stories I’ve researched since I started this newsletter.
What does seem safe to say is that the photograph wasn’t staged, and did not involve a real-life couple.
And, it seems safe to say that a lot of people (sailors and civilians) were kissing on August 14, 1945. Not just in New York City, but across the country – in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Check out these images from New York City on August 14, 1945 (taken by William C. Shrout and featured in Life magazine):
Even Eisenstaedt himself was photographed kissing another reporter on the streets of New York City that day!
And though George may have kissed Greta that day – he went on to marry Rita.
They were married for 70 years, until his death in 2019.
Greta also married, became an artist, and had two children. She died in 2016.
As for photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, he would spend nearly 40 years with Life.
More than 2500 of his photos graced the magazine’s pages, and nearly 100 of his photographs featured on Life’s covers.
Over his career he captured celebrities and politicians, including Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, and Ernest Hemingway. Here are some of his famous photos:
But his photo from V-J Day, also referred to as “The Kiss,” became his most famous.
It also became one of Life magazine’s most reproduced photographs, and one of the most popular photographs from history.
FUN FACT:
Eisenstaedt was not the only photographer to capture the moment.
Navy Lieutenant Victor Jorgensen also captured one shot.
His photo, Kissing the War Goodbye, appeared in the New York Times.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
This story was long enough without diving into the controversy of this photo, but if you’re curious, you can read more about that here.
In the 2005 Library of Congress interview, Greta said it “wasn’t my choice to be kissed” but also said it was “just somebody celebrating. It was just an event of ‘thank God the war is over’ kind of thing.”
You can also read about the statue, Unconditional Surrender, and how it was vandalized in 2019.
That was a lot! Thanks for reading!
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Stay Curious!
-Beth
As always, I learn something from your newsletters and posts, Beth. Thank you for doing such great research -- I know what it's like going down the rabbit hole! :)
I can feel how infuriating this must’ve been to research, Beth. A great yarn, as always. 🧶