The Story Behind the Iconic Image “V-J Day in Times Square” Taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 14, 1945

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photograph of a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square, after news broke of the Japanese surrender in World War II, has lived a storied life since it was taken on August 14, 1945. Often called “The Kiss,” it remains the iconic image of celebration at war’s end, a black-and-white bookend separating an era of darkness from the beginning of a time of peace. It is also an unsolved mystery of identity, a physics problem and, more recently, a source of controversy for those who see in it not mutual revelry but evidence of sexual assault.

V-J Day in Times Square, a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in LIFE in 1945 with the caption, “In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers.”

Because he was photographing rapidly changing events during the celebrations, Eisenstaedt did not have an opportunity to get the names and details. The photograph does not clearly show the face of either person involved, and numerous people have claimed to be the subjects. The photograph was shot just south of 45th Street looking north from a location where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge. It was taken at 5:51 p.m. ET with a Leica IIIa.

“People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture,” he wrote in his 1985 book, Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: A Self-Portrait. “I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.”

U.S. Navy photo journalist Victor Jorgensen captured another view of the same scene, which was published in The New York Times the following day. Jorgensen titled his photograph “Kissing the War Goodbye”. It shows less of Times Square in the background, lacking the characteristic view of the complex intersection so that the location needs to be identified, it is dark and shows few details of the main subjects, and it does not show the lower legs and feet of the subjects.

Unlike the Eisenstaedt photograph, which is protected by copyright, this Navy photograph is in the public domain as it was produced by a federal government employee on official duty. While the angle of the photograph may be less interesting than that of Eisenstaedt’s photo, it clearly shows the actual location of the iconic kiss occurring in the front of the Chemical Bank and Trust building, with the Walgreens pharmacy signage on the building façade visible in the background.

The photo has also remained the subject of intense scrutiny. Who were these two individuals, who made history with a fleeting encounter in Times Square? Their identities were unknown, and the subject of debate, for years. After decades of dispute, the couple in the 1945 photograph were revealed to be the American sailor George Mendonsa and nurse Greta Zimmer Friedman.

Greta Friedman was 21 years old on August 14, 1945. After reporting to work at a dentist’s office, she heard the news: Japan had surrendered, and World War II was coming to an end. She wandered into Times Square when a passing sailor locked her in an unexpected embrace. “I did not see him approaching, and before I know it I was in this vice grip,” she told CBS news in a 2012 interview. “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed. That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me”.

The kisser was the 22-year-old George Mendonsa of Newport, Rhode Island. He was on leave from the USS The Sullivans (DD-537) and was watching a movie with his future wife, Rita, at Radio City Music Hall when the doors opened and people started screaming the war was over. George and Rita joined the partying on the street, but when they could not get into the packed bars decided to walk down the street. It was then that George saw a woman in a white dress walk by and took her into his arms and kissed her, “I had quite a few drinks that day and I considered her one of the troops—she was a nurse”.

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s beautiful image has become the most famous and frequently reproduced picture of the 20th century, and it forms the basis of our collective memory of that transformative moment in world history.

Einstein's Tongue: Here’s the Story Behind Albert Einstein’s Most Iconic Photograph of All Time

14 March 1951: Arthur Sasse was amongst the pack of photographers hounding Albert Einstein as he left his 72nd birthday celebration but the only one to get this shot of him playfully sticking his tongue out. This crop (from a wider image showing his companions in the back of a car) was chosen by Einstein himself to put on greetings cards to be sent out to friends. The photograph, arguably one of the best known press photographs of any 20th century personality, established a public image of Einstein as the ‘nutty professor’ rather than the nobel prize-winning physicist who developed the theory of general relativity.

On March 14, 1951, friends and colleagues were celebrating the birthday of the great scientist. Photographers from all over the US were present to cover the whole event, something that Einstein found distressing.

As the event came towards its conclusion, Dr. Frank Aydelotte- former head of the Institute for Advanced Study and his wife offered Einstein a ride home- an offer the scientist accepted. Just as he got into the car, a throng of photographers surrounded it.

But the luck was on the side of a UPI photographer Arthur Sasse, who after persistent trials of persuading Einstein to smile for the camera, finally got a reaction. An exasperated scientist who had already faked a smile several times before at the party did something different this time. He stuck his tongue out, Sasse captured the shot, others missed it, and the photograph became one of the most famous of all time.

Einstein was happy with the spontaneous output and he ordered UPI to give him 9 copies of the snap. He chose the “cropped” version of the original photograph in which his friends were also seen, to use on the greeting cards he sent out to his friends. Out of the 9 he ordered for personal use, he signed one for a reporter. His originally signed photograph was sold at an auction on June 19, 2009, for a staggering $74,324!

Interesting facts:

He was an ideal model for depiction of crazy professors

Be it the formula E = mc², which is dubbed as “the world’s most famous equation”, the general theory of relativity which is regarded as one of the two pillars of modern physics, or the fact that he published more than 300 scientific papers, Einstein will remain one of the unparalleled geniuses for eternity. But these aren’t the only reasons for his fame. Einstein is regarded as an ideal model for depictions of mad scientists and absent-minded professors.

Einstein flees the Nazis

In 1933 Hitler came to power and passed the “The Law of the Restoration of the Civil Service” which forced Jewish government employees from their jobs. Einstein who had been teaching in America part-time decided to stay in America and in 1940 became a US citizen. In 1939 Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt urging America to start a nuclear program out of fear the Nazi’s would develop atomic weapons first. In his later years he would hold a number of teaching positions while trying to prove his theories.


President of Israel

Throughout his life he was a big supporter of Israel and worked with a number of Israeli Universities and Israeli causes. In 1952 the Israeli government offered the post of president of Israeli to Einstein an offer he declined. In letter to the Israeli government he wrote:

“I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel [to be President], and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it. All my life I have dealt with objective matters, hence I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official functions. Therefore I would also be an inappropriate candidate for this high task … I wish from the bottom of my heart that a man is found who will be able to take over the hard and responsible office due to his work and his personality.”

The death of Einstein

Did you know that after the death of Einstein, a pathologist of Princeton Hospital, Thomas Stoltz Harvey, without the permission of the scientist’s family members, removed the brain of the scientist to preserve it. He hoped that studying his brain, the neuroscience of the future will be able to figure what made Einstein so intelligent!

Amazing Story Behind the Famous Woodstock Bus and Hieronimus' Painted Car Series

"Light" the Woodstock Bus was a Volkswagen 1963 Model Year Kombi. Painted on commission by Bob Hieronimus in 1968, it went to Woodstock without him in 1969.

"The VW bus I painted in 1968 for Bob Grimm of the band "Light" which he drove with Rick Peters, Trudy Morgul and Walt Bailey to the original Woodstock in 1969. I was heavily involved in my mural commissions and in founding the AUM Esoteric Study Center at that time, and decided not to attend this legendary concert. But the bright colors and occult symbols I had painted on the "Light" bus caught the attention of several photographers in attendance and images of this bus continue to pop up in retrospective articles, CD compilations and other promotional pieces about Woodstock. Many of these photos can be seen further down on this page.

My purpose for painting vehicles was to develop movable "billboards" carrying certain teachings linked to the ageless wisdom teachings, or the perennial philosophy. In 1968 I postponed a commission from Dr. Chester Wickwire to paint a mural on a wall in the second floor meeting room of Levering Hall of the Johns Hopkins University, which eventually became "The Apocalypse". Instead I began a very interesting summer of visiting backstage with Elektra recording artists Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Janis Joplin, and others who requested information on esoterica. In between I continued working on a series of commissions for "psychedelic" painted cars which were growing in popularity. I soon had my fill of backstage life with rock and roll legends and discussing with them earth changes, astrology, Atlantis, reincarnation, meditation, and UFOs, and in early August, 1968 began work on the Apocalypse mural at Johns Hopkins University.

But first I completed the "Light" bus that went to Woodstock without me. With hindsight it is interesting that the symbols I painted on this bus (or moving billboard) were very much in harmony with the theme of this powerful event. I have interpreted some of these symbols below."

The Associated Press took this photo at Woodstock '69 of Ricky Peters and Trudy Morgul atop the bus "Light" painted by Bob Hieronimus. The bus was owned & commissioned by musician Bob Grimm.

Bob stitting atop the bus at Woodstock

Interpretation of Various Symbols on the Woodstock "Light" Bus

The Front of the Bus

There is a story being told on the front of the bus if you look at the symbols. The nutshell version of the story is: As we enter the age of Aquarius humanity will once again become conscious of the builders and hierarchies of the universe by aligning themselves with the divine plan through cosmic vibration.

A galaxy of stars, the milky way, is a birthplace of life in the universe, below which is a pair of wings (spirit) surmounting a circled cross related to the four builders of the universe air, earth, fire and water. Below this is the serpent biting its tail (Orobouros=eternity) within which are eight circles containing the seven planets: Sun (higher or spiritual self); Saturn (karma); Jupiter (expansion of consciousness); Venus (harmony); Mars (activity); Mercury (mind); Moon (personality). The central circle is the heart (the cohesive force of the universe, Love).

Emanating from the left side of Orobouros is a hand holding an Egyptian Sistrum (cosmic vibration) and to the right is a fish swallowing cosmic vibrations from the urn of an unseen Aquarius, a symbol for first 10 degrees of Aquarius, "Piscis Austrailius" meaning the dissemination of spiritual teachings (waters from Aquarius) given to the multitudes (fish) assuring regeneration or a rebirth of soul consciousness.

Below the Orobouros is a UFO, representing extraterrestrials, inner-terrestrials, inner dimensionals and spiritual hierarchies of the universe.

Musician Bob Grimm beside "Light" the Woodstock VW painted by Bob Hieronimus.

The Eagle Side

The USA (the Eagle) was established as a center of light (wisdom) which regenerates the planet through its past connections to the ancient Egyptian mystery schools freeing humanity to serve the divine plan.

The eagle is a higher symbol of Scorpio (rebirth and regeneration) whose opened wings shed "light". The pyramid symbolizes the mystery schools of ancient Egypt and elsewhere. The rising sun is the emergence and rebirth of the spirit, and the five pointed star is the victory of the intuitive mind over the four elements, which is indicative of the process of transformation or regeneration. Above the Eagle are a series of scripts: the hieroglyph reads "Destiny"; the Hebrew reads "Wisdom" and the alleged Atlantean script reads "Out of the darkness cometh the light."

The "Eagle" side of Bob Grimm's VW bus "Light" painted by Bob Hieronimus.

The Sphinx Side

The mystery schools of the ancients (Egypt, India, Hebrews) taught the science of spirituality and how humanity can transform its physical consciousness into spiritual awareness, allowing humans to learn who and why they are here and their purpose on planet earth.

The Sphinx is spiritual conscious control (human head) over animal instincts (animal body). This is an Egyptian Sphinx with a circled trident on its rear flank suggesting its origin in the Atlantean mystery tradition, and a reference to a more ancient mystery school established by blue stele with a symbol of the legendary Mu or Lemuria between the Sphinx's paws. The Judaic mystery schools are symbolized by a series of six pointed stars behind the Sphinx. The green serpent beneath the Sphinx is that of the Wisdom of the 10 divine incarnations of Vishnu spoken of in ancient India's mystery tradition.

On and above the passenger door the green serpent's head is the symbol for Isis, the door to the Egyptian mysteries. Above this is written in Hebrew, taken from Sepher Yezirah (the book of Formation), are the words "Limitless Light". The grinning face you can see through the window belongs to the owner of the bus, composer and musician Bob Grimm.

When you combine the front and the two sides of the bus for a symbolic interpretation (a much simplified version) you can read that there are advanced beings in the universe in various dimensions that are assisting planet Earth's evolution towards cosmic consciousness. The Eagle side reveals that America was destined to lay the foundations that we are all earth people. The Sphinx side reveals the various influences that have supported America in attaining the goal of one people one planet.

Indeed while most people enjoyed the bus as a piece of "psychedelic" art, those with eyes to see and ears to hear realized that it carried the message of who we are and the purpose of life on planet earth: serving others as we evolve towards cosmic consciousness.

The "Sphinx" side of Bob Grimm's VW bus "Light" painted by Bob Hieronimus.

Preliminary sketch for the "Sphinx" side of the "Light" bus painted by Bob Hieronimus and photographed on August 20, 1968.

(via 21st Century Radio)

The First Issue of ‘Rolling Stone’ Magazine, November 9th 1967

On November 9, 1967, the first edition of Rolling Stone magazine was published. The magazine began as a music magazine with embraced the hippie culture of the 1960s. As the founder Jann Wenner said in the first edition, Rolling Stone “is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces.”

To this day the magazine remains a major musical, political, and cultural publication, and has featured interviews with major figures from John Lennon to Barack Obama. To feature on the cover of Rolling Stone is still an honor held by many important figures.

The first edition (see above) featured a film still of John from the Richard Lester film How I Won the War. In the photo, he’s wearing the military outfit and glasses of the character he played in the movie, Musketeer Gripweed. In the issue, Lennon is interviewed about the filming of How I Won the War.