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From around 1960 comes this News Archive portrait of a young paparazzo labeled "Magazine Promotion." His friends call him Flash. 4x5 inch Kodak color negative. View full size.
And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, wages a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.
Looks like a #5 flashbulb, standard for the Kalart Flashes for the Speed and Crown Graphic. You'd use the clear ones for B/W and the blue ones for color. This shot was probably made with studio strobes, which were in common use after the 1950s. And the photographer's editor probably shot him for showing the label inside the hat.
He was an ace cub reporter with a bright future; but discovered he couldn't get a straight story in a crooked city. So, he left the Fourth Estate and went to California to throw his fedora into that new, personal computer arena.
Or maybe:
couldn't get the skinny on the fat cats.
couldn't get the lowdown on the down lows.
couldn't catch a break in a broken city.
As I grow older that sentiment becomes uncomfortably more appropriate.
had a blue tinted plastic film. I liked playing with the bubbly, melted thing with the shattered glass inside.
I'm guessing -- Jimmy Olson's boy?
"Uh! Is this thing safe? Not plugged in or anything?"
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