There is a gallery exhibition in New York that displays Mug
Shots from a private collection. They span the century and
cover the entire 20th century from coast to coast. Many of
them could be used for cover art of a noir or hard boiled
novel, by McCoy, Hammett, Joe R Lansdale, Cain, Robert Alter,
Goodis, Thompson, or Edward Anderson. The collector scoured
various sources, and perhaps even some trash bins of police
stations. The photos are not of major criminals, but of
people arrested, and on occasions not charged, for a host of
crimes: petty larceny, prostitution, possession of narcotics,
public intoxication, running grifts, auto theft, shoplifting,
assault, and vagrancy. The latter apparently meant such
things as not having a permanent address, or shopping in a
dept. store while black or Hispanic, or in one case "not
having a job and hanging out at beer halls." A black woman
was "picked up on suspicion of being a dissolute person" but
let go on lack of evidence. A shopper is descried as "a
close-mouthed Negro who is probably stealing clothes." The
faces are varied of course, but many show an anger that has
cemented their features in an impassive stare. A few young
guys have incredible pompadours of the 1940s; several are
James Dean look-alikes from 1950s Texas prison. The most
recent are of three puzzled and furious 1970s teenagers
busted in Phila. for possession of marijuana. In several, the
sitter is facing the camera so that a mirror behind him
catches his/her profile; he/she seem about to turn and tell
you their story. Just looking and reading the mug shots, you
can write a story about each. One sad image is on a man in
his 30s who ran a newsstand and was arrested while at work
for possessing obscene literature (girlie magazines? Stag
jokes? Scatological 8-page comics?). This was 1938. He was
turned over to a postal inspector. So much for his
livelihood, even if there were no charges filed. He is
probably thinking that he sould have paid the cops the sugar
they needed to lay off. He has sad eyes, a worried
expression, a pug nose, receding hair, and his lips are
tightly pursed. This is due to the fact, noted in the police
description, that he has no teeth.
There is some info at http://www.stevenkasher.com/html/exhibitions.asp
and http://www.stevenkasher.com/html/home.asp
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