A hands-on Mom, Florence, at the time of the U-2 fiasco during the President Ike regime, readies a spy bike for Steven on which she’d secured an old Kodak view camera.
Shay, Arthur
1960; printed 2014
A month before she died I took her to Glenwood Hospital in Glenview for her conference with yet another team of oncologists. Florence understood the futility of the visit in which a picture of her ovarian cancer, having spread to her cerebellum, was clearly visible. [...]
Shay, Arthur
2012; printed 2014
A patient Florence waits for our kids to use up their coins.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1960; printed 2014
Algren and Marceaux
Shay, Arthur
1968
Anna Freud in Chicago at Institute for Pyschoanalysis
Shay, Arthur
1970
Art Shay / Simone de Beauvoir (1950)
Miller, Sandro
2014; printed 2019
Arthur Rubloff
Shay, Arthur
1977
As you may have noticed, like most Life Magazine photo journalists I often used my family as models. Starting with their mom, they were all beautiful. One of my good clients was the national Blue Cross association. I did perhaps a dozen health booklets and several ads for them. For one of my illustrations of ambulance care- I used Florence who cheerfully, if uncomfortably, registered pain in a seemingly speeding ambulance (moving several feet in my driveway!)
Shay, Arthur
n.d.; printed 2014
At a gallery showing of my Chicago pictures, Florence found time to chat about his new book with our prolific friend, Studs Terkel.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1970; printed 2014
At the $125 a month house we rented on a San Rafael, California begonia ranch, Florence attends to the two year old Jane while I was off being Life Magazine’s youngest bureau chief in nearby San Francisco.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1948; printed 2014
Author Nelson Algren, a great friend of the family, visited often. He was Harmon’s godfather, and at Harmon’s birth wrote Florence a postcard from California advising her to warn the kid “never to eat at a place called Mom’s, never to play poker with a guy named Doc, and never to sleep with a woman who has more troubles than your own.†Advice he never took for himself. Especially rule 3.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1960; printed 2014
Billy rarely has guests at his studio. I usually went to photograph him- and one day he invited Florence while he was composing on his ancient harpsichord. Florence picked up the beat and for fifteen minutes had the unique experience of dancing to new music. Billy would sing at her funeral in August 2012.
Shay, Arthur
c. 2010; printed 2014
Chanukah was always a big deal in our Jewish household.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1960; printed 2014
Dressed for fencing or t’ai-chi, Florence kept her great figure long past this candid of her in her fifties. She once offered me $700 for all the books you see, mostly review copies. When I asked her why so little she replied. Because they are all dog-eared and marked up. “They show too much wear for resale- you read your books- a real downer for a dealer.â€
Shay, Arthur
c. 1966; printed 2014
Elijah Muhammed's Grandchild in Center with Black Muslim Sisters
Shay, Arthur
1969
Ever stylish, Florence waits in front of our new house in Deerfield, for a lady friend to transport her to a Human Rights lunch. She and I handled the PR for Deerfield’s Citizens for Human Rights in the 1959 fight to permit African-Americans to buy houses in Deerfield.
Shay, Arthur
1959; printed 2014
Exhibition title card: This exhibition is dedicated to the two geniuses Florence and I loved who died too young- Our 20 year old son Harmon who was murdered in the Hippie jungles of Florida in 1972, and our dear friend and benefactor, the master metal sculptor, Dan Blue.
Shay, Arthur
n.d.; printed 2014
First anniversary celebration, November 1945
Shay, Arthur
1945; printed 2014
Florence and Jane dressed alike for a Life Magazine lunch at Fritzel’s Restaurant downtown. There Jane was enchanted meeting in real life, her then -- favorite TV characters, Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Shay, Arthur
c. 1950; printed 2014
Florence and new-born Harmon in 1951. At four Harmon would create patterned tracks in the snow, and a few years later would win his junior high science fair with an electronic roller skate directed by the light from his flashlight. Harmon, in the central tragedy of our family’s life, would be murdered in the Hippie jungles of Florida in 1972 two weeks before his 21st birthday. His body was never recovered.
Shay, Arthur
1951; printed 2014
Florence and Sonja Levenger in the early seventies when they were helping the charitable agency, ORT, sell books. They started Titles, Inc. in this study in Sonja’s house. They soon rented their first shop on Sheridan Road in Highland Park.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1970; printed 2014
Florence boards the paddlewheel Delta Queen Mississippi River boat in St. Louis to help me on a three day story.
Shay, Arthur
n.d.; printed 2014
Florence getting away from her own rare book store problems takes her grandkids Carter and the sleeping Celeste shopping in Northbrook Court. Carter, today, is a California environmentalist and Celeste is an assistant producer for the Rachel Maddow TV show in New York City.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1980; printed 2014
Florence hid her pain from us, but she liked her oncologist Dr. Adi Gidron and described the precise location of all her pains to him. He called her “the best patient I ever had,†and became a sad friend to both of us, having exhausted all the medical treatments Florence was capable of surviving. We had a false flash of hope after she began responding positively to chemo therapy, but it didn’t last. She had 4th stage cancer, the very worst. [...]
Shay, Arthur
c. 2010.; printed 2014
Florence in her beloved roomy 1955 DeSoto.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1955; printed 2014
Florence leads an Indian Hill Road Conga line.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1960; printed 2014
Florence never quite believed she was as beautiful as I said she was. I often took her on Vegas shoots for Life or The Saturday Evening Post involving the Mafia. She was a wonderful decoy.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
Florence occupied her first Titles shop on Sheridan Road for more than 35 years. When the landlord tried to double the rent she moved to a much brighter location on St. John’s and stayed there until she died on August 22, 2012.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1980; printed 2014
Florence often accompanied me when I was photographing at Northbrook Court Mall. She would scoot from shop to shop while waiting for us to have dinner, or I fussed with my hidden camera. One evening, I saw my beloved wife and model doing what she had steadfastly refused to do all her life, trying on a wig. Years later, here is Florence in her nursing home-surprising me for our Passover dinner [...]
Shay, Arthur
n.d.; printed 2014
Florence poses filling a rare book order for a foreign customer in her shop. My favorite Florence story involving foreign sales: Florence had bought a fine Gold Coast collection of unusual and expensive books. On the same day she sold separate books on falconry to an Arab prince and a Japanese dealer with a Samurai customer.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1990; printed 2014
Florence proudly leads sons Harmon and Steve into the synagogue for Richard’s Bar Mitzvah in 1966. Richard nervously holds his prayer book. Florence was 44.
Shay, Arthur
1966; printed 2014
Florence tries to keep sibling rivalry from getting out of hand.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
Florence usually orchestrated our family pictures, saying, “Now! Now!†even to the unheeding self timer.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1970; printed 2014
Florence was a stickler for control and details, and insisted on planning and paying for her own funeral. Here she chooses a mid-level coffin from the rabbi’s brochure. I took the picture through my tears.
Shay, Arthur
c. 2012; printed 2014
Florence was pregnant with our second child, Harmon, when we visited a famous landmark in the NY Harbor. We both grew up in NY but had never visited it.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1950; printed 2014
Florence was rock star Billy Corgan’s guide to published poetry. He bought many poetry books from her and was often lost in deep, probably creative, thought, hanging around Titles’ poetry shelves. Then, gradually availing himself of Florence’s renowned good advice gene, Billy began to regard her as his substitute Jewish mother. Here Florence surprised Billy with a birthday cake at one of our Sunday bagel and lox breakfasts. [...]
Shay, Arthur
c. 2010; printed 2014
Florence with playwright & author David Mamet...writer & artist Audrey Niffenegger... avid reader & former Chicago Bull, B. J. Armstrong...novelist & lawyer Scott Turow... master novelist Phillip Roth... former Illinois Governor, Jim Edgar... Catch-22 author Joseph Heller.Florence was very proud of Heller’s fan letter to her about her writing.
Shay, Arthur
n.d.; printed 2014
Florence wouldn’t accept any child’s excuse for poor grades. Here she silently chides Richard. One of Florence’s key expressions to any of us in the family, she here applies in mock outrage, to Harmon: “You’re not going there dressed like this, are you?"
Shay, Arthur
c. 1966; printed 2014
Florence, just before we eloped in 1944
Shay, Arthur
1944; printed 2014
Florence, pregnant with Steven, gathered with the rest of our brood in the living room.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1960; printed 2014
Florence, who in another life might have been a harem dancer, in the costume she made for her ORT charity party debut.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1955; printed 2014
Florence’s favorite flower was roses. I thought of this as family and friends threw roses onto her coffin. My mind told me that she was finally out of her night-time routine of pain and drugs, and had forever achieved the death she so urgently wished for at the end. It comforted me.
Shay, Arthur
2012; printed 2014
For long distance travel we preferred the airplane. Here, early in the Sixties we arrived at LaGuardia Field, to visit the kids’ Brooklyn grandparents. Note the slow propeller plane.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
From our Hawaii balcony in 1970, Florence makes a determined effort to play the ukulele. She said, “After learning to spell ukulele, the rest is easy.â€
Shay, Arthur
1970; printed 2014
George Szell Conducting a Tchaikovsky March in Cleveland, Ohio
Shay, Arthur
1970
Great Dane's Dilemma
Shay, Arthur
1984
Great Life photographer Philippe Halsman was a friend of mine. He had done a provocative story on smooching for Life, and Florence insisted on miming some of the poses.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1951; printed 2014
Gwendolyn Brooks for Town and Country
Shay, Arthur
1980
Harmon appeared in his junior high play, gaining the applause of his mother and siblings Lauren, Jane and Steven.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
Harry Weese
Shay, Arthur
n.d.
Henry Crown on Lasalle Street
Shay, Arthur
1954
Highland Park experienced record flooding in 2006, ruining 3000 of Florence’s books and impelling her to move. She characteristically accepted her loss, saying, “The only reason they were in the basement was I couldn’t sell them upstairs.†This gung ho spirit colored her entire personality.
Shay, Arthur
2006; printed 2014
Hilton Hotel, Michigan Avenue, August 1968, Democratic Convention
Shay, Arthur
1968
Hugh Hefner
Shay, Arthur
1966
I did a photo project at the Northbrook Court Mall- for 25 years, using a hidden camera.
Shay, Arthur
c. 2005; printed 2014
I often used my five children and Florence as models. Here, for my book entitled, “What Happens When You Make a Telephone Call†Lauren and Richard lead the run to answer the phone.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
I tried for years to sell Life a story about what kids do in the morning. It was a near miss. It is still a salable story.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1952; printed 2014
I was doing a magazine story on our suburban family spending a weekend in a downtown hotel during the Christmas season. The kids’ favorite activities? Riding the elevators and calling room service. Here Harmon energetically tests a Sheraton mattress as we settle in.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1960; printed 2014
I was enthralled with a new kind of wide angle camera and photographed Florence in her domain- twice. That blur in the center is her moving through the 140 degree arc of the lens.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1970; printed 2014
Ice Fishing
Shay, Arthur
1970
In 1963, my activist wife Florence and I schlepped Steven, Lauren, and some JFK signs to greet him at O’Hare for a Chicago visit. He never arrived - a Chicago death threat intervened and we disappointedly went home with our two signs, which have decorated a dark corner of our living room these past 51 years.
Shay, Arthur
1963; printed 2014
In 1988, I was the first author Florence honored with a book-signing. We sold 70 books. Our son Richard assisted making the picture, over-riding my self timer.
Shay, Arthur
1988; printed 2014
In 2004, one of my heart valves was replaced with that of a pig. I photographed the experience including Florence helping me struggle into my rubber stockings at Evanston Hospital.
Shay, Arthur
2004; printed 2014
In Florence’s last months, when she could no longer go out to the Botanic Garden for dinner, our dear friends Josh and Signe Murphy and their daughters India and June came over with all the necessary provender and utensils, and cooked complete meals for us three or four times. When Florence died I solved some of the problem of what to do with her clothes by giving a bunch to 15 year old India. India adored Florence - and was thrilled to inherit her favorite skirt and sport jacket. [...]
Shay, Arthur
2012; printed 2014
In her doctor’s office in Chicago, in 1951, Florence, pregnant with our second child, Harmon, waits with early bibliophile Jane, age 5.
Shay, Arthur
1951; printed 2014
In our backyard we tried to domesticate our two pet ducks, Lucky and Ducky. We couldn’t keep them (gave them back to the Evanston Golf Club) because they were mass producers of waste.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1951; printed 2014
In racially turbulent 1961 Eleanor Roosevelt showed up in Deerfield to help the cause of African-Americans buying two $46,000 homes in a development spawned by an associate of Adlai Stevenson’s law firm. Here, Mrs. FDR visited our fellow activists, the Berliants, and Florence- peeping through at the right, was on the greeting line, as was our 15 year old daughter, Jane. Mrs. Roosevelt’s visit was a great booster for our cause.
Shay, Arthur
1961; printed 2014
Jane, a gifted artist, producing a profile view of her Mom.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1955; printed 2014
Jimmy Hoffa
Shay, Arthur
1959
Kids greet their mom with a party hat on mother’s day. Dan Blue was our dear friend - a master artist in metals- and a good samaritan, shown here visiting Florence in Highland Park Hospital. She loved Dan.
Shay, Arthur
n.d.; printed 2014
Mayor Daley Breaking Ground
Shay, Arthur
1971
Mr. and Mrs. Saul Bellow at Nobel Celebration
Shay, Arthur
1981
My first Life Magazine vacation took us from Chicago to Green Bay where we rented a cottage and explored the waters
Shay, Arthur
c. 1950; printed 2014
My memorial yahrzeit for Florence stands in our kitchen, from which Florence observed the changing of our seasons.
Shay, Arthur
c. 2012; printed 2014
My self-timed Leica on a tripod captured me literally supporting all my kids-for a Saturday Evening Post contributor page.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1955; printed 2014
Nelson Algren
Shay, Arthur
1955
Nelson Algren at Division Street Y
Shay, Arthur
1951
Nelson Algren, Madison St. Gambling Den
Shay, Arthur
1950
New born Steve arrived in 1959 to greet his not too enthusiastic siblings.
Shay, Arthur
1959; printed 2014
On a quiet Sunday we picnicked on the boat of neighbors Sam and Denyse Grode.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
One of the myriad Halloweens we celebrated with the neighborhood kids and our own.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1951; printed 2014
Our first Chicago home in 1948 was a $125 a month abode near Senn high school
Shay, Arthur
1948; printed 2014
Poorhouse Man
Shay, Arthur
1950
President Eisenhower at Northwestern University, Meeting of Heads of Branches of Protestant Church
Shay, Arthur
1955
Proudly posing in front of her new shop!
Shay, Arthur
c. 2006; printed 2014
Reading and books were the mainstays of Florence’s life. Until a month before she died she liked to sit on our deck and read mindless mysteries under our beloved begonia trees planted by Harmon when he was 11 in 1962. As she grew weaker in her final days I would cut the heavy books in thirds so she could handle (our joke) heavy pop literature.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1980; printed 2014
Rocky Graziano
Shay, Arthur
1948
The head of Florence’s Antiquarian Bookseller’s Association was her old friend, the renowned Lincoln scholar, Dan Weinberg. Four weeks before Florence died, Weinberg called to gingerly ask if Florence was well enough to be filmed for their organization’s archive. “Of course,†Florence said, and cheerily had her beloved care-giver Kalina Borissova dress her, put on her make-up and help her into my car for her last trip to Titles, Inc. [...]
Shay, Arthur
c. 2012; printed 2014
The summer I met Florence in summer of 1942, I took her picture dancing at Camp Winston in Monticello, NY
Shay, Arthur
1942; printed 2014
Though confined to a battery cart, Florence used part of her visit to Costco for hearing aids, to shop for “my favorite brands- not yours, darlingâ€...She was lovingly feisty to the end.
Shay, Arthur
2012; printed 2014
Three generations! Many years earlier, in 1953, Florence dandled her daughter Lauren. Lauren’s (and Carl’s) son, Seth, is shown lighting some long ago Channukah candles- and years later in Florence’s last year-2012, Seth (and Kate) brought their first son, Moses, to her 90th birthday party to meet his now blond Great-Grandma.
Shay, Arthur
1953 and 2012; printed 2014
Trying out my new 300mm Nikon telephoto from an upstairs window, I was able to sight energetic Florence giving Harmon and Dick their first sled ride around Stockton Avenue. I occasionally used those corn fields in the background to take off and land in the helicopters I rented for aerial pictures. I remember the hourly rate in those days: $75!
Shay, Arthur
c. 1951; printed 2014
Untitled
Shay, Arthur
n.d.
Untitled (Atlantic City Beach, Dog Squatting)
Shay, Arthur
1960; printed c. 1980
Untitled, from "A Year in Chicago's Grant Park"
Shay, Arthur
1984
We crossed the country for a GM story in a 1964 wagon they lent us.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1965; printed 2014
We moved from our Chicago apartment to our first house--a $13,000 3 bedroom wonder in Des Plaines. It had a basement I used as a darkroom. Three or four of the now vintage prints I made in that time in that darkroom are together worth more than that house! The first artifact Florence installed was the camp bugle that was instrumental in our meeting at camp-I was the bugler and she was the counselor who edited the camp newspaper.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1951; printed 2014
We stopped in Detroit en route to a family visit to Greenfield Village.
Shay, Arthur
c. 1966; printed 2014
When Dan realized that Florence could no longer walk, he insisted on buying us two runs of stair lifts. Here he proudly oversees Florence’s first solo on the contrivance. Four months after Florence died, the 56 year old seemingly healthy Dan died at his home of a brain aneurism.
Shay, Arthur
c. 2012; printed 2014
