New York City, 1938
Vintage gelatin silver print
9 5/16 x 8 1/8 inches
Printed 1940s
From the collection of Sidney and Edna Meyers (gifted by the artist)
July 25, 2022
When looking at this dynamically composed photograph of young boys playing "cops and robbers", it's worth noting that it was taken in the later years of the Great Depression, a time of great popularity for gangster films. While heists had always been a popular subject for early films, the widespread cynicism after the Wall Street Crash of 1929—amidst which many Americans had lost their bank savings—Americans found themselves rooting for the bank robbers in these popular movies.
This print comes from the collection of film director Sidney Meyers. Myers was also profoundly affected by the Great Depression, which led to an emphasis on social issues in his own filmmaking. Levitt and Myers collaborated on the 1949 film The Quiet One—the first major American motion picture to feature a Black youth as the protagonist. The film was set in Harlem and dealt directly with the connections between racism and poverty in the United States. Levitt, then 36 years old, worked as one of the film's cinematographers and collaborated on the film's screenplay with Myers. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary (Feature) and a nomination for Best Writing (Story and Screenplay) that Levitt shared with Sidney Myers and Janice Loeb.
