A group of Irish workers in Perth, Australia recreated an iconic photograph while on their construction job during the weeThe original ‘Lunch Atop a Skyscraper’ photograph, which features several Irishmen, was taken in 1932 above the RCA building, now the GE building, in New York City’s Rockefeller Center.
The ‘Lunch Atop a Skyscraper’ photo has become the focus of a lot of speculation and research in recent times. While some believe that the photo may have been a publicity stunt, others have spent time discovering the histories of the men on the steel beam in the original picture.
Two of the workers, Matty O’Shaughnessy and Sonny Glynn, were found to be Galway natives.
“Economics drove those men onto the beam in the middle of the Great Depression. Millions of people now look at that picture all over the world,” said Séan Ó Cualáin, a filmmaker from Connemara in Co. Galway who researched the NYC photo for a documentary.
Oddly enough, the Irishmen photographed more recently in Perth, Australia reflect the economic state of Ireland that is a driving force of emigration to places like Australia, England, Canada and the US.
A side-by-side edition of the original photo and this week’s shot reads “Irish Abroad. Still Building the World,” a nod to the Irish immigrants who have helped to build some of the world’s most famous structures.
5 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.nosoupforU | Feb 10, 2013, 04:48 AM EST
forester, how long did it take you to write that drivel.
jacersagain | Feb 09, 2013, 06:15 PM EST
Yep, merefalow, American Native Indians and Irishmen were noted for having no fear of heights, which is why so many of them were employed in building skyscraper buildings in America. As for me, a Native Irishman … I had no fear of heights either until I nearly slid off the roof of my old mammie & daddie’s single storey house in Dublin. You won’t ever find me on that ‘glass’ platform at the USA's Grand Canyon.
merefalow | Feb 09, 2013, 11:05 AM EST
scary stuff,realy brave guys all of them,i think i read somewhere that a majority of construction workers were native americans.
Smyrnian | Feb 09, 2013, 06:09 AM EST
Senseless comment below.
RobinForester | Feb 08, 2013, 05:04 PM EST
It's a well known fact that if someone starts falling off one of these steel beams; the first thing they do is try and grab the person next to them hoping by doing so that they can stop them falling to their certain deaths. It should be made law that no skyscraper can be more than 20 foot high measured from the ground, that no Irish citizen should ever work on one or be engaged on a skyscraper building site, and everyone knows even looking at one being built will bring on 7 years bad luck and depression. How dangerous are they - Well, lets put it this way Leprecauns, Elves, and Cats avoid them, So follow their example and work underground instead.