They Didn't Know They Were Famous

Robert Frank, Indianapolis, from The Americans

51 years later, Indy couple ID'd as faces in iconic photo

By Christopher Lloyd, The Indianapolis Star

Robert Frank, meet Mack and T Smiley.

The mystery couple in the photograph taken in Indianapolis 51 years ago by Frank for his seminal book, The Americans, have been identified as Matthew and Telester Smiley, known to all their friends as Mack and T.

Several relatives and acquaintances recognized them in the photo published in Sunday's Indianapolis Star and brought it to the attention of Telester Smiley, now 76.

On Tuesday, she pored over pictures of her husband at her Northwestside home, showing him with his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle...

READ ON at indystar.com

_________________________

Mike  (Thanks to Eric Schoch and Nicholas Von Staden)

Beloved bike: Telester Smiley's photo shows her husband, Mack, with his motorcycle and riding gear. "He was crazy about that motorcycle," she said of her husband, who died in 1996 at age 69. They were married 47 years. (Photo credit: Frank Espich, Indianapolis Star)

Comments

[andy]

Great story.

It leads me to ask this. There are thousands of photographs posted in the burgeoning street photography sections of Flickr, PhotNet and a few other places. Where are the photos of black people? I'm not being facetious, just take a look.

[Scott Kirkpatrick]

Now, who was the elevator girl (that Kerouac wanted to meet)?

scott

[Eolake]

Nice.

Know that photo by Cartier-Bresson of the couple kissing, sitting by a sidewalk cafe, and a dog looking on? The man was my older brother.
(I've tried to find the photo online, but in vain.)

[Alan]

Eolake:

Do you mean this photo:
http://tinyurl.com/4utflp
The title is given here as "Sidewalk Cafe, Boulevard Diderot, Paris 1969".

HTH

Alan

[Eolake]

So kind of you to help, Alan. Yes, that's my brother! My mother recognized him, and he was working in Paris in that period, and could be counted upon to kiss ladies whenever the chance arose.