How an American photographer tricked Stalin into a photo shoot

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In 1932, the famous American photographer James Ebbe visited the young Soviet state. His real target was the carefully guarded and never specially photographed Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Until that moment, no one managed to persuade him for a separate photo session. If it were not for a lucky coincidence, perhaps the descendants would never have seen the photograph of the smiling leader. In addition, Ebbe took about a hundred photographs of the country of the Soviets, which today are unique historical documents telling about life in the USSR.

There is a widespread legend about why an American photographer came to Soviet Russia in 1932. According to her, aspiring reporter James Ebbe came to the editorial office of the largest US newspaper "The New York Times" with a request to hire him. After the conversation, the editor-in-chief allegedly told him:

This version of the old events could be taken for the truth, if there were no inconsistencies in dates. The fact is that by the 30s of the XX century the famous American photographer could only be called a “beginner” with a very big stretch. James Ebbe by this time had already become famous all over the world, photographing stars. The lens of his camera included famous artists and politicians: Rudolfo Valentino and Anna Pavlova, Hitler, Mussolini, Charlie Chaplin and many others. He was in many ways the first: he promoted his photographs to the pages of the world's largest publications, photographed stars outside the studio, and, finally, it was he who was the first to really persuade Stalin to take a real photo session and captured Joseph Vissarionovich smiling.

An overseas photojournalist arrived in Moscow in April 1932. Of course, he immediately tried to break into the Kremlin. However, a severe disappointment awaited him. None of the schemes worked out on Hollywood and European stars worked in Russia. In a totalitarian state, only the opinion of one person was important, and he basically did not want to be photographed. The photographer consoled himself with the fact that the rest of the photographs of Soviet Russia turned out to be extremely successful. He even managed to capture scenes that were strictly forbidden to photograph, such as queues in shops. Among the huge amount of material, there were pictures that the Bolsheviks could be proud of, but which, as the reporter assumed, would cause horror in the rest of the world - anti-religious propaganda was just in full swing, and Ebbe was able to capture some of its moments.

Probably, James Ebbe could have sat in the Soviet Union for several years without having achieved anything, but by mid-April the photographer was finally lucky. An article in Berliner Tageblatt caught his eye:

It was, of course, an ordinary newspaper duck. It is unlikely that they would have paid serious attention to her, but the journalist's instinct suggested a plan of action to Ebbe. With a newspaper in hand, he went to the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“You can tell hundreds of Soviet photographers to take a portrait of Stalin and send these pictures abroad, but no one will believe that the head of state is completely healthy, they will say that all these are Bolshevik tricks. But if I, an American, will be allowed to take pictures …"

According to the recollections of his daughter James Ebbe, her father, with just such words, managed to persuade the leadership to listen to him. The unstable international situation and the difficult situation of the USSR played into his hands, and on April 13 he was already walking along the corridors of the Kremlin, accompanied by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

- Stalin asked the assistant, and, without waiting for an answer, continued, -

But Ebbe dreamed about it too long to let the "moody client" screw up his photo shoot. Still, he knew how to persuade stars of different sizes. Therefore, he found an approach to Joseph Vissarionovich:

Surprisingly, Stalin was convinced by these words, and he agreed to ten minutes. As a result, the photographer worked with him for almost half an hour and managed to take pictures in which Stalin really looks "human". This photo session was one of several that he agreed to in life, and almost the only one where the leader is captured smiling. Another unique moment was the fact that Stalin allowed the photos to be published even without prior approval. After a while, they hit the front pages of the world's leading publications. James Ebbe's book "I Photo Russia" was published in 1934. It includes eighty photographs taken by James Ebbe in the USSR.

See Further: "Forward to the Past": 30 Rare Archival Footage from the 1920s and 1960s