A SAMPLE OF SMITH’S PAPERS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1959–1961
April 19, 1959. A summons from the Supreme Court of the County of New York to pay $456.41 ($3,729.50 in 2017) to Willoughby Camera Stores.
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June 24, 1959. A receipt for the purchase of 23 reels of audio tapes totaling $40.52. Florman & Babb, Inc.
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October 17, 1959. An order of 79 books from Marboro Books on Forty-second Street totaling $186.89. Books include The Art Director at Work, Treasures of American Drawing, Painting and Reality, Learn to Draw, Shaw on Theatre, Man and Shadow, Brecht, and Chagall.
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November 3, 1959. Smith pawn receipts from Joseph Miller, Licensed Loan Officer, at 1162 Sixth Avenue, totaling $200 for a Hasselblad camera, a 4.5 Biogon lens, and a Canon 4.5 400mm.
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November 30, 1959. Smith pawn receipts from Joseph Miller totaling $425 for a Canon 3.5, Kilfitt 2.8, Canon Serenar lens, Yashica camera and three lenses, Novoflex lens, Canon lens, and others.
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January 14, 1960. Letter from Dr. Frederick S. Frank, D.D.S., asking for payment of $401 for dental care. The letter references a phone conversation in which Smith says the family will have to sell the house in Croton so he can pay bills.
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January 20, 1960. Letter from Smith to George Orick, who had spent the previous year, along with his wife, Emily, trying to help Smith get back on his feet.
I hereby terminate your representation of me. From this time you are no longer authorized to act as my agent or representative under any circumstances.
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January 27, 1960. Letter from Emily Orick to Smith, written in part in third person, as if a deposition or court proceeding:
There is a word for Mr. Smith’s problems of the moment: projection. It is not George but Gene who, having made himself vulnerable, must now find someone culpable for his anxiety … But George is not your enemy, Gene, nor were any of the others whom you chose to see as your bêtes noir. The hooded figure whose face you can never seem to pin down is only yourself.
The time span gets shorter and shorter, Gene—eleven years for Life, two or three (inaccurate but unerring) for Magnum, a year for George—perhaps six months for the next person, three for the next, six weeks, three, a week-and-a-half, a few days, a few hours, a few minutes—then time will run out, and with him all your disguises. You will be left inexorably to face the man who has built so many cases against you.
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January 28, 1960. Letter from the attorney Maxwell G. Cutler on behalf of Dr. Frank. Threatens legal proceedings to obtain the $401 for dental care.
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February 2, 1960. A $500 check from Polaroid to Smith.
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March 30, 1960. $1,200 loan from Chemical Bank to Smith. Collateral is $10,000 in Equitable Life Assurance Society Policy.
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May 17, 1960. Legal action against Smith by Olden Camera & Lens Co. on Sixth Avenue for $580.64 in debts.
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May 25, 1960. The Art Institute of Chicago bought five of Smith’s Pittsburgh prints for a total of $250.
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May 27, 1960. Letter from Fulton Adjustment Bureau about Smith’s failure to pay travelers insurance bill.
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June 12, 1960. Contract for $960 with Sports Illustrated for photography, $550 in advance.
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September 15, 1960. Bill for three months of rent at 821 Sixth Avenue, two months overdue. Total of $195 due to Jack S. Esformes and Esformes Realty Co.
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September 23, 1960. Walters Electric Supply threatens legal action on $324.75 owed by Smith.
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September 28, 1960. Letter from an attorney for R. H. Macy & Co., Inc., threatening legal action regarding $2,322.26 (more than $19,000 in 2017) that Smith owes Macy’s department store.
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October 6, 1960. Letter from the City of New York’s Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity indicating electricity will be disconnected for noncompliance. Letter states, “Feeder to third floor panel is overloaded. Outlet boxes are not securely fastened. Armored cables are not securely fastened. Fixtures missing from outlets. Unused outlets not properly capped. Grounded receptacles not provided for portable tool equipments and heater units. Drop cord pendants are deteriorated.”
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October 7, 1960. Legal action pursued by Walters Electric Supply for $324.72 owed by Smith.
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On November 28 and December 29, 1960, Smith’s daughter Marissa, age nineteen, wrote her father two letters, the first pleading with him to come to her wedding to give her away and to make photographs, and the second asking him why he didn’t come home for Christmas. In the latter, Marissa also told him what her sister Shana, age seven, wanted for her upcoming birthday (a new dress) and that her mother needed a new gold wedding band.
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February 10, 1961. Letter from Sigma Electric Co., Inc., seeking payment of $166.66 and making reference to attorneys.
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February 22, 1961. Smith subscribed to Broadcast Engineering magazine.
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Countless pawn tickets from 1961.
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In the early morning of September 25, 1961, when Sonny Clark almost died in the hallway of the loft, we know that Smith packed seventy-nine pieces of luggage for the trip to Tokyo and the assignment with Hitachi. Later that day, Smith and Carole Thomas departed from Idlewild Airport for Tokyo, where they stayed for twelve months.
In October 1961, a woman named Ruth Fetske began organizing Smith’s loft and paying bills for him while he was gone.