Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, contributed images of murder, mayhem, and drama to New York's press through the 1930's and 40's. Weegee derived his name from the phonetic spelling of Ouija, claiming that psychic powers enabled him to be the first at fires, crime scenes and the like.

Arthur Fellig was born in Austria, 1899. Fellig emigrated to America in 1909, and grew up in a tenement on Manhattan Lower East Side. In 1923 Fellig joined Acme News Pictures (which would later be known as United Press International Photos) as a darkroom technician. occasionally, Fellig served as a photographer. In 1935, working out of police headquarters, Fellig began a career a a freelance press photographer. Images of dead gangsters established his reputation as New York's resident crime photographer. Fellig lived the reputation, stamping his photos "Credit photo by Weegee the famous."

Fellig's hunting grounds extended from the Bowery to Greenwich Village. Fellig documented the activities of the uptown elite, to the impoverished. Fellig's clients included such periodicals such as LIFE, LOOK, and Vogue as well as Daily Newspapers, tabloids and the like. From 1940-1945 Fellig's main client was a paper called PM DAILY . 1945 Fellig began as a society photographer for Vogue. From 1947-1951 Fellig periodically worked in Hollywood as a technical consultant., and playing cameo parts in several motion pictures.

Fellig's dramatic close-ups and subject matter illustrate his dramatic flare for telling a story. Fellig blurred the line between being the spectator of an event, and being part of the event. Fellig's stories range from "trippy" and bizarre, to extreme action and emotion.

Fellig authored several books, including The Naked City (1945), Weegee's People (1946), and Weegee by Weegee (1961). Fellig has been the inspiration of movies, such as The Public Eye (1992) and an episode of Fox's TV show: X-Files.