I saw the photograph above (1st image, taken in 1947) for the first time yesterday. Because of it, Evelyn McHale achieved a small amount of fame - but only posthumously. Despite the calm expression on her face, the 20-year-old had just taken her own life. She is shown on the crushed roof of the limousine on which she landed after jumping from the Empire State Building (2nd image, taken in 1954). “
Following its publication in Life Magazine, the photo - taken by student Robert Wiles just 4 minutes after her death - continues to spark: from a print by Andy Warhol in 1963 to an essay by Max Page in 2006, a short story by Jason Stout in 2008, a song by Parenthetical Girls in 2010... "[I]t's clear that I'm not the only one who's been moved by this photo over the years," writes another blogger. "I wonder what Evelyn would think if she knew that people born 35 years after her death would be touched by the image of her final sad, defiant act." Defined by her death, Evelyn McHale left little in the public record about her life. According to her obituary, her fiance was an ex-GI attending college who she had visited the day before, her profession was as a bookkeeper for an engraving company, and her body was identified by her sister with whom she lived on Long Island.
When I was thinking of subjects for my master's thesis, I considered examining what 3 literary suicides were communicating by their method. English writer Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) filled her pockets with stones and walked into the river; American photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971) sedated herself, slashed her wrists, and curled up in the bathtub; and American author Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) put her head in the oven. When I mentioned the idea to the brilliant and inspiring man who agreed to be my thesis advisor, Michael Macovski, he immediately replied, "Ah, the body as suicide note."
Any idea where she's buried? I can find no reference online.
ReplyDeleteI think she was cremated per her request.
DeleteIt's really sad that there is so much limitations to what was actually known about this woman. I found an old newspaper article that pretty much said everything you wrote about..it's the only info I was ever able to find out about her.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing research on Evelyn...here's what I have so far. I hope this answers some questions...and sheds some light onto why she chose to jump.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn Francis McHale was born in Berkeley California Sept 20, 1923. She was the sixth of seven children of Vincent and Helen McHale... the first four children were born 1 year apart, the last three were born 2 years apart. Her father was a bank examiner, orig from Illinois, her mother orig from Pa, was a housewife.
Around 1930, they moved to Washington, DC, where her father became an examiner for the Federal Land Bank. Also at this time her mother left, moving to an apartment in another part of Washington.
The father retained custody of all seven children. Evelyn was 6.
Whether the mother left voluntarily or was told to leave is unknown at his time.
After high school, in 1943, Evelyn became a WAC and was stationed in Jefferson Mo.
Friends say that when she was discharged,she burned her uniform.
At some point, she moved to NYC to work, living with her brother and sister in law. She met and became engaged to a young man named Barry Rhodes, a 24 year old who was just out of the Air Force and attending Lafayette College in Easton Pa. They were to be married at his brother's house in Troy, NY.
A year before her death, Evelyn had been a bridesmaid at Barry's younger brother's wedding.
After the wedding, she removed her bridesmaid gown, said "I never want to see this again" and burned it.
On the day she jumped, Barry said, she seemed happy and looking forward to the marriage as she boarded the train home.
There was a security guard less than twelve feet from where she jumped.
In her suicide note, she wrote:
"My fiance asked me to marry him in June, but I don't think I would make a good wife for anyone. He is much better off without me. Tell my father, I have too many of my mother's tendencies. I don't want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family -don't have any service or remembrance for me."
She was cremated per her request.
How ironic that in spite of her request, she is indeed seen and remembered even many years later by total strangers...
There is a portrait of her--perhaps a yearbook pic...I don't know-- in a couple of newspapers. As soon as I get a copy of it it, I will post it.
I got here from a google search on Evelyn, and I want to thank you, kmeccat, for sharing some of your research. How interesting to read the body of the suicide note.
ReplyDeleteI agree thank you kmeccat. I have been intrigued by this photo for a very long time, I go through periods of obsession then they go dormant for awhile but the feeling always returns. How is the retrieval of another portrait of Evelyn going? I have been unable to locate any other than her death photo online.
ReplyDeletekmeccat your suicide note contradicts what has been published - it was just two sentences, crossed out. All the detail about cremation etc sounds like urban legend to me.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn was my Aunt. That note sounds right to me because my Grandma was a bit of a fruitcake. (God bless her soul) I was born in 49 but remember my mother (Helen) speaking of this tragic event.
ReplyDeleteJust reading this three years later. Do you happen to know what happened to her fiancé? I'm a Lafayette alum, so this story resonates particularly.
Delete"I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me...”
ReplyDeleteit is tragic that despite her dying wishes of not wanting to be seen her image in death has become an iconic image of suicide. Also i find Max Page's 'essay' an prime example of the fetishization of dead women's bodies (and highly offensive/disgusting/plain moronic/) 'right on target', 'legs demurely crossed', 'sleeping beauty', 'an homage' to the buildings power'...yes her suicide was an homage to patriarchal achievements and, how lovely of her to land so nicely...and a fetishizized/romanticized vision of suicide 'Those who attempted suicide understood. The magnet of death and the thrill of desire'. No there is not some magical mystical link that joins together people who have attempted or successfully committed suicide, it usually comes down to convenience and speed.
How can she be 20yrs old at the time of her death in 1947 when she was born in 1923...?
ReplyDeleteEvelyn was born on the 20th September 1923. She was 23 when she died. The newspapers got it wrong
DeleteHere is a link to another site that has a photo posted of Evelyn Hale.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57348335
Lisa
The most telling part of her suicide note was the last sentence that somehow is almost never mentioned;
ReplyDelete"I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family – don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me. My fiance asked me to marry him in June. I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me. Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”
Hi Jo, the last line of Evelyn's note is what inspired me to write a book about her. I have discovered a history of mood disorders in the family, and much much more information including photos. to learn more visit: evelyn.pubslush.com
DeleteLook forward to it....
DeleteI wonder if she was gay.
ReplyDeletePlease visit the Website I created for her at the Link below and go thru the pages including known photos.
ReplyDeletehttp://petergilgen1953.wix.com/evelyn-mchale-
she was a WAC, she was discharged, she burned her uniform, she said her fiancee would be better off without her and that she would not make a good wife for anyone, she has too many of her mother's tendencies, her mother either left the family or was asked to leave.....easy. She was gay and living in a time where being homosexual was viewed as a disorder. She was probably discharged because of "gay" behavior, burned her uniform because she wanted to forget and try to be "normal" according to societal acceptance, got engaged, etc...but eventually just could not take it anymore.
ReplyDeleteCould be......but she could be severely bi-polar as well. Her mother's "tendencies"......Apparently, she'd rather die than turn out as her mother did.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI only knew the story some 2 days ago, but I agree with Nicolette, she and her mother must have been lesbian. The fact that she commited suicide after spending one night with her fiancé probably explains it, too