RECREATING A CLASSIC
Workers at the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, UK; celebrated the completion of a new $30 million dollar roller coaster called The Smiler by recreating the iconic Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo from over 80 years ago. While it’s not an exact recreation (they have harnesses and forgot about the shirtless guy), it’s close enough to look back the original and learn more about it.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous black-and-white photograph taken during construction of the RCA Building (renamed the GE Building in 1988) at Rockefeller Center in New York City, United States. The photograph depicts eleven men eating lunch, seated on a girder with their feet dangling 256 meters (840 feet) above the New York City streets.
The photo was taken on 20 September 1932 on the 69th floor of the RCA Building during the last months of construction. According to archivists, the photo was in fact prearranged. Although the photo shows real construction workers, it is believed that the moment was staged by the Rockefeller Center to promote its new skyscraper. The photo appeared in the Sunday photo supplement of the New York Herald Tribune on 2 October 1932. [source]
