The Photo

Will this photo ever become as "iconic" as that say of Churchill, FDR, and Stalin at Yalta taken during WW II? Will it ever even achieve iconic status, given all the photos in all the media, in all the world, in all the minutes, in all the seconds, in all the hours of the day?

The photo is of course of several world leaders and their wives at an outdoor ceremony in France marking the 100th anniversary of the WW I Armistice.

From left to right:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Morocco's Prince Moulay Hassan, Moroccan King Mohammed VI, U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Australian Governor General Peter Cosgrove | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

Melania Trump is hard to spot. She is mostly blocked out by her husband, U.S. President Trump leaning forward to get a better look at whatever has really caught their collective attention. Morocco's Prince Moulay Hassan is blocked out as well by his king, Mohammed VI. 

Of course there are several other captions you could assign to the photo. World leaders at an outdoor fashion show in which Anna Wintour couldn't secure a front row seat wearing her trademark sunglasses. How that woman sees anything indoors amazes me. But that might be the point. Nothing she looks at is really worth looking at. The joke is on everyone else.

Obviously no one in the photo got an aisle seat, despite their hefty clout and control of nuclear missiles. Everyone is somewhat monkey-in-the-middle. They almost look like they're watching the people to their left take their turn in attaching themselves to the cable in the transport plane and jumping into Holland. Their turn is coming up. Be ready.

Not seen in the photo is Theresa May, the British Prime Minister. She was at the proceedings, but didn't make the cut in the the photographer's frame. Could be the Brexit deal has put her on the sidelines in the leaders' view. Odd man out sort of thing. There's always a country or two missing in these things.

The Yalta photo does not show anyone from France. Of course France was partially occupied by the Germans at the time, so that might be the reason. Charles de Gaulle and Philippe Pétain didn't make the trip.

The photo is sort of a Mount Rushmore with overcoats. It is doubtful any country is going to turn the photo into a commemorative stamp. And certainly not coinage or paper money. But, it is historic.

Group photos are great to eventually look back on. There's a bar on 33rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, on the north side, closest to Seventh, a shot glass toss from Madison Square Garden, The Blarney Rock, that used to display a 70s team photo of the New York Rangers.

The Rangers of the early 70s were the team I saw most often. I had season seats. The Rangers were very good then, always challenging in the playoff, but only once reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 1972, only to lose to the Boston Bruins in six games. Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito and the gang were too good for the Rangers in that series.

The team photo was displayed by the bar's cash register. As the months and years rolled by and players were traded or retired, someone would put an X over their face. Eventually, the entire photo was covered in X's over faces.

I don't remember when the photo disappeared. The bar is still there but no longer has the steam table typical of a Blarney Stone bar for food. No hand carved corn beef or pastrami sandwiches. My mouth is watering with nostalgia.

The reason so many establishments were called "Bar and Grill" is because way back in the day, after Prohibition, NYC required them to be able to also serve food as well as beer, wine and spirits. You didn't have to eat, but it was there. Eventually, even a microwave and a Stewart sandwich qualified as food. There is no such requirement now.

But the point is, like any team photo, eventually there will be X's placed over all the assembled faces. The only thing that lasts forever is the desire to look back.

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