Talk:Fleur Cowles

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My father, Michael A. "Tony" Vaccaro, just sent me an e-mail that sheds some light on Fleur Cowles. Tony is 89 years old and lives in New York City. His memory is not 100% for dates, but for events it shockingly good. The following is a portion of the e-mail:

Of all the women editors that I've met in my life, Fleur Cowles is outstanding. The relationship I had with her was the best of my life. We were a perfect team. She was the writer, with myself as the photographer.

When Fleur Magazine folded, I went to Life Magazine and later became their photographer in Rome, Italy. There I covered film, the Vatican, and the Italian political landscape. This assignment, as Life's Rome correspondent, began in February of 1954. I remained in Rome until October, 1956, when I went to work for Look Magazine in New York at a very high salary of $40,000.

Fluer came to Rome, in April of 1954, and using other photographers. But apparently things weren't going well for her. She called me at the Life office in Rome. The new Rome Life correspondant told her that I was doing a story for Life on beautiful German women, and that I was in Berlin. He calls me in Berlin, and says "Fluer Coles is asking for you. Can I give her the telephone number of the hotel where you are?"

Of course I was at the most expensive hotel in Berlin, and of course I said OK. The next day she called me. She said: "I would like to go the near East and photograph all the leaders of those countries, such as Persia, Egypt, and I told her: "Fluer, I am working for Life magazine."

She said, "I discussed it with Life, and they said we could work together." She said the date would be in June (of 1954). And that's what we did. The appointment was for her to fly to Rome where I would meet her at the airport. I would take her to the best hotel in Rome, The Hassler, and from there we would plan these stories. When she arrived in Rome, I met her just outside of the airplane, on the tarmac, because I had a press card. As she came down the steps she was crying.

She said Mike Cowles, her husband, the owner of Look Magazine, had just asked her for a divorce. He had been on the plane with her and told her as she got off in front of me. To distract her from this, we spent two or three days in Rome, and we painted the town red. At one o'clock in the morning one of those days, I took her to the coloseum. Walking around inside of the coloseum at night was magnificent. While we were walking, she tripped and fell and she dislocated her left foot. At that time one of my best friends in Rome was Claudio Castelli, a doctor. I took her to his hospital. When I arrived, she was surprised when four or five of the doctors recognized me and ran over. I introduced them all to her and she enjoyed it. I still have the photos from our time in Rome.

A few days later we left to do all the stories on the Near East. We did the Shah of Iran and his wife first, then we went to Cairo and did a story on Nassar, and then we spent a week with the King and Queen of Greece: King Paul and Queen Frederika. When we finished these stories, we flew back to Rome where I got off. She continued for New York. The next morning, she called from New York and said: "When you got off in Rome, a millionaire English man sat in my seat named Tom Morgan. We talked throughout the trip and when we arrived in London he proposed to me."

She said "Yes." Went back to New York, took everything out of the house, and flew back to London and was married. She died at 102 recently.

Anyway, she was a super woman. She made my career. I had only war photographs. She looked at them and said: "Tony, I do not need a combat photographer. I need a fashion photographer. Can you take fashion pictures?"

If I had said "No" I would not have gotten the job. So I lied and I said "Yes" in her office in New York. She reaches for the telephone, and calls the Ford Modeling Agency and booked three models for ten o'clock the next day. That evening, I bought Harper's Bazaar and Vogue Magazine and studied them. At ten o'clock the next day I was ready.

She liked the results. She fired three other photographers, Bob Frank, Louie Fourer, and a woman that I do not recall. I became her chief photographer. It was the 14th of September 1950 at her offices, 488 Madison Avenue, 14th floor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 7bench496 (talk • contribs) 17:21, 13 January 2012 (UTC) 7bench496 (talk) 17:24, 13 January 2012 (UTC)Frank Vaccaro[reply]

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