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Later, Eisenstaedt, known as “Eisie” at Life, inscribed one of his many books to her: “The one and only nurse photographed on Aug. He delivered an 8- by 10-inch glossy print of the photo, and Life flew her back to New York for a luncheon. Shain ferried Eisenstaedt around Los Angeles in her bright red Cadillac convertible (“I’ve always liked big cars”). “He looked at my legs and said I was the one.” “Now that I was of a certain age, I wasn’t embarrassed about it any more,” she said. Eisenstaedt, then in his 80s but still a working photographer, flew to Los Angeles to see if she was the real person. She wrote to Life and said she was the nurse in the picture. But she switched to teaching, the profession she followed until her retirement in 1985.Īs the years went on, she kept seeing pictures of The Kiss and finally decided that she wanted a copy. She never even mentioned the picture to her parents.Ī few years later, Shain moved to Los Angeles, intent on continuing her nursing career.

She and the friend who’d gone with her decided to leave Times Square before things got out of hand. And a little bit of my slip was showing.”Īfter she kissed the sailor, Shain turned away, only to be met by an Army man who wanted a smooch as well. “I was wearing the same kind of shoes, and I had the same kind of seams in my stockings. She didn’t even keep a copy of the magazine. Shain said she saw the photo and recognized herself but didn’t say anything because she was embarrassed. I never saw him.”īut Eisenstaedt caught the moment with his Leica, and the picture was published the next week in Life. “Someone grabbed me and kissed me, and I let him because he fought for his country. Shain was a 27-year-old native New Yorker, still married to her first husband but separated and working as a nurse at Doctors Hospital in Manhattan.Įisenstaedt was one of the most famous photographers of his time, widely considered the father of photojournalism, described in a 1954 New York Times article as “a master of the little detail, the homely trifle, that tells a big story.”īoth of them headed for Times Square when news of the Japanese surrender was announced over the radio - Shain from the hospital, where her shift was just ending, Eisenstaedt from the magazine’s office. There have been charges that the photo was posed and that it didn’t happen on V-J Day, but few dispute that this was one of those great moments in the history of photography. It’s standard poster fare in college dorms. The picture adorns everything from purses to wristwatches. She has three children and has gone through three marriages during her lifetime, most of which was spent teaching in Los Angeles public schools.īut The Kiss has brought her a small measure of fame, if not fortune. Shain, who has been in demand for 60th anniversary commemorations of V-J Day, has served as the honorary grand marshal of the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade and also rode in the gay pride parade in West Hollywood.