Following the success of his first book, Naked City (1946), Weegee spent some time working in Hollywood as an actor and consultant. Mark Hellinger bought the rights to use the title from Weegee, and his gritty aesthetic formed the foundation for Hellinger's 1948 film The Naked City.

Weegee was an uncredited special effects consultant and credited stills photographer for Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and was one of the influences on the accent of the title character, played by Peter Sellers.

First edition; 4to (273 x 200 mm, 10¾ x 7¾ in); black-and-white photographs; plain endpapers, lightly toned, black cloth-covered boards, yellow cloth backstrip, titles stamped in black on spine and upper side, light wear to bottom edge, head of spine bumped, photo-illustrated dust-jacket, black, yellow, and grey, light wear to edges, tiny chip to top edge of lower panel, minor toning to rear panel, tape repair to head of spine verso, an excellent copy; [128]pp.