In yesterday’s New York Times, I read of the passing of Marty Forscher.
Marty was as old skool as it got…I mean, he got his start serving in the Navy photographic unit headed by Edward Steichen, for God’s sake! After the war, he opened his own repair shop, first on Lexington Avenue, but later at the 37 West 47th Street location that everybody knew. Professional Camera Repair wasn’t just a repair place…it was one of the ‘hubs’ of the New York photo business. The old bulletin board in the waiting area was filled with assistant’s resumes, studio shares, camera ‘for sale’ notices, photo show openings and just about everything else you could imagine that related to photography in this city. And when Marty wasn’t simply fixing cameras, he was always coming up with ways to make them do things that the manufacturers didn’t think of…or inventing his own stuff…the most famous of which was the Forscher ProBack. What a simple idea…a Polaroid back for a 35mm camera…except is wasn’t. There were all sorts of optical reasons why you couldn’t simply slap a Polaroid back onto a 35mm camera, and before the ProBack, the only way to get an instant image from a 35mm camera was to slap on the ungainly monster known as a Speed Magny…..
For those of you who spent any time in a physics class, you can imagine how the long optical path of that periscope-like device would suck up light…in this case, about about 5 stops worth…so a shutter speed of 1/250 second effectively became 1/8 second…not very useful at all. Marty had another idea…he invented a system that used a free-floating fiber optic lens to transfer the image from the camera film plane directly onto the Polaroid film plane…..
I’ll always remember the day when I saw my first ProBack…and then the second, and the third…..and soon there was nobody who didn’t own one! To anybody not involved in the business, this probably seems like nothing, but overnight, Marty’s little invention had changed the way a generation of photographers took pictures! Here is the first two-on-one 35mm Fiber Optic Pro-Back Polaroid shot ever taken…..that’s Marty with one of his repair techs, Noah Schwartz…..
It’s been a long, long time since I have seen Marty, but I’ll fondly remember him and how he would offer up a bit of grandfatherly advice or a few suggestions on how to solve a problem…..then he’d shoo me away from the counter ‘cuz there were other customers waiting!
Damn Ugly Photography 
Marty was a true genius – another great master has left us. What a sad year 2009 has been for the photographic world. So many of our originals have passed away.
What a great guy he was! Sad day in the photo community…
I was twenty one when I went to work for Marty, at Professional Camera Repair. It was my first real job. I was the only girl in the shop, with the exception of another girl named Cindy , who would come in two times a week. Marty made sure that I felt like a member of the repair shop family. I was Marty’s assistant and in charge of making sure that the right camera went to the right repair technician. I also did some other administrative work. The fun part of the job was calling all the famous photographers to let them know their cameras were ready for pick-up. Peter Kaplan was the photographer of the hour, with his ‘Moon Over Manhattan” spread on time magazine, I think. It wasn’t unusual for movie stars to show up at the shop and want to spend time chatting with Marty. I always knew when to interrupt the conversations, so that Marty could get back to doing what he loved most, cameras.
Marty became a father figure to me, and I’ve always said that he was the best boss I ever had or ever will have. When he told me that he was retiring, and that Rick would be my new boss, I gave in my two weeks notice. I told Marty that I couldn’t work at the shop without the best thing about working there, and that was him. On my last day at the shop, I spent the whole day holding back the flood of tears that were becoming relentless. At the end of the day, Marty called me to the back of the shop, where we’d have our lunch. He said that I was a very special young lady, then handed me an envelope and said, “here’s your severance pay.” I told him, “but Marty I wasn’t fired! I gave you my resignation.” He told me not to worry and reminded me that he was the boss. As I hugged Marty the floodgates of tears opened up. When I finally let go, Marty’s white shirt and red apron were drenched in tears. As I made my exist, I turned and said, “Marty you’re the best father a girl could ever hope for. I’m not suppose to say this but, you’re not my boss. I love you.” Marty didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to because I knew.
When I got home that evening, I opened the envelope and was shocked to see a years severance pay. I was having a conversation with my husband about employers when the thought of Marty came to me . My husband knew about Marty because I’d always say that Marty Forscher was the best boss I ever had and that I loved him like a father. I wondered about Marty and just found out of his passing. I cried like the day I left the shop. It’s July of 2023 and Marty’s spirit is still inspiring.