"Shining's Iconic Final Shot Photo Found After 45 Years"

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation of "The Shining" includes one of the most iconic final scenes in cinematic history: a chilling photograph from the Overlook Hotel's 1921 Fourth of July ball, featuring Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) prominently, despite the fact that he was not yet born at the time depicted in the image. This photograph was created by superimposing Nicholson onto a real image, which had faded into obscurity until recently. Now, 45 years after the film's release, the original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph has been rediscovered.

Retired University of Winchester academic Alasdair Spark shared insights into the process of locating the image on Getty's Instagram. He revealed that facial recognition software had previously identified the unknown man in the photograph as Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer. Spark further explained that the photo was one of three taken by the Topical Press Agency at a St. Valentine's Day Ball on February 14, 1921, at the Empress Rooms in the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington. The post included a new scan from the original glass-plate negative and supporting handwritten documents.

Spark, along with New York Times staffer Arick Toller and dedicated Redditors, embarked on an extensive search to find the image. Initially, it seemed like an impossible task as cross-references to Casani did not match, and suggested locations failed to yield results. Spark noted, "There were some places we could not find images for and we started to fear that meant the photo might be lost to history, and never be found."

The search led Spark to on-set photographer Murray Close, who had taken the image of Nicholson that was superimposed over Casani for the film. Close mentioned that the original photo had been sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton had acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty had taken over in 1991, Spark decided to search through Getty's extensive image collection. This effort revealed that the image had been licensed to Hawk Films, Kubrick’s production company, on October 10, 1978, for use in "The Shining."

Spark concluded, "Joan Smith had said the photo dated from 1923. Stanley Kubrick had said 1921 and he was correct. The photo doesn’t show any of the celebrities I had speculated on — the Trix Sisters for instance — nor the bankers, financiers or presidents others like Rob Ager have imagined there. No devil worshippers either. Nobody was composited into it except Jack Nicholson. It shows a group of ordinary London people on a Monday evening. ‘All the best people,’ as the manager of the Overlook Hotel said."

This discovery is sure to delight fans of "The Shining." Stephen King's original novel was published in 1977 and has been adapted into two notable works: Kubrick's iconic film and Mick Garris' book-accurate 1997 miniseries.