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

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining is renowned for its haunting conclusion, particularly the final shot featuring a photograph from the Overlook Hotel’s 1921 Fourth of July ball, prominently displaying Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) among the attendees, despite the character not being born at the time. This image, which was digitally altered to include Nicholson, was based on a real photograph that had long faded into obscurity. However, after 45 years since the film's release, the original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph has finally been rediscovered.

Retired academic Alasdair Spark from the University of Winchester shared the journey of tracking down this historic image on Getty's Instagram. He revealed that the photograph was part of a series taken by the Topical Press Agency during a St. Valentine's Day Ball on February 14, 1921, at the Empress Rooms in the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington. The image featured Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer, identified earlier through facial recognition software. Spark's post included a new scan from the original glass-plate negative and supporting handwritten documents.

The search for the photograph involved Spark, New York Times staffer Arick Toller, and numerous dedicated Redditors. Spark described the process as a "wild goose chase," fraught with challenges and dead ends. "It was starting to seem impossible, every cross-reference to Casani failed to match. Other likely places that were suggested didn’t match," he noted. There were fears that the image might be lost to history, but perseverance paid off.

Spark had been informed by on-set photographer Murray Close, who captured the image of Nicholson used in the film, that the original photograph was sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton had acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty later took over in 1991, Spark decided to comb through Getty’s vast archives. This effort led to the discovery that the image was 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 novel, released in 1977, has been adapted into two notable versions: Kubrick's iconic 1980 film and Mick Garris' book-faithful 1997 miniseries.