Rockefeller At LGA

• Here I am between James Brooks the Long Island artist who in 1940-42 painted a huge mural titled, “Flight” affixed on Belgian Linen on the upper walls of The Marine Air Terminal (MAT) at LaGuardia Airport and Laurance Rockefeller who put up the money to save the mural after he learned it was painted out of sight (read on) in 1952.Once upon a time I was hell bent for leather working with my air cargo publication Air Cargo News in 1979 to save The Marine Air Terminal (MAT) at LGA, home base in New York City to Fixed Base Operator (FBO) Butler Aviation, today’s Signature Aviation.The manager of Butler was Vince Costanza and I, as a struggling publisher, was in a kind of kinship with him to save the place by restoring the WPA Mural painted by James Brooks in 1942.Mural was painted over in 1952 by some McCarthy era lunatics from The Port Authority who thought artist Brooks was a communist.But I found the artist and told him if he gave me photographs of the panels of his 237 feet circular X 12 feet high mural titled “Flight,” I would build a floor display in the lobby outside the door of the Butler Aviation FBO, where during the late 1970s at MAT, all the New York City high rollers had a private airplanes at LGA Well Vince and the Airport Manager Tim Peirce (dear hearts) gave consent and support so I built the display.I needed sponsors and always could lean on Vince who would grin and say something like:“Yeah, I can help, we are pumping Kero like crazy.”Last I heard, Vince was selling Bibles in Massachusetts.Of course, the Port Authority here has never spoken to me again!But at the mural restoration/celebration sit down dinner, I arranged in 1980 for all the art colony big wigs to be there, including William Lieberman, Director of Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art and many others.At that party Laurance Rockefeller walked over and said to me very quietly:“I’d like to stand next to you . . . I know what you did here.“I saw your display one day when I was travelling with my friend Dewitt Wallace,” (founder of Reader’s Digest).Of course, before I could say something stupid like ‘knock yourself out,’ he said, “call me Laurance.”He then continued, “When my brother Nelson was Governor of New York State, he hired Jim to paint a mural for Empire State Plaza.“We checked him thoroughly.“He was no Communist!”Shortly after the party, I received a hand signed picture from “Call me Laurance” with himself taking tea with me at the party.Good to have low friends in high places!
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