#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE
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#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE |
| Vol. 20 No. 44 | Wednesday
November 17,
2021 |
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Return Of Icarus |
In 1952 at the height of the McCarthy anti-communist witch hunts that adversely impacted the arts, especially the movie makers and muralists of the Roosevelt Administration, at LaGuardia Airport’s Marine Air Terminal, a giant 237and a half foot circular and 12 foot tall mural titled “Flight” was thought to have communist overtones and was painted over in drab gray wall paint by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. Whilst out delivering our newspaper Air Cargo News in 1978 we came upon the MAT and the story of the mural and found the artist James Brooks, who assured us every art big shot had tried and failed to bring back his giant mural, which he had created on Belgian linen over a two-year period from1940-1942  When
Air Cargo News (our monthly industry newspaper, the original since 1975)
saved the mural Flight at LaGuardia and had the Marine Air Terminal
designated a landmark in 1980, the restorers uncovered the first image from
under nearly 30 years of wall paint; it was a tiny portion of Icarus tumbling,
having flown too close to the sun.The men who restored the mural sat over a weekend in my office, smoking dope and must have been higher than the flag on July 4th as they worked. I stood there in the lobby looking up in wonder alongside the artist Jim Brooks who had thought he would never see the mural again. Jim hobnobbed with all the titled swells in the Hamptons on Long Island, home of the rich and famous. He drank with and later delivered eulogies for fellow1930s artists that lived in the Hamptons, including Jackson Pollack and others. None of The New York Times chi chi la la crowd could figure out how to save his mural, to bring it back to life. Then we came along, and we not only saved his mural but also had The Marine Air Terminal LaGuardia declared a historic landmark. Today, despite the $8 billion dollar concrete and glass monstrosity of an airport being built all around at LaGuardia, the Port Authority cannot lay a glove on The Marine Air Terminal, although Lord knows they try. 
Jim was absolutely over the moon when his
abstract art back was brought back to life during the 1980s. The sign he
had hand lettered in 1942 explaining his mural and hung on the walls of
MAT was returned to its original place of pride.I made a photo copy as the sign still hangs in the building today. We were close friends for years and when he died I sat on the edge of his bed in his house in The Springs in the Hamptons and cried so they left me alone in his room for some hours. The view of that little spot in the giant mural that came back first, the Icarus pictured here is never forgot for the thrill of the moment and the promise it indicated. Today we refer to Icarus in our story presented here above. Nice to see old Icarus again in our media. Since there are no coincidences, it’s even nicer that you, dear readers, who are such kindred spirits in our lives can share this moment with us. Sabiha/Geoffrey |
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 Vol. 20 No. 41 Peter Hansen Pulled Air Cargo Up Sullivan's Travels Chuckles for October 20, 2021 Inside Moves At Qatar Cargo On The Freight-Pay Beam Sorting Cargo In A Gutter Near You 'Tis Autumn In New York |
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Publisher-Geoffrey Arend
• Managing Editor-Flossie Arend • Editor Emeritus-Richard
Malkin Film Editor-Ralph Arend • Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend |
Send comments and news to geoffrey@aircargonews.com
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