After Leona Helmsley died, I did a post and mentioned that at least her will wouldn’t be contested with the same vigor and rancor that Brooke Astor’s appears to be gearing up to.
I may be wrong. Very, very wrong. If you haven’t heard, Leona left $12 million to her dog, zillions to her charitable trust, and zip for a couple of grandkids.
I’m betting on the dog. It’s been known to bite.
-H
Today was the celebration of Pakistan’s 60th year of independence. Technically, the anniversary was Tuesday, August 14, so you may have had your own celebrations earlier. As part of today’s celebration, there was a NYC parade and Famous Ankles, a known habitue of such parades, couldn’t have been kept away with a stick. Okay, maybe if it were a big stick, but then I would have missed an enjoyable time.
The parade was held on Madison Avenue between 41st Street and 27th (the parades on Madison Ave. typically go north to south). My home and office are in the general area so it was a very easy commute to the site.
What did I expect from the parade? My favorite parades are always the small ones and the biggest point is to see things other than the parade itself. My “Famous Ankles” name comes from the Greek Independence Day parade in which my ankles became relatively famous by being next to two adorable little girls who received more pictures taken of them by official parade photographers (and people on the floats with cameras) than I could count.
As odd as it may seem for a Christian, my two favorite parades of all time are related to Moslem issues/countries. First, the Shiite parade last year on Park Avenue was amazing for the intensity, friendliness, and neighborliness of the participants (several people in the march came to me, the most northern European of all spectators, to let me know what the parade was about, what everything symbolized, the history of the issues, and everything). Second, the Persian Day parade from earlier this year had me interviewed by a Persian film crew who were thunderstruck that I knew why the parade was going in (they celebrate their New Year at the vernal equinox) and that I was delighted to see the incredible panoply of Persian culture including dancing girls and Zoroasterians.
So, to make a long story short: I was looking forward to the Pakistan Independence Day parade and it didn’t let me down. It was a small item that captivated me, but it was one that I enjoyed thoroughly and hope to be able to relate.
I showed up about 20 minutes before the start of the parade. I was near the beginning of the parade so I did run into the NYC parade starting group: cops and horses.
The first marching group…wasn’t quite Pakistani…it was a marching band…playing Sousa!
Okay, that’s not astonishing. Even now, Sousa has a place at most parades. And to get technical, this really wasn’t a Moslem parade. It was a nationalist parade. Sousa’s good for that: nice marching music.
The next group was a group of police officers, apparently of Pakistani origin. My picture didn’t come out. Sorry, NYPD.
And then the dignitaries. I did get a number of pictures, but I haven’t the foggiest as to who these people were.
There is one item about the dignitaries that I don’t understand. Who are the Black guys on each end? They don’t look of an age that would lend themselves to being long-time supporters and friends of the Pakistani community. They carried themselves more like bodyguards or something. But that makes even less sense.
Another dignitary issue: I’ve been to oodles of these parades. Congressman Anthony Weiner is always a member of the nationality (at least for the day). I know who he is because he loves to have people standing right behind him with a sign saying “Congressman Anthony Weiner”, just to make sure people know. Maybe they wouldn’t give him a bullhorn today (and he does love a good bullhorn). The mayor loves to come to these things. No show today. Both NY senators (Schumer and Clinton) come to them. No show today. It’s enough to make you feel for the Pakistanis. To be snubbed by Weiner… Of course, the obvious answer for all of the politicians is that they may not want to be associated with a country that is so Moslem and run under a military dictatorship. But I would tend to say that today’s crowd would have been receptive to a democratic and tolerant message. Hey, there were a lot of American flags being waved in addition to the Pakistan flag.
And that leads me to my absolutely favorite part of the parade.
As I stood waiting for the start, a family showed up to my immediate right. Among the members were a doting dad and two cute little girls. I had flashbacks to the Greek parade. But, it turns out that the star wasn’t the little girls; it was “dad”.
Being little girls (one being “the girly-girl” and the other being “the tomboy”), they were as cute as you would expect and I asked “dad” if I could take their pictures. He agreed, and even posed.
The second little girl was a lot more elusive, but they did get together and they did get the attention of official photogs.
(That’s “mom” collecting the kids.)
For the most part, the girls just weren’t into the parade, but “dad” was.
In that last picture, note that he has two American flags. That’s the interesting part. During the parade, he called to one of the people handing out placards and the like (they were inside the parade barricades). He motioned her over and started speaking and then pointed out into the street. About 25 feet away to my left was a fallen American flag, apparently dropped from one of the floats. At his behest, the woman went out and picked up the flag and brought it back to “dad”. Once he had it, “dad” didn’t let go of it. “Dad” is a real American. Yeah, it’s a small thing, but it strikes me just right.
The parade had started out on a quiet note. A marching band playing some Sousa and then some bagpipers.
And lots of floats.
I do kinda like the slogan “Life Comes At You Fast”. It turns out to be a Nationwide Insurance Company slogan. I had no idea it was a company float as the people obscured the logo, but it turns out that there is a small “Nationwide” sign there plus the company’s other slogan. But, I didn’t see those during the march and thought the first sentence might be a homegrown/local slogan. I shoulda known. After all, I was on Madison Avenue, the home of advertising.
Finally, someone cranked up the music (which had been loud, but not too loud) and the dancing started.
The dancing lasted…one float.
An item I learned at the parade was who Allama Muhammad Iqbal was: “the thinker of Pakistan”. Actually, he turns out to have been a poet-philosopher who pushed to have a separate Moslem country split off from India. He died in 1938, well before the independence of India from Britain and the partition of Pakistan from India.
And then, it was over. The whole parade was scheduled from 1pm to 3:30pm. The actual parade lasted 18 minutes. Well, it is a minor parade. But it was pleasant.
-H
I promised an update to my earlier Brooke Astor post. Today, I went to the NY Public Library at 5th Avenue and 41st Street to see if I could get a picture of the bench in the Library’s main entryway. Here’s the outside. The lions continue to stand guard.
I went inside. Security checks everyone’s bags but I had none, so I scooted in quickly. Unfortunately, there is a ban on flash photography. The light was marginal but I didn’t want to take flash pictures in front of the guards at the entrance, so the pictures aren’t particularly good.
As you go in, there are grand stairs to the left and to the right. You go to the first landing on the right staircase, and there’s a large stone plaque (whose picture didn’t come out at all) and the bench.
When I continued up the stairs, I got a nicer picture of the entranceway.
And there was a display for Mrs. Astor.
So, where are the books? Actually, this branch of the Library is more the research area (and I presume the administrative departments). If you want to find your standard novels and biographies, go across the street.
-H
Another NYC legendary figure has passed away. This time, Leona Helmsley, whose passing is unlikely to evoke the warmth that Brooke Astor’s did. Although I presume the struggle over her final will is going to be less contested than Mrs. Astor’s.
I recently visited some family that was staying at the Park Lane Hotel on 59th Street. My aunt and uncle were in on a business/pleasure trip and stayed at the hotel on something like the 42nd floor. I went up to meet them and got one of the greatest NYC views ever: straight up the center of Central Park. A view of a lifetime. It did give me the chance to point out various and sundry famous buildings in the distance and Central Park attractions just below. Leona was apparently living just two to four floors above and shared the view, albeit slightly better. There was a car in the hotel’s driveway that was ready to whisk her away at a moment’s notice, but we had heard that it had been a long time since that call had been made.
I live in Tudor City, which was once owned by Harry Helmsley (Leona’s husband). He was the person who, after years of acrimony with Tudor City renters, arranged for the sale to the group that eventually turned the complex into co-operative apartments.
There’s still a Helmsley Hotel just about two blocks away on 42nd Street.
-H
I never knew her, never saw her, and barely knew she existed until hearing the terrible stories about how she was being mistreated by her son.
But, she done good stuff. Real good stuff. She was one of the backers of….well, almost all the cool cultural stuff in NYC. I won’t list them here. What I’ll remark about is the New York Public Library and how there’s a special little bench area, halfway up the stairs in the grand hall of the building. (It’s to the right as you go in.) I’ve sat there several times and just viewed a nice view of a grand building’s entryway and thought good thoughts about the woman that particular bench is dedicated to. Her name’s in a number of parts of the building but I have an affinity for that bench. I’ll post a picture soon.
Brooke Astor, dead at 105. Thank you so very much Mrs. Astor. And rest in peace.
-H
Famous Ankles 
