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To get a better history of NYC, I checked out from the library the PBS video series on the history of NYC. The tape dealing with the golden era of the 20s covered the construction of the Empire Bldg. I was touched by comment of a
London Sunday Times correspondent. He noted the powerful symbolism of creating such buildings during the depression. But he was even more taken with the ordinary Americans who labored in the construction of these massive skyscappers. He said:
"These are classical heros in the flesh:
outwardly prosiaic, incredibly non chalant. Crawling, climbing,
walking, swinging, swooping on gigantic steel frames. Hairy chested
huskies, strapping youths, clean limbed, clear eyed. Fusing the
iron of their nerves with the steel of the girders they build into
modern cities." |
