Frank Vance Storrs: Life is a Book...

-
Frank Vance Storrs created Playbill, much to the appreciation of theater-goers everywhere. His whimsical monument in Valhalla's Kensico Cemetery reads: Life is a Book-A Different Page is Turned Each Day-The Happiness of the Next None Dare Say.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "Prime Minister of the Underworld."

-
Image
Frank Costello, born Francesco Castiglia, was luckier than most of his mob cronies --he died a natural death at the age of 82. Having survived a 1957 murder attempt by Vincent Gigante-- a low-level criminal at the time—Costello later refused to identify Gigante as the shooter. Nicknamed the "Prime Minister of the Underworld," Costello was a Mafia leader who wanted to be accepted as a businessman and member of the establishment. Unlike most of his peers, Costello was said to eschew violence. He cultivated refinement and sought out sophisticated friends among New York's established bigwigs and politicians. These men curried his favors to such an extent that the underworld grapevine claimed, "Nobody in New York City can be made a judge without Costello's consent." During the mid-fifties Kefauver hearings on organized crime, Costello was front and center. At least his hands were, as the networks agreed not to broadcast his face. When the committee asked what he ...
Read more

A Mother's Grief

-
Image
  Near the edge of Green -Wood Cemetery, a sculpture of a beautiful woman –Rose Guarino--reclining across stone steps stops visitors in their tracks. Open-eyed, with lips parted and long hair flowing, she is dressed in a flowing gown, and wearing sandals. She clutches a bouquet in her hands. For generations, Brooklyn locals have believed that the monument commemorates a mafia bride gunned down on her wedding day in a revenge killing. The true story behind the statue does involve a murder and is just as tragic.  In the summer of 1909, Dominica Merello and her daughter, Rose Guarino, were dining with family members on the lawn of their NJ summer home when Pietro Silverio, an irate domestic employee, rushed the women, gun in hand, to exact revenge for losing his job. As the women attempted to flee, Silverio gave chase and shot Guarino in the back.   She died three days later. Guarino's body was held for two years in the cemetery's receiving vault while the monument w...
Read more

Architecture of the Rockefeller Mausoleum: Design and Legacy

-
Image
  Standing as a prominent symbol of wealth and remembrance, the Rockefeller mausoleum crowns the cemetery's highest point. William Rockefeller (1841-1922) co-founded Standard Oil (now Exxon) with his brother John. He commissioned this mausoleum for his wife, Almira, after her death in 1920. The couple lived nearby in Rockwood Hall, a 204-room mansion on Albany Post Road. Welles Bosworth, a distinguished architect trained at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, designed the mausoleum. Bosworth also led the architecture for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. The mausoleum features a classical revival style. Bronze doors and engaged Ionic columns (columns attached to walls with spiral capitals) highlight this design. It also has a pyramid-shaped roof and large monolithic wall stones (single, massive stone blocks).  On the lower step of the stylobate—the platform base of the structure—appears the Rockefeller name, signifying the family's legacy.  Together, these elements giv...
Read more