Great Fortune: The Epic Of Rockefeller Center

Rating:
Summary: Vivid Rendering of Rock Center's Formative Years
Review: Daniel Okrent has produced a vividly rendered account of Rockefeller Center's formative years. This is a superb book, destined to the the definitive standard on its subject, that will appeal strongly to readers with a wide variety of tastes and interests.

Seven decades removed from the event -- with Rock Center holding such an iconic place in the Manhattan skyline -- this reader was especially struck by Rock Center's seemingly star-crossed beginnings: its architecture universally excoriated (Lewis Mumford being among the most vociferous early critics, until suddenly and inexplicably reversing course); opening night at Radio City Music Hall an unmitigated flop; the sparsely-trafficked retail concourse derided as "the catacombs;" a controversial Diego Rivera mural providing a public relations black-eye, etc. With its leasing program stalled in the Depression-ravaged economy, the Rockefellers desperately slashed office rents from $4 to $1 per sq ft, under-cutting the market. Their tactic of buying-out the existing leases of companies being courted to lease space at the Center -- not uncommon in today's marketplace -- drew the opprobrium of rival property owners, including a lawsuit from August Heckscher (whose grandson would go on to be a high profile Parks Commissioner).

"Great Fortune" is laden with rich anecdotes and compelling, larger-than-life characters like the mercurial John R. Todd (managing agent and construction manager and grandfather to the future New Jersey Governor, Christine Todd-Whitman); the lead architect with a penchant for fast living, Raymond Hood, and, of course, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his ambitious second son, Nelson, first among equals of the Rockefeller's third generation.

Okrent is a gifted wordsmith (it's not suprising that the New York Times just named him its new ombudsman) who's penned an entertaining, fast-paced narrative. Anyone even remotely curious about New York City and its history will be held in thrall from cover to cover. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid Rendering of Rock Center's Formative Years
Review: Daniel Okrent has produced a vividly rendered account of Rockefeller Center's formative years. This is a superb book, destined to the the definitive standard on its subject, that will appeal strongly to readers with a wide variety of tastes and interests.

Seven decades removed from the event -- with Rock Center holding such an iconic place in the Manhattan skyline -- this reader was especially struck by Rock Center's seemingly star-crossed beginnings: its architecture universally excoriated (Lewis Mumford being among the most vociferous early critics, until suddenly and inexplicably reversing course); opening night at Radio City Music Hall an unmitigated flop; the sparsely-trafficked retail concourse derided as "the catacombs;" a controversial Diego Rivera mural providing a public relations black-eye, etc. With its leasing program stalled in the Depression-ravaged economy, the Rockefellers desperately slashed office rents from $4 to $1 per sq ft, under-cutting the market. Their tactic of buying-out the existing leases of companies being courted to lease space at the Center -- not uncommon in today's marketplace -- drew the opprobrium of rival property owners, including a lawsuit from August Heckscher (whose grandson would go on to be a high profile Parks Commissioner).

"Great Fortune" is laden with rich anecdotes and compelling, larger-than-life characters like the mercurial John R. Todd (managing agent and construction manager and grandfather to the future New Jersey Governor, Christine Todd-Whitman); the lead architect with a penchant for fast living, Raymond Hood, and, of course, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his ambitious second son, Nelson, first among equals of the Rockefeller's third generation.

Okrent is a gifted wordsmith (it's not suprising that the New York Times just named him its new ombudsman) who's penned an entertaining, fast-paced narrative. Anyone even remotely curious about New York City and its history will be held in thrall from cover to cover. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Remember Tracy Kidder?
Review: Daniel Okrent takes his little theme - which involves the whole history of American real estate development, big business, big law, big oil, the growth of the 20th century American university, the Depression, the New Deal, the growth of New York City, the twentieth century transformation of architecture, the clash of egos, the history of American theatre and more - and yet, despite this narrow focus, makes it even more interesting, absorbing and thrilling than Tracy Kidder's epic of building a single family dwelling in HOUSE.

Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: Daniel Okrent, public editor of the New York Times, has crafted a terrific history and love letter to New York through the microcosm of the tale of Rockefeller Center, one of the seminal landmarks of the city and one of those true stories that seem stranger than fiction.

I can only speak for myself but I imagine that it's hard for anyone who has lived in New York in a time when Rockefeller Center has always existed to appreciate the level of diplomacy, architecture, finance, and artwork that went into creating the complex, not to mention the somewhat scandalous occurrences, but Okrent captures it with a snappy prose style that also manages to blend in some fine observations and humorous analogies. Especially due to the continued presence of the Center, it is gratifying to be able to put into modern context the various descriptions and details and visualize them as they exist today.

The history of the Rockefellers, while obviously much broader and filled with much more intriguing information than is relevant here, is nonetheless captured more than adequately, particularly John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his second son Nelson. More than just the account of a building project, the book also marks the transition between old-time New York society of the Gilded Age and the modern New York of the twentieth century. The chapter regarding the controversial Diego Rivera mural seeks to set the record straight on a story that has taken on it's own life over the years and the characters who have previously been given short shrift finally get their due.

Perhaps it's fitting that the seminal word on the complex should come from the Gershwins - "They all laughed at Rockefeller Center, now they're fighting to get in." And we still are. Great book for fans of history, New York, architecture, or just plain good writing.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Researched and Richly Detailed
Review: Everyone who has ever visited Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan --- that probably includes a majority of the American people --- has perhaps wondered: How did all this happen? Who dreamed up this incredible place? Why here?

Daniel Okrent, who has spent much of his working life at Rockefeller Center (with Time and Life magazines) has set out to answer these questions in GREAT FORTUNE, starting with the days when Manhattan Island was owned by the Dutch and bringing things pretty much up to the present. It is a fascinating tale, told here with literary flair, thorough research and broad historical perspective.

The best-known component of Rockefeller Center, of course, is the famous Music Hall with its enormous stage, elevator-equipped orchestra pit and Rockettes chorus line. That theater is duly celebrated in the book, but Okrent's focus is much wider, encompassing the complex land deals that brought the site under the wing of the Rockefeller family, the cast of wildly disparate characters and clashing temperaments who built and guided it, and the tangled web of Big Business and High Society interests that made the place what it is today --- a world center for communications, business, trade and political wheeling-dealing as well as for mass-market entertainment and tourism.

The cast of characters is large. The expected famous names are all present --- John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the whole Rockefeller clan; S. L. "Roxy" Rothapfel, showman extraordinaire; Nicholas Murray Butler, dour president of Columbia University; and Otto Kahn, early patron and financier of the Metropolitan Opera.

But what gives Okrent's book a special flavor are the many other major players in this drama that most of us have never heard of. Two names stand out: John R. Todd, the crusty boss of the entire construction operation and the finished Center itself, and Raymond Hood, a hard-drinking architectural genius whom Okrent credits as the Center's principal designer. There are cameo appearances by all sorts of celebrities --- Arturo Toscanini, Diego Rivera, and even Benito Mussolini, who gave his blessing to a building on the site that housed Italian business interests.

Okrent is both a clever phrasemaker and a shrewd judge of character. In his narrative John D. Rockefeller Jr. begins as a timid and diffident patron, almost afraid to take control of the huge enterprise that had been unexpectedly dumped into his lap, only rising late in the game to a level of confidence that made his hand on the helm a sure one. His son Nelson comes off as a hard-driving schemer whose zeal to get things done left twisted bodies in his wake, some of them his own brothers.

The idea that became Rockefeller Center began in the 1920s as a scheme to find a new home for the Metropolitan Opera. There was, alas, factional feuding between the opera-minded people around Otto Kahn and the board that controlled the company's real estate. After the opera group backed out, famed publicist Ivy Lee was the man who brought Rockefeller into the picture. Okrent reports that Rockefeller spent about $60 million of his own money plus another $44.6 million obtained through the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company via a mortgage loan. In 2003 terms, those figures amount to $805 million and $599 million. "Boggles the mind," as Center tenant Time magazine used to put it.

In addition to such nuts-and-bolts reporting, Okrent's book is crammed with illuminating anecdotal detail that gives it a wonderfully rich texture. He unearths, for instance, this quote from a Depression-weary society dowager about the Metropolitan Opera: "Now that we don't dare to display our jewelry in public, why should we continue to support these wops?"

Rockefeller Center today is a totally different entity from the one envisioned by its founders. It had from the start --- and continues to have --- plenty of detractors (social critic Lewis Mumford led a chorus of catcalls for years). Okrent was not auditioning for cheerleader when he wrote this book; he has, however, made himself Rockefeller Center's premiere historian.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

Rating:
Summary: A grand place gets a grand history.
Review: For most, Rockefeller Center makes its impression on people early in their lives. Many of us as children were introduced to it by either a show at Radio City Music Hall or by a visit to the Christmas tree. Either way, the event was usually magical, and Rockefeller Center always seemed to maintain that Art Deco dreamlike place in our hearts. Finally, this book, "Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center" by Daniel Okrent sort of pulls down the facade to reveal the all too human faces behind this self-contained wonderworld.

This story isn't too well-known, and the evolution of the site from midtown wasteland to potential opera house to what it is today is strange enough to pass as fiction. Daniel Okrent does a more than efficient job of balancing all the various elements and characters that went into this place: greed, art, revolution, riches, poverty, Luce, Vanderbilt, Rivera, and, of course, the Rockefellers. There are many more characters and events chronicled here--this isn't light reading! But Okrent makes the ride interesting, balancing dry economics with witty commentary (his own and from others). The pacing is actually very swift, and this is a testimony to Okrent's devotion to his subject and his own writing talents.

Pick up a copy of this book; you're sure to enjoy it.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: GREAT FORTUNE is even better than its best reviews suggest. Its understanding of society and social history, of architecture and architectural history, its authority of research and elegance of style--its sheer fun!--make GREAT FORTUNE that rarity among modern books: a work one can read and read again. Okrent's portrait of the great Raymond Hood is alone worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Where's The Center of New York?
Review: I did not know. I'm from Chicago, and it has the Loop, which for my generation was clearly the center of the city. I visited New York for the first time about five years ago. A close friend decided to meet me there for a look around; he was born there.

So I figured we'd spend time in Times Square, maybe see Central Park. I was amazed at how large Manhattan Island was; it was like a dozen "Loop" districts strung end to end.

He took me to Rockefeller Center and I noticed how his mood changed. It was the center of New York, I saw - maybe even more than Times Square. It was a public gathering place of significance, a place where recreation, retail and work combined in a great harmony.

Why did a private person build New York's single most impressive and significant public space? Especially since, as an investment, it was dubious at best.

This book finally settles the question. Like many great ventures, it caromed off the padded banks of New York cultural politics. It started as an opera house, of all things, and then became everything BUT an opera house.

Personalities, money, power and above all, how to get things done. This is a great and unexpectedly funny book.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable detail
Review: The story of Rockefeller Center is truly epic and in one way a history of New York in the twentieth century. A true behind the scenes look at the story of a complex and a city. The one drawback was the entire bankruptcy of the center was reduced to one paragraph in the Epilogue. It alone is worthy of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Moviestars
Review: When reading this book, it's quite easy to picture yourself a Hollywood movie, which fits the Rockefeller Center for the project is indeed a movie star in the New York City skyline. Okrent gives a dramatic and richly written insight in the way the Rockefeller Center came in to being, but to me he focuses a tad too much on the characters involved. Not the project itself is being treated like a movie star, but especially the great number of people involved, even if only indirectly. If you wouldn't know any better, you'd think Okrent must have been close personal friends to all characters. This is how one of the many characters is being introduced: "But of all people...no one was more important...then a slight, sandy haired former financial clerk from Westfield, New Jersey, who loved to dress in light blue, wore a thin, exquisitely trimmed moustache, lived in an apartment on Riverside Drive with his mother and sister, and was rarely happier than when he could stand in the wings of the Music Hall's vast stage and shout 'Shake it up for daddy, girls'".

The story is a good All American read, but if you are looking for more insight into the development and construction process and less drama, you'd probably prefer Karl Sabbagh's 'Skyscraper: The Making of a Building' or Jerry Adler's 'High-Rise: ...'.