Ed Koch, the Man, the Myth, the Artistic Legacy 1924-2013
(edited 05 Feb 2013)
We will all greatly miss Mayor Ed Koch – a man
whose personality was as big as Manhattan – the man who probably has come
closest to meeting every resident of said city and has represented the city to
non-New Yorkers for decades. He was, he
always will be, bigger than life. Even his
passing, the day his autobiographical film opens to the public in theatres and
the day Grand Central Station, a landmark he was instrumental, as
Congressperson, in helping save from demolition, turned 100, and 11 years after
the murder of Daniel Pearl, whose last words were prophetically inscribed on
Koch’s tombstone, cannot but add to his personal legend.
One of the many areas in which he had a direct impact was in the
arts. Koch was brilliant throughout his
life in incorporating the media and performing arts into the life of the city
and into his own publicity – creating a sort of natural cameo-style appearance
genre that gave life and personality to the city through spokespersons such as him. Koch gave many such cameo appearances
including First Wives Club, Muppets Take Manhattan and Sex and the City. Koch may not have been “mayor for life”, but
he was definitely its “designated spokesperson for life.”
Koch’s passion was seemingly for media and the performing arts. He wrote a number of books, including a
biography and is being hailed as the only mayor in America to have an
off-Broadway musical biography. An
autobiographical film, Koch, opened
in theatres on Friday.
Politically, Koch took the helm of the city at a time when it was
literally facing bankruptcy. He installed
affordable, responsible government and took the case for his policies directly
to the people. He turned the city around
and is generally credited with helping inaugurate one of the city’s
longest-running building and gentrification booms.
