Magyar News, 2006. január-május (17. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
2006-04-01 / 4. szám
AMERICAN HISTORY WITH HUNGARIAN BRUSH Some time ago my friend, and participant in the Magyar News, Col. Richard Nemeth gave me a few photos. He told me that the paintings in the picture were done by Steven Dohanos. Well Dohanos lived in Westport, CT, and he was a good friend. He did the portrait of Mary Katona for Fairfield Town, also one of his paintings depict the three buildings erected in the history of the United Church of Christ in Bridgeport. This winter with my wife we went to Florida. We visited the West Palm Beach Post Office were these paintings were displayed. As you go through the main entrance, in the lobby, there are six paintings showing different phases of the “Barefoot Mailman”. With some help in the football field size building we found a phone we used to get in touch with a costumer service person. Who we got was an outstanding person, Cecile Sasso, who gave us the royal tour. Never seen anything like it. The zillions of conveyor belts on different levels, the sorting machines and the millions of letters and all sorts of mail. I told her that we would like to shoot a few photos in the lobby. Cecile told us that people do it all the time when they come for a tour. To be able to have a professional shot one needs a ladder. That unfortunately isn’t allowed. “This series of six paintings, done by Steven Dohanos, Westport, Connecticut, artist and installed by him in early 1940, depict an era of some 75 or more years ago in this area when mail was delivered along the coast as far as Miami by "Barefoot Mailmen", one of whom appears in each of these scenes. At that time it required three days for the mail carrier, tramping along the beach and rowing himself across inlets and streams, to make his route one way. In contrast, nowadays mail from Miami reaches West Palm Beach in 30 minutes via air. A painting of the Jupiter Lighthouse shows the "Barefoot Mailman" leaving on his trek down the coast. An other scene of what might have been any small settlement Postmaster postmarking mail for the carrier to take away with him. And further along, in the next painting, is a scene where the mailman has picked up two "foot passengers" whom he charged $2.00 each for guiding them to their destination, somewhere along his long route of 70 miles. We see a carrier, trousers rolled high, shoes and mail sack slung over his shoulder, striding along a sandy beach. To his right is the A few sites of the West Palm Beach Post Office Page 5
