Who wouldn’t want sunny Miami on a chilly late-winter day in 1954, when Eastern Air Lines advertised non-stop flights from Louisville — especially with the promise of both air-conditioned cabins and “luxurious living-room comfort”? And all for just $38.20, plus tax — a sum equivalent to $340 in today’s dollars. But was that a round-trip fare? This ad from the March 5, 1954, Courier-Journal doesn’t say.
Eastern Air Lines, which traced its beginnings to the 1920s, is long gone. Weakened by a strike, higher fuel costs, and unable to compete in a post-deregulated market, the company entered bankruptcy protection in 1989, eventually shutting down at midnight Jan. 19, 1991.
American Airlines is the only carrier currently offering non-stop service to Miami from Louisville. It recently advertised roundtrip tickets for $423.
A news summary focused on big employers; updated 3:53 p.m.
Aetna’s headquarters in Hartford, where it was founded in 1853.
HUMANA: Aetna’s CEO did little today to allay concerns the insurance giant might leave its historic Hartford home after its workforce doubles to 110,000 with the pending Humana merger. Mark Bertolini told the annual stockholders meeting that Aetna was required to establish a Kentucky presence when it sought to buy Humana. “Having said that,” he told shareholders, “the rest of all of our real estate is under review.” He expects the $37 billion deal to close in the second half of the year. (Hartford Courant). Humana’s stock closed at $169.60 a share, up less than 1%, but enough to make it the best-performing stock this week among Boulevard’s portfolio of big local employers.
GANNETT: Tribune Publishing is reportedly turning the tables on Gannett by planning a hostile offer to buy the owner of The Courier-Journal, USA Today and more than 100 other dailies. “I am going to bid on Gannett,” CEO Michael Ferro told five dozen Los Angeles Times staffers, according to a confidential source. “I have lawyers working on it.” That would counter Gannett’s sweetened all-cash offer this week, to $15 a share, or about $475 million, excluding $385 million of outstanding debt (Politico Media).
UPS CEO David Abney doubts package delivery by drone will be as ubiquitous as some forecast. Speaking to a Boston business conference, he said: “I don’t believe there are going to be 10,000 to 20,000 of these flying over metro Boston delivering dog food and toothbrushes. I just don’t believe the economics of those work out” (Boston Business First).
AMAZON, which is developing Prime Air to transport packages to customers within 30 minutes via drone, could learn something from DHL’s drone delivery program (Business Insider).
PAPA JOHN’S: Baseball-related pizza promotions are now so pervasive, they extend to the local level, thanks to Papa John’s status as the “official pizza” of 22 big league clubs (538).
BROWN-FORMAN is now offering pregnant employees 12 weeks’ paid leave, about twice as much as the most generous maternity leave plans of the area’s 10 biggest employers (Insider Louisville).
CHURCHILL DOWNS: Which horses stand the best chances at tomorrow’s 141st Preakness Stakes (New York Times).
Trump
In other news, presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump addresses the 70,000-member NRA annual meeting today at the Kentucky Exposition Center (NBC).
An occasional look at premium homes on the market.
The marketing campaign for the philanthropist’s country manor, “The Avish,” steps up tonight, when Lenihan Sotheby’s International Realty hosts a private cocktail party and showing for clients, brokers and agents. Owsley Brown Frazier, an heir to the Brown-Forman distillery fortune, died four years ago at 77. The seller is his daughter, Laura L. Frazier; its assessed value is $4.8 million, according to Jefferson County tax records. The Avish is at 5224 Avish Lane in Harrods Creek, the wealthy enclave in northeast Louisville.
The asking price is $4.9 million, down from $5.3 million in December, when the listing was pulled after a pending sale from March 2015 fell though, according to Zillow. When it originally hit the market in 2012 after Brown’s death, Curbed put the list at $6 million. Later that year, Zillow says, it sold for $4.8 million, presumably to Laura.
Frazier
The Avish translates to “Rocky Hill” in Gaelic, and is named for the Brown family’s ancestral home in Ireland, according to The Voice-Tribune. It was built in 1910 by Brown’s grandfather, Owsley Brown, according to Curbed, which called it the “mansion that whiskey built.”
Here’s Lenihan’s description: This impressive estate is on The National Register of Historic Places and sits on 10 acres overlooking the Ohio River. With nearly 18,000 finished square feet, there are two master suites, four additional bedrooms, nine full baths and two half-baths. The grand foyer is flanked by a reception room, dining hall and a formal parlor with adjoining conservatory. The first floor is also comprised of the catering and main kitchens and the owners office suite. You may access the private living quarters on the second floor by one of three stair cases, service or passenger elevator. The third floor features a private suite that’s perfect suite for an in-law, an au pair or nanny. The grounds feature a gorgeous arbor, stunning formal garden with garden house and attached greenhouses, walkways, barn and guest/managers quarters with two bedrooms and bathrooms. The lower level is where you’ll find the indoor pool and solarium, private his-hers bathrooms with dressing areas, entertainment areas, laundry facilities, office and garages.
Related:Brown’s last will and testament. Plus, Boulevard is reminded of this scene starring Annette Bening from 1999’s “American Beauty.”
Boulevard occasionally examines estates and estate planning by high-profile Louisville residents.
Ten years ago, former Courier-Journal Publisher Barry Bingham Jr.died of respiratory failure, less than two months after signing his last will and testament. He was 72 years old. The 13-page document’s preamble suggests a very religious man:
Bingham
“In the name of God, amen! I, G. Barry Bingham Jr., a resident of Jefferson County, Ky., in perfect health and memory, God be praised, hereby revoke all wills and codicils heretofore made by men, and do make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following; that is to say, first, I commend my soul into the hands of God, my creator, hoping and assuredly believing through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Savior, to be made partaker of life everlasting, and my body to the earth whereof it is made.”
Thereafter, though, it’s all business and few other insights into a man at the center of one of the greatest family business dramas in Louisville history. The will provides no special bequests to anyone by name, perhaps instead leaving that to his widow, Edie.
Bingham’s will was recorded with the county clerk 10 days after he died April 3, 2006. It didn’t value his overall estate, including only a few financial details: His half-interest in the family’s storied Melcombe seat in Glenview was worth $2 million. And a separate list of personal property totaled another $2.2 million — including, interestingly, gold South African Krugerrand coins then worth $852,000.
In 1926, exactly 90 years ago today, Kaufman-Straus Co. was advertising bridal gifts at its Fourth Street department store in The Courier-Journal. There were Venetian Glass Compotes ($4 to $15) and Titian Ware Tea Sets ($27.50). Plus, hats with exotic names: Milans, Bangkoks and Viscas, all starting at $10 — a sum equivalent to $135 in today’s dollars.
Kaufman-Straus’ Louisville story began in 1879 and ended, sadly, in 1971. But the flagship building is still at 427-437 South Fourth, now housing offices. The University of Louisville archives includes some wonderful period photos of the department store in its collection of two million photos, manuscripts and other documents.
News about business and culture in Louisville, Ky.
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