‘Freedoms’ Mural to Be Liberated

A 1943 mural at Burbank City Hall depicting democracy and freedom will be seen in its entirety today for the first time in 30 years when workers remove a dropped ceiling obscuring the top portion of the work by noted artist Hugo Ballin.

The late Ballin’s work graces the walls of several landmark Los Angeles buildings, including the Griffith Observatory, Wilshire Boulevard Temple and County-USC Medical Center.

The mural hanging in Burbank City Council chambers titled “Four Freedoms” contains four large figures representing the freedoms outlined in the Atlantic Charter signed in 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill--freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear.

“I’ve been here 16 years and this will be the first time I’ve ever seen it,” said City Manager Robert “Bud” Ovrom. “This is something we’ve been wanting to do for at least 10 years.”

The top of the mural was covered during renovations in the 1970s that essentially “decapitated” the four figures. But even before the dropped ceiling was installed, the mural had been concealed from public view for eight years by drapes because the painting with 51 main figures was thought to draw attention away from council proceedings.

According to Burbank folklore, past mayors disliked the mural because a donkey in the painting was situated directly behind the mayor’s seat. When the mayor stood, the ears of a jackass appeared to grow from his head.

“That’s always been the common understanding around City Hall,” Ovrom said.

Mary Jane Strickland, founder of the Burbank Historical Society, said there was truth to the tale.

“When Charlie Compton was mayor [in 1962 and 1963], he swore that it made it look like the donkey’s ears were his,” she said. “He didn’t like that.”

Strickland described Ballin’s work as “very powerful, in-your-face art.” The mural was commissioned for City Hall during World War II, and people at the time thought it was a “terrible extravagance,” she said.

Strickland, 76, said she is one of many “old-timers” in Burbank today who remember seeing the entire mural.

Ovrom said the city will spend about $300,000 to renovate the council chambers, with about $40,000 going to cleaning and restoring “Four Freedoms.”

“There were times when the council had the political will to do this, but didn’t have the money. When we had the money, we didn’t have the political will,” Ovrom said. “Last year . . . we finally had both.”

A second Ballin mural titled “Burbank Industry” hangs in the interior lobby at City Hall. The bottom third of it was cut off in the early 1960s to install a doorway. Ovrom said that mural--including the badly damaged bottom portion found in a basement--also will be restored.

The “Four Freedoms” can be seen by the public when renovations to council chambers are completed in August, Ovrom said.

Ballin murals can also be seen at the following locations in Los Angeles:

* “The Treaty of Cahuenga,” 1931, Title Guarantee Building at 411 W. 5th St.

* “The Apotheosis of Power,” 1930, One Bunker Hill.

* “The March of Science Through the Ages,” 1935, Griffith Observatory interior rotunda.

* Warner Memorial Murals, 1929, Wilshire Boulevard Temple interior sanctuary.

* Untitled fresco depicting Aesculapius, god of healing, and his sons, 1932, County-USC Medical Center foyer domed ceiling.