[ bird caws ] im jamie colby, and today and im in the pocono mountains of pennsylvania on my way to meet an heir with a headspinning story that will take us back to 1970s manhattan, the era of punk rock, disco and wild parties at studio 54. My name is hugh hooper. Back in 2008, my brother hoop received a very strange inheritance. When he died three years later, he left one twice as strange to me. Hugh, hi. Im jamie. How are you doing, jamie . Nice to meet you. So great to meet you. You know, i dont come out of manhattan for just anything, but i heard your inheritance is way cool. It is. Its crazy. But you can keep manhattan. Ill take the country. All right. Lets see it. You wanna see it . Go ahead. Absolutely. Hughs strange inheritance is actually two separate art collections that belonged to two separate people. Heres some of the first, parked on the pathway outside his home. What is this . Well, this is hoops cars. They call this the musicmobile. Christmas albums, paul simon. [ playing notes ] it still works. And this is just a fraction of the farout fleet he inherited. Everything you could imagine, trucks, cars, little bmw isettas where you had to get in between the headlights. They do need a little bit of repair. Well, i dont have the heart to touch it. Thats because the creator of the auto art is his dearly departed brother, Steven Douglas hooper. This is me and my brother. Steven is born in 1946 and raised in clifton, new jersey. According to big brother hugh, hes a cutup from an early age. My brother was normal until he was about 8, and then he changed. Uhoh. What happened . He started acting like stan laurel and mugging and dancing around. And he always had this crazy sense of humor. The brothers are drawn down two very different paths. Hugh joins the army. Little steven idolizes popart sensation andy warhol and the psychedelic painters of the 1960s. He wants to be part of that scene. As he got into high school, he just got totally into art. Steven takes a few classes at a small art college. Big brother hugh gets married and starts a family. Where did he get the money to pursue a passion and not have to get a real job like the rest of us . Well, steven had a job. He worked in a book binder. He operated a forklift. But when their mother has a Serious Health setback, the brothers must figure out a plan. We decided not to put her in a nursing home, so my brother gave up his job at the book binder, and i just paid the bills. My brother was like my hero. He took care of my mother. Its my obligation. Were blood of blood. In the early 1980s, with their mom in stable health, steven rents a studio in the edgy east village neighborhood of manhattan. And there, in his mid30s, he begins to shine. Hughs now the guy with the wife and daughter in jersey, running a trucking company. So, its not his scene, but he loves stevens stories. He showed up at a party one night in greenwich village. He was wearing a bright blue tux with black fleurdelis. He looked across the room. Somebody else had the same tux. It was tiny tim. They became best friends. The goofy falsettovoiced tiny tim is just one of hoops famous, near famous, or usedtobefamous acquaintances, and hes driven to achieve fame, too. When he gets his hands on an old bmw isetta, he covers it in psychedelic fur. The first hoop mobile is born. I am hoop, the selfproclaimed king of art. My brother loved to introduce us as twins, and then everybody would go, hmm. We didnt even look like we knew each other. I was military. He was hippie. Its not easy to become a wellknown artist. You have to do one more outrageous thing after another. That means turning more and more cars into zany sculptures. Hes the canvertible and the voodoo volkswagen. He actually had a van. He cut the front end off of another van. He bolted it on the back of his. He had two front ends. He said, i dont know if im coming or going. Its the time machine. He covered it in clocks, and he drove all over the place. Around this time, hoop meets a new york preppie name baird jones, who also likes hanging with the glitterati and who has his own unique artistic vision. Youre about to hear about the other half of hugh hoopers strange inheritance. This is a picture that james dean drew. This is tony bennett. Signed bennett. Theyre all signed. Signed by muhammad ali, adolf hitler, charles manson, buddy hackett, Paul Mccartney and more. Thats great. Vincent price. After the break. But first our strange inheritance quiz question. Which 70s hard rock band switched gears to cut the solidgold disco hit i was made for loving you . Kiss, iron maiden or the ramones . The answer when we return. Today, were out here with some big news about type 2 diabetes. You have type 2 diabetes, right . Yes. So let me ask you this. How does diabetes affect your heart . It doesnt, does it . Actually, it does. Type 2 diabetes can make you twice as likely to die from a cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke. And with Heart Disease, your risk is even higher. You didnt know that. No. Yeah. But, wait, theres good news for adults who have type 2 diabetes and Heart Disease. Jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill with a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit. Jardiance is proven to both significantly reduce the chance of dying from a cardiovascular event in adults who have type 2 diabetes and Heart Disease and lower your a1c. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. This may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash, swelling, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Other side effects are sudden kidney problems, genital yeast infections, increased bad cholesterol, and urinary tract infections, which may be serious. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. So now that you know all that, what do you think . That its time to think about jardiance. Ask your doctor about jardiance. And get to the heart of what matters. Potsc in unison drive russ, leland, gary yes. Gary i have a ford f150. Michael ive always been a ford guy. Potsch then i have a real treat for you today. Michael awesome. Potsch im going to show you a next generation pickup. Michael lets do this. Potsch this new truck now has a cornerstep built right into the bumper. Gary super cool. Potsch the bed is made of highstrength steel, which is less susceptible to punctures than aluminum. Jim aluminum is great for a lot of things, but maybe not the bed of a truck. Potsch and best of all, this new truck is actually gary all laughing oh my. Potsch the current chevy silverado. Gary im speechless. Gary this puts my ford truck to shame. James ill tell you, i might be a chevy guy now. laughing the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. If you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. Help stop the journey of gum disease. Try parodontax toothpaste. So, which 70s hard rock band switched gears to cut the disco gold record i was made for loving you . Its a, kiss. The songs cowriter, paul stanley, said he wanted to prove it was easy to make a disco hit. So, where were we . Oh, right. In the middle of a story about how hugh hooper came into inherit not one but two strange art collections. One was a fleet of car sculptures created by his younger brother, steven, also known as hoop or the king of art, if you please. The second collection, as youre about to see, was curated apparently at significant cost by a classic new york character named baird jones. Baird had a standard preppy uniform. Khaki pants, baseball hat, and would send out these little invitation cards. Author Marianne Macy met baird in the early 80s, when hes known as the Columbia University grad student who throws the best parties in town. He was from a social register family. He had numerous graduate degrees. Baird starts collecting art created by popculture celebrities, like these scribbled drawings by miles davis and jimmy stewart. Others are by stars who are also artists, like Anthony Quinn and david bowie. Baird works for clubs and discos like the famed studio 54, where hes a doorman and Party Promoter. He was extraordinary at getting together really unlikely combinations of people from preppy to downtown grunge. The young nightlife impresario rubbed shoulders with hundreds of new york celebs. He leverages those connections to moonlight as a gossipcolumn tipster. Besides inviting me to all of his events, he used to provide gossipcolumn items for me. Richard johnson is a longtime editor for the ultimate big apple gossip column, the new york posts page six. Why did people love him . Was it his personality or his connections, his ability to throw a good party . I imagine that theres a lot of couples out there now with children, who met at one of bairds party. No one knows when and where baird and hoop meet but by the early 80s, theyre best buds. They love andy warhol and discover synergy in merging the psychedelic stars with the disco ball. Baird and hoop join forces prompting east village artists at in clubs such as maxs kansas city, palladium, and webster hall. They were big parties. You know, i mean, they were sort of cheesy. He would say on the invites, copious hors doeuvres. So, theyd be 10 people deep. Youd be lucky if you could get one drink before they closed the open bar. Some events feature bairds growing celebrity art collection. By bairds counting, he spends over a Million Dollars to add works by bob dylan, dee dee ramone, vincent price, and buddy hackett. He also snatches up works by simply notorious figures john gotti, adolf hitler, charles manson, and john wayne gacy. His art shows attract even more boldface names. He kept a database, and so he could mail out, you know, 5,000 invitations at a time. If you were on bairds list, you know youre going to run into a 100 people you know. Youre bound to see hoop. He sort of had the same crew always there. But every great party comes to an end. And in 2007, concern is spreading among bairds closest friends, like Marianne Macy. You know, the 4 00 or 5 00 a. M. Lifestyle had to change. He didnt look healthy. Peoples lifestyles changed, and baird was still out there doing a lot of the same stuff. Do you want to do it afterwards . No, right now is cool. I think it was more like work for him later. On february 21, 2008, baird jones, life of the party circuit, is found dead in his apartment. Hes 53 years old. Do you remember when you heard he had passed . I was shocked. I mean, he was way too young to die, and i didnt know that he had ever had any health problems. An autopsy reveals it was a heart attack. In his will, baird gives all his property to his good friend hoop, an estate said to be worth 2 million, not including his celebrity art collection. How surprised was he that he had gotten this inheritance . He was pretty surprised. He, he didnt expect it, really. I think it would just like baird to take care of his buddy, and thats what he did. Do you want to see a bunch of the celebrity art downstairs . Zero mostel. Heres a, a jack kevorkian. The inheritance doesnt change hoop much. He busies himself with his cars, which are written up in the new york times. Hes even interviewed by geraldo and featured in indie films. This is my matchbox mobile. I was commissioned by the toy company mattel. They gave me 500 cars. You can play with it, too. But as fate would have it, hoops wild ride is coming to an end as well. Tell me what happened. He had a rash. He just thought it was psoriasis. And then he got this one rash that didnt disappear, and it continued to get worse. The diagnosis cancer. My artwork gives me inspiration to keep going. I get up, and i look out the window, and i said, i got to do a little more to that car today. [ barking ] hoop keeps up his life as an artist and new york character with help from his older brother. I gave him all kinds of nutritional stuff. He had no side effects from the chemo at all right until the very end. In september 2011, hoop dies at the age of 64. Its a hole in your life when you lose part of your family. Nothing can fill it. Hoop leaves everything to his big brother, hugh. We were opposites but totally bonded. What was mine was his, and what was his was mine. And now, whats hughs are two strange inheritances in one, and as youre about to see, a big dilemma. What to do with it all . Heres another quiz question for you. These three pictures are from the baird jones celebrity art collection. Can you guess which was painted by Leonardo Dicaprio . A, b, or c . The answer after the break. [vo] progress is seizing the moment. Your summer moment awaits you now that the summer of audi sales event is here. Audi will cover your first months lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. Its a highly contagious disease that can be really serious. Especially for my precious new grandchild. Its whooping cough. Every family member, including those around new babies, should talk to their doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. So new touch screens. And biometrics. In 574 branches. 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So, which of these pictures from the baird jones collection was painted by Leonardo Dicaprio . Its c. For the record, a was painted by jonathan winters, and b by dinah shore. In 2011, hugh hooper comes into his strange inheritance, two bizarre art collections created and curated by a couple of quintessential new york city characters. The first was his eccentric brother, hoop, who produced dozens of wacky sculptures from various automobiles. The second came from hoops preppy partyplanner pal, baird jones a large collection of artworks by a vast array of famous and notorious figures. He focuses first on his brothers car sculptures. Two things are immediately clear. He has no place for them, and theres no place to sell them. All the fun in these cars had been had because he isnt here. So, hugh lets his brothers friends cart away any hoop mobiles they fancy. But, hugh, arent you a little concerned that youll lose that connection to him . No. No, the connection isnt in things. The connections in your heart. Hugh is less emotionally attached to the second weird art collection. The hundreds of celebrity paintings and drawings that he inherited through his brother from baird jones. Whos that . Okay. Thats the queen of monaco. Ooh. Grace kelly. So, theres royalty. Yes. Jimmy stewart. Jimmy stewart. Yeah. Harvey. That was the character. John gotti, bikini, nice. You know what he was thinking about. Thats one of my favorites. Remember, baird jones spoke about spending a Million Dollars to acquire all this artwork. Hugh decides to auction it all off. This is muhammad ali. In the ring. In the ring. Hugh, youre going to sell this . Yes, i am because whos going to enjoy it . Nobodys getting any chance to look at it. Thats what art is for, its for people to appreciate. You think its worth anything . I would imagine it is. What, i dont know. Hes about to find out. Lets open up at 1,500. 1,600, 1,700, 1,800. Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to tell it. 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Mel brooks, peter falk