Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Monthly Archives: March, 2022

THE ROARING—AND SOARING—TWENTIES PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, Yvonne Brunhammer discussed 1920s’ ballet, travel, and architecture. Today in Part 2, her focus is on a smaller scale: tableware and furniture, two genres of which … Continue reading

March 21, 2022 · Leave a comment

THE ROARING—AND SOARING—TWENTIES PART 1

DESIGN OF THE NINETEEN-TWENTIES soared. Artists and artisans, weary of World War I, responded with new perceptions of reality, some of them outright bizarre. Here, in Parts 1 and 2 … Continue reading

March 20, 2022 · Leave a comment

DECODING THE HIGHWAY CODE (FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD)

FOR US ’MERICANS, AFTER ALL, it is the wrong side of the road. In any event, the British book You Have Been Warned treats its Highway Code with an anatomically … Continue reading

March 19, 2022 · 2 Comments

ARCHITECTURE WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR

ROADSIDE VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE is architecture with a sense of humor, as described in the book California Crazy. Actually, my edition of this book is the original California Crazy, published in … Continue reading

March 18, 2022 · 3 Comments

THE TALE OF GENEVIEVE

YOU KNOW IT’S GOING TO BE a charming movie with this opening credit: “For their patient co-operation the makers of this film express their thanks to the officers and members … Continue reading

March 17, 2022 · 2 Comments

TOURING TUDOR ENGLAND—WITH PROFESSOR EVA TAYLOR AND GOOGLE MAPS PART 2

WHAT FUN EXPLORING the British Isles with maps dating from 1627! Well, yes, 20th-century Tudor authority Professor Eva G.R. Taylor helps too. And so do 21st-century Google Maps. Here in … Continue reading

March 16, 2022 · Leave a comment

TOURING TUDOR ENGLAND—WITH PROFESSOR EVA TAYLOR AND GOOGLE MAPS PART 1

LET’S OPEN WITH a timeline: Around 1540, King Henry VIII commanded Library Keeper and Antiquary John Leland to ride horseback throughout the realm to recover books and manuscripts scattered, stolen, … Continue reading

March 15, 2022 · Leave a comment

AN AMERICAN CHILD’S YEAR IN EUROPE

“WHEN I WAS a little girl of six,” author Louise A Wallace has Ruth write in 1914, “father and mother decided to take my brother and me, and spend one … Continue reading

March 14, 2022 · 2 Comments

L’IDEA FERRARI—FLORENCE

WHAT BETTER ART VENUE than Florence. And what a fine topic in “The Idea Ferrari.” This exhibition, June 8-September 30, 1990, was set with the help of Ferrari North America … Continue reading

March 13, 2022 · Leave a comment

PIERRE PRIER—FIRST NONSTOP LONDON/PARIS PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, my perusal of The Aeroplane magazine, July 28, 1950, introduced me to pioneer aviator Pierre Prier. In 1911, he was the first to fly nonstop from … Continue reading

March 12, 2022 · Leave a comment