MY FAVS OF 2025

IN THE 12.3-YEARS OF SIMANAITISSAYS, 2025 was particularly busy with almost daily entries. This was encouraged by the website occasionally being my personal protest against Trump 2.0. In spite of this editorial imbalance, research and composition of the website continues to be good fun. 

Here at years’ end I select my favorites in no particular order. I hope they were enjoyable/relevant/meaningful to you. I confess, two-and-a-half of them are political. The remaining favs range from sleuthing to cars to music to dirty books. Quite the contrasts, eh?

Non-Fungible Tokens. “The Emperor’s New Cash” was my take on Trump and his affection for cryptocurrency, digital tokens and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

With sincere thanks to Hans Christian Andersen, 1805—1875, Danish author of Keiserens Nye Klæder (The Emperor’s New Clothes).

The point of my modern version is an inherent contrast: “Trust and security, which are essential for economic systems to function, are commonly based on the rule of law and factors such as reputations, relationships, and collateral. Cryptocurrencies instead promote decentralized trust through cryptography and economic incentives.” 

The quote comes from Brad Wible’s “Trust Limits Cryptocurrencies,” AAAS Science, November 22, 2024, not from the “very stable genius” who might come to mind.

“As Transparent as the Flapper’s Underwear….  😀” This wonderful comment was offered by a regular reader in response to another fav of mine: “The Most Happy Felon—A Screenplay.”

Here’s an opportunity to display once again this 1931 publicity photo of Dorothy Mackaill playing a secretary-turned-prostitute in Safe in Hell, a pre-Code Warner Bros. film. Image from Wikipedia.

“So it’s the early 30s…,” I wrote, “and as it’s Pre-Code I don’t have to worry about a happy ending or seeing the inside of a woman’s thigh.” Plus, the details—with surprisingly little fudging—came directly from Trump’s bio. All in good research and composition satire.

A Radio Link of Sam Spade and The Red Scare. “ ‘And about that gun,’ Sam recounts, ‘the Constitution says every citizen shall have the right to bear arms. Even Parnell Thomas can’t….’ (the rest, ‘lost in the heat of the moment,’ John Dunning notes in The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio.” This, from “Parnell Thomas and Sam Spade??”

The caption says it all: John Parnell Thomas, 1895–1970, seven-term U.S. Representative from New Jersey as a Republican, serving from 1937 to 1950. Later served time in Danbury Prison. Image by Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress Catalog.

A good punch line concluded the piece: “In an ironic twist, he [Parnell Thomas] was imprisoned in Danbury Prison, where Lester Cole and Ring Lardner Jr., both members of the ‘Hollywood Ten,’ were serving time due to Thomas’s inquiries into the film industry.”

“Serves the slimeball right,” I said.

Another Sleuth and His Motoring. Los Angeles- and later Seattle-based sleuth Harry Nile came from Jim French Productions. “Radio noir” of the late 1970s into 2019, Harry’s adventures recur these days on SiriusXM “Radio Classics.”

Several of Harry’s adventures encouraged me to perform automotive research concerning “Harry Nile and Cars Part 2.” In this episode Harry learns to drive the rhd 1936 Bentley inherited by his widowed girlfriend Dorothy: “So that Friday afternoon, with me driving from the righthand seat, we headed south with the top rolled back and a warm wind tossing Dottie’s hair, while I held on to the big wood steering wheel and tried to get used to shifting with my left hand.” 

Opps. A rare Jim French Production slip: Bentleys of this vintage had the “change speed lever” on the driver’s right. All in good researching fun.

Note the driver’s seat of an rhd Bentley often had a notch in its upholstery to accommodate the shifter. Image from Hyman Ltd.

Mack’s Lady Friends. Speaking of good research fun, I also enjoyed “Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lotte Lenya, Sweet Lucy Brown,/ Oh the line forms on the right, dear,/ Now that Mack, he’s back in town.” This involved a real dish, Lotte Lenya, and several fictional charmers as well in “Macheath’s Lady Friends Parts 1 and 2.”

Lotte Lenya, (Vienna-born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer, 1898-1981), Austrian-American singer, diseuse and actress. Image, 1962, by Carl Van Vechten—Van Vechten collection at Library of Congress.

Connecting the Dots. The title “Anthony Comstock, Chaucer’s Lithe-As-A-Weasel Alisoun, and Personal Choice” clearly called for research connecting the dots. 

Image from the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, 1873, dissolved 1950. (Yes, read that last date again and ponder current goings-on.)

By the way, I like to believe Alisoun was another dish. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025