THE MOST HAPPY FELON—A SCREENPLAY
SO IT’S THE EARLY 1930S AND I’M WORKING ON THIS HOLLYWOOD SCREENPLAY. Geez, gimme a break. It’s better than standing in a bread line, and as it’s Pre-Code I don’t … Continue reading
HEALTH RESORTS—JUST IN TIME AND PLACE
THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN. TRUMP WANTS TO “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” by turning the clock back to President McKinley’s time. This, despite plenty of us having already had enough of seemingly … Continue reading
HOLMES IN THE STRAND MAGAZINE PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE CLARIFIED SOME MATTERS ABOUT Sherlock Holmes’ stuff: a non-Canonical crooked-stem meerschaum and his authentic country-attire deerstalkers. We continue today in Part 2 with other head wear, his magnifying … Continue reading
HOLMES IN THE STRAND MAGAZINE PART 1
ARTIFACTS OF THE WORLD’S FIRST CONSULTING DETECTIVE are familiar—the oversize meerschaum pipe with its crooked stem, the deerstalker cap, the magnifying glass. Curiously, though, one of these items is relatively … Continue reading
IS “HER JOE” READY FOR THE STATES?
IN HIS “MISC. RAMBLINGS,” MAY 1955, R&T Editor John R. Bond lamented “Road testing, after the first two or three, is not fun. It’s plain hard work, enlivened only by … Continue reading
THE FOUR B’S, LYSISTRATA, THE SECOND GREATEST SEX, AND IS THAT A GUN IN YOUR POCKET? PART 2
YESTERDAY, BBC WORLD SERVICE GOT US STARTED with the Four B’s, a 21st-century movement inspired by Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata, wherein she and her pals swear off sex until their husbands … Continue reading
THE FOUR B’S, LYSISTRATA, THE SECOND GREATEST SEX, AND IS THAT A GUN IN YOUR POCKET? PART 1
KEEPING HEP ON WORLD CULTURE is a non-trivial activity. Here I was listening to my 6:00 a.m. BBC World Service and it mentioned the Korean Four B’s. This encouraged a … Continue reading
A CHEEZY COMMENTARY
ALWAYS FOLLOWING THE HEP SIDE OF PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN CULTURE, I’m here today to celebrate Velveeta, Kraft Heinz’s “Pasteurized Recipe Cheese Product.” Image from Smithsonian Magazine. My starting point was encountering … Continue reading
STREET MURALS (CAST YOUR BALLOT!)
DOES ANYONE RECALL that wonderful Alec Guinness flick, The Horse’s Mouth? IMBd describes this 1958 satire/screwball comedy about Gulley Jimson, “an ill-behaved, lovably scruffy painter… determined to let nothing come … Continue reading
THIS PORSCHE SPEEDSTER IS SUPER
I’M SPEAKING OF THE ENGINE, THAT IS. Back in May 1955, R&T noted, “The Porsche Speedster is available with a choice of engines, the model priced at $2995 having a … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 