JOKING AROUND, MUSICALLY, WITH GERARD HOFFNUNG
A WAGNER opera begins at 7 p.m. Three hours later, you look down at your watch and it’s 7:25. What’s the difference between a viola and an onion? Nobody cries … Continue reading
ZÉCAR AND THE MIL FOLHAS PROJECT
IT’S TURNABOUT of the best kind: A charming little toy car is helping to reforest an area destroyed by highway expansion. The toy is Zécar. The reforestation is Mil Folhas … Continue reading
HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY, LEONARDO DA VINCI
WELL, WE missed celebrating Leonardo da Vinci’s 562nd birthday. It was a few weeks ago on April 15 Old Style, so I can’t even appeal to the Julian-to-Gregorian Calendar update, … Continue reading
MACHINE TOOLS BY JOHN ASCHAUER
JOHN ASCHAUER was a model builder extraordinaire. Whereas others fashioned car, aircraft or architectural models, Aschauer built 1/16th scale machine tools. There’s a permanent collection of Aschauer’s models at the … Continue reading
HAPPY (SORT OF) BIRTHDAY, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
RECORDS INDICATE William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, precisely 450 years ago. Well, not precisely, because of England’s Gregorian Calendar change in the 1700s. In fact, his actual … Continue reading
BLOSSOM MILES—AIRCRAFT DESIGNER
I WAS researching the Miles M.57 Aerovan, but got sidetracked by romance. Maybe you’ll share my enthusiasm for F.G. Miles and his wife Blossom as well as their aircraft, about … Continue reading
THE LEICA FREEDOM TRAIN
GERMAN CAMERA-maker Ernst Leitz II and his daughter Elsie Kühn-Leitz quietly rescued hundreds of Jews by smuggling them out of Nazi Germany during the 1930s. Their efforts came to light … Continue reading
ENGLAND AT WAR: TWO NOTEWORTHY BOOKS
MY PRIMARY source for yesterday’s SimanaitisSays item on the Jane comics (http://wp.me/p2ETap-23p) is the book Little Friends. Plus, Go To It! is another worthy book in a similar genre. The … Continue reading
JANE’S WARTIME ADVENTURES
WINSTON CHURCHILL called her “Britain’s secret weapon” and, indeed, her marriage became one of World War II’s better kept secrets. I’m talking about Jane, the leggy, curvaceous blonde scatterbrain seen … Continue reading
ROUND, BLACK, STICKY—AND ARTFUL
AUTOMOTIVE TIRES are said to be “round, black and sticky,” yet they’re also objet d’art, especially when portrayed by some of the world’s greatest poster artists. What’s more, Bruce Halle, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 