LET’S CELEBRATE WILLIAM VINCENT WALLACE’S LURLINE
WILLIAM VINCENT WALLACE’S OPERA LURLINE is about the Lorelei, and his life is every bit as adventurous as this legend of the Rhine seductress. I learned about Wallace from Una … Continue reading
WILLIAM DAVENANT—SHAKESPEARE’S SON?? PART 2
YESTERDAY WE INTRODUCED WILLIAM DAVENANT, English playwright spanning a particularly complex period of that country’s history encompassing regicide, civil war, and a real piece of work in Lord Protector Cromwell. … Continue reading
SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT—SHAKESPEARE’S SON?? PART 1
ROMANTIC THEORIES HAVE SPICED UP HISTORY: Caesar and Mark Anthony both slept with Cleopatra (true, albeit separately). Sir William Davenant was William Shakespeare’s illegitimate son (might this explain Anne Hathaway’s … Continue reading
MACHEATH’S LADY FRIENDS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE CELEBRATED MACHEATH, a theatrical alter ego of real 17th-century Brit bad guy Jack Sheppard. This got us investigating Mack’s lady friends, “Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lotte Lenya and … Continue reading
MACHEATH’S LADY FRIENDS PART 1
THIS RESEARCH STARTED INNOCENTLY ENOUGH with Louis Armstrong’s “Mack the Knife.” He sings, “Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lotte Lenya, Sweet Lucy Brown,/ Oh the line forms on the right, dear,/ … Continue reading
THE SUBLIME, THE HEARTWARMING, AND (LAMENTABLY) THE RIDICULOUS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE CELEBRATED FRANCE MINTING TWO NEW COINS heralding Notre-Dame’s reopening. There was also a Notre-Dame wedding of one of its artisans and his bride. Alas, today in Part 2, … Continue reading
ON POLITICAL CHANGE
AS PART OF THE ATLANTIC’S “THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION,” David Brooks writes, “America Needs a Mass Movement—Now,” October 14, 2025. His article provides a culminating lesson in civics, the initial one … Continue reading
THE NEW YORK TIMES—SEEMINGLY CATCHING ON PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE BEGAN AN ASSESSMENT of The New York Times Editorial Board’s “Are We Losing Our Democracy?” Here we continue with tidbits gleaned from this article which suggested … Continue reading
THE NEW YORK TIMES—SEEMINGLY CATCHING ON PART 1
SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY RECOGNIZED IT back in April 2025 and SimanaitisSays agreed at the time. It is significant, albeit lamentable, that more than six months later The Editorial Board of … Continue reading
MISTER 880—THE MAN, THE MOVIE, THE RETROSPECTIVE
THE NEW YORKER HAS A REGULAR FEATURE “TAKES,” retrospectives of previous pieces on one thing and another. “David Grann on St. Clair McKelway’s ‘Old Eight Eighty’,” October 19, 2025, is … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 