IN PRAISE OF AUCTION CATALOGS
LONG AFTER the last fall of the hammer, there’s pleasure to be had in automotive auction catalogs. Skimming through the Bonham’s catalog from the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance Collectors’ Motorcars and … Continue reading
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK CLICKS ITS HEELS PART 2
TODAY IN PART 2, we pick up our Great American Songbook celebration of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in two more of their musicals from the mid-1930s. We’ll also encounter … Continue reading
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK CLICKS ITS HEELS PART 1
A RECENT London Review of Books article celebrates Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in three of their ten classic movies: Top Hat, 1935; Swing Time, 1936; and Shall We Dance, … Continue reading
RACING PEUGEOTS, 1912–1913 PART 2
YESTERDAY, LAURENCE POMEROY’S book The Grand Prix Car and William Court’s piece in Classic Cars in Profile, Volume 4 offered introduction to the racing Peugeots of 1912–1913. Here in Part … Continue reading
RACING PEUGEOTS, 1912–1913 PART 1
WHAT WITH Peugeot’s scheduled return to the U.S. market, let’s celebrate this French automaker’s racing heritage. Highly recommended sources: “The Racing Peugeots, 1912–1914,” Profile No. 73, by William Court, in … Continue reading
CATS ARE SOCIALLY SMART—BUT ONLY IF THEY CHOOSE TO BE
SCIENTISTS ARE CONFIRMING what cat fanciers have suspected all along: Cats are just as smart as dogs. But I can imagine the cat saying, “As if I care…..” David Grimm’s … Continue reading
CODY’S BAA 1—GREAT BRITAIN’S FIRST TO FLY PART 2
SAMUEL F. CODY ENJOYED development work on his British Army Aeroplane No. 1. And I’ve enjoyed GMax/Microsoft Flight Simulator renderings of his developments. Here in Part 2, my sources expand … Continue reading
CODY’S BAA 1—GREAT BRITAIN’S FIRST TO FLY PART 1
THE FIRST RECOGNIZED POWERED, heavier-than-air, controlled, sustained flight in the United Kingdom was accomplished by Samuel F. Cody’s British Army Aeroplane No. 1 on October 16, 1908. As with many … Continue reading
HURRAH FOR PIGEONS!
PIGEONS HAVE made their mark here at SimanaitisSays, in the figurative sense, that is. One pigeon was cited as Nikola Tesla’s close friend: Tesla was quoted as saying, “I loved … Continue reading
KENNEDY, DEGAULLE, SURE. BUT WHAT ABOUT LAMBERT, O’HARE, AND CYRIL E. KING?
THIS TOPIC STARTED when I read that Listerine tycoon Albert Bond Lambert was also known as St. Louis’s No. 1 aviation enthusiast; and hence today STL is St. Louis Lambert … Continue reading
