Auction to Feature "Maltese Falcon" Statuette

The "dingus" (a/k/a "The Maltese Falcon"
(image: bonhams.com)

If you're in New York on November 25th and have money needing something to do, see if you can become a bidder for the statuette featured in the movie The Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade's "dingus" will be auctioned, along with other items from motion pictures past and (sometimes) remembered. Bogie's "bird" will be as plain as the creature that served as the dramatic vehicle for the eponymous 1941 film. No diamonds, no precious jewels, no gold will appear on the falcon. Instead, you'll find those items among the prospective buyers at this special event conducted by the auction house Bonham's.

Just don't try to outbid the fat man.

My First Tropical Storm

Some time ago, I planned a business trip to Fort Lauderdale for the third weekend of August. The company president told me that I should anticipate some stormy weather. He had gone on the trip last year and just escaped ahead of a hurricane.

I had a feeling I would also "enjoy" some South Florida "weather." I had never experienced a hurricane or a tropical storm. Over the years, I watched them on television and thought they were a sort of drummed up, made-for-TV drama. Young hustling reporters typically braved high winds, driving rain, and roaring tides to tell the world a story of unleashed Nature. It all seemed very far away.

That sense changed for me over this past weekend. The rain did arrive, creating an ominous, Biblical setting. However, what really concerned me was the sense of being trapped. I was eager to get home, and the storm had the potential to force airlines to cancel flights and local authorities to close the dreadful Fort Lauderdale airport.

The businesspeople I was visiting lived in the area and were quite calm about the whole affair. They said storm situations don't really get serious until Category Three was declared. We weren't at that level; it was unlikely we would be. That calmed me down, but didn't allay my sense of urgency about getting my flight out. My plane was the last scheduled departure to New Jersey, where I live. I felt similarly as Bogey did catching the last train from Paris in the movie Casablanca. However, my heart was not broken or anything like that. I simply wanted to get home.

The plane did leave, with me on it, about an hour later than its scheduled departure time. (The following day saw mass airline cancellations in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.) We were between storm bands, so the aircraft didn't jostle up and down like an unruly washing machine. When I got home -- around one in the morning -- I told my wife about the experience of my first tropical weather event, and how I couldn't bring myself to watch The Hunger Games while seated 35,000 feet above the storm.

Ship From Movie "The African Queen" To Be Restored

According to an online BBC report, the one and only "African Queen," the ship Bogie and Katharine Hepburn made famous, will be restored and used for tours in the Florida Keys.  The vessel, in its unglamorous, non-Hollywood state, has been sitting at a dry dock next to (ironically) a Key Largo hotel for around a decade. Apparently, its owner now has enough funding to get the boat ship-shape and ready for tourists.

It's safe to say the eponymous movie's actors or its director, John Huston, won't be resurrected for this venture.