"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Via Panabasis, this from a 1936 issue of Airship magazine:
Airship Sells Thousands of Hats in one Day.
According to the Washington "Herald," the Goodyear Airship Enterprise was used in a more or less informal opening of the straw hat season in the nation's capital. Following is the story of the incident as reported by the newspaper :-
"The Weather Bureau report did not record it, but it 'rained' in Washington yesterday. It rained straw hats in the business district to usher in Straw Hat Day for 1936. From the Goodyear Airship Enterprise, 100 envelopes containing orders for summer skimmers fluttered through the air and whoever picked them up was entitled to walk into the store named and get his straw free. Persons jammed the streets as the airship soared over the city, bearing representatives of the Washington 'Herald'. Various stores in the District co-operated with the 'Herald' in making this year's Straw Hat Day one to be remembered.
"Verner Smith piloted the Washington 'Herald' party over the city in the Enterprise. He guided the silver craft over the business section under a brilliant sun, and when it was over the biggest crowds, gave the signal to drop the hat checks. These were hat checks that didn't cost a nickel, however. There were orders for just about every kind of summer headwear you could imagine. There were plain sailors and leghorns and panamas and chantungs.
"And the way Washington men went for the Straw Hat Day festival was best evidenced by the rush on men's stores throughout the city. Before the doors were closed late in the evening thousands of straws had been sold."
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
