John von Sothen

Oct 25, 2024 | airmail.news | John von Sothen

In the run-up to the 1924 presidential election, which pitted Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge against Democrat John W. Davis, the Parisian watering hole Harry’s Bar offered its American patrons something new on the menu: a chance to vote. Absentee ballots were not yet available to Americans living abroad, and Harry MacElhone, the bar’s namesake and founder, sympathized with expat regulars such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, and Ernest Hemingway, who felt excluded.

Aug 2, 2024 | airmail.news | John von Sothen

Allegations of fraud, rumors of elder abuse, a contested last will and testament: the Hotel Negresco, Nice’s crown jewel, is shrouded in controversy. The question on everyone’s mind: Did its late owner, Jeanne Augier, leave her $500 million fortune to an alleged scammer? Where French cities are concerned, Nice has always been the redheaded stepchild.

May 24, 2024 | airmail.news | John von Sothen

May, the month of the Cannes Film Festival and the French Open, is when France usually pivots, turning heel on a season of gloom and rain to show off its finery and raison d’être. May is also the month the French, who make striking something of a national sport, get their protest mojo back, and this year is no exception. On May 14, there was a strike among sanitation workers. On May 16, firefighters followed suit.

Dec 22, 2023 | airmail.news | John von Sothen

Many consider Henri-Georges Clouzot’s unfinished 1964 film, Inferno, to be a haunted masterpiece. Starring Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani, it was destined to be Clouzot’s magnum opus, a film armed with an unlimited Hollywood budget and a director (coming off of Diabolique and The Wages of Fear) operating at the peak of his powers.

Oct 27, 2023 | airmail.news | Mark Horowitz |John von Sothen |Cazzie David |Brigette Romanek

UNDER THE IRON DOME ARTFUL DODGERS IMMORTAL BELOVED U.F.O. IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS HOME ON THE RANGE SUGARCOATING IT A HOP IN HIS STEP BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Issue No. 224 The View from Here Tel Aviv diary: a visit to Israel in a state of war Where the Wildensteins Are For four centuries, France’s Wildensteins reigned over their colossal art dynasty in near-total secrecy.