Photo: 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Spezial Roadster. Credit: RM Auctions via the New York Times.

SPOTLIGHT

The University of Virginia has posted audio clips of William Faulkner recorded in 1957-58. The home page is here. If you have never heard Faulkner’s voice you will be surprised.

Jonathan Schultz of the New York Times has a feature on the upcoming auction of a 1937 540 K Spezial Roadster, which is expected to set a price record. Rob Myers, founder of RM Auctions, says the rare auto may go for as much as $15 million.

EXHIBITS

“Woman With a Lute,” about 1662–63, Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–75). Oil on canvas.
Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900, via Los Angeles Times

Johannes Vermeer’s “Woman With a Lute” is on display at the Norton Simon through Sept. 26. Reviewed by Sharon Mizota in the  Los Angeles Times’ Culture Monster.

The National Museum of American History is putting some of Phyllis Diller’s gag file (donated in 2003) on display, according to Jacqueline Trescott of the Washington Post. I can’t say I have ever found Diller particularly funny, but she does have a place in entertainment history. I recall her from an early appearance on “You Bet Your Life” in which Groucho Marx interviewed her — and her immortal husband, Fang.

NEWS

The Los Angeles Conservancy has issued an action alert on the impending demolition of Richard Neutra’s Kronish House, which was also reported by Martha Groves in the Los Angeles Times. Given Beverly Hills’ que pasa attitude about multimillion-dollar teardowns (it has no preservation laws), I’d say activists haven’t a chance, but I would love to be wrong.  Everything is new in Beverly Hills – even the money.

Chad Bray, writing in the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, has the story of a large seizure of illegally imported ivory.

FEATURES

Barb Valentine writes in the Chicago Tribune about programs that introduce children to genealogy.

And the Galesburg, Ill., library is closed on Sundays, but admits genealogists and then locks them in!

The L.A. Daily Mirror and L.A. Crime Beat lovingly prepared by bots from Twitter feeds on paper.li