What most of us forget (or never knew) when we ridicule these cheesy little floppy characters is that they had a more dignified origin at the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics. Known as the Spirits of the Olympics, they rose up in the northwest corner of the Olympic Stdium, 60 feet tall and pure white. They were invented for the Atlanta Olympics by my good friend, the aeronautical engineer Arieh “Loulou” Dranger. After the Olympics, Arieh was a principal in the company that made smaller versions called Flyguys. Some time after Arieh sold his interest in the company. There appeared knockoffs that were clumsy parodies of the real thing, and that’s what most of us see in front of our local auto shop.
What most of us forget (or never knew) when we ridicule these cheesy little floppy characters is that they had a more dignified origin at the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics. Known as the Spirits of the Olympics, they rose up in the northwest corner of the Olympic Stdium, 60 feet tall and pure white. They were invented for the Atlanta Olympics by my good friend, the aeronautical engineer Arieh “Loulou” Dranger. After the Olympics, Arieh was a principal in the company that made smaller versions called Flyguys. Some time after Arieh sold his interest in the company. There appeared knockoffs that were clumsy parodies of the real thing, and that’s what most of us see in front of our local auto shop.