Pulitzer? No, but this critic has his own T-shirt

I first saw it on the Web site www.HMSS.com. A white, sleeveless cotton shirt with a winged griffin brandishing a pistol on the front. It was called "The Dann Gire Shirt."

Where did that come from?

I quickly did a brain scan to see if I'd forgotten signing a shirt deal. Nope. Yet, there it was on my computer with the description: "The style made famous by our favorite Chicago-area film critic!" On the front was a winged griffin brandishing a pistol -- the provocative cover art for the Signet paperback version of Ian Fleming's novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

I had to get to the bottom of this mysterious shirt tale. Finally, I found the culprits: Paul Baack of Bloomingdale and Tom Zielinski of Elk Grove Village. Baack used to live in Hoffman Estates where he'd throw an annual James Bond barbecue for 007 fans from all over the world.

That's where I met Baack and Zielinski, who founded www.hmss.com in 1997. In 2000, they branched out into merchandise sales.

"When we were putting our shop together, we gave names to things to keep the inventory straight," Baack explained. "I remembered that you always wore a black, sleeveless shirt to our barbecues. So when we had this sleeveless shirt, the light bulb went on over my head -- The Dann Gire Shirt!"

So, I may not have a Pulitzer, but I might be the only film critic with his own shirt inspired by the cover art of a Signet James Bond paperback. If you'd like a shirt of your very own, go to www.hmss.com, then hit the HMSS Store icon. The shirt costs $17.99. (Regrettably, I don't get a cut of the money.)