The title of this piece is ridiculous and obviously not true (I think). However, it is there to demonstrate a point.
A new book claims famed escape artist Harry Houdini was a spy for Scotland Yard, monitored Russian anarchists, and chased counterfeiters for the U.S. Secret Service. According to The Secret Life of Houdini, the magician used his act as a front for his real career in espionage and law enforcement.
All of this is fascinating and is making big news today, a full 80 years after the death of Houdini. There is probably nobody left alive who had ever watched Houdini perform, yet we all know who Houdini was. And we're all intrigued by these new revelations.
Is there anyone alive today you think we'll be interested in 80 years after they die? I've been thinking about it all day and can't come up with a single one.
Maybe Madonna. Maybe.
They don't make famous people like they used to. Guys like Harry Houdini and Babe Ruth were larger than life. They were legends while they were still living. Celebrities of today are lame and disposable.
Are our great-great grandkids going to care when a book comes out proving Ryan Seacrest was an undercover CIA operative using American Idol auditions as a front to hunt down terrorists? No. They'll probably ask, "Ryan who?" Will they care when the definitive Oprah biography claims she was the driving force behind the War in Iraq?
We are still in awe of Harry Houdini — a man who has been dead for almost thirty years longer than he was alive. Who will our great-great grandchildren be in awe of?
Probably Harry Houdini.
Article comments
1 - Deano
It's not as unusal as you might think. Baseball player Moe Berg worked for American intelligence in the late '30's and WWII, contributing, among other things, the movie footage of the Tokyo skyline on a baseball tour of Japan that later allowed the Dolittle Raid to be staged.
Even further back it is claimed that the playwrite Christopher Marlowe worked for the Crown on many a shady task and, eventually, met his death in a "tavern brawl" that just happened to involve a number of other government "agents".
2 - diana hartman
I am pleased to tell you this article is part of the Culture Editors' Picks of the Week.
Diana Hartman
Culture Editor
Melita Teale
Asst Culture Editor