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Friday, October 17, 2008

The Great Sarcophagus of Trivia

This seems like one of those half-true urban legends that get circulated endlessly, but this one is apparently true: The Exorcist would never have been made if it wasn’t for Groucho Marx. In the mid-50s, William Peter Blatty appeared on the show You Bet Your Life and managed to fool Marx into thinking that he was a sheik who couldn’t remember how many wives he had. When Marx asked Blatty what he intended to do with his $10,000 prize money, Blatty explained that he intended to take time off work to write a novel. The product of this was the novel The Exorcist.


It’s well documented online and a few dozen clicks here and there gave no indication that it might be false. And, of course, Blatty is still alive and probably would have spoken up about the matter by now.

The one about Harpo Marx and Oprah Winfrey’s mom, however, is just stupid.

(Via Neatorama)

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