Fame Isn’t Only for the Living

Maybe it’s because I’ve been sick for most of this week, but I managed to miss a rare interesting story in USA Today. It seems that a trio of self-styled “rowdy philosophers” from New Jersey--Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan, and Jeremy Salter--have actually come up with a unique list of influential people. Of course, the gimmick here is that none of these 101 cultural icons ever really existed. They’re characters plucked from literature, television and film, mythology, and mass-market advertising. As USA Today puts it, “They were never born, but they’ll live forever.”

Well, that might be truer of some characters than others. The Marlboro Man, for instance, holds pride of place at the top of this list, which serves as the basis for a new paperback book titled The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived (HarperCollins). However, I suspect that that rugged, cowboy-hatted, cigarette-savoring advertising figure--who was portrayed by a variety of male models over the years (at least two of whom went to their graves with lung cancer)--is fast riding into the sunset of hazy memory as cigarette smoking becomes rarer in the United States, and the Baby Boomers who best recall the old Marlboro Man commercials die off. Probably better assured of a permanent place in the public consciousness is Big Brother, who occupies the No. 2 spot on this roster. (No, I don’t mean the “reality-TV” series, but instead the totalitarian dictator from George Orwell’s seminal novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.) Rounding out the top five on this list are: King Arthur, Santa Claus (St. Nick), and Hamlet. Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster holds sixth place, while Robin Hood, Rosie the Riveter, Barbie, Batman, and HAL 9000 are all cited lower down.

Several crime-fiction favorites have scored spots among the “Most Influential People Who Never Lived”: Sherlock Holmes (No. 8), James Bond (No. 51), Nancy Drew (No. 62), Sam Spade (No. 68), Dick Tracy (No. 77), and Perry Mason (No. 86). But it’s surprising to discover that Philip Marlowe didn’t make the cut, despite the fact that he--more than any other gumshoe working the mean streets of 20th-century literature--inspired the proliferation of fictional American private eyes (including Spenser, Matthew Scudder, Jacob Asch, Harry Stoner, Thomas Kyd, Nate Heller, and even V.I. Washawski, not to mention myriad TV and film P.I.s, such as Jim Rockford, Harry Orwell, Jake Axminster, and J.J. Gittes). Certainly, Marlowe should have earned placement among the imaginary luminaries before, say, Buffy Summers (of vampire slayer fame) or Hans Beckert, the serial killer played by Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang’s 1931 movie, M.

Of course, authors Lazar, Karlan, and Salter failed to ask our opinion on this subject.

You can find their whole rundown of influential characters here. In addition, the trio have launched a Web site from which interested readers can fire off e-notes to the authors, offering their thoughts on who made--and didn’t make--this list.