The discovery of a lifetime was found a century ago today! For once, a Pharaoh’s tomb intact and not looted by all the civilizations that followed, namely the Hellenic Greeks, Romans, early Christians, Arab invaders, Napoleon’s forces and everyone else I probably forgot. This gave the world a better idea how this incredible civilization did things, what they left behind and hopefully dispelling numerous myths about them.
Unfortunately, it led to the creation of two new myths or forms of misinformation. The first was the tombs allegedly having curses written somewhere near the entrance, warning raiders. This fueled several dozen Horror movies (my favorite if 1999’s The Mummy). The second was the tomb’s air or atmosphere killed everybody within years. No. Howard Carter, the most famous of the discoverers in this died of Hodgkin’s disease in 1939. These days it kills the majority of its victims within five years so he didn’t contract it from Egypt or he would’ve died much sooner.
Finding King Tut’s burial chamber had way more positive effects! All the treasures toured America in the Seventies via the major cities. I didn’t get to see it but I recall a classmate of mine from St. Matthews did. Hordes of people waited in line to see the tour. The dead boy king was a rock star!
The moving exhibition was also a premise to a great Horror Comedy starring the ever great Bruce Campbell playing Elvis in Bubbahotep. One of the mummies buried with Tut fell out of a truck, landed into a ditch near a retirement home and since this dead fellow was a jerk, he spent years preying on the residents from the late Seventies through I think the early Aughts. It’s up to Elvis and Ossie Davis playing another retiree claiming to JFK to stop the monster. See the movie and you’ll see how it all comes together. Best of all, the special effects crew show the mummy spit out hieroglyphic subtitles and then they turn into an English translation.
Lastly, it wouldn’t have created Steve Martin’s coolest song from his Wild & Crazy Guy phase and a major Seventies hit! I prefer this performance over his ’78 SNL appearance since you will see a special guest join him.