I've recently been rereading Phantom Fame, the autobiography of Harry Reichenbach, who was a famous publicist during the early 20th century. In the book Reichenbach describes all kinds of bizarre and amusing publicity stunts he dreamed up. When I first read it, years ago, I took it all at face value, assuming Reichenbach really did all the things he described. But now that I'm rereading it, I'm realizing that at least a third of it is complete baloney.

For instance, Reichenbach claims he was responsible for making September Morn one of the most famous paintings in the world by convincing New York's anti-vice campaigner, Anthony Comstock, to denounce it as immoral. But the reality is that Reichenbach wasn't involved in the September Morn scandal in any way. (I posted about this recently.)

Reichenbach also takes credit for dreaming up a low-budget publicity stunt involving a "Brazilian Invisible Fish." The idea was to put a large, transparent bowl of water in the window of a store with a sign in front of it reading, "Brazilian Invisible Fish." People soon gathered around to try to see the invisible fish.

I think the reality is that this was a common stunt in sideshows long before Reichenbach ever took credit for it. (The showman Florenz Ziegfeld, of the Ziegfeld Follies, also took credit for inventing it.) It's certainly easy to find the stunt described in newspapers years before Reichenbach described it in his book.

But I'm wondering whether there actually are invisible fish? Or, at least, transparent fish. I imagine there are. I found one report, by the Smithsonian, describing a species of Pacific fish called "sand divers" whose bodies, except for their eyes, are apparently as transparent as glass.

I'm hoping that the Museum of Hoaxes' Deputy Curator In Charge of Fish might be able to shed some light on this matter.

Posted by David B.  on  Thu Nov 08, 2007  at  04:28 PM

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Posted by Maegan  in  Tampa, FL - USA  on  Thu Nov 08, 2007  at  10:46 PM

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