DO NOT PUT "TITANIC'S JACK DAWSON WAS REAL" IN A POST TITLE! OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN! DRAT!!

Leave it to me to throw a wrench into historical fact versus historical fiction. Most all the regular Neato Readers know that I collect old “found” photographs and that I enjoy posting them here on the blog.

Back in 2007 I posted a vintage snapshot of two young teenagers sitting in the grass.


The boy sort of looks like a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Even though the photo is probably from the 1920's it made me think of Leo’s character Jack Dawson from 1997's Titanic. For some silly fun, I titled the post TITANIC’S JACK DAWSON WAS REAL. Just like I do with most of my “found” photos I try to add a goofy title or comment.

Unbeknownst to me, I didn’t realize that people really believe (or want to believe) that Jack Dawson was real and that he sailed on the Titanic. Out of more than one thousand posts on this blog - a snapshot of two unidentified teenagers sitting in the grass gets the most action. It’s rapidly approaching 10,000 views all because I put “Jack Dawson was real” in my title.

Actually, I get a big kick out of the comments that come in from time to time for this post. Take a moment to read thru ‘em, ‘cause they’re a hoot! To make matters even worse, I added the photo to my flickr photostream just like I do with most of my blog photos. Thanks to Yahoo! and their image search my flickr photo was number one for awhile. Now Google has found the image and it ranks high in their image search. Really, this makes me kind of embarrassed, but that’s the wonders of the internet for you.

Also check out this video (click here) made from my photograph by soccergoalkeeper1. The video has more than 45,000 hits and more than 175 comments. My photo went viral and I didn’t even know about it!

The photo was mentioned in a yahoo answers post here.

Now for a little history about this “found” photograph.


I really can’t remember how I ran across it. I think it came out of a large group of photos that I purchased at an auction or estate sale. It's probably from the 1920's and it has no identification on the back. Who knows who these kooky kids were? Some have said in their comments that the photo looks photoshopped. (I wish I was that good!) No, the photo has not been photoshopped. And to answer another comment - it is not Leo’s ancestor.

I wonder why people didn’t go ape over my Indiana Jones look-a-like snapshot? Oh, because everyone knows that Indy is a fictional character just like our pal Jack from Titanic! Ah the great controversies & conspiracies of the internet. You got your UFOs, JFK, Moon Landing, 9/11, Bigfoot, 2012 and now Jack Dawson. Hey kids, Jack was not a real person, but a fictional character from the mind of James Cameron.

From now on, I better be careful with making sarcastic, smart aleck or silly post titles for the blog! Yeah, right!

(This post has inspired me to dig out another photo from my collection. It’s a photo of a man who looks very much like a famous (real) author of the 19th Century. Actually, I’ve always wondered that it might be. Check back on Thursday to see the photo.)