identity replications

The replication of identity likely goes far back in human history. How many Betty Davises and Marilyn Monroes have there been? How many Richard Nixons, Bill Clintons, and Ronald Reagans have I seen at Halloween parades? Quite a few! Of course these are rather obvious replications - masks from costume shops are all that's needed. No one is fooled.

There have been look-alike competitions for some celebrities. Elvis Presley imitators are kind of a genre all their own, and come out of the woodwork every year on Elvis's birthday. For a long time, the town of Key West, Florida sponsored a convention of Ernest Hemingway replications. Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake seem to have become icons who inspire followers to literally live in their shoes.

There have been actors who have embraced the histories and personalities of certain celebrities. For example, a couple decades back, the actor Hal Holbrook performed a one-man show as Mark Twain. Of course, everyone knew he was not Mark Twain, even though Holbrook fully researched and lived the writer's identity. Mark Twain died in 1910. In recent years, however, the rules have relaxed, and there are performers who live on stage and camera as actors or athletes who have long retired or are passed without acknowledging that they are replacements.

This may have been true in the past as well. Reading about Joe Jefferson who became rich and famous playing a one-man version of Rip Van Winkle, it occurred to me it's unlikely in the mid-1800s he could have very easily showed up in Europe and around the United States in as many places as are reported. There must have been other actors who saw his success as an opportunity.

For some impersonators, it's a kind of passion, a release from the bindings of one's own history. For others, a need for money and/or attention drives their new identities. Some are likely hired to liven up conventions and other gatherings. For those of us in the audience, some of us are reassured to see rejuvenated new versions of our favorite people from the past. Others are jarred to see a stranger replace someone who has meant something to them. (When replicas arrive at your office, your doctor's, or in your own home, that's worrisome!) Occasionally, there is a replacement who makes the audience happier than the original celebrity ever did.