On the occasion of the Governor’s visit to the Burbank ranch, the guests and hosts have a friendly pre-dinner conversation. At one point, the subject of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt is introduced, and in particular the curse of the pharaoh, which one of the characters claims to have read about in the Digest. The governor asks the protagonists’ (the Burbank brothers) mother if she believes in the curse. She does not answer but queries whether they knew that Tut was only a young man of 18 years old.
The interest of this mention, purely incidental to the development of the film, is to point out how even in the remoteness of the northwest of the United States, the news of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb had a profound media impact. Indeed, this event, which took place in November 1922, was reported around the world and photos of the interior of the Theban tomb of the young pharaoh were widely reported in the American press through The Times newspaper, which published the photos taken by photographer Harry Burton. This was the beginning of a wave of so-called “tutmania”, with which the issue of the curse is absolutely inseparable and which has greatly influenced contemporary popular culture.

Author: Abraham I. Fernández Pichel