When eccentric billinonaire Howard Hughes died in 1976, a puzzling handwritten will was found in Salt Lake City Utah. The document divided up Hughes estate into 16 shares, with one-sixteenth going to a Melvin Dummar. Reporters tracked down Dummar, a gas station operator in Willard Utah, and found that he had allegedly given a ride to Hughes in 1968.
Dummar stated the he had picked up a "bum" in the desert and drove him to Las Vegas. He never really believed that the stranger was Howard Hughes, and was surprised to have been named in the will. Hughes realtives contested the will in court, and a jury declared it to be a fake.
Broadway producer Daivd Merrick managed to fool the theather-going public in 1961. An add ran in the New york paper promoting his play Subways Are For Sleeping. The ad featured rave reviews from seven prominent theater critics. the only problem was, the photos by each name in the add werent of the famous critics.
It turns out that Merrick had gone through the phone book and found 7 people with the same name as the noted theater reviewers. He took the name-doubles out to dinner and they agreed to be quoted in his advetisement.
The trick worked, because Subways Are For Sleeping ran for a surprising 205 strong performances!
These Both started on April 1st!
Dummar stated the he had picked up a "bum" in the desert and drove him to Las Vegas. He never really believed that the stranger was Howard Hughes, and was surprised to have been named in the will. Hughes realtives contested the will in court, and a jury declared it to be a fake.
Broadway producer Daivd Merrick managed to fool the theather-going public in 1961. An add ran in the New york paper promoting his play Subways Are For Sleeping. The ad featured rave reviews from seven prominent theater critics. the only problem was, the photos by each name in the add werent of the famous critics.
It turns out that Merrick had gone through the phone book and found 7 people with the same name as the noted theater reviewers. He took the name-doubles out to dinner and they agreed to be quoted in his advetisement.
The trick worked, because Subways Are For Sleeping ran for a surprising 205 strong performances!
These Both started on April 1st!