The Terrible Clone Trio

Nigel Price · 13 Mar 2000, 19:54 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: Nigel Price <NigelPrice1 at compuserve.com>
Subject: (urth) The Terrible Clone Trio
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 19:54:32
Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0840 at digest.urth.net>
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And while I'm back in contributory mode again, however, briefly, I thought
that you might like this pleasantly inane extract from my recent
correspondence with my faithful friend Jeff in Minneapolis, who - *gasp!* -
has *met* Gene Wolfe several times.

I should explain that I had told Jeff about John Clute's wonderful line,
that Wolfe is a bit like Aslan as played by Sgt Bilko, and that I had added
my own comment that in the photos I'd seen, Wolfe actually looked a bit
like Bilko, as played by the great Phil Silvers.

Anway, this was Jeff's reply:

The latest set of shelves are now up,=20
and, in sorting out the books, I came=20
across a copy of a nice volume called=20
"The Faces of Science Fiction"; it has=20
photos and short interviews with quite=20
a number of authors. Since I had been=20
sort of bemused by your comment on=20
Gene Wolfe reportedly looking like the=20
late, lamented Phil Silvers, I took a=20
look to see if the description matched.=20
I should also mention that one of the=20
movie channels we had been getting=20
a free preview of over the weekend=20
ran "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"=20
- which had Phil Silvers as one of the=20
characters.

I'll have to concede that they do look=20
like siblings - Mr. Wolfe is a bit more=20
portly and respectable, while Phil=20
Silvers always seemed to look a bit=20
leaner and hungrier. Curiously enough,=20
Americans visiting Tibet have been=20
arrested for wearing T-shirts with=20
Phil Silver's likeness on them - the=20
locals think it's the Dalai Lama! If=20
you want my opinion, Gene Wolfe=20
looks more like the Dalai Lama than=20
Phil Silvers does - aside from the=20
strikingly similar face, they both=20
have a sort of friendly, avuncular=20
look about them. Sort of the=20
"Kris Kringle" look, I guess.

I'm not sure if this means anything -=20
perhaps all three are really siblings,=20
and part of some vast netowork of=20
gurus in glasses... Oh, where are=20
Mulder and Scully when you really=20
need them?

It's curious; I don't remember noticing=20
the resemblance in person. Gene=20
Wolfe always seemed to radiate=20
bonhomie, rather then that "used=20
car salesman" attitude that Sgt. Bilko=20
had. Hmmm. Curiouser and curiouser,=20
said Alice!

Well, there you have it, fellow Lupines: Bilko, Gene Wolfe and the Dalai
Lama - clone triplets, bespectacled geniuses, genetically engineered by
some mysterious alien entity and put here on this earth for a purpose that
you and I can scarcely dream of...

Yeah, right!

Nigel

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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