The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Misc
 eiffel suspenders




From: 100574.3414@compuserve.com (Emmanuel Marin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: French UL : Gustave Eiffel and the suspender belt...
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 06:13:39 GMT

The UL that says that Gustave Eiffel - architect of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - invented the suspender belt to help his wife is a UL created by French comics scenarist Jacques Lob, first published in the French comics magazine "Pilote" in the 70's. Lob even invented a reference for his invented claim : a book published at the 'Bousset Editions' in 1947 [Bousset is in fact the name of Lob's wife].

I can testify that, in France, this UL is very common. One can find it in 'serious' books about French 'great men' as well as in books about... suspender belts ! These books quote the invented "Bousset" reference... According to a colleague of Lob who wrote a short text about the UL in this month's "Fluide Glacial" comics magazine, it is also heard on TV quizz shows and is even in the French edition of the "Trivial Pursuit" game.

As a matter of fact, Gustave Eiffel is one of the celebrities of the institute of technology I was in some years ago -- and if my memory is correct, when I was in charge of one of the internal journals, I even published someone's text in which the UL was used as a 'true fact', and no one reacted.

But what is the status of this UL outside France ?... This newsgroup is certainly the place where I will find the answer.

Emmanuel Marin
Paris, France.


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