# Is Paris Hilton or Zsa Zsa Gabor the first person to be famous for being famous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253 "2016-12-20T19:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/21 "2016-12-22T01:21:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Paris Hilton is famous for being a rich heiress who made a porn video. But I’m still not sure what Kim Kardashian is famous for. > > And Bob Hope has all of them beat. Wasn’t there also a Kim sex tape very early on? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/22 "2016-12-22T02:09:42Z")
Yes, but “rich heiress makes porn video” is news. “Random woman makes porn video” isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/23 "2016-12-22T03:01:04Z")
Oscar Wilde was probably the first superstar “famous for being famous” celebrity in America. Unlike Twain and Dickens, who were best-selling author’s before they became huge entertainers as well, at the time of his 1882 tour Wilde had written one play that had flopped (_Vera_, a melodrama that’s not even produced today) and a self published book of poetry and that was about it. The most famous thing about him was that he was lampooned in Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical _Patience_, The really only Londoners and Dubliners knew who he was. He gave lectures on art history and aestheticism and dressed funny and that was the extent of his fame at the beginning of his tour, but by the end he was a superstar. (The writings for which he is remembered all came years later.) Only rough drafts of his lectures remain and of course his delivery and voice and mannerisms were not recorded. I am guessing that he was tongue-in-cheek enough to be in many ways a cerebral standup comic. Several people wrote reviews of his lectures that basically said (my words not their’s) “I can’t explain why it was a great evening, but it was a great evening”. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/24 "2016-12-22T03:12:14Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m gonna quibble with this. Paris Hilton got her “start” when her sex tape was leaked to the internet. Before that, she was an occasional mention in the society and gossip columns. After that, she was a household name. > > Had the sex tape not happened, neither would _The Simple Life_, _The Hottie and the Nottie_, nor anything else have happened. Back in the day I sometimes visited a gossip group, and they were discussing Paris and Nicky Hilton for about a year prior because word on the street was the Hilton heiresses wanted to become celebrities and had hired a publicist. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/25 "2016-12-22T03:45:47Z")
kim k was sort of nationally famous because of her dads connection to oj simpson as a kid and she was well known on the teen party circuit in L.A … ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/26 "2016-12-22T04:16:41Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m gonna quibble with this. Paris Hilton got her “start” when her sex tape was leaked to the internet. Before that, she was an occasional mention in the society and gossip columns. After that, she was a household name. > > Had the sex tape not happened, neither would _The Simple Life_, _The Hottie and the Nottie_, nor anything else have happened. Quibble with your quibble. _The Simple Life_ was already in production when the Sex tape came out. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/27 "2016-12-22T08:40:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And Bob Hope has all of them beat. Bob Hope was in some very popular movies, including the “road” pictures with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, The Big Broadcast of 1938, The Paleface, and The Lemon Drop Kid. He hosted and occasionally starred in the TV anthology show The Chrysler Theater. He did stand-up comedy. He performed in and hosted many USO shows. As he got older, he did less and less creative work. He hosted some TV shows, and showed up on talk shows, but he no longer made movies. Younger people who weren’t familiar with his earlier work probably did think of him as famous for being famous. He wasn’t though - he was famous for being an actor and comedian. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/28 "2016-12-22T09:39:36Z")
I’m partial to [Georgiana Cavendish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgiana_Cavendish,_Duchess_of_Devonshire) (1757 – 1806). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/29 "2016-12-22T10:24:09Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Bob Hope was in some very popular movies, including the “road” pictures with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, The Big Broadcast of 1938, The Paleface, and The Lemon Drop Kid. He hosted and occasionally starred in the TV anthology show The Chrysler Theater. He did stand-up comedy. He performed in and hosted many USO shows. > > As he got older, he did less and less creative work. He hosted some TV shows, and showed up on talk shows, but he no longer made movies. Younger people who weren’t familiar with his earlier work probably did think of him as famous for being famous. He wasn’t though - he was famous for being an actor and comedian. Indeed. _The Lemon Drop Kid_ is still shown on TV this time of year, and _Silver Bells_ is still one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/30 "2016-12-22T11:41:02Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Bob Hope was in some very popular movies, including the “road” pictures with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, The Big Broadcast of 1938, The Paleface, and The Lemon Drop Kid. He hosted and occasionally starred in the TV anthology show The Chrysler Theater. He did stand-up comedy. He performed in and hosted many USO shows. > > As he got older, he did less and less creative work. He hosted some TV shows, and showed up on talk shows, but he no longer made movies. Younger people who weren’t familiar with his earlier work probably did think of him as famous for being famous. He wasn’t though - he was famous for being an actor and comedian. yeah that horrid set of movies he did in the late 60s/early 70s didn’t help either ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/31 "2016-12-22T12:25:32Z")
Bob Hope’s best work was probably in radio. “The Pepsodent Show” ran from 1938 to 1948 and was the most popular show for two years during World War II. My father used to say that the day after his show, kids at school would recite their favorite jokes from Hope’s opening monologue. But radio shows, while many survive, don’t really have an audience today. For whatever reason, a lot of the radio comedians of the day: Hope, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, etc didn’t make great comedy films. The Hope and Crosby “Road to” films are probably the best of the lot. One of the minor gags in the Jack Benny tv show was what a lousy picture “The Horn Blows at Midnight” was. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/32 "2016-12-22T22:28:07Z")
Even before the radio shows, Bob Hope was famous as a vaudeville performer. He made enough money doing that that when he moved to Hollywood for _The Big Broadcast of 1938_, he could buy land in the San Fernando valley. A **lot** of it. The joke went that Bing saw Bob walking down Van Nuys Boulevard singing “This land is my land, it isn’t your land…” ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/33 "2016-12-24T23:05:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But I’m still not sure what Kim Kardashian is famous for. “a big ass and a sex tape” – Joel McHale ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/34 "2016-12-24T23:44:48Z")
[Amrapali](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrapali) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/35 "2016-12-24T23:52:23Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Bob Hope was in some very popular movies, including the “road” pictures with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, The Big Broadcast of 1938, The Paleface, and The Lemon Drop Kid. He hosted and occasionally starred in the TV anthology show The Chrysler Theater. He did stand-up comedy. He performed in and hosted many USO shows. > > As he got older, he did less and less creative work. He hosted some TV shows, and showed up on talk shows, but he no longer made movies. Younger people who weren’t familiar with his earlier work probably did think of him as famous for being famous. He wasn’t though - he was famous for being an actor and comedian. He was a working comedian all the way. How did his name even come up? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/36 "2016-12-27T19:39:47Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m gonna quibble with this. Paris Hilton got her “start” when her sex tape was leaked to the internet. Before that, she was an occasional mention in the society and gossip columns. After that, she was a household name. > > Had the sex tape not happened, neither would _The Simple Life_, _The Hottie and the Nottie_, nor anything else have happened. Stupid question: Why did anyone care when her sex tape was leaked? Nobody would care about anyone else’s. Was she famous in any way before that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/37 "2016-12-27T20:49:23Z")
> **[Beau Brummell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Brummell)** > > George Bryan "Beau" Brummell (7 June 1778 – 30 March 1840) was an important figure in Regency England, and for many years he was the arbiter of British men's fashion. At one time, he was a close friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, but after the two quarrelled and Brummell got into debt, he had to take refuge in France. Eventually, he died shabby and insane in Caen. > Brummell was remembered afterwards as the preeminent example of the dandy, and a whole literature was founded... “Beau” Brummell. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/38 "2016-12-27T22:11:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, but “rich heiress makes porn video” is news. “Random woman makes porn video” isn’t. She’s not a random woman, though. She’s the daughter of OJ Simpson’s lawyer. It’s still a “famous daughter” situation. And this was before sexting and everyone using their cameras in bed. Plus she was Paris Hilton’s friend and hairdresser, apparently. Hilton decided to do a reality show. She needed to drum up publicity, so she leaked a sex tape to get her in the news. Kardasshian apparently followed suit, and probably for the same reason–to get publicity for her reality show. As for the topic of this thread, I agree that what Hilton (and Kardasshian) did to become famous more fits the concept of “famous for being famous.” Sure, the term may have been made up earlier, but it was with inferior versions of the concept. Zsa Zsa Gabor did a whole lot of things besides just being famous. She didn’t just stay famous for being famous. Hell, even when I saw this thread, my first thought was “you mean that lady on Green Acres?” I definitely think of Gabor as an actor. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/39 "2016-12-27T22:18:47Z")
I would argue that all of the siblings of monarchs (at least since the turn of the 19th Century) could be considered ‘famous for being famous’. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253/40 "2016-12-27T22:36:54Z")
It’s kind of weird that Kim was held hostage, tied up and robbed and the world as a whole kind of treated it either as “meh” or “She had it coming”. She’s one of the most famous people in the world. Not sure what that says about society, celebrity or her but it is definitely a weird reaction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-paris-hilton-or-zsa-zsa-gabor-the-first-person-to-be-famous-for-being-famous/775253.md?page=3)