[PW] my traditional New Year's questions

[Paul Zimmerman]

Bill Davis <wmadavis at gmail.com> writes:

>I imagine the Napoleon delusion stems from reported examples from 
>asylums during the 19th century, when Napoleon loomed large in the 
>imagination, especially the European imagination, but at any rate, 
>the stereotype was established by 1904, when Edison made a film 
>(or two films) portraying a lunatic -- complete with Napoleonic 
>uniform -- fighting off and escaping his keepers, shown under the
>titles "Manic Chase" and "The Escaped Lunatic."   Before he teamed 
>up with Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel in his first film, "Nuts in May" 
>(1917), played a character who thought he was Napoleon.  The film 
>was later recut into another version "Mixed Nuts" (1922).

Ah! Finally a historical origin for this. I've always understood that Napoleon made a good 'role model' for a patient in an asylum because he was imprisoned on St. Helena island for many years after his final defeat. Obviously, if someone who is "delusional" and "locked up" is seeking to explain this situation, a self-important image of being some very great and dangerous personage is attractive. But I'd never come across any exact citation for when the convention entered the mass consciousness/media. Thanks for that.