Pepping Up Washington's Image

[David Morris]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/29/arts/design/29GEOR.html

Say goodbye to the stern and remote George Washington, the boring one who 
wore a powdered wig, had wooden teeth and always told the truth. Embrace 
instead the action hero of the 18th century, a swashbuckling warrior who 
survived wild adventures, led brilliant military campaigns, directed spy 
rings and fell in love with his best friend's wife.

That is the new message from the people who run Mount Vernon, the estate 
where Washington spent much of his life and where more than one million 
people now go each year to learn about him. Stirred to action by what they 
say is an appalling decline in what visitors know about Washington, they 
have embarked on a radical course.

Their goal is to reposition the father of the country for a new era. Among 
the tools they plan to use are holograms, computer imagery, surround-sound 
audio programs and a live-action film made by Steven Spielberg's production 
company. The film may be shown in a theater equipped with seats that rumble 
and pipes that shoot battlefield smoke into the audience.

"We used to be so discreet that we didn't want to display Washington's 
dentures," said James C. Rees, executive director of Mount Vernon. "When we 
finally broke down and showed them, they turned out to be a sensation. That 
taught us something."

The new plans have stirred some critics to warn that Washington is being 
transformed into a "G.I. George" and Mount Vernon into "MTV Vernon." But 
perhaps more tellingly, they have won support from many scholars who are in 
a state of near panic after watching Washington all but disappear from the 
national consciousness in the space of a single generation.



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