Six Degrees of Separation from Maurice Chevalier

Lately, I've found myself fascinated by the "Small World" phenomena. Could it be we are all connected somehow, no matter how tenuous the relationship?

I mean, just this morning, during a marathon session of spring-roll making with Jeff's grandmother (mmmmm...peanut sauce), I find out I have a distant, insubstantial, and yet still undeniably THERE link to the great Maurice Chevalier. Yes, a brush with the late Mr. "Birds in the Breeze Seem to Twitter Louise" himself.

In 1967, American sociologist Stanley Milgram described his ‘six degrees of separation’ theory. The idea is that every person on Earth can be linked to any other person by just six ties. The short article I read said " the chances are, you’ve got a connection to a goat-herd in Outer Mongolia – but you may not know it yet!" Milgram conducted his research using a very small scale, but basically his theory seemed to hold water. But would it hold up on a larger scale?

The article continued: " In 2003, a team at Columbia University asked 60,000 e-mail users from 166 countries to reach one of 18 target people in 13 countries around the world. The average completed chain comprised just four people. However, having factored in the drop-out rate, the researchers calculated a median chain length of between five and seven people. "

Then, scratching my head as to why I seemed to associate this theory with a conversation with Tai about the actor Kevin Bacon, I typed his name and "six degees separation" into a search engine and found out this whole incredible phenomena is now a popular party game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon

Yes, Elvis Presley has a Bacon number of 2 degrees of separation. Who would've thunk it?

So, how many degrees of separation from Maurice Chevalier am I? I'm still not sure how to calculate it exactly.....

Well, my husband's grandmother had an uncle named Dudley Wright who was Chevalier's personal valet, travelling with him on tour until a bout with appendicitis laid poor Dudley out in a Parisian hospital. Uncle Dudley stayed in Paris, having unsuccessful relationships with French ladies, before returning home to England after the war ended.

So, yes, a distant relative (by marriage) was Maurice's manservant. I shall never watch the movie "Gigi" in quite the same way.