Monday, May. 02, 1977

Strutting Tut

King Tutankhamen, the boy pharaoh who ruled 14th century B.C. Egypt for nine years and died at 18, reigns again--this time over Chicago.

It was predictable that the "Treasures of Tutankhamen," a traveling exhibition of precious objects discovered in a tomb in 1922, would cause a furor at the Field Museum of Natural History. In Washington, D.C., where the show began its run of six U.S. cities last December, the wait to get in averaged five hours. On its first day in Chicago, 2,000 people were in line when the doors opened. The first Tut fanciers had arrived at 5 a.m.

But other evidence of his Chicago popularity might have the pharaoh twirling in his tomb: pyramid hair styles, Cleopatra eye makeup, scarab rings, mummy bead necklaces, wallpaper sporting Egyptian goddesses, Tut towel and pillow sets. The newest disco dance is a stimulating shuffle called the King Tut Strut. One women's shop has achieved the living end in Egyptian necrophilia: its main window features a mannequin wrapped in masking tape to look like a mummy.

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