Ion Perdicaris - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

"Hostages to Momus", a short fiction story by the American author O. Henry was inspired by the kidnapping of Ion Perdicaris, who in the story is referred to as "Burdick Harris" ("Bur-dick-Harris" is a play on "Per-dic-aris", as both names rhyme with each other if pronounced as the author intended), a Greek citizen. The humorous story was written shortly after the incident.

In 1924, British author and adventurer Rosita Forbes published The Sultan of the Mountains: The Life Story of the Raisuli, a full-length biography of Raisuli; the book is currently out of print in English, but a Spanish translation has appeared recently. Other books have discussed the incident, including David S. Woolman's Rebels in the Rif, Michael B. Oren's Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present and Bill Fawcett's Oval Office Oddities, and a lengthy, in-depth chapter on the kidnapping and President Roosevelt's reaction is included in Edmund Morris's second Roosevelt biography, Theodore Rex.

The story of Ion Perdicaris's kidnapping was loosely adapted to film in the 1975 motion picture The Wind and the Lion, with Sean Connery in the role of Raisuli and Brian Keith as Roosevelt. However, to add some spurious glamour to the tale, the 64-year-old bearded hostage was replaced with attractive young "Eden Perdicaris", played by Candice Bergen. While the movie incorrectly showed US Marines invading Morocco, not to mention their bizarre battle with non-existent soldiers of the German Empire, it succeeded in presenting the personality of Raisuli and his interaction with his prisoners. The incident is referenced in the book In Mortal Danger by Tom Tancredo and in Inside the Asylum by Jed Babbin.