How Lawrence Of Arabia Became A Star

T.E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia is well known through his seminal Seven Pillars of Wisdom and most especially David Lean's Oscar-winning Lawrence of Arabia in which Peter O'Toole plays the role of the British junior officer who goes native and advises Arab tribes during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18.

In A Peace To End All Peace, David Fromkin separates the man from the myth and finds Lawrence wanting because of his repeated insubordination, including going over the heads of his superiors as well as going public when he did not like British policy toward the Arabs, which was often.

Lawrence's star turn began when he met Lowell Thomas, a 25-year-old showman from Ohio who headed out to the Middle East in 1918 in search of a salable story full of romance and local color. He found it in the Arab-robed Lawrence.

Not letting the facts get in the way of a good story, or "sacrificing truth to entertainment values," as Fromkin put it, Thomas put together The Last Crusade, a lecture-and-photo show that opened in New York City in March 1919 and then set records in London, where perhaps a million people saw it before he took it on a world tour.

Lawrence was said to be embarrassed by the crudeness of The Last Crusade, but gloried in its portrayal of him, and saw the show at least five times.

The public gobbled up Thomas's account, and so when Winston Churchill began trying to undo the mess that Britain had made in the Middle East, his appointment of Lawrence overshadowed all others.

"His reputation grew," wrote Fromkin. "He passed off his fantasies as history, and in the years to come, Lawrence was to claim far more credit for his share in Churchill's achievements as Colonial Secretary as was his due."