If You Love David Karp So Much Why Don't You Marry Him?
Tumblr creator David Karp is being heralded as the "Internet's Boy Wonder" in Page Six magazine today. It's not like that bothers us or anything, but a boy wonder? The guy who invented the television was called a Boy Wonder. Karl Rove was called a Boy Wonder because he knew how to ruin the entire world. Karp streamlined a particular way to post things on the internet. We don't credit the inventor of the electric toothbrush as having pioneered the whole concept of teeth-brushing. All we're saying: if he didn't have that steely gaze and lived in Ohio, would Page Six give a shit? It's a question for the ages. After the jump, a disappointing list of other Boy Wonders time forgot.
No matter how we tried to narrow our Nexis searches, we were still overwhelmed by Boy Wonders from every era and industry, many of whom played baseball or were members of various state legislatures or were Bill Gates. We were going for five but settled for three.
- Mark Fabiani was considered a Boy Wonder when, in 1989, he became LA mayor Tom Bradley's chief of staff at just 32. We don't know what happened after that, but we're pretty sure the '92 riots were his fault.
- Daniel Gordon was Merrill Lynch's boy wonder when he took over their energy-trading business in 1999. He got caught trying to cheat Merrill out of $43 million dollars in the same trading schemes that executives at Enron - his biggest trading partner - were using to fill their offshore accounts. His career was over in March 2001, just a few weeks before the entire energy market collasped.
- In 1984, a young Ricky Martin joined the pop group Menudo. The band was never seen or heard from again.