What makes a person intriguing?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, it’s someone that has the capacity to fascinate us, to arouse our curiosity. The people profiled here range from a liberal and a conservative columnist to a man who’s bringing rap and rockn’ roll acts to the Lowcountry to a 92-year-old golf starter. They also include a sailor, a pilot who flies sick children to get the help they need, a woman who works diligently to help single moms, another woman whose Down Syndrome child inspired her to help others, an architect who came about his calling in an unusual fashion, and a man who brings his Caribbean music to local children. There’s also the doctor helping Hispanic women with prenatal care, a businessman who had his “aha” moment and is now helping teen girls as they recover from substance abuse, and the solicitor who has changed the face of law enforcement in our community.

5 THINGS ABOUT BEING INTRIGUING

1. THE GATOR ANGLE:

   When lists of the most intriguing people are done on a national scale, such as in People magazine, the president is usually among them. Certainly, having as much power as a president does makes a man automatically intriguing.
   But imagine what People and other media would have done with one of our early presidents, John Quincy Adams, who took office in 1825. He liked to swim naked in the Potomac River and his pets included silkworms and an alligator that he kept in the East Room.
   Keeping company with an alligator brought national fame to Charles Fraser, founder of Sea Pines. A photograph of suit-clad Fraser strolling with a gator appeared in a top-selling magazine and acclaim followed. Despite Adams’ and Fraser’s success, however, it’s no longer recommended that you use alligators to make yourself intriguing.

2. TOPS ONLINE:

   On Yahoo in 2008, Britney Spears was the most searched person. Oh, does she no longer intrigue you the most?

3. I’M ... WHO?

   In the late 1970s, for a few moments at least, no one was more intriguing than Rula Lenska. Frequently aired TV commercials for Alberto VO5 shampoo declared she was an “internationally known and acclaimed actress.” She tossed her beautifully done head and stared at the camera as if to declare: Of course! Except that hardly a person in the United States had any idea who she was. So Rula Lenska became a pioneer in celebrity-hood — famous for simply being famous.

4. THE MOVIE:

   “Intrigue” came out in 1947, one of the releases that came to be known as “film noir.” It starred George Raft as a former military pilot involved in Asian smuggling, with his boss, played by June Havoc. As the movie progresses, the character played by Raft struggles to do the right thing despite his past. As he says, intriguingly: “Nice girls aren’t supposed to talk to me, much less be seen with me.”

5. NOT REALLY FOREIGN:

   Intrigue was also a car. Introduced in 1997 with touches of European styling and features, the midsize sedan was in fact an Oldsmobile, though nothing on the car said so. The manufacturer, General Motors, seemed to be aiming at an audience then infatuated with the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz but likely to buy a Honda or Toyota. It didn’t really catch on. The model disappeared after a few years, followed by the entire Oldsmobile line, last produced in April 2004.

By Alex and Dedria Cruden