Brian G. Hughes

Who was Brian G. Hughes?

Brian G. Hughes was a US businessman and practical joker.

Hughes was a paper-box manufacturer and a founder of the Dollar Savings Bank.

Once he "donated" a plot of ground in Brooklyn to the Board of Aldermen who planned to have it made a public park. It turned out to be a 2- x 8-foot plot of ground near 6th Avenue and 63rd Street. He also donated a mansion he claimed Marquis de Lafayette had lived in during the American War of Independence - actually a badly kept house at 147th Street and Concord Avenue in the Bronx. A local historical society tried to have him committed to an asylum for this prank.

Hughes might have been the first to drop fake diamonds in front of the Tiffany's jewelry store and watch greedy people try to grab them. This prank was later used as a film gag by the Marx Brothers. Once he placed empty picture frames and tools in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which led to a search for apparently stolen paintings. He also distributed tickets to non-existent events.

Once he masqueraded as a Prince of Absdam, Cyprus and Aragon and pretended to hoist a title of Princess of the order of St Catherine of Mount Sinai to actress Lavinia Queen.

Hughes "forgot" expensive umbrellas in public places with an expectation that someone would try to take them. They were gimmicked to drop a banner that read "stolen from Brian G. Hughes" when they were opened.