We’ve all had those it’s-a-small-world moments when we discover we’re randomly connected to someone else. You’ve most likely heard of the theory of six degrees of separation, which suggests that everyone on the planet is connected through a chain of no more than six people. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon demonstrates how surprisingly short the paths between people can be. In January 1994, three Albright College students — Craig Fass, Brian Turtle, and Mike Ginelli — were snowed in and watching television when two Kevin Bacon movies — Footloose and Quicksilver — aired back-to-back. While watching, they started talking about how many films Bacon had been in and how wide his network of co-stars must be, joking that Kevin Bacon was the center of the entertainment universe. Inspired by the social theory, the trio wrote a letter to talk show host Jon Stewart, leading to an appearance on The Jon Stewart Show and later The Howard Stern Show alongside Kevin Bacon himself. Bacon initially disliked the game because he thought it was making fun of him, but he eventually embraced it. The friends published a book called "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" with an introduction by Bacon himself. A board game was eventually released, and Google even built a feature into its search engine allowing users to calculate an actor's "Bacon number.” As an example, Elvis Presley was in Change of Habit with Ed Asner. Ed Asner was in JFK with Kevin Bacon. Therefore, Asner has a Bacon number of 1, and Presley — who never appeared in a film with Bacon — has a Bacon number of 2. The concept offers a great reminder that we’re all more connected than it may first appear.
