Thanks Montana for listening to the segment, and I'm glad you found the ideas interesting. I don't think I would go all the way to suggest that the entire series is meant to be seen in this light of tall tales. However, for the episodes that do have an Old Indy (or even 50 year old Indy in Chicago), it is perfectly valid to suggest that he has embellished them. The films don't have the wrappers, so I wouldn't put them in the same category. And as I mention on the Podcast but don't explain all that well, in London, Old Indy does see Vickie again. If you haven't seen that segment (I know Stoo has put them up on Youtube), Old Indy hears "Deeds Not Words" spoken from offscreen at the end of the show and that's exactly what Vickie has been saying all episode. And of course, it turns out to be her 70 years later. So, there we have a flashback that ends with a character appearing, and it actually validates the episode. Of course, Indy still could have embellished all the details.
But what I do think you hit upon is how George thinks about these stories. In many ways, he was most inspired by Joseph Campbell. There is a great documentary with Bill Moyer interviewing Campbell at Skywalker Ranch from the late 80's just before Campbell died. They talk about Star Wars and Indy a bit. I'll have to dig it up and do a review for the Indycast.
In fact, mythology was so important to George, that the whole Luke & Leia saga is tied to old myths. My film teacher in high school who was a great inspiration in my life guessed what happened in Jedi before he saw it. I asked how he knew Leia was Luke's sister, and he said it was because he knew mythology.
One last thing to think about - the Paris 1919 episode has a newsreel opening which could actually argue for that makes Indy really part of history.
Best,
Laird