Real ARGO Artifacts to be Featured At Spy: The Exhibit At Discovery Times Square

The movie ARGO has taken top prizes from the Golden Globes, Producer's Guild, and Screen Actors Guild.

Now, all those who have seen and enjoyed the movie have a unique opportunity to see and enjoy original artifacts from the audacious CIA covert operation that resulted in the escape of six American hostages from Iran in 1980. Indeed, the organizers of Spy: The Secret World of Espionage at Discovery Times Square are inviting the public to a free viewing of ARGO artifacts on Wednesday, Feb. 20 from 10am to 7pm, 226 West 44(th) St., between Broadway and 8(th) Ave. Tickets will also be available for Spy: The Secret World of Espionage at a discounted rate for those attending to see the Argo artifacts on that day only. Attendees can use the code "Argo" at box office to receive discount.

When Iranian militants, posing as students, stormed the American embassy in 1979 and took 52 hostages, six other members of the embassy staff were able to evade capture and took shelter at the home of a Canadian diplomat. ARGO chronicles the complex and dangerous operation of Tony Mendez, the now retired CIA intelligence officer who masterminded the plan to create a fake science fiction movie, "ARGO", to be filmed on location in Iran, and supported by a real office in a Hollywood studio. As part of the daring ARGO rescue, Mendez disguised the six as members of the movie's scouting team and later escorted them through the Tehran airport and onto a flight to Zurich, Switzerland. Their escape in 1980 had taken placed literally right under the noses of the feared Iranian Revolutionary Guard. (The other 52 hostages were held for a total of 444 days before finally being released in 1981.)

"While I appreciate all the attention that the movie has brought the ARGO operation, my goal was simply to help bring home a group of Americans who were innocent victims in a political war," said Mr. Mendez. "However, I will say that it was one of the most creative operations with which I was ever associated. And, I think that the movie did the operation real justice."

Mendez's new book, Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled off the Most Audacious Rescue in History (Viking Press), was released to critical acclaim earlier this year.

It is because of the success of the award-winning film ARGO that organizers of the Spy exhibit at Discovery Times Square want to enable all visitors and residents of New York City to learn more about this incredible feat. Spy: The Secret World of Espionage in the only exhibit in the world that has actual artifacts from the secret CIA mission.

"We are so pleased to be able to showcase the real ARGO for the general public," said James Sanna, President of Discovery Times Square. "Now that so many people have seen the film, they can see the actual story in action."