So was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but they were lucky enough to be around before cinema was much of a thing so it was easier for them to maintain the fiction. LaVey was a solid troll but he learned it all from Crowly, who was one of the greatest trolls of his era.
Naw, the Golden Dawn was different from the CoS in that the individual members of the Golden Dawn had individual talents that actually wound up being greater than their involvement in the Golden Dawn. Very, very few talented people have actually come out of the CoS. Lots of affectation and dilettantes, and some people that probably could exhibit talent if they didn't have the "I'm better than everyone else alive" mentality.
