WEBVTT - Welcome to the Dollhouse: Velvalee Dickinson 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:03.880 Zaren. 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.160 Yes, Elizabeth Zaren, How are you? 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:08.480 Oh my goodness, I've been waiting for you. 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:09.959 You're feeling good, feeling strong. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:12.479 Really I was late today, but feeling good. I am 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.160 feeling good. I'm feeling strong. What about you? You're feeling strong? 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.079 You know I feel good. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.480 It's not strong. Maybe maybe get back in the gym 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.080 or doing push up body weight exercise. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:22.520 It's true. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.120 Are you talking more like emotionally emotional? 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.000 I think just across the board, I'm feeling that glay. 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.520 For glay real. Yeah, that's tough. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:31.800 Anyway, you know, it's ridiculous. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:37.800 I'm so glad you asked John Gruden. Okay, you could 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.440 say you, I could just say period. But former the 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.080 former Raiders coach of You're not your Raiders, but the 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.440 Oakland now Vegas Raiders, Dave's producer D's Raiders good call, 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:51.640 and then also the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well. Sure, 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.520 Now he wants to share the story about Peyton Manning 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.360 forty two Blue. Now, he was known to do a 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:01.720 call a lot of audibles at the line. Right, So 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.200 he's a quarterback, He's sitting there and he would call 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.000 an audiblely like oha, oh maha, right, oh right, but 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.120 he wouldn't only just say omaha when he called audibles. 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.680 According to John Gruden, who said this story, he would 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.600 often like do research on the opposing players and he'd 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:20.400 find out like their wives' names, their girlfriend's names, like whatever. 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.440 Would we would work to get in their heads. And 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.800 so he get up there and be like, Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn. 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.119 Someone's like, what the about my wife? 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:29.840 Cold blooded? And I love it. 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.440 I thought you would someone be like, hey, man, that's 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.320 my wife. Brother. So people get real mad and like 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.200 and Peyton would just kind of wink and then hike 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.280 the ball. So there. I thought that was kind of ridiculous, 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:41.320 psychological war. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.000 He's too blues, right, Yeah, I love that, and I 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.360 think he should have just like done like street addresses children. 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.840 Yeah that was good. But do you want to know 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:58.480 what else is ridiculous? Hiding behind dolls? I don't know. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.800 This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers. 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.600 Heis and cons it's always ninety nine percent murder free 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:31.640 and one hundred percent ridiculous. Damn right, you know that. 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.760 I love puzzles yeah, yeah, you definitely you do. I 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:36.520 love codes, yeah. 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.920 Big on cryptograms. There's one in the San Francisco Chronicle 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.480 called crypto Quip that I always used to play. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:43.000 Huh. 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:44.399 It was like for a while that was the only 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.799 reason I still had my subscription. But I like puzzles 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.200 like that, like basically all of the New York Times games. Yes, 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:52.480 they relax me. 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:54.079 I've seen you play those in the. 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.359 HV challenge me. And they also helped me fight the 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.560 crazy brain fog that I've developed. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.560 I do that for Jeopardy to keep then to keep sharp. Baby. 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:05.600 I may not be able to remember the word that 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.240 I want to use during the day, but every morning 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.560 as I lie in bed, I am sharp as a 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:14.720 tex at wordle connections, strands, pips and spelling bee. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:15.560 Well, you do a bunch. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.000 I have to play them in that order. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:19.240 Wow, you have to play them. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.960 I have to anyway. Codes. So there's a British TV show, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.480 Bletchley Circle that I highly recommend. It's about the World 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:33.400 War Two code breakers working the Enigma machine, break the Nazi. Yeah, 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.760 and a bunch of gals, lady code breakers. This lady 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.640 host likes lady code breakers. I will never get over 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.240 being called the lady host, which has happened twice. 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.920 Now I've never been called the gentleman host. So I 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.680 can see what instances. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.760 I think they were both reviews, they give your name 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:51.360 Zarin and the lady host. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.880 Oh really, I didn't even notice that. 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.119 Oh yeah, I have a name and it's Vagina corn Tower. Yeah, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:01.360 respect name anyway. Codes. So this is what I planned 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.040 to babble at you about to name please, a woman 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.080 who used codes and a woman who broke them, and 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:08.160 how they intersect. 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.120 Oh, I can see that. That's like a unity of opposites. Right, 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:12.080 So I'm going to. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.720 Start with this woman named velv Le Malvina Dickinson. I'm 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:17.560 going to need to hear that again, so I gotta 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:22.240 say it again. Velv Lee. Huh, Malvina Dickinson. 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:23.440 That's amazing. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.160 What a name. Velvelee put her foot. She was born 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:35.080 Velvally Bleacher Wow in Sacramento, California. Oh wow, us a 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.960 sacrament A kid in eighteen ninety three. It was a 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:41.039 great time for Sacramento. I actually love that place. I 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:41.799 love Sacramento. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:43.880 That is true. That's right. 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.880 Velveley, bright woman, super smart. Her parents sent her off 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.880 to a girl's prep school in Oakland called Snell Seminary. 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.080 Went to Oakland too, Yeah, exactly. 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.560 Like it's basically me, I know, but not Okay. So 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:58.800 this place, Snell Seminary was known as like one of 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.120 the best, most fasttionable schools for girls on the West Coast. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.040 And from there she went to Stanford and she walked 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.600 in graduation in nineteen eighteen, but she didn't get her 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.320 degree because she hadn't returned a bunch of library books. 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.400 Yes, a lot of them were like. 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.120 These Russian books. They're all these kind of strange like. 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.320 Obscure they only had one copy of It wasn't. 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.840 Until nineteen thirty seven that she was able to get 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.120 it all settled out and get her official like degree 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:25.680 in diploma. 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.760 Damn. Yeah, so like nineteen years it took before. Yes, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.400 so she got the right to vote and then had 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:31.800 to wait another decade and a half back. 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.719 She's like whatever. So a fun fact. Her younger brother 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.560 also went to Stanford, just two years behind her, and 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.000 then from there he went to Harvard Law. And I 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:41.880 was thinking that she must have come from like a 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.719 posh Sacramento family either like agriculture mining, But I found 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:49.719 her dad's obituary and it seems he worked at the 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:51.080 rail yard his whole life. 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.360 Hum so kind of like one of those I saved up. 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.280 Have scrimped and saved and like sent his kids off 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.359 to super nice places. Always want the next generation to 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.039 do better. Yeah, don't want to hog the resources. So 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.800 from Stanford Velveley, she got a gig in a bank 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.800 and then she got a job at the California Fruit 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:11.440 Growers Association. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.000 Actually a very powerful association, very big, very. 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.000 She was a bookkeeper there, was so good at her job, 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.479 very personable. And then she got another job at a 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.640 produce brokerage firm and she worked there from nineteen twenty 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.520 eight ten nineteen thirty five. So while she was there, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.400 she handled a lot of the Japanese accounts and she 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:31.880 got to know the Japanese community in San Francisco. 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:32.720 Oh, very cool. 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.560 Yeah, So California has always had a strong trading and 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.240 cultural partner in Japan, particularly in the Bay Area. There 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.200 were a lot of farms, vineyards, and orchards owned by 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.640 Japanese families in the Central Valley. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:47.480 Ice farming too. They loved it. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.840 Yeah, And when Executive Ordered ninety sixty six was signed, 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.320 sending anyone on the West coast of Japanese descent citizen 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.200 or not to live in internment camps in the desert. 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:58.080 Most of these. 0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.600 Farms went dark, oh that's right. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.799 Yeah, And most were sized by the government for delinquent taxes, 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.440 or they got taken over by squatters or just destroyed. 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:06.920 Not all though. 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.760 Yeah, I really have to recommend and urge you read 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.680 the Smithsonian magazine article called During World War Two, this 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.960 farmer risked everything to help as Japanese American neighbors. It's 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.960 a long title by Jake Whitney, Like, honestly, I want 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.600 everyone to read this article. It's about a man named 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:27.320 Bob Fletcher, who was a UC Davis alum. Look at this, 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.600 and I promise you'll get emotional reading it. It lays 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.920 out what that time was like for farming families, and 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:36.400 it's important to know what happened, and it's a good 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.640 reminder of what happens when people decide to do the 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.360 right thing, even if it's not the easy thing. Yes, 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:45.680 saying that, yes, so I want to believe that Valvelee 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.720 at least had that opportunity to do the right thing. 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.480 But I can tell you she did not take it 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:57.640 if it was indeed on offer. So she's dealing with 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.440 all of these kind of families, these farming famis, families 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.440 and you know, the buyers and people in Japan. So 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.000 the produce brokerage business where she worked was owned by 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.040 this guy, Lee Dickinson, and he would soon become her 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:13.600 third husband. Yeah, she'd already had two goes, right, Finicky. Yeah. 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.800 And so because of all their Japanese clients, Velvelee and 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.880 her husband were really active in the Japan America Society 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.920 in San Francisco. So she joined the japan American Society 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.280 in nineteen thirty one and she was a member until 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.120 nineteen thirty five when she couldn't afford the. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.400 Duke right, right, because she changes jobs. Correct. 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.760 So luckily she had friends at the Japanese Consulate in 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.800 San Francisco, and an attache at the consulate paid her 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.880 dues from nineteen thirty six onward. Yeah, So she went 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.880 to a lot of parties at the consulate and it 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.520 was there that she would like rub shoulders with Japanese 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:51.600 diplomats and high level government officials, members of the Japanese Navy. 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.319 And then she in turned through parties at her house 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.560 and invited the consulate crowd over and then it all 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:01.920 came to a stop. Lee Dickinson produced brokerage company went 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.720 under in nineteen thirty seven. So the couple picked up 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.760 stakes and moved to New York City, Okay, and Velvelet 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.080 got a job as a sales clerk in Bloomingdale's doll department. 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.760 And this would prove to be a very pivotal moment. 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.720 For her going into the doll business. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.280 Yeah, she's got a friend in the doll business. Costume 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.320 dolls were a big deal then, all right, it was 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.319 all the rage. It was the la boo boos. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.280 You can be costume. You mean those dolls are like 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.000 the fancy dolls were that you put on the outfit, 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:31.040 put them on like a shell. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.320 Yes, like yeah, And so there were like porcelain dolls 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.640 with little fine outfits and you could change their clothes, 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:39.839 but in a discrete manner. 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.680 I think as haunted dolls very much. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:47.000 So. So there were local clubs and like specialty dealers, 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.160 and then all these avid hobbyists to just collect. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.440 And also the doll making, the dressmakers for the dolls 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:54.240 right over. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.839 And in that circle you could count Velvelet among this group. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:01.199 She is up in there. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.360 So with the name like Velvely Malvina, I mean, how 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.640 you get into doll making. 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.800 She got bigger in the doll scene, and she eventually 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:11.439 opened her own doll shop right across the street from 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.760 her house. Okay, and she got mentioned in the New 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.680 York Times. She displayed her dolls at antique shows. She 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.520 built up this customer base through word of mouth. She 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.480 put ads in magazines like House and Garden, and then 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.800 she had all this written correspondence, like she and all 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.559 these doll folks would write to each other. 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:27.920 Right. 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.880 So the December nineteen thirty nine Vogue issue put one 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.280 of her dolls in their buying guide quote, in the 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.880 doll collection of Velveley Dickinson, there are two wonderfully aromatic 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.520 kinds of dolls. One species is made of cedar wood, 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:48.199 cleverly carved and jointed by Tennessee mountaineers. You can have 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.200 man or woman, But for once we liked the woman best. 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:54.720 Don't report us to the New Yorker if we say 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.240 that the woman looks chic in her black and white 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.160 Gingham costume. She does around. 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.520 Six dollars each doll. WI. 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.520 I love that they call them. Species is made of 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.199 cedar wood species of. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.360 Doll, and normally we like the male dolls better than 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.480 the female dolls. I did not see that. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:13.360 I had no idea. 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.079 I thought only like manic, like you know, like Charlie 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.760 McCarthy's style. Like no, apparently like Ventri. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.160 An aromatic doll. 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.400 Yeah, one that has got a good little aroma to it. 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.320 So yeah. One of one of her best customers was 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.199 a young Eunice Kennedy, whoa yeah JFK's sister. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:31.560 Yeah. 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.280 Someone gave her a Dominican nun doll from Velveley's shop 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.320 as a gift, and she was like hooked. She's like, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:38.360 I need more dolls. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.640 That's a hell of a sentence, a Dominican nun doll 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:41.559 from Velvete. 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.000 I know, It's like have you had a stroke. So 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.400 in New York, Velvely she hooked back up with the 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:49.760 Japanese community there. 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:50.719 Okay, So she. 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:54.240 Went to the Niphon Club and the japan Institute. She 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.160 buttied up to the Japanese Console General. She met with 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:01.960 Ichiro Yoka Yama, who was Thepanese naval attache from Washington, 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.400 d C. Okay, that's all a little weird. But maybe 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:06.960 that's just me. She likes the culture she does, and 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.640 she lived large. She wore gorgeous clothes and was like 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.440 this total audio file. She bought records like crazy, and 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.840 if she she would whatever it came out, she wanted it, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.080 and she'd send the maid down to get it, and 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.440 then the maid, if she listened to it didn't like it, 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.440 she'd make the maid return it. She's like, please, don't 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:25.120 keep sending me back there to return these. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.120 Yeah, you sent me back yesterday with the new Jack T. 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.080 Guarden and now they're like mad at me. 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.480 She also went back and forth to California a lot. 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.160 Was the doll business that profitable. 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.480 I mean, I'm kind of like projecting from now back then, 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.520 and I just don't know if it's all pops. 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.320 But she also she appeared to be getting cash on 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:50.160 the side. Ah so according to Smithsonian Magazine, this article 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:54.360 by David Sears quote a November twenty sixth, nineteen forty 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.400 one visit to seven eighteen Madison by quote, well dressed 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.520 Japanese may have held the key to Velvil. These suspect prosperity, 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.720 as recounted in a nineteen forty four edition of Saint 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:08.320 Louis Sunday morning, the Japanese visitor quote darted through the 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:11.840 door and handed a small compact bundle to the proprietor. 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:14.480 I may not be able to come again, he said. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:19.320 The proprietor replied that they might meet again, perhaps in Honolulu. No, no, 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.840 the Japanese exclaimed, not Honolulu. 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:28.199 Yikes to know what's going on? Oh yikes. 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.840 So then came the letters. So between January and June 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.960 of nineteen forty two, a series of suspicious letters were 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:38.160 sent to Argentina. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:43.760 So January forty two, so after December forty one is okay, recent, 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:45.800 but don't go to Honolulu whatever you do. 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.640 So these letters to Argentina, they caught the eye of 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.040 the US government, and you know, they were concerned about 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:57.000 Argentina's like dabbling in fascism. 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.360 Connections to the fascist Europeans. 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.200 Correct. So the letters they were all addressed to Signor 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:06.120 Inez Lopez di Molinali in Buenos Aires, and one was 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:11.600 sent from Seattle, another from San Francisco, New York, Portland, Oregon, 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.280 and then another from Oakland, California. None of them made 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:20.040 it to Signora Inez Lopez de Molinali returned to send 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.720 her on each one. Oh yeah. And the women who 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.840 sent the letters, well, when they were interviewed by the FBI, 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.320 they swore they hadn't sent them and had no idea 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.080 who Signora Inez Lopez de Molinali was or what the 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.800 letters could be about. They the FBI found out because 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.320 these women were getting these letters returned to them. They 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.600 all said they'd open them up and their signatures were 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:44.560 on the letters. 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.920 The women who send the letter, I didn't. 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.560 Send this, but I assigned it. They said the signatures 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.400 on the letters looked like theirs, and that the letters 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:57.280 contained correct information about their personal lives that would be freaking, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.960 and their interest in dolls, so the. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.160 Letters less freaky. 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:08.560 The letter from Portland talked about a quote wonderful doll hospital. 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.640 The doll hospital dolls, and. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.960 Said the writer had left her three quote old English 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:18.280 dolls for repairs. The letter also talked about fishnets and balloons. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.400 The letter sent from New York was supposed to be 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.920 penned by a woman from Springfield, Illinois, talked about dolls 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:29.880 and had the words destroyed your like your in all caps, 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.680 and further in the same sentence, talked about a mister 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.080 Shaw who was sick but would be back to work soon. 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.000 And then the letter also talked about her sick nephew 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.120 with a quote malignant tumor on the brain. And the 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:45.360 supposed writer did have a nephew with a mortal brain issue. Really, 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.480 but she wasn't even in New York when the letter 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.000 was mailed, so she turned it over to local postal authorities, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.440 who then passed it on to the FBI. And in turn, 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.880 each of these women did the same thing. They get 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.360 this letter, They're like, oh, what is this? Postal authorities? FBI. 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.000 In another letter, the writer said that she was sending 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.040 a doll in a quote hula skirt to a doll 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.200 hospital in Seattle. Let me read you the letter, My 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.320 most gracious friend, please forgive my delay in writing to 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.120 thank you for your kindness in sending my family the 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:21.120 beautiful Christmas gifts. The girls were especially pleased. I have 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.560 been so very busy these days. This is the first 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.640 time I've been over to Seattle for weeks. I came 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.240 over today to meet my son who's here from Portland 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.680 on business, and to get my little granddaughter's doll repaired. 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.920 I must tell you this amusing story. The wife of 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.720 an important business associate gave her an old German bisk 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.520 doll dressed in a hula grass skirt. It is a 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.680 cheap hoard thing. I do not like it, and I 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.480 wish we did not have to have it about well. 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.800 I broke this awful doll last month. Now the person 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:55.040 who gave the doll is coming to visit us very soon. 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.920 I walked all over Seattle to get someone to repair it. 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.280 No one at home could or would try the task. 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.880 Now I expect all the damages to be repaired by 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:10.000 the first week in February. In the meanwhile, I hope 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.520 and pray the important gentleman's wife will not come to 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.399 visit us until after that date. I do hope you 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.159 can read my typing. I'm trying to learn so I 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.600 can be able to type records for the Red Cross. 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:23.960 Please accept love and remembrances. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.000 I got to disagree. I don't find that a very 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:26.720 amusing story. 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.640 No, not realist and so like the Oakland Letter, which 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.440 was purportedly penned by a lady from Colorado Springs, Oh 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.720 talked about seven small dolls that she was going to 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.240 try to make look as if they were quote seven 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:46.120 real Chinese dolls. Making up a family consisting of a father, grandmother, grandfather, mother, 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.600 and three kids. This was big to the FBI because 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.880 several warships had come into San Francisco Bay for repairs 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.000 just before the letter was written and mailed. So the 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:58.720 supposed author of that letter not only gave the letter 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.840 to the FBI, she also pointed them in the direction 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:03.200 of Velvelee Dickinson. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.120 Really, she thought about it and. 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.119 She realized, you know, Velvelee probably used my information to 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.320 get back at me because the woman had purchased dolls 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.000 from Valvealle but couldn't pay for them right away. Uh huh, 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:16.240 I mean you shouldn't be buying dolls in to the side. 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.240 I mean it's like not live within your dollmians. 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.960 Right anyway, So then the FBI asked the other women 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.879 who got the return letters, did you know Velvelee do 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.280 you think you know she could be the one behind them? 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.400 And they all were like, yeah, we she has documents 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.399 with my signatures on them, and we've all written letters 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.399 back and forth about dolls, but also like chatted about 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.200 you know, idle chit chat about our lives. The doll 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.240 correspond and at least two of them had mixed it 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.840 up with Velveley about prices or payments for dolls. So 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.359 now the FBI they set their sights on valve Lee. 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.399 Let's stop here for a bit. I have to go 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:54.600 brush the hair of all the members of my creepy 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.440 doll collection. I have them arranged on the day bed 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.800 in the guest bedroom, their sleepy eyes and rosy cheeks 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.560 staring out at me in dusty contempt. 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:03.880 I just want to know where you got all those 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:04.840 deaf leopard dolls. 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.320 It's very rare in Velvely's estate. 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.880 Zaren Yo, Elizabeth. Hi, I'm sorry. I'm still thinking about 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.520 that one armed deaf leopard drummer doll that you have. 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:34.840 It's it's incredible. 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.720 It's a keepsake. Yeah, I ordered it on late night TV. 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:39.040 It's beautiful thing. 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:41.760 Velvely, Velvely. 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.520 It was hard not to type Velveta as I was 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.359 putting together this outline. Anyway, The FBI, by. 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.760 The way, like names like that. I mean the poetry 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:52.720 that named Velvelee and then Malvina. 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.399 Also, I mean, I know some really beautiful old names 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.960 like that. They just fallout. I mean, Velvely, is it 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:00.560 it's interesting? 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:01.280 I like it? 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.320 Yeah, double v's Yeah, you don't exactly. It has like 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:07.199 a poetry to it. 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:10.280 Now, is in like one hundred years time, are people 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:14.399 going to go back and be like, you know, Brakenzie mckayley, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.199