1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,159 Speaker 1: to the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you so much for 3 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: tuning in. I am very excited about today's episode. Uh 4 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: my name is Ben. I gotta tell you notice I 5 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: shaved bonze, you sweet Noel, and you can tell I 6 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: am French, but I'm outrageous accent sort of Disney beauty 7 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: and the beast vibe not Gaston on the candlestick. And 8 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: there's our super producer, Casey Pegram. Casey, You're going to 9 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: absolutely love the cartoonish French accents. And I'm gonna be 10 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: dropping through this episode. Sir, I'm here for it, and 11 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: you're also here in the same room as us, because 12 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: we're in a different studio and I really like being 13 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: able to look right at you and not be separated 14 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: by glass. And you know, fiberglass, the barriers that separate us, 15 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 1: they've come down, Casey. I'm part way through this. I'm 16 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: going to reach out and hold your hand as I 17 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: do my own terrible accents, and I want you to 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: be ready for that moment when it happens. I'll prepare myself. 19 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: Do please do? Uh So, the three of us, I'm 20 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: looking around the room. The three of us all have 21 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: a facial hair of one sort or another. I typically, 22 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: as you guys know, my my beard grows really quickly. 23 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: So I am always like three hours away from a 24 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: five o'clock shadow, and I try to shave it when 25 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: I want to look clean cut and the two o'clock shadow. Uh, 26 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: it usually is about twenty minutes after I shave. And no, 27 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: you yourself have not shaved for years, right, not once, 28 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: not even ever? A trim. I just let it grow 29 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: like an old prospector will you trim it? I do? 30 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: I get it trimmed. Actually, that's one of the luxuries 31 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: I afford myself as when I get a haircut, I 32 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: get them to to trim my beard as well and 33 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: shape it up because I'm not qualified to do that. 34 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 1: It's an art and it's tough when you're doing it 35 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: for yourself. And in case you you've you've had kind 36 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: of uh, I would say I would call that a beard, right, Yeah, 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: that's a little dismissed because I'm trying to find because 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: it's not it's not stubble, and there's some interesting studies. 39 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: It's somewhere somewhere. Yeah, But I mean, like I usually 40 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: maintain the same kind of thing. Uh, Because there's a 41 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: there's a fascinating study that says there's this spectrum of 42 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: facial hair, and people tend to when they're looking at 43 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: pictures of strangers, they tend to think that people with 44 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: bigger beards, like zz top wizard style beards are more 45 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: are wiser, but less trustworthy, and the people who are 46 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: clean shaven are more trustworthy, but perhaps with less real 47 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: world experience. And then uh, in a in a concurrent study, 48 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: they found to that, now this may be controversial. Uh, 49 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: they found that stubble was considered the most attractive of 50 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: facial hair. Interesting, it's weird, right. You know why that 51 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: might be because it gives you the it's sort of 52 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: like half and half. It gives you the benefit of 53 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: a clean shaven look. You can sort of see the 54 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: skin still, especially if you have like a nice jawline, 55 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: and then you also get the ruggedness of a little 56 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: beard sprinkling kind of you know, I have a question 57 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: for you guys about mustaches. Is a mustache a mustache 58 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: if it's connected to a beard. You know, that's interesting 59 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: because wouldn't it become at that point a goatee of 60 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: some sort. Its just all one assembly. Well what if 61 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: the mustaches grown out and waxed and it's sort of 62 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: its own thing but something else at that point, Yeah, 63 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: I don't know. Well according to my auto correct, which 64 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: insists that I don't mean to type mustache. But uh oh, 65 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: I gotta tell you guys the story. Recently, I was 66 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: looking back at my worst auto correct mistakes at I 67 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: wrote to my mom and I told her. We were 68 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: in a conversation and I said, you know, I'm thinking 69 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: of growing mustache, and auto correct turned it into this 70 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: is true, I'm thinking of growing a moistache. Sorry, mom, 71 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: moist word a version. People are just losing their minds 72 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: in the audience right now, I know. Yeah, imagine the humiliation. Now. 73 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: I grew up mustache once for um, for a bet, 74 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,280 Speaker 1: but I've never committed to it. You have to be 75 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: a specific type of person. They think that you have 76 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: to have the right facial structure, dare I say the 77 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: right vibe. I once shaved my beard, um except for 78 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: the mustache, and people kept telling me I looked like 79 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: Ron Jeremy, So I never did that again. It also 80 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 1: made my daughter cry, yeah, because she like didn't recognize 81 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: me because she's you know, I've had this beard since 82 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: I was about fourteen somewhere, approaching this level of of 83 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: facial hair, since I was at least fifteen or sixteen, 84 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: and she'd never seen me without it before. And I 85 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: shaved everything off of the mustache. She was like maybe three, uh, 86 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: and she lost it. She she didn't know who I 87 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: was three. That makes sense, though, That makes sense, And 88 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: it's weird because when we first meet someone, we assume 89 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: that that initial meeting, the initial you know, shot we 90 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: have of them in our heads, is how they always look. 91 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: That's why it feels weird if you meet someone while 92 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: they're wearing a hat, and then you see them the 93 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: next time and they're not wearing a hat, and you're like, whoa, 94 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: what is this plot twist? It's kind of the same 95 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: way with facial hair. And shout out to everyone listening 96 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: who grows facial hair? Who does that thing? I don't 97 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: know if anybody else has done this, but when I 98 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 1: have a full beer grown out and I liked I 99 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: like to shave in two different auditions for facial hair, 100 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like, I'll do the what's 101 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: that mustache? It kind of goes down. It's like the 102 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: foo man chew um handle bar? Handle bar? Is that 103 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: what it is? The one that like, uh, I think, 104 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: so okay, it resembles a set of handlebars. There we go. 105 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: Sometimes it can usually connects up to the chops though, yeah, yeah, 106 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: and it becomes another thing entirely. I did that one 107 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: where you shave everything except right here on the chin line. 108 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: And I feel like an old time profit of some sort. Yeah, 109 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: an old time profit or like a saloon proprietor perhaps. 110 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: And so today today we are exploring facial hair. I 111 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: I know that mustaches can be a divisive thing, right 112 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: because some people say they'll they'll never condone a mustache. 113 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: Some people love them. They had a bit of a 114 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: vogue moment in hipster dam here in the United States 115 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: a few years back. You guys remember when people were 116 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: getting mustache tattoos and uh like mustache tattoos on their 117 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: fingers that they would put under their nose. Do you 118 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: remember that? Yeah? I thought it was an odd commitment. 119 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: Why not just use the finger? The mustache is sort 120 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: of implied. It's a tattoo. You know, they're gonna have 121 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: that for a while. But back in the early nineteen hundreds, Paris, France, 122 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: famously home to le bush mustaches, became a huge hot 123 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: button issue and it started with waiters. And this is 124 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: this is so strange, Like okay, so Casey, if we 125 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: could ask you, can you bust a couple of stereotypes. 126 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: I feel like the US unfairly gives waiters in Paris 127 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: a bad rep Yeah, they had the classic rap I 128 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: mean it's it's it's a very um common stereotype, right 129 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 1: of like the rude French waiter, the snooty French waiter. 130 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: It really has not been the case in my experience. 131 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: I've had maybe one rude waiter experience where I think 132 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: my bill came out to maybe eight euros. I had 133 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: like ten years to pay for it, and the guy 134 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: wanted exact change, and I had to explain to him 135 00:07:58,080 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: that I only had a ten year old bill, and 136 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: he with his fingers is counting out like eight eight, 137 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: and he's saying the English word eight eight, and I'm 138 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: telling him in French like, no, I understand eight versus ten. 139 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: I just need change. And as you know, as soon 140 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: as I kind of responded to him like in fluent French, 141 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: his whole demeanor changed, and he was very apologetic, and 142 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: he actually seemed somewhat embarrassed that he had behaved that way. 143 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: And it's almost as though your Francophone nature uh precludes 144 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: you from the rude waiter behavior. This is true. This 145 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: is true. But even in like earlier trips to Paris, 146 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: it has been remarked upon that, um, it has gotten 147 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: more polite over the years. You know, some of the 148 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: some of the waiting kind of culture that we have 149 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: in the United States in terms of the tip, uh, 150 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: and this feeling that it's almost like a kind of 151 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: emotional blackmail. You have to kind of like act like 152 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,080 Speaker 1: your best buds with the person you're waiting on. In France, 153 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: they are salaried employees waiters are so they're really not 154 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: beholden to the customer this same way they are in 155 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: the United States. It's it's more of like a trade 156 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: or something that they practice. So they don't I mean, 157 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: you don't have to tip. Yeah yeah, yeah, the tip 158 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: is included. You could round up, you can round us 159 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,680 Speaker 1: or something, but generally the price, like the price of 160 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: the food includes the tip for the staff. So do 161 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: they make a good wage really? Yeah? Interesting and so um, yeah, 162 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: it's kind of cool. They, I mean, the waiters I've 163 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: had tend to just be very professional, very quick, very efficient. 164 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: They're not really much for small talk or for hanging 165 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: out or anything like that. But at the same time, 166 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,439 Speaker 1: I have not experienced like so much rudeness or abruptness 167 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: from them, just kind of like, you know, cool customers 168 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: and and kind of just like there to get you 169 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 1: your food and get out of the way. I despise 170 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: the American culture of small talk by waiters and a 171 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: stick a whole stick or they have to do this 172 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: whole song and the first time here. Oh god, Okay, okay, 173 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: well let me walk you through the menu and how 174 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: this works. Okay, you're gonna want to start with a 175 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: schnaz ba, all right. We we also have some We 176 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: also have half off apps, and we have bottomless tofi 177 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: uh you know, go on for sure, love me some tofy, 178 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: but don't want to hear about it. I want to 179 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: make my own choice. Please leave me alone. I'm sorry. 180 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,559 Speaker 1: Any any waite staff folks out there, I know you're 181 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: I get it. I get it. Some people are all 182 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: about that and it will get you a better tip. 183 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: I'm just a curmudgeonly old fart and I just don't 184 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: want anything to do with them. People in the service 185 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:31,079 Speaker 1: industry in the United States have, uh, one of the 186 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:37,439 Speaker 1: most challenging gigs and careers in the country because of tips, 187 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: which we'll get to in a second. Because I have 188 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,439 Speaker 1: an advertisement that I think you'll like. So how you're 189 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: listening and you're thinking, Uh, guys, how are you going 190 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: to bring these disparate things together? How are you gonna 191 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: bring French culture and tipping and mustaches together? Well, strap in, 192 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: because we are going somewhere with this. Let's start at 193 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: the very beginning. Archie all just think that mustaches were 194 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:06,199 Speaker 1: always kind of a human thing, even back when people 195 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: were living in caves. Uh. There is strong evidence that 196 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: members of our species used shells and tweezers to shape 197 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 1: facial hair into you know, one design or another. It 198 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: was naturally occurring tweezer, as you always hear so much about. Yeah, yep, yep, yeah. 199 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: The common tweezer, I believe is the Latin I mean, 200 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: I guess the most basic, you know, improvised tweezer could 201 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,719 Speaker 1: just be two small sticks, yeah, put together like chopsticks 202 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: and needs pluck or maybe split a split a branch 203 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: there you go vertically. See that is some very industrious 204 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: thinking right there, my friend. Thanks man. But although we 205 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: know facial hair was decorated, and can I say band escaped? 206 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: Does man escape apply just to the Australia or does 207 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: think it's trademarks? Okay, so you might not, you might 208 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: get sued, but you know what, let's roll the dice. 209 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: This is the casey in the case cu all over again? 210 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: Really is so? When did the mustache as as we 211 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: know it today come into being nole or when did 212 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: it you know, really explode on the scene. Well, it 213 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 1: really got it's uh, it's footing if you can imagine 214 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,839 Speaker 1: a mustache with feet firmly planted in the cultural zeitgeist 215 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: in England during the Elizabethan era. In those days, as 216 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: you can imagine, the beard reigned supreme and King James 217 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: the First and his son, Old King Charles the First 218 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: h decided that they were going to make a splash 219 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: and turn this this beard thing on its end um 220 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: and make themselves really stand apart from the crowd um 221 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: by debuting their handlebar mustaches. Yeah yeah, and the hoi 222 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,320 Speaker 1: polloi the masses followed suit, you know, And this is 223 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 1: something we see a lot with fashion in general. Right, 224 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: some of the the more elite, whether political elites or 225 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 1: financial elites, are just uh, fashion elites. They they do something, 226 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: they're kind of the early adopters of a style, and 227 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: then it filters down and and it becomes more popular mainstream. 228 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: And that's what happened with the mustache. When Britain moved 229 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: away from Puritan rule, the mustache stayed and it was 230 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: a status symbol. King Charles the Second had a mustache 231 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: and you can see portraits of him in his early 232 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: teens where he already has his mustache. Peter the Great 233 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: in Russia attempted to control facial hair through implementing a 234 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: beard tax. This is a real thing. It was in 235 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: he went through Western Europe and he thought, you know, 236 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: he's like, after my trip abroad, I feel that beards 237 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: and facial hair are more old fashioned than masculine. So 238 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:03,679 Speaker 1: we're going to charge sixty two roubles for anyone who 239 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: wants to grow a beard, and they have to have 240 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: a little token they can carry around. So the three 241 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:09,719 Speaker 1: of us would have to carry would have to pay 242 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,440 Speaker 1: the beard tax for what like, when do you have 243 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,120 Speaker 1: to deliver this like is that like you pay it 244 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: like yearly or quarterly or just like you get shaken 245 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: down by you know, the beard cops, the beard cops 246 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: and the beard police. Surminds me of the butter tax, 247 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: the indulge in the butter boxes or whatever, like, for 248 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: the privilege and decadence of having a beard, you gotta pay. Yeah, 249 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 1: it's a weird thing. And he wanted to incentivize people 250 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: to be clean shaven. He felt like that would be 251 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: more Western European of them, so people didn't want to 252 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: pay the beer tax. Of course, mustaches became the way 253 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: for men to in this time, for men to show 254 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: that they were grown. You know, they were madly men. 255 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: I see. And would you have to pay a mustache tax? 256 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: That did not qualify for the beard tax. No, but 257 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,479 Speaker 1: mustaches were so pop killer Uh. They have an occasional 258 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: resurgence here in the US. But mustaches were so popular 259 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: back in this time that the British Army required mustaches 260 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: as part of their official uniform from eighteen sixty all 261 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: the way to nineteen sixteen. It's true, and we have 262 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: gotten some of this information from a wonderful article on 263 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: Fatherly Um dot Com about the history of mustaches. By 264 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: the way, check out our partnership with them, Finding Fred 265 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: about the delightful Mr Rogers, who, for some reason we 266 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: have not done an episode about. He had some really 267 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 1: interesting things where he spoke out about, you know, war 268 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: and and actually included some pretty heavy topics and some 269 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: of his early black and white shows. Mr Rodgers is 270 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: a veteran as well. He is. Yeah, and uh really, 271 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: I don't know, I really That's why I watched that 272 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: How One Should Be My Neighbor documentary on a plane 273 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: and I was sobbing by the end of it. And 274 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: I texted my kid and I said, you're special, just 275 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: the way you are, and she, uh, she she knew 276 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: I was telling the truth. Mr Rogers lean shaven. He 277 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: has clean shaven and therefore much more trustworthy, I suppose, right. 278 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: Mandy pittakan sometimes clean shaven, sometimes bearded. You never know, 279 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: you never know what you're gonna get. Um, But yeah, 280 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: it's true what you say that the British Army actually 281 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: required mustaches. As can you imagine as part of your uniform? 282 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: You know, that's the I think of a uniform is 283 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: as closed. But that I guess that's a haircut. Hair 284 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: cun army hair I got makes sense? Okay, I'm back, 285 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: I'm back in it. Um So, by the end of 286 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, according to this lovely fatherly article, it 287 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 1: became a kind of health liability for cleanliness because, uh, 288 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: you know, there was more research being done into hygiene 289 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: and um you know, there were issues with tuberculosis spreading 290 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: and such and other diseases, and so beards were started 291 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: starting to be looked down on. Is like a vector 292 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: of of spreading germs. Rightly, so this went across the 293 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: Atlantic as well. New York City actually banned Milkman from 294 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: having beer It's in nineteen o two, hospitals in Britain 295 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: forced staff and patients to shave. And because of this 296 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 1: new emphasis on cleanliness and shaving, in nineteen o four, 297 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: guy with a fantastic name, his name, King camp Gillette 298 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:21,119 Speaker 1: got the patent for the first ever disposable razor, and 299 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: cleanliness became increasingly important. Beards were on a little bit 300 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: of a downward trend, and I have I have one 301 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: one gear to grind uh that I wanted you guys 302 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: take on. Thank you. Uh here it is so when 303 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: I was living abroad, and I was in a place 304 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: where most things were much less expensive than they are 305 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: here in the States. With one exception. It is razors. 306 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 1: Razors were even more expensive than they were in the States, 307 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: and this was in Central America. I don't know they 308 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 1: had a monopoly. So eventually I just let my beard 309 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: grow out, and I came back looking like uh oh, 310 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: that era of the Beatles where they all had nice 311 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: suits but crazy beards. That It's true. I will say this, 312 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: and this is just sort of unrelated, but the fact 313 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: that I haven't shaved in such a long time gives 314 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: me a pretty sweet ability to just rocket disguise if 315 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: I need to, like go on the lamb. That's true. 316 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 1: That's true. If I shaved and like did my hair differently, 317 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: you wouldn't recognize me. Well you might, you might, but 318 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: but I wouldn't give you away. Also, kudos to you 319 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: for not participating in that two thousand nine, two nineteen 320 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 1: facial comparison thing. I didn't do it. No, I didn't 321 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: do it either. I did not do it for any 322 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: ideological reasons. I just I didn't get around to it. 323 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: But yes, our boy King was gonna call him, Yes, 324 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: get it King, King Camp, King Camp. He's the king 325 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: of Camp. Oh as so many ways you can go 326 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: with that, Gillette, It's true. Um, And back to your 327 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,160 Speaker 1: South America thing. I wonder if it was because they 328 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: didn't have a factor that made them. They had import 329 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: them perhaps or imported that was Yeah. They were actually 330 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: the only razors I can find. There were two kinds, 331 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 1: and they were both, in my opinion, ludicrously expensive. But 332 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: back at this time people needed these razors. There was 333 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,120 Speaker 1: definitely a market. We also have to consider the role 334 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: of gas mask because gas mask would not seal properly 335 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: if someone had a beard, and so people had to 336 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 1: shave if they wanted to survive being gassed. And that 337 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 1: comes from a really great BBC article called the Mustache, 338 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: a Hairy History. UM checked that one out as well. UM, 339 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: So yeah, that's interesting. You know, wouldn't seal because the 340 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: little hairs would just poke through there and then you 341 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: could get contaminated. And so now with this rise and fall, 342 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: waxing and waning and popularity for the beard, the mustache 343 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: becomes a statement, a statement of the purity and masculinity. 344 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:06,719 Speaker 1: According to Christopher old stone More, who wrote of beards 345 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: and men, the revealing history of facial hair. Men who 346 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: stuck with mustaches at this time were either older men 347 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: sticking to the older standard, you know, kind of this 348 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:21,159 Speaker 1: military look, or they were strong willed individualist who didn't 349 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: need or care to follow the new rules of cooperative manliness. 350 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: So there you have it, folks, the mustache becomes a statement. 351 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,439 Speaker 1: That's our main takeaway here. Now let's fast forward a 352 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: little bit to the rise of the first modern restaurants 353 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:42,400 Speaker 1: in Paris. These started out as establishments for the wealthy 354 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: and there's we're getting some of this from a great 355 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: article on Atlas Obscura. The restaurants wanted to recreate the 356 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: feeling of dining in a very nice place and opulent mansion, 357 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: a palace, what have you. And this means there was 358 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: this sort of gestal experience. It was not just about 359 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:05,919 Speaker 1: the food. The waiters, the service staff also had to 360 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: look like domestic valets and domestic valets at this time 361 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:16,159 Speaker 1: and traditionally were not allowed to wear mustaches as a 362 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: sign of their rank. That's right, much like that British 363 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: officers uniform, where it was was required. And in this article, 364 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: historian named gil Ma haley Um was quoted as saying 365 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 1: that diners were actually allowed able to essentially pay a 366 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 1: fee to humiliate these people um in in the bizarre 367 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: institutional kind of way, which seems very cruel. Yeah, because 368 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: they were paying. They were paying for food, sure, but 369 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:50,520 Speaker 1: they were also paying for the experience of being the master. Yeah, 370 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 1: which is why first off, never say Garson because and 371 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: that in itself is kind of a reference to this 372 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: dynamic that was going on. According to gil Mahley, this 373 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,480 Speaker 1: idea of regulating facial hair in France is rooted in 374 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: colonialist expansion and the industrial revolution because people who were 375 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: less well off had more access to what had once 376 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,639 Speaker 1: been luxury goods, and when that happened, the elite, the 377 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 1: haves of the society had to turn to stuff money 378 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,639 Speaker 1: couldn't buy for a new way of communicating their status. 379 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: Gil Mohley, by the way, is I don't think we're 380 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: grausking that quite correctly because he is he is French, 381 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: but he is, among other things, an editor at cos 382 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 1: Sure magazine, UM and French French publication and has written 383 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: very extensively on the role of masculinity and French culture. 384 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,919 Speaker 1: And that's why that's why he comes into the picture 385 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: with this facial hair band. So now the elites want 386 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:05,159 Speaker 1: to commun municate their status through their their rights or 387 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: their privilege of possessing facial hair. And according to Guilt, 388 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: it was intensely humiliating for people in France to return 389 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: from a war and then be told that they have 390 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: to shave their mustache just to get a job. He 391 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: says that to be denied the mustache was to be demeaned, infantilized, emasculated, 392 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: even depatriated in front of their families, neighbors and friends. Man, 393 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: that is assigning a lot of meaning to the stash. 394 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,360 Speaker 1: And I think that's that. You see where we're going 395 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: with this. Yeah, it really felt as though you were 396 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: being stripped of your freedom, your liberty. Did I say 397 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: that right? Casey, liberty, case on the case. And this 398 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: all leads us to the eight French mustache strike of 399 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,640 Speaker 1: nineteen o seven. Casey, here's this. Here's this ad. We're 400 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: just gonna read this ad to you, Okay, This ties 401 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: in all that stuff we're talking about. The beginning, hotel 402 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: keepers refused to yield batterly opposed a plan for oppertration 403 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,680 Speaker 1: with striking Paris waiters. Big American Tips blamed build before 404 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: Parliament to make it impossible for employees to bob employees mustaches. Right. Uh, 405 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:31,399 Speaker 1: and that's the thing Americans. Actually we're a big part, um, 406 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: if indirectly, for this strike. Um. You can't really understate 407 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: how important the culture of American tipping is. And this 408 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: whole thing we talked about at the top of the show. 409 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: I was blissfully unaware, as I have not traveled outside 410 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: of of the United States, and in a hot minute 411 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 1: that you don't tip in Europe. Is the europe and 412 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: as a whole or is it just France? I think 413 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: it varies a little bit country to country. Got it. 414 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:03,879 Speaker 1: Put In general, the idea of tipping is an American content. 415 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: I'm and I don't care for it particularly. I mean 416 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 1: I get I get how the system works, but I'm like, 417 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: just charge me with the food is worth, just Charlie. 418 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:14,920 Speaker 1: I love it when when the when the tip is 419 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: built into the check. I don't have to think about 420 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,360 Speaker 1: it because it creates all of this like one upsmans 421 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: of ship. Right. You know. The thing about a meal 422 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: for me is I think a good meal should end 423 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: with maybe coffee or dessert. Not having to do math exactly, 424 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,880 Speaker 1: but so you know, the French not into this concept either, 425 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: and when American tourists would come, it raised the the 426 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: specter of tipping in a culture that hadn't really had 427 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: to contend with it because there was some tipping already 428 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,919 Speaker 1: in French culture at this time, which was in the 429 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: early nineteen hundreds, but it was nominal at best. I think, um, 430 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,639 Speaker 1: the the kind of influx of America in tourism really 431 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: raised the bar on tipping. Because of Americans, uh, we're 432 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: more used to tipping, right. And as we see this 433 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:13,680 Speaker 1: increase in the average tip for the average Parisian restaurants employee, 434 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,680 Speaker 1: we see that the owners of cafes and restaurants are 435 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: also clocking that rise in income and they start levying 436 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: charges on their staff to get, you know, their cut 437 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: of the pie. So the waiters go on strike at 438 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 1: these high end restaurants and they demand better pay, more 439 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: time off, and they say, hey, let us grow our 440 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: mustaches out, let us have the facial hair we want. 441 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: At the time. This is the mustache has been almost 442 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: ubiquitous amongst male French residents for decades, and priests, domestic 443 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: servers and waiters were often not allowed to have it. 444 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: They said it was forced shaving. They felt sentenced to 445 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: force shaving, and according to one estimate, when they did 446 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: finally strike, they cost the city roughly twenty five thousand 447 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,400 Speaker 1: francs a day in revenue. I just wanted to jump 448 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: in here real quick. The word, the French word for 449 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: tipping is pour boir, which roughly means like for drinking. 450 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: It's like drinking money. So you can kind of see 451 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: just implied in the in the word itself that they're 452 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,199 Speaker 1: not necessarily talking about somebody's livelihood. It's just like a 453 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: little bonus to kind of um, you know, reward really 454 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: good service. But it's not gonna like pay your bills. Oh, 455 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:34,440 Speaker 1: drinking money, not like drinking money. It's just like you know, beer, 456 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:40,160 Speaker 1: beer money. Got it, casey on the case. So, according 457 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: to one contemporaneous newspaper, there's there's a line here I 458 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: thought you would enjoy. Women are quite determined to starve 459 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: with their children rather than see the whiskers of their 460 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,120 Speaker 1: husbands still fall under the razor. So the families were 461 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: supporting the guys striking, and they're like, no, you're not 462 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 1: a man. And you know what, you know what francis 463 00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: the man? I married, he had a mustache, sure did. 464 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: But you know, it wasn't all support for for the 465 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: striking waiters. I mean there were some folks that were like, 466 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: what are you guys doing? Like, you know, this is 467 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 1: that's how it always is with strikes. I mean not 468 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,639 Speaker 1: not always, but like you're there's gonna be folks that 469 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,439 Speaker 1: like just look at it as like being greedy or 470 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:23,640 Speaker 1: trying to you know, get more money, or if there's 471 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 1: no real hardship involved, like you know, one thing when 472 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 1: like coal miners are living in horrific conditions and striking 473 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: for better pay, better working conditions. But this is you know, 474 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,360 Speaker 1: I could see how there could be some detractors for this. Sure, 475 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: And there's also sort of know your place, lowly peasants. 476 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: That's true, that's true, and not on the wrong side 477 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: of history here been no no, no. I mean, it's 478 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,719 Speaker 1: it's strange because the people who stayed were considered like, 479 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: not everybody quit obviously, and some people jumped in to 480 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: fill the new uh, to fill the new positions that 481 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 1: had opened up. But the people who stayed were considered 482 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: kind of traders scabs. Yes, strikers were like, come on, man, 483 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: what's going don't you also want to be a man 484 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 1: and grow your mustache. There's a weird l a Times 485 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: report from April twenty seven that includes some of my 486 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 1: favorite innocent bystanders. So the authorities are trying to clear 487 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: out these strikers, right, and they expel every clean shaven man, 488 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,960 Speaker 1: including apparently a dozen innocent Americans who had just arrived 489 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,480 Speaker 1: in town. Knew nothing about the strike and were astonished 490 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: by how hostile the police were. Were they giving a walloping? Yeah, 491 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 1: well they were forcefully pushed out of town, you know, 492 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: literally right out of town on a railw Do you 493 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: like that? So what do we know about the uh? 494 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: The details of this strike? A lot of our information 495 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: does come from gilm Hanley, but some of the details 496 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,360 Speaker 1: are still unclear. Right, what was the affair? Drive his affair? 497 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: That's that's tricky territory to get into. But basically it's 498 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: where this guy was falsely accused of I don't even 499 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: remember what, but there was a lot of it was 500 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: like a proxy Franti Semitism basically. It's it's still referred 501 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: to today in in UH in kind of contemporary French culture. 502 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: The drivest Affair and Roman Polansky his new film it's 503 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: called Jacques and it is also about the Drive fust 504 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 1: affair and him kind of comparing himself to dry Really yep, yep, 505 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: really a little bit, a little bit because the Drivers affair, 506 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: the guy was falsely accused. That is true on the record. 507 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: I mean, there's no there's no question that it happened. 508 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: What he did, society knows what he And there's also 509 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,479 Speaker 1: some new charges for Polansky that have come out just 510 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: within the last month or so, right, what are those 511 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: more just just more allegations of him doing, you know, 512 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: terrible stuff. What happened to like well, having a good 513 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: old fashioned like dirt bad cry. Why are people like 514 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 1: bouncing checks and doing small time cons for wristwatches? It's 515 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: a good question, Ben, Simpler is a simpler time. But 516 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: the reason I bring up the Drive's affairs because that 517 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: what you know, I know, it's complex, casey, and I 518 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 1: appreciate you shedding some lne on the force. But it 519 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: was another one of these kind of high water mark 520 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: moments of like what are what is French identity? Kind 521 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,719 Speaker 1: of you know, And this is obviously a little more 522 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,080 Speaker 1: of a frivolous example, but this mustache strike was as 523 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: well yeah. Yeah. We don't know exactly how many people 524 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: went on strike or exactly when they started striking. The 525 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: numbers that we've been able to gather, I have a 526 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: pretty wide range. Some say hundreds were striking, others say thousands, 527 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: and others say that it came and went in waves. 528 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,719 Speaker 1: People argue different facts, you know, and some people were 529 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,680 Speaker 1: against the strike just for scientific reasons, for hygienic concerns. 530 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: They said, look, if people wear mustaches, are they going 531 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: to clean them? Is the Is this detritus and scruff 532 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: from their mustache going to go into the food we eat? 533 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: Someone else pointed out in Le Genal on April, they said, 534 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,480 Speaker 1: watching a mustache man eat certainly common sight in the 535 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,720 Speaker 1: day's restaurants, regardless of the appearance of the wait staff, 536 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 1: is repugnant to the viewer. That's that that that wounds 537 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: me to the quick. Ben Um. But I will say 538 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:34,880 Speaker 1: that even today, like I mean, you're not allowed to 539 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: a lot of police people that work in kitchens and stuff. 540 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: They have to wear like beard nets, which is the 541 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: most humiliating thing in the whole world. I don't know. 542 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: I always thought it was a hygienic thing. It is 543 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: a hygienic thing. But it looks ridiculous, and I always 544 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: wonder whether they actually work, you know what I mean? 545 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: It seems like a lot of humiliation for not much payoff. 546 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: But I don't know, I get it. I I've seen 547 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: my beard hairs, uh make their way into the food 548 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: that I meaning occasionally. Um it's I would be grossed 549 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 1: out if I if I saw an unrecognized hair. I'm 550 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: used to my own beard hairs, but others, no, thank you, 551 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: right right, So this cause catches fire for it's the 552 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: people opposed to it and people supporting. The strikers eventually 553 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: reaches Parliament, where a guy named Antide Boyer, the Socialist 554 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: deputy from Marseilles, makes a bill. He proposes a bill 555 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 1: in Parliament that says, let's make it illegal to ban mustaches, 556 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: and let's say that if we catch you banning mustaches 557 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: in your restaurant, replace a business, you could be imprisoned 558 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: for up to three months. And weirdly enough, he introduced 559 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:45,240 Speaker 1: this bill before the nine seven strike began. We have 560 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 1: a pretty good quote from him in the New York Times. 561 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: That's right. Boyer in the New York Times described the 562 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: bill as the product of some misguided noblemen and presumptuous 563 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: middle class folk cling to the belief that they're honoring 564 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: themselves by forbidding their servants, whom they treat us slaves, 565 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 1: to wear mustaches. Such a practice under a democratic republic 566 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:12,919 Speaker 1: is grotesque and humiliating. Uh. He went on to say 567 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:17,799 Speaker 1: that a resurrection of bygone tyranny, contrary to the principles 568 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: contained in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, was 569 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: another way of looking at this affront. So he's saying, hypocrites, hypocrites. 570 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:31,279 Speaker 1: All this bill fails, But luckily it turned out not 571 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 1: to be necessary because by May, waiters across the city 572 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: of Paris had one back, the right to wear mustaches. 573 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 1: Oddly enough, in negotiations, some waiters chose to take the 574 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,680 Speaker 1: right to wear mustache in exchange for some of their 575 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,479 Speaker 1: other demands. So they make concessions on things like pay 576 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 1: your days off really to keep their mustaches garnished my wages, 577 00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,799 Speaker 1: just don't take away my mustache, which very intense. They 578 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,359 Speaker 1: really felt strongly about these mustaches. So this kind of 579 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:10,319 Speaker 1: became a symbolic victory for some, and in material terms 580 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:14,600 Speaker 1: they weren't winning that much. So according to the historians. 581 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: Maybe the waiters got hoodwinked, or maybe the strike was 582 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 1: only kind of about labor and workers rights. Maybe it 583 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: was more about the ability to define one's self and 584 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: the concept of belonging as an equal in society. So 585 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,840 Speaker 1: the bill didn't pass, but a lot of folks were 586 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 1: able to get their rights to mustaches back. And uh, 587 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: there was actually another slightly less spectacular mustache strike in 588 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen o eight thereabouts. Um that that kind of 589 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,400 Speaker 1: ended without much of fuss, because at the end of 590 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,440 Speaker 1: the day, you know, if your employer requires you to 591 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:55,160 Speaker 1: dress a certain way or where a certain thing, you 592 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,279 Speaker 1: can choose to work there, it choose not to work there. Right, 593 00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: It's tough. It depends on the market. What if there's 594 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:03,759 Speaker 1: only one kind of job you can get. So this 595 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,320 Speaker 1: concludes our episode, but not our show. We haven't even 596 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:12,440 Speaker 1: trimmed the edges of the complex roll. Mustaches play in 597 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:14,960 Speaker 1: various societies, facial hair in general. I like what you 598 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,799 Speaker 1: did there, though, thank you, man, it was good. I 599 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,439 Speaker 1: hit it in my stash of terrible jokes. Oh my god, man, 600 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, and this is terrible. You you should 601 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: be set on fire, That's what I mean. Oh yeah, yeah, no, 602 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 1: it got it. But thankfully we work in podcasting where 603 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,120 Speaker 1: we can have we can wear our facial hair. However 604 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:36,800 Speaker 1: we damn well please Yeah, look, we are garbage fires 605 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 1: sometimes in the studio and we just try to we 606 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:41,920 Speaker 1: try to sound like we are better dressed than we 607 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: are to roll in here with tattered sweatpants. Yeah, I'm 608 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: in my baby Yoda onesie, you know, but you are 609 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 1: right now? Oh yeah, yeah, sure I'm rocking this. Yeah, 610 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: I'm wearing a panda bear Kigaromi and it looks wonderful 611 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,160 Speaker 1: like it really such. I strike a dashing figure in 612 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: a in a fuffy animal costumes. So let us know 613 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 1: your favorite facial hair stories also mustaches. Are you for 614 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:07,200 Speaker 1: them or against them? And why? You can let us 615 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 1: know on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, where we are Ridiculous History, 616 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History Show, or some variation thereof. You can also 617 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:18,960 Speaker 1: find us as individual people and see our various facial 618 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,399 Speaker 1: hairs on our own stuff. I am Instagram at ben 619 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,799 Speaker 1: Bulling and Twitter app and bullin HSW. You can find 620 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: me exclusively on Instagram at how Now Noel Brown Big 621 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,600 Speaker 1: Thanks to super producer Casey Pegraham. As always, how Expilliams, 622 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,719 Speaker 1: who composed our delightful theme that you're hearing this very moment. 623 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 1: Christopher Hasciot is here in spirit, Eves, Jeff Coat as always, 624 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:41,000 Speaker 1: and of course Gabe Blusier. And where would we be 625 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 1: without uh the quizzle latter, the quist An no a 626 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: k A. Young Quizzles a k A. Jonathan Strickland a 627 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:51,800 Speaker 1: k A. The Quister a k a. The Quizzler makes 628 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,359 Speaker 1: mouths happy. Um and Uh, Jeff, thanks to you. Ben 629 00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: He likewise Noel and thinks, uh, you know what, while 630 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: we're thanking everybody, Uh, thanks to all the people who 631 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: haven't been jerked, the folks about how they want to 632 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: dress or look. Agreed. I see you next time. Fix 633 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:17,799 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I 634 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,759 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to 635 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:21,720 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.