Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.
Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The man walking the
Speaker 2: smoky streets of nineteenth century Paris moved cautiously through the crowd,
Speaker 2: even though nearly every citizen of the city knew him.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, the whole of Europe knew
Speaker 2: his work, although very few would recognize him if he
Speaker 2: stood directly in their faces. This was, after all, Jean
Speaker 2: Gaspard Debureaux, the man who many believed had changed the
Speaker 2: very soul of theater. He was a brilliant and brazen actor,
Speaker 2: intense and volatile, and well completely silent. Born Jan kasparb
Speaker 2: da Vorak in a small Bohemian town, Debureaux's family was
Speaker 2: a troop of traveling acrobats. Seeking a bigger life, he
Speaker 2: ran away from the circus as a teenager and made
Speaker 2: his way to Paris, where he found the troop of
Speaker 2: funambul This troupe performed Comedia dallarte, an Italian art form
Speaker 2: steeped in mask work and slapstick comedy, and there he
Speaker 2: took the role of Pirot, a clumsy, clownish figure known
Speaker 2: for his bumbling antics. But Debureau wasn't content with bumbling.
Speaker 2: His Pirot was not some fool, but a victim of fate,
Speaker 2: a romantic and one that was capable of expressing deep
Speaker 2: emotion with silence and the simplest of gestures. An elevated
Speaker 2: form of the historically lowbrow comedia, it was a hit too.
Speaker 2: Parisian theater goers were enthralled with this sad character, so
Speaker 2: much so that his performances regularly sold out. But this
Speaker 2: proved to be a double edged sword. That Pierrot fandom
Speaker 2: was intense, and many being unable to see the difference
Speaker 2: between the character and the man who played it. Although
Speaker 2: he had some amount of anonymity due to the mask,
Speaker 2: the makeup and the costumes that he wore on stage,
Speaker 2: he was still regularly called out to on the street
Speaker 2: and accosted at cafes, and then, one fateful day in
Speaker 2: eighteen sixty three, it all.
Speaker 1: Became too much for him. He was walking out one
Speaker 1: day when a young boy called to him Pirot. He
Speaker 1: ignored the boy, but the boy persisted, finally running up
Speaker 1: behind him and shouting again Pierrot. In a lapse of temper,
Speaker 1: debureau turned and struck the boy with his heavy walking stick.
Speaker 1: Although details are somewhat scant, we do know that the
Speaker 1: blow landed hard and that the boy fell. He died
Speaker 1: a short time later. The murder and the subsequent arrest
Speaker 1: of Jean Gaspard Debureaux sent shockwaves through Paris. What followed
Speaker 1: was no mere trial either. It was a cultural moment.
Speaker 1: Parisians by the thousand gathered at the courthouse, eager to
Speaker 1: catch a glimpse of the famous performer or to hear
Speaker 1: his voice, which he never used on stage. The courtroom
Speaker 1: itself came to feel like a theater, with crowds watching
Speaker 1: breathlessly as the prosecution attempted to paint the actor as
Speaker 1: a cold blooded murderer, the defense arguing that he was
Speaker 1: merely a victim of his own fame and had snapped
Speaker 1: after being overwhelmed by the boy accosting him in the
Speaker 1: busy street. It hardly seemed fair how much Debureau's fame
Speaker 1: tilted the scale in his favor. Many on the jury
Speaker 1: had likely seen him perform and were reluctant to convict
Speaker 1: a man who had brought so much joy to the masses.
Speaker 1: In a verdict that surprised no one, Debureau was acquitted
Speaker 1: of the murder charge, with the court ruling that it
Speaker 1: had been an unfortunate accident that arose from a moment
Speaker 1: of desperate confusion. Although Debureaux had committed the crime, it
Speaker 1: was Pirot who won the case. In the years following
Speaker 1: his trial, Debureau remained in charge of the funambul In fact,
Speaker 1: he remained with them until till his death in eighteen
Speaker 1: forty six. Although the murder remained a shadow on his
Speaker 1: legacy and may have actually done the theater some good,
Speaker 1: audience has continued to buy tickets to see Pirout, now
Speaker 1: made more tragic by real life events. When Jean Gospard
Speaker 1: Debureau died, he left behind a body of work. As
Speaker 1: complex as he was. He was a genius who transformed
Speaker 1: a stock comic character into a symbol of human suffering
Speaker 1: and resilience, and he is considered by most to be
Speaker 1: the archetype upon which all silent performers have been built.
Speaker 1: Ever since. That's right. Jean Gaspard Debureaux was a mime.
Speaker 1: On September seventh of nineteen forty, life in the city
Speaker 1: of London changed forever. German planes darkened the horizon, carrying
Speaker 1: with them three hundred and thirty seven tons of bombs
Speaker 1: directed at the city itself. Air raid sirens sounded and
Speaker 1: the city was rocked day and night by explosions. This
Speaker 1: was the first day of the Blitz, a fifty seven
Speaker 1: day long air raid conducted by the Lufwaffa against Great Britain.
Speaker 1: For the people of London, it became a defining event
Speaker 1: of the war. Londoners who couldn't flee to the countryside
Speaker 1: were stuck with a new horrible reality. Their city had
Speaker 1: just become an active war zone. Over four hundred civilians
Speaker 1: died on that first day, and the bombs kept coming.
Speaker 1: On September thirteenth, a bomb destroyed an optometrist shop in
Speaker 1: the East End. The man who ran the business was
Speaker 1: well known locally. His name was Michael Davies. Davies, who
Speaker 1: went by Mickey, had been born with a spine defect
Speaker 1: that impeded his growth. At the age of thirty, he
Speaker 1: wasn't much taller than a ten year old child. Sources
Speaker 1: differ on how tall he actually was. Some say a
Speaker 1: little over three feet, some say a little over four
Speaker 1: but he was a hard person to miss either way.
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine how he felt when his livelihood
Speaker 1: went up in flames, but he didn't have much time
Speaker 1: to think about it either way. Mickey and his wife
Speaker 1: Doris crowded with many of their neighbors into their local
Speaker 1: air raid shelter, the Spittlefield's Public Shelter. It was a
Speaker 1: pitiful place to hide, a run down series of tunnels
Speaker 1: attached to the basement of a local shop. Thousands of
Speaker 1: panicked Londoners packed into these tunnels. The air was too close,
Speaker 1: making it hard to breathe. There was garbage everywhere. People
Speaker 1: slept overnight on piles of trash rather than actual bedding.
Speaker 1: Water and food were sparse, and medical supplies were non existent.
Speaker 1: In short, it was a problem. With thousands of people
Speaker 1: packed underground, some of them permanently displaced from destroyed homes,
Speaker 1: there was the real risk of disease spreading through the city.
Speaker 1: Mickey was one of several who noticed this, and they
Speaker 1: took their problems directly to their elected representatives. The members
Speaker 1: of the Stepney Borough Council were sympathetic but unable to help.
Speaker 1: They were too occupied trying to figure out how to
Speaker 1: get the barness cities of food and heating into the tunnels.
Speaker 1: They couldn't manage medical supplies as well. But rather than
Speaker 1: give up, Mickey redoubled his efforts locally. He helped to
Speaker 1: put together an organizing committee for the air raid shelter
Speaker 1: and went out to raise money for medicine and first
Speaker 1: aid supplies. He managed to convince doctors to commute to
Speaker 1: his shelter to help administer medical aid to his neighbors.
Speaker 1: The Spittlefield's public shelter provided medical aid to people for
Speaker 1: free and gave milk to children. The organizational efforts didn't
Speaker 1: stop with charity, though. Mickey and his committee created a
Speaker 1: card index system so that they could keep track of
Speaker 1: the twenty five hundred people who used the shelter. They
Speaker 1: implemented hygiene measures that could prevent disease, and did their
Speaker 1: best to make sure that the shelter would be a
Speaker 1: home for those who couldn't go anywhere else. A persuasive
Speaker 1: public speaker, Mickey soon became one of the most fondly
Speaker 1: remembered figures in the Blitz. Eventually, the British government, seeing
Speaker 1: that shelter's needed organization, mandated that every shelter have a
Speaker 1: shelter marshal to be responsible for the people, and then
Speaker 1: they appointed an official marshal for the Spittlefields Shelter, effectively
Speaker 1: replacing Mickey. The Shelter Committee almost immediately took a vote
Speaker 1: to reappoint him. The shelter would eventually become known as
Speaker 1: Mickey's Shelter thanks to his efforts. People who passed through
Speaker 1: were amazed at how well it was run in comparison
Speaker 1: to other London air raid shelters. Mickey cut a strange
Speaker 1: figure at the head of the small community. He was short,
Speaker 1: but he commanded immense respect from the people around him.
Speaker 1: His work didn't stop once the Blitz ended either. With
Speaker 1: many people left homeless after the bombing, Mickey still had
Speaker 1: plenty of people to look after. His community service work
Speaker 1: led him into local government. Later in the nineteen forties,
Speaker 1: he was appointed Deputy mayor of Stepney Borough. He passed
Speaker 1: away in nineteen fifty four, honored by his community, but
Speaker 1: largely unsung by the world outside of London. Sometimes when
Speaker 1: faced with the terrors of bombing and destruction, community is
Speaker 1: all we have to protect ourselves. So I like to
Speaker 1: remember stories about people like Mickey Davies because they speak
Speaker 1: to what we're capable of when ordinary people work together
Speaker 1: to survive. When working toward the greater good, even a
Speaker 1: little man can accomplish more than a giant. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and
Speaker 1: Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about
Speaker 1: the show and the people who make it over at
Speaker 1: Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link
Speaker 1: to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in
Speaker 1: bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And
Speaker 1: if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining
Speaker 1: our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
Speaker 1: interruption for.
Speaker 2: A small monthly fee.
Speaker 1: Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com,
Speaker 1: slash Grima and Mild, and until next time, Stay curious.
Speaker 2: M HM