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Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full

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Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,

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Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

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Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet

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Speaker 1: of Curiosities. After a long day, it's nice to pour

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Speaker 1: oneself a stiff drink and kick back, each sip, peeling

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Speaker 1: away the layers of stress and trouble brought on by

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Speaker 1: the daily grind. Some people opt for a cold beer,

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Speaker 1: while others pop the cork on a fresh bottle of wine.

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Speaker 1: Me I'm a Scotch guy, but for those really tough days,

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Speaker 1: the kinds that leave us drained and burned out, we

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Speaker 1: might want something a little stronger, like a sling. A

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Speaker 1: sling is a standard drink, usually made with an ounce

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Speaker 1: of water, a teaspoon of sugar, nutmeg, and two ounces

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Speaker 1: of a spirit of your choice. Slings can be made

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Speaker 1: with whiskey, or gin or rum, and they got their

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Speaker 1: start hundreds of years ago. But why are they called

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Speaker 1: that because you sling them back? Of course, early on,

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Speaker 1: drinks in America used to be served hot, which was

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Speaker 1: a holdover from the British way of serving them. It

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Speaker 1: was believed that even in the summer months, a hot

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Speaker 1: drink would make a person sweat, thus cooling them off,

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Speaker 1: but over time traditions changed. Frederick Tutor, also known as

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Speaker 1: the Ice King, started shipping ice from Massachusetts to the

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Speaker 1: Caribbean in eighteen o six. By the eighteen thirties, his

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Speaker 1: ice was being used to refrigerate food and medicines in

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Speaker 1: places as far away as India. But bars and wealthy

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Speaker 1: homes saw another use for Tutors frozen product keeping their

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Speaker 1: drinks cold, and among the kinds of beverages served with

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Speaker 1: ice in them were slings. Bar patrons couldn't get enough

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Speaker 1: of these concoctions, which only fueled the growing alcohol epidemic

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Speaker 1: that eventually led to the prohibition in the nineteen twenties.

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Speaker 1: Those who did overdo it at the local pub often

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Speaker 1: felt terrible the next day. They suffered from upset stomachs,

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Speaker 1: which required a bit of medicine to help ease their pain.

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Speaker 1: So they would take their bottle of bidders and add

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Speaker 1: a few dashes to a spoon or dribble them over

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Speaker 1: a sugar cube, which they would then swallow to settle

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Speaker 1: their stomachs. That's right, before bidders became a way to

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Speaker 1: enhance an alcoholic beverage. They were advertised as medicinal cure alls.

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Speaker 1: In fact, one of the hangover cures that developed out

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Speaker 1: of all of this was to have a bit of

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Speaker 1: the hair of the dog that bit you, meaning hangover

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Speaker 1: sufferers would drink a little more. People started adding their

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Speaker 1: bidders directly to their drinks, turning them into what they

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Speaker 1: called bittered slings. But over time that name changed. Bittered

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Speaker 1: sling wasn't a particularly attractive name for a beverage, so

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Speaker 1: bartenders and patrons just started calling them something else, and

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Speaker 1: for that they turned to horses asses. No, they didn't

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Speaker 1: turn into horses asses, well not unless they'd had a

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Speaker 1: little bit too much to drink at the bar. Now

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Speaker 1: they looked to the race tracks for inspiration. You see,

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Speaker 1: at the time, if someone wanted to purchase a horse,

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Speaker 1: its owner would have the animal parade around so that

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Speaker 1: the buyer could examine it. Aside from the color of

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Speaker 1: the coats and the pep and its stepped though, one

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Speaker 1: thing they looked for was how it carried its tail.

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Speaker 1: If a horse's tail was cocked upward, that meant that

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Speaker 1: it was healthy and in good spirits. But if it

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Speaker 1: was hanging down, that would be a sign of ill health,

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Speaker 1: old age, and maybe even poor breeding. So to trick

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Speaker 1: potential buyers that a horse was in better shape and

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Speaker 1: it actually might have been, owners would stick a piece

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Speaker 1: of ginger up the horses well, you get the idea.

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Speaker 1: This would irritate the horse and cause its tail to

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Speaker 1: be cocked upright. The practice was atrocious and abusive, but

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Speaker 1: bartenders started using it to help their patrons. And no,

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Speaker 1: they didn't stick ginger up their butts. They would mix

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Speaker 1: a few dashes of bitters in a glass with whiskey,

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Speaker 1: ice and water and hand it to the patron, telling

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Speaker 1: them that it would cock their tail or rejuvenate them.

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Speaker 1: And so the phrase eventually became the name by which

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Speaker 1: we call all mixed drinks today cocktails. All because somebody

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Speaker 1: thought it was a good idea to put ginger in

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Speaker 1: a horse's but no wonder they have such long faces.

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Speaker 1: And African American Spiritual was published that quickly took the

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Speaker 1: world by storm. It was recorded by countless artists over

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Speaker 1: the years and has appeared in a number of movies

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Speaker 1: and television shows ever since, especially those set up at

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Speaker 1: a summer camp. It's so well known today it's probably

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Speaker 1: a cliche, just picture of granola eating camp counselor sitting

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Speaker 1: around a fire and acoustic guitar in his lap as

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Speaker 1: he leads the campers in a rollicking rendition of He's

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Speaker 1: Got the whole World in his hands. It's a song

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Speaker 1: about God, and for those who believe it explains how

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Speaker 1: he is in control of the lives that live in

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Speaker 1: the world he's created. It's meant to convey the comforting

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Speaker 1: image of an omnipotent being cradling the earth and the

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Speaker 1: creatures that inhabit it. But one man thought that he

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Speaker 1: could play God by creating his own world, and little

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Speaker 1: did he know that his new invention would shake things

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Speaker 1: up in a whole new way. His name was Irwin Persey,

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Speaker 1: and he hailed from Austria at the turn of the

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Speaker 1: twentieth century. In nineteen hundred, when Persey was just twenty

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Speaker 1: four years old, he was in charge of designing and

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Speaker 1: repairing medical tools used by doctors and surgeons. Occasionally, when

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Speaker 1: a doctor was in need of something specific, they would

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Speaker 1: go to Persey and request a new tool to be made. Irwin,

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Speaker 1: like I said, was only twenty four years old at

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Speaker 1: the time when doctors in town came to him with

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Speaker 1: a desperate plea. They're dark operating rooms needed better lighting.

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Speaker 1: Lightbulbs had been around for a number of years, but

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Speaker 1: they were inefficient and the light that they produced was

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Speaker 1: not enough for them to work by. They needed something

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Speaker 1: better and brighter, so Perzy got to work. He started

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Speaker 1: doing research, which brought him to shoemakers. You see, shoemakers

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Speaker 1: often worked long hours in rooms with minimal lights, so

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Speaker 1: they relied on a special kind of lamp to keep

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Speaker 1: their workspace illuminated. It was comprised of four glass balls

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Speaker 1: or flasks filled with liquid. Sometimes they would be filled

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Speaker 1: with water, but schnops or absinthe worked as well. The

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Speaker 1: flasks were of different sizes, with the master shoemaker seated

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Speaker 1: in front of the largest, while his apprentices sat before

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Speaker 1: the smaller ones. They hung by leather straps around their

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Speaker 1: necks from a wooden stool while a candle burned in

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Speaker 1: the center, and the lamps macab appearances what gave it

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Speaker 1: its other name, the gallows lamp. A light from the

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Speaker 1: flame would be amplified by the liquid in the glass

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Speaker 1: balls in front of it, and if they had been

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Speaker 1: filled within adult beverage like schnops, the apprentices would take

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Speaker 1: SIPs while the master was away. Percy liked the idea

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Speaker 1: of the shoemaker's lamp, but he felt that it needed

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Speaker 1: something else to make it more suitable for surgeons. He

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Speaker 1: had a bright idea pun intended by the way of

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Speaker 1: adding metal flakes to the inside that would help the

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Speaker 1: light reach farther instead, though it had a different effect.

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Speaker 1: Shaking the semelina filled glass balls in his hand, Percy

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Speaker 1: watched as the metal flakes drifted all throughout, the liquid,

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Speaker 1: settling on the bottom like fresh fallen snow. And so

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Speaker 1: he pivoted from making light sources for surgeons and opened

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Speaker 1: a factory to produce his brand new product, the snow globe.

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Speaker 1: His first snow globe had a tiny model of the

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Speaker 1: Austrian Basilica inside. It became so popular as a gift

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Speaker 1: that it wasn't until World War Two when his son,

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Speaker 1: Irwin Persey the Second expanded the lineup. He had been

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Speaker 1: working with the U. S. Military when he was told

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Speaker 1: that the troops would buy his family snow globes if

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Speaker 1: they were more recognizable figures inside, since the basilica held

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Speaker 1: almost no meaning to them. So Persey the second returned

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Speaker 1: to the factory with their feedback and designed three new models.

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Speaker 1: One had a Christmas tree inside, another had a snowman,

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Speaker 1: and the last held Santa Claus. Over the years, the

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Speaker 1: product line has grown and different companies have come up

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Speaker 1: with their own versions. Go into any souvenir shop today

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Speaker 1: in any major tourist destination and you're sure to find

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Speaker 1: a snow globe with Disneyland, or the Chicago Skyline or

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Speaker 1: the Empire State Building inside. But nothing quite measures up

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Speaker 1: to what the Perseys have been making for the last

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Speaker 1: one d and twenty years. The snow inside an authentic

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Speaker 1: Austrian snow globe is made from a top secret formula

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Speaker 1: that blends plastic with other materials to provide a squall

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Speaker 1: that can last up to two minutes. It's an experience

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Speaker 1: not easily replicated, but perhaps the greatest lasting testament to

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Speaker 1: Irwin Persey's original creation. Aren't the snow globes with Christmas

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Speaker 1: trees or snowman inside. It was one specific snow globe,

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Speaker 1: the only one of its kind, which was made around

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Speaker 1: nineteen one. It held a small, long cabin and was

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Speaker 1: owned by a tyrannical newspaper magnate. The globe was destroyed

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Speaker 1: when it slipped from his fingers upon his untimely death,

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Speaker 1: a final reminder of the only time in his life

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Speaker 1: when he was truly happy, frolicking in the snow as

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Speaker 1: a child and writing his beloved sled Rosebud. Though no

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Speaker 1: records exist that Percy had created the snow globe for R.

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Speaker 1: K O Pictures, it is widely believed that the object

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Speaker 1: owned by Orson Wells character in Citizen Kane was made

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Speaker 1: by the famous Viennese company Irwin Persey. Did not set

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Speaker 1: out to make sentimental glass balls filled with water, but

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Speaker 1: he did, and so much more. He gave every customer

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Speaker 1: a chance to hold a small world in the palm

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Speaker 1: of their hands. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour

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Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast

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Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky

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Speaker 1: in partner ship with How Stuff Works. I make another

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Speaker 1: award winning show called Lore which is a podcast, book series,

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Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it

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Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until

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Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. Yeah,