1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,480
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You missed in History class from how

2
00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:18,439
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

3
00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,599
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Friend and I am Tracy V. Wilson, and

4
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,480
Speaker 1: today we're going to talk about a thing that everybody knows. Yes, uh,

5
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,280
Speaker 1: everybody knows the song Happy Birthday to You pretty much everybody.

6
00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 1: Even if you don't sing it for whatever reason, you

7
00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,959
Speaker 1: probably know how it goes. I don't enjoy it at

8
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,320
Speaker 1: my birthday. I would rather people saying you're older than

9
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,160
Speaker 1: you've ever been and now you're getting older. Oh yeah,

10
00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,400
Speaker 1: that one's fun. Thanks. They might be giants. Mine is

11
00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,519
Speaker 1: mostly a problem of people start Happy Birthday too high,

12
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:48,640
Speaker 1: and then when they get to that third line they

13
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,120
Speaker 1: really have to stretch, and everybody sounds a little dicey.

14
00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,440
Speaker 1: Mine is that I don't like to sing in front

15
00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,160
Speaker 1: of other people. Well, I don't mean, and I'm very

16
00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,360
Speaker 1: self conscious about my voice and whether I am off key. Well,

17
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,920
Speaker 1: that's a whole other bollow ax for me. I'm singing

18
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,319
Speaker 1: does not happen in front of other people, but so

19
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,559
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday to You is one of the three most

20
00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,240
Speaker 1: popular songs in the English language, and it's been translated

21
00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,679
Speaker 1: and published in so many other languages. But sometimes people

22
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,680
Speaker 1: are still surprised that this song is actually protected under

23
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,560
Speaker 1: copyright and cannot be selling in a public performance without

24
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,199
Speaker 1: paying royalties. It's one of those things that we hear

25
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:27,319
Speaker 1: so often that surely it must be in the public domain. No,

26
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,440
Speaker 1: it is not. It is not. Uh, it came from

27
00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,840
Speaker 1: a place, it was written by people, and uh, you know,

28
00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,040
Speaker 1: so we wanted to kind of examine the history of

29
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,320
Speaker 1: it and where this simple little tune came from and

30
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,640
Speaker 1: why waiters can't sing it in restaurants right. Well, and

31
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,680
Speaker 1: that's it's a thing that people can easily interpret as

32
00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,640
Speaker 1: ridiculous that you can't sing happy Birthday Like that's one

33
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,240
Speaker 1: of those this is a dumb legal requirement thing that

34
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,600
Speaker 1: people will say. So, yeah, how did we get to

35
00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,920
Speaker 1: this point? Well, and for clarity and um, talk about

36
00:01:57,920 --> 00:01:59,760
Speaker 1: it a little bit more towards the end when we

37
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 1: talk about the current legal state of examination around it,

38
00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:05,440
Speaker 1: uh and copyright law. You can't sing it at a

39
00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,040
Speaker 1: birthday party that's considered a private affair. You just can't

40
00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,000
Speaker 1: sing it for a public performance anytime you would directly

41
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 1: or indirectly be profiting from it, etcetera. You can't put

42
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:21,120
Speaker 1: it in your movie correct without licensing it. So uh.

43
00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,040
Speaker 1: The sisters behind the song, Mildred j Hill and Patti

44
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,959
Speaker 1: Smith Hill, were actually the daughters of Presbyterian minister Dr.

45
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,840
Speaker 1: William Hill, and he actually founded the Bellwood Female Seminary.

46
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,840
Speaker 1: And their mother was Martha Hill, who studied college courses

47
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,680
Speaker 1: through private tutoring at Center College, but she was never

48
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,239
Speaker 1: granted a formal degree because of her gender. And they

49
00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: actually had an interesting family. They had six children, So

50
00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:47,840
Speaker 1: there was Mildred Jane who was the eldest. She was

51
00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:51,680
Speaker 1: born in June of eighteen fifty nine, Mary Downing Hill

52
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 1: who was born in eighteen sixty four, William Wallace Hill

53
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,320
Speaker 1: born in eighteen sixty six. Patty, the other sister Germaine

54
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,799
Speaker 1: to this songwriting story, was born in March of eighteen

55
00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,040
Speaker 1: sixty eight. Archibald Alexander was born in eighteen seventy one,

56
00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,360
Speaker 1: and Jessica Mattier, the youngest who also factors into this story,

57
00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,720
Speaker 1: was born in eighteen seventy four. So we have two parents,

58
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,080
Speaker 1: six children, and what was really a pretty progressive approach

59
00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,760
Speaker 1: to raising children at the time, The Hills encouraged their

60
00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,600
Speaker 1: children to play. They encouraged free play and independent thought

61
00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,760
Speaker 1: and exploratory learning. UM. So it wasn't a lot of

62
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,080
Speaker 1: children should be seen and not heard here read this book.

63
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,440
Speaker 1: They were much more into their children being active and creative.

64
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,000
Speaker 1: And they also encouraged their daughters to pursue careers, which

65
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 1: was not unheard of but was also not super common

66
00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:47,360
Speaker 1: at the time. Uh. And the two sisters that wrote

67
00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,600
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday actually went on to really interesting careers with

68
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 1: their own. Patti Smith Hill became a very renowned educator,

69
00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: and she's really recognized her pioneering some new approaches to

70
00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: early childhood learning, and she's actually often credited with shaping

71
00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,280
Speaker 1: the modern kindergarten as we know it. Her sister, Mildred J. Hill,

72
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,280
Speaker 1: was an accomplished music scholar and a composer. She wrote

73
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,280
Speaker 1: several pieces on the importance of Negro spirituals as a

74
00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,680
Speaker 1: corner stone of American music. UM. And she's believed to

75
00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,440
Speaker 1: have written a groundbreaking analysis on the subject under the

76
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,800
Speaker 1: pen name Johann Tonsor. We'll put a link to that

77
00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,400
Speaker 1: article in our show notes. So that was under a

78
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,599
Speaker 1: pen name, not a hundred percent sure on the identity

79
00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:34,279
Speaker 1: of the person who wrote it, but It's believed to

80
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,520
Speaker 1: be the work of Mildred J. Hill, but their legacy

81
00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,039
Speaker 1: really is, for most people, the happy Birthday to Youth

82
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,000
Speaker 1: song UH. And the song didn't quite start as a

83
00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,920
Speaker 1: birthday celebration song. So it started when the sisters were

84
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,880
Speaker 1: both teaching in Louisville in nine and at that point,

85
00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,479
Speaker 1: Patty had just gotten out of UH school and was

86
00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,680
Speaker 1: just starting her job teaching, and the two originally conceived

87
00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,120
Speaker 1: of a song UH, which is a little ditty called

88
00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,080
Speaker 1: good Morning to All that would be sung as a

89
00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:10,240
Speaker 1: classroom greeting with the very simple lyrics of good morning

90
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,359
Speaker 1: to you, good morning to you, good morning, dear children,

91
00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,440
Speaker 1: good morning to all. I remember singing this in preschool,

92
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 1: except that we didn't say all at the end. We

93
00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,560
Speaker 1: just said you another time. I think a lot of

94
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:28,320
Speaker 1: UM students did similar things. UH and Patty wrote the

95
00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,880
Speaker 1: lyrics and Mildred wrote the music to it, and their

96
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,200
Speaker 1: good Morning song was published in a song book called

97
00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,920
Speaker 1: Song Stories for the Kindergarten in and it's one of

98
00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,120
Speaker 1: those things that I think people here and they're like,

99
00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:45,440
Speaker 1: that's a really simple song. Can you really claim anybody

100
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,120
Speaker 1: who wrote that? But you can. It's simple, but it's

101
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,680
Speaker 1: designed to be because they were trying to come up

102
00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:56,880
Speaker 1: with tunes that could teach children um music very easily,

103
00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,599
Speaker 1: like a kid can repeat that song having heard it

104
00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,880
Speaker 1: only once or twice at the most right, it does

105
00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,480
Speaker 1: not take long to learn Happy Birthday to you, and

106
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:08,240
Speaker 1: it actually is a little deceptive in its simplicity. This

107
00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,400
Speaker 1: is one of my favorite things that I learned about

108
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,960
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday, and this whole outline that Holly has has

109
00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,680
Speaker 1: given to me today. Stephanie Anne Goldberg, who was writing

110
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,479
Speaker 1: for the Smart Set and republished in The Utney reader In,

111
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,080
Speaker 1: pointed out that the song it really has a subtle

112
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,920
Speaker 1: complexity to it, and to quote her, maybe you never

113
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,880
Speaker 1: realized it, but inside the Happy Birthday song is a

114
00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 1: waltz reminiscent of the Blue Danube waltz. You can alternate

115
00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,000
Speaker 1: singing the two as you dance to get a better

116
00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,760
Speaker 1: sense of their similarity. That delights me. It's pretty cool.

117
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,680
Speaker 1: I did not realize ever, having been singing, you know,

118
00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,880
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday for thirty something years, but it's a waltz.

119
00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,160
Speaker 1: And she in um in her article, which is another

120
00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:56,720
Speaker 1: one that will link to in the show notes, she

121
00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:59,679
Speaker 1: kind of talks you through how to do the box

122
00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,520
Speaker 1: step and count the numbers so you can do them

123
00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,800
Speaker 1: at the same time, which I did not test, but

124
00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:05,520
Speaker 1: it made sense in my head as I read it

125
00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,560
Speaker 1: as like a kind of envision doing now and now

126
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,440
Speaker 1: now I really want a happy birthday polka because you

127
00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,840
Speaker 1: can also you can. It's not it's a step from

128
00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,800
Speaker 1: waltz to polka. I guarantee there's a recording of it

129
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,600
Speaker 1: in polka. There has to be. Uh. And the beauty

130
00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,560
Speaker 1: of such a simple tune as well is that it's

131
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,760
Speaker 1: really easily adaptable, which is why, for example, You're school

132
00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:26,640
Speaker 1: growing up changed the lyrics a little bit because a

133
00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,400
Speaker 1: lot of people do uh. And after the song's publication

134
00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:33,840
Speaker 1: in it became popularly used in education, and it did

135
00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 1: evolve uh. You know, teachers could easily switch out words,

136
00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,120
Speaker 1: and it also kind of changed to become a way

137
00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,600
Speaker 1: for students to greet their teachers, rather than the apparent

138
00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,880
Speaker 1: initial intent of the lyrics, which was sounded much more

139
00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,320
Speaker 1: like a teacher greeting students. But it kind of took

140
00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,360
Speaker 1: on a life of its own in the education realm

141
00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,640
Speaker 1: at the time because again, it was easily adaptable. So

142
00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,000
Speaker 1: unlike today, when the song was first published in eight,

143
00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,120
Speaker 1: there was no public performance right for musical compositions. Composers

144
00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,760
Speaker 1: didn't have any kind of legal right or recourse to

145
00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,080
Speaker 1: prevent other people from performing their music. They could only

146
00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,920
Speaker 1: prevent other people from printing and selling sheet music. So

147
00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,720
Speaker 1: as CAP, which is the American Society of Composers, Authors

148
00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,240
Speaker 1: and Publishers, which is the organization that deals a lot

149
00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,600
Speaker 1: with these kinds of music rights, wasn't founded until nineteen fourteen.

150
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,640
Speaker 1: So in eight the whole question of who can sing

151
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,760
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday and where was not really a legal question. Well,

152
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:31,920
Speaker 1: and it wasn't happy birthday yet, so it was good

153
00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,120
Speaker 1: morning at that point. Still, so when exactly good Morning

154
00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,080
Speaker 1: to all transitioned from being a classroom greeting to a

155
00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,680
Speaker 1: birthday standard is actually not clear. At some point a

156
00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,640
Speaker 1: second stanza, the happy Birthday to you lyrics that we

157
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,360
Speaker 1: all know began appearing in publications of the song. The

158
00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,680
Speaker 1: first known book including the combination is The Beginner's Book

159
00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,880
Speaker 1: of Songs, which was published by a piano manufacturer company,

160
00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,800
Speaker 1: the Cable Company, in nineteen twelve, and it was later

161
00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,120
Speaker 1: re published by the Cable Company in the One Best

162
00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:08,320
Speaker 1: Songs and probably in some other editions of those two books.

163
00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,440
Speaker 1: Now it also appears in some other places, though, is

164
00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,080
Speaker 1: the two stands a Good Morning and Happy Birthday versions.

165
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,960
Speaker 1: The first of these is The Golden Book of Favorite Songs,

166
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,280
Speaker 1: which was compiled and edited by N. H. H. In nine,

167
00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:27,800
Speaker 1: and the other is The Children's Book of Praise and Worship,

168
00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,360
Speaker 1: which was published by the Warner Press in ninety eight.

169
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,720
Speaker 1: And there are several hymnals and compilations that were edited

170
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:39,040
Speaker 1: by Robert H. Coleman as well UH throughout those years

171
00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,320
Speaker 1: that include both stanzas and there's also there's actually been

172
00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:46,280
Speaker 1: some debate about whether Coleman wrote the Happy Birthday lyrics.

173
00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,520
Speaker 1: Um Robert brown Eyes, who will talk about a lot

174
00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,360
Speaker 1: in this podcast, wrote a paper called Copyright in the

175
00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,760
Speaker 1: World's most Popular Song, and he mentions in his erata

176
00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,319
Speaker 1: page for the article that Coleman's grandson has actually asserted

177
00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,440
Speaker 1: that his and father penned the lyrics, but since those

178
00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:07,120
Speaker 1: lyrics have been published as early as nineteen twelve, which

179
00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,240
Speaker 1: is long before Coleman's compilations, it seems a little bit unlikely. However,

180
00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,120
Speaker 1: a lot of articles on the subject seemed to incorrectly

181
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:18,480
Speaker 1: cite nine Songbook that Coleman edited as the first appearance

182
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,800
Speaker 1: of the second stance of Birthday Greeting. But brown Eye says, really,

183
00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,360
Speaker 1: he's pretty much a happy Birthday scholar at this point,

184
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 1: and he has unearthed these um like the Cable company

185
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,880
Speaker 1: publications and some of these others where it showed up,

186
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,840
Speaker 1: So it doesn't really seem likely that um Coleman actually

187
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 1: wrote that stanza, although in his own notes, brown Eyes

188
00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,840
Speaker 1: mentions it's there's very simple words. It's entirely conceivable that

189
00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,200
Speaker 1: he wrote them, but that they already existed, like two

190
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,000
Speaker 1: people could have come up with those same lyrics. I

191
00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,840
Speaker 1: love that we live in a world where someone can

192
00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,000
Speaker 1: be the happy Birthday scholar. He's really done a great

193
00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:59,880
Speaker 1: deal of research on it. Yes, So thanks to ray

194
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,640
Speaker 1: e O and Talkies, the Happy Birthday version of the

195
00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,920
Speaker 1: song became really popular. It's sort of filled a nature

196
00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:11,240
Speaker 1: of birthday celebration songs. Yeah, there really wasn't another to

197
00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,520
Speaker 1: the best of my knowledge prior to that. There doesn't

198
00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,960
Speaker 1: really seem to be another now, except for they might

199
00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,960
Speaker 1: be Giants, which we just talked about, which is only

200
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,040
Speaker 1: a replacement if you're a nerd. Well, and there's a

201
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:22,920
Speaker 1: version from the Simpsons that I like to sing, but

202
00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 1: that's completely different. And I think it's only on there

203
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:27,760
Speaker 1: because they didn't want to pay the licensing to do

204
00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:32,560
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday. Uh. But by the time the song was

205
00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,840
Speaker 1: becoming a standard part of birthday celebrations, we should note

206
00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,920
Speaker 1: that Mildred was already deceased. She died at the age

207
00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:44,560
Speaker 1: of fifty six in June of nine. But as the

208
00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:49,199
Speaker 1: song's popularity expanded, it started showing up in films and plays,

209
00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,720
Speaker 1: and it was actually even used for Western Unions first

210
00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,000
Speaker 1: singing Telegram. So the song was kind of taking on

211
00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:56,800
Speaker 1: a life of its own as the Happy Birthday song,

212
00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,800
Speaker 1: right and then, as often happens, people kind of realize

213
00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,599
Speaker 1: that her work was being appropriated without them being compensated

214
00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,720
Speaker 1: for it. So Jessica the Sister, the third Hill Sister,

215
00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,920
Speaker 1: stepped in after in nineteen thirty four, when the song

216
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,719
Speaker 1: appeared in the Irving Berlin musical as Thousands Cheer, with

217
00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,840
Speaker 1: no credit or compensation going to Patty, who was at

218
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,000
Speaker 1: that point the surviving of the two sisters who had

219
00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,400
Speaker 1: created the song. So Jessica wanted to ensure that her

220
00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,760
Speaker 1: sisters received credit for their creation and any compensation they

221
00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,160
Speaker 1: would due, and so in August of four she actually

222
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:36,280
Speaker 1: filed suit against Broadway producer Sam Harris and then eventually

223
00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,920
Speaker 1: also named in that suit was his production company, the

224
00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,840
Speaker 1: composer Irving Berlin, and the playwright Moss Heart that worked

225
00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,040
Speaker 1: on his thousands cheer. And the case never got to judgment.

226
00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,720
Speaker 1: It kind of petered out. They didn't pursue it, but

227
00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,720
Speaker 1: it did get into the deposition stage, and both Jessica

228
00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,040
Speaker 1: and Patty gave depositions. And this is a snippet of

229
00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:59,040
Speaker 1: Patty's deposition. So do you want to read Patty's be

230
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,680
Speaker 1: the little play? So Patty said, while only the words

231
00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:05,840
Speaker 1: good morning to all were put in the book, we

232
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,880
Speaker 1: used it for goodbye to you, happy journey to you,

233
00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:12,280
Speaker 1: Happy Christmas to you, Happy New Year to you, Happy

234
00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:16,040
Speaker 1: vacation to you, and so forth and so on. Did

235
00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,520
Speaker 1: you also use the words happy birthday to you? We

236
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,800
Speaker 1: certainly did with every birthday celebration in the school. So

237
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,360
Speaker 1: Patty was establishing that when they were using this as

238
00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,880
Speaker 1: a teaching song back in the Good Morning to All days,

239
00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,480
Speaker 1: they were completely changing up the lyrics as needed to

240
00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,920
Speaker 1: fit virtually any occasion, because again, they were still using

241
00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:38,640
Speaker 1: it to teach children, and it was easily easy for

242
00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:43,240
Speaker 1: children to repeat back right. So Jessica testified that while

243
00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,000
Speaker 1: there were many versions of the lyrics to her sister's song,

244
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,080
Speaker 1: she particularly remembered singing good morning to all and Happy

245
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,520
Speaker 1: Birthday to you. And as I said, the case seems

246
00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:53,480
Speaker 1: to have petered out. There was neither a judgment nor

247
00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:56,760
Speaker 1: a settlement, and it actually came up later in additional

248
00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:02,640
Speaker 1: copyright discussion that the case could be revisited. But despite

249
00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:05,120
Speaker 1: the fact that it kind of got put on pause

250
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,640
Speaker 1: at this point, Jessica went ahead and secured the copyright

251
00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:09,920
Speaker 1: to Happy Birthday to You in late nineteen thirty four,

252
00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,959
Speaker 1: and then she worked with the Clayton F. Sumi Company

253
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,960
Speaker 1: of Chicago to publish and copyright the tune is Happy

254
00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,080
Speaker 1: Birthday in nineteen thirty five. So at the time, copyright

255
00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,320
Speaker 1: laws would have given them at twenty eight year term

256
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,560
Speaker 1: plus one renewal of the same length, and that would

257
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,560
Speaker 1: have seen the song move into public domain in but

258
00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,520
Speaker 1: copyright law has changed through the years, so much so

259
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,160
Speaker 1: in the Copyright Act of nineteen seventy six, the law

260
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,040
Speaker 1: was amended to grant copyright for seventy five years after

261
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,520
Speaker 1: the date of publication, which then would have moved the

262
00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:48,640
Speaker 1: expiration to Then the passing of the Copyright Term Extension

263
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,440
Speaker 1: Act in added another twenty years to the copyright, so

264
00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:58,080
Speaker 1: that time now extends to t And what's interesting now

265
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,520
Speaker 1: is to kind of see where the ownership has landed

266
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,480
Speaker 1: on this song. A few years after the Clayton F.

267
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:07,120
Speaker 1: Summi Company published and copyrighted it, a New York accountant

268
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,680
Speaker 1: named John Singstack purchased the company and renamed it Birch

269
00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:16,000
Speaker 1: Tree Limited. In Warner Chapel purchased Birch Tree, which then

270
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:21,440
Speaker 1: became Summy Birchard Music. Summy Birchard is Time as part

271
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,720
Speaker 1: of Time Warner, which makes Happy Birthday a part of

272
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:27,840
Speaker 1: the Time Warner groups holdings. Uh So now royalties for

273
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:31,520
Speaker 1: performances of Happy Birthday are actually split between Time Warner

274
00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,600
Speaker 1: and the Hill Foundation. Jessica Hill died in eighteen fifty one,

275
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,000
Speaker 1: so royalties for Happy Birthday have since been paid into

276
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,160
Speaker 1: the Hill Foundation Trust, which she established as part of

277
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:43,280
Speaker 1: her will. And this is the part that to me

278
00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:47,520
Speaker 1: becomes the pivotal moment in the whole You can't sing

279
00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,640
Speaker 1: happy Birthday is It's Time Warner is a big company.

280
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 1: That is an enormous company to own something as simple

281
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,800
Speaker 1: as Happy Birthday to you. So, Patti Smith Hill died

282
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,200
Speaker 1: eleven years after Happy Birthday was copyrighted, which was on

283
00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,880
Speaker 1: ma that was her death, that was when she died.

284
00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 1: Neither she nor Mildred had married or had children. And

285
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,880
Speaker 1: who receives the Hill Foundation's money isn't disclosed anywhere, but

286
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,800
Speaker 1: it's believed that it goes either to charity or to

287
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,720
Speaker 1: the Hill's nephew, or maybe a split between the two

288
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,960
Speaker 1: of them. And it's estimated that their rights to the

289
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,720
Speaker 1: song or licensed approximately two hundred times per year, and

290
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,120
Speaker 1: that's on a sliding payment scale, kind of like what

291
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,640
Speaker 1: your audience reaches and what you're likely to make off

292
00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,040
Speaker 1: of it will determine how much they charge you to

293
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,440
Speaker 1: perform it in public. But it brings in roughly two

294
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:43,160
Speaker 1: million dollars annually, which I think is a little mind boggling.

295
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,320
Speaker 1: It is, and it makes me wish I had written

296
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,000
Speaker 1: a four line song that could be licensed by everyone

297
00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,640
Speaker 1: all the time. UH. And there have been a number

298
00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:54,960
Speaker 1: of legal actions through the years to enforce the rights

299
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,080
Speaker 1: to Happy Birthday. UH. And if any of our listeners

300
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,480
Speaker 1: ever watched the show Sportsnight. They actually had an episode

301
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,920
Speaker 1: about it where one of the characters sang it to

302
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,840
Speaker 1: his co host on the broadcast, not knowing that it

303
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,679
Speaker 1: was a copyrighted piece, and then of course lawyers got

304
00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,200
Speaker 1: involved and there was much, um incredulous talk of no,

305
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:19,360
Speaker 1: really that's copyrighted. But but the legality involved in this

306
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,680
Speaker 1: song has actually come into question in recent years. So

307
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,560
Speaker 1: going back to the work of Robert browne Ie and

308
00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,800
Speaker 1: his paper copyright in the World's most Popular song, and

309
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:31,679
Speaker 1: just to establish sort of his credentials, he's the co

310
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:35,040
Speaker 1: director of the Intellectual Property Law Program, he's co director

311
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,040
Speaker 1: of the deemed Dinwoody Center for Intellectual Property Studies, and

312
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,040
Speaker 1: he is a member of the managing board of Munich

313
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,280
Speaker 1: Intellectual Property Law Center. All of that at George Washington

314
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,639
Speaker 1: University or the first two. And he has really questioned

315
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,680
Speaker 1: the legitimacy of this copyright. He's, you know, a law

316
00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:57,520
Speaker 1: professor who studies copyright law specifically, and he has, like

317
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,840
Speaker 1: we've said, really become a scholar on this matter. His

318
00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,720
Speaker 1: work is impeccable in terms of like the records he

319
00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,440
Speaker 1: keeps will link to all of this so you can

320
00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,120
Speaker 1: really follow along his research. That he's gone through through

321
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,040
Speaker 1: the years, and he even his errata page online gets

322
00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,160
Speaker 1: updated constantly with when people have written in with other

323
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,320
Speaker 1: pieces of the puzzle, or things that they have heard

324
00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:21,280
Speaker 1: that can be verified about sort of things that have

325
00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,440
Speaker 1: happened along the way with Happy Birthday. Those all get updated,

326
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,240
Speaker 1: it seems quite constantly. So it's a really fascinating read,

327
00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:30,800
Speaker 1: particularly if you are into law. So in addition to

328
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,280
Speaker 1: being the Happy Birthday scholar, he's also essentially an expert

329
00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: on intellectual property and is actively looking at this all

330
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,680
Speaker 1: the time, and he makes the case that the song

331
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,400
Speaker 1: is really similar to folk music that predated it. Uh

332
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,960
Speaker 1: to quote part of his paper, he says, Moreover, many

333
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,199
Speaker 1: have suggested that notwithstanding the attribution of the song to

334
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,160
Speaker 1: the Hill Sisters, it is so much like other previous

335
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,440
Speaker 1: songs that it should be treated as having arisen from

336
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,359
Speaker 1: a folk tradition rather than the creative talents of a

337
00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,560
Speaker 1: particular author. And in some cases they even linked that

338
00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:05,040
Speaker 1: back to Mildred's expertise in negro spirituals and how she

339
00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,800
Speaker 1: studied folk music extensively, and how clearly that's feeding into

340
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:11,760
Speaker 1: her writing of this, because that first piece that she

341
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:16,040
Speaker 1: wrote theoretically, as Johann consore was happening that was published

342
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,560
Speaker 1: very close to the time that this song was also published,

343
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,080
Speaker 1: so there's some discussion there right. Brown Eyes also points

344
00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:26,600
Speaker 1: out that there's no clear authorship of the Happy Birthday lyrics,

345
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,879
Speaker 1: So while Patty said in her deposition that they sang

346
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 1: the Happy Birthday version of the song, it's never explicitly

347
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,840
Speaker 1: stated that she wrote those exact words. And he also

348
00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,000
Speaker 1: draw the attention to the fact that he's never been

349
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,120
Speaker 1: able to find a renewal to the copyright. He has

350
00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,480
Speaker 1: found filings for other specific arrangements of the music, but

351
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,120
Speaker 1: this suggests that the tune wouldn't have qualified to benefit

352
00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,800
Speaker 1: from the extension afforded by the Copyright Act of nineteen

353
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,439
Speaker 1: seventy six, so that they had actually kind of dropped

354
00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:58,600
Speaker 1: the ball. Someone had dropped the ball on their end

355
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,199
Speaker 1: in terms of that initial twenty eight years and a

356
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:06,080
Speaker 1: renewal that was allowed. The renewal never that it didn't happen.

357
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,240
Speaker 1: If it ever did happen, we don't have a clear

358
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,800
Speaker 1: documentation of that. So brown eyes research is extremely thorough.

359
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,639
Speaker 1: He finds all kinds of flaws in the life of

360
00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 1: the composition and all of its various layers, apart from

361
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,840
Speaker 1: the major one of not being able to find the

362
00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,840
Speaker 1: original renewal of the copyright. So he's pointed out lots

363
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:30,120
Speaker 1: and lots of problems in its copyright status. And don't

364
00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:32,240
Speaker 1: worry about it. As we said, you can still sing

365
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 1: it at a private birthday party because that's not considered

366
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:38,160
Speaker 1: public performance and nobody's making money off of you singing

367
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,840
Speaker 1: happy birthday to your friend. Right, and in uh the

368
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,960
Speaker 1: errata that brown Ice mentions, he says that there's a

369
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,600
Speaker 1: gray area even for white staff at a restaurant performing

370
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: this song for guests. Some people have argued, like that's

371
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,320
Speaker 1: an extra thing. It's not something those people are being

372
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,840
Speaker 1: paid for, like you're not paid performers. He points out

373
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,760
Speaker 1: that you could consider that an indirect profitmaking thing because

374
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,359
Speaker 1: it's a a value add to your meal. Um, But

375
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,679
Speaker 1: in most establishments air on the side of caution. And

376
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,400
Speaker 1: that's why when you go out to you know, your

377
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,080
Speaker 1: friendly neighborhood or chain bar and grill, they sing like

378
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:15,199
Speaker 1: a really weird custom birthday song. Right, they sing it

379
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 1: on a nerd boat. There's a there's a running joke

380
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,000
Speaker 1: on a nerd boat, which is a vacation that I

381
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,960
Speaker 1: take annually, that that it's always Mike Ferman's birthday. Mike

382
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,000
Speaker 1: Ferman is a comedian a musician if you don't know

383
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 1: who that is. And and so there were there was

384
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 1: more than one singing of Happy Birthday on the boat

385
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,199
Speaker 1: to Mike Ferman in various different versions. No, it was.

386
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 1: It was the normal one, just with somebody holding the

387
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,240
Speaker 1: final you for as long as possible. So I kind

388
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,800
Speaker 1: of wonder now is the cruise line are they paying

389
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 1: some kind of royalty or are they hoping for gray area?

390
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,840
Speaker 1: They're in international waters, so who knows well. And one

391
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,760
Speaker 1: of the things that Browne I mentioned to you, and

392
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:58,679
Speaker 1: it's come up if you google the legality of Happy

393
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: Birthday and its copyright, it will come up in a

394
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 1: lot of legal blogs because it has been discussed a

395
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:07,160
Speaker 1: lot in recent years. And several people point out that

396
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 1: at this point it's possible that, um, there has been

397
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,280
Speaker 1: a little bit of a back off on trying to

398
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 1: you know, follow through and make sure people pay license

399
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 1: and going after people that don't get license to perform it,

400
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,720
Speaker 1: because it could draw attention to the fact that there

401
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 1: might be some uh, sort of improperly filled out forms

402
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 1: some blank holes in the legal line of ownership of

403
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,800
Speaker 1: this song, and so at this point it's kind of like, no,

404
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 1: that's fine, you can see we're okay with that. Yeah,

405
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,960
Speaker 1: And it would I mean brown I mentioned specifically in

406
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,160
Speaker 1: his paper that even if someone wanted to go after

407
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,679
Speaker 1: this you could because it is there are problems, but

408
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,920
Speaker 1: it would be extremely costly, particularly because at this point

409
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,720
Speaker 1: there have been so many licensees and so much money

410
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:58,040
Speaker 1: paid to Time Warner and the previous owners before that,

411
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,480
Speaker 1: that it would get legally very messy and caused just

412
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 1: a lot of time and money to be spent. And

413
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 1: most people don't think it's worth it, right, But you

414
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: would need to just know from the outset that you

415
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 1: needed to have more money than Time Warner, which is

416
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,640
Speaker 1: a quite a lot of money. That's a pretty high

417
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,240
Speaker 1: bar to set to start a legal proceeding, right, Maybe

418
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,480
Speaker 1: not more money than Time Warner, but more money than

419
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,160
Speaker 1: Time Warner would be really willing to spend on it. Yeah,

420
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 1: So yes, I would probably be a lot. Yeah. So

421
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 1: it's a such a simple song with such a sort

422
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 1: of fascinating history. I think it's fascinating to read sort

423
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,400
Speaker 1: of the depositions about. There's much more than what we read.

424
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,199
Speaker 1: Just these people, you know, being asked about this simple,

425
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: simple kindergarten song. It's kind of fascinating, right. I like

426
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 1: how some other other people have written their own little

427
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,600
Speaker 1: birthday songs, maybe in response to this, maybe just to

428
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: be fun, and maybe we'll put some of them out

429
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 1: on our Facebook and Twitter after this episode. And I

430
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,120
Speaker 1: believe you have a listener mail certainly, so this one

431
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: comes from our listener, Haley, and she says, Hi, Tracy

432
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 1: and Holly, I'm presuming it's a she. If it's not,

433
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: I apologize. Thanks for your recent podcasts on Australian history.

434
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: As an Australian listening to your podcast, I sometimes get

435
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 1: lost in the details of American history, so I was

436
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,879
Speaker 1: particularly excited to hear you talk about the rabbit proof fence,

437
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 1: though I had never heard of the EMU or EMU.

438
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: We've had much discussion about the correct pronunciation wars in

439
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 1: the United States. Either is fine. Either is fine, but

440
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,199
Speaker 1: apparently not oversease. Uh, don't worry. I've informed everyone I

441
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 1: know about this quirky part of our history. Now and

442
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 1: she offers to tell us a story, which is that

443
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 1: today Rabbits are indeed a huge pest and problem. Where

444
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: I live in the suburbs of Northern Sydney. I crossed

445
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: at least one rabbit as I walk home from the

446
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,960
Speaker 1: bus stop every day, but my grandmother remembers them quite

447
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,199
Speaker 1: fondly for her family and many others. Rabbits during the

448
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:53,119
Speaker 1: Great Depression kept families alive as their population was so large,

449
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 1: and at that time in Australia, firearms were widely available.

450
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,679
Speaker 1: Rabbits were used for food and blankets for those who

451
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 1: couldn't afford to buy the saying they could also be

452
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,360
Speaker 1: used to supplement your income. This was done most famously

453
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 1: by the members of the South Sydney Rugby League team

454
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,160
Speaker 1: in this era, earning them the nicknames the Rabbit Hose,

455
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 1: which is still the official name of their club today.

456
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: I'm surprised you didn't refer to mixomatosis, the disease that

457
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 1: was introduced in the nineteen fifties to curb the rabbit population.

458
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: It was actually quite successful until the resistant population went

459
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:25,879
Speaker 1: on to breed and the population got back to about

460
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,120
Speaker 1: the same by the end of the century. Yes, so

461
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 1: I I was the research doer on that one and

462
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: that's the disease that we were talking about when we

463
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 1: mentioned that today disease is one of the ways that

464
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,919
Speaker 1: Australia tries to control rabbit population. The reason that I

465
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: didn't get into that is because in my research I

466
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,640
Speaker 1: unearthed all these papers about other diseases that maybe could

467
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: be good to introduce to rabbits to control their population,

468
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 1: and they were full of these heartbreaking images of sick

469
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 1: rabbits and it just made me very sad. So I

470
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,919
Speaker 1: didn't want to go into more detail, um about that

471
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,639
Speaker 1: particular aspect of it in the podcast. It's tricky, you know,

472
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,399
Speaker 1: we recognize that their pest, but it's still hard to

473
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,480
Speaker 1: kind of yeah, ntially ready to deal with that well.

474
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: And when I when I sent the outline over to

475
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,159
Speaker 1: Holly to look at, I had a note by the

476
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: one of the links that said, Holly, don't look at this.

477
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 1: It's full of pictures of sick rabbits. Yeah, I'm crazy

478
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 1: animal Lady tracy N. I couldn't handle it. But if

479
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: you would like to write to us, you can also

480
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 1: do so. And that is a history podcast at Discovery

481
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,359
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also connect with us on Twitter

482
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 1: at missed in History on Facebook at Facebook dot com,

483
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: slash history, class stuff, and I'm We also have a

484
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 1: tumbler which is missed in History dot tumbler dot com,

485
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,159
Speaker 1: and we're also on Pinterest. If you would like to

486
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: learn more about what we've discussed today, you can go

487
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,400
Speaker 1: to our website and type in the words happy Birthday

488
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,720
Speaker 1: and you will turn up an article called how music

489
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: Licensing Works, which does discuss Happy Birthday a little bit.

490
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,199
Speaker 1: If you would like to arn about that, or anything

491
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,479
Speaker 1: else your mind can conjure, you can do so at

492
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:07,159
Speaker 1: our website, which is how stuff Works dot com. For

493
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, is it

494
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:31,479
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Netflix streams TV shows and

495
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: movies directly to your home, saving you time, money, and hassle.

496
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: As a Netflix member, you can instantly watch TV episodes

497
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,479
Speaker 1: and movies streaming directly to your PC, Mac, or right

498
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 1: to your TV with your Xbox three, sixty P S

499
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 1: three or Nintendo we console plus Apple devices, Kindle and Nook.

500
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 1: Get a free thirty day trial membership. Go to www

501
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,400
Speaker 1: dot Netflix dot com and sign up now,