1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:04,960 Speaker 1: Hello everyone. It's Chuck here on a Saturday, and today's 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: select episode is called water Beds Colan the Sexiest bed 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Oh me thinks, yes, indeed, this episode is from October, 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: also the sexiest month. Check it out now. Water Beds. 5 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 6 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 7 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: and there's Charles w Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there, 8 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: and we're just here jiggling away slash slash on our 9 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: pleasure pit. God oh man, it's so funny. When I 10 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: started researching and so I was like, water beds, that's 11 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: very stuff you should know. So sort of fits right 12 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: in with our historical pop culture phenomena series. Phenomenal uh 13 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: and big shout out to The Atlantic, one of our 14 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: favorite rags. A lot of this was taken from article 15 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: by Rebecca Greenfield. Uh, and then a bunch of other 16 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: cool uh supplementary stuff. New York Times, who else? Uh? 17 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: Washington Post, Washington Yeah, wap open all those fake news outlets, right, 18 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: although I really love the New York Times and the 19 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: Washington Post ones because they were like contemporary articles. Yeah, 20 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: like the New York Times one was six and Wapo 21 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: was from and they're writing about the phenomena of of 22 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: um water beds at the time. I love that, man. 23 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: I love being able to go back read an article 24 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: and then go back and see how it actually unraveled, 25 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: like in real time. Basically, yes, see, like sure, it's 26 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: a little time capsule if you will, and you can 27 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: look back now and say, they get it right. What's 28 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: the big news? I don't even like saying this two 29 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: words together. I know neither so played out, so played 30 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the water bed. Have you 31 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: ever had one? No, I kind of wanted one. I 32 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: didn't have one. I kind of wanted one to. I 33 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: think we're just of that age and they came about, 34 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: as you'll see, we're gonna talking about the seventies and eighties. 35 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: That in the eighties is when they peaked sales wise. 36 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: I think even like young uns like us, we're very intrigued. 37 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, my friend had one. Yeah, did you sleep 38 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: on it? No, never slept on that one. I laid 39 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: down on it once, I think because I was I 40 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: was like, I gotta know what this feels like at 41 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 1: least uh, And I think it was. They may have 42 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: called it waveless, but I don't even know what the 43 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: difference was because it was pretty wavy. What decade was this, 44 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: This would have been mid to late eighties. Yeah, I 45 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: don't even they had waveless ones back then. I think 46 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: so they were called waveless, but I don't know how 47 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: it's still slashed you around. Yeah, I remember very distinctively 48 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: laying on it, and I remember thinking, I don't know 49 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: if I could sleep on this. It didn't seem like 50 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't uncomfortable like it caused me pain, 51 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: but I move around a lot in my sleep, so 52 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: it's not It's not a good or at least the 53 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: old school water beds are not a good match for me. 54 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: Memory phone is a little better. Actually, supposedly they've come 55 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: a long way, and then the new water beds are 56 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: the bomb. I would be curious to lay on one. Well, 57 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: go to a dealer in South Florida. I think City 58 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: Furniture in South Florida is bringing back the water bed. 59 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: Oh there's other places too, because the design now, well 60 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: we'll get to it, but it's much different. It's not 61 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: it's not the good old days where you just fill 62 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: up a big vinyl rubber bladder and tripping on some 63 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: grass and listening to Dark Side of the Moon. You know. 64 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: The funny thing about my friend Chris's water bed, though, 65 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: in his whole house was a time capsule of the 66 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. He had a water bed in front of 67 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: a wall that the wall was a photograph of a 68 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: like a Hawaiian beach sunset. Oh man, we had two 69 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: of those in my house. Really. We had one was 70 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: a straight up forest. So I was like, oh, I'm 71 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: in the family room. I'll walk into the kitchen. Oh 72 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: my god, I'm in the forest basically. And then if 73 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: you went upstairs, and this is my childhood home in Toledo, Ohio, Um, 74 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: when you went upstairs to my sister's rooms, you when 75 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: you got right up to the top landing, there was 76 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: like an outdoor like Coors beer scene, like in the 77 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: woods with like a stream coming through the mountains. Giant murals. 78 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: In my house. Yeah, we never It's weird. Like when 79 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: I look back at the house I grew up in, 80 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 1: it didn't have any of those cool seventies things. But 81 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: now that I look back, I think it's probably you know, 82 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: I was not cool then because we lived in this 83 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: huge house in the woods. But now I look back, 84 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: I'm like, that was where I would like to live now, 85 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: So what was the aesthetic of your house? Sort of 86 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: contempo country Okay, like that hip like Jerry Read or 87 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: something lived there. Yeah, I mean we had looking back, 88 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: we had shag carpet, range, shag carpet. There were some 89 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,479 Speaker 1: markings of the day. Um. But then that was replaced 90 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: with hardwoods at some point in the in the eighties. Um. 91 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: But then when I had, you know, not too long ago, 92 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: went back to my childhood home and broke in. It 93 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: was for sale really and empty, and uh you broke in? Well, 94 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: not for sale, it was just sort of derelict and empty. 95 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: Did you break a window to break in? Now? I 96 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: just got in like I used to get in. It 97 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: was family was like it's locked, and I was like 98 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: watch this. I used to sneak out and read Bible passages, 99 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: so I snuck in through the garage window. And looking back, 100 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: there was a lot of a lot of the same 101 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: stuff was there, and it was very kind of seventies 102 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: tile and linoleum and stuff like that, but it just 103 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: wasn't full on like Brady Bunch stuff. That's so cool 104 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: more or wall murals, and I'm glad I went because 105 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: sadly it is no longer there. I'm glad you went to. 106 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: Then a couple of months later just torn down, and 107 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: I went back and saw a big emptiness, and I cried, 108 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: did you the end? I could see that, you mean? 109 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 1: And I went to Toledo and then I since went once. 110 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: When we went to Cleveland for our show, I went 111 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: by myself and walked around, kind of hoping that the 112 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: people who live in the house would be like, what's 113 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: that weird of doing and stick their head out and 114 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: be like can I help you? And I'd be like, yeah, actually, 115 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: can I come in your house? Um? But no one did. 116 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: But I did get to walk around the neighborhood. Did 117 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: you cry a little nice? But I I saw. I 118 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: wanted to go back to my elementary school, and it's 119 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: just like a grass field now. Man, It's like, how 120 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,839 Speaker 1: do you tear down an elementary school? You know? Yeah, 121 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: maybe it got like black mold or something, well tube, 122 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: but it's it's sweet. It's better sweet to go back. Yeah, 123 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,799 Speaker 1: go back to your childhood places. Everyone. I highly highly 124 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: recommended so water bed Yeah, water beds Um, we'll go 125 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: back to the earliest history, I guess. But um, the 126 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: man that we really need to talk about is a 127 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: man named Charles Hall, the inventor of the modern water 128 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: bed as we know it. He's a student at San 129 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: Francisco State. He's taking a design class. Oh he was 130 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: like a design major. Well, yeah, because he submitted this 131 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: as his master's thesis, was the waterbed. How awesome is that? 132 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: So I saw competing stuff of what he actually created 133 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: like built, yeah. Yeah. And the thing that I saw, 134 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: I think it was in that WAPO It said what 135 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: he created was called the pleasure pit, and it was 136 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: an eight foot by eight foot basically water bed tub 137 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: of pudding, but it was meant to be a conversation 138 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: pit from mold pull people that kind of hang around 139 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: in and there was like a bar and there was 140 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: lighting and like shelves and stuff like that, and that 141 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: that was the original his design. Yeah. But was there 142 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: a water mattress function or was it just a sunken 143 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: going room. No, that was the thing that was where 144 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: everybody sat was on a water mattress in the middle. 145 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: It sounds awful, it's just weird, but it really caught 146 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: everybody's imagination. Supposedly, within six months it was on the 147 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: front page of papers across the country. This is in 148 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: San Francisco. The Miami Herald had something on the front 149 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: page about this waterbed exhibit in San Francisco that this 150 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,719 Speaker 1: four year old design student created capital p capital p 151 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: uh yeah, pleasure pit. Everything I've seen is it's capitalized. 152 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: But that's what I'm saying. I think that's what he 153 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: called the first thing. But it very quickly got turned 154 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: into a bed. The water bed I used to like. Actually, 155 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: my same friend Chris had one of those sunken living 156 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:07,719 Speaker 1: rooms very seventies. Remember in um, oh, what's the big 157 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,679 Speaker 1: Lebowski when you go see to see Jackie Child or 158 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: Jackie whatever. Jackie Treehorn. Yeah, Jackie Treehorn. His whole house 159 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: is just amazing. Yeah. He had a conversation pit. Uh right, 160 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: conversation pit, that's what it was called. So here's the 161 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: deal from Time magazine. In Manhattan, the waterbed display at 162 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: Bloomingdale's Department store for a while was a popular singles 163 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: meeting place. Sire's Roebuck and Holiday Inns are eyeing the 164 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: beds and Lake Tahoe's King Castle Hotel has already installed 165 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: them in luxury sweets and this is uh. I think 166 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,959 Speaker 1: it continues. Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner has one king's size, 167 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: of course and covered with Tasmanian bossom. I thought, how 168 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: gross is that? Because what I know is a possum 169 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: is different different. I looked up the TASMANI impossible, super soft, 170 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,959 Speaker 1: I would imagine. And so it's not like American road 171 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: kill on your water bed. Right, It wasn't even made 172 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: from it. It It just had a bunch of live American 173 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: possums on his bed and his water bed you have 174 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: was really weird. But here's the deal. The water bed 175 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: that Charles hall Cree eventually would go on to create, 176 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 1: and we'll talk about some of his earlier designs aside 177 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: from the pleasure bit, he wanted to revolutionize sleeping. Yeah, 178 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: he meant it very seriously. He wanted to have a 179 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 1: pressure point free mattress that would envelope your body and 180 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: give you the best night sleep of your life. He 181 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: had no intention of it becoming this, which it very 182 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: much did. A metaphor for the sexy sixties and seventies, right, 183 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: but it definitely did like you say it was. It's 184 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: a really good example of an idea just basically getting 185 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,560 Speaker 1: hijacked big time. And at first he was kind of like, 186 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: I'm just a twenty four year old design suit. Now, 187 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: I don't care. Sure, make your own waterbed knockoff. But 188 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: then over time he definitely came to care and spent 189 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: a couple of decades pursuing um infringement suits here and there, 190 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 1: patent infringement suits um, which we'll talk about later. But 191 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 1: at first it was basically like, here's the waterbed world, 192 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: and the world went nuts. Uh. And again, yeah, he 193 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:27,079 Speaker 1: meant a revolutionized sleep, but the hippies and the people 194 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: who owned head shops, which is where you bought your 195 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: water beds early on was at the head shop, said no, 196 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: this is all about sex. And that's how that's how 197 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: it was first sold in the late sixties and early seventies. 198 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: I have never had sexual intercourse on a waterbed, but 199 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,640 Speaker 1: it doesn't it doesn't sound appealing to me, right because 200 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: so one of the in this, I think the Washington 201 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: Post article quote a Washington Post article from the seventies 202 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,079 Speaker 1: saying like a waterbed salesman said, it's very like, very 203 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: much like three people are having sex because the bed 204 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: itself is like a third warm body participating in the 205 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: motion or something like in the worst possible way. And 206 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: I looked up Yeah, I was like, it's just weird. 207 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: And I looked up um like sex on a water 208 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: bed on um on a work computer? Right, uh oh yeah, 209 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: the word computer is supertained now um. And the I 210 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: found like this one. I can't remember the website, but 211 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: it's basically like pros and cons. And it sounds like 212 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: it comes down to your preferences, you know, like what 213 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: what like are you into your motions being exaggerated? You know? 214 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: And I guess, yeah, Chuck's laughing because I'm like kind 215 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:46,080 Speaker 1: of making right, Um, if you're into that, great, if 216 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: you're not, or you're um, apparently it's really like you. 217 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: It really is pronounced. It's not something going on in 218 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: the background. It's like, you know and right, So it 219 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: just depends on your prefer says I think. But I 220 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: think a lot of the earliest water beds were we're 221 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,840 Speaker 1: bought by guys who were pretty confident. They could be like, 222 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: I've got a water bed, you want to try it out, 223 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: and that that would happen. It became a punch line, 224 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: like I remember, I feel like every other sitcom or 225 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: a movie at some point there was a scene where 226 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: they were like, oh, he's got a water bed, or 227 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: he would just slowly open the door to reveal the 228 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 1: water bed, and that meant only one thing. It did 229 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: master lover right, So the the and then the waterbed 230 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: invariably like they couldn't make it work because one of 231 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 1: them would get flopped off or somebody would make it 232 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 1: spring a leak, and then the leak would just go everywhere. 233 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,679 Speaker 1: Whenever water beds appeared in TV and movies like it 234 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,559 Speaker 1: went badly. All right, let's take a break. I'm all 235 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: hot and bothered. We'll come back and we'll talk about 236 00:13:51,520 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: some of Charles Hall's early designs right after this. Okay, 237 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: So again, that was like the first reception to water beds. 238 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: Hefner had one, he had to actually had one on 239 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: his jet to um he uh, like one of the 240 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: Smothers brothers bought one. I guess help his sex life out, 241 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: guy from Jefferson Airplane. And you bought them at head 242 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: shops and they were sold by waterbed manufacturers again, none 243 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: of whom bothered to get a license from the Charles 244 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: Hall of the inventor and patent holder. But they had 245 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: names like wet Dream. Somebody named their company wet Dream 246 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: and that was okay in the seventies. Let me see here, 247 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: what else Aquarius, Joyapeutic, aqua beds, Joyapeutic, Um, Aquarius products. 248 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: Like you said, water work, what else? That's all I have? 249 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: I think wet Dream. We should have stopped there. Um, 250 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: it's definitely the worst of all of them. So before 251 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: this came about, Charles Hall a couple of his prototype 252 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: early prototypes. Um. One, it sounds sort of like a 253 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: bean bag chair almost, but it was a big bag 254 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: chair full of three hundred pounds of liquid corn starch 255 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: that the idea was you would sit in it and 256 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: it would envelop you. It sounds like a nightmare. Yeah, 257 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: Like he didn't mean for it to envelop you. It 258 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: was like he hadn't hit upon the water bed yet. 259 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: He was trying out different substances. But yeah, you just sink. 260 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: Can't gross, all right? So he moved on to jello 261 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: for real, and that didn't work either. That's not a joke, people. 262 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: He put jello in this thing did not have the 263 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: right temperature or consistency. So eventually he would thanks to 264 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: um thanks to vinyl really but coming a very popular thing. 265 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: Uh and and being used for things other than like 266 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: car parts and tires and things and oh rings, Vinyl 267 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: became a hot item. So he filled up this vinyl 268 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: bladder with water, had a temperature control device on it. Uh. 269 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: And the the idea there was not to have some 270 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 1: hot bed, but to sink up to your body temperature, right, 271 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: so your muscles would relax. Yeah, he had the purest 272 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 1: of intentions, I really did, and he he hit upon 273 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: it finally and again in the Masters thesis. Well, was 274 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: part of the problem. Summer of love. People are having 275 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: sex all over the place. And uh, there's a story 276 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: named Andrew Kirk who said the basically design and then 277 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: late sixties was a free form atmosphere people were really getting. 278 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: And if you've ever, like I love design museums, if 279 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: you ever go to some of these, it's kind of 280 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: cool to see what they were doing in the sixties. Um, 281 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: because it was kind of a crazy time for design. Yeah, 282 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,200 Speaker 1: because a lot of people were open to trying new things. 283 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: Up to this point, you had a mattress and you 284 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: were just thankful that I wasn't filled with Hey, you know, 285 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: it had springs and you liked it. That's the way 286 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: it was, and you liked it. Um. So the idea 287 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: of this something totally new, like it was two things. One, 288 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: this guy was trying to revolutionized sleep, and it came 289 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: at a time when people were willing to like, oh, yeah, 290 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 1: it's the beds boring, let's try something different. And it 291 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: just kind of came together really well. But again it 292 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: got hijacked by people who owned Headshot well, and he 293 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: was in San Francisco. It all kind of converged um 294 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,679 Speaker 1: to work against him, ironically, but he he applied for 295 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: a pet and I think in nineteen sixty eight, but 296 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: it wasn't until nineteen seventy one that it was granted 297 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:52,200 Speaker 1: because prior to his design being UM debuted, like thirty 298 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: or so years prior, Robert Heinlein, the very famous in 299 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: prolific science fiction writer, he had basically described water beds 300 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: so frequently and in such detail that he was considered 301 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: the intellectual property holder of waterbed design. Yeah, the reason 302 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,439 Speaker 1: Heinlin even went to the trouble of he liked to 303 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: describe stuff in his books apparently haven't read any of 304 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: them yet, but very detailed descriptions. Yeah, and one of 305 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: the things that he kept he that always popped up 306 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: was these water beds. And apparently in the thirties he 307 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in hospital beds, so he 308 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: was just imagining how they could be improved. And he 309 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:35,399 Speaker 1: described water beds almost exactly like Charles Hall had described them. Yeah, 310 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: he said, UM, A pump to control water level, side 311 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: supports to permit one to float rather than simply lying 312 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: on a not very soft water filled mattress. Thermostatic control 313 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: of temperature, safety interfaces to avoid all possibility of electric shock, 314 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 1: which was a big sort of urban legend at the time. 315 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: You can be electrocuted if you have vigorous sex. Waterproof 316 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: box to make it leakproof um, which was another probably 317 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,120 Speaker 1: legitimate um Cohn for a water bed. Sometimes they would 318 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 1: leak back then uh, and then some other things. But 319 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: basically it all came together to form such a robust 320 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: all even though it was in a science fiction novel 321 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: that he was he had to like go to court 322 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: and say, I don't know if he was looking for 323 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 1: money or who. I'm not sure how it came out 324 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: that Highland owned the intellectual property of it. If he 325 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: came out and said that's mine or what. But by 326 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: within three years of Chris or Charles Hall coming out 327 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: with this he um, he had the patent for it. 328 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: And even way back in the eighteen hundreds there were 329 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: doctors who created One guy named Dr Neil or No 330 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:50,359 Speaker 1: or are Not created a hydrostatic bed. He covered a 331 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: warm bath with a rubber cloth and sealed it with varnish. 332 00:19:55,280 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: And another doctor in Portsmouth, and these were based to 333 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: prevent bed sores, to relieve bed sores, and even highlands 334 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: he said, like you said, he cooked it up because 335 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: he had been in hospitals a lot. Yeah, he's like 336 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: he's getting killed in these hard beds. Yeah. And the 337 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: reason you would want some sort of um water filled 338 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: bed for a hospital is because people are laying around 339 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: in bed all the time and when you have skin 340 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: covering like a bony layer, you get bed ulcers and 341 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: you don't want those now. So this was to prevent 342 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: bed sores. Um that's why the earliest physicians were coming 343 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: up with them. But so finally by one Charles Hall 344 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: holds the patent and again he was he wanted to 345 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: create a serious sleep product and he founded a company 346 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: called Inner space environments, and they were selling like the 347 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: real deal, legit high end water beds. He even named 348 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: it seriously right. He opened like thirty two stores in 349 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: California in the early seventies, and and UM had a 350 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: factory like he was doing it right. His did not leak. 351 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 1: One of the things that water beds were very much 352 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,440 Speaker 1: known for is that the sheets would pop off. Yeah, 353 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: very well, because sheets fit on his UM. The temperature 354 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: control was great. They were like really high end water 355 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: beds made and designed by the guy who actually designed them. 356 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 1: The problem is he didn't really pursue any patent stuff, 357 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: and so there were knockoffs out of the gate, and 358 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: it was the knockoffs that leaked. It was the knockoffs 359 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,399 Speaker 1: that had terrible temperature control UM and it was the 360 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,959 Speaker 1: knockoffs that gave water beds a bad name because they 361 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: were fully embracing the sexy advertising. That was part of 362 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:48,440 Speaker 1: it too, all the knockoffs manufacturers and apparently he pursued 363 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,479 Speaker 1: some of these, but it's he would have spent all 364 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: his time and money pursuing a patent infringement if he 365 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: really tried to go after everyone. And some of these 366 00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,159 Speaker 1: didn't make a lot of money, and it was just 367 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: sort of use list to even try, so it wasn't 368 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: worth his time and money. A lot of times he 369 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: said to a lot of people who sold water beds early, 370 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: like early waterbed dealers. Basically they were just trying to 371 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 1: make some fast money so they could go start a 372 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: pot farm in Oregon. That was like, that's who was 373 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: selling water beds in the early seventies. It also has 374 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: one of the creepiest lines ever in the Atlantic article 375 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: that said something about when Charles Hall initially was selling 376 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:27,880 Speaker 1: water beds out of the back of his van, right like, man, 377 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,479 Speaker 1: that's the creepiest thing ever. Yeah here, let me let 378 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: me open up my van. You can lay on my 379 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,720 Speaker 1: water bed in the back of my van with with 380 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: the stallion painted on the side. Oh man, speaking of seventies, 381 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: I forgot about the murals on the vands. Remember we 382 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,919 Speaker 1: used to do blog posts and stuff I made like 383 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: a slide show. I remember that vans with art on 384 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: the side, see those every now and then? Gets up. Still, 385 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: it's good stuff. You want to take a break before 386 00:22:55,280 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: we get into the the this straightening of water beds. Yes, sorry, 387 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: I couldn't come up with a better word than straightening. 388 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 1: I apologize for that. Let me think, I guess legitimizing, 389 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: but I'm thinking like more like a boring, suburbanite zing 390 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: of water beds. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. We 391 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: say that Hall very much wanted to revolution I sleep 392 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: and he didn't embrace the sexual component of it. But 393 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 1: he sold a lot of water beds, and he kind 394 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: of knew why a lot of these people were buying him, 395 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: and he wasn't like, I don't think he was so 396 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: pious that he was like, no, I don't want to 397 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,159 Speaker 1: sell them for that reason. I think he eventually was 398 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: kind of like, you know that that's why people bought him, 399 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: and that was okay. But I don't think he just 400 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: I don't think he cheapened his own advertising that way. No, 401 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: he didn't, and he actually he his company went under 402 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,919 Speaker 1: by the mid seventies and he he likens it to 403 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: UM basically advertising to the wrong market, Like he he 404 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,399 Speaker 1: made quality, high end water beds UM and it was 405 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: advertising to people who could afford a more expensive quality, 406 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: actual legitimate water bed wearing. At the time, it was like, 407 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: you know, Randall Pink Floyd and his friends were the 408 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: actual customers of water beds. That's who was buying water beds, 409 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: and they weren't seeing the ads that Charles Hall was 410 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: putting out there, you know what I'm saying, in like 411 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: the New York or whatever. Yeah, and so he missed 412 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,880 Speaker 1: the heyday. He was sort of in the early heyday. 413 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,720 Speaker 1: But I think in the eighties is when it became 414 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: like a two billion dollar of the market share industry. Right, Yeah, 415 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: like the late seventies, I think it was about a 416 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: thirteen million dollar a year industry, and by seven I 417 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: believe at its peak it was like a two point 418 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: three billion dollar industry a year, and then a pretty 419 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: steep once again grunge killed water beds. Yeah, pretty steep 420 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: fall in the nineties, right in the early nineties. But 421 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:17,399 Speaker 1: the way that it built up before it fell was 422 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: more companies got into it, kind of legitimized it. I 423 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:26,119 Speaker 1: believe that there was a trade association that developed UM 424 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,959 Speaker 1: and the I think it was like it's called the 425 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: floatation sleep industry is really the technical term for it. UM. 426 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,199 Speaker 1: They really wanted to get away from the sex appeal 427 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,360 Speaker 1: and like this stores like you would you wouldn't buy 428 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: a water bed in a head shop anymore. To imagine 429 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: walking to a hedgehop and being like, what do you 430 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,680 Speaker 1: have a water bed here? For? Um? You buy water 431 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: beds out in the suburbs at a place called waterbed 432 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,919 Speaker 1: Plaza or something like that. Or did you see that 433 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: ad I sent to the YouTube adom. Yeah, country Boy 434 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: water beds. Everybody, go go under you YouTube and look 435 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 1: for country Boy water bed at Max Headroom and it's beautiful. Yeah, 436 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,880 Speaker 1: it's Max Headroom rip off selling water beds country Boy 437 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: water beds by water bed h And I think it 438 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: was from Arkansas, like a local waterbed dealer in Arkansas, 439 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: tex Arcana. You mean, oh, is there right now? I 440 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,960 Speaker 1: don't know, but that's I mean, like you could get 441 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: water beds everywhere. Well that's why my friend, I mean 442 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: in seven in suburban Atlanta. For my friend to have 443 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,400 Speaker 1: one in high school, that kind of says it all. 444 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,920 Speaker 1: It's not like his parents were like I mean they were. 445 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: They were a good, god fearing family and we're like, yeah, 446 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: we need to get Chris a sex pit. It was 447 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: more like they were supposedly healthy. Yeah, they were like 448 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: a healthy way to sleep. I think that's also how 449 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,479 Speaker 1: it kind of transitioned the legitimacy and away from like 450 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: just the association with sex. Right, So um, you have 451 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,679 Speaker 1: you have like an actual bona fide water bed industry. 452 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: Um with actual water beds. One of the one of 453 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: the ways that this industry was able to establish itself 454 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: was they made vast improvements over the early models of 455 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: water beds. It used to be that you had a 456 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: just basically like a big bladder, a vinyl bladder that 457 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: big water, big wooden box, and when you wanted to 458 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: get out, you had to like kind of like work 459 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 1: up to it and roll off the side and knee. Yeah, 460 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 1: you had to bang your knee on the way out. 461 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: They leaked. There was a lot of problems with it. 462 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: But then they started like improving upon it to where 463 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: like the water bed was actually like this one article, 464 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:40,919 Speaker 1: I think it was a mental floss article that I 465 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: found said that in the eighties, if you were a kid, 466 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: a water bed was as close to a status symbol 467 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: as you could possibly get. You know, Oh yeah, I 468 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,520 Speaker 1: mean it was aspirational. Yeah, there's no when I say, 469 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: no chance my parents would have bought me one, It 470 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't have even like I wouldn't a new bed are 471 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: than to even ask I think the same with me. 472 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: I don't remember asking for one, although I really wanted one. 473 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,120 Speaker 1: I think it was like a pipe dream. Maybe it's 474 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: not like, oh, I really want a water bed. It 475 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: was such so shut down in my mind as a possibility, 476 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 1: like this is the time where we inherited mattresses from 477 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: our older siblings. It was so gross. It was on 478 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:21,919 Speaker 1: the slide road. But it looks too many stains on 479 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:27,879 Speaker 1: kind of uh wait, kind of Oh did you actually 480 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: get a mattress from the side of the road. I'm 481 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: making sure you did not know, but just short of that, okay, um, 482 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: so mattress. The water beds then, and now one of 483 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: the knocks against them is there they are very heavy. 484 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: There's no way around it. If you fill up a 485 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: mattress with water, even partially, you're gonna have a lot 486 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: of weight. Depending on the size, a couple to three 487 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: gallons of water can weigh between fifteen hundred and two 488 00:28:55,240 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: thousand pounds. And so they always instilled do need a 489 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: lot of structural support underneath them, a large, very heavy 490 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: wooden platform. Supposedly that's why New York was known as 491 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,720 Speaker 1: the the city where the least number of water beds 492 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: were ever so I can't imagine. Part of it is 493 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: because like in in major cities there were like waterbed 494 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: bands and leases, like if you rented an apartment, you 495 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: weren't allowed to have a water It was just too heavy. Yeah. Um, 496 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 1: people would leave them behind. Like here you take this 497 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: because even when you drain the water, like the thing 498 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: that held the water bed was heavy itself. The frame 499 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,479 Speaker 1: was super super heavy. It was like a bookcase that 500 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:40,920 Speaker 1: you didn't really want anymore. You just leave it behind. 501 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: That's what happened to water beds. I didn't see, and 502 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: I don't How do you fill them up? Is that 503 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: you water? That's how people did it. Yes, And then 504 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 1: to get it out you needed like a pump, and 505 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: you could buy all the stuff in your local waterbeds store. 506 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: But you know, when you buy a better mattress, a 507 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: regular mattress, you don't have to go I have pumped 508 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: two years later because you're moving, you know, and then 509 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: pump the water out of mattress. He just moved the mattress. 510 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: That was a big, big mark against it in the 511 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: popular understanding of it. I imagine in New York too, well, 512 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: the weight is enough probably to disqualify it. But just 513 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: getting a water hose up a seventh floor walk up. Uh. Yeah, 514 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: I'm surprised. I haven't seen that movie scene where they're 515 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 1: like have a rope tied around a water hose from 516 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: the street level that they're bringing up through a window. 517 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: It sounds like Bust your Keaton or something like Super 518 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: Sexy in the seventies. Who would that be? I don't know. Okay, 519 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: we should do a podcast on our crumb Have we 520 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: done that? Any day? Any day? Buddy? That was like 521 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: a dare. I can't remember if I saw them. Was 522 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: it a movie or a documentary on him? It was 523 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: a movie that came out in the early two thousands. 524 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: Well both they did the great documentary Crumb Um and 525 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: then when I saw American Splendor, that's what I saw. 526 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: He was a character in it, but it was largely 527 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: about Harvey PEAKR. Yes, the Great Harvey Peak. That was 528 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: a good movie. Um. All right, so these days, uh, 529 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: like you said, they've been brought into the modern era. Um, 530 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: there's a foam collar around the bladder, their spandex on top. Um. 531 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: I believe they are air pockets and things in between 532 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: to sort of stabilize it. Yeah, they don't actually they don't. 533 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 1: You can't get seasick on them like you used to 534 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: be able to move like that. I really want to 535 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: try one of these out and just see what it 536 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: feels like. I don't want one, I don't think, but 537 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: I do want to see what the sensation is like. 538 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: One of my friends back in high school, their parents 539 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: had a what he called a motionless water bed. Um 540 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 1: And now I understand what he's talking about. It's like 541 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,680 Speaker 1: waveless or whatever. Um, but it just felt like laying 542 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: on a feather bed, just the most comfortable feather bed 543 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 1: you've ever been on. Well, my friends must not have 544 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: been waveless, because it was it moved. Yeah, this is none. 545 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: And this would have been like the nineties or something 546 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: like that. And I'm sure it was like a five 547 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,840 Speaker 1: thousand dollar mattress or something back then, but that seems 548 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: to be like the kind that they have now. It's 549 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: like you just lay on it and you're you're not like, oh, 550 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: this is a water bed. You just like, this is 551 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: super comfortable. I'm floating and weightless, but your mind's not 552 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:25,240 Speaker 1: thinking you're laying on water. Yeah. Yeah, I couldn't have, like, 553 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,040 Speaker 1: aside from moving a lot when I sleep. I'm a 554 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,760 Speaker 1: like a I like to flop on the bed, like 555 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: when I lay down, I don't lay gently on it. 556 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: I will kind of throw myself into bed. And none 557 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: of these things are conducive to water beds, especially not 558 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 1: in the seventies. But apparently now it's fine you could 559 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: do that. Well. One of the new salesman they interviewed 560 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 1: for this article said that he won't say the name 561 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: waterbed um. He says, because it turns people off. He said, 562 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: even if they try it and they like it and 563 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: then they find out it's a water bed, he said, 564 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: sometimes they won't buy it because of that weird seventies association, 565 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: like yeah, or they're worried it's gonna leak, or they're 566 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:05,960 Speaker 1: you know, they're gonna have to fill it with water. 567 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 1: There Apparently I couldn't find any any verification of this, 568 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: but there was an urban legend at least that you 569 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: could find aquatic worms floating in your water bed, and 570 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 1: they started doing like, oh, well we need to add 571 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: chemicals to the water. Well, then that makes it even grosser, right, 572 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: So there's like just over time, people associated a lot 573 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: of negative things with water beds, and then the thing 574 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: that really killed the water bed was that in the nineties. 575 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:37,160 Speaker 1: By the by the nineties, it was clear that America 576 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: was like, sure, we'll try other things besides an inter 577 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: spring mattress, what you got And so like temper pedic 578 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: came around, or sleep number, all these guys who made 579 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: technically alternative mattresses. Um, the same thing that it follows 580 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 1: in that tradition that the waterbed established. They that Charles 581 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: Hall he aided that market and showed that it was 582 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: a real thing. And so by the time the nineties 583 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 1: rolled around, and like I think tempera pedick was the 584 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: first one. Um, it was like all the benefits of 585 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: a water bed without the hassle of the water, why 586 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: would you want a water bed? And that was it 587 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,400 Speaker 1: for water beds. Yeah, and minus the creeps. Yeah. Whereas 588 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: just a few a few years before, almost one in four, 589 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:28,480 Speaker 1: between one and four and one in five between a 590 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: quarter and of all water or of all mattresses were 591 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,879 Speaker 1: water beds sold in America. It's crazy. It's a lot 592 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 1: down to nothing, down to just gone. Man. Imagine the 593 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:45,720 Speaker 1: landfills of America are filled with vinyl bladders just rotting 594 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: well broughting a thousand years from now probably yeah, that's true. 595 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 1: They're probably some pretty good shape. So one more thing 596 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,799 Speaker 1: about Charles Hall, well, two more things. One he went 597 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 1: on to invent the solar shower, you know, the campus 598 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: was a and then um too. He has a kind 599 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: of a bad name, or he did, at least back 600 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:09,720 Speaker 1: in one I think um in that WAPO article where 601 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:18,480 Speaker 1: the waterbed industry, the industry association that formed they they 602 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: didn't like him very much because a couple of years 603 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,399 Speaker 1: before his patent ran out. He'd been gone and then 604 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,719 Speaker 1: came back and said, all y'all owe me money for 605 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: patent infringement. And they were like, what dude, We like, 606 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: we've built this industry. You know, thought you were cool 607 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,400 Speaker 1: kind of he was like, no, I'm not give me 608 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 1: some money and he started like they apparently wanted to 609 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: settle and it wasn't enough. But one really noteworthy thing 610 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: about one of their one of his lawsuits against I 611 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:53,440 Speaker 1: think a Taiwanese um manufacturer that um he sold shares 612 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: in the outcome, so like you could buy shares of 613 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,359 Speaker 1: a lawsuit. Crazy, And there's a there's a common law 614 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,399 Speaker 1: law against it. It's called champ terree, which I had 615 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,400 Speaker 1: never heard of before many total sense. It's where somebody 616 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:14,399 Speaker 1: like basically pays for legal fees in order to get 617 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: a piece of the action to cut Um. Yeah, chapter 618 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: E and in California at the time, chapter was not illegal. 619 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,480 Speaker 1: I don't know if it is, but um it was not. 620 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,960 Speaker 1: And he sold shares for ten thousand a pop. Uh 621 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 1: for this for this Wow, this lawsuit. That's amazing. Water beds, 622 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: They're amazing. Chuck cheez. That's what the episode should be titled. 623 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,640 Speaker 1: It's up to you. Do you got anything else? You 624 00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: got nothing else? If you want to know more about 625 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,719 Speaker 1: water beds, well, get in a time machine, get in 626 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: the way back machine and go try and one out yourself. Well, 627 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,839 Speaker 1: we have one in the way back machine. You're lucky 628 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,759 Speaker 1: day covered in American possum. Oh boy. Uh. Since I 629 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,839 Speaker 1: said that it's time for listening there, I'm gonna call 630 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 1: this one of the many replies for color blindness too. 631 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,400 Speaker 1: We've got a lot of responses for color blindness. What 632 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:14,359 Speaker 1: do you mean too well? I called the jerk all right, Hey, guys, 633 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: I was listening to the show about color blindness with 634 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: an oh you are so I assume this? Uh oh, 635 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:24,879 Speaker 1: he's Canadian's gonna say British. It's like British light. Yeah, 636 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,360 Speaker 1: he's still under the thumb though. I worked in the 637 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: electrical field for ten years, and in that time I've 638 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: worked with two red green color blind electricians. Remember we 639 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: talked about that. The first one I worked with for 640 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,279 Speaker 1: a few years. Uh, And he said, it wasn't that 641 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:42,839 Speaker 1: difficult to tell the difference between red and green conductors. 642 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 1: They just looked like every Uh. They look like very 643 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,319 Speaker 1: obvious different shades of the same color, and only took 644 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,080 Speaker 1: a couple of mistakes before he was able to tell 645 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: the difference. An electrical red is a current carrying conductor, 646 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: while green is used for grounding and bonding, like a 647 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:02,600 Speaker 1: rat and a science experiment. He explained, it only took 648 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,160 Speaker 1: a couple of shocks of what he thought it was 649 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,239 Speaker 1: a bonding wire to really notice the difference. So dangerous, 650 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,239 Speaker 1: I know, man. Uh. The other I worked with for 651 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: only a short while because he died, but he had 652 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,920 Speaker 1: been an electrician for twenty plus years. Wasn't until he 653 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: asked a co worker why they thought the ground wire 654 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: and a current carring conductor were the same color that 655 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:27,359 Speaker 1: he even realized he was color blind. How about that? 656 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 1: A little slow on the uptake, perhaps so, even though 657 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:32,879 Speaker 1: it costs some issues early on their careers, they're both 658 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:36,439 Speaker 1: great electricians. I guess the human brain always finds a way, 659 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: and that is James from Cape Breton, Nova, Scotia, Canada. 660 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 1: That's cool Man, Great Area Eastern Canada, Great Area, Western Canada, 661 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 1: fantastic Central Canada. We love it all. Yes, what we do. 662 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,440 Speaker 1: If you're Canadian, you want to say hi, We'll get 663 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 1: in touch of this. Go to Stuff you Should Know 664 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:02,319 Speaker 1: and uh click on our social media links or send 665 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: us an email. This stuff podcast at how stuffworks dot com. 666 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,400 Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. 667 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: For more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 668 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 669 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:20,080 Speaker 1: H