WEBVTT - The Stuff You Should Know 2015 Jolly Christmas Extravaganza 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to stuff you should know from house stuff works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:15.360 dot com. Heane, welcome to the podcast. Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:17.759 and welcome to the podcast. Right, it's like, this isn't 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.880 the Halloween episode. You sounds sad? Do I? Well, you 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:26.040 sounded sad? How do I sound now? Awake? Yeah? But 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.440 happy too? Yeah. Man, this is one of our two 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.360 favorite shows of the year, and we are celebrating. We're 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.040 drinking a little wine a little bit, how about that. Yeah, 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.000 you never know what's going to happen in here. No, actually, 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.120 you usually know what happens in here, which is no wine. Yeah, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.080 and gaminess. It gets gamy in here. Although they fixed 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.640 the a C, Yeah, and I fixed the a C, 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:48.920 we realized that they turned it on for the first 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.240 time in here. They're like your flaps clothes. Oh, dead raccoon, 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.680 there's your problem. Yeah, it's usually a dead raccoon, that's right. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.080 You know. Uh, Well, since we said dead raccoon, they 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.000 can mean nothing else than the fact that this is 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.440 our two thousand fifteen holiday extravaganza. I don't remember what 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.240 we called it. I think we've called it something different 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.720 every year. Yeah, but I'm saying, like I don't know 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.640 what we called this one yet. Yeah, yeah, but that's 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.440 not bad. Yeah, but here we are in November. But 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.760 we have that Christmas spirit. It's well within us. It 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:27.399 is alive in our bones and uh, we cobbled together 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.760 were it's I thought I was starting to get thin really, 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.520 but um, when you start digging around you you can 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.480 find plenty of good holiday content. Yeah you know. Oh, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:39.160 I see what you mean. As far as like finding 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.720 something to fill an hour. Yeah, and um, we didn't know. 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.560 We couldn't remember because we've done. This is like I 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.560 think the fifth one that we've done. Okay, we couldn't 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.160 remember which ones we've done. Documents helped went back and 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.400 listen to all of them, and it's like, okay, we 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.279 covered this, we did we cover that. There were several 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:00.520 things that I was surprised to find that we had covered. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.560 Surprised and dismayed because we can't do them again. Nope, 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.160 they're done. But um, we have put together a blog 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.079 post on Stuff you should Know dot Com called the 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.440 Christmas Sweet and it has all of our Christmas specials 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.440 so you can go listen to them all in one place. Yes, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.080 and as we do every year, we would like to 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.760 encourage you to gather the family. Sure, build a fire 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.240 if you have a fireplace, not not just on your 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.280 hardwood floor or not out of your hardwood floor unless 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.799 you're into that. There's a free country even still think 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:33.639 you probably don't want to do that, you know, So 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.000 gather the family around a light the you'll log. Pour 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.400 up some hot buttered rum or whatever you're boozy eggnog 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.880 or you're non alcoholic drink of choice, sure, sparkling cider. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.800 Everybody loves that cold duck. And then listen, cold duck. 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.600 Don't you remember cold duck? What's that? It's like a 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.040 non alcoholic sparkling wine called cold duck. Yeah, I grew 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.600 up on it. Weird. I guess it is a little 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:00.240 weird now you think about it, Cold duck, and it 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.120 just doesn't sound like something you'd want to drink. Yeah, 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.120 if you don't have a choice, that's what you drink. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:09.079 All right, support some cold duck and uh settle in 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.760 and let us take you on a Christmas journey through 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.520 the ages. And thanks to Jerry by the way as always, 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.520 and uh our friend John begin did the jingles for 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.880 this one. Yeah, so uh yeah, thanks for always gussing 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.040 this thing up and putting us in the Christmas mood. Yeah, 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:37.600 way to go to Jerry. All right, let's get do it, Chuck. Yes, 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.240 you were raised in the United States of America. That 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.520 is true. I was too. Did you know that? Uh yeah, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.600 Toledo is in the U S. Toledo is in the 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:50.520 US for now. Um, And so we were kind of raised. 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.000 Even though you were in the South, I was in 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:57.880 the north, the Midwest. Our Christmas customs were fairly similar. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.920 Sure we're children in the seventies essentially, Yes, for sure. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.080 So um we were raised with macromay Christmas, oh man. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.680 So um. If you go around the world, though, Christmas 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.840 is celebrated all throughout the world among Christians, non Christian, 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:19.479 secular humanists, everybody, not everybody. A lot of people celebrate Christmas. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.000 But since it's in different parts of the world, Um, 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.719 there's different traditions. I bet even Anton LaVey has given 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.599 and gotten a Christmas kick. Yeah. He was like, Chris 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.200 didn't mean anything. All right, it's a studied leather color. 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.680 I'll take it, right, He's like, you have to open 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.640 it upside down. That's right. It is celebrated all over 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.680 the world. And here in segment one are a few 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.159 uh customs around the world that I had never heard of, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.960 and most of them are pretty interesting. Most of them 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.159 I thought, well, you know, actually they were all pretty good. 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:52.560 I thought they were great. Yeah, agreed. All right, let's 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.000 start out. Maybe let's get not in the way back 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.640 machine but just our space travel pod and let's go 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:07.080 to India. Isn't it nice? It is? It's balmy, it is, 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.480 but it's lovely that people are great. There's a lot 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.720 of them. And the food is amazing. I doesn't agree 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:14.880 with much stomach, but I'll still eat it. Really, you 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.159 have trouble with Indian food, I lament that for you. 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.200 Indian food is it's tied for first with Japanese food. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.119 I think, yeah, it's good stuff. So you'll notice, chuck 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.920 that there are twenty five million Christians here celebrating um 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.159 Christmas in Andya. I can tell significant amount of people. 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.400 And the thing is, they don't have any customary type 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.520 of tree that you would decorate, so they use mango 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.159 and orange trees. That's right, you know. So if you 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.520 look around, you're gonna see decorated trees on the streets. 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.600 You're gonna see if you go into a house, you're 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.080 gonna even see the leaves of these trees used as decoration. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.560 it's like Garland basically. And buy orange. I meant banana, 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:57.760 of course. Oh did you say orange. Yeah, that was 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:02.839 my customary holiday slip up. That's right. Uh. So India 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.520 is great everyone. I love the decorations they're getting in 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:08.880 the spirit, even though they don't have the because you know, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.120 and I'll remember we covered it Christmas tree start out 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.400 in Germany. Oh yeah, the ten In bomb. Yeah, they're 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.599 lousy with fir trees and leave in the Tenon Bomb. 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.240 But h so we're gonna leave India for now and 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.640 let's travel over in our space pod. Okay, one of 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:31.240 your favorite places. Japan wonderful, but they have a very 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.760 unusual to me Christmas tradition. Oh, it's unusual across the board. 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.760 Eating Kentucky fried chicken. Kentucky fried chicken is the traditional 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.279 Christmas Eve dinner for Japan, and it has been since 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.680 about nineteen seventy four. So apparently there are some American 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:52.200 travelers who are stranded or visiting Japan. That's the stranded. 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.440 They weren't stranded, it was they were visiting Japan and 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.359 around Christmas, and they went to try to find a 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.920 turkey dinner. They don't turkey in Japan. You gotta be 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.640 beyond rich to find turkey in Japan. Basically, so it 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.640 just so happened. KFC had been there for a couple 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.239 of years that had just broken through. Starting about nineteen 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.040 seventy there was a big expo. Wasn't called KFC back then, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.640 it was Kentucky Fright Chicken, right right? Um, And they 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:23.120 they these I guess, these travelers alerted KFC that they 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.760 had decided to go with Kentucky Fried Chicken instead of 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:30.040 a turkey dinner. And Colonel Sanders sounds say, it sounds 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.920 like a good idea. Yeah, was that your Norm McDonald 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.960 or your Daryl Hammond? Was Norm McDonald? That's not bad. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.760 Um if it was Daryl Hammond, terrible. But so Kentucky 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.000 Fried Chicken decided to capitalize on this, and starting in 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.760 nineteen seventy four, they created the Kentucky for Christmas campaign 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:54.240 and basically established a tradition among Japanese people that you 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:57.160 go line up on Christmas Eve Day and wait in 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.280 line around the block for your turn to buy your 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.760 pre ordered bucket of KFC, your cake, and your bottle 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.080 of champagne. Yeah, and uh, I think of champagne now, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:12.200 but back then it was wine. And then they got classy, 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.840 that's right. And today, uh, more than two hundred forty 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.560 buckets or barrels two what I say two? Yeah, you 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:22.360 stopped at two fourth. Now that was just that the 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:26.560 main location. Two d forty thousand barrels or buckets of 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.520 chicken or sold, which is apparently five to ten times 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.960 the normal monthly sales. And um, it's a big deal. 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:35.960 And these Christmas cakes are a big deal there too. Yeah. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.160 And they dress Colonel Sanders up as Santa Claus out front, 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.480 and it's a huge deal. It's wonderful. It is Kentucky 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.200 for Christmas, Kentucky for Christmas. All right, let's get back 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:55.079 in the spacepod. Let's jet on up to Finland. But 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.400 the people are nice, and the taxes are heavy. But 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.400 the health care that's so bad. Yeah, they pay like 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:04.680 half your money in taxes. But it's the best place 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.880 in the world to live. And it's one of the 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.200 few places on Earth where people live that you can 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.960 just see a reindeer walking around. Yeah, exactly, how's that 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.560 for Christmas spirit? And also, Chuck, you have ever seen 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:19.360 Rare Exports? No, you haven't seen Rare Exports Christmas horror movie. 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.920 Oh man, go see. It's set in Finland. It's awesome. Really, 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.559 it's actually a finished movie with subtitles, and it's it's 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:30.280 a Christmas classic? Is it? What year two thousand and 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:36.080 twelve already a classic? Yes? So in Finland. Um, despite 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.000 their pinchon for enjoying the holidays, they have a little 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.880 darker side, you might say, to Christmas because they visit 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.760 the graves of their ancestors and uh, and they put 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.840 candles on the graves. It's very nice, I guess, not 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.520 exactly dark if they like dug them up and put 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.079 their heads off or something after their first Christmas underground. 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.640 I'm not saying, yeah, it's not dark necessarily because it 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.320 is a tribute to their cease loved ones. But it 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.160 is unusual to me on Christmas to visit the cemetery, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.560 That's what I'm saying. But but apparently cemeteries because when 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.320 they visit, they light candles for their deceased loved ones, 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.400 and even people who don't aren't near their deceased loved 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:15.840 ones will still like light a candle. So like by 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.600 the time midnight rolls around on Christmas Eve, it's also 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:22.240 they're burning down all over the country, right exactly, apparently 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.000 quite a sight to behold, it is. And not only that, 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.320 but at home, uh and this is kind of sweet. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.000 They don't they sleep on the floor to to leave 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.439 their beds. You know how we leave cookies out for Santa. 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.200 They leave their beds open for the ghostly spirits of 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.360 their ancestors to sleep and to sleep. And tonight here 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.520 you take the bed, I'll take the floor. And apparently 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.400 it's the same with saunas too, So most families have 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:50.000 their own sauna in Finland sauna sauna and after sunset 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.560 that becomes they leave that alone for their dead ancestors 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.280 to enjoy as well. Yeah, but before sunset it's naked 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.760 family party time in the sound, which is not gross 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:03.360 or pready, it's just how it is in Finland. All right, 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:05.520 what are you gonna saw it? And like a bathing suit, 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:07.320 that's weird. Well that's what I do. But I'm at 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.280 the y m c A. I'd get arrested, you know, 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.800 you would. Venezuela. Let's hop in our little space spot 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:23.000 and travel a little bit of Caracas, Venezuela. So we're 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.440 in Caracas, and on Christmas Eve, the children do a 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.120 kind of an odd thing. They tie a piece of 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.520 string to their big toe and then they run the 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.440 string out of their window and hang it down the 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:38.400 side of their home. So far, so weird, Yeah, which 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.360 is a little strange. Then the following morning they go 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.679 to early morning Mass. They they don't grown ups too, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.760 and they close off the streets until eight am so 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:53.600 people can roller skate to maths. And if they see 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.640 any of these strings still hanging, they tug on the string, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.559 which supposedly our guess logically would talk on the big 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.440 toe of the child and wakes the kid up for 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:07.240 Christmas morning. Pretty neat a passing by roller skater tugs 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.360 on the string to wake you up for Christmas morning. 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.880 That's pretty cool tradition. And finally, yeah, we will travel 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:22.040 from Caracas, Venezuela over to Sweden. Really we should have 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.960 ordered this differently. We could have really saved some space gas. Yeah, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.480 but sky miles, Oh yeah, you know, we are racking 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.920 up totally. So we're in Sweden now, and this is 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.880 my favorite one. I think in nine st tall goat 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:41.280 of straw was erected in the town square of Gavel. Yeah, 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:46.079 it's called the gavel Baching gavel Bachen. At the stroke 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:50.079 of midnight that first year, Uh, some kid thought it 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.199 would be funny if he burned it down. And now 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.080 it's a tradition, Yeah it is. And so it's not 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.920 a tradition like wicker Man where the town gathers to 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.600 set the man on fire or the goat on The 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.600 town does not want the goat to be set on fire. Instead, Um, 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.280 the town hires security guards. Apparently one year it was 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.920 particularly cold and all the guards went in to get 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.960 warm at once, and when they did, vandals struck burned 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.880 it down. Um. They fireproof the stuff with a subs 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.120 or the goat with the with the substance that they 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.400 used to fireproof airplanes. And people still manage to burn 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.439 this down apparently between nineteen sixties, six and two thousand 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.000 and eleven, according to our friends honk yat where we 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.840 got this article. By the way, Um it's been burned 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:39.640 down twenty five times, that's what about or so not 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:41.640 a bad rate. Not a bad burn rate if you're 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.040 a vandal if you're a town elder, that's terrible rate. 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:47.960 So uh, that's segment one and thanks to who our 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.760 friends at honky Cat hon Kiyot hon Kiyot for that 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:56.520 not honky Cat. Okay, that's Elton John's subsite. So Chuck 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:01.000 does a nice little interlude. Um, have you ever been 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:02.960 in New York? I knew you've been in New York. 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.760 No at Christmas? Do you remember the time we were 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:12.959 the guests of Like Discovery for a Christmas party? Yes, 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.200 at the Campbell apartment at Grand Central Station. One of 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.760 the great, uh corporate parties I've ever been to. There 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.840 was a pit bull there, Parole who owned the pit bull. 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.720 We drank martinis, Yes, we did lots of them. Are 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.840 I did? I don't know what would you have whiskey Martini? 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:30.560 I think I have martiniz And it was good. We 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.000 were hot shots back then. We were we were up 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.760 and coming. Um so at this at the during that 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:44.240 that stay, I walked around and visited like shop windows, sacks. Yeah, 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.360 I think I hit Barnes and I at the time, 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.440 I'm like, I'm so clever, what a cool thing to do. 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:53.560 What I didn't realize is I was engaging in like 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.920 about a hundred and fifty year old tradition of traveling 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:01.400 to New York to see these storefront windows, the Christmas 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.760 window displays. It's actually really old ritual, that's right. And 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.520 this story is called not really old but kind of old. 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.880 The story is called The History of Department Store Holiday 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.760 Window Displays by Victoria Lewis, and I am not ashamed 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.720 to admit that I had never considered the term department 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.480 store and what that meant until I read this. I 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.600 was like, wait a minute, what is the their's departments 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.120 is in? Yeah, the boys department, the ladies department, the 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.520 sports department. I had just never dawned on me what 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:30.640 that means. Just took it as like, that's what it is. 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:32.520 I don't know, you know how it's one of those 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:37.080 understand you know, we're in an old department store right now. Yeah, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:41.720 here's Yeah, absolutely had terrible window displaces. It did. So 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.480 here's the fascinating history of department store window displays, which 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.280 I really enjoyed this article. Yeah, what was it from? Well, 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.040 initially it goes back to the Industrial Revolution, the late 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.160 eighteen hundreds, um. And like anything, it's usually some weird 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.600 innovation that leads to something else. In this case, it 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:02.360 was the innovation was glass windows. Yeah. Up to that point, 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.600 up to the Industrial Revolution, um shopkeepers just kept their 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.920 wares behind piewood and no one could see it, you know. 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.520 So once they figured out play glass windows, they were like, 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.240 this is much better. And so the passers by on 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.760 the street thought it was much better as well. Yeah, 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.080 because that's literally where the turn window shopping comes from. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.080 And they said, we can have these great window displays 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.440 where people on the street, uh could walk by and 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.720 and fantasize if they don't have money about buying the stuff. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.600 Thiks to our enormous sea through class um the best 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:39.080 kind of glass, And apparently it was Mr Macy. Mr 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.400 Macy had a great name, Roland Hussey Macy, who did 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.480 not live up to his name, was quite approved frankly 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.680 and Roland Hussey Macy. UM opened Macy's tried four times. 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.200 So I opened, yeah, and tried and failed, I should 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:59.600 say the the fifth time, I think on sixth Avenue 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.840 between thirteenth and fourteenth Street in eighteen fifty eight, Roland 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.880 Macy opened his store with opening day sales totaling eleven 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.760 dollars and six cents, which you're like, oh, well it's 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:15.000 eighteen fifty eight. Sure, that's a three million dollars today bucks. 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.360 Not good for a department store. So back in the day, 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.880 these stores were what are called dry goods stores, where 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.800 you can find everything that wasn't wet, um, you know, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:30.119 chaps alasso, uh, stuff that wasn't wet, like that, wheat flour, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.640 wheat flower, all this stuff. And and these were the 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.439 the progenitors of dry of department stores. And a lot 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.600 of them grew out of dry goods stores into department stores. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:44.399 And over time, um, they got savvier and savvier. And 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.240 again R. H. Macy was one of the first to 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.760 get super duper savvy. And he was apparently the first 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.879 to put up these elaborate displays around Christmas time. Not 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.040 only that, my friend, he was the first in eighteen 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.960 sixty two to feature an in store Santa that children 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.960 and could come in annoy yes, and if you want 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.800 to know more about the life of an in store 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:07.960 saying that you should listen to last year's because they 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.040 went into that in depth. Absolutely so in eighteen seventy 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.040 four he says, I'm gonna step it up a notch. 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.240 We got this plate class. So I'm going to create 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:20.120 a window display porcelain dolls from around the world and uh, 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:24.000 sort of weirdly scenes from Harriet Beecher Stowe's great book 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.760 Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's all the rage. Yeah, it just 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.640 seemed an odd choice for the holidays. All the rage, 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:31.960 but I'm not gonna second guess it because it worked. 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.520 It would be like making a Star Wars special holiday 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.320 special at the time, you know what I mean. Yeah, 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.119 I think all the rage. So it really caught on 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.679 By the early nineteen hundreds. Um, all the big retailers 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.360 were doing it in New York, Chicago, all the bit 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:49.960 major cities, and um, window shopping was a legitimate, legitimate 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.120 thing at this point. Yeah, thanks to things like, um, again, 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.879 the plate glass window people actually putting up displays worth seeing, 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.360 and then later on electrical lighting so that you see 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.320 these things long after the store had closed, and that 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:09.080 attracted people to the displays just for the displays stake themselves. 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.639 It made him a destination, so that a hundred and 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.119 fifty years later, yokels like you and me could be 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.040 walking around New York saying, I'm gonna go check out 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.119 the sex fifth Avenue window. It looks like real snow. 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:25.360 Ye Lord and Taylor with the first to um, actually 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.280 not even worry about showing merchandise in the window and 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.359 just say, you know what, this is something cool looking 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.840 that will attract people to our window. Well what the 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.399 cool looking thing? They did too? At the time it 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.480 must have been mind blowing. You have to put yourself 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.919 in their shoes. But it was automated bells that moved 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.600 in time to a recording of the sound of bells playing, 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.000 which sounds about as primitive as a monkey turning a crank. 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.560 But it actually, I mean that must have been pretty 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.679 mind blowing at the time. We're talking ninety eight, and 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.760 even before that, I think it was um, I think 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.040 it Nieman Marcus in Dallas used free on in air 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:10.240 conditioned copper tubings to basically create frosted trees in their 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.199 window display that that's what they call for people who 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.960 read books on airplanes. A game changer and not to 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.159 be outdone in nineteen In the nineteen fifties, Washington d 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.280 c s Woodward and Lowthrope, which I've not heard of, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.760 have you, no? Never? But it totally sounds like either 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.280 a law firm or a department. Uh, and they put 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.639 live penguins in the display. This is clearly before animal 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.880 rights activists had to say in things They're like, how 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:41.240 can we make our window display cruel? And over the 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.720 years many famous artists have even been involved, including Andy Warhol, Uh, 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:50.200 Murray Sindac, Salvador Dali, and Jasper John's. Imagine it pays 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.720 pretty good if you hire one of those artists, or 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:54.159 maybe they were up and coming at the time they 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.040 were up and coming. Actually, I think they also hire 0:20:57.200 --> 0:20:59.520 famous people to come in. Oh, they definitely do sometimes 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:04.400 for sure. Yeah, you're right. Um. So apparently today it's 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.159 spread around. It's not just New York, and it's in 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.359 London too. It started in London in nine thanks to 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.880 an American the guy who started or who worked at 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:18.000 marshall Fields and then came and started self Ridges. Right. Um. 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.120 But today, if you ask Lord and Taylor, about two 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.040 hundred and fifty thousand people past their holiday window display 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:28.400 every day. That's crazy, and between Thanksgiving and Christmas they'll 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:33.359 attract eight million shoppers to their store. New York is great, 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.440 and it's awesome during the holiday season because you can 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.040 go broke, but you can also not spend a dime 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.080 and just walk around and look at all the cool junk. Yes, 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.080 New York. I love you and you're giving me chills. 0:21:47.640 --> 0:22:09.280 All right, Uh, moving on to the next segment. All right, Josh, 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:11.879 Now we're moving on to uh something. Believe it or not. 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:17.040 I have never even tasted in my life, really never 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.399 tasted fruitcake. I would be even more incredulous if I 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:25.280 hadn't either, right, have you? That's what I'm saying. I haven't. Okay, 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:27.719 I was trying to make sense of all that. Sorry, 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:30.479 So neither on Jerry, You ever had fruit cake? Wow? 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.439 Jerry says, No, Nol's like in the window with a 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.639 fruitcake in his mouth. I got a fruit cake in 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:41.720 my pocket. Alright. So fruitcake is uh. It's famous for 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:46.000 one thing, which is yeah, which is being a maligned, 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:50.000 uh food product that is generally made fun of as 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:53.240 like a brick or a concrete block or a doorstop. 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.720 So much so that there's a town called Manitoo Springs, 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:00.960 Colorado that in the at the beginning of January holds 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:05.280 the Great Fruitcake Toss every year, and you throw a 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:07.240 fruitcake as far as you can. It's kind of like 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.080 punkin chunking. But with fruitcakes, basically you know they should 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:12.360 have though is on the landing side, they should have 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:17.679 plate glass. Just see how much the fruitcake like maybe 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.520 layers of plate glass and see how many layers it 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.520 can smash. Yeah, like that one ice breaking scene and 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:30.679 karate Kid too. So, um, the fruitcake. It's not much loved. 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:33.000