1 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Randall's, a run of the mill supermarket in Texas. 2 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 2: The year is nineteen eighty nine, and this. 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: Randall's, in a Houston strip mall, is like thousands of 4 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 1: other chain grocery stores across America. There's an in house 5 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: bakery that makes bad bagels and good donuts, a meat counter, 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: seafood dairy, and of course, a produce section. 7 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 2: There's quite a selection. 8 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: Alongside Texas grown peaches and peppers, are potatoes from Idaho, 9 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: avocados from Mexico, and bananas from South America. Stacks of 10 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: lettuce and rows of upright celery glisten with beads of water. 11 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: There are six types of apples, three kinds of grapes, 12 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: and tomatoes in every shape and size. That's what American 13 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: shoppers expect when they walk into a grocery store, and 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: that was true in nineteen eighty nine. But imagine for 15 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: a minute that you've never seen an American grocery store before. 16 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: Imagine that you've grown up in the Soviet Union, behind 17 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: the proverbial iron curtain, where food shopping means lines, really 18 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:32,119 Speaker 1: long lines for just about everything. In Soviet grocery stores, 19 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: there is only one type of flour one type of milk, 20 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: and for most people, bananas only exist in movies. Imagine, 21 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: for the sake of today's story, that you are Boris Yeltsin. 22 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: You remember Boris Yeltsin, right, the Soviet politician who became 23 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: a joke on late night TV after a few too 24 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: many vodka induced pratfalls. What you might not remember is 25 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: that Yeltsin was once a brash, young politician. He pushed 26 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: for radical reforms in the former Soviet Union. And what 27 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: you almost certainly don't know is that in nineteen eighty nine, 28 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: while on a tour of the United States, Boris Yeltsen 29 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: made an unscheduled visit to a random Randall's grocery that 30 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: left him a profoundly changed man. 31 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 2: In fact, you. 32 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: Could argue the collapse of the Soviet Union began when 33 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: Boris Yeltsin encountered a freezer case full of jell O 34 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: pudding pops. After everything the United States had done to 35 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: try and win the Cold War, is that what broke Communism? 36 00:02:51,400 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 3: A nuclear arms race, proxy wars, CIA incursions, CIA assassination, attempts, infiltration, diplomacy, 37 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 3: the deatonte star wars. I mean trillions and trillions of 38 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,799 Speaker 3: dollars spent, and in the end, it was a Russian 39 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 3: who came to a grocery store and said, Holy moly, 40 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 3: they have pudding pops. 41 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 4: We're done. That's it. It's over. 42 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 1: Welcome to very special episodes and I heeart original podcast. 43 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Danash Schwartz, and this is the grocery 44 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: store that killed Communism. 45 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 5: Welcome back Very Special episodes. Cheese Dana. He's Aaron. I'm 46 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 5: Jason as, a history lover and a former cashier and 47 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 5: Tuesday night front end manager at the A and P 48 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 5: grocery store in Denville, New Jersey. Like this was tailor 49 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 5: made for me. I have to say it's probably our 50 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 5: favorite episode of the season. And I don't know if 51 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 5: Yeltson would have had the similar religious experience at our 52 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 5: A and P. It was pretty nice. But there's a 53 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 5: reason it's no longer in business rip A and P. 54 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 5: But we pack a lot into this one. Mm hm, 55 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 5: cold War history, grocery stores, Texas, Texas Operas, little musical theater. 56 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 2: It kind of hits everything. 57 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: I love food, history, musical theater exactly. 58 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 6: And I don't know about you go. I have a 59 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 6: Boris Yeltson guarantee. It's very simple. If there's any story 60 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 6: with Boris Yeltson, I will read it or listen to it, 61 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 6: because he's just such a crazy world figure of history. 62 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 6: Like back in the day, my friends and I, we 63 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 6: used to have a deadpool that was the Pope, Hope 64 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 6: or Boris Yeltson. We'd try to which one of them 65 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 6: would be the last to live. We couldn't believe it ourselves, 66 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,119 Speaker 6: but Boris Yeltson won. He outlived Bob Hope and the Pope. 67 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 6: So there you go. 68 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: To understand how a grocery store in Texas could change 69 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: the course of history, you have to understand what life 70 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: was like in the Soviet Union in the late nineteen 71 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: eighties chunks of the twentieth century. The Soviet economy kept 72 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 1: pace with the United States. They were the two global superpowers. 73 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: In America, we had free market capitalism fueled by private 74 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: business ownership and fierce competition. In the Soviet Union, they 75 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 1: had something called a command economy. 76 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 2: Basically, every aspect. 77 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: Of the economy was dictated by production goals handed down 78 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: from a central communist authority. From the outside, the Soviet 79 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: system seemed to work. Their GDP often outpaced the US, 80 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: and military spending was through the roof, But those achievements 81 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: hid the fact that the USSR spent way too much 82 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: on nuclear bombs and way too little on basic consumer goods. 83 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: For decades, Soviet families suffered shortages of food, clothing, household good, 84 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: good everything. Yolena Biberman grew up in Belarus, which was 85 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: at the time a Soviet satellite state in eastern Europe. 86 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: Elena was eleven in nineteen eighty nine, part of the 87 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: last generation who could remember what life was really like 88 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: in the USSR, right before it all came tumbling down. 89 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: We asked her about breadlines, but Elena says, bread was 90 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: just the tip of the iceberg. 91 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 7: Oh man, Yes, so lines, lots of lines. Let's say 92 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 7: you walking on the street, you see a line, you 93 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,840 Speaker 7: immediately join. You don't know what it's for, but if 94 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 7: it's a line, it means it's something good. And eventually 95 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 7: it takes time, but you ask around and you figure 96 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 7: out what it is, and as time progressed, increasingly was 97 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 7: more likely to be something edible food. 98 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,720 Speaker 2: It wasn't all bad, Elena says, So I. 99 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,359 Speaker 7: Remember very vividly there was a line, and I stood 100 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 7: in it, and I waited and waited and waited, and 101 00:06:57,839 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 7: at the end of it, I got like a little 102 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 7: haste tree, and it was so warm and delicious. 103 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 2: It was worth it. I still remember it to hear 104 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 2: Yolena tell it. 105 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: The Soviet Union of her childhood wasn't the colorless concrete 106 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: wasteland Americans sometimes picture. For example, she went to the 107 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: movies every week in these ornate movie palaces. New Year's 108 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: Eve was celebrated like Christmas, with a sparkling tree, gifts, 109 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: and fireworks. Elina's town even had a public seltzer dispenser 110 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: with different flavors, like a free soda fountain. Everyone drank 111 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: from the same shared glass that they washed out with 112 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: a quick swirl of water. 113 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 7: There's a small town, so I guess these same germs 114 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 7: kept going around, and you know, we were immune. 115 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: But in the background of Elena's childhood memories was the constant, 116 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: low grade hum of hunger. Both of her parents worked, 117 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: but the family never had enough to eat. 118 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 7: I remember not having food at home, and so I 119 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 7: found myself really hungry, and thank god, there was always 120 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 7: bread in the stores. I would always be able to 121 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 7: go to the store and buy bread, and I would 122 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 7: just eat bread, and then sometimes I would add salt 123 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 7: to it, so I would eat bread and salt. And 124 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 7: had it not been for the bread, I don't know 125 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 7: what I would have done and what other people around 126 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 7: me would have done, because then it's sort of like 127 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 7: there's nothing. 128 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: When things got even worse for Elena and her family, 129 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,679 Speaker 1: they immigrated to the United States. Elina will never forget 130 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: her first trip to an American grocery store. 131 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 7: So my aunt is the one who kind of organized 132 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 7: this for us. She came to you as before us 133 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 7: and then she was like, okay, you're ready. She knew 134 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 7: it would be an emotional experience and very overwhelming, so 135 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 7: she waited a few days before taking us to a supermarket. 136 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 4: Then I remember seeing. 137 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 7: A cart that would be cards and already confused, like 138 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 7: what and they were giant and like, first of all, 139 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 7: while they're helping you shop, because in this Union it 140 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 7: was like the opposite that like, please don't buy so much. 141 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 7: Here in the US, it's like, please buy as much 142 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 7: as you can. So already like it was like wow, 143 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 7: But the most important was bananas. Oh my god, that 144 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 7: was the holy grail. Sometimes my mother says, the reason 145 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 7: why we left the Soviet Union was that so my 146 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 7: kids could eat bananas. 147 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: Yolena had no idea such a place existed in America. 148 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 1: For decades, the communist leadership told people the Soviet Union 149 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: was the envy of the world. American style capitalism oppressed 150 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: the worker and enriched the elites. 151 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 2: America was the land of hunger. 152 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: Only the Soviet system looked out for everyone. That story 153 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,439 Speaker 1: is hard to swallow if you're having bread and salt 154 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: sandwiches every night for dinner. As shortages dragged on, the 155 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: Soviet people became increasingly rescue. That's why politicians like Mikhail 156 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: Gorbachev introduced reform programs in the nineteen eighties like Glasnost 157 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: and Perestoika. Glasnost promised greater openness and transparency in Soviet politics, 158 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: and Perestroika was supposed to restructure the stagnant Soviet economy, 159 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: But some Soviet politicians thought Gorbachev's reforms were too slow 160 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: and didn't go nearly far enough. Boris Yeltsen was one 161 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: of the loudest voices calling for radical change. Yeltsen was 162 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: an outsider politician who knew something about hunger. He was 163 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: born in nineteen thirty one in a remote village in 164 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: the Ural Mountains. Yeltsin's grandfather lost his land when farming 165 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 1: was collectivized under Stalin in the nineteen forties. Yeltsin's father 166 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: was assigned to work in a put factory. The family 167 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: lived in a communal hut for ten years. In his autobiography, 168 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:12,439 Speaker 1: Yeltsin remembers having no warm clothes, so in the winter, 169 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: the children huddled up next to a nannygoat. The goat's 170 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: milk also got them through World War II. Yelton never 171 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: forgot his humble beginnings. Even after he became a Communist 172 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: party official, he remained a quote man of the people. 173 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,359 Speaker 1: He'd make unannounced visits to factories and shops and schools 174 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: and ask people about. 175 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 2: Their daily lives. 176 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: When he saw faults in the system, he called them out. 177 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: One of Yeltsin's first actions as Party chief of Moscow 178 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: was to declare war on bribery and corruption. He fired 179 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: two thirds of the Moscow party bosses. He closed down 180 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: stores where senior party officials secretly bought items not available 181 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:05,199 Speaker 1: to the general public, like fresh fruits and vegetables. If 182 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: there were shortages, he said everyone should experience them equally. 183 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: Under Gorbachev, Yelton rose all the way to the polit Bureau, 184 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: this central committee of the Communist Party, but Yeltin grew 185 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: frustrated with the slow pace of change and openly criticized 186 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: party leadership, including Gorbachev. In nineteen eighty seven, Yelton was 187 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: ousted from the pulit Bureau, and his enemies tried to 188 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: paint him as a drunken. 189 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:35,840 Speaker 2: Ox, a fool. 190 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: This could have been the end of Yelton's political career, 191 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:44,559 Speaker 1: but instead he found his voice as an anti Communist 192 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: crusader and underdog. Yelena says that after the Chernobyl disaster, 193 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: there was real anger that the government had covered up 194 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: the extent of the danger. 195 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 7: We wanted new people in charge who were really sick 196 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 7: of the old leadership of the journaltocracy that has over 197 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 7: time been disconnected from reality and its people. The Chernobyl 198 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 7: accident and I was sort of in the middle of 199 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 7: where the cloud ended up going from there, the radiation 200 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 7: it really hit my town and after we found out 201 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 7: it took a while, but once we found out, people 202 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 7: were so disappointed and there was a sense like this 203 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 7: is it, like we need new people in charge. And 204 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 7: this is why people were excited about somebody like Yitzen 205 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 7: because he seemed different, new generation, not afraid to say thanks, 206 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 7: to speak his mind. 207 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty nine, the Soviet Union held its first 208 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: democratic elections for a new governing body called the Congress 209 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 1: of People's Deputies. Yelton ran as a delegate from Moscow 210 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,079 Speaker 1: and won in a landslide. He saw victory as a 211 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 1: mandate for change and formed a radical reform party to 212 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: challenge the Communists. Yeltsin was now the most famous and 213 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: powerful pro democracy the advocate in the Soviet Union, but 214 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 1: he faced tremendous opposition from hardliners on the Politburo and 215 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: Ivan Gorbachev. In September of nineteen eighty nine, Boris Yeltsen 216 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: was invited to take a tour of the United States. 217 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: American politicians were curious about this outspoken Soviet rabble rouser, 218 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: and Yeltsin, who had never been to America before, was 219 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: eager to see democracy in action. The Soviet Ministry of 220 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: Foreign Affairs reluctantly granted Yeltsin a visa if the Communist 221 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: party leadership had known what was going to happen to 222 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 1: Yeltsin in America and how it was going to change 223 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: Soviet history. They never would have let him go. Evan 224 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: Mack is a musician and composer. He writes operas and 225 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: musicals for a living, which is pretty cool. Until a 226 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: few years ago, the name Boris Yeltsin meant very little 227 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: to Evan. 228 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, he was the big drunkey on TV all the 229 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 3: time in my childhood. 230 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: But then a Texas arts organization commissioned an original opera 231 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: set in the lone Star State. While googling little known 232 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: events from Texas history, Evan stumbled across the strange little 233 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: story of Boris Yeltsin's visit to a Randall's grocery store in. 234 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty nine. 235 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: Evan knew immediately he had found this subject for his 236 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: new opera, but he had a lot of research to do. 237 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 1: What was going on in the Soviet Union in nineteen 238 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: eighty nine and what was Yeltsin's role? 239 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 3: To me, it seems like it was end stage Bolshevism, 240 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 3: You know, this sense of things are not working. No 241 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 3: one really knows the solution, but things had to change. 242 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 3: He was quite charismatic, you know he was. He was 243 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 3: a volleyball player. He played the spoons like it was 244 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 3: just like that was his instrument, you know. So there 245 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 3: was this this sort of everyman quality about him. 246 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: Reading through old news stories, Evan learned that Yeltsin's trip 247 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: to the United States was a fact finding mission of sorts. 248 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: Just like in his Moscow days, Yeltsin learned best by 249 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: meeting people face to face. In September nineteen eighty nine, 250 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: Yeltsin landed at JFK Airport in New York and set 251 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 1: out to meet America. 252 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 2: It wasn't very exciting at first. 253 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 4: And in New York they showed him three things. 254 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 3: They showed him the Statue of Liberty, the un and 255 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 3: Trump Tower. No one knows why those were the three 256 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 3: things in nineteen eighty nine to show him, but they 257 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 3: showed him that. 258 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 4: He was not impressed. 259 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: The next stop, Baltimore, was a minor disaster. Unable to 260 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: sleep from jet lag, Yeltsin down two sleeping pills with 261 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: a couple shots of whiskey. At an early morning speech 262 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: the next day, he was quote visibly intoxicated, according to 263 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: The New York Times. In Washington, d C President H. W. 264 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:14,640 Speaker 1: Bush passed on a one on one meeting with Yeltsin, 265 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:21,760 Speaker 1: afraid it would insult Gorbachev, Yeltsin's frenemy. Yeltsin's consolation prize 266 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: was a meeting with Vice President Dan Quayle in Philadelphia. 267 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: Yeltsin was shown the Liberty Bell. In Indiana, he was 268 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: taken to a pig farm. Yeltson joked, Generally, I prefer 269 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,400 Speaker 1: to see Americans, but I guess pigs will do. In Texas, 270 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: Yeltsin gave a speech at a Dallas press club that 271 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: would have gotten him shot under Stalin or at least 272 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:52,480 Speaker 1: thrown in a Siberian gulog. Yeltson said that for too 273 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: many years, Soviet leaders pretended to build socialism while the 274 00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: people pretended to work. 275 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 2: It was, in his words, a society built on lies. 276 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: The next day, September sixteenth, he got a tour of 277 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Yeltsen was shown mission 278 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: control and mockups of a space station called Freedom. Yeltsen, 279 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 1: a former engineer, asked some technical questions, but his mind 280 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: seemed to be elsewhere. After the Johnson Space Center, it 281 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: was off to the Houston Airport, where Yeltsin and his 282 00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: entourage would catch a flight to Miami, the final stop 283 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: of their US tour. But as they left for the airport, 284 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,640 Speaker 1: Yeltsen asked his handlers if there was time to stop 285 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: at a grocery store. A grocery store, sure, why not. 286 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: They made some calls and found the closest one. 287 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,919 Speaker 3: It was a Randall's grocery store about a mile and 288 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 3: a half from the Johnson Space Center. I don't even 289 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 3: think it was a flagsh store. It was just a 290 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 3: Randall's grocery store, one of many chains in that area. 291 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: The store manager, Paul Jurga, had just a few minutes warning. 292 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: He met the busload of Russians in the parking lot, 293 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: shook hands and welcomed them in. 294 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 3: People were still shopping, There were people curious and walking around. 295 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,439 Speaker 3: You know, there was a photographer, but if you look 296 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 3: at even some of the pictures, there's. 297 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 4: Not a huge crowd around him. It's not a mob 298 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:24,959 Speaker 4: of people. 299 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 8: You know. 300 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:28,400 Speaker 3: It wasn't like Gorbatchrov showed up. It wasn't the head 301 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 3: of Russia, or it wasn't you know, some celebrity. It 302 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,119 Speaker 3: was just a random VIP coming. 303 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 2: We don't know why exactly Yeltsen asked. 304 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,480 Speaker 1: To see a grocery store, or what was going through 305 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,880 Speaker 1: his mind when he first stepped inside Randall's, But if 306 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,919 Speaker 1: it was anything like the experience of his aid Leve Sukunov, 307 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,639 Speaker 1: then it was pure sensory overload. Here's how Suknov described 308 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,120 Speaker 1: it in his memoir Three Years with Boris Yeltsin. 309 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 9: I was immediately struck by abundance of light, and in 310 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:10,360 Speaker 9: general color scheme of everything was so bright and impressive 311 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 9: that it felt like Vivre descending into depths of Kalidoscope. 312 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,120 Speaker 9: When we walked along rows, our eyes didn't know where 313 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 9: to stop. I could guess different things, but what I 314 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:29,919 Speaker 9: saw in this supermarket was no less amazing than America itself. 315 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 9: Some of us started counting the types of hams we. 316 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: Lost cult Yeltsen probably had these same thoughts as he wandered, 317 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: dumbfounded through Randall's, but his amazement was also mixed with suspicion. 318 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,920 Speaker 1: As a student of Russian history, Yeltsen knew the story 319 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: of Prince Gregory Potempkin. Potempkin was a secret lover of 320 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: Catherine the Great and Allegedly, he wanted to impressed her 321 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: with a tour of the recently annexed territory of Crimea. 322 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 1: According to legend, Potempkin built facades of colorfully painted villages 323 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:17,159 Speaker 1: along her parade route to hide the unpleasant reality of 324 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:23,640 Speaker 1: starving peasants. Yeltson thought that Randalls was a Potempkin village. 325 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,679 Speaker 3: Seeing the store and walking to the grocery store, he 326 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 3: immediately thought, oh, this is a setup by the Americans, 327 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 3: like let's put on a dog and pony show and 328 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 3: this is look at us. And and they, the Americans 329 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 3: were confused because like, wait a minute, what do you. 330 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:43,920 Speaker 4: What do you mean? 331 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 3: Like this is this is a grocery store, Like there's 332 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 3: probably a better one down the block. 333 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 4: Then he thought, oh, this is this. 334 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:55,120 Speaker 3: Is where the NASA brass shop, only the upper echelon 335 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 3: generals of NASA and the big important people. And again 336 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 3: they were like nope, just one on this corner, as 337 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:03,880 Speaker 3: opposed to a mile away from here. 338 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:10,120 Speaker 1: Yeltsin was flabbergasted. All this was for regular people. 339 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 3: He asked one of the workers, how many college degrees 340 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 3: someone has to have to catalog. 341 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:18,640 Speaker 4: Everything and run everything? 342 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 3: And I think one was like I did a semester 343 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 3: community college. Like, there's just so many things that don't 344 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 3: line up because it was so vast and so amazing. 345 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: Yelton stopped a young woman rolling by with her cart and, 346 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: while being friendly, quizzed her about her income and how 347 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: much she spent on groceries each week. He did the math. 348 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:44,360 Speaker 1: It was expensive, but not crazy. Middle class Americans were 349 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: eating like kings. There's a photo of Yelton looking down 350 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: at a freezer case full of ice cream. He has 351 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: a big smile on his face and his arms are 352 00:22:56,119 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: raised as if to say, what a miracle. The subject 353 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: of his fascination is a box of Jello pudding pops. 354 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 3: So eighties, but Jello pudding pops. He couldn't believe that. 355 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,639 Speaker 3: I think also because the fact that in the center 356 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 3: of an aisle was a freezer, right, a huge long freezer. 357 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 4: They didn't have that. 358 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 3: So to see something and then have this product of 359 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 3: you know, Bill Cosby's face on it and Chella pudding pops, 360 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:22,880 Speaker 3: you know, that was shocking. 361 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: But the real shocker came in the produce section. Sure 362 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: there were fruits and vegetables in the Soviet Union. Some 363 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: people had gardens in the country and grew their own produce, 364 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: and in the summer there were markets in the big cities, 365 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: but the choices were always limited, and there were lines 366 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: for cabbages. In America, however, even the humblest grocery store 367 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: contained a veritable cornicopia. 368 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 2: Here's Sukenov again. 369 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 4: In vegetable section. 370 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 9: Viva letally shocked byquality of produce. A reddish the size 371 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 9: of large potato, was illuminated by bright light and water 372 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 9: was scattered onto it from small spirits. Redishes were literally dazzling, 373 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 9: and next to them were onions, garlic, eggplant, cauliflower, tomatos, culcumber. 374 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: Yeltsin's grandfather was a farmer. He had a connection to 375 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: the earth. There's nothing more earthy than onions and potatoes. 376 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 2: It's peasant food. 377 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:39,880 Speaker 1: And here in America, Yelton realized even a peasant could 378 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: eat better than Gorbachev himself. 379 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 4: There was like two things, if you think about it. 380 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 3: One had this sort of shock and awe of colors, 381 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,640 Speaker 3: the amount of products, the variety of all of those products. Right, 382 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,719 Speaker 3: So think cereal aisle, think cookies, think different chips. 383 00:24:57,800 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 4: Right. 384 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 3: That was one type of commercialism. The other was radish. 385 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 3: Is the size of potatoes that rocked him at his core, 386 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 3: like commercialism is one thing, but abundance is another. You know, 387 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 3: we've been told all of this stuff about the failings 388 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 3: of American capitalism, but live and improof. Yeah, you could 389 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 3: argue that the commercialism is a failing. 390 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 4: But not the radish, not the giant onion. 391 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 3: That's irrefutable proof that the system is working. 392 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: There was a reporter from the Houston Chronicle who covered 393 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 1: Yeltsin's twenty minute visit to Randall's in nineteen eighty nine. 394 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 2: As Eyeltzen stood before. 395 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,679 Speaker 1: The piles of shiny apples and crisp lettuce and bright 396 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: yellow bananas, he turned to her and said, if the 397 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: Soviet people, who wait in line every day for a 398 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:55,640 Speaker 1: meager selection of goods ever saw a US supermarket, there 399 00:25:55,640 --> 00:26:09,320 Speaker 1: would be a revolution. The last photograph taken of Boris 400 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: Yeltsen at Randall's supermarket shows him at the checkout stand. 401 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: A teenage clerk who is rocking a sweet eighties perm 402 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: is explaining how the price scanners work. Once again, Yeltsin 403 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 1: and his team are blown away. His aide you can 404 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: have described it. 405 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 9: At the exit from American Supermarket, Girl is seating at 406 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,360 Speaker 9: cash register didn't have to count anything. In her hands, 407 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 9: she held small device that resembled head dryer, which she 408 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 9: quickly ran over price code on the package. After this operation, 409 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 9: price appeared on computer cash register screen. The customer paid 410 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 9: and could freely pass through electronic turnstile to fill what 411 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 9: else could be simpler and smarters in such a seastem. 412 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,719 Speaker 1: An hour earlier, Yelton was at the Johnson Space Center 413 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: where NASA officials showed him the plans for a new 414 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:16,440 Speaker 1: space station. He was unfazed the beeping laser checkout thing, 415 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: a revelation further proof that the Soviet Union was light 416 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: years behind America. At the exit, the store manager presented 417 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: Yelton with a goodie bag for the trip home. Putting 418 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,439 Speaker 1: on a brave face, Yelton joked, is this what you 419 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: give a starving Russian? 420 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 2: You should add some soap? We need that too. 421 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: Outside in the Randalls parking lot, however, something snapped inside 422 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: Boris Yeltsin. Sure, Yeltsen talked a big game about changing 423 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: the system. He was a loud critic of the Communist 424 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: Party's leadership and openly called for democratic and capitalist reforms, 425 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,360 Speaker 1: but he was also a proud son of the Soviet 426 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,919 Speaker 1: Union and believed deep down in the promises of the 427 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: Bolshevik Revolution, a system of government that was supposed to 428 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:15,119 Speaker 1: put the workers and the common people first. Somewhere in 429 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: the Randalls parking lot where Atsukin, of quote, the last 430 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: vestige of Bolshevism collapsed inside Yeltsin. 431 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 3: When he got into the parking lot, it was sadness 432 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:33,199 Speaker 3: on what we've done to our people, and then anger. 433 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 4: Right, if the people saw what I just saw on. 434 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 3: An American grocery store, there'd be a revolution, because it's 435 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 3: it's the exact opposite of the Bolshevik revolution, Right. They 436 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 3: were overthrowing the yoke of the czar, and they were, 437 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 3: you know, it was going to be equality for everybody. 438 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 3: And did they achieve some of the things, yes, But 439 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 3: after you know, of course Stalin and all of the atrocities, 440 00:28:58,000 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 3: it instantly did not have. 441 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 4: You know, you could see very clearly it did not happen. 442 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 3: But he now walks into the enemy's grocery store the 443 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 3: day to day and said, this is the ideal of 444 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 3: the everyman, that a person can walk in any income. 445 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 3: And he saw them, and he met them and could 446 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 3: grab whatever they wanted off the shelf and bring it 447 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 3: home to eat or cook, or make or process or microwave. 448 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 3: I don't know, you know, So that's revolutionary in the 449 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 3: sense of our abundance is the revolution that they were 450 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 3: striving for and never hit. 451 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 1: There's no question that Yeltsin's trip to Randall's affected him deeply. 452 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: One of his biographers wrote, for a long time on 453 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: the plane to Miami, he sat motionless, his head in 454 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,959 Speaker 1: his hands. What have they done to our poor people? 455 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: I think we have committed a crime against our people 456 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: by making their standard of living so incomparably lower. 457 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 2: Than that of the Americans. 458 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: When Yeltsin were turned to Moscow, he was more committed 459 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: than ever to tearing down what was clearly a failing system. 460 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: The Communist Party could keep telling its lies about the 461 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: superiority of the Soviet system, but the people knew differently, 462 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: and Yeltsen spoke directly to their struggles and frustrations. 463 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 7: So after he comes back from Texas, he becomes sort 464 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 7: of the face of change, standing up to the Communist Party, 465 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 7: speaking differently, not using the usual jargon, speaking like a 466 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 7: normal person would speak. 467 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: Gorbachev had introduced reform programs like Peristroika and glass Nut, 468 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: which were supposed to slowly reform the Soviet system, but 469 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: Yeltsin had officially lost his patients. 470 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 3: There was some daylight in the closed society with Gorbachev's policies. 471 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 3: He was adamant that you kick that door open, we 472 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 3: are going to break it down. We're going to tear 473 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 3: down that wall. The Pericans have this thing. The Russian 474 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 3: people will topple their government if they saw how other 475 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 3: people were living. 476 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 4: We can't wait another second. 477 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: Less than two months after Yeltsin returned from. 478 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 2: The US, the Berlin Wall fell. 479 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: Communism was faltering, and the Soviet people saw a chance 480 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: for real change. Yeltsen soared in popularity. In the spring 481 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety, Yeltsin was elected in a landslide to 482 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: the Russian State Legislature, and his colleagues named him President 483 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. But Yeltsen wanted 484 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: a true mandate, so he took an unprecedented step. He 485 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: resigned his membership in the Communist Party and called for 486 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: general elections in nineteen ninety one. 487 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 2: He won nearly. 488 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: Sixty percent of the popular vote as an independent candidate 489 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 1: and became the first democratically elected president of Russia. Meanwhile, 490 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 1: Gorbachev was still the head of the Communist Party in 491 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, and just two months after Yeltsin's election 492 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: as President of Russia, a group of Communist hardliners tried 493 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: to hold Gorbachev hostage and stage a military coup. Hundreds 494 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: of tanks rolled into Moscow and pointed their canons at 495 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: the Russian Parliament building for two days. The hard line 496 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: communists demanded that Gorbachev stepped down and for the Communist 497 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:45,040 Speaker 1: Party to regain its old school grip on Soviet politics 498 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: and the economy. Yelton wasn't having it. There's this famous 499 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: footage of him standing on top of a tank, one 500 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 1: of the very same tanks that were sent to destroy 501 00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: everything he was fighting for. 502 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 3: They pull him up and he starts reading his speech 503 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 3: about peace and land and bread and which is remnants 504 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 3: of the Bolshevik revolution, right, that was Lenin saying, But 505 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 3: it was in this new lens of like absolutely not, 506 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 3: We're going to go not going back, We're going to 507 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 3: open up, We're going to. 508 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 4: Do all these things. 509 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 7: You know. 510 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 3: He didn't like Gorbachak, but he saved them because I 511 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 3: think his thinking was open up, open up, definitely, don't 512 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 3: close it. 513 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 4: So I'm going to stop this thing, and he did. 514 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:30,440 Speaker 1: The tanks turned around and just like that, the coup 515 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: was over. 516 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,760 Speaker 2: But Yeltin wasn't done. 517 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: There was one more major change that had to happen 518 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: if the Soviet people were going to have a say 519 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: in their future. In December nineteen ninety one, during a 520 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: meeting at a hunting lodge in Belarus, Yelten made a 521 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 1: bold proposition to the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, it's 522 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 1: time to dissolve the Soviet Union. Yeltin was supposed to 523 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 1: be there to negotiate, create a treaty, not to tear 524 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: down the entire Iron Curtain, but that's the kind of 525 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:11,800 Speaker 1: figure Yelton had to become, uncompromising, bold and little nuts. 526 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:16,359 Speaker 1: The KGB could have arrested him for treason, but he'd 527 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 1: seen enough to know there was no going back. 528 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 7: With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there's a sense 529 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 7: a lot of people have that it was inevitable that 530 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 7: there were largest structural forces at play, like the rise 531 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 7: of nationalism and countries like Ukraine those certainly played a role, 532 00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 7: but the role of actual individuals like Yeltsin cannot be overestimated. 533 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 7: The ultimate decision to dissolve the Soviet Union just came 534 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,239 Speaker 7: down to Yeltsin and two other leaders, the leader of 535 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 7: Ukraine and leader of Belarus, and that's it. And that 536 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 7: experience in the supermarket, like without it, it's possible he 537 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,560 Speaker 7: would not have taken that leap of faith and really 538 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 7: exposed himself to potentially being disposed of by the KGB 539 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 7: for treason when he made the decision to dissolve the 540 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,760 Speaker 7: city US. But I think sort of once you see something, 541 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 7: once you see that another way is possible, and other 542 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 7: realities possibly can't unsee it. So that experience in the 543 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 7: supermarket I think influenced his decision to dissolve this of union. 544 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:18,240 Speaker 1: The image of Yelton standing on the tank defiantly putting 545 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,879 Speaker 1: down an attempted coup was probably the highlight of his 546 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:22,960 Speaker 1: political career. 547 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,280 Speaker 2: It was all downhill from there. 548 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: Reelected as Russian President, he was in charge as the 549 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:35,280 Speaker 1: country went through a painful transition to capitalism after nearly 550 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: seventy five years of rigid communist control. In retrospect, maybe 551 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: it was all too sudden and too fast, but that's. 552 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 2: The path the people chose. 553 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:51,280 Speaker 1: By the time Yeltsen resigned from office in nineteen ninety nine, 554 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 1: he was a physical wreck from years of illness and alcoholism. 555 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: That was the red faced Boris yel who Evan Mack 556 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,080 Speaker 1: remembered seeing on TV as a kid in Russia. Yelton 557 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 1: was unpopular internationally. He'd become a joke, which is why 558 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:16,240 Speaker 1: Evan was so surprised to learn about Yeltsin's historic trip 559 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 1: to Randalls and how a Houston grocery store and a 560 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:26,319 Speaker 1: risk taking young Yeltsin played such a pivotal role in 561 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 1: ending Soviet Communism. 562 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 4: I thought, this is the greatest story that nobody knows about. 563 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 4: Like he was really earth changing stuff that no one 564 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 4: knows about. 565 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 3: And so we started writing a one act comedy operatic 566 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:41,200 Speaker 3: version of it. 567 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:46,080 Speaker 1: Yep, remember that Evan is a composer. In twenty twenty, 568 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:50,520 Speaker 1: he and his writing partner Joshua Maguire wrote an original 569 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 1: opera called Yeltsin in Texas, kind of like Nixon in China, 570 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,960 Speaker 1: but set in a grocery store and a lot funnier. 571 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: After a successful run in Houston and a pause for 572 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 1: that thing called the Pandemic. The show was reimagined as 573 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: a Broadway style musical called The World Still Needs You 574 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 1: Boris Yeltsin. The climax of the musical is a song 575 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:21,319 Speaker 1: called make Your Move. In it, a Randall's cashier who 576 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:25,759 Speaker 1: moonlights as a rock star encourages Yeltsin to seize the 577 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: moment and become his own political rock star, and. 578 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:31,839 Speaker 3: He shows him as rock and roll moves, which are 579 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 3: the fist bump, the peace sign, and the Texas rodeo swing. 580 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,319 Speaker 3: And actually, if you look back at the footage him 581 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 3: on the tank, he's giving a fist bump, a peace sign. 582 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 3: He's taking that new Russian flag and waving it over 583 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 3: his head like a yeehaw of Texas. 584 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 4: You know. 585 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:48,480 Speaker 3: And so because if you think about it, Boris Yelton 586 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,839 Speaker 3: getting on that tank during a military coup is the 587 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,080 Speaker 3: most rock star thing that one could absolutely do. 588 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 1: Here's to you, Boris Yeltsin, and here's a clip of 589 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,880 Speaker 1: make Your Mood Move from Evan's musical. 590 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:03,400 Speaker 2: If there are any. 591 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:07,000 Speaker 1: Broadway producers out there, you can reach him at Evanmack 592 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:19,800 Speaker 1: dot com. 593 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 8: Music Seize the Damn thank youss. 594 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,120 Speaker 1: One takeaway I think I had from this episode was 595 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,360 Speaker 1: after it, I went to the grocery store and everything 596 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: seemed more wonderful. I kind of realized how much I 597 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,600 Speaker 1: had taken for granted at the grocery store, and it 598 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,239 Speaker 1: just it was delightful. I sometimes bring my baby to 599 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:17,239 Speaker 1: the grocery store and he loves it. He just like 600 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:21,000 Speaker 1: loves reaching. And I think that's a good attitude and 601 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,399 Speaker 1: approach to take to kind of every life experience. Yeah. 602 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 6: I love the perspective shift the story gave you. 603 00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:28,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, you just appreciate it. 604 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,480 Speaker 6: Isn't it wild that communism could be felled by the 605 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:31,799 Speaker 6: power of a jell O pudding pop? 606 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 2: Yeah and a candy right? 607 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,840 Speaker 6: I mean, like, was it the CIA wasn't fear of 608 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,239 Speaker 6: nuclear war? Nope, a Texas grocery store and basically said 609 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:41,440 Speaker 6: a bullet a wars can be one with tasty treats. 610 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:44,000 Speaker 6: Maybe we should look into this. Also, after his me 611 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:45,919 Speaker 6: too moment, I didn't think that the mention of Bill 612 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,120 Speaker 6: Cosby would ever be a source of laughter again, but 613 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:50,839 Speaker 6: yet this story with the jell O pudding pops, I 614 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 6: was like, ohait and he did it so big surprises. 615 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:57,520 Speaker 5: I like how fororce Elton is firmly a caricature in 616 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:01,920 Speaker 5: almost every time he's mentioned in your pick during alcoholic 617 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 5: wandering out in the street. I did enjoy spending some 618 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:08,239 Speaker 5: time earlier in his life and career when he's like 619 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 5: the firebrand up and coming, and you can kind of 620 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 5: understand because there were times where it'd be like, how 621 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 5: is this guy in charge of the country? 622 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:17,439 Speaker 2: Would never happen? 623 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:17,759 Speaker 4: Here? 624 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 6: The man of the people thing really comes through in 625 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 6: this one. 626 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 5: Yeah, did you cast who's playing Yeltsin in the twenty 627 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,480 Speaker 5: twenty seven Golden Globe winning film Here? 628 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:28,840 Speaker 6: Okay? So I went two ways with this one. I 629 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,680 Speaker 6: cast it Boris and Jolena Bieberman the person who grew 630 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 6: up in Civiet Union talking about what it was like, 631 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,120 Speaker 6: and then Evan Mack, the opera writer, and then also 632 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 6: the Randalls cashier. So for Boris Yeltsen, I have my 633 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 6: dream casting, which would be Philip seymour Hoffman. Oh right, 634 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 6: wouldn't he been? He killed the role all right? And 635 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,120 Speaker 6: then this guy have gone to before in the past, 636 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,360 Speaker 6: but he is living. I think Jesse Plemmons looks the 637 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,360 Speaker 6: most like Boris yeltsin and could pull it off, you know, 638 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 6: just do like a little bit of wake gain, get 639 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,520 Speaker 6: a little vodka, like some pallor going, and he'd nail it. 640 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,200 Speaker 2: I love Jesse Plemmons, right, He's just so good. 641 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:01,359 Speaker 6: Constantly think of him for casting. I'm like, well, if 642 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 6: he looks like the part, I'm giving it to Jesse Plemmings. 643 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,399 Speaker 6: Now for Elena Bieberman, I was thinking of Anna Taylor Joy. 644 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,920 Speaker 6: She actually is Russian from what I understand. I think 645 00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:12,840 Speaker 6: that to be an interesting like oh Beck and Soviet Union. 646 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 6: I remember, you know, breadlines, So I thought that would 647 00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:16,840 Speaker 6: be kind of fun for her. And then for Evan 648 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:21,880 Speaker 6: Mack the Texas Opera songwriter Jason Segal right in the 649 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 6: opera then is done with muppets. I mean, how much 650 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,280 Speaker 6: fun to have a Boris Yelton muppet. 651 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:30,320 Speaker 2: Maybe this should just be muppets, right? 652 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 1: Is it possible this entire, very special episode should be 653 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 1: done only with muppets. 654 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 5: I love it. 655 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,160 Speaker 6: And then for the Randalls Cashier because in the opera 656 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 6: they have the dance moves, I thought, well we go 657 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 6: with Tom Holland because he's known for his dance moves. 658 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:46,480 Speaker 6: I mean that brother could swing. 659 00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:50,080 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Jason, you've seen the singing in the Rain 660 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: umbrella Meedley right, yes, oh, thank god to anyone who 661 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:55,560 Speaker 1: hasn't look it up immediately. 662 00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:56,360 Speaker 6: Yes please. 663 00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 5: Speaking of Broadway, who do we know? How do we 664 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 5: get Evan Max opera? This needs to be the come 665 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 5: from away of next year. Who can we call? 666 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,000 Speaker 2: Get some Broadway producers on the horn? 667 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,360 Speaker 6: And Jason, you're the biggest Broadway fishing auto I know 668 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,760 Speaker 6: who's constantly going to theater. How would you imagine this one? 669 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:17,160 Speaker 6: Are you imagining the Texas store? Are you imagining like 670 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 6: something a little bit more magical? Do you have like 671 00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:20,880 Speaker 6: a set design for this? 672 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:25,400 Speaker 5: I would love to see a just super bright grocery 673 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:29,280 Speaker 5: store set and then have that replaced by something darker. 674 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,600 Speaker 5: And now, look, I don't want to step on Evan 675 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:34,799 Speaker 5: Max's vision. I am just the fan. I'm the one 676 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 5: who will go buy the cup with the show logo 677 00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 5: on it and then we'll use it into the ground 678 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:43,680 Speaker 5: for four or five years after. But it just seems 679 00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:47,960 Speaker 5: like the perfect topic for a play or musical, just 680 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,000 Speaker 5: this small historical thing that ended up having a huge 681 00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:55,440 Speaker 5: impact that people don't know. These grocery stores. Magic is 682 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:56,960 Speaker 5: happening in the grocery stores. 683 00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:58,800 Speaker 6: Magic and Aisle seven. 684 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,920 Speaker 5: Very Special Episodes is made by some very special people. 685 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,400 Speaker 5: This show is hosted by Danish Schwartz, Zaren Burnett and 686 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 5: Jason English. Today's episode was written by Dave Rouse. Our 687 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,279 Speaker 5: senior producer is Josh Fisher. Editing and sound design by 688 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:20,000 Speaker 5: Jonathan Washington. Additional editing by Mary Doo, Mixing and mastering 689 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:24,840 Speaker 5: by Josh Fisher. Original music by Elise McCoy, show logo 690 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:29,960 Speaker 5: by Lucy Kintonia, Social clips by Yarberry Media. Our executive 691 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,720 Speaker 5: producer is Jason English. Special thanks to our voice actor 692 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,759 Speaker 5: Tom Antonellis, and thanks to Evan Mack for letting us 693 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,399 Speaker 5: use some music from Yeltson in Texas, which I hope 694 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:43,040 Speaker 5: we're all getting to see on Broadway one day. Very 695 00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,840 Speaker 5: Special Episodes is a production of iHeart Podcasts.