1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Poker has embedded itself into high stakes gambling 7 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: cultures across the globe. After all, what's higher stakes than 8 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars floating around the table on the whims 9 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: of a set of fifty two cards assigned randomly, where 10 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: the challengers attempt to bluff one another into thinking that 11 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: they have the best assortment of said cards. It's really something, 12 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,279 Speaker 1: of course, given the high stakes nature of it all, 13 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: poker has also led to its fair share of memorable characters, 14 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: although perhaps none more fascinating than one woman, Alice Iver's 15 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: Duffield tubs hockerts and if you don't mind, I'm just 16 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: gonna call her Alice. Alice was an Irish immigrant born 17 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty one who found herself in the Colorado 18 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: Territory by the time she was a teenager after her 19 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: first husband died in a mining accident, and she lost 20 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: her job as a teacher. Alice turned to another form 21 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: of financial support, poker. It turns out she was really good, 22 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: like really good. Before long, she had earned the name 23 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: Poker Alice, and large crowds would gather to watch her play. 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: Yet through it all she never lost her values. She 25 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,639 Speaker 1: dressed like a respectable woman and refused to play poker 26 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: on Sunday, the Lord's Day. Of course, she kept the 27 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: thirty eight revolver with her at all times too, just 28 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: in case God wasn't paying attention. Gambling in the wild 29 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: West could, after all, get a little dicey. Through her 30 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: exploits at the table, Alice began to live the good life. 31 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: She earned as much as six thousand dollars some nights, 32 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: equal to roughly two hundred thousand dollars today, and that's 33 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: when she began to indulge a bit. She'd take her 34 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,919 Speaker 1: earnings to New York, invest in high fashion, and build 35 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: the image of a celebrity about her, a celebrity of 36 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: humble beginnings who had more than earned her stay in 37 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: an unforgiving world. You might say she became something of 38 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: a rags to riches hero, someone that defied all the odds, 39 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: all the cultural and gender norms, and really became something 40 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: of herself. She used her newfound sense of high fashion 41 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: against the men so eager to draw cards with her, 42 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: and even when she was in her fifties, she was 43 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: regarded for her good looks and her charming demeanor. Although 44 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 1: she was no stranger to the thick cigar either, and 45 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: was frequently found puffing on one as she raked in 46 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: the money of many an unworthy adversary. Given how much 47 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: of her professional life was tied to the cards, her 48 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: personal life became tied to the game as well. While 49 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: working as a dealer at Bedrock Tom's Saloon in Deadwoods, 50 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: off Dakota, a drunken miner tried to attack her fellow dealer, 51 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: Warren Tubbs. She chased the attacker off with her handy 52 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: thirty eight revolver, and she and Tubbs struck up a 53 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: relationship on the backs of this brush with death. They 54 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: were married just before the turn of the twentieth century 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: and had four sons together. Unfortunately, Tubbs died of tuberculosis 56 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: and she had to turn back to poker tables to 57 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: pay for the funeral. However, the life of a poker 58 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: player in the wild West was rarely complete without a 59 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: trip or two to jail. For Alice. That came when 60 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: she had opened up her very own establishment, the Poker Palace. 61 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: She still upheld the Lord's Day, though refusing all attempts 62 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: at poker on Sunday, so when a few rowdy soldiers 63 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: decided to defile the Lord's Day, Alice called her thirty 64 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: eight revolver back into action and killed one belligerent soldier 65 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: as well as injuring another, and she passed her time 66 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: in jail by doing two of her favorite things, reading 67 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: the Bible and smoking cigars. At the trial, she claimed 68 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: self defense and was acquitted. In her sixties, Alice was 69 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,279 Speaker 1: arrested several more times for her role as a bootlegger, 70 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: a madam, and a gambler, but she never stayed long, 71 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: now receiving pardons due to her old age. When Poker 72 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: Alice died on February, she had amassed upwards of two 73 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: dollars roughly three million by today's standards, and all because 74 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: she knew just what to do when the cards hit 75 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: her hands and how to use the weaknesses and let's 76 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: call them dated beliefs of her adversaries, so long as 77 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: she had her latest dress, her thirty eight revolver, and 78 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: a cigar, and of course her Bible. We have such 79 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: a short amount of time on this earth before we leave. 80 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: Our lives are made up of memories of birthday parties 81 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: and cris miss of work days and weekends, and before 82 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: we know, it's the time we thought we had had 83 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: all run its course. Yet one word runs through our 84 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: lives like a thread, tying everything together for when we 85 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 1: finally go. And that word is legacy. What do we 86 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: leave behind for those who loved us and who will 87 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: remember us when we're gone? And how the creatively minded 88 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: might publish a book or record a song. Actors make movies, 89 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: so do directors, and one director it turned an entire 90 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: genre on its head, changing it forever. He'll forever be 91 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: remembered as the creator of the spaghetti western, with its 92 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: grittier and more realistic visual style. Maybe too realistic, but 93 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: let me explain what I mean. Sergio Leone started working 94 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: in Italian cinema, assisting on films made in his native 95 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: country during the nineteen forties, before writing his own scripts 96 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties. As he continued to establish credibility 97 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,359 Speaker 1: in the industry. He found himself assisting on American backed 98 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: productions that were filming internationally, like nineteen fifty nine Ben Her. 99 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty four, though he got a chance to 100 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: direct a film all his own. It was a Western, 101 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: one unlike any that had come before it. It was 102 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: called A Fistful of Dollars, and it started a relatively 103 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: unknown actor named Clint Eastwood. Based on Akira Kurasawa's nineteen 104 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,359 Speaker 1: sixty three samurai film You Know Jimbo, A Fistful of 105 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: Dollars told the story of a stranger who comes to 106 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: a small border town and gets involved with the two 107 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: rival families trying to control it. Leone's picture set itself 108 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: apart from the westerns that had come before. Movies like 109 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: Rio Bravo starring John Wayne had clean, somewhat colorful costumes 110 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: and looked like a stage musical compared to Leone's tougher style. 111 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: His characters entered the scenes dirty and unshaven. Their brown, 112 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: dust covered clothes weren't flashy or tailored. The good guys 113 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: didn't wear white, and the bad guys didn't wear black. 114 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: In fact, the idea of good and bad wasn't as 115 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: cut and dried in these new westerns. There was a 116 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: real nonus to Leon's films, and that added texture was 117 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: reflected in more than just the costumes. The landscapes themselves 118 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: felt three dimensional compared to the studio sets of older pictures, 119 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: mainly because he didn't shoot on a back lot much 120 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: of the time. Leon filmed many of his early films 121 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: in Spain. The backgrounds were rich with mountains and hills 122 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: that seemed to go on forever, and the buildings looked 123 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: like they'd been there for fifty years. In nineteen sixty six, 124 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: Leone extended that realism into what perhaps became the most 125 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: iconic Western film ever made, The Good, the Bad, and 126 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: the Ugly. Also starring Clint Eastwood, the film tells the 127 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: story of three men on the search for two hundred 128 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: thousand dollars in stolen Confederate gold back in eighteen sixty two. 129 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: The movie, like Leon's previous pictures, was filmed mostly in Spain. 130 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: Its ragged scenery filled in nicely for the Civil War 131 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: era southwestern US, and towards the end of the film, 132 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,239 Speaker 1: the trio played by Eastwood, Lee Van Cliffe, and Eli 133 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: Wallack suddenly tracked down what they believe is the final 134 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: resting place of the gold in sad Hill Cemetery, buried 135 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: in someone's grave. Walak makes it to the grave side 136 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: first and starts digging until he's caught up by the others. Eventually, 137 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: the dirt is cleared away and Eastwood's character kicks the 138 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: lid off the coffin. Looking down, the men see that 139 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: they have been fooled. There's no gold, just a skeleton. Now, 140 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: most other directors would have had a prop department make 141 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: a skeleton for the production, but Leone wasn't like other directors. 142 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: He originally had a prop skeleton in the grave, but 143 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: after some fiddling with it, still couldn't get it to 144 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: look right on film. To him, it looked fake, no 145 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: matter how much dirt he threw on it. Assistant art 146 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: director Carlo Leva did some digging no pun intended, I swear, 147 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: and discovered that a woman from Madrid had exactly what 148 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: they were looking for. She was in possession of a 149 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: skeleton that belonged to her mother. Actually, the skeleton was 150 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,080 Speaker 1: her mother. The daughter allowed the production crew to use 151 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: her late mother's remains in the film, which is who 152 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: the characters and the viewers see inside the coffin in 153 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: that scene. But don't worry, she wasn't desecrating the dead 154 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: in lending them her mom. The deceased woman had been 155 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: an actor when she was alive, and her dying wish 156 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 1: was to have her skeleton used in movies so that 157 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: she could act even in death. Her time on earth 158 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: may have been short, but her legacy will live on forever, 159 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 1: immortalized in celluloid in a classic Western film. I hope 160 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 161 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 162 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 163 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how 164 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,960 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 165 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, reason television show, and 166 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World 167 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. 168 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: Yeah h