1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class A production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio, Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Holly 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. So, Tracy, we talked 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: about a lot of horrific things in the Griffith J. 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: Griffith episode. Did I was curious, what led you to 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: this specific story. He's been on my list for a 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: really long time. Yeah, and then it came up in 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: another project that's going on, just a fleeting mention of 9 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: his name, and I was like, oh, I should go 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: back to that. It's horrifying but fascinating to me, uh, 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: you know, because it is one of those instances where 12 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 1: there's part of me that finds the whole thing frustrating 13 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: because in the long game, he got exactly what he wanted, right. 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: His name is still famous, he's still like known and 15 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: considered a founder of of a lot of pieces of 16 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: L a U iconography in terms of their escape. He 17 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: got the Greek theater and in the observatory that he 18 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: wanted right, not in his lifetime, but he got him. Um. 19 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: But yeah, I I love a good villain story anyway. 20 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: I just think it's a really strange and interesting thing. 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: And the thing I really do love not about this, obviously, 22 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: I don't love what took place, but I really loved 23 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: combing through the original newspaper accounts of the whole thing 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,680 Speaker 1: because clearly, especially because he was a prominent citizen at 25 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: that point, every journalist was just completely fascinated and focused 26 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: on it for a while. And I mean they really 27 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: would just like pages and pages of coverage from different 28 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: angles of the case, where you know, one is like 29 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: that one that we specifically talked about a lot that 30 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: was like the first story breaking where we didn't really 31 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: have Mrs Griffith's full account yet because she had just 32 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: spoken briefly to her sister in the hospital. You know, 33 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: it really breaks down like here's what the hotel looks like, 34 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: and they have the diagrams of like where she landed 35 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: on the roof below, and they're trying to puzzle out 36 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: the whole thing, and not to me is just really 37 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: interesting because I like seeing one what coverage was like 38 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,119 Speaker 1: at any given time versus how like that story would 39 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: be covered today in terms of journalistic integrity and stuff. 40 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: Like I mentioned in the episode, that moment of the 41 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,679 Speaker 1: reporter kind of asking him some really good, hard hitting questions, 42 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: but then at the end giving him the out by saying, 43 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: so is that all untrue? Yeah, yes, of course it's 44 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: all untrue, instead of just letting him like dangle for 45 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: a minute. But there's a good part that I wanted 46 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: to say for this as like the bomb to the 47 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: whole thing. And a lot of people will already know this. 48 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: I'm not dropping any knowledge that any Disney fan doesn't 49 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: already know. The Merry Go Round at Griffith Park was 50 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: installed in This is a significant feature in the park. 51 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: It's still there. It's when it's not a pandemic, you 52 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: can still write it. But it is also significant in 53 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: Disney history because Walt Disney used to take his daughters 54 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: there to ride the Merry Go Round, and it was 55 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: sitting on a bench watching his daughter's ride that carousel 56 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: that he got the idea for Disneyland. I don't think 57 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: I knew that. Yeah, I feel like we might have 58 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: said it in a prior episode and I forgot, uh maybe, 59 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: But so there there is a lot of really amazing 60 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: history just connected to Griffith Park, including, like you know, 61 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: things that were going on during the Civil Rights movement. 62 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: There have certainly been other crimes committed in the park, 63 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: some of which have been grizzly and also similarly fascinated 64 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: the press. The park itself has a really fascinating history, 65 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: and there's a lot of work has been done to 66 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: preserve the park's history and really like make a robust 67 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: archive of it. Um. I know the Observatory had a 68 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: an exhibit for a while. I don't know if it's 69 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: still up that was a history of the park. But yeah, 70 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: it's a you know, these places are all around us 71 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: and we don't always think about them having long stories 72 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: to tell, um, but they all do. I mean, we've 73 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: we've talked about, you know, Central Park in an entire 74 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: community that was there that most people have forgotten about. 75 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: It's it's like that any of these places have probably 76 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: stories that may or may not be very delightful, but 77 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: they're an important part of the record and of the 78 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: identity of that place. So Griffith, J. Griffith, I called 79 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: him a lot of very very unkind things while doing 80 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: this research and in your email when you emailed me 81 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: the ah it's a show that kids might listen to. 82 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: So I won't use any of the words I used, 83 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: but I don't have a favorable opinion of the One 84 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 1: of the things we talked about this week was Andrew Cross, 85 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 1: who did a lot of experiments with electricity. Yes he did, 86 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: um so three year uh. My spouse and I are 87 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,239 Speaker 1: on a team for the m I T Mystery Hunts, 88 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: which is a puzzle hunt events um where people try 89 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: to find a coin that's hidden on the m I 90 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,840 Speaker 1: T campus, which of course had to be handled very 91 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: differently this year because of the pandemic. It was a 92 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: virtual situation. But because I was going to take Friday 93 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: off to go with our Monday MLK holiday, the men 94 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: I need to get my work done early, and I 95 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: was like, what do I feel like I can handle? 96 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: Goofy scientist guy. I think I can get finished in 97 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: the amount of time that I have to get my 98 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,160 Speaker 1: work done, And that was totally true. This is one 99 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: of those episodes that just sort of fell together neatly 100 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: as I was working on it, instead of being kind 101 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: of hammering things into place, which is how Olamptera Googe went. 102 00:05:54,920 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: Just Yeah, It's funny how those some just go smooth 103 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: as silk and others who are like, you're dragging a 104 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,359 Speaker 1: sack of information to the finish line, Like please come on, 105 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: just tie up somehow narratively make a narrative please. Um. 106 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: His second wife's books were, of course a big source 107 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: of information for the episode. Um. They are online in 108 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: several places. You can read them for yourself and if 109 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: you are interested in more details about the experiment with 110 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: the mites, um, all the details are in there. Reading 111 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: through those was a whole lot of fun. I don't 112 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: have a great explanation for the mites beyond maybe some 113 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,279 Speaker 1: mtes laid their eggs on there. Um, And it like 114 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: continues to not really have a definitive explanation, right. Only 115 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: two people had this result. A little vague about all 116 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: of it, you know. I think I feel like I 117 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: would blame the water for some reason. Yeah, I'd be like, 118 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: it's in there when they set up the experiments. That's 119 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: what it is. I'm basing that nothing. Various household mites 120 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: can also be pretty hearty. If you have ever tried 121 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: to like get rid of dust mites in your house 122 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: or whatever, it can take a whole lot to try 123 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: to do that. All of Number one, it's clear that 124 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: in his school years, like his boyhood's school years, he 125 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: sounds like he was a handful and then as an adult, 126 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: he just became kind of this eccentric I'm gonna do 127 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: experiments in my house, which, well, you know, a lot 128 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: of scientific work happening at that time was just people 129 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: who were enthusiastic and interested and had enough money to 130 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: support their science habit. That's true, Um, I promised you 131 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: a story about time, all right, right, since he and 132 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: his brother tried to split up time into ten hour 133 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: increments instead of the twelve and twelve to make twenty 134 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: four that we all live on, I as an ad alt. 135 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: Do you remember Swatch Internet time? No? Okay, So there 136 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: was a move in where Swatch tried to introduce this 137 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: idea that everyone globally should switch to one time Swatch 138 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: Internet time because they recognize that due to globalization, like 139 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: people would be communicating with each other, and rather than going, okay, 140 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: wait at six where I am, that means it's one 141 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: where you are, you could just say let's meet at 142 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 1: seven hundred and like the day was broken down into 143 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: beats what they called beats, which were one thousand beats 144 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: per rotation, so per day. I would have been in 145 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: my mid twenties at this time, and I wanted everyone 146 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: to adopt Swatch Internet. I thought it was brilliant. I 147 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: tried to live by it, much to the frustration of 148 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: everyone around me, because I would be like, oh, do 149 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: you mean you know? They would be like, oh, breakfast 150 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: is at eight thirty, and I would be like, oh, 151 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: do you mean you know three hundred and twelve or whatever. 152 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: But it was just never gonna work. I mean, I 153 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: did some doofy things in my twenties, so I don't 154 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: feel like I can judge you too much for this, 155 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: but I do have some questions. I mean, I just 156 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: thought it was like revolutionary and smart, but what are 157 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: your questions? My question is really like, one of the 158 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: things about having all these time zones is having a 159 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 1: sense of what time it is in another place and 160 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: whether the person you're talking to is likely to be awake. Right, 161 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: how did it account for that? Were people just gonna 162 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,679 Speaker 1: be awake at we were all gonna well, it didn't 163 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't like that. It was like you 164 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: would be able to say, no, I sleep from five 165 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: or whatever, but you didn't have to worry about daylight savings. 166 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: That was not part of the plan. It would stay 167 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: completely consistent, sure, and it would get everybody on the 168 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: same time, which I think the Crosses would have been 169 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: very into this if they had been living in I 170 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: thought of them. I thought of it immediately when I 171 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:21,439 Speaker 1: read that, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'd be 172 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: into this. I mean I always kind of like the 173 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: idea of playing with time and not living by the 174 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: twelve hour o'clock. You know. I'm also one of those 175 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: people who really really wanted to make polyphasic sleeping work, 176 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: and that was not functional for me. Um, It's like, 177 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,559 Speaker 1: it works really well until it doesn't work and then, 178 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: which for anybody that doesn't know, that's when people there 179 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: was I'm sure there are still people doing it at 180 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:48,559 Speaker 1: the time. I mean, this was some years back the 181 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: research I had been doing. The idea was that if 182 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: you broke your sleep down into smaller increments that were 183 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: on a very regimented schedule, you didn't have to sleep 184 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: like a full eight hours every night. You could get 185 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 1: by with actually like three, but it was like in 186 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: you know, twenty five minute increments or whatever, but you 187 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: had to do them at like regularly scheduled out intervals intervals, 188 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: and a lot of people did it. You can do 189 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: a search for it and you'll find lots of people's 190 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: accounts of trying to switch to this. I love it 191 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,599 Speaker 1: because I have a love hate thing with sleep. I 192 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: wish I didn't have to sleep. I have stuff to do. 193 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:23,199 Speaker 1: Them in a die one day, I wouldn't make a 194 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: lot of clothes before then. But um, for a lot 195 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: of people that make it work, what they find is 196 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: that it works great. And then if you're like in 197 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: a situation where you cannot get to your place two 198 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: doze off. Like one guy. I remember reading his account 199 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: and he was saying, like I was doing really, really great, 200 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: and then I was in a meeting at work that 201 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: ran along and my body was so used to just 202 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: like go to sleep at ten o one every morning 203 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: that I literally just slumped over and fell asleep on 204 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: the conference table, like and then once that happens, you're like, 205 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: once you get off of it, you have to start 206 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: all over, and it takes a long time to retrain 207 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: your body. It's probably more about me than you ever 208 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,439 Speaker 1: wanted to know. But I sure wish I could make 209 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: that work. I'm thinking the crosses might have also been 210 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: into politic I do too. It's kind of like a 211 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: lot of people point to was it Einstein that would 212 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: know Edison would cat nap. He didn't like have bedtime 213 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: per se. He would just cat nap throughout the day. 214 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: Edison has his own problems, but that always sounded appealing 215 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: to me. But I've never been able to make it function. Yeah, 216 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: uh yeah. If you want to write to us about 217 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: this or any other podcasts or history podcasts at my 218 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:41,319 Speaker 1: heart radio dot com. I hope everybody has a great 219 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 1: weekend whatever is on your plate. If you're working, I 220 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,839 Speaker 1: hope people are not jerks to you, And if you 221 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: are not working, I hope it's as RESTful as it 222 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: can be. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 223 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,080 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I 224 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 225 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H