1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: Many young people long for adventure. They're stuck in school 7 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: or menial jobs, and they want a life where they're 8 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: constantly on the move and experiencing new things. Young adult 9 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: novels and role playing video games cater to this desire, 10 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: featuring protagonists who come from humble beginnings and are swept 11 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: up on epic journeys. After a chance encounter in eighteen 12 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: thirty five, one young English aristocrat received a real life 13 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: call to adventure. He set out on a journey that 14 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: would change his life and the world. James had never 15 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: been good at school. After dropping out, he joined the 16 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: East India Trading Company Army, but soon took a bullet 17 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: to the chest while in battle and was sent home 18 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: to heal. He was bored and listless. The army had 19 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: shown him some fascinating parts of the world, but he 20 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:25,479 Speaker 1: hadn't been free to explore it. He wanted to get 21 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: back out there on his own. When his father passed 22 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: away in eighteen thirty five, he received a massive inheritance. 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: This was his chance to do something with his life, 24 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 1: and so he did what any young man would do, 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,199 Speaker 1: and he bought a one hundred and forty two ton 26 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: schooner called the Royalist. The lardship had six cannons and 27 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: could accommodate dozens of crew members. James hired some men, 28 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: purchased a ton of supplies, and then sailed toward Asia 29 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: to find adventure. In eighteen forty one, he took on 30 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: a request from the British governor of Singapore, who wanted 31 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: James to travel to bruce Un to thank the Sultan 32 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: there for the rescue of some British soldiers lost at sea. 33 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: But like any good adventure, this simple request quickly turned 34 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: into a larger ordeal. When James and his crew arrived 35 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: in Brunei and met with the Sultan, they learned that 36 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: this kingdom was beset by pirates, and so the sultan 37 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: offered James governorship over the providence of Sarawak as a 38 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: reward if he could put an end to the marauders. 39 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: James teamed up with the Sultan's uncle, Hashem, and the 40 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: two became friends, sailing the seas around Brunei and putting 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: an end to the pirates. It was actually fairly easy 42 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: with James's expensive ship. Once they found where the pirates 43 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: were hiding, they could just blow them apart from the shore. 44 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: And when James and Hashem returned to the Sultan, he 45 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: gave James his reward, and James thus became the raj 46 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: or the prince of Sarawak. But this put the British 47 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: in an awkward position. Brunei is a small country on 48 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: the northern tip of the large island of Borneo Sarawak 49 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: by comparison, to make up most of the northern coast 50 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: of the island. At the time, the Dutch controlled the 51 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: southern half, and so the British were grateful to James 52 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: because he was keeping the Dutch from gaining control of 53 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: the island. But at the same time he was now 54 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: a private British citizen with full control of his own 55 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: Southeast Asian country. His actions could put the British into 56 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: conflict if he wasn't careful, and as you can imagine 57 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: James wasn't careful. He went about securing his kingdom in 58 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: the most aggressive manner possible. He wiped out dozens of 59 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: pirate villages. And these weren't just little caves full of 60 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: stereotypical eyepatch wearing rogues. They were communities with women and children. 61 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: James killed them by the hundreds, but he saw it 62 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: as a necessary evil. The pirates threatened British shipping in 63 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: the area. Additionally, a lot of the local tribes were 64 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: engaged in human trafficking and head hunting, the practice of 65 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: cutting off the heads of your enemies and shrinking them 66 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: down to keep as trophies. James put an end to 67 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: a lot of these practices, although again he was meeting 68 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: extreme violence with his own version of extreme violence. In 69 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight, he was knighted by the English Crown. 70 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: Although he had been aggressive in his tactics, he had 71 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: further British interests and avoided any conflict with the Dutch. 72 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:24,119 Speaker 1: His entire journey is obviously a pretty blatant example of colonialism. 73 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: His desire for adventure led to the deaths of many, 74 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: but some good did come from all of this violence. 75 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: James's descendants ruled over Sarawak for one hundred years, and 76 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: this allowed the people there to maintain their own unique culture, 77 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: free from occupation by the British, the Dutch, or other 78 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: nearby nations. That was until nineteen forty four, when the 79 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: country was occupied by Japan. However, once liberated, the people 80 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: of Sarawak were free to join a federation of other 81 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: nearby island nations, becoming the nation that we know today 82 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: as Malaysia. Curiously, this was only possible because of the 83 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: actions of one man from half a world away. His 84 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: desire to get out of the house and do something 85 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: with his life permanently altered an entire part of the globe. 86 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy nine, Edgar Degas spent four nights at 87 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: the circus studying the routine of a high flying aerialist 88 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: named Miss Lalla. He sat with his sketch pad sketching 89 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: out images of her whirling through the air performing death 90 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 1: defying stunts. Several months later, at the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition 91 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: in Paris, he debuted a stunning portrait called Miss La 92 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: La at the Cirque Fernando. His painting depicted a graceful 93 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 1: black woman in a brightly colored costume high above the 94 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: circus floor, dangling from a rope held not in her 95 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: hand but in her teeth. The painting was so captivating 96 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: that a well known art critic at the time said 97 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: it was among Desgas's most striking and complex achievements. But 98 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 1: while the art world has long marveled at this painting, 99 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: history has nearly forgotten the woman who inspired it. They 100 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: say a picture is worth a thousand words, right, But 101 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: if that's the case, you'll need a whole museum to 102 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: cover the fascinating life of famed circus performer Miss La La. 103 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: Before Miss Lalla stunned circus goers, her name was Olga Brown. 104 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: Records on her early life are sparse, but it's believed 105 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: that Olga was the daughter of two fairground artists, Marie 106 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: Christine Borchard, a white woman, and Wilhelm Brown, a freed 107 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: slave who had made his way from the United States 108 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: to Poland in the early eighteen hundreds. Olga was born 109 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: in Poland, probably around eighteen fifty eight. Then, because she 110 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,040 Speaker 1: grew up around the fairgrounds, she had a keen interest 111 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: in performing. At the young age of nine, her mother 112 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: signed her into the circus where she quickly proved adept 113 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: at the high wire and the trapeze. This was particularly 114 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: because Olga was small in stature but muscular, with broad 115 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: shoulders and strong legs. She could fly through the air 116 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: with amazing height and was a perfect fit for the 117 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: human cannonball act. That trick was a crowd favorite. As 118 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: you might imagine, at the start of every performance, Olga 119 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: would curl into a ball and roll down into a 120 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: large wooden cannon at the edge of the circus ring. 121 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: The cannon would boom and La La would be ejected 122 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: from the barrel and launch across the high top tent, 123 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: doing acrobatics as she sailed through the air before finally 124 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: landing in a net on the other side of the ring. 125 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: It soon became clear that Olga was a rising star 126 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: no pun intended. The circus began billing her as a 127 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,239 Speaker 1: main event, but as so often happened to black women 128 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: at the time, they didn't just focus on her talent. 129 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: They also exoticized her, calling her Miss Lalla Venus of 130 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: the Tropics, or sometimes the African Princess. It was without 131 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: a doubts fetishizing and othering to her, but Olga or 132 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: Miss La La, as she was known, never let the 133 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: callous way she was built affect her ambitions. Throughout her 134 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: teenage years, she performed in several different circuses and music 135 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: halls across Europe, making a name for herself as the 136 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: first rate aerialist in acrobat that she deserved to be. 137 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: But at the time, there was one circus act that 138 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: always stole the show, iron jaw routines. Iron jaw performers 139 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: were usually early men with extraordinary neck strength. They would 140 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,439 Speaker 1: bite down on a leather bit attached to a rope 141 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: and then pull, usually some kind of heavy object, across 142 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: the ring. Crowds loved it, and La La knew that 143 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: she was strong enough to come up with her own 144 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: version of an iron jaw routine. She practiced dangling from 145 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: a rope clenched between her teeth until she was comfortable 146 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,559 Speaker 1: holding her own body weight, and then she practiced aerial poses, 147 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 1: creating beautiful shapes with her body while literally flying by 148 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: the skin of her teeth, and by the time she 149 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: was twenty one, Miss Lalla had developed something truly unique, 150 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: an aerial iron jaw routine. She would walk to the 151 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: center of the circus ring as the trapeze bar descended 152 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: from the ceiling. She would then attach a hook to 153 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: the trapeze and bite down, and then she'd be lifted 154 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: into the very top of the circus tent. A swivel 155 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,080 Speaker 1: device on her hook allowed her to spin in the 156 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: air seventy feet over the audience's heads. After that, she 157 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: would lock her knees over the trapeze bar, the metal 158 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: hook still dangling from her mouth, and she would use 159 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: the hook to suspend one or even two other performers 160 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: in mid air, to the roar of the crowds below. 161 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: It was truly astonishing, especially given Miss Lalla's size, and 162 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: it didn't take long for word about her routine to spread, 163 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: and Miss Lalla toured Europe as a main attraction for 164 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 1: the next nine years. But even though Lalla and her 165 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:58,080 Speaker 1: fellow performers were trained veterans, their jobs were still dangerous. 166 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: Accidents happened, and in in eighteen eighty eight, a stunt 167 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,119 Speaker 1: went wrong. One of Laala's friends fell from a trapeze 168 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,839 Speaker 1: and plummeted to her death. After that, Miss Lalla backed 169 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: away from performing. A few months after that, she met 170 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: a fellow circus performer named Manuel Woodson. They got married 171 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: and had three daughters who went on to form their 172 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: own circus troop, the Three Kazias. But Laala faded from 173 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: public life. Sadly, we're not sure where or when she 174 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,959 Speaker 1: passed away, but thanks to Dega, her likeness is forever immortalized. 175 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: Her portrait hangs of the National Gallery in London, where 176 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: she will forever stun adoring crowds who gather to watch 177 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: her fly. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 178 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 179 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,479 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 180 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey 181 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,320 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 182 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 183 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 184 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.