WEBVTT - Someday My Prince Will Con: Michael Romanoff 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.760 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:04.800 Hey, let's do this. 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:06.480 There, I'm here. 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:07.640 Are you ready? 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:09.800 I am so ready. It is so hot in this. 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:10.320 Room right now. 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:11.079 Oh my god, it is. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.520 It's getting hot in her you know, it's ridiculous. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.079 Elizabeth, I'm so glad you asked me this question because 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:17.800 I do. 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:18.400 Oh good. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.760 Yes. In fact, one of our listeners, Monica del Vallier, 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.919 she sent this to me and she was like, get 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.040 Elizabeth with this. Oh she didn't say that at all. 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.800 She was very nice anyway. Apparently over in Germany there 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.000 is this really odd legal fight going on, like very odd. 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.879 There's this landlord who liked a sunbathe in the courtyard 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.120 of his building. The only one problem is the landlord 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.279 but sun bathed nude. So the building had tenants, right, 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:44.919 and they're like, oh, we don't want to see all that, 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.360 like all that and uh, but didn't just have resident tenants. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.080 It also had business occupant tenants as well, right, and 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.200 so yeah, exactly, And one floor was rented out by 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.120 a human resources company. So that company apparently got tired 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.279 of explaining the nude landlord to the people who came 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.480 to the HR company because they're like, what's your policy 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.600 on this? Anyway, the company decides to withhold rent, so 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.480 the landlord takes him to court and get this, the 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.039 court sides with the naked landlord. They're like, the German 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.120 court ruled that the usability of the rented property was 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.600 not impathed by the plaintiffs stunning himself naked in seclatat. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.480 So the court did side with the renters, though on 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.399 one thing, Elizabeth, they decided that the rental could be 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.680 lowered for three months due to their being noisy construction. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.400 So in Germany, nudity is deemed acceptable for doing business, 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.480 but the noisiness is comp. 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.039 Wow. I just can't, okay, I would think that that 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.839 definitely interferes with your with your ability to conduct work. 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.720 One would they make a guy with his ding ding Yeah, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:43.840 and just a lot. 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:45.880 Of him showing off and he's like, really like taking 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:46.640 up all the sun? 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:47.320 Yeah? 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.280 No, thank you, no sun for the rest of us. 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.040 I'll tell you what else is ridiculous? 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:51.760 Okay, please do. 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.440 Conning your way into a life as a celebrity restaurant tour. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:02:15.880 How do I do this? 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:20.040 This is ridiculous Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.720 caper's heiss and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:28.280 freezerin and one hundred percent ridiculous Elizabeth, I got us 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:29.680 another ridiculous criminal. 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.880 All right, an impostor, Oh I love them, impostor? 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:37.160 Before I begin, what do you know about the Romanov family, like. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:41.480 The Russians, Like they're like the Peter Yeah, sure, yeah, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.240 So it was the Russian royal family before the revolution, 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:50.400 and the last Romanovs was Peter Yeah, Nicholas, Nicholas two 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.480 second and his daughter Anastasia becomes supposedly the last of. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:03:00.240 The Romanov Nicholas or Nikolay second Alexandrovitch Romanov was the last, 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.680 like you said, last emperor of Russia. He was booted 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:04.760 during the Russian Revolution in nineteen seventeen. 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:05.960 Bolsheviks were out putty. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.720 He abdicated for himself and his son, and then he 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.840 and his family were imprisoned in the Russian Provisional Government 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.760 by the Russian Provisional Government excuse me not in it 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.720 and exile to Siberian right. The Bolsheviks took power in 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.119 the October Revolution and then the family was murdered seventeenth 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:23.400 of July nineteen eighteen. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:24.960 We want to step outside the captain for a second. 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:29.920 I have a quiet moment. What about resputant, Yes, the 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.960 unkillable one, an illiterate Siberian dude. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.440 That guy was like when I was a kid, I 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:36.760 read all sorts of weird stuff, and I read a 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.480 lot about resputing and all the stuff about him not 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.880 being able to be killed. That's impressive, right, But the 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.080 stuff about what he was doing before he got killed 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.800 is way more impressive. The guys insane. He comes out 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:48.520 of nowhere. He gets up to the being with the 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.360 czar arena and he's like, I can fix your hemophiliac boy. 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.280 They're like, I gotta have him. I don't care. 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.160 Then he got better everybody. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:57.120 He did, and then he starts to like sleeping his 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.120 way through the court. He's like, I don't care, my boy. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.520 So he's a as you're talking about. He's an advisor 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.040 to the Romanovs's. 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:04.080 Yeah. 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.040 When the n was near for the Romanovs, people panicked 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.119 and a group of nobles were led by Prince Felix 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:15.480 Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch and then as well 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.720 as right wing politician Vladimir Pershkevich. 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:20.160 Okay, I'll just take your word for that. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.520 Sure, ar me too. They decided that Rasputen's influence over 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.840 this Zarmina was threatening the empire. Yeah, so they came 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.760 up with a plan to kill him December nineteen sixteen, 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.000 and he was murdered. That's not our one percent, that's 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:33.600 like this as a historical. 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:34.600 And they did it so many times it would be 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:35.159 like two percent. 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.839 Yeah, And that was the thirtieth of December nineteen sixteen, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.800 at the home of Felix Yusupov. I just wanted to 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.480 get those established because they'll come up later. So let 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.599 me take you back now to eighteen ninety. 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:48.800 Oh please, I thought i'd have to ask. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.560 Let's go. It was in that year that Herschel Gaguzen 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.479 was born in Russian territory. The location would later become 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:00.800 Poland and then after that Lithuania. But that's not important here. 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:01.440 Who cares. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:02.799 I just want to lay some groundwork. 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.279 I want to be through like you, I appreciate that 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.559 Lithuania was a huge force and then all of a sudden, 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:08.680 now with just a. 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.960 Little nublins huge little Herschel. His dad died when Herschel 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.880 was very young. His father died trying to make peace 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.480 between street fighters during a visit to Warsaw. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:24.040 Wow, that's tough stuff. A peacekeeper who died. 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:25.719 From It's I get the end of stand by Me, 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.680 where I'm going to spoil it for everyone. Where the 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.440 kid grows up to get stabbed in a restaurant. 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.920 Wait a minute, I haven't seen that. I should have 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:36.880 stopped you, I know. 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.040 So anyway, his mom, Herschel's mom's like, I can't handle 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.160 this kid. He's a whole message trouble. So he's ten 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.120 years old. She's like, tells her cousin, Joseph Bloomberg, take 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.120 Herschel with you to New York City. I heard that's 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.240 where you're going. Joseph's like, all right, take some with him. 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.000 They get to the US and Herschel he changed his name, Well, 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:58.359 it was changed for. 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.520 Him, as was the habit Island style. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.760 Yeah, they couldn't pronounce names out at Ellis Islands, so 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.680 they gave people monikers that were anglicized close enough for 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:06.680 government work as I liked. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.440 Yeah, what was his new names? Erin Oh, I don't 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.880 know if it was Herschel Harry. 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.520 Yes, he went from Herschel Gaguz into Harry Gurgison. 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.440 They added, Okay, Harry. 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.640 Gurgison sounds like a grim diagnosing totally. 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.440 I hate to tell you this, Elizabeth. You have Harry Gurguson, Gurguson. 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.640 I don't think it's a real name. I mean there's Gerguson, yeah, 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.680 and there's there's Gurgic like Gary slash Jerry from Parks and Reck, 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.679 a show I've only heard about and have not watched 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:34.640 twice in its. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:35.800 Entire No, no, of course not. 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:37.640 I don't know if it's true that I'm half Leslie 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.960 and Nope and half April Ludgate. I don't know who 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:41.640 those people are. Who am I? Where am I? What 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:42.040 is this? 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:43.880 Can you be more than half anyway? 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:44.400 Gurguson? 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.240 So also, I like Gurgison is a name, because then 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.440 it's like, oh, I am the son of gurger Well, 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:56.679 no Gurgu, Sorry you found it, son of Grogu. 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.600 Okay, so Gurgson. I don't. I'm sure that it's an 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.040 actual surname that exists, but I don't. I don't care 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.680 to know more. Who knows Harry hated his last name 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.719 like we do. One time he punched a New York 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.920 Times cinema critic for addressing him as mister. 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:12.600 So he hit him. 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.160 Yeah, so he came up with better names, a bunch 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.840 of them. He had aliases like Arthur Wellesley, Willoughby, d Burke, 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.920 Williby I don't know, and Count Gladstone. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.080 These are all better names. He should be naming people should. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.880 They should That's the job he should have had. While 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:30.840 he was faking it on the name front. He also 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.200 decided to play fast and loose with his history as well. 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.440 Good for him, So he told people he went to 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.040 Eton and when he also went to Harvard, and he 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.880 went to Heidelberg. He went to Oxford and Princeton. 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.760 He's very smart and Yale. He must be very educated, 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:46.520 so many degrees. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.360 He liked Oxford the best, and that's what he used 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.080 most of the time when he was telling his stories. 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.760 Oh so he didn't say all of them, which. 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.520 Felt I kind of like to imply that he used 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.400 them all that back to his childhood. So the Bloombergs, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:01.960 they said, do New York, and they got really sick 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.640 of hairy I bet they did, Like get your hairy Gurgison. 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:10.840 That gurgu is like an invitation star wars, like you 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.560 go to like a dollar store and there's a coloring 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.760 book with like a little monster and his name is Gurgu. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.520 And your aunt who doesn't know anything about star Ya 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.600 And just like the thing you like with the girl. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:32.040 Gona didn't nice you, gurg No. It's like it's like 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.480 you go into party city and you get a costume 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.960 that looks like baby Yoda, but it's a gurg copy, 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.760 right exactly. You don't want to tangle with the mouse house. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:42.320 Uh. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.040 Anyway, they get. 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.040 Sick of hairy Gurgu, and he's over them too. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:48.959 I bet he is. 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.480 He just stands in the doorway and goes whatever. They 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.160 sent him away to a Hebrew orphanage, and then he 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.920 ran away, and then they sent him off to five 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.880 other places that he ran away from. He's just a troublemaker. 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.000 And you know, I like that they put it in 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:05.959 his permanent. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.160 Record, something you're always worried about. 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:10.959 But here's the thing he's gotten in his permanent record 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.679 that he's a big pilot trouble the gurgoos. But he's 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:19.280 also super likable, really engaging and charming, except for family. 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.000 If he liked someone, that's the thing he doesn't like 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:26.720 because exactly if you liked someone, he could ingratiate himself 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.719 to that person immediately you put it on for him. Yeah, 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.839 and he was like a really good mimic and also 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.600 a good storyteller. So you combine all those things, that's 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.000 a con man. That's a con man. Society ladies would 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.040 be doing charity work at orphanages, and they loved him 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:42.839 so much, like, come with us, We're going to take 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:44.360 a weekend to our country home. 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.960 You're not quick to adopt you, but what we're going 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.320 to come with you a little. We're going to tease 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:50.640 you with fun and good talks. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:52.920 It'll make me feel good for the weekend. 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:54.840 I'm going to use you, Okay, I'm going to rent 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:56.600 you out so I feel good to come with me. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.360 A boy boy of gurgoy. 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.839 One early benefactor said he was one of the most 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:04.640 convincing liars you ever met. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:05.920 Like they're just loving this. 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.880 So Gergason, he spends years living as a runaway, a stowaway, 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.280 a deportee. He got deported ten times. 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:16.400 Teenager. 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.079 Yeah, he was a straight up jailbird. And he also 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.280 escaped from Ellis Island. Escape from Ellis Island. That's the 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:26.400 knockoff escape from New York, New York. So he's a 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.800 confidence man, he's a fraud, a check bouncer, a thief. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.520 He would sleep rough in like barns, doorways, park benches. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.360 You know, he's just it's him versus the world, versus 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:41.800 the world. So he gets arrested and jailed four times 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.600 on charges of fraud because he would buy like stuff 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:50.600 at jewelers or tobacconists, boot makers, British tailors. He gets 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.920 goods and services there. When the bill comes, he's like, 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.040 I forgot to tell you. Russian nobles settle their accounts 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.760 with trades people only once a year, So get back 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.320 to me. Then, I'm only going to pay once once 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:02.560 a year. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.319 So is he hoping that they've never met another Russian nobles. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:09.199 I'm a fancy one. 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.800 Couldn't you ask any Russian hazes. Probably I'm just. 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:13.320 Saying they don't buy into it. They're like, no, that, no, 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.719 I don't care. Okay, this is the Saint Russia pal 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.400 pay up. So he referred to all his bad check 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.560 charges and stints in correctional facilities in various cities and 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.080 counties and countries as being quote in residence. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:30.280 Well and then I was in Juliet. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.400 When he was in prison, he carried a walking stick 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.040 during the exercise time, not as a means of defense 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.959 because but he wanted to look distinguished in prison. I 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:41.520 guess he couldn't get his hands on a monocle. 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.199 Yeah, you want to the top half. 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.640 Hello, I am offensive. 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.560 Affecting a limp and an accent. So when he was 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:54.040 in his prisoners love his fancy man. They just love that. 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.439 They that all the time. Like if I go to prison, 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.760 first thing I'm looking for and I'm going to be 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.199 power the fancy I'm going to beat him up so 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.280 people know I am the new fancy guy. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.440 King of the fancy hill. So when he's in his 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:10.840 early thirties, Zeren, he got a job as a pants presser. 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.400 And just like you, that's weird. It's a job a 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.600 pants presser in Brooklyn. He's Gurgu the mimic, right, son 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.360 of Gurgu. He listened carefully to like the fancy sorts 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.840 that he encountered in this high flying Brooklyn pants pressing scene, 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.240 and he developed like a British upper class manner. So 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.599 not only the accent, but just the you know, the 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:38.679 wealthy and the apectations of aristocracy carry themselves a certain thing, 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:43.720 a continental notion. So March twentieth, nineteen twenty three, he 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.560 turns up in Hillsboro, Illinois, with an Oxford accent, a 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:52.480 sophisticated malacca walking stick, and at last a monocle. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.200 Finally got'll play in Illinois. 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:59.400 Yeah. Well, so he'd stolen a man's military papers, and 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.720 he used them claim that he was a British lieutenant 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.280 or as they say, lieutenant. Yes, yes, the Saint Louis papers. 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.680 They announced a few days later, but the city was 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.199 entertaining royalty and ran photos of son of Gurgu. 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:16.760 We got guys photos. 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.400 There's a caption on the photo, Prince Michael Romanov. 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:21.920 Oh okay. 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.680 The some problem though the locals recognized him because he 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:28.600 wasn't new in town. He'd actually lived there before as 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:32.080 Harry Gurgson. The Gurgs exposed as a fraud. 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:33.480 He's like dark. 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.080 So at one point during his struggles, American artist Rockwell 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:43.360 Kent befriended him, and Rockwell provided Gurgison with both lodging 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.680 and employment, and Gurgison returned the favor by passing himself 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:48.800 off as Rockwell Kent. 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.480 That's the deal. You let me stay with you, I'll 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:52.280 go be you you. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.400 On another occasion, he stole military brushes from Paul Mellon 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:57.559 of the Pittsburgh Melons. 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.800 Wow, like me, Sally, wealthy family. 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.439 They get their riches from banking and oil and brushes. 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.360 Sure well the brushes. They were gold backs and monogrammed 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.000 with the initials PM. 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:10.400 And made out of elephant eyelashes. 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:15.240 Gergison said the initials stood for Prince Michael. They're not 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:22.880 cyrillic Prince Michael. In nineteen Prince Mike, it's Mesian name Mike. 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.320 In nineteen twenty seven, he turned up in Hollywood for. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:27.280 A little bit good cause. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.760 Of course, that's where all the good bs artists go. 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.000 There's a magnet there that draws him. 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.840 He worked as a technical advisor for a film about 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:40.280 pre revolution Russia somewhere he'd only been from the ages 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.200 of zero to ten. So the truth always comes out though, 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.200 And he was exposed as a fraud by a former 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:47.040 Russian general. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.800 And he doesn't have a Russian accent. He's affecting. He's 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:50.560 British now. 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:52.760 He's British now because he says he went to Oxford. 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.440 But here's the thing he wouldn't speak Russian while they're 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.360 on the set, because you know, he was raised speaking Polish, 0:14:58.440 --> 0:14:59.000 not Russian. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.280 He was lithuaniann't speak Russian, I bet not. 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.840 I mean, what is that? So he's there there, the 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.560 Russian you know, general or whatever. He's like, you know, 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.160 chatting him up, and he's just deer in the headlights. 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:14.560 So Gergison would also try and pass. 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:18.520 On stoic Russian word exactly. 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.360 He tried to pass himself off as the son of 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.280 Prince Felix Yusupov, the man who killed Resputant. So he's 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.280 like playing both sides of the fence. That's the cat 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.240 I mentioned earlier. He was to be deported a number 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.760 of times, as I told you. The first time was 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.280 on grounds of moral turpitude when it came out that 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.720 he told this story about having spent eight years in 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.320 a German prison for killing a German baron in a 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:49.560 duel at Heidelberg. Not true, but obviously, so he escaped 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.400 and he disappeared from Ellis Island. 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.560 And he's telling people I killed this German baron because 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:54.640 you know, I rolled tough like. 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.200 That, and they're like, well that that that lie that's wrong. 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:00.960 If you had actually killed and we'd be fine with that, 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.920 but you lied about it. Now we must support you. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.960 So he escapes and he disappears. He claimed that he 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.000 swam to New Jersey from Ellis Island, and then the 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.320 legend was that he swam to New Jersey in a 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:18.320 silk top hat. Wow right, I mean this made everyone 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.360 believe he was an accomplished swimmer if you're going to 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:21.200 do that swim. 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:22.040 And a snazzy dresser. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.280 He was not. He was a snazzy dresser, not a swimmer. 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.520 So that lie was uncovered later in his life when 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.360 he fell into a swimming pool and just sank. So 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.360 the immigration men who were supposed to be watching Gergison 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.360 said that he actually stowed away on a ferry boat. 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.120 After his escape from Ellis Island, he began going by 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.240 Prince Obolenski. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:44.920 Like Prince Albert and the can. 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:49.480 Well Maybe newspapers ran interviews with him about the trials 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.880 of a nobleman attempting to find employment so hard. Luxurious 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:57.320 weekend getaways came from the stories, but no jobs. However, 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.440 at one point a wealthy friend sent him to the 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.760 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, where he 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.000 enjoyed life is a representative of the university's chess team. 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.400 Put the monocle back on. I'm serious, fancy striped trousers 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.239 and a silk hat. He's like the monopoly man one 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.880 around have it Yard. He ended up being expelled because 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.480 they found out he was not an exchange student from Oxford. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.200 When did he start selling peanuts? 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:23.880 Exactly? 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:25.080 That's right. 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:30.000 The monopoly man does not wear a monocle. Yeah, anyho, So, yeah, 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:32.159 they're not You're not on exchange from Oxford, You're just 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.880 old Harry Gergerson. April nineteen thirty two. He takes off 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.120 for England on the White Star Liner Olympic. He gets 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:45.320 to Southampton and he declares himself a superstow away. Well, 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:47.640 I don't know, I guess super sen. 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:49.040 He gets money for doing that. 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.280 I'm glad he said it after he arrived. But you 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.520 know who heard it and wasn't glad? Scotland Yard. Oh yeah, 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:58.560 they knew right away that he was trouble. He got 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:04.520 wind of them, you know, yeah, them getting wind of 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.000 him exactly, and so he ran off to Paris. Scotland Yard. 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.760 They know how to get in touch with people. They're willing, 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.360 so they called the Parisian police. Gergison figured he'd head 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.359 back to the States, where municipalities are less likely to 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.560 communicate with each other, so he stows away again, this 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:23.159 time on the liner Ill Difference. He changed cabin Snightley 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.320 to avoid getting caught. Obviously, during that time he reads 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:28.199 up on Russian history because he's like, if I'm going 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:29.520 to be a roll enough, I kind. 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.040 Of need to know what happened sometimes I should probably 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:31.240 know that. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.320 Let me do some focus on the Russian royal family. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.159 Following the Revolution, the Russian aristocracy fell into chaos and disrepair, 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:39.760 and so for him that's an opportunity. 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.840 Whoever, seven thousand other country he can't get. 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.639 Caught because they can't talk to any royal families. They're dispersed, 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:47.479 they don't have official time. 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.159 Russian Revolution created more Russian nobility than I think we 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:52.320 could ever understand. 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.280 So while he's crossing the Atlantic, he decides to become 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.639 someone new, someone exciting. He says, he's the nephew of 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:00.120 the late Czar Nicholas. 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:01.640 Of Good Call. Go to the top. 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:03.800 Let's take a break. When we come back, you're gonna 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.000 find out just how that claim went for old gurgu. 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:35.280 Hello, Harry Gurguson, Prince Obolenski, and now Prince Michael Romanov 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:36.760 Prince Mike. 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.480 Yes, my dude, Yeah, No matter the name, the guy's 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.919 an incredible character, ridiculous criminal. The first class passengers ate 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.840