1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: and there's Charles to be, Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there, 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: and this is stuff you should know. The It's so 5 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: I don't know what addition this is. It's a good one, though, 6 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: I predict. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't know much about this, 7 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: so I was when I found out. I was like, wow, 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: this is this is right up our alley. Yeah. This 9 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: is UM part of what's very frequently called UM a 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: hidden history of World War One. This is not something 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,239 Speaker 1: that a lot of people have known about for very long, 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: although it seems to be picking up kind of academic interests. 13 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: But this idea of people who were disfigured in the 14 00:00:54,360 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: war UM facial suffered facial disfigurements UM. And I should 15 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: I say, I want to say now before at the 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: outset UM facial differences is the preferred term. And there's 17 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: like a whole there's a whole sea change going on 18 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: in perception UM and you know, just being out there 19 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: with facial differences, it's like the antithesis of what we're 20 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: about to talk about. So hats off to that, um. 21 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: But this was a time when there was a huge 22 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: sudden uptick in facial disfigurements is what they call them, 23 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: from being at war. Yeah, I mean World War One 24 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: was a brand new war. Uh. The Industrial Revolution brought 25 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: on new horrific ways to kill people, like the machine gun. 26 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: The machine gun uh in trench warfare, they point out 27 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: and in both of these articles that I read that, UM, people, 28 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: the soldiers at the time still didn't have a full 29 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: understanding of just what machine gun meant, and that you 30 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: don't have time to go pook your head above the 31 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: trench and look real quick, like those bullets are faster 32 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: than you, right, and you're not dodging one bullet. There's 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: a bunch of them comings. Maybe you get out of 34 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: the way of one, but there's three more headed your 35 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: way to. Yeah, so there wasn't I mean, it sounds 36 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: weird to think of that now, but there was not 37 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: that full understanding, and a lot of men in World 38 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: War One had a lot of bad things happened to 39 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: their face. Yeah. So not just from machine gun fire, 40 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: from sticking their head up above a trench, but also 41 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: from those mortar shells they've been around for a little while. 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: But they just prior to World War One, had really 43 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: been perfected into like really destructive instruments. Um, they blew 44 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: up and they created a totally different type of wound 45 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: than a bullet hole does because they're jagged pieces of metal, iron, steel, 46 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: and they could say, tear your lower jaw completely off, um, 47 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: take off half of your face like they just did 48 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: all sorts of really weird, horrible things. And that that 49 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: advancement in UM weaponry, I guess you'd call it, combined 50 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: with some advancements in UM battlefield emergency medicine, so that 51 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: saving lives. Yeah, So that there were worse wounds than 52 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: ever before, but the potential of surviving a wound like 53 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: that was also greater than ever before, which culminated in 54 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: a huge uptick in people who whose faces had been 55 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: disfigured by either bullets or shrapnel. UM, more than anyone 56 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: had ever seen before. And as far as numbers went. Yeah, 57 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: there are a couple of doctors in these articles that 58 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: have quotes, and one of them talked about like, you 59 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: don't we didn't see a broken bone. We saw bones 60 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: that were just shattered UM. At the time, I think 61 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: another quote talked about the weaponry was outpacing medicine um 62 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: and like you said, they would may be able to 63 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: save lives more, but it was outpacing like, well, now, 64 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: what do we do right? We don't have the means 65 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: to do facial reconstruction like they will in the future. 66 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: And in a very weird but also really real way, 67 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: World War One pushed reconstructive surgery to to advance by 68 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: leaps and bounds, just by all of a sudden having 69 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: a bunch of people to practice on and trying new 70 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: techniques on, but also having to do that all of 71 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: a sudden, you know, rather than slowly taking your time. 72 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: It was like, no, you need to figure this out now. 73 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: And a lot of surgical techniques advance. But a lot 74 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: of people point to World War One as like kind 75 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: of the dividing line between anything that came before as 76 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: far as plastic surgery goes, and modern plastic surgery really 77 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: started in World War One. But people have been doing 78 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: stuff as far as plastic surgery goes for more than 79 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,599 Speaker 1: a thousand years before World World War One, or no, 80 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: about almost three thousand years, hundred years at least. That's 81 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: that's as far as I'm going I'm the worst at 82 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: figuring out Uh, time spans over centuries, as you know. 83 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: That's why I never do it. Um, you always leave it. 84 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: I usually just say the year and you're like, you 85 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: can figure it out how long ago that was? Um? 86 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: But about six is when we have evidence on paper 87 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: or papyri peppery of actual repairing things on the face 88 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: like that and suturing things on the face. Um. And Uh, 89 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,719 Speaker 1: I believe there was a Hindu doctor named Sasarata who 90 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: developed the first rhino plasty. Yeah, because in India, especially 91 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: during this time, like I think this is about this 92 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: is five BC, so about years ago. Um, if you 93 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: were caught stealing, you would get your nose lopped off. 94 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: You could also get it lopped off in war and 95 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: happened frequently enough that it was an Indian doctor at 96 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,799 Speaker 1: that time who who created the technique of like building 97 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: a new nose. Uh. Your nose could also just fall off. 98 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: If it was the seventeen hundreds and you had syphilis, yes, 99 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: can you imagine something like that? No, syphilis sounds awful. 100 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: I mean it would drive you in crazy to attack 101 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: your spine. But there were also these necrotic lesions called 102 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: gummos her gummas then an awful name for something that 103 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: eats your face away, a gumma. Oh I got a 104 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: new gumma today. Look at this thing, um. But it 105 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: would eat your nose clear off, It would eat your 106 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: eye out of its socket, It would eat your mouth away. Um. 107 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: And the prevalence of syphilis actually was something that kind 108 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: of pushed um plastic surgery along as well. Yeah, they 109 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: started experimenting with skin grafting U in the early eighteen hundreds. Um. 110 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,599 Speaker 1: The turn plastic surgery didn't actually come about until the 111 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, but they were you know, I can't imagine 112 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: the results were great, but they you know, they were 113 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 1: leading the way all over the world with some things 114 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: like skin graphs and plastic surgery. Very rudimentary and crude, 115 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: but it did pave the way. Yeah, they were figuring 116 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: out techniques, but again they didn't have they didn't have 117 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: something like World War One to push things for. They 118 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: had syphilis, which is something um. But the they had 119 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: like cleft palates was one that was a surgery that 120 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: that had been not perfected or anything like that, but 121 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: it was a surgery you'd frequently see if you were 122 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: a surgeon you might be asked to do. But um, 123 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: World War One again just brought on a drove of 124 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: totally different cases that no one had ever seen before. 125 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: So they had to get clever. And there were a 126 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: couple of people who kind of came to the fore 127 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: just as far as the plastic surgery went. There was 128 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: a guy from New Zealand named Gillies. What was his 129 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: first name, Chuck Mickey, You know I was going to 130 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: say that right now. His name was Sir Harold Gillies. Uh. 131 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: There were a few people there were, and we'll talk 132 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: about all of them kind of as we go here, 133 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: but Sir Harold Gillies. Uh, there was a gentleman name 134 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: Francis Derwent Would and then there was a woman named 135 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: Anna Coleman Lad and they all contributed greatly to this 136 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: new cause of this really really sad cause of these 137 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: men coming home with these really terrible things that have 138 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: happened to their face. And not only like I'm shunned 139 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: by society, but like my kids can't look at me, 140 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: My wife wants to leave me, and some of these 141 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: soldiers are like and she rightfully should want to leave me, 142 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: Like how can she even look at me, and it 143 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: was just such an awful thing to have to live with. 144 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: And they all chipped into um I mean I call 145 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: them war masks basically like these wound masks. And they 146 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: would make and if you see the pictures of these, 147 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 1: it's amazing. They these before and after photos. They would 148 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: make masks and we'll get into the nitty gritty, but 149 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: essentially masks to cover these what what they called then disfigurements, 150 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: whether it was a missing I a missing nose, the 151 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,839 Speaker 1: lower half of your jaw, so it wouldn't be something 152 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: you wore over your entire face, it would just be 153 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: the part that they needed. Right. So initially it was um, okay, 154 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: we can advance plastic surgery. And that's where Harold Gillies 155 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: came in. He founded a hospital at sid Cup, which 156 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: is outside of London from what I understand, and it 157 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: was um that was where you would go if you 158 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: were British to get your to get plastic surgery. And 159 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: you could go stay there for like two years basically 160 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: getting a series of surgery and a series of surgery 161 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: just one after the other, um recovering new surgery, recovering 162 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: new surgery. And if they couldn't quite do it. Um, 163 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,199 Speaker 1: they would send you over to Francis de Wentwood. We'll 164 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: talk about in a second, But there were there were 165 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: limits to plastic surgery. And when plastic surgery reached its limits, 166 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: and I guess the soldier's face was still uh disfigured 167 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: to the point where he didn't feel like he could 168 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: return to society, or society was like, damn, you stay 169 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: over there. Then Francis der went would an anneet Anna 170 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: Coleman lad came into play. Yeah, he wrote, Gillies wrote 171 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: of and he he pioneered a lot of work that 172 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: they still say is still important to modern plastic surgery. UM. 173 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,199 Speaker 1: And he ended up writing a book and he he 174 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: was the guy that said, you know, before this, we 175 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: were doing things like cleft palates, and all of a 176 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: sudden we were getting two thousand patients a day coming 177 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,599 Speaker 1: in with the most horrific injuries you could imagine. And 178 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: he ended up writing a book called A Plastic Surgery 179 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: of the Face. And if you look at this book, 180 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,199 Speaker 1: and this article rightfully points out it's um, it really 181 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: demonstrates how far they had come and what they were 182 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,079 Speaker 1: able to do, but also what they weren't able to 183 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: do at all at the same time. Yeah, like their 184 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: limitations even though he was doing for the time really 185 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: really advanced work. Yeah, I mean stuff we're like you 186 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: cut out a piece of skin and so it to 187 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: another part of your skin so that there's blood flow, 188 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,079 Speaker 1: and then you cut off where it was originally connected 189 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,599 Speaker 1: and then so that part down and basically you just 190 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: inchworm skin down the face to where you want it. 191 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: Like they were figuring out things like you have to 192 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: keep it a blood supply going or else it's gonna 193 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,439 Speaker 1: just rot and fall off, like like really advanced stuff. 194 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: And like in a lot of cases, they they were 195 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: able to restore the soldier's face basically back to or 196 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: some close simularity similarity to what it was prior to 197 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: the injury. But again there were plenty of them where 198 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,959 Speaker 1: it was just like, we can't do anything for you, man, 199 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: And that's when they would go that. It was when 200 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: those cases started to build up, Francis to Wentwood and 201 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 1: Anna Coleman lad stepped in. So we take a break. Yeah, 202 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: all right, we'll take a break right now. So one 203 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: thing I want to mention real quick is I don't 204 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: think we talked about was outside sid Cup or in 205 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 1: Sidcup where Gillies had his hospital. Uh, they had there 206 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,079 Speaker 1: were so many men coming through there. They had in 207 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: the town they had certain benches painted were they painted blue? Uh? 208 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: And if there was a bench painted blue, it was 209 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: sort of a I guess you are, lack of a 210 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,560 Speaker 1: better word, of warning to society, like here's where these 211 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: patients will be sitting, and you might want to not 212 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,839 Speaker 1: sit there and look at them. Right. It was like 213 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: a horrible thing to do, but it was just sort 214 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,680 Speaker 1: of emblematic of like what these men had to go through, 215 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: like children terrified in public of these people, Like they 216 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: wouldn't put mirrors in these hospitals. Well yeah, and it 217 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: was supposedly it was an enormous shock to see yourself. 218 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: I can't even imagine it, Like I can't imagine what 219 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,559 Speaker 1: it what it would be like to see your face 220 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,959 Speaker 1: like missing major features because and this was a recurring 221 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: theme that I saw in a lot of the um 222 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,959 Speaker 1: like academic coverage of this is like, on the one hand, 223 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: what these people were doing, it was like really great 224 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: and noble and they were trying to help these people 225 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: regain their identity. But at the other it's kind of like, um, 226 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: what does it say about society that, like these people 227 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: couldn't come back because they were missing like an eye 228 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:05,719 Speaker 1: or a mouth or or something like that. You know, 229 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: it's like stay in your house, like we don't. I 230 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: don't want my kid to see this second thing. Yeah, 231 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: there's a complicated thing going on here. It's complex. It's 232 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: not just cut and dry like that was right. This 233 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: guy was missing a face. Gotta have a face. They 234 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: made him a mask to cover up his deformity. Um, 235 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: it was. There's more to it than that, you know. 236 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: I mean we're at a place now where we're making 237 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: great strides and acceptance of of stuff like this. But 238 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: imagine it's still bad. Imagine what it was like back then. 239 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: Have you seen that movie Wonder? No, it's so good? 240 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: What is it? So sweet? It's like put a little 241 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: boy with facial differences and like him going from home 242 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: school to school year. Um, it's heartbreakingly sweet. Owen Wilson's 243 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: dad doing his own Wilson think Julie Roberts plays his 244 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,000 Speaker 1: Mom's great. It's a great movie we're seeing. Um. But yeah, 245 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: there's a there's a whole movement go going on. I 246 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: follow this this account. I think there might be British 247 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: called changing faces, and they're all just like out, I'm proud, 248 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: like this is my face, Like I'm sorry, I'm I 249 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: can't do anything about it. I'm not gonna do anything 250 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: about it. Um, you know, let's let's move from there. 251 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: And uh, it's neat. It's neat to see just that. 252 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: That change a huge shift from hugo stay over here 253 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: out of society, Like society doesn't really feel like it 254 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: can ask that of people any longer, whereas before it 255 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: was like my wife can't even look at me. She's 256 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: repulsed by me, and she she deserves to be. That's 257 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 1: a huge change, you know, and I think that's wonderful. Well, 258 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: and it was also at the same time where you 259 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: would uh, where Kennedy would get lobotomized and stuffed in 260 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: a a insane asylum forever never to be talked about again, 261 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: or you know, people committed family members, like a dark 262 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: time for humanity. Yes, and we're just now coming out 263 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: of it a little bit. Well, we we've come a 264 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: long way since then, obviously, but it's just amazing how 265 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,000 Speaker 1: many I don't know how much of the stuff still 266 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: goes on. Sad Should we talk about the masks. So 267 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: if if Harold Gillies couldn't do anything for you, um, 268 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: you would move on to Francis derwent Wood, who was 269 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: an artiste if there ever was one. Yes, So he 270 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: had a shop, uh called the Tin Knows a Shop. Yeah, 271 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 1: he didn't call it that, he didn't, I don't know. 272 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: He may have facetiously, but it was the Tommy's the 273 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: wounded British soldiers who called it that. Yeah, t I 274 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: n as in you don't have a nose, here's one 275 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: made of tin. So yeah, they called it the Tin 276 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: Knows a Shop. Yeah, but technical. But the official name 277 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: was the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department. Yes, and it was. 278 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: It was founded by Francis to White would who um 279 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: he was, like I said, he was an artist and 280 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: he um and enlisted as a private in the medical 281 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,479 Speaker 1: core at age forty four, Yeah, which is obviously, especially 282 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: back then, kind of old to do something like that. Uh. 283 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 1: He found pretty quickly that he didn't get a great duty. 284 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: He was, um he described as errand boy chores and 285 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: he had a knack though. He was an artist, so 286 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: he had a knack for coming up with some pretty 287 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,640 Speaker 1: ingenious things. At first it was splints that were apparently 288 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: pretty creative and sophisticated. Then those chattering teeth that just 289 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 1: made everybody laugh because we're his Why was that everything? 290 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,720 Speaker 1: I don't know, is that supposed to be funny? I guess, 291 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: look at those teeth chatter seventies, I guess. So I 292 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:49,119 Speaker 1: was in the pet rock, which, by the way, I 293 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: want to do a show on that. Is there shows 294 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: worth of material or is that like a short stuff? 295 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: Do you think? I don't know, we'll find out. Yeah, 296 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: that's a nice tease. Um, maybe we'll come up with 297 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:01,919 Speaker 1: the third podcast. It is called Somewhere in Between Stuff 298 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: exactly twenty three minutes exactly. Um, so, yeah, he was 299 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: doing Aaron Boy stuff. Had a lot of creativity. I 300 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: guess he caught the eye of the people there and 301 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:15,880 Speaker 1: as an artist they said, you know what, you could 302 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: actually be very useful and constructing this kind of new idea. 303 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: Which are these uh these and again that's what they 304 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: call them back then, like disfigurement masks. Right, they had stuff. 305 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: They had prosthetics before facial prosthetics, but they were made 306 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: of rubber. They weren't very good they aesthetically they were 307 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: they were utilitarian. They were They were meant to maybe 308 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: help you chew again if you were missing your lower jaw, 309 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: um whatever. They were meant to solve the problem of 310 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 1: the missing function. This is the opposite of that. Yeah, 311 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: this is cosmetic. I guess you would call very much 312 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: so aesthetic cosmetic. Francis to Wentwood said like, I'm like, 313 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,920 Speaker 1: I'm not trying to restore function. That's not the point 314 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,919 Speaker 1: of what I'm doing. Um, what I'm doing is restoring identity. 315 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 1: Somebody put it that he was making portraits out of 316 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: metal they called them portrait masks, right, yeah, and then 317 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: putting them on to the person to to basically restore 318 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: their look back to what it was pre war. Yes, 319 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: and they were also very intent at at Wood's shop 320 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 1: of um treating these men with dignity and respect um too. 321 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: I think one of the nurses even talked about how 322 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:40,880 Speaker 1: beautiful a face without a nose was. She was, Yeah, 323 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,400 Speaker 1: it was Kathleen Scott, who was the widow of Robert Scott, 324 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: Robert Falcon Scott, who died in Antarctica on an expedition. 325 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: But she was a she was a sculptor who helped 326 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: out And it's like these are people still and they're 327 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 1: beautiful in their own way. Yeah. Her quote was men 328 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 1: without noses are very beauty full, like antique marbles, which 329 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: I have seen antique marbles all the time, so you 330 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 1: know exactly what she meant. They also said it would 331 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: shop to always look a man straight in the face. Remember, 332 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: he's watching your face to see how you're going to react. 333 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 1: So it started when they first would come in there 334 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: with being treated like a human being, which really is great. 335 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 1: So uh. He would establish his unit in March nineteen sixteen, 336 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: and by June of the following year he appeared in 337 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: the Lancet, the great legendary British medical journal that's still 338 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: around today. And then eventually at the end towards the 339 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: end of nineteen seventeen, there was a Boston based sculptor 340 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 1: in the United States, obviously in her previously to being married. 341 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 1: She was Anna Coleman Watts, and she was very talented 342 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: as a sculptor and eventually married a man named Maynard 343 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: lad who was a physician, and he moved to France 344 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: with him because he got a gig with the Red Cross. Yeah, 345 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:11,240 Speaker 1: he was like the injured Children's core leader something like that. 346 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: Man um and yeah. So they moved to France and 347 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,640 Speaker 1: she found out what Francister went Wood was doing back 348 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: in England and she's like, I'm going to try that here. 349 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 1: So with the Red Cross she set up something called 350 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: the Um Studio for Portrait Masks in Paris in the 351 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: Latin Quarter and she went to work doing the same thing. Again, 352 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: this is all pioneering stuff, Like these people were making 353 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: this up as they went along. There were a couple 354 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: of trained sculptors who turned during the war, turned their 355 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: talents to restoring facial identity to men whose faces have 356 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: been disfigured by shrapnelan bullets. Yeah, and by all accounts, Um, 357 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: the lad Studio was very much the same way of 358 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 1: like trying to set them up for success as humans 359 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,360 Speaker 1: and treating them with dignity or place in the Latin 360 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: Quarter was very beautiful. It was described as a large, 361 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,520 Speaker 1: bright studio Uh, plants and ivy on the walls and 362 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: flowers everywhere, and she wanted to make it like I 363 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: think it's a it's significant that these were artists and 364 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: not from the medical establishment, because they wanted to set 365 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: up these beautiful places for these men to come and 366 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: feel good about what's going on there? And I think 367 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,159 Speaker 1: at the time, like hospitals were grim and any kind 368 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: of treatment you got was just I mean, we've talked 369 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,160 Speaker 1: a lot about old medicine. It was not a sunny 370 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: experience in any way. Then those horrid like wicker wheelchairs 371 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: that are the creepiest things anyone's ever seen. Yeah, so 372 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: Lad tried to set up a really lovely, cheery, welcoming 373 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,400 Speaker 1: space for her patients to come in, which is just great. 374 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: And there's news real footage from that era of Lad 375 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,120 Speaker 1: working in her studio with one of her patient clients. 376 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: I don't know what you'd all him, but I think 377 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: he's missing a substantial part of his lower face, maybe 378 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: his lower jaw. And she attaches the prosthetic the mask 379 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: and like tucks it behind his ears, like it hangs 380 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: on behind his ears right, and um, it's it's the 381 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 1: neatest thing. Like he smiles, like he goes from not 382 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: sad but neutral, but then all of a sudden he 383 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,479 Speaker 1: smiles and it's like it was a warm, genuine smile. Um. 384 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: And it's it's really moving because you can read about it. 385 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: It's like we did all you want and like, oh, 386 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: here's this quote from this person, and this person said 387 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: this was an amazing thing too. And here's a letter 388 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: of somebody. We're seeing that guy smile when when um, 389 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,040 Speaker 1: when Anna Coleman lab puts the prosthetic on his face, 390 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: says it all like all comes into to focus what 391 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,159 Speaker 1: everybody in the articles are talking about. Yeah, and there 392 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: are a lot of great before and after photos of 393 00:23:57,600 --> 00:23:59,440 Speaker 1: the end. We'll get in, you know, in a few 394 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: minutes on how what they made these things. But there 395 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:03,200 Speaker 1: are a lot of great before and after photos. And 396 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: when you look at these because initially in today's in 397 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, is you think about, well, these people 398 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: had a horrific thing happened to their face, and so 399 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,720 Speaker 1: now they wear a mask like attached by either eyeglasses 400 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: or hooked over their ears to to mesh with the 401 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: rest of their face. And your first thought is like, 402 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,719 Speaker 1: how unbelievable did that look? But when you look at 403 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: these photos, they look really good. And you can only 404 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:37,680 Speaker 1: imagine that just that sense of uh normalcy for lack 405 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:39,680 Speaker 1: of a better word, meant so much to these men, 406 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: even covering it up, not fixing it cover to to 407 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: blend in, Yeah, I think is what they were looking 408 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: for pretty extraordinary. You want to take another break, Yeah, 409 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: let's do it. We're gonna take a break, everybody. We 410 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: just decided, I don't know if you heard or not, 411 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: and here we go. All right, So let's talk about 412 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: how these masks were made. Again. They were revolutionary. These 413 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,439 Speaker 1: people were making it up as they were going along. Um, 414 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: but they hit upon it pretty well right out of 415 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: the gate. And the big one of the big differences 416 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: was that these weren't rubber prosthetics that were meant to 417 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: restore function. They were metal masks that were meant to 418 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: restore identity. Yeah, and a little dignity maybe. Um. So 419 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,920 Speaker 1: the first thing would happen is LAD or you know 420 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: whoever is working on this, because they all LAD and 421 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,200 Speaker 1: would both had people they worked with on their teams. 422 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: So the first thing they would do is get a 423 00:25:56,119 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: photo obviously more than one photo of pre war and 424 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: what they look like. Because the whole thing is, I 425 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: don't want to make you look like you looked before, 426 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: not just well let me just fashion you a nose. 427 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,640 Speaker 1: It's like, I want your nose to look like your 428 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: old nose. And so they would get these photos that 429 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 1: the people, the patients and soldiers would have to heal 430 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 1: completely in order to undergo this process at all. Like 431 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: it's not the kind of thing they could do, you know, 432 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: as they're healing. Uh. And so they made a plaster cast, 433 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: and then after that they would make what's called a squeeze, 434 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 1: which is like a clay version of that cast. And 435 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: then eventually that would end up in a galvanized copper 436 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: mask about the thickness of like a playing card, right, 437 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: And the plaster cast that they would make of your 438 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: face was supposedly just an awful, awful process, Like they 439 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: would give you a little straw to put in your 440 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: mouth and like that's how you breathe for as long 441 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: as they were they took to make the plaster cast. Yeah, 442 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: it's pretty bad. It would be bad anyway, but after 443 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: you've suffered that trauma right to your face, imagine anything 444 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:06,880 Speaker 1: near or around your face would be really uh. Yeah, 445 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: And let's talk about that what led up to that. 446 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: First of all, you were shot in the face or 447 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,680 Speaker 1: hit was trapnel in the face. Sometimes you would be 448 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: laying there if you went down in no man's land 449 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: for hours days before somebody came and got you. You 450 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:24,680 Speaker 1: were taken to a Field Hospital and then flown over 451 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: to England or driven over to England or by boat. 452 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: Be quiet, everybody, um or taken to Paris um and 453 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 1: you underwent possibly two years of surgical reconstruction, and finally, 454 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: once all your surgeries were healed, you would find yourself 455 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: in Mrs Ladd's studio or Francister went Wood studio getting 456 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: plaster coated over your disfigured face, holding a little straw 457 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: in your mouth. So, yeah, it was. It was probably 458 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:55,159 Speaker 1: not the greatest thing that they've ever experienced. It was 459 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: probably tied for first with a couple of those other 460 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: ones along the way for being terrible. Yeah, and like 461 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: you said, this is after um, noble but not great 462 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 1: result attempts at you know, doing it the plastic surgery way. 463 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: So these people are desperate there. I mean, if you've 464 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: gone in there to get a portrait mask, you're that's 465 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: your last stop to try and resume, you know, your 466 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,159 Speaker 1: previous life. Basically suppose as you can get to it. 467 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: All right, So if you had facial hair, if you 468 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,920 Speaker 1: had a mustache, which a lot of men did back then, um, 469 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,920 Speaker 1: they would use real hair and add that into the mask. Her. 470 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:35,959 Speaker 1: I think it took her about a month to make 471 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: one of these. Yeah. I don't know if you said 472 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: or not, but she was credited as by far being 473 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: the better artist, Like the result was really talented, much 474 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: better coming out of the Lad studio than the Woods studio. Yeah, 475 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: but he was faster and more prolific. Yeah, he had 476 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 1: a lot more. I think he served a lot more patients. Uh. 477 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: In the end, I believe her shop was only up 478 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: in about a year and with four assistants, created a 479 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty five man asks, which UM, again in 480 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: the grand scheme of things, is not very many people, 481 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: but changed all of those lives, you know. So they 482 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: so they're from the plaster cast. You said they made 483 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: a squeeze. The cast is a negative, the squeeze is 484 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: a positive. And then they would use the squeezes the 485 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,200 Speaker 1: model for making the cast that or the mask that 486 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: they needed UM and then they would they would cast 487 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: it into UM copper one thirty second of an inch 488 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: thick and then it like you said, it would attach 489 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:40,960 Speaker 1: by UM spectacles or around the ear. And Mrs Lad 490 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: you said she used hair, Yeah, but would use like 491 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: he painted his on. Yeah. So when you go to 492 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 1: look up these photos. They'll have the before and after 493 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: and on the left. You know, it's sometimes you can't 494 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: even tell what this man might have previously looked like, 495 00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: and so you look at the right and then it 496 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: looks you know, it's a mask, but you're like, you 497 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: can tell that that's what this guy looked like, and 498 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: it's like, it really is true. The loss of identity 499 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: that must happen have happened at least back then, um, 500 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: and I'm sure now too. Where if you undergo a 501 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: facial trauma, it's amazing what how drastically it can change 502 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: how you look your face. It just changes from what 503 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: it was before. When you see some of the before 504 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: before pictures, so before the injury, then after the injury, 505 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: and then after the mask that before the injury, and 506 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: then after the injury picture, sometimes you're like, how, like 507 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: I I don't see that person in there at all. 508 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: So yeah, I can imagine, like we said, they kept 509 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: mirrors out of the ward because seeing yourself like that, 510 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,040 Speaker 1: especially if you were in the process of undergoing surgery, 511 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: I'm sure they were like, you don't need to see 512 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: this at all, buddy, just just let us keep working 513 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: on you. You know. Yeah, one of the tougher parts 514 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: of this process too, and um, and also most important 515 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: was matching the skin tone. So obviously, if you have 516 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: a mask that doesn't look like your other you know, 517 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: skin tone on the rest of your face, then it's 518 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 1: going to stand out more. And your whole point was 519 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: to blend in. So she would save it that for 520 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: last and actually fit the mask on the man and 521 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 1: and paint it while it was on their face so 522 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: she could match it as exactly as possible. I think 523 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: used a couple of different oil paints at first didn't 524 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: work out, yeah, and then landed on enamel, which is 525 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: and these things still you know, we should say it's 526 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: not like it would last twenty years like they were. 527 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: You know, to mask you wear every day, so it 528 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: would get beat up over the years, and you know, 529 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: wear and tear happened for sure. Um. One of the 530 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,720 Speaker 1: other things that the paint too is apparently the hue 531 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: was really difficult because on like an overcast day, it 532 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: might look really lifelike, but then that same hue in 533 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: sunlight looked like dead, so they had to like kind 534 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 1: of split the difference between it too. So from what 535 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: I saw, the paint getting the complexion right, was the 536 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 1: hardest part for sure. But yeah, those masks supposedly had 537 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: a life expectancy of just about a couple of years. 538 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: But the thing is is after the war, um Wood 539 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: Studio closed down and so did lads um, and so 540 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: these men that was it they got their mask. It 541 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,320 Speaker 1: was almost like this weird little pop up that happened, 542 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: that went away and never came back. So these men, 543 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: you know, clung to their masks for as long as 544 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: they could, and so much so that um they there 545 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: are there. Basically aren't any of those masks. No one 546 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: is like, oh, this is a World War one UM 547 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: portrait mask. Those are all buried with their owners because 548 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 1: those masks became part of their public identity as well. Yeah, 549 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: I bet you there's gotta be one somewhere, right, surely, 550 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: but I think most of them are probably buried with 551 00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: their owners. And these, like I said it, with lad 552 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: only masks, you were very lucky if you were able 553 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: to get one of these, because there were, um I 554 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: believe they estimated twenty tho fate what they called facial 555 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: casualties in World War One alone. So out of that number, 556 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: to only get eighty five from like the best artists 557 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 1: working is not very many people. And they think Francister 558 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: went would created more, um just because he was open 559 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: longer and he was more prolific, or he's faster. But um, 560 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: they don't have a number. But even still, even if 561 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:32,959 Speaker 1: he made three times that it's nothing compared to how 562 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: many people have become facially disfigured from injur injuries. Right. Yeah, 563 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: and lad um, she was lauded, she did a lot 564 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: of interviews. Um. When she got back to the United States. 565 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: Two she was made a chevalier. Nice touch, is that right, Yeah, 566 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 1: Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. And she just 567 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 1: went back to her you know, her art when she 568 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 1: got back to the United States. Yeah. This this, I 569 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: want to say, this all awesome Smithsonian article by Caroline 570 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: Alexander who talks about this. Yeah, it's good. It mentions 571 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: that her buss like she was a sculptor and before 572 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: her work in the war and after her work in 573 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 1: the war, it's actually really kind of generic portraits of people. Yeah, 574 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: Like it lacks like the pizzas and like the human 575 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:22,839 Speaker 1: like touch that her actual wartime mask efforts had. Yeah, 576 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: that's really interesting. Yeah, it's cool. I like her busts. 577 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: I liked I like her style. It looks weirdly like 578 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: early twentieth century modern Yeah. Uh. And she died in 579 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,720 Speaker 1: ninety nine. Um, she died young. She died at sixty 580 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: in Santa Barbara. Um. Francis Derwentwood died also young, fifty 581 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: five years old, in nineteen twenty six in London. And uh, 582 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: he was remembered obviously post war as well, which is 583 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: great public monuments war memorials, and the Machine Gun Corps 584 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: in Hyde Park Corner in London is uh apparently where 585 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: one of the most poignant war memorials him loves sits. Yeah. Yeah, 586 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:08,920 Speaker 1: And like you said, I mean twenty thousand of these 587 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: injuries and only say several hundred of them received masks. 588 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: And again, this is a time when society didn't really 589 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: want you back if you were officially disfigured in the war. 590 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: And there was a there was an idea to basically 591 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: buy some land for disfigured officers, um, to have them 592 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,320 Speaker 1: just basically go live off the land over here and 593 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 1: have a nice pension and just stay over here. And 594 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 1: those plans didn't come to fruition um, and so they 595 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,359 Speaker 1: were just kind of expected to just go fade away, 596 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: just go away, we don't want to see you. In Australia, 597 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,720 Speaker 1: apparently they had a lot of um facially disfigured soldiers 598 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: returning home. Um, a lot of them would just go 599 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: out and live into the live in the bush. You know, 600 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,440 Speaker 1: it'd be like living in the woods in in England 601 00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: or the U. S is okay, I'm gonna go live 602 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:00,759 Speaker 1: in the woods now because you guys don't want to 603 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,320 Speaker 1: see my face anymore. And a lot of them committed 604 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:07,239 Speaker 1: suicide too, said said to say, or died of suspicious 605 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 1: accidental deaths. Yeah. Man, like the stories where you hear 606 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,279 Speaker 1: about the their kids being frightened of their father and 607 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: stuff after the war just heartbreaking. Yeah, And that was 608 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 1: supposedly a pretty recurrent anecdote in newspaper articles about this 609 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,479 Speaker 1: about these studios, like they're trying to save people because 610 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: their own kids can't stand to be around them, you know. Yeah, 611 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:32,000 Speaker 1: but kids even scared of the mask because uh, you know, 612 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: it points out as while they did so much to 613 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 1: restore it, they were still expressionless faces, which um, you 614 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: know could could creep out of kid for sure. But 615 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,640 Speaker 1: we've come a long way and Wonder is proof positive 616 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:48,120 Speaker 1: of that. Go see that movie. It's good. I will. Uh. 617 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: If you want to know more about facial differences, go 618 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,440 Speaker 1: check out UM I don't know, just search facial differences, 619 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,320 Speaker 1: check out changing faces dot org and go see Wonder. 620 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,600 Speaker 1: Why not it's a good movie. I'll check it out. 621 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 1: That was the second one was directed to everything. Okay, UM, 622 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 1: since I said that it's time for a listener mail, 623 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:15,320 Speaker 1: I'm gonna call this relative of President Pierce here parentheses 624 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,960 Speaker 1: lighthearted O God. I'm hey, guys, big fan had a 625 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,840 Speaker 1: baby in August, so I've been behind on the episodes. 626 00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:24,920 Speaker 1: Finally got to these new short stuff where you mentioned 627 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 1: that President Franklin Pierce, and I couldn't help but laugh 628 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,399 Speaker 1: out loud when I heard your disdain for the band. 629 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: My baby son's middle name is actually Pierce, just like 630 00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:34,920 Speaker 1: his father and every other male that was born in 631 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,440 Speaker 1: his family, a tradition that has stemmed since you guessed 632 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 1: at Franklin Pierce became president. My husband is a great 633 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: great nephew of Pierce the Best. His grandmother actually still 634 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,600 Speaker 1: owns the presidential china. That's kind of cool. Every time 635 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:53,920 Speaker 1: someone finds out my husband a descendant of a president. 636 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: He gets so excited, but my husband and all of 637 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: his family just roll their eyes and exclaim, oh, he 638 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,759 Speaker 1: was the worst president. Everyone just remembers Lincoln anyway. It 639 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,000 Speaker 1: makes me laugh every time that his family doesn't think 640 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 1: much of this man any more than the rest of 641 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,399 Speaker 1: the world. So just take comfort knowing that your hate 642 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:14,279 Speaker 1: on Piers and his faults uh during his time in 643 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: office aren't past his own family. Man. That's something I'll 644 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,480 Speaker 1: do my best to make sure my son makes up 645 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: for it. So, Sad I missed your shows in Denver, 646 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:26,719 Speaker 1: please come back. And that is sincerely from Sarah, mother 647 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: of a Piers. Thanks Sarah, mother of a Piers. That 648 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,560 Speaker 1: was a great email. Yeah, and we'll come back to 649 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: Denver for sure because we sold out two shows there. 650 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,640 Speaker 1: Denver loves us, loves us, can't get enough of us 651 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 1: a mile high city. Yes, we'll be back. UM. If 652 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 1: you want to get in touch with us, why don't 653 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: you go ahead and mosey on over to um stuff 654 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:51,359 Speaker 1: you should know dot com check out our social links there. 655 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,239 Speaker 1: I also have a website called Josh clark Way dot 656 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,239 Speaker 1: com if you want to check that out too, that's right, 657 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 1: and you can always send me Jerry and Chuck an 658 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: email all at once at Stuff podcast at how stuff 659 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:09,800 Speaker 1: works dot com. For more on this and thousands of 660 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 1: other topics, is it how stuff works dot com