1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you as old Ways so 3 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Shout out to the man, the 4 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: myth legend super producer, mister Max Williams. 5 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 2: Hey, Hey, what was the other one? It was? 6 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: It was rah orrah, hrah, hoorah and huzzah and haza 7 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: and a towski. 8 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 2: That's right. Huzzah's the one where if you're like a 9 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 2: night in something, you know that's your rallying. 10 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, and you and I both will occasionally throw it 11 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: in an email. 12 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 2: No doubt. 13 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm part of the culture of how stuff works. 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've big bullet. You're an old Brown. 15 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: Because a big shout out to how stuff works. Man, 16 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: we've been we've been doing us for a while. It's 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: crazy that we haven't gotten to this story earlier. What's 18 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: a good for our folks and playing along at home? 19 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: What's a good recap? 20 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,959 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, first of all, listening to the episode 21 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 2: one that gives you a good This is a really 22 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 2: backstory rich tale here. So I think we did our 23 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 2: due diligence there. Teased a little bit about some of 24 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 2: the incredible interactions between the US Air Force and Hollywood, 25 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 2: Baby Hollywood and some of the most brilliant set designers 26 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 2: and builders and fabricators and you know, just creative minds 27 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,559 Speaker 2: of the time to camouflage these crucial airplane manufacturing facilities 28 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 2: to make them look like suburban towns in the hopes 29 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 2: that the Japanese bombers would be confused and they would 30 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 2: bomb other stuff. But then we ended the story of 31 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 2: episode one kind of on the movie studios now being 32 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: the only ones not camouflage, and this cluster of these 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 2: kind of warehouse ye air plane hangar type facilities, to 34 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 2: which the executives were like, hey, we need this too, 35 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 2: because now we're gonna be seen as the target. We 36 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 2: look a lot like airplane hangers. I think that's that's 37 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 2: where we are, yeah, with Boeing, because that really what 38 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 2: was what we teased this whole series to be about. 39 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: I don't know that we've mentioned Boeing specifically quite yet. 40 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: No, we just we gave them a hard time about 41 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: the planes and the fact that's right, I almost died one. 42 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 2: But uh, I don't think we mentioned that part. 43 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: But movie Okay, our hero of the story here is 44 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: the Boeing Wonderland. And that's that's what part two of 45 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: this series is really focusing on. So, like you said, 46 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 1: everybody's trying to keep up with the Joneses. 47 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 2: Uh. 48 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: Now, camouflage is something you must have because all these 49 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: other places are camouflage. 50 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 2: Lockheed's clover Field facility. 51 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, and so if we travel to Seattle, we'll see 52 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: that Boeing's president, Philip Johnson has been paying attention to 53 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: his buddies at Douglas Aircraft and he says, look, the 54 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: biggest deal for us at Boeing is Plant two. Despite 55 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: the name, it is our number one inspired, our number 56 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: one asset. 57 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 2: Right. 58 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: So it's uh, December eleventh, four days after Pearl Harbor, 59 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,679 Speaker 1: Boeing puts out a press release and they say the 60 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: following Plant two has been quote entirely transformed from a 61 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: daylight plant to a blackout plant to enable to know 62 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: night operations during blackouts. 63 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 2: Okay, it goes on a little braggadociously. This plant is 64 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 2: believed to be one of the first, if not the first, 65 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 2: major defense plant in the country to complete this transformation. 66 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 2: So I talk like a wizard there or something. 67 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: We both we both made some weird choices in our 68 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: quotation voices. But this is true. What they're saying essentially 69 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: is that now we can operate overnight. 70 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 3: Actually, I think a big thing to say about it 71 00:03:58,160 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 3: is it now means that if you black out the 72 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 3: city for bombers are coming, they can still keep working 73 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 3: in there. 74 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: Yes, good point Max with fects. 75 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 2: Oh, there it is there, it is. Oh, it's a 76 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 2: big deal, you know, because they need to be As 77 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 2: we mentioned in episode one, the goal that FDR had 78 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 2: set for the number of bombers that he wanted in 79 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 2: their fleet is that what you call it in the 80 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 2: sky was insane fifty thousand, I believe right. So they 81 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 2: couldn't they didn't have a moment to spare. 82 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: And we also know that the Boeing News Bureau came 83 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: out with a report about this and said, well, they 84 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: released on April first, nineteen forty two, but it was 85 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: not in April day joke. What they were describing to 86 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: the public at large was the urgency created by the 87 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor attack. And they said, look, we're not gonna 88 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: waste any time. We are getting everybody together that we 89 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: can to help us do this blackout transformation. 90 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 2: We're gonna have a painting party. We'll have a painting party. Yeah. Yeah. 91 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 2: And when when we say blackout in this situation, we 92 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 2: are referring literally to blacking out the building, right, like 93 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 2: painting it as dark a color as humanly possible. I 94 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 2: don't think they had that, like the blackest paint ever 95 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 2: to exist at that point, but just you know, regular 96 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 2: old black paint would probably do the trick. And then 97 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 2: that you know, created a shroud around which they could 98 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 2: build the thing that was you know, meant to catch 99 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 2: the eye exactly. 100 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: And again, these enemy bombers will be hunting with their 101 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: own eye sight, that's right. So so it makes sense 102 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: to black everything out and reduce the amount of light 103 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: the factory is emitting. 104 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 2: Funny though, to think about it today, with like advances 105 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 2: in GPS technology and imaging, stuff like this wouldn't really work, 106 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 2: would it. You'd be able to kind of see the 107 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 2: shape or kind of know what you were looking at 108 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 2: a little better if you had certain types of radar 109 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 2: technology or like satellite you know imagery. But I mean 110 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 2: even that, there are obviously ways that the military does 111 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 2: their best to you know, camouflage their stuff. To those 112 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 2: kinds of things, it would have been be a different 113 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 2: type of job though, right. 114 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so Boeing is already blacked out 115 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: as a factory, you know, the windows are painted, et cetera. 116 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: But they needed to do more and so in May 117 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,679 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty two, the core of Engineers takes takes 118 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: on this project. They say, we're going to camouflage this 119 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: factory in addition to having it blacked out. And again 120 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: shout out to Bill Bill Why who wrote some fantastic 121 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,679 Speaker 1: research on this. So to accomplish this camouflage our top 122 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: talent in the world of military camouflage. The amateur magician 123 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,720 Speaker 1: over sends one of his boys from Hollywood, a guy 124 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: named John Stewart, art director. He sends this guy over 125 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,600 Speaker 1: to the Boeing plant. He had pulled him from MGM 126 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: from the experiments they were doing back on the loss. 127 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: I just want to add one little thing before we 128 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: get into the actual full camouflage, the blackout situation with 129 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: the paint where they was at all hands on deck. 130 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: Apparently they required about four miles of air hose in 131 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: order to allow for the operation of spray guns. So 132 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: we don't have this exact you know, square footage or 133 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: the number of windows that they painted over. But if 134 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: that's any indication, this is a huge job and a 135 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: massive feat to accomplish in a couple of days. So 136 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,119 Speaker 1: now we're on to you know, the business at hand, 137 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: like to really make this building look like something else. Yeah, absolutely, 138 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: that's that's the idea, right, And so Deadly is living 139 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: this Hollywood dream. He's got a cool job that everybody wants. 140 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: He has, you know, that degree in architecture. He is 141 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: working as a set design. He even gets nominated for 142 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: an Oscar back in the day for his work on 143 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: a film called Bitter Sweet, which I have not seen. 144 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 2: Nor have I And a lot of the Oscar wins 145 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,119 Speaker 2: you know of of this era of Hollywood are gonna 146 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 2: be a little bit deep, deeper cuts than he might think. Yeah, 147 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 2: you know, unless they're like the big classics that get remembered. 148 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 2: Not all Oscar winners do stand the test of time. 149 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 2: But I am interested to see this this guy's work. 150 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 2: By checking out Bitter Sweet. 151 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: I feel like I won't pay attention to the story. 152 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 2: I'll just be watching. I know we do too much. Yeah, 153 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 2: we've ruined it for ourselves in the stars of that. 154 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 2: I'm also particularly familiar with Jeanete MacDonald and Nelson Eddie 155 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 2: Nelson Eddie, I don't know Nelson, Okay, I don't either. 156 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 2: I just thought if I said it enough, I was 157 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 2: almost there. But in nineteen forty, Dutley is only thirty 158 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,839 Speaker 2: two years old, and he actually, like you said, live 159 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 2: in that Hollywood dream. Mary's at Angenoux by the name 160 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,199 Speaker 2: of Constance Ackelman Love. It is a great old, cool 161 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 2: Hollywood name, and they were quite a power couple in Hollywood, 162 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 2: very sought after, both for their own set of skills, 163 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 2: with Constance, you know, being a up and coming kind 164 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 2: of starlet, and of course deathly being a very sought 165 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 2: after art director. 166 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: Question question for both of you, guys, do you think 167 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: a thirty two year old man should marry an eighteen 168 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: year old noll? 169 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 2: Weird? I don't know what's the formula? Isn't there a formula? 170 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 2: Not as bad as Charlie Chaplin? That's that guy had 171 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 2: a darkness. 172 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 3: I mean thirty two eighteen, I mean, yeah, this is 173 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 3: a really cringe age plus seven your age plus seven even. 174 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: That I feel is weirdly Oh it is. 175 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 2: I'm just saying it is a thing people say. 176 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 3: I was finding a guy not that long ago. Like 177 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 3: a friend of mine, he's he's he's in his mid 178 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 3: twenties and he's on tender. He's looking at like all 179 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 3: these nine year old girls like to like he said, well, 180 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 3: like six years older than him. 181 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 2: Like, yeah, man, like I don't know a teenager. That's 182 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 2: like a lot happens in that six years though. 183 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, but you know, I hesitate to pass judgement. 184 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: I was just curious on you guys. Take we do 185 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: know that regardless of an age difference. Uh, they had 186 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: a good union, right, they seem to get along famously, 187 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: very much in love. Constant changes her name to Veronica Lake. 188 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: She becomes a pin up girl wow for World War Two. 189 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: Quite a looker, that's right. 190 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 2: She was sort of like that what was at the 191 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 2: Shawshank Redemption the poster Benny Davis. I think this is 192 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 2: of that same kind of you know, I I guess 193 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 2: of you know, massively sex symboly type star. People are 194 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 2: painting her on plane. Yeah. 195 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: So her husband reports for duty and Seattle around this time. 196 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: He gets pulled by Omer away from Hollywood, and when 197 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: he gets to Seattle, everybody's very concerned about the Japanese 198 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: occupation of those Alaskan islands we mentioned earlier, and they said, look, 199 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: it's only a matter of time before we get attacked 200 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: here in Seattle. We need you to get this plant, 201 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: this Boeing plant camouflage quick fast and in a hurry. 202 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:20,680 Speaker 1: We need you to camouflage the entirety of twenty six acres. 203 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,079 Speaker 1: Detle's cruise did this with the help of the Seattle 204 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: District of the Army Corps of Engineers, and that was 205 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: helpful because this particular structure was a different kind of 206 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: roof situation than they'd been used to at some of 207 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: the other airplane facilities as well as the Hollywood studios. 208 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 2: You could picture those right flat roof kind of regularly 209 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:46,839 Speaker 2: shaped rectangles, right. 210 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, they have to deal with what's called a saw 211 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: toothed roof. I think kind of like stepped down like 212 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: a cigarette. It's an uneven surface varies as much as 213 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:00,839 Speaker 1: thirty five feet. So to build this you got to 214 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: put in other platforms. You have scaffolding. You also have 215 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: to have a sprinkler system over the entirety of the 216 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:13,959 Speaker 1: twenty six acres. Overall, this structure is going to weigh 217 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: in with five hundred and fifty five tons of steel 218 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,679 Speaker 1: and half a million feet of wires just support just 219 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: like support wires to make the houses look real. 220 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 2: That's a really good point, Ben, and I do just 221 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 2: want to mention that, you know, as brilliant of an 222 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 2: idea as camouflaging these places as you know, suburban or 223 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 2: like civilian areas are. It's not like war totally precludes 224 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 2: the bombing of civilian areas. So there could well have 225 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 2: been some collateral, you know, damage to these places despite 226 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 2: maybe they weren't targeting it, but maybe something fell nearby 227 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 2: and there could have still been a fire, you know, 228 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 2: in some of these roofing elaborate roofing situations. So that's 229 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:54,200 Speaker 2: what they had to have. 230 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: That Sprinkquiss and so travel with us to what was 231 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: increasingly being called Wonderland. And because of the variation in 232 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: the height of those structures that they were building on 233 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: top of, there were a lot of very steep hills 234 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: in the area. It's kind of like San Francisco. So 235 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: there were three major streets, major fake streets, There were alleys, 236 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 1: there were driveways. This was immersive. The even named the streets. 237 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: Why did they name them, I guess it's just for 238 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: morale a bomber pilot's not going to be able to 239 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: read this stuff. But they had names like synthetic Street 240 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: and burlap Boulevard. 241 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 2: Wow, it's a little bit of a nod, yeah, to 242 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 2: the craft right of building these things. You know. It 243 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 2: reminds me a lot of so again, early kind of 244 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 2: practical effects in movies, like the idea of a matte painting, 245 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 2: which is like, you know, not incredibly detailed, but it 246 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 2: has a massive scope to it, so it'll be like 247 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 2: the background of like a massive space scene. Then they 248 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,079 Speaker 2: super imposed the ships in front of it, or it 249 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 2: could be like a city scape. If you ever see 250 00:13:57,960 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 2: one of those in person and you look up close, 251 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 2: there will be little signs that have like text on them, 252 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 2: but if you look up clothes, they're just kind of blurs, 253 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 2: you know. So this is all about creating the illusion 254 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 2: from afar, right, Yes, very much is. 255 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:17,199 Speaker 1: And and they make a bunch of artificial trees too. 256 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: It reminds me of you know what it is. It's 257 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: a life size version of those little towns you build 258 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: around toy trains exactly right. Yeah, it reminds me of 259 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: it reminds me of that scene in Beetle Juice where 260 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: they shrink down. 261 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 2: It's really cool. Yeah. Beetlejuice, man, Oh, it's good. I 262 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 2: hope the sequels good because Tim Burton really hasn't had 263 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 2: a banger in sometimes. 264 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: You know. The first sequel idea was Beetlejuice at the Beach. Interesting, 265 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: it's definitely a choice. 266 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, he does have the street you know, when I 267 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 2: think of his outfit, does kind of remind me of 268 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,240 Speaker 2: the stripey short pants that like you'd see beach goers wearing, 269 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 2: like in the twenties or whatever. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. 270 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 2: But in any case, there's a lot of set building 271 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 2: kind of you know, methods and that come into play 272 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 2: to create the illusion from Afar that we're talking about 273 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 2: something called tar and feather feathering, I guess, which is 274 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 2: something that was used to make the texture of like 275 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 2: trees for example. You know where again from Afar you 276 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 2: would never be able to tell the difference because it 277 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 2: has that look and quality, but up close you would 278 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 2: definitely be able to tell her this. It's the same 279 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 2: with stage stuff. You know, if you ever examine stage 280 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 2: sets up close, there's a lot of rough edges. There's 281 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 2: a lot of things that wouldn't really read if you 282 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 2: were up close, but from the audience it looks great. Yeah, 283 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 2: and in this case, the audience is five thousand feet 284 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 2: up in the air, right. 285 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: They're thousands of feet away. They're playing big, right, just 286 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: like stage acting. And a lot of these things, these homes, 287 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: these garages, these greenhouses, and even the gas station, a 288 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: lot of them are only about four foot high at 289 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: the eaves and so there. So, like you said, up close, 290 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense. If you go inside, you're going 291 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: to see that they just have that sprinkler system. 292 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, big buildings all over again, you know, except 293 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 2: this infrastructure is literally designed to protect the fake building exactly. 294 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: And so at least two of these homes were going 295 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: to be occupied by real people sort of. 296 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 2: Because kind of stand ins, I guess. 297 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well they had guys who ran anti aircraft 298 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: guns and they were stationed in little fake houses on 299 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: the rooftop. 300 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 2: Armed stand ins. Yes, yeah, yeah yeah, armed. Yeah. No, 301 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 2: that's cool. So they had to have all these elaborate 302 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 2: catwalk systems that would allow people to kind of move 303 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 2: between the different spaces for various reasons, for maintenance, et cetera. Man, 304 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 2: that is so cool. The people occupying it that doesn't 305 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 2: make sense. You would need some anti aircraft support, you know, 306 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 2: in the event that your little subterfuge didn't quite work. Yeah, 307 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 2: you don't want to just leave it all up to 308 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 2: them being fooled, you know, you got to have some 309 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 2: back up personnel in place. 310 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: And that feels like a cool job, doesn't I've got 311 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 1: to wake up and go to my fake house exactly, 312 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: and I might have to shoot something. 313 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 2: Super secret spy stuff, right. 314 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: And they also realized you can't just make a town. 315 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: It has to have ye all them trappings of life 316 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:19,639 Speaker 1: can't look abandoned, you know. 317 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,440 Speaker 2: They have to make cars on the road parked, accurate 318 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 2: looking that would read. So they built some of these cars, 319 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 2: parked them made out of rubber. And because they had 320 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 2: to kind of again with the rough edge approach and 321 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 2: the boxiness of making these fake cars out of wood 322 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 2: and rubber, they started looking more again. Bill points this out. 323 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 2: Bill why again? Yeah? Why interchangeably there points out that 324 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 2: they really kind of looked a little more like the 325 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 2: cars of the seventies. Yeah, those kind of boxy station 326 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,440 Speaker 2: wagony type cars or like a Gremlin I think maybe 327 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,120 Speaker 2: mm hmm, yeah, yeah, yeah. 328 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: And then there was even this legend or tall tail 329 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: that said they let a cow loose to roam around 330 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: on the rooftop, which is clever because that does look like, 331 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: I guess, like an active town. But also, when's the 332 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: last time you were on a city street and you 333 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:14,159 Speaker 1: just saw a random cow? Well? 334 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, because I'm picturing the scale of this and it 335 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 2: isn't smaller scale. It's got these are like built to scale, 336 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 2: so everything would be roughly the size of the real thing. 337 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 2: So like a cow roaming around, it would be able 338 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 2: to roam around the streets, but it would be a 339 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 2: little odd. Why'd they do that, Ben, when'd they do that? 340 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:31,959 Speaker 2: That never happened? 341 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: I actually didn't, okay, which it was sinse Yeah, people 342 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,160 Speaker 1: just I think the stories that just kind of spread. Also, 343 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,480 Speaker 1: I think that's too too realistic. And I want to 344 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 1: point this out because we're an audio podcast. There was 345 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: a moment where I asked you about seeing a cow 346 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: in the street and paused, and for a second I 347 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: thought you were going to be like December thirteenth, twenty fourteen, Augusta, Georgia. 348 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be cool, now, not a cow. I've seen 349 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,880 Speaker 2: random horses. Yeah, Oh, and crap dude, So I meant 350 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 2: to mention this. I was just in Boston for Funzies 351 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 2: and my buddy Frank, Big friend of the show, went 352 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 2: to a movie theater in near Harvard and were running 353 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 2: around Harvard campus and guess what we were nearly accosted 354 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 2: by turkeys. Yes, yeah, told man, they suck. I did 355 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:26,200 Speaker 2: not realize that. And you know, I believe in the past, 356 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 2: on one show or the other, we've talked about like 357 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 2: turkey attacks in the Boston area because there are these 358 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 2: wild turkeys that just roam free. If this part of 359 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 2: the country had a reputation for free roaming cows, that 360 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,400 Speaker 2: might have been a smart move. But outside of that, 361 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 2: probably would have given away the game a little bit. 362 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: As a friend to all animals, even unto the naked 363 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: mole rat folks, I assure you turkeys are terrible or scary. 364 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: If turkeys were people, they would be criminals. I agree, 365 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: And they gang up on you. They show weakness. 366 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 2: I googled it when I got back to the Airbnb, 367 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 2: and I found a story from very recently about a Cambridge, 368 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 2: US postal worker who was attacked by a gang of 369 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 2: turkeys with such ferocity that he fell over and broke 370 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 2: his hip and had to have a hip replacement. They'll 371 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 2: also just fall out of trees at you, and they 372 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 2: get mad at whomever is around at you, dude. You know, 373 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 2: you know that would be my waking nightmare. 374 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, you feel the way you feel about turkeys is 375 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: the way the US feels about Japanese invasions. 376 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 2: That's fair. You're like that at every moment, the other 377 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 2: shoe is gonna drop. 378 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:32,439 Speaker 1: Bro. 379 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 2: If I was standing on that beach waiting for that 380 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 2: shoe to drop, looking for something coming at me on 381 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 2: the horizon, my like the traveler moment in Ghostbusters, where 382 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 2: I'm picturing, you know, whatever the thing is it comes 383 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 2: for me. It would be turkeys. But yeah, the goal 384 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 2: would be not to picture anything, but what it would 385 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 2: come into my head that would terrify me would be 386 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:50,360 Speaker 2: a giant Turkey's. 387 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: Just absolute pieces of trash. So wow, that's a hot take. 388 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: I didn't see coming today. They actually did a lot 389 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: more work than just than just what we've described, which 390 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: is already a big deal. The folks who built and 391 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: maintained this project at plant too. They also stayed acted 392 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: doing other stuff during the war, and there is a 393 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:18,879 Speaker 1: monograph like a piece of short writing by Leroy Leroy 394 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: Robert Hanson Leroy, but I like Leroy. 395 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 2: But the way it's spelled though is L lowercase E 396 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 2: capitol roy, So I don't know. 397 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: It might be Leroy Leroy sounds more intriguing than. 398 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 2: Le le Roy. Robert Hanson. He was the chief of 399 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 2: the agronomy section and also involves in the Boeing projects. 400 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:42,120 Speaker 2: And I believe you mentioned the monograph right nineteen forty three. 401 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's got a super sexy title. Everybody's settle in 402 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: and be comfortable. The use of grasses and lagoons were 403 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: camouflage and dust control on air fields with a Seattle 404 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: date line. 405 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 2: What I know, right, just the tension. But the funny 406 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 2: thing about that too is the idea of grasses and 407 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 2: legumes and using different material. That's another thing that you 408 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,959 Speaker 2: can kind of see in the fabrication of like Disney World, 409 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 2: you know, and like the fake mosses and things to 410 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 2: achieve texture, like in the Avatar ride queue. That all 411 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,919 Speaker 2: this stuff that goes hand in hand. That's so fascinating 412 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 2: to me. The intersection between entertainment and warfare, you know. 413 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we know that they had to surmount a 414 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 1: couple of different challenges. One of the big things was 415 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,640 Speaker 1: camouflage paint. They had to get a texture that paint 416 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: would adhere to, but that would also not interfere with 417 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: air traffic, and so eventually going to the point that 418 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: things looking kind of rough up close, they eventually they said, 419 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 1: we're going to use a crushed rock surface and we're 420 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,880 Speaker 1: going to roll it with an adhesive material. For paved areas, 421 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: we'll use wood chips with cement for non traffic areas. 422 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,400 Speaker 1: And then for the parts of the complex they're between 423 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: or past the runways, the houses get increasingly less realistic, right, 424 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:11,120 Speaker 1: they turn into like this concrete slab. Yeah, yeah, because 425 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: you can't have a plane hit it. 426 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 2: And again, you know, keeping with our whole, like this 427 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 2: is meant for an audience of five thousand feet. The 428 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,159 Speaker 2: things that would be farther away from you know, what 429 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,679 Speaker 2: would be perceived would be less important, sort of like 430 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 2: some of the you know, details on those matte paintings. 431 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 2: I was talking exactly. 432 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And you know, speaking of matte painting, I've 433 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:36,159 Speaker 1: got to just shout this out. I rewatched a film 434 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,400 Speaker 1: that captivated me for a long time from Dustill Dawn 435 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: sure not the not the Japanese crime bar vampire that 436 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 1: I hang out with, Yeah, yeah, or that I hang 437 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: out at Yeah. Dustill Down has this great mate painting 438 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: at the very end. Do you remember this moment where 439 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,879 Speaker 1: they spoilers by the way, three to one spoilers. It's dawn, 440 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,879 Speaker 1: they're leaving the bar. Presumably the film begins at dusk. 441 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, well you remember the film. 442 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 4: Now, I'm just saying the movie is now its yeah, 443 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 4: and uh the bar is named Teddy Twister, And so 444 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 4: as they're pulling away, that's so cool. 445 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 1: The camera pans out and it's that big matte painting 446 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:20,880 Speaker 1: and you see the bar is just the top of 447 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,439 Speaker 1: an ancient Meso American temple. 448 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 2: That's right, that's so good. Okay, now you got me 449 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,919 Speaker 2: one to watch that again. Sequels I think probably paying 450 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 2: less dividends. First time. I've only seen clips, but they 451 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 2: don't look very good. But the first one is schlocky 452 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 2: by design and a hell of a lot of fun. Agreed. 453 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: And uh, And we're bringing that up because you if 454 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: you see Matt paintings like you're saying in film, then 455 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,160 Speaker 1: you'll notice if you look closely that the detail does 456 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 1: decrease the further into the quote unquote background you get, 457 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: and that's kind of what they're doing here with Boeing Wonderland. 458 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 2: But to the title of that, the absolutely the captivating 459 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 2: title of that monograph. We talked about they would decorate 460 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 2: these quote unquote lawn areas and vacant lots with actual 461 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:14,200 Speaker 2: grasses and weeds designed by the members of le Roy 462 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 2: Hanson's agronomy team. 463 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, we're following into it. We're calling them le Roy No, yeah, 464 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,880 Speaker 1: we have to. It's it's like the Roy Oh yeah, 465 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 1: it's like. 466 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 2: You know, the Rob Roy so Debtly and his team 467 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 2: are really knocking out of the park with this camouflage. 468 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:39,439 Speaker 2: This Bill Why describes it as passive defense, which I 469 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 2: think that's smart because it is not. You know. I mean, 470 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,639 Speaker 2: there's the there are the gunners there in case of 471 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:49,199 Speaker 2: an emergency, but this is pure subterfuge, you know. And 472 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 2: it seems like it's they're putting so much thought into it, 473 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 2: how could it fail. There were other initiatives in place 474 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 2: planning active defense, such as the execution of fire and 475 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 2: air raid drills and the installation of some air raid shelters, 476 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 2: and that was handled by a guy by the name 477 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,480 Speaker 2: of Glen V. Dearst, among other commanders that were in 478 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 2: charge of these other kind of aspects of the whole deal. 479 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,680 Speaker 2: Another news release from the Boeing News Bureau that came 480 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 2: out in nineteen forty three said that all of the 481 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 2: plant personnel would be able to reach those sheltering spots, 482 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,760 Speaker 2: those bunkers in less than twelve minutes, so you know, 483 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 2: the safety of the employees, it would appear, was also 484 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 2: pretty paramount. Yeah, let's not have any illusions. That was 485 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 2: all for humanitarian reasons. 486 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,920 Speaker 1: They need the workers to get the job done well, 487 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: because they also wanted to build war machines. 488 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, fifty thousand something. 489 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: And it's strange because Seattle was, as we established, a 490 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: unique problem for a couple of different reasons. If you 491 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 1: have ever looked at the ground from an airplane, you 492 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: notice that it's very easy to identify things through seeing 493 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: the shape of the shore, like where land and water meet. 494 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,919 Speaker 1: So New York and San Francisco are very easy to 495 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,439 Speaker 1: recognize because of their shorelines. Des Moines or Topeka is 496 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: different because their appearance is defined by rivers and bays, 497 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 1: and Seattle is between Lake Washington and the Puget sound. 498 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: So it's very easy to find landmarks if you know 499 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,920 Speaker 1: what you're looking for. And for this reason, our buddy 500 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: deadly says, we're gonna have to do some more stuff 501 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 1: with this Boeing project. We're gonna camouflage the employee parking lots. 502 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,920 Speaker 1: They're just too big and too obvious. We're also gonna 503 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:49,920 Speaker 1: cover sections of other adjacent land and we might need 504 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: to make a fake river. 505 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, to your point, you know, this is a feature 506 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 2: that would be necessary to sell the illusion. You know, 507 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 2: I mean, not necessarily. The Japanese years were intimately familiar 508 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 2: with the geography of the United States. But you know, 509 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 2: to make it ring true, you know, to make it 510 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 2: read as a successful illusion. You know, the way that 511 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 2: stuff's laid out is really really important. 512 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed, right, they and again lives are on the 513 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: line here. The future of the world actually depends on 514 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: this camouflage plan, even if it sounds silly. So he 515 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: has this plan, He's going to reroot the Duwamish River. 516 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,399 Speaker 1: They never actually do this because here's here's the pickle, 517 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: and Max we were all talking about this off air too, man, 518 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: here's the pickle. There were not any further camouflage projects 519 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: after nineteen forty three, because by the time they built 520 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,480 Speaker 1: this stuff out, the course of the war had shifted. 521 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 5: Yeah, it's kind of like when you are it's like 522 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 5: a magic We both love cooking projects. 523 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: Imagine cooking something really evolved that takes hours and right 524 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: is your ribs. Right as you're about to pull those 525 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: beautiful slow cooked ribs out of the oven, your partners 526 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: or your friends show up and they brought takeout. 527 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, KFC. Right in Japan, I tried. Right. Well, that's 528 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 2: the thing though, too, where we almost don't have any 529 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 2: way of knowing exactly how effective this stuff was at 530 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 2: because it yeah, because of exactly what you say. When 531 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 2: we say the wars shifted, does that mean it became 532 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 2: more of a ground offensive or it just the what 533 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 2: happened now? Obviously not and I wouldn't say that, what right, 534 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 2: But what was that about the tactics to change? 535 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: Well, by that point, Japanese forces have been driven from 536 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: those Aleutian islands and they were increasingly on their heels, 537 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: so they were much less likely to take an offensive 538 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:53,840 Speaker 1: posture or to be able to do so. 539 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 3: Right, and check my days, Guadalcanal was like forty three, correct. 540 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 2: I believe that's correct. 541 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, that was the first really big offensive because by 542 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 3: this point of the war, Japanese weren't really bringing the 543 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 3: fight to the United States. 544 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 2: The United States were bringing the fight to them because. 545 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: Right the islands hopping and stuff. So the fear, the 546 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,959 Speaker 1: overwhelming paranoia of nineteen forty two starts to fade. People 547 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: are feeling a little now, they're just safer, is nervous. 548 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,840 Speaker 1: But then eventually that fades too, and they say, Okay, 549 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: that was a. 550 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 2: Crazy couple of years. Huh. 551 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: And they go to the Japanese American population of the 552 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: US and they say, sorry, we laughed up and they're 553 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: like it's not cool. They're like, are bad. 554 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 2: Well, it's like, you know, I recently watched the Aviator 555 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 2: for the first time, and you know, during the height 556 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,760 Speaker 2: of these wars, when production was so important and innovation 557 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 2: was so important, you didn't you kind of spent the 558 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 2: money and asked the questions later, despite what we said 559 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 2: about having to convinced, you know, the brass that these 560 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 2: camouflage ideas were good. You know, a lot of times 561 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,720 Speaker 2: just happened. They'd make tons of planes, or they'd do 562 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 2: a project, and then things would end or change, and 563 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 2: you would basically have spent all this money for nothing. 564 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 2: But that's just part of the nature of you know, 565 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 2: being prepared, like the boy Scout Code of Ethics. Right. 566 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like Henry Kissinger would later go on to say, 567 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: just get it done and then we'll make it right later. 568 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 2: That's exactly right. 569 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 3: You know. 570 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: Also he is sort of like if a turkey was 571 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: a person. 572 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 2: So how do you really feel about. 573 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,920 Speaker 1: Yes, we can finally say that that's true, that's true. 574 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: I've got a lot of text messages about that one. 575 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 2: You know, I was a little freaked out. 576 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know if I want you 577 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: congratulating me on my phone, guys. But but yes, So 578 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: now that we walked down the street to take an 579 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: unprompted shot at a dead man, we do have to 580 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 1: tell you the these rooftop camouflage fake town things. Like 581 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: you said, there was secrecy involved, but it's tough to 582 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 1: keep that stuff secret. Like if you lived in the town, 583 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: you would know something weird was up. It looked like 584 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: somebody's built a mini golf course or a putt putt 585 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: course on top of the airplane plan. 586 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:22,120 Speaker 2: Well, and to our earlier point. You know, this stuff 587 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 2: at the time would have been completely off limits to 588 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 2: any civilians, highly guarded you know, classify. Wouldn't have been 589 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 2: any chatter about it on the you know, the radios 590 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 2: or what have you, and any communication that wasn't encrypted. 591 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,800 Speaker 2: But now the were left with these sort of weird 592 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 2: kind of tourist attractions that are built on top of 593 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:46,040 Speaker 2: these you know, these these airplane manufacturing facilities that are 594 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 2: making these weapons of war. And like you said, people 595 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,080 Speaker 2: that lived near there, they know what's going on. You 596 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 2: see the stuff being built, you know, So how do 597 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 2: they do They kind of spin it as like a 598 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,920 Speaker 2: like a public like an active good will to the public, right, yeah, yeah, 599 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 2: Hey guys, we were thinking. 600 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 5: Of you. 601 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 2: Psych just for your kids. 602 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 1: Exactly on July seventeenth, about a month before, around a 603 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: month before the Japanese government officially announces unconditional surrender, the 604 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: Army Corps of Engineers says, look, we've already sent out 605 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: some contracts to private entities. They're going to dismantle these 606 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: fake towns. We're not going to keep these around two 607 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: too long. They are no longer relevant. So, for instance, 608 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,720 Speaker 1: like a company out of la called LB Cotton Company. 609 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 1: They got paid a little less than two hundred and 610 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars to take apart the Boeing Wonderland within 611 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:50,720 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty days. So all told, we're looking 612 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: at a cost of two million dollars, right, two to 613 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 1: three million dollars. 614 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 2: Did we mention that like setting foot on these fake 615 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,800 Speaker 2: roof you know, top attractions prior to this would have 616 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,400 Speaker 2: been a serious crime. Oh we didn't. Yeah, sure, yeah, 617 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 2: I mean, you know, again because of the levels of 618 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 2: classification and the secrecy around it, and you know, the 619 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:13,839 Speaker 2: fact that you could accidentally get yourself probably blown up 620 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 2: by a you know, a gunner. Yeah, this would have 621 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 2: been a big deal. And then within the course of 622 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 2: a couple of months that the tide turned and now 623 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 2: it's like this almost tourist attraction and it goes from 624 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 2: that to being the very little memory of it, you know, 625 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:31,280 Speaker 2: ever having existed. Were you able to find any photos 626 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,879 Speaker 2: from this brief period of a photo op time? 627 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:38,160 Speaker 1: We have just a few if you go to and 628 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,239 Speaker 1: we mentioned this part one, if you go to Rare 629 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: Historical Photos. 630 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:44,760 Speaker 2: That's right, I remember that all Chestnut. 631 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we went we went long. We went 632 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,239 Speaker 1: deep on this one. But if you go to Rare 633 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 1: Historical Photos and shout out to Max for finding this, 634 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 1: you'll see a couple of different still photographs where you 635 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,560 Speaker 1: can kind of see the edge over roof with the 636 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,239 Speaker 1: fake trees and the planes beneath. And then you can 637 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: see one guy walking around this uncanny valley tower. 638 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 2: Trees look weird. The trees look like they're made of 639 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 2: polygons or something like a bad nineties sim game. This 640 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 2: is like a Sega Saturn version of a town. But 641 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 2: again from a distance. From a distance, these would have 642 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,600 Speaker 2: looked like trees, you know. I mean they knew what 643 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 2: they were doing. Man, this is super interesting stuff. The 644 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:31,759 Speaker 2: grass looks like grass. The snosberries taste like Stosberry's, you know. 645 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: And then you really, folks to get a sense of this, 646 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: both the size of it and the weird scale of 647 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 1: the buildings, check out this article. You can see you 648 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 1: could see a couple standing next to the plywood paneled 649 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,920 Speaker 1: house and a little scale kind of yees see how 650 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: short the houses are. You can see those hills we 651 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: talk about because of the uneven sawtoothed roof. 652 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 2: Okay, so I had said something earlier about how everything 653 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:01,719 Speaker 2: was kind of scale and I think maybe we buried 654 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:03,719 Speaker 2: the lead on this. I'm sure we mentioned it, but yeah, 655 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,680 Speaker 2: they're like squat looking, you know, because again, from from 656 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 2: a height could you wouldn't be able to tell as 657 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 2: long as they were wide enough, you wouldn't be able 658 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,759 Speaker 2: to tell how tall the houses were because all you're 659 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 2: seeing is the flat parts or the parts that are 660 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 2: you know, peaked. So it's brilliant. As long as the 661 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,719 Speaker 2: scale of the width and the length were right, the 662 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 2: height didn't really matter. So that these funny little kind 663 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:32,040 Speaker 2: of dwarf houses exactly like Chick fil a. Oh man, 664 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 2: that was a cool thing. 665 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,040 Speaker 3: So here's the photo that I saw that I actually 666 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:36,879 Speaker 3: I did not even think about this until right now, 667 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 3: but I'll stroll through the photos and it's the people 668 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,239 Speaker 3: walking outside of a building going to another building, and 669 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 3: above them is still the town because of course you 670 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:48,920 Speaker 3: have to have the town going over all of it. 671 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,600 Speaker 3: I'm like, it's like it's not just like one big building, 672 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:52,760 Speaker 3: it's a giant campus. 673 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:53,839 Speaker 2: One thing. 674 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 3: I you know, I was in Seattle late last year 675 00:36:57,360 --> 00:36:59,200 Speaker 3: and my buddy and I we kind of did like 676 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 3: a loop and went as merce Island and stuff like that, 677 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,880 Speaker 3: and came down and we came up, like you know, 678 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:07,759 Speaker 3: through the south side of like Lake Washington, and that's 679 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 3: where a lot of the you know, aviation stuff in 680 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,320 Speaker 3: Seattle was built and where it is still today. 681 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:14,840 Speaker 2: And I was going there, I'm like, this is like 682 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 2: we didn't have enough time. 683 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,040 Speaker 3: It was very like short trip there, but I'm like, man, 684 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:20,680 Speaker 3: next time we're here, I want to go check out 685 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 3: all the bowing stuff here. 686 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:23,719 Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, yeah yeah. 687 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 1: And this is also, uh, this is where we see 688 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,240 Speaker 1: a really strange and neat thing. So it's an open secret. 689 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,279 Speaker 1: People aren't allowed around these mystery towns. But now that 690 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,960 Speaker 1: they are irrelevant and people have worked so hard on it, 691 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,799 Speaker 1: we get the sense that a lot of people said, well, 692 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,440 Speaker 1: we should at least let people no, we did something, 693 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 1: that's right, guys. We worked so hard on our art project. 694 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 2: Who knows there might be another World war coming right 695 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 2: down the line where we need to do this again. 696 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 2: We need to sort of patent our idea at the 697 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,280 Speaker 2: very least in the court of public opinion. 698 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:04,399 Speaker 1: So boeing As and Douglas Aircraft are like, Okay, we're 699 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:07,479 Speaker 1: gonna at least do some photos. Guys, we built out 700 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:11,680 Speaker 1: these elaborate sets. So they got a bunch of female 701 00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:15,600 Speaker 1: employees and said, get to the rooftop, stroll around. Yeah, 702 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 1: just what we're looking at, right, Yeah, just act like 703 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:21,000 Speaker 1: you're in a regular American suburb. And then these get 704 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: these pictures get published in Boeing News and Douglas Airview 705 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:30,240 Speaker 1: and Boeing Magazine, and they get published right as yeah, 706 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,800 Speaker 1: right as this stuff is being torn down, and within 707 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:38,880 Speaker 1: a few months, it's back to a regular rooftop. Also, 708 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 1: by the way, John Stewart Dettley, the creator of Boeing Wonderland. 709 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,840 Speaker 2: He is Hollywood big wig art director, husband to the stars. 710 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:54,000 Speaker 2: He's starting to have a tough time, right Yeah. The 711 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,640 Speaker 2: star in question Veronica Lake, Sex symbol Icon movie star. 712 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:03,320 Speaker 2: There were relationship began to disintegrate and it actually ended 713 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:10,680 Speaker 2: three months after she had an unfortunately terminated pregnancy. She actually, 714 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:15,240 Speaker 2: I believe, took a tumble and you know, while filming, 715 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 2: and that led to a miscarriage and Debtly, you know, 716 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,279 Speaker 2: he kind of had peaked. It would seem he was 717 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,759 Speaker 2: never able to kind of re establish himself in the 718 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,520 Speaker 2: film industry and didn't go back to California for twenty years. 719 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:33,719 Speaker 2: And then he married another woman named Virginia Crowell. And 720 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,360 Speaker 2: you know, let's not forget he did have a background 721 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,760 Speaker 2: in architecture after all. So he did become a pretty 722 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,279 Speaker 2: well regarded architect in Seattle. 723 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: And eventually, unfortunately he loses a second young child. Their 724 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:54,320 Speaker 1: three year old passes away. They leave Seattle. After that point, 725 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 1: they spend time in Hawaii and Baltimore before settling in 726 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: southern California. This is happening. The blackout paint is being 727 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:07,040 Speaker 1: stripped from the factories all up and down the coast. 728 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:13,640 Speaker 1: And even John Francis Omer, the magician and camouflage enthusiast. 729 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:16,480 Speaker 2: Has retired. This end of an era. 730 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:20,360 Speaker 1: End of an era indeed, and you can find people 731 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: who still study this, like Billion Yena. You can also 732 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 1: find folks like Mike Lombardi, who has an amazing job. 733 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,359 Speaker 1: I can't remember who I was. I was talking with 734 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 1: my one of my sketch comedy buddies, Simon about this. 735 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,400 Speaker 1: A lot of big companies have a corporate historian, and 736 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:41,439 Speaker 1: your job is just to be the nerd who knows 737 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: about stuff. 738 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:43,239 Speaker 2: I would love. 739 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:45,960 Speaker 1: That job depends on the company, though, right, Yeah, Like 740 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,280 Speaker 1: a candy factory, a walk a thing. That'd be nice. 741 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:52,600 Speaker 2: Unless the background involves, you know, the appropriation and abuse 742 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,160 Speaker 2: of indigenous people. Yeah, did you read the original book, 743 00:40:56,200 --> 00:41:00,279 Speaker 2: the rold All Books. It's a little problematic the way addressed. Yeah, 744 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,360 Speaker 2: because they're like basically like Pigmy, like Zack African, you know, 745 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:05,680 Speaker 2: indigenous people. 746 00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:08,760 Speaker 1: Also, if you want to learn more about Rule Dahl's 747 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: Dark Side, I highly recommend this book, George's Marvelous Medicine. 748 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, I have read that one. It's a shorter one. 749 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:19,560 Speaker 2: It's it's a quick read, but it's pretty dark. Yeah. 750 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 2: He has a handful of a sort of more young 751 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:22,760 Speaker 2: adult kind of ones. 752 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:26,520 Speaker 1: It's it's a book where just so you know, folks, 753 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:28,120 Speaker 1: if you want to if you want to be like 754 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,240 Speaker 1: the cool parent or the cool like uncle or aunt 755 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,759 Speaker 1: or something when the kids old enough, introduce them to 756 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:40,400 Speaker 1: stuff like Edward Gory and uh, George's Marvelous Medicine. This 757 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,000 Speaker 1: kid his parents leave to go shopping or something, and 758 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 1: he decides that he's going to kill his grandmother. 759 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,160 Speaker 2: Okay, you need to say no more. Also, I remember 760 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 2: one that probably did not age well is called The Twits. 761 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,759 Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I forgot. That's a pretty rough one in 762 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:02,439 Speaker 2: terms of it's uh, let's just say lampooning of what 763 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:09,080 Speaker 2: today would be considered mental health concerns. Yes, yeah, absolutely, 764 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 2: But we also have an episode about Roll Dahl and 765 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:15,080 Speaker 2: his time as a fighter pilot himself and how it 766 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:20,320 Speaker 2: is entirely possible that his good friend Ian Fleming based 767 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 2: a lot of the aspects of the James Bond character 768 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:24,960 Speaker 2: on Roll Dahll. 769 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, and our corporate historian for Boeing, Mike Lombardi, he 770 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:36,680 Speaker 1: remains amazed in interviews. He's saying, look, we've got almost 771 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:40,480 Speaker 1: a century's worth making great airplanes. You would think that 772 00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:44,239 Speaker 1: most people asking us about the history of Boeing would 773 00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,640 Speaker 1: ask about things like the B seventeen or the seven 774 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 1: forty seven, but nope, the most popular subject is the 775 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:55,680 Speaker 1: neighborhood on top of Plant two. Everybody still is captivated 776 00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: by this, as are we, and I think we've got 777 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: a lot of directions in this series, and we appreciate 778 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 1: you as always folks for tuning in. We love weird 779 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: obscure World War two history, as you can tell from 780 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 1: our past episodes. Shout out to our super producer research 781 00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:19,400 Speaker 1: associate for this, Max Williams, throwing some semaphore out there 782 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,120 Speaker 1: helping us land the plane hollah. 783 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:26,760 Speaker 2: Orrah and Husky. Yes, indeed, and thanks to Nathan Toski 784 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,960 Speaker 2: for keeping our marketing ducks in a row. 785 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:35,560 Speaker 1: Yes, podcasts Yes, And thanks to Jonathan Strickland a k a. L. Quizz, 786 00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:39,839 Speaker 1: Thanks to aj Jacobs aka the Puzzler. 787 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:43,239 Speaker 2: And thanks to Let's see who else who else? Oh, 788 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,080 Speaker 2: Alex Williams. Alex Williams composed our name Chris Frostiotos and 789 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,480 Speaker 2: his wizard Beard He's Jeff Coats, both of them here 790 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:53,200 Speaker 2: in spirit. And thanks to you, Ben for allowing us 791 00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:56,799 Speaker 2: to be each other's wingman. And also, can I be 792 00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,200 Speaker 2: the Iceman? I thought you wanted to be the bag man? 793 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:02,799 Speaker 2: Well spent in our in our top gun kind of Okay, 794 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:04,880 Speaker 2: I've never seen top gun. I don't know either. I 795 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:08,560 Speaker 2: just know there's a character named the Iceman character. You're 796 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 2: You're always my hunckle Beart is such a cruel life 797 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:16,040 Speaker 2: pie not thin. I think we uh, I think we 798 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:25,080 Speaker 2: got them. I think we do. We'll see you next time, folks. 799 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,960 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 800 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,120 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.