1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum here. Lucille Ball is a true Hollywood legend. 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: Emmy winning comedic actress, creator and star of a groundbreaking 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: TV comedy, first female head of a major TV studio, 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: The list goes on. She was also known for her 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: shrewd business sense and straight shooting honesty. But there's one 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: weird blip in Ball's life story, and it's morphed into 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: another sort of legend, the urban kind. If it's true, 9 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: it's just a strange but charming story about an actress 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: who made an inadvertent discovery. And if it isn't, we 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: might have to rethink our assumptions about Lucille Ball, at 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: least the straight shooting honesty part. Here's the story. One 13 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: evening in two in the thick of the Second World War, 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: Ball was driving home from a day of movie filming 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: when she suddenly heard music and then realized the sounds 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: weren't emanating from the car video but from her mouth. 17 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: The next day, Buster Keaton told her that her new 18 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 1: lad dental Fillings had probably been broadcasting a radio station. 19 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: A week later, also on the commute home, her mouth 20 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: started admitting morse code, and this time she alerted the authorities, 21 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: and the FBI eventually busted a Japanese gardener who was 22 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: operating a spy ring out of a tool shed. It 23 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: sounds like the ultimate urban legend, right, But this isn't 24 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: a baseless rumor started by some anonymous gossip monger. The 25 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: source is Ball herself. She told the story on the 26 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: Dick Cabit Show in nineteen four into at least two biographers, 27 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: The tale has morphed over the years that no time, 28 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: for example, did Ball ever claim she actually used her 29 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: fillings to spy. But the basics remain the same, and 30 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: Ball always stood by them. The problem is the entire 31 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: tale is pretty much unverifiable. Other than Ball's accounts, there 32 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: seems to be no record of the case. The generally 33 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: reliable snopes dot Com pronounced its status undetermined. The TV 34 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: show MythBusters used several angles to investigate the story in 35 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: two thousand three and couldn't confirm any of Ball's claims. 36 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: The hosts had no luck with their experiments involving vintage 37 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: radio equipment and human skulls fitted with fillings. They concluded 38 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: that the combination of the metals and balls saliva caused 39 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: a galvanic reaction, which created a current in her mouth 40 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: that could have resembled Morse code. The real kicker, though, 41 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: was the revelation that Ball's FBI file doesn't mention the case. 42 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: So why would Ball have invented such a story. No 43 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: one has the answer to that either. At the height 44 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: of the communist scare in the nineteen fifties, she was 45 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: briefly investigated by the House on American Activities Committee, so 46 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: some think she might have created the filling story to 47 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: see more patriotic, but that's a pretty big stretch. There 48 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: are so many easier ways to broadcast that message. In 49 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: the end, only Lucy knows, and maybe that's just how 50 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: it's supposed to be. Today's episode is based on the 51 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: article did Lucille Ball use her fillings to spy? On 52 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com, written by Alison Cooper. Brain 53 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how 54 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. 55 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 56 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 57 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: favorite shows.