Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Some directors like to drop easter eggs into
Speaker 1: their films, little bonuses in their films for the eagle
Speaker 1: eyed viewers to spot. Alfred Hitchcock often inserted himself into
Speaker 1: the backgrounds of his films. Finding him became kind of
Speaker 1: a game, one that was sometimes so distracting viewers needed
Speaker 1: to watch a movie more than once because they didn't
Speaker 1: catch the story the first time around. Random characters or
Speaker 1: props do a little more than entyson audience to pay
Speaker 1: closer attention to the background of a scene. In one instance, however,
Speaker 1: a piece of films set decoration set off a firestorm
Speaker 1: through the international art world, and it was all thanks
Speaker 1: to a mouse. It all started around nineteen six. The
Speaker 1: Hungarian artist Robert Barny had a big name in the
Speaker 1: avant garde scene at the time. He had already brought
Speaker 1: Expressionism and Cubism to the country prior to the start
Speaker 1: of World War One. Before that, he had studied in Paris,
Speaker 1: focusing on post Impressionism and studying the works of Van
Speaker 1: Gogh and go Again. After a few exhibits of his paintings,
Speaker 1: Barony returned to Budapest and founded his own small art
Speaker 1: collective in nineteen eleven. He caused waves that year when
Speaker 1: the public attended his exhibition. His paintings were so unlike
Speaker 1: what the Hungarian critics were used to, and while some
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, many did not. Around nineteen nineteen, Barony left
Speaker 1: Hungary to live in Berlin, where he stayed for several years.
Speaker 1: He had painted recruitment posters in support of the Ungarian
Speaker 1: Democratic Republic, a communist state that had formed in the
Speaker 1: collapse of Austro Hungary after the end of World War One.
Speaker 1: When that republic fell in November of nineteen nine, Barony
Speaker 1: was forced to flee. He continued to paint, though, pushing
Speaker 1: the boundaries of Cubism and expressionism. He also became a
Speaker 1: composer for a short time to make ends meet. Then,
Speaker 1: in the mid nineteen twenties, Barony returned to his home
Speaker 1: country by that time, though another style had taken hold
Speaker 1: of him. Art Deco combined the Cubism he was familiar
Speaker 1: with with a bold new color pellette, and incorporated influences
Speaker 1: from all over the world, including China and Persia, and
Speaker 1: above all else. Art Deco represented the future, the future
Speaker 1: of art, of technology, and of architecture. Barony was inspired
Speaker 1: to paint his second wife in the Art Deco style.
Speaker 1: The portrait, measuring two feet by almost three feet, was
Speaker 1: titled Sleeping Lady with Black Vase. It depicted a woman
Speaker 1: in a blue dress reclining on a large brown couch
Speaker 1: yellow table, with a black vase stood in front of her.
Speaker 1: The painting was put on display in budapest Earned Museum
Speaker 1: in nine, supposedly the last time anyone saw it before
Speaker 1: it disappeared. It had been sold to a Jewish buyer
Speaker 1: who eventually fled Hungary just before World War Two. After that,
Speaker 1: no one ever laid eyes on it again, that is
Speaker 1: until Greg Lee Barky sat down to watch a movie
Speaker 1: with his daughter in two thousand nine. Barkey had been
Speaker 1: a historian at the Hungarian National Gallery, an art museum
Speaker 1: in Budapest. On Christmas Eve of that year, he'd come
Speaker 1: home after a long day at work to watch a
Speaker 1: movie on television with his young daughter. She settled into
Speaker 1: his lap and Barky turned on the children's movie Stuart Little.
Speaker 1: Part Way into the film, he saw it. It was
Speaker 1: hanging on the wall behind the three main human characters
Speaker 1: and the computer generated mouse. Barkey almost dropped his daughter
Speaker 1: to the floor and shock the sleeping lady had been found.
Speaker 1: He immediately began emailing every casting crew member connected with
Speaker 1: the film, asking them about the whereabouts of the painting.
Speaker 1: A response came from an assistant set designer who had
Speaker 1: worked on the picture. Two years later, it turned out
Speaker 1: that the story of Baronie masterpiece was a mysterious one.
Speaker 1: The painting had surfaced fifty years after World War Two
Speaker 1: at an auction in San Diego, California. The buyer at
Speaker 1: the time had paid all of forty dollars for it.
Speaker 1: It then ended up in an antique store, having been
Speaker 1: sold to the shop for a whopping four hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: Apparently nobody knew what they really had. It wasn't long
Speaker 1: before a local woman walked into the store and purchased
Speaker 1: the painting to hang in her own home. She happened
Speaker 1: to work as a set designer in Hollywood, creating and
Speaker 1: decorating the sets that would be seen in major motion pictures. Then,
Speaker 1: while decorating the Stewart Little set, the woman realized Baroness
Speaker 1: painting would look perfect hanging over the little family's fireplace
Speaker 1: in the movie. She took it off her own wall
Speaker 1: and brought it to the set. When filming completed, the
Speaker 1: painting went back home with her. Barquis. The woman eventually
Speaker 1: arranged a meeting he flew to her house in Washington,
Speaker 1: where he was able to see the once lost work
Speaker 1: in person. Sadly, he didn't get to take it home
Speaker 1: with him. Sleeping Beauty with Black Vace went up for
Speaker 1: auctions several years later, selling for over two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty five thousand dollars, But the story does have a
Speaker 1: kind of happy ending. The painting wound up in the
Speaker 1: possession of a Hungarian buyer, bringing Baronies masterpiece home once
Speaker 1: and hopefully for all. Sometimes we reach a point in
Speaker 1: our lives where we feel the need to reinvent ourselves.
Speaker 1: Perhaps we grow tired of our careers and decided to
Speaker 1: make a change, or we chop off the hairstyle we've
Speaker 1: had for twenty years in favor of something a little boulder.
Speaker 1: At the dawn of World War Two, one man saw
Speaker 1: a need to reinvent himself. But he changed more than
Speaker 1: his hair. He changed everything. Casper brand Hoffer was an actor.
Speaker 1: It had been his calling from a young age. Born
Speaker 1: in Austria, Hungary in eighteen ninety one, he began attending
Speaker 1: the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna
Speaker 1: when he was just twenty two, the same school that
Speaker 1: had once counted among its students composers Gustav Mahler and
Speaker 1: Jean Sibelius. He then enlisted in World War One, joining
Speaker 1: the Austro Hungarian Army as a private. Brand Hoffer eventually
Speaker 1: rose to the rank of lieutenant and was awarded a
Speaker 1: Medal for valor after being wounded in battle. He also
Speaker 1: became a family man, settling down and having two children,
Speaker 1: a boy and a girl, but brand Hoffer never forgot
Speaker 1: his first love the theater. When the war ended, he
Speaker 1: started performing in plays all over Germany, playing the Duke
Speaker 1: of Albany in a Viennese production of King Lear, then
Speaker 1: joining a theater company in Munich in nineteen one, before
Speaker 1: eventually moving to Berlin. Sadly, his marriage suffered from all
Speaker 1: the travel and work. Brand Hoffer was divorced in nine
Speaker 1: and started a theater company with his new love, actress
Speaker 1: Agnes Strob, but brand Hoffer was forced to leave Berlin
Speaker 1: several years later. He retreated to a mountain cabin in
Speaker 1: the state of t Roll in western Austria. For one
Speaker 1: year he honed his craft while the Nazis took over Germany.
Speaker 1: Brand Hoffer eventually returned, though, sporting a full beard and
Speaker 1: whitened hair, intent on making his mark once more. Except
Speaker 1: something was different about him, something other than his looks.
Speaker 1: He was suddenly unfamiliar with aspects of the theater that
Speaker 1: he'd known so well before. In fact, one cast mate
Speaker 1: had to explain the concept of a monologue to him,
Speaker 1: which brand Hoffer understood is something he called a dialogue
Speaker 1: with my Lord God. He also fancied himself a natural actor,
Speaker 1: issuing the formal education he had received when he was younger.
Speaker 1: As far as the other cast members knew, he had
Speaker 1: taught himself everything he knew. Brand Hoffer's first leaped back
Speaker 1: into the theater world was a production of a play
Speaker 1: called fraeulein Elsa. The show opened in December of night
Speaker 1: teen thirty six. Critics loved his performance, and so did
Speaker 1: the Nazis. They rallied behind him, lauding his rise to
Speaker 1: start them as a self taught natural actor and a
Speaker 1: poster child for their aryan agenda. The director of the
Speaker 1: show offered brand Hoffer a three year contract. All that
Speaker 1: had taken was one role, and he was on top
Speaker 1: of the world in a way he'd never been before.
Speaker 1: But then one week later, brand Hoffer came clean. He
Speaker 1: couldn't deal with his success leading to the growth of
Speaker 1: a Nazi party, and so he told them the truth.
Speaker 1: His name was not Casper brand Hoffer, it was Leon Reese.
Speaker 1: He'd been born to Jewish parents and had first taken
Speaker 1: on the stage name of Leo Russ. When the Nazis
Speaker 1: took over Berlin, the actor fled to the mountains of
Speaker 1: t Roll, where he concocted a whole new persona for himself.
Speaker 1: He learned to act and speak like the local farmers.
Speaker 1: He let his hair get long, and he grew a beard.
Speaker 1: Reese then soaked all the hair on his body in
Speaker 1: hydrogen peroxide baths to diet blonde. Finally, he positioned himself
Speaker 1: as a Christian act or, one who did not study
Speaker 1: at a prominent German school. He was self taught, and
Speaker 1: he took on the name of Casper brand Hoffer. Nobody
Speaker 1: in Berlin recognized him, not even the actors and directors
Speaker 1: he'd previously worked with his one year sabbatical had worked.
Speaker 1: Following his confession, Reese was hauled into court and tried
Speaker 1: for living under a false name. He made a stand
Speaker 1: advocating that being an actor came down to one's talent,
Speaker 1: not their race. A fine was levied against him for
Speaker 1: his actions, but he knew it was only a matter
Speaker 1: of time before he had faced harsher punishment, and so
Speaker 1: he left Germany altogether. In nineteen thirty seven, Reese came
Speaker 1: to the United States and changed his name once more.
Speaker 1: He now went by Lionel Royce. Working his way up
Speaker 1: with small parts in major motion pictures, he built a
Speaker 1: nice career for himself in Hollywood, acting alongside legends like
Speaker 1: Tyrone Power, Rita Hayworth, and Edward G. Robinson. Leon Reese
Speaker 1: died of a heart attack in nineteen forty six, at
Speaker 1: the age of fifty five. He acted in many fine
Speaker 1: films towards the end of his life, but his finest
Speaker 1: perform Mints was that of a Jewish actor playing an
Speaker 1: arian who made the fools of the Nazis. Too bad
Speaker 1: there wasn't an oscar for that category. I hope you've
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.