1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: When you think of old school kind of macho intellectuals, 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Ernest Hemingway is definitely near the top of that list, right. 3 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:11,240 Speaker 1: He told amazing stories, had a great, clean writing style, 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: and a fascinating lifestyle. But he was incredibly attracted to 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: violent sports like big game hunting, bullfighting, boxing, and deep 6 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 1: sea fishing. He loved war, drinking, and womanizing. He was 7 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: the kind of guy that one hundred years ago was 8 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: idolized as a man's man. But he had one passion 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't necessarily associate with a man's man. I'm 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. Ernest Hemingway and his obsession with kitty kats. 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Ernest 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: Hemingway was a totally macho kind of guy. His novels 13 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: frequently included stories about all his favorite testosterone driven pastimes 14 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: like bullfighting, hunting, fishing, boxing, and drinking plenty of it, 15 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: as well as sex. He loved women. He had multiple 16 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: lovers as well as four wives, but at the end 17 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: of the day, one of the things he loved most 18 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: was cats. He was a paradox. His other obsessions, like 19 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: big game hunting, were wild. He hunted everything from waians 20 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: to grizzly bear, to elk and big horn sheep. But weirdly, 21 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: he's quoted as saying, there is no hunting like the 22 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: hunting of men, and those who have hunted armed men 23 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: long enough and liked it never care for anything else thereafter. Okay, 24 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: he loved the rush he got from war. He actually 25 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: told friends like Marlene Dietrich and Pablo Picasso that in 26 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: war he'd been wounded sixteen times and had killed one 27 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty two enemy soldiers, and he sparkled when 28 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: he talked about it. He loved traveling to exotic destinations 29 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: and would take rickety small planes that were little more 30 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: than flying tin cans. Vacation in the wilds of Africa 31 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: on Safari, Hemingway and his fourth wife, Mary were injured 32 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: in a crash landing the very next day. They got 33 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: on another plane to get medical treatment, and that plane 34 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: exploded at takeoff. He was badly wounded, and when he 35 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: finally got to civilization, the press had already wrongly reported 36 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: his death, so he got to read his own obituary, 37 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 1: and he loved it. Hemingway was also passionate about deep 38 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:31,239 Speaker 1: sea fishing and actually set a world record catching seven 39 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: marlins in one day, each one close to one thousand pounds. 40 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: When it came to reeling in marlins and giant tunas, 41 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: he tried to prevent sharks from attacking the fish before 42 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: he landed them, and occasionally dispensed with the sharks by 43 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: blasting them with his submachine gun. Yikes anddy to have 44 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: around Huh. His fishing expeditions led him to write one 45 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: of his most famous novels, about a fisherman battling a 46 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: giant marlin. The Old Man in the Sea won him 47 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: a Pulitzer Prize and was listed among the books that 48 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: won him the Nobel Prize in Literature. So many of 49 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: his most iconic books, including for Whom the Bell Tolls, 50 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: to Have and Have Not and The Snows of Kilimanjaro, 51 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: were written at his house in Key West, Florida, which 52 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 1: is where he was introduced to deep sea fishing and 53 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: also to cats. He spent his mornings writing in a 54 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: studio on the property, surrounded by the scores of cats 55 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: he loved. Ernest had gotten his first cat, named snow White, 56 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties after becoming fascinated with her on 57 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: a boat. She was given to him as a gift 58 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: from the ship's captain. Snow White was polydactyl, meaning she 59 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: had six toes. Ernest adopted more polydactyl cats he loved 60 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: him and allowed those he had to interbreed, so the 61 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: majority of his cats had six toes. It's kind of 62 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: hard to imagine a macho guy falling in love with 63 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: kitty cats who can be very independent, but he explained 64 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: his love for them, saying a cat has absolute emotional honesty. 65 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, 66 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: but a cat does not. In Key West, he had 67 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: dozens of cats, and at his home in Cuba he 68 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: had more than fifty. He often said he liked nothing 69 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: better than the feeling of having cats surrounding him. He 70 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: called them his per factories, and he claimed that one 71 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: cat just leads to another. Guests at his home would 72 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: tell stories about kittens in all the beds and the 73 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 1: dinner table swarming with cats. Wow. Now these days, if 74 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: you visit the Hemingway House Museum in Key West, you're 75 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: going to see a ton of cats, many descended from 76 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: Ernest's original cats. They have about sixty of them there, 77 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: and most have six toes, while the rest carried the 78 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: gene for it. Guides will tell you about Hemingway's love 79 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: of his cats and the names he gave him, and 80 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: his description of their personalities. What were some of the 81 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: names Princess six Toes, Zane, Gray, Clark, Gable, Uncle Wolfer, 82 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:09,239 Speaker 1: fur House, Crystaball, and Goodwill. Hemingway believed in the individuality 83 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: of each of his pets, and he chose names based 84 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: on their personalities. Toward the end of his somewhat tortured life, 85 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: Hemingway found his greatest peace with his cats. In the evening, 86 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: He'd feed them cases of fresh salmon, and he would 87 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: drink with them, tossing back whiskey himself and offering his 88 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: cats bowls of milk and whiskey. There's all quite a 89 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: contradiction for the original man's man. Today, the descendants of 90 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: the cats he adoringly called his love sponges still sleep 91 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: on Ernest Hemingway's bed, lounge on his writing desk, and 92 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: wander the gardens at his home in Key West. I 93 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. I would 94 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to 95 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: get new episodes. Delivered automatically and feel free to dm 96 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: me if you have a story you'd like me to 97 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: take a dive into to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 98 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 99 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis 100 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 101 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 102 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 103 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,239 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at reel Patty 104 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 105 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history 106 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.