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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how

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Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. And today's

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Speaker 1: topic features a really fun figure of the early twentieth century.

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Speaker 1: There is a little high society in this one, a

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Speaker 1: lot of money, some gender bending, a good amount of debauchery,

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Speaker 1: a very unique doll, and loads of speedboats. So this

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Speaker 1: may actually be a true scenario where there really is

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Speaker 1: something for everyone. The topic of today's podcast is Joe

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Speaker 1: car Stairs. And first I have to mention that this

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Speaker 1: was actually suggested by a listener, and I am a

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Speaker 1: disorganized mess and I cannot find the listener's name, and

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Speaker 1: I feel really really bad because I would love to

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Speaker 1: credit them because this has been really nothing short of

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Speaker 1: a delight to research. Uh. Second, we have to contextualize

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Speaker 1: pronouns on this one a little bit. Joe was a woman,

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Speaker 1: and though she took a man's name and she lived

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Speaker 1: in many ways as a man, she would also introduce

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Speaker 1: herself as a woman. So while she may have identified

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Speaker 1: in many ways as male, since she generally referred to

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Speaker 1: herself as a female, we're going to use feminine pronouns here,

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Speaker 1: and she does make it a little bit tricky because

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Speaker 1: even throughout her life she kind of delighted when people

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Speaker 1: would mistake her for a boy or a man, but

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Speaker 1: she would usually then always also delight in telling them, no,

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Speaker 1: I'm actually a woman, kind of to watch their shocked reaction.

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Speaker 1: She really played that edge of gender fluidity. And so

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Speaker 1: we're going with feminine pronouns. It's possible if she lived today,

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Speaker 1: where there is sort of a different vocabulary around gender

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Speaker 1: and how it works and the fluidity of it, she

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Speaker 1: may have chosen a different one for herself, but since

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Speaker 1: she seemed to stick to feminine pronouns, we are going

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Speaker 1: to do the same. Uh. And as I was reading

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Speaker 1: up on Joe, I found myself really delighting in so

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Speaker 1: many of the details of her life, really eccentric and

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Speaker 1: interesting and fascinating. Eating So this one is going to

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Speaker 1: end up being a two parter. She did lead a

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Speaker 1: wild and eccentric life, some of which we only know

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Speaker 1: of through her telling of it, and she was a

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Speaker 1: very big personality. So her primary biographer that that wrote

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Speaker 1: the one existing biography of her, really continually points out

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Speaker 1: that there is every possibility that some of these stories

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Speaker 1: are embellishment. Uh As, she was definitely really into storytelling

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Speaker 1: and she was very much into this idea of creating

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Speaker 1: her own persona. So just keep that in mind as

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Speaker 1: we go. Joe Carstairs came from money. Her grandfather was

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Speaker 1: Jabez Able Bostwick, who made this fortune working as the

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Speaker 1: treasurer of Southern Improvement Company, which was a venture of

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Speaker 1: John D. Rockefeller. Her grandmother, so job as his wife,

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Speaker 1: was Helen Celia Bostwick, and this is one of the

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Speaker 1: few family members that Joe really seemed to admire and

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Speaker 1: identify with through her whole life. She would describe Nellie,

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Speaker 1: as Helen was called as tough, wicked, a wonderful person

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Speaker 1: in a very strong will. When Jabez died in a

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Speaker 1: fire in eighteen ninety two, he left behind a ten

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Speaker 1: million dollar fortune. Yeah, definitely some cash in the family.

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Speaker 1: And just in case you do not recognize the name

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Speaker 1: the Southern Improvement Company, that group later changed its name

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Speaker 1: to Standard Oil, which you probably will recognize. Javis and

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Speaker 1: Nellie had three children. They had a daughter who was

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Speaker 1: also named Nellie, a daughter named Evelyn, and a son

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Speaker 1: named Albert. And Evelyn was born Francis Evelyn Bostwick on

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Speaker 1: June eighteen seventy two. And as she grew up, this

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Speaker 1: middle child was a vivacious and strong willed woman herself.

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Speaker 1: She had a bit of a party reputation, and she

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Speaker 1: had some early brushes with drug use that actually turned

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Speaker 1: into a habit. Later on, she was known as something

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Speaker 1: of a fem fital, complete with a story about backing

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Speaker 1: out of an engagement right at the last minute. But

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Speaker 1: then Evelyn met scottsman Albert Carstairs while traveling in Europe.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of haziness around this marriage, which lasted

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Speaker 1: for ten years. We know that Albert was a captain

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Speaker 1: in the second Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and

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Speaker 1: that he served in both Egypt and Malta, but it

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Speaker 1: seems like he left the army when he married Evelyn.

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Speaker 1: We don't actually know if there, if they were happy

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Speaker 1: or not, but there was definitely some infidelity on Evelyn's part. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was kind of one of those sudden I met

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Speaker 1: this guy and I'm marrying him. And she was such

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Speaker 1: a wild child at this point that that just was

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Speaker 1: what it was. It all seems sort of a tumultuous

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Speaker 1: thing and We do know that Evelyn and Albert were

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Speaker 1: in London in nineteen hundred, because that's where and when

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Speaker 1: Joe was born as Marian Barbara Carstairs on February first

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Speaker 1: of that year. Whether or not Albert Carstairs was actually

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Speaker 1: Joe's biological father is unknown. We do know that Albert

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Speaker 1: joined the army once again just a week before Joe

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Speaker 1: was born. When she was five, Joe was thrown off

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Speaker 1: a camel she was riding at the London Zoo and

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Speaker 1: she was knocked unconscious. When she regained consciousness, people started

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Speaker 1: calling her Tuffy, and she took this nickname to heart.

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Speaker 1: In fact, she once told a friend that her biography

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Speaker 1: should start off with that story, and writer Kate summer

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Speaker 1: Scale actually obliged her in a book about the Carstairs

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Speaker 1: And even at this young age, Joe's life, which was

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Speaker 1: privileged in terms of financial comfort, was really something of

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Speaker 1: a mess. Her parents had divorced at this point, and

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Speaker 1: Albert Carstairs had basically vanished from her life. Her mother

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Speaker 1: was regarded by Europe as being a socialite simply by

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Speaker 1: way of dirty money that was gained, possibly by nefarious means.

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Speaker 1: But in spite of all these questions about the origin

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Speaker 1: of her wealth, Evelyn managed to make a place for

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Speaker 1: herself in British society. She eventually became a Lady in

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Speaker 1: waiting to King Edward the Seventh, wife Queen Alexandria. Evelyn

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Speaker 1: also remarried in nineteen o three to a British Army

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Speaker 1: captain named Francis Francis, and she had two children with him.

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Speaker 1: Evelyn Francis, who was called Sally, was born in nineteen

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Speaker 1: o four, and Francis Francis Jr. Was born in nineteen

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Speaker 1: o six. Joe was not very enthusiastic about these new siblings.

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Speaker 1: She had some jealousy over her mother's tendency to dote

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Speaker 1: on her brother Frank, presumably because he was a boy,

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Speaker 1: although it should be noted that Evelyn was never really

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Speaker 1: consistent with her affection for any of her children. Conversely,

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Speaker 1: Joe's tomboyish ways weren't exactly a source of delight for

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Speaker 1: her mother and stepfather either. Captain Francis wanted to find

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Speaker 1: a way to cure Joe of her wildness, and Joe

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Speaker 1: herself had never really identified in a girlish way. Later

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Speaker 1: on in her life she would remark that she quote

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Speaker 1: was never a little girl, I came out of the

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Speaker 1: womb queer. At one point, when Joe was eight, Francis

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Speaker 1: actually caught her stealing his cigars, and in a manner

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Speaker 1: that many people have tried to cure their children of

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Speaker 1: dabbling and smoking. He thought he would teach her a

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Speaker 1: lesson and forced her to sit down and smoke the

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Speaker 1: whole thing because he thought she's gonna get sick as

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Speaker 1: a dog. But little did he know that Joe had

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Speaker 1: actually been stealing and smoking cigars for a while at

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Speaker 1: that point, so her eight year old self was pretty

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Speaker 1: relaxed as she sat and smoked her cigar with him

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Speaker 1: right to the end. Evelyn and the Captain did not

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Speaker 1: stay together. They stayed legally married until nineteen fifteen, but

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Speaker 1: they really had not been together as a couple for

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Speaker 1: years by that point. As was the case in her

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Speaker 1: marriage to Albert Carstairs, Evelyn also had numerous affairs. Captain

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Speaker 1: Francis tried to keep his two children away from her

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Speaker 1: as much as possible due to her unpredictable behavior, which

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Speaker 1: was fueled by alcohol and a heroin addiction, although Joe

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Speaker 1: really did not have that same level of protection. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Captain Francis was very protective of the two children that

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Speaker 1: he had had with Evelyn, but Joe kind of was

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Speaker 1: on her own. Despite her inconsistency as a mother, Evelyn

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Speaker 1: was also really jealous of other women who cared for

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Speaker 1: her children. She even fired a nanny at one point

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Speaker 1: because Joe had grown especially close to her and for

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Speaker 1: her Joe was extremely rebellious. She bullied her younger siblings,

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Speaker 1: and she was defiant. She spent a good deal of

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Speaker 1: time sort of lost in her own fantasy world, which

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Speaker 1: centered largely around kind of maritime interests in boats, which

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Speaker 1: were the only things that she claimed to admire as

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Speaker 1: a child. And then, at age eleven, Joe was sent

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Speaker 1: back to America to go to boarding school. And while

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Speaker 1: this was framed as some sort of punishment for her

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Speaker 1: bad behavior, Joe really saw this as a door opening

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Speaker 1: for her to have some fun, independent times of her own.

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Speaker 1: She was put on an ocean liner to make the

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Speaker 1: voyage across the Atlantic to Stanford, Connecticut, where she would

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Speaker 1: attend the Low Haywood School. She fit in there really quickly,

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Speaker 1: in part because she could do the French homework of

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Speaker 1: the other girls at the school. Joe had picked up

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Speaker 1: quite a bit of French while her mother had employed

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Speaker 1: a French nanny, and though her life at the school

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Speaker 1: really seemed pretty carefree, Joe was constantly afraid that Evelyn

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Speaker 1: was going to suddenly change her mind and send word

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Speaker 1: that Joe had to return to Europe, but that never

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Speaker 1: actually happened. She didn't even see her mother for four

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Speaker 1: years until Evelyn's third marriage in nineteen fifteen to yet

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Speaker 1: another military man, this one French and also account named

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Speaker 1: Roger de Peregny. Unlike Evelyn's first two husbands, Joe adored

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Speaker 1: Parrene and he seemed to love her as well. The

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Speaker 1: two of them became really great pals. They went carousing,

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Speaker 1: they smoked cigars, they raced cars. Parny even altered one

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Speaker 1: of his racing cars to fit Joe's frame so she

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Speaker 1: could drive it. They even visited some brothels together, and

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Speaker 1: perhaps one of the reasons that Joe was so very

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Speaker 1: fond of Parignee was because he was not inclined, as

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Speaker 1: others had been, to always follow her mother Evelyn's lead.

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Speaker 1: In fact, the marriage did end as the others had,

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Speaker 1: but this time because Evelyn couldn't stand Parrenees infidelities. Rather

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Speaker 1: than the other way around. In nineteen sixteen, Joe headed

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Speaker 1: back to Europe, but this time it was to drive

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Speaker 1: ambulances in the or Effort. Joe was only sixteen at

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Speaker 1: the time, and she had persuaded her grandmother, Nellie, to

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Speaker 1: use her influence to get her into the job. Joe

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Speaker 1: had told Nellie that she wanted the experience because she

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Speaker 1: had hopes of eventually becoming a doctor. And before we

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Speaker 1: get to the next phase of Joe's life, where she

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Speaker 1: is going to meet some friends that she will stay

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Speaker 1: close to for the rest of her days, uh, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna have a quick word from one of the great

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Speaker 1: sponsors that keeps the show going. So, while she was

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Speaker 1: living in Paris with four other young women who were

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Speaker 1: also driving ambulances, Joe really just watched the war unfold.

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Speaker 1: She had quite a lot of sort of world experience

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Speaker 1: through this set up. The flat that she shared with

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Speaker 1: these other women had a glass ceiling so they could

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Speaker 1: see planes overhead at night. Uh. And Joe watched buildings

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Speaker 1: be shelled and she saw aircraft down. At one point,

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Speaker 1: she struggled to pull a down pilot from the wreckage

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Speaker 1: of his plane, only to realize that he was already dead.

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Speaker 1: Joe's time in Paris was also when she had her

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Speaker 1: first sexual experience, which was with a woman. Despite having

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Speaker 1: had crushes while in boarding school, she insisted that these

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Speaker 1: relationships were always chased, and while she visited brothels with

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Speaker 1: her French stepfather, she claimed to have never taken part

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Speaker 1: of any sexual activities there. And soon after she had

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Speaker 1: this first experience, she also had an affair with a

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Speaker 1: woman who Joe would later say changed her life, and

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Speaker 1: that was Dorothy Wilde known as Dolly, who was the

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Speaker 1: niece of the famed poet Oscar Wilde, and many people

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Speaker 1: described Dolly as sort of the female counterpart to her

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Speaker 1: infamous uncle, who had died in nineteen hundred. Dolly was

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Speaker 1: a woman who was managed, she loved other women, She

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Speaker 1: drove ambulances like Joe, and she actually lived in the

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Speaker 1: shared flat that Joe was living in Paris. Joe learned

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Speaker 1: from Dolly the art of cultivating this theatrical persona. Dolly

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Speaker 1: was at the center of the bohemian social scene in Paris,

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Speaker 1: whereas Joe was out on the edges. Joe watched as

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Speaker 1: Dolly ar armed everybody around her, only to forget the

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Speaker 1: promises and appointments that she made basically as soon as

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Speaker 1: she made them. We don't know how the affair between

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Speaker 1: Joe and Dolly came to an end, but this friendship

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00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,239
Speaker 1: left Joe with the sense that she could herself cultivate

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Speaker 1: a male alter ego. Yeah, and it was never specifically

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Speaker 1: spelled out in any of the things I read, but

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Speaker 1: it seems that it was during this time in Paris

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Speaker 1: that she started going pretty much exclusively by the name

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Speaker 1: Joe Uh and her mother was actually also living in

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Speaker 1: Paris at this time. She met her fourth husband there

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventeen, when Evelyn became a laboratory assistant at

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Speaker 1: the College de France, and his name was Sergei Voronov,

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Speaker 1: and he was a surgeon, and she was assigned to

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Speaker 1: him as an assistant. And Voronov conducted many experiments involving

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Speaker 1: testicular pulpe as a cure as like a curative agent,

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Speaker 1: as well as testicular grafting as a therapeutic measure. He

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Speaker 1: did some kind of wacky science. Uh. Voronoff was not

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Speaker 1: always taken seriously by the medical community, but Evelyn seemed

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Speaker 1: to really believe in him. She presented papers with him.

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Speaker 1: She worked dutifully at his side, and her family's money

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00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:18,280
Speaker 1: was funding most of his research. When rumors reached Evelyn

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Speaker 1: that Joe was having lesbian affairs, she invited, or, as

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Speaker 1: Joe characterized it, summoned her daughter to visit her. When

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Speaker 1: Joe arrived, her mother confronted her about her sexuality and

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Speaker 1: told her that she needed to get married or she

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Speaker 1: would lose all her rights to the family money. And

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Speaker 1: when Joe retold this, she made a series of tapes

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies with the intent that she was

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Speaker 1: going to find a ghostwriter to write her autobiography. The

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Speaker 1: way she talks about it is that she completely didn't care.

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Speaker 1: She blew off her mother's threat. She told her to

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Speaker 1: go ahead and disinherit her, but in truth she actually

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Speaker 1: acquiesced through a bit of a loophole. In nineteen eighteen,

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Speaker 1: Joe actually married her childhood friend, Count Jacques du Pray,

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Speaker 1: who was rumored to actually be one of Evelyn's lovers.

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Speaker 1: So there's some speculation that Joe particularly selected this man

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Speaker 1: just to spite her mother by saying, fine, I'll marry

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Speaker 1: a guy that you are romantically involved with. Uh, Jacques

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00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:25,080
Speaker 1: and Joe never consummated their marriage. They basically agreed to

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00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,640
Speaker 1: split the ten thousand dollar dowry and go their separate

259
00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,400
Speaker 1: ways immediately after the wedding. When the war ended, Joe

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00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,480
Speaker 1: moved from Paris to London, and she often spoke of

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00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,280
Speaker 1: having met her father, Albert Carstairs, quite by chance in

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00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,200
Speaker 1: a pub there. In this story, which may or may

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Speaker 1: not be true, he mistook her for a boy and

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00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,920
Speaker 1: then she introduced herself as his daughter, but two of

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00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,720
Speaker 1: them shared a cigar and a drink and then parted ways,

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Speaker 1: never to see one another again. Yeah, we have no

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00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:57,440
Speaker 1: idea whether this actually happened or not. Her biographer that

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00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,160
Speaker 1: we mentioned before is quick to point out that some

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Speaker 1: of the things that Joe said happened during this discussion

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00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,360
Speaker 1: or that she talked about with her father, including the

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00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,160
Speaker 1: death of her mother, hadn't actually happened yet. Her mother

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00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:12,880
Speaker 1: was still alive at this point, so the timeline does

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00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,320
Speaker 1: not match up in Joe's recollection. So there are some

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00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,720
Speaker 1: red flags that there at least some falsehoods in this

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00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,880
Speaker 1: whole thing. So we don't know if it actually took place.

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Speaker 1: But eventually Joe made her way to Ireland to drive

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Speaker 1: British officers in the ongoing war against Shinfane as part

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Speaker 1: of the Women's Legion Mechanical Transport Section. And while she

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00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,600
Speaker 1: was doing this, she befriended two sisters, Molly and Bartieklklow,

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Speaker 1: who took her in and the three were really fast friends.

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Speaker 1: In n the three of them all volunteered to go

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Speaker 1: to northern France to relieve mail drivers there. This was

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00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,760
Speaker 1: not an easy job. They were driving in areas that

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00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,040
Speaker 1: had been destroyed and the rough terrain really took a

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00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,000
Speaker 1: toll on all the cars. The young women, along with

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00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,360
Speaker 1: another friend named Joan McKern handled all the needed repairs

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00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,880
Speaker 1: themselves while also tending to soldiers, reburying fallen men who

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00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,480
Speaker 1: had been put into temporary graves, and trying to clear debris.

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00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,960
Speaker 1: Joe and her friends were demobilized on April twenty, nineteen twenty,

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Speaker 1: and just a week after this driving service ended, Joe's grandmother, Nellie,

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00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,440
Speaker 1: died from a heart attack. Nellie had actually had several

292
00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:24,880
Speaker 1: strokes before this and had survived them all every time

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00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,160
Speaker 1: people thought that this was her time to go, but

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00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,600
Speaker 1: it was finally a heart attack that took her. And

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00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,040
Speaker 1: while Joe claimed to have been living on almost no

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00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,720
Speaker 1: income at this point, while she awaited the execution of

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00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,560
Speaker 1: her grandmother's will. That information was a fabrication. Nellie had

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00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,680
Speaker 1: actually set up a trust so that her grandchildren would

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00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,040
Speaker 1: be taken care of, and Joe never once wanted for money.

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00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,240
Speaker 1: For example, in ninety one, she was paid out an

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00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,160
Speaker 1: income of a hundred and forty five thousand dollars, and

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00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,200
Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty two that income jumped to two hundred

303
00:16:55,200 --> 00:17:00,680
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Evelyn died in nine While her was likely

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00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,080
Speaker 1: Drugger alcohol related, it was officially recorded as being from

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00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:09,639
Speaker 1: natural causes. Joe, however, blamed or enough, even suggesting that

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00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:14,240
Speaker 1: he had somehow murdered her mother. After Evelyn's passing, Joe

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00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,720
Speaker 1: had her marriage to her childhood friend annulled. Yep, that

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00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,280
Speaker 1: was just for show for her mom. Uh. But despite

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00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,600
Speaker 1: the generous annual income that Joe was getting, she still

310
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,439
Speaker 1: didn't own up to it. She still claimed that she

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00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:31,720
Speaker 1: wasn't getting any money. She They're even stories that she

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00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,439
Speaker 1: went so far as to like steal things that she needed,

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00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:36,960
Speaker 1: like food, when she could have easily paid for them.

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Speaker 1: She seemed to really just love living this more humble

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00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,679
Speaker 1: life and spending time with her friends, and this is

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00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,199
Speaker 1: after their again their war services drivers has had ended,

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00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,800
Speaker 1: so she suggested that they all pool their earnings. Joe,

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00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,280
Speaker 1: at this point, again living this life where she feigned

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00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,640
Speaker 1: to not have an income, was perfectly happy to take jobs,

320
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,320
Speaker 1: working as a bartend, her on a chicken farm. At

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00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,000
Speaker 1: one point she worked as a car demonstrator. But she

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00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:07,040
Speaker 1: wanted all of these women she had become friends with

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00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,679
Speaker 1: to pool their money and set up a chauffeur business

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00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:14,640
Speaker 1: in London. The service, which was called X Garage, was successful,

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00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,840
Speaker 1: and because such a service run by women was really novel,

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00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:21,080
Speaker 1: it got the attention of a lot of the press.

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00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,639
Speaker 1: At one point, partner Joan McKern told the press that

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00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,920
Speaker 1: they had decided to hire only women. She said, after

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00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,520
Speaker 1: employing both men and girls, we have found that the

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00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:35,360
Speaker 1: girls are much more adaptable and trustworthy. And during this

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00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,920
Speaker 1: time Joe had secured an estate to live on in Hampshire.

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00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,560
Speaker 1: There were two army huts on the property that were

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00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:44,640
Speaker 1: converted into a bungalow and Joe named this little house

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00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,639
Speaker 1: Bostwick and she lived there more or less in seclusion.

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Speaker 1: This is also when she bought her first boat, which

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00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,200
Speaker 1: was a yacht named Sonja, and Joe quickly became extremely

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00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,000
Speaker 1: skilled as a yachts woman, and so she started racing.

338
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,960
Speaker 1: Would prove to be quite a year for Joe. For

339
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,080
Speaker 1: one thing, Sonia was extremely successful. It won almost every

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00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 1: race in its class. This is also the year that

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00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,240
Speaker 1: the wills of Nellie and Evelyn were finally settled. In

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00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,840
Speaker 1: the case of Evelyn's estate, both Francis Francis and Sergei

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00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,680
Speaker 1: voronoff ward with Joe about how the will would be executed.

344
00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,080
Speaker 1: The men clearly felt that in having annulled her marriage,

345
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:28,160
Speaker 1: Joe had given up the rights to the family money. Eventually, though,

346
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,439
Speaker 1: Evelyn's estate was all div divvied up, and Joe also

347
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,560
Speaker 1: came into a large inheritance from her grandmother's will as well,

348
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,280
Speaker 1: so she could really no longer hide the fact that

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00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,320
Speaker 1: she was wealthy. At this point, these sorts of things

350
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:46,880
Speaker 1: were being reported in the papers and so in. At

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00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,440
Speaker 1: this point, Joe was flush with cash, and she decided

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00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,240
Speaker 1: that she was going to commission a hydroplane to be

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00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,520
Speaker 1: built for her. And that's hydroplane in the sense of

354
00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:00,119
Speaker 1: the very fast vote. Celebrated designer Samuel Saunders was and

355
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 1: trusted the TA with the task of creating this speedboat

356
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,560
Speaker 1: for Joe, and it was only one of two boats

357
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,760
Speaker 1: built at the East Cow's Yard on the Isle of

358
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: Wight that year. These were extremely expensive boats, so they

359
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,000
Speaker 1: really didn't make that many of them. And initially this

360
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,359
Speaker 1: boat was going to be called Gwen, but when it

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00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 1: capsized during testing, Joe decided to simply reverse the name

362
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,199
Speaker 1: and call it nug Any w g instead, so it

363
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 1: was re christened. This boat came with saunders own mechanic,

364
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:32,000
Speaker 1: Joe Harris the Joe's Carstairs and Harris were devoted friends

365
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:34,959
Speaker 1: from that point on. Harris rode with Joe in almost

366
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,639
Speaker 1: every race and was steadfast and loyal even when they

367
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 1: were in dangerous situations. Yeah, Joe often pointed out Joe

368
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:46,720
Speaker 1: Carstairs that when Harris rode with her, his seat by design,

369
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 1: was just not as safe as hers. If something happened,

370
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,280
Speaker 1: he was going to go flying, whereas sort of the

371
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 1: captain's seat, the driver's seat would had some safety measures

372
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,440
Speaker 1: around it. Uh. They are said to have had sort

373
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,880
Speaker 1: of a fatherly daughterly relationship in many ways, but they

374
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,600
Speaker 1: were incredibly close. However, a new figure that is very

375
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:09,119
Speaker 1: unusual is about to enter Joe's life, and we're going

376
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,760
Speaker 1: to talk about that right after a brief word from

377
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,560
Speaker 1: one of our fabulous sponsors. So getting back to Joe Carstairs.

378
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 1: At the end of Joe and her girlfriend at the time,

379
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,480
Speaker 1: Ruth Baldwin, traveled to the Swiss Alps for Christmas, and

380
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,919
Speaker 1: it's there that Ruth gave Joe what would become a

381
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,119
Speaker 1: lifelong prize possession. This was a small leather doll. It

382
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,919
Speaker 1: was stuffed with jointed arms and legs, and it was

383
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 1: a little man. And Joe named this small leather gentleman

384
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,200
Speaker 1: Lord Todd Wadley, and she treasured him utterly. Joe and

385
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,680
Speaker 1: Ruth set up a house together near King's Road in Chelsea,

386
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 1: and Joe had a plaque made for the front door

387
00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:52,200
Speaker 1: that read Marian Barbara Carstairs and Lord Todd Wadley. While

388
00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 1: Joe and Ruth seemed to have a really deep and

389
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,840
Speaker 1: abiding love for one another, their relationship was not exclusive.

390
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 1: In Joe and her boat nug raced for the Duke

391
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,480
Speaker 1: of York's trophy on the Thames, an event attended by

392
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of spectators, and in the end it

393
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,920
Speaker 1: came down to Nuke and a German boat called Seagreed four,

394
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,720
Speaker 1: but the German hydroplanes connecting rod Broke Nug had trouble

395
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,200
Speaker 1: as well. The propeller got caught on a piece of

396
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 1: rope that was in the water, and Joe hacked at

397
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,159
Speaker 1: the rope to cut it free and eventually finished the

398
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: race and was the only competitor to do so. From

399
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: then on, Joe's fame and her career as a speedboat

400
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,320
Speaker 1: racer really grew. There's a famous portrait taken of Joe

401
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:38,719
Speaker 1: in those early days, and she had gotten drunk and

402
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,360
Speaker 1: had her arms tattooed, and in the photo they're bared

403
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: showing off her tattoos, and she also has Lord Todd

404
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,360
Speaker 1: Wadley sitting underneath facing her. She's wearing men's clothes, there's

405
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 1: a cigarette in her mouth, and she's then profile gazing

406
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,360
Speaker 1: down at this doll. It is it's quite a striking image,

407
00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 1: and she and Lord Todd Wadley are dressed almost the same.

408
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 1: It's a very wonderfully strange, sort of beautiful moments. Uh

409
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 1: in the nine twenties in Europe were really sort of

410
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,280
Speaker 1: the perfect time and place for Joe. She loved her speedboats,

411
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 1: which were wildly popular. She loved the debauchery and rule

412
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,439
Speaker 1: bending that was going on at the time. She had

413
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,440
Speaker 1: affairs with numerous actresses at the London stage, including to

414
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: Lula Bankhead, all the while sort of playing the dandy

415
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:28,199
Speaker 1: in these impeccably tailored suits, and in some ways it

416
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,359
Speaker 1: was a uniquely free time to be doing these sorts

417
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: of things. So she was taking on the boyishness that

418
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: was to some degree already in vogue and women's fashion.

419
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:42,040
Speaker 1: You know, women that were playing hyper femininity even were

420
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 1: you know, binding their breasts so that they looked like

421
00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:46,399
Speaker 1: they had more boyish figures, and there was the bobbing

422
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: of hair, and femininity was even being played with. So

423
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,959
Speaker 1: Joe sort of took that kind of concept and really

424
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,200
Speaker 1: just floored it into a full gender switch, which seemed

425
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,639
Speaker 1: to be really sort of oddly accepted, at least in

426
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 1: the theater and party set of London that she ran in.

427
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,520
Speaker 1: And as Joe had basically conquered the speedboat world in

428
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,480
Speaker 1: Nuke's class, she wanted to move on to another challenge.

429
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,159
Speaker 1: She once again commissioned Samuel Saunders, and this time she

430
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 1: wanted to create three incredibly fast hydroplanes for her she

431
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,440
Speaker 1: wanted the fastest craft on water, and they were reputed

432
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: to be able to zip along at a hundred miles

433
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: an hour. That sounds terrifying to me. I am clearly

434
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: not a speed freak. I was just on a boat

435
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: that was going much slower than that, and it was

436
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 1: still like a but being up in the front of

437
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: it just a pounding experience. Yeah, my dad really loved, loves,

438
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: continues to love speedy things. He raced cars when he

439
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 1: was younger. He really loved speedboats, and I always remember

440
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,680
Speaker 1: just being terrified on them when I was a kid.

441
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: But the first of these, uh, the first two of

442
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 1: these three boats that Joe had commissioned were unveiled in

443
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: and they had the names Estelle one and a Stell too,

444
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,439
Speaker 1: after her mother. If this sounds weird, it is because

445
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: this ended up being a little bit of a whoopsie

446
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 1: Daisy scenario. Joe, who had always been so intent on

447
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: bucking off her family history in favor of creating her

448
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: own identity, had actually forgotten that her mother's name was

449
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:22,400
Speaker 1: in fact Evelyn and not a Stell. And when Carstairs

450
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 1: realized her error, she wasn't even dismayed about it. She

451
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: thought it was all rather amusing, but both of the

452
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 1: watercraft proved to be pretty problematic. A Stell one sank

453
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: on one of its first outings and a Stell too

454
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 1: had problems as well, causing Joe to withdraw her entry

455
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,439
Speaker 1: from the Harmsworth Trophy Race. But then she heard that

456
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 1: her main competitor was also having trouble with his boats,

457
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,359
Speaker 1: so she once again announced her intent to participate. That

458
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 1: meant that she had to travel to Detroit for the race,

459
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,359
Speaker 1: and initially she had planned to take another boat designed

460
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,359
Speaker 1: by Saunter's firm across the Atlantic, but that ship too

461
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 1: had problems during testing, and this series of failures actually

462
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: resulted in one of the designers that worked under Shaunders

463
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 1: being fired from the firm, and instead of one of

464
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 1: her custom design speedsters, Joe ended up making the trans

465
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:15,080
Speaker 1: Atlantic crossed crossing in the Cunard Liner Berengaria, which she

466
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 1: apparently fell in love with. When she reached the United States,

467
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,679
Speaker 1: Joe posed for photos with Lord Todd Wadley and she

468
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,880
Speaker 1: made headlines. One paper called her a puzzler Colan Mannish

469
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: thanks us paper for that in fight. Another another referred

470
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 1: to her as the pretty English motor boat racer. The

471
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: press has also called her Betty, and some of their

472
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 1: coverage based on her middle name of Barbara, which she

473
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: really hated. She super duper hated that Betty thing. And

474
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: it's funny looking back at, uh, some of the old

475
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 1: accounts of it where they're talking about, you know, famed

476
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 1: woman speedster Betty Carstairs, and I'm like, where did they

477
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 1: even come up with? She really really disliked it a

478
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: great deal. The important thing was the race. Uh. Joe,

479
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,160
Speaker 1: with Joe Harris at her side, as usual, did incredibly well.

480
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 1: This race was really close and it was really exciting

481
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 1: right up until a stell To capsized, throwing both Joe's

482
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: from the vessel. Joe Carstairs initially seemed unharmed. Joe Harris

483
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:21,679
Speaker 1: they were a little bit worried about. They had to

484
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: pull him out of the water and it turned out

485
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 1: he had broke into ribs. Later it was revealed that

486
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: the Heiress had actually also cracked three of her ribs.

487
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 1: But she didn't want to miss any parties, so she

488
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: didn't tell anybody and just went about her business. Uh.

489
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: She also as she went to these parties, started rumors

490
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: that American competitors had purposely sabotaged her boat. Despite her

491
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,160
Speaker 1: difficulty in the race, she was praised in the press

492
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: for her prowess. She returned to London and dismayed at

493
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 1: the series of blunders on the part of the Saunders Farm,

494
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 1: set up her own boatyard, headed by Joe Harris as

495
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:03,399
Speaker 1: chief engineer. And that is actually where we're gonna, cliffhang you, uh.

496
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 1: In the next episode, We're gonna talk about the next

497
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: stages of Joe's racing career. We're eventually going to veer

498
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 1: off to the Bahamas. Things get a little more eccentric

499
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 1: and odd. Uh. But she's so fascinating. I just I

500
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,120
Speaker 1: really want to take the time to talk about all

501
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,639
Speaker 1: of these sort of strange little snippets of her life.

502
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: So in lieu of listener mail today, I actually have

503
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: a listener thank you that I have to send out

504
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 1: to our listener, Heather. I think it was on Facebook

505
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:33,920
Speaker 1: and I have had difficulty locating it. But at one

506
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 1: point things had come up about Roly Crump, who was

507
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: an imagineer at the Haunted Mint for the Haunted Mansion

508
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: and other Disney projects, and Heather had mentioned that she

509
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 1: had this comic book called Seekers of The Weird, which

510
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 1: I also have in love that was based on his

511
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 1: early drawings that got kind of put aside that weren't

512
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,400
Speaker 1: part of the museum that was supposed to eventually be

513
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,320
Speaker 1: built as part of the attraction by Walt, but was,

514
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 1: as I said, discarded. So this comic came out in

515
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. It's very, very fun. And

516
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,280
Speaker 1: Heather had mentioned that she had an extra copy that

517
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: had been signed and she would happily send it to me,

518
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 1: and I actually never responded to her because I almost

519
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,200
Speaker 1: didn't know how like I'm reluctant to be like yes

520
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: and me stuff, but I was also just so touched

521
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:18,520
Speaker 1: by the offer that I didn't know what to do.

522
00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: And then the comics showed up last week, and um,

523
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 1: it's spectacular because it's signed by Roally Crump, which is

524
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 1: incredibly meaningful as well as the other creators, and it's

525
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 1: so fabulous, and it came on a day when I

526
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 1: was just having not my finest hour, so it was

527
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: really like perfect timing and so touching. And Heather, You're

528
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,719
Speaker 1: so generous. I cannot thank you enough. I treasure it. Uh,

529
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,560
Speaker 1: it's absolutely a delight, So thank you, thank you, Thank you.

530
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 1: We have so many great listeners and they are often

531
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: so kind and generous to us, and I feel like

532
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 1: we have to point those out when we can, so

533
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 1: if you would like to write to us, you can

534
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: do so at History Podcast at house stepworks dot com.

535
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 1: You can connect with this at Facebook dot com, slash

536
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 1: missed Industry on Twitter, at mis in History at pinterest

537
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: dot com, slash missed in History at misston History dot

538
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: tumbler dot com. You can visit us at mist in

539
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: History dot spreadshirt dot com if you would like to

540
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 1: purchase some stuff to miss in History class goodies, and

541
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: we have a brand new Instagram account as missed in

542
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: History and we'll be posting some hopefully fun kookie at

543
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 1: times pictures there. If you would like to research a

544
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: little bit more about what we talked about today, you

545
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 1: can go to our parents site, how stuff Works. Type

546
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: in the word gender in the search bar, and one

547
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 1: of the articles that you're gonna come up with is

548
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: how fluid is gender? Uh. You can research at that

549
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: at how some Works. You can visit us at mist

550
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: in history dot com for all of our episodes, show

551
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: notes on any of the episodes that Tracy and I

552
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 1: have worked on as well as the occasional other additional

553
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: blog post or goodie, so we encourage you to come

554
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 1: visit us at how st work dot com and miss

555
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: in history dot com for more on this and thousands

556
00:30:54,400 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: of other topics. Because it has to works dot com

557
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:01,560
Speaker 1: into