1 00:00:16,115 --> 00:00:30,275 Speaker 1: Pushkin the Last Archive A History of Truth? 2 00:00:36,075 --> 00:00:38,355 Speaker 2: Are you going to answer that? I don't want to 3 00:00:38,395 --> 00:00:40,395 Speaker 2: tell you what to do, but you're listening to this 4 00:00:40,475 --> 00:00:46,835 Speaker 2: on your phone and your phone is ringing. Fine, I'll 5 00:00:46,875 --> 00:00:47,315 Speaker 2: answer it. 6 00:00:48,675 --> 00:00:49,155 Speaker 3: Oh. 7 00:00:49,315 --> 00:00:53,275 Speaker 2: It's a character from a movie made in the nineteen fifties, Wiretapper. 8 00:00:54,155 --> 00:00:57,755 Speaker 4: Could you develop equipment to listen in on a telephone? 9 00:00:57,995 --> 00:01:01,075 Speaker 4: That is, record a conversation without the owner knowing anything 10 00:01:01,115 --> 00:01:01,435 Speaker 4: about it? 11 00:01:02,795 --> 00:01:07,355 Speaker 2: Wiretapper tells the story of Big Jim Voss, an electronics 12 00:01:07,355 --> 00:01:10,715 Speaker 2: guy in Los Angeles who gets work bugging and slowly 13 00:01:10,755 --> 00:01:13,715 Speaker 2: but surely gets sucked into a criminal underworld and winds 14 00:01:13,755 --> 00:01:16,635 Speaker 2: up becoming a pretty big deal. There's this scene that 15 00:01:16,675 --> 00:01:19,355 Speaker 2: shows the moment he becomes a wire tapper. You can 16 00:01:19,395 --> 00:01:21,555 Speaker 2: tell he's hanging out with the mob because they're sitting 17 00:01:21,555 --> 00:01:24,275 Speaker 2: around smoking, listening to jazz. 18 00:01:25,035 --> 00:01:29,355 Speaker 5: Wiretapping is illegal, mister Remstey, just that the question, I 19 00:01:29,355 --> 00:01:30,515 Speaker 5: could put the equipment together. 20 00:01:31,835 --> 00:01:34,715 Speaker 2: The movie hit theaters early in nineteen fifty five. That 21 00:01:34,875 --> 00:01:38,515 Speaker 2: same year, a best selling book called Wiretap was in stores. 22 00:01:38,835 --> 00:01:40,955 Speaker 2: Columbia Pictures was said to be working on a movie 23 00:01:40,955 --> 00:01:43,995 Speaker 2: called The wire Tappers. The stuff was all over the place. 24 00:01:44,515 --> 00:01:46,315 Speaker 2: It was still a new thing for some people to 25 00:01:46,355 --> 00:01:48,195 Speaker 2: have a phone in their house, and people were a 26 00:01:48,235 --> 00:01:51,675 Speaker 2: little itchy about it. The newspapers kept writing stories about 27 00:01:51,675 --> 00:01:55,835 Speaker 2: the dangers of wire tapping. Someone was listening in wiretapper 28 00:01:55,875 --> 00:01:59,035 Speaker 2: of the movie was tapping straight into that fear. The 29 00:01:59,075 --> 00:02:01,395 Speaker 2: ads for the film read, if you're on the phone, 30 00:02:01,755 --> 00:02:02,795 Speaker 2: you're not safe. 31 00:02:04,155 --> 00:02:06,755 Speaker 4: Even the police aren't a lot of tap private wires. 32 00:02:07,035 --> 00:02:10,195 Speaker 4: Here's five hundred, there'll be another five. I have you 33 00:02:10,235 --> 00:02:11,235 Speaker 4: do a good job. 34 00:02:11,795 --> 00:02:15,955 Speaker 5: I guess if it's for the police, eh, it'll be 35 00:02:15,995 --> 00:02:16,435 Speaker 5: all right. 36 00:02:17,315 --> 00:02:19,875 Speaker 2: So this movie at first seemed to me like pretty 37 00:02:19,875 --> 00:02:23,075 Speaker 2: straightforward in noir stuff. But it wasn't made by a 38 00:02:23,075 --> 00:02:26,955 Speaker 2: major studio like Warner Bruthers or MGM or Columbia. It 39 00:02:26,995 --> 00:02:30,275 Speaker 2: was made by the most famous evangelical Christian in the country, 40 00:02:30,675 --> 00:02:34,755 Speaker 2: the Minister Billy Graham, which maybe I should have suspected 41 00:02:34,755 --> 00:02:35,955 Speaker 2: from all the church scenes. 42 00:02:36,755 --> 00:02:39,315 Speaker 6: The Bible says, what shall it properer man? He be 43 00:02:39,355 --> 00:02:41,515 Speaker 6: gained the whole world and lose his home soul. 44 00:02:42,595 --> 00:02:45,795 Speaker 2: So this put a pretty big question in my mind. 45 00:02:45,995 --> 00:02:49,115 Speaker 2: Why was the most famous evangelist in America making a 46 00:02:49,115 --> 00:02:51,875 Speaker 2: movie in the nineteen fifties about how if you're on 47 00:02:51,955 --> 00:02:55,795 Speaker 2: the phone, you're not safe. Pulling on this thread. It 48 00:02:55,835 --> 00:02:58,315 Speaker 2: turned out to be like yanking on a telephone gable 49 00:02:58,675 --> 00:03:02,075 Speaker 2: and discovering that it's wired up to everything in the 50 00:03:02,195 --> 00:03:08,595 Speaker 2: United States. Welcome to Season four of The Last Archive, 51 00:03:09,275 --> 00:03:11,355 Speaker 2: the show about how we know what we know, how 52 00:03:11,355 --> 00:03:13,915 Speaker 2: we used to know things, and why it seems sometimes 53 00:03:13,995 --> 00:03:16,795 Speaker 2: lately as if we don't know anything at all. I'm 54 00:03:16,795 --> 00:03:21,995 Speaker 2: Ben Matta Haffrey. Today's episode, We're Tapping the Phones. I 55 00:03:22,075 --> 00:03:25,595 Speaker 2: was watching that movie Wiretapper, because I've gotten curious about 56 00:03:25,595 --> 00:03:27,235 Speaker 2: the history of a feeling. I think a lot of 57 00:03:27,275 --> 00:03:30,555 Speaker 2: people have. Now we're all on our phones all the time, 58 00:03:31,035 --> 00:03:33,155 Speaker 2: and I at least have pretty much accepted that I'm 59 00:03:33,235 --> 00:03:36,955 Speaker 2: constantly being surveiled, if not by wiretappers and cops, then 60 00:03:36,995 --> 00:03:41,155 Speaker 2: by companies and bots. But this weird intersection of phone 61 00:03:41,155 --> 00:03:44,555 Speaker 2: anxieties in American religion in the fifties caught me off guard. 62 00:03:45,115 --> 00:03:48,515 Speaker 2: I wanted to understand how those things fit together, So 63 00:03:48,995 --> 00:03:52,275 Speaker 2: I dug into the absolutely unhinged story behind that film, 64 00:03:52,675 --> 00:03:57,275 Speaker 2: a story about the telephone, American spirituality, and most of all, 65 00:03:57,795 --> 00:04:04,075 Speaker 2: that wiretapper, Big Jim Voss. Because it turns out He's 66 00:04:04,115 --> 00:04:15,115 Speaker 2: a real guy. 67 00:04:09,835 --> 00:04:14,075 Speaker 3: Yarn and raised in the city of Los Angeles, the 68 00:04:14,235 --> 00:04:15,275 Speaker 3: son of a preacher. 69 00:04:16,755 --> 00:04:20,035 Speaker 2: Jim Voss, son of a preacher, grew up in Los Angeles. 70 00:04:20,435 --> 00:04:24,235 Speaker 2: His first phone number was Broadway sixteen zero seven. That 71 00:04:24,395 --> 00:04:26,355 Speaker 2: was more important than the son of a preacher thing, 72 00:04:26,795 --> 00:04:29,355 Speaker 2: because Big Jim wasn't on track to become a preacher 73 00:04:29,435 --> 00:04:31,955 Speaker 2: like his father. He was on track to become a 74 00:04:31,995 --> 00:04:33,035 Speaker 2: telephone criminal. 75 00:04:35,795 --> 00:04:39,675 Speaker 7: His father was definitely, you know, on the fundamentalist side. 76 00:04:40,035 --> 00:04:44,635 Speaker 7: He had two sisters, but being the only boy, I 77 00:04:44,635 --> 00:04:47,235 Speaker 7: think there were a lot of expectations that he would 78 00:04:47,315 --> 00:04:49,635 Speaker 7: go into the ministry himself. 79 00:04:50,515 --> 00:04:52,835 Speaker 2: Will Voss one of Big Jim's kids, who wrote a 80 00:04:52,835 --> 00:04:56,355 Speaker 2: book about his father's life. Like his grandfather, Will is 81 00:04:56,355 --> 00:04:59,035 Speaker 2: a minister. I called him up to talk about his 82 00:04:59,115 --> 00:05:01,635 Speaker 2: dad and just to say if the interviews in this 83 00:05:01,675 --> 00:05:05,035 Speaker 2: episode sound different than usual, it's because I recorded them 84 00:05:05,195 --> 00:05:06,155 Speaker 2: by tapping my phone. 85 00:05:07,115 --> 00:05:11,835 Speaker 7: You know, he really struggled with the level of expectation 86 00:05:12,155 --> 00:05:15,835 Speaker 7: that was there, and in his younger life really rebelled 87 00:05:15,955 --> 00:05:18,435 Speaker 7: against just the whole upbringing. 88 00:05:19,595 --> 00:05:22,195 Speaker 2: This is a kind way of saying that from childhood on, 89 00:05:22,675 --> 00:05:24,475 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss was always in. 90 00:05:24,435 --> 00:05:27,075 Speaker 3: Trouble thata guy would sell them out of it. 91 00:05:28,235 --> 00:05:31,315 Speaker 2: Voss grew up during the Great Depression, but he decided 92 00:05:31,355 --> 00:05:34,035 Speaker 2: the reason his family was poor was because his parents 93 00:05:34,075 --> 00:05:37,995 Speaker 2: were Christians. He wanted to get rich. When he was little, 94 00:05:38,115 --> 00:05:40,195 Speaker 2: his parents took in borders to earn a little bit 95 00:05:40,195 --> 00:05:42,755 Speaker 2: of extra cash, and there was one man who was 96 00:05:42,795 --> 00:05:46,635 Speaker 2: always building radios. Voss would sit in the border's room 97 00:05:46,755 --> 00:05:50,075 Speaker 2: and watch. Eventually, the man taught Kid Jim had to 98 00:05:50,115 --> 00:05:54,235 Speaker 2: tinker himself, and he fell in love with sound machines, radios, 99 00:05:54,435 --> 00:05:58,515 Speaker 2: microphones phones. Pretty quickly. He realized that one of the 100 00:05:58,515 --> 00:06:00,875 Speaker 2: best parts about this gear was that he'll let you 101 00:06:00,995 --> 00:06:02,755 Speaker 2: hear things you weren't supposed to. 102 00:06:04,235 --> 00:06:10,155 Speaker 7: His first wired top experience is that he wired his 103 00:06:10,795 --> 00:06:13,555 Speaker 7: sister's date in the family home. 104 00:06:14,315 --> 00:06:17,675 Speaker 2: He was about twelve. His sister's boyfriend was coming over. 105 00:06:18,195 --> 00:06:21,315 Speaker 2: Kid Jim dug around his electronics stash, snuck into the 106 00:06:21,355 --> 00:06:24,515 Speaker 2: living room and hit a microphone behind the couch. He 107 00:06:24,635 --> 00:06:26,315 Speaker 2: ran a wire from it out a window to a 108 00:06:26,355 --> 00:06:28,155 Speaker 2: speaker in the backyard, and then. 109 00:06:28,635 --> 00:06:31,235 Speaker 7: Sold tickets to kids in the neighborhood to come listen 110 00:06:31,795 --> 00:06:34,395 Speaker 7: to his sister's conversation with her boyfriend. 111 00:06:35,155 --> 00:06:40,075 Speaker 2: This is like his origin story that combination spying, recording devices, 112 00:06:40,195 --> 00:06:44,635 Speaker 2: money betrayal. That was the story of Big Jim Voss' 113 00:06:44,715 --> 00:06:50,355 Speaker 2: life in college at Bible School, he claimed he'd set 114 00:06:50,435 --> 00:06:53,075 Speaker 2: up a fundraiser for the yearbook where people paid to 115 00:06:53,115 --> 00:06:56,915 Speaker 2: watch a long distance call from Los Angeles to Africa. Then, 116 00:06:57,035 --> 00:06:59,555 Speaker 2: according to his son Will, he embezzled the money and 117 00:06:59,555 --> 00:07:02,355 Speaker 2: he flew to Florida. He got away with that, But 118 00:07:02,515 --> 00:07:05,115 Speaker 2: it was mugging an old man at gunpoint that supposedly 119 00:07:05,155 --> 00:07:08,155 Speaker 2: finally landed him in prison. He left his driver's license 120 00:07:08,195 --> 00:07:10,915 Speaker 2: at the scene. But Big is like a cat with 121 00:07:11,075 --> 00:07:14,075 Speaker 2: nine lives. World War II was for most people not 122 00:07:14,155 --> 00:07:17,355 Speaker 2: a good thing. For Jim Voss, it was great because, 123 00:07:17,395 --> 00:07:20,275 Speaker 2: he says, he left prison, got drafted, and was put 124 00:07:20,355 --> 00:07:22,675 Speaker 2: to work using his electronic skills. 125 00:07:23,235 --> 00:07:25,595 Speaker 3: The army was good to me, wiped out the record 126 00:07:25,635 --> 00:07:28,875 Speaker 3: of conviction, detailed me to duty on the West Coast. 127 00:07:29,715 --> 00:07:31,595 Speaker 2: This tape, by the way, is from a speech Foss 128 00:07:31,595 --> 00:07:33,875 Speaker 2: gave a couple of years before that Wire Tapper movie 129 00:07:33,915 --> 00:07:36,635 Speaker 2: came out. This is his version of his life story. 130 00:07:36,955 --> 00:07:39,675 Speaker 2: The story that movie is based on, the story whose 131 00:07:39,675 --> 00:07:42,355 Speaker 2: significance I'm trying to understand a lot of It is 132 00:07:42,395 --> 00:07:45,795 Speaker 2: probably fluff, but there's important truths there if you sift 133 00:07:45,835 --> 00:07:49,755 Speaker 2: for them. First truth, this is a story about how 134 00:07:49,755 --> 00:07:52,035 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss was bad news. 135 00:07:53,195 --> 00:07:58,915 Speaker 3: Finally was court marshaled again, this time for misuse of priorities, 136 00:07:59,035 --> 00:08:03,755 Speaker 3: misappropriation of government's property. I was sent in ten years hard. 137 00:08:03,595 --> 00:08:09,635 Speaker 2: Labor misappropriation of government property, basically stealing equipment from the army, 138 00:08:10,035 --> 00:08:12,555 Speaker 2: as he tells it. When the war ended he got out. 139 00:08:12,795 --> 00:08:14,955 Speaker 2: He moved back home to Los Angeles in his parents' 140 00:08:14,995 --> 00:08:20,235 Speaker 2: house to set up an electronics business. Now we're going 141 00:08:20,315 --> 00:08:22,675 Speaker 2: to leave Big Jim there for a moment, just a moment, 142 00:08:23,075 --> 00:08:25,915 Speaker 2: so I can tell you that that decade, the nineteen forties, 143 00:08:26,195 --> 00:08:28,635 Speaker 2: Americans were spending a lot of time on the phone. 144 00:08:30,195 --> 00:08:33,155 Speaker 2: The telephone had been around since eighteen seventy six, so 145 00:08:33,355 --> 00:08:36,235 Speaker 2: to me, the phone seems practically ancient compared to say, 146 00:08:36,275 --> 00:08:39,635 Speaker 2: the radio. But it was especially after the Second World 147 00:08:39,715 --> 00:08:43,795 Speaker 2: War that the telephone system really exploded for the first time. 148 00:08:44,115 --> 00:08:46,835 Speaker 2: More than half of Americans had phones in their homes. 149 00:08:47,315 --> 00:08:49,115 Speaker 2: You can hear the thrill of it in those post 150 00:08:49,195 --> 00:08:50,995 Speaker 2: war telephone ad campaigns. 151 00:08:51,475 --> 00:08:54,155 Speaker 5: Lift a telephone receiver and the world is at your 152 00:08:54,235 --> 00:08:58,875 Speaker 5: fingertaips speed and your voice spans oceans and continents with 153 00:08:58,955 --> 00:08:59,835 Speaker 5: the speed of light. 154 00:09:00,675 --> 00:09:03,675 Speaker 2: Everyone was getting a phone. There were ten thousand new 155 00:09:03,715 --> 00:09:06,635 Speaker 2: hookups a day. More people got telephones right after the 156 00:09:06,675 --> 00:09:09,475 Speaker 2: war ended than any other time in history up till them. 157 00:09:09,915 --> 00:09:12,555 Speaker 2: In the four years after the war, the system grew 158 00:09:12,595 --> 00:09:16,715 Speaker 2: by half, and in the sprawling, booming city of Los Angeles, 159 00:09:17,035 --> 00:09:19,955 Speaker 2: everyone was patching in. It had always been a big 160 00:09:19,995 --> 00:09:23,675 Speaker 2: phone city. As a historian Emily Bills points out, everyone 161 00:09:23,675 --> 00:09:27,675 Speaker 2: thinks cars la, but before there were cars, trolleys, or 162 00:09:27,715 --> 00:09:31,555 Speaker 2: even paved streets in downtown Los Angeles, there were telephone 163 00:09:31,595 --> 00:09:35,035 Speaker 2: lines criss crossing all over the place, and over time 164 00:09:35,315 --> 00:09:38,875 Speaker 2: it became a catch all technology. People used the phone 165 00:09:38,995 --> 00:09:41,315 Speaker 2: for everything, the means. 166 00:09:40,995 --> 00:09:47,555 Speaker 8: Were transacting business, the means for communicating information, for seeking help, 167 00:09:48,635 --> 00:09:50,915 Speaker 8: for keeping all friends in touch. 168 00:09:52,915 --> 00:09:55,715 Speaker 2: But people swiftly realized that the phone didn't just connect 169 00:09:55,755 --> 00:09:59,835 Speaker 2: you to everything, It connected everything to your living room. 170 00:10:00,115 --> 00:10:03,275 Speaker 2: That was a little anxiety inducing. Maybe all this connection 171 00:10:03,435 --> 00:10:05,675 Speaker 2: wasn't such a good thing after all. There was a 172 00:10:05,675 --> 00:10:08,195 Speaker 2: lot of concern about who might call, and the fact 173 00:10:08,235 --> 00:10:10,955 Speaker 2: that they might call at any hour. But even more 174 00:10:11,035 --> 00:10:14,435 Speaker 2: upsetting was the concern about who might be listening, which 175 00:10:14,475 --> 00:10:16,355 Speaker 2: was on a lot of people's minds because they were 176 00:10:16,395 --> 00:10:19,195 Speaker 2: all on something called a party line, which phone companies 177 00:10:19,195 --> 00:10:21,395 Speaker 2: spend a lot of time and money getting people used to. 178 00:10:22,635 --> 00:10:25,155 Speaker 5: You and the other fellow on your line can help 179 00:10:25,155 --> 00:10:28,875 Speaker 5: each other to better telephone service by simply being good 180 00:10:28,995 --> 00:10:30,195 Speaker 5: party line neighbors. 181 00:10:31,075 --> 00:10:33,875 Speaker 2: Party lines were shared lines that connected a few houses 182 00:10:33,915 --> 00:10:37,395 Speaker 2: to the network. Most phone users had them, so picking 183 00:10:37,515 --> 00:10:40,635 Speaker 2: up the phone and overhearing someone else's conversation was a 184 00:10:40,675 --> 00:10:44,955 Speaker 2: regular thing. I find that tension really interesting. Here was 185 00:10:44,995 --> 00:10:47,155 Speaker 2: a device that lets you speak one on one to 186 00:10:47,195 --> 00:10:49,435 Speaker 2: someone far away from the privacy of your own home. 187 00:10:49,955 --> 00:10:53,555 Speaker 2: It invited secrets, but it also gave you the constant 188 00:10:53,555 --> 00:10:55,755 Speaker 2: awareness that someone might be able to hear them at 189 00:10:55,755 --> 00:10:58,755 Speaker 2: any time. I feel that now when I Google something 190 00:10:58,995 --> 00:11:00,675 Speaker 2: and then the next day see ads for it all 191 00:11:00,715 --> 00:11:04,355 Speaker 2: over the place. This moment the nineteen forties, when a 192 00:11:04,355 --> 00:11:06,595 Speaker 2: lot of people were getting their phones and Big Jim 193 00:11:06,635 --> 00:11:10,275 Speaker 2: was in La setting up his electronics business, I think 194 00:11:10,275 --> 00:11:14,555 Speaker 2: that feeling began to go mainstream by the way people 195 00:11:14,595 --> 00:11:17,115 Speaker 2: called him Big Jim Voss, because what else do you 196 00:11:17,155 --> 00:11:19,595 Speaker 2: call a guy who's six foot four weighs three hundred 197 00:11:19,595 --> 00:11:22,035 Speaker 2: and twenty four pounds and is pursuing his passion for 198 00:11:22,075 --> 00:11:23,715 Speaker 2: electronics in his parents' basement. 199 00:11:24,315 --> 00:11:27,555 Speaker 3: Believe me, that's lige. Don't look so startled you've been 200 00:11:27,595 --> 00:11:28,475 Speaker 3: wondering anyway. 201 00:11:28,635 --> 00:11:33,995 Speaker 2: Imagine a guy that size, with slicked hair and big 202 00:11:34,115 --> 00:11:36,635 Speaker 2: v neck lapels like a linebacker, who kind of looks 203 00:11:36,675 --> 00:11:39,315 Speaker 2: like Elvis if you squint. He stood a head taller 204 00:11:39,355 --> 00:11:42,235 Speaker 2: than pretty much anyone else. With his life of crime 205 00:11:42,275 --> 00:11:45,475 Speaker 2: behind him, Big Jim went straight with his electronics business 206 00:11:45,555 --> 00:11:48,835 Speaker 2: at his parents' house for like two seconds. 207 00:11:49,195 --> 00:11:52,475 Speaker 3: One day, we were approached by the Los Angeles Police Department. 208 00:11:52,595 --> 00:11:55,755 Speaker 3: They wanted us to aid them in the development of 209 00:11:55,835 --> 00:11:58,995 Speaker 3: some equipment they thought would could have curbed crying. 210 00:12:00,155 --> 00:12:02,915 Speaker 2: The LAPD had found Big Jim kind of by accident. 211 00:12:03,315 --> 00:12:06,755 Speaker 2: A cop on their vice squad, Officer Charles Stoker, was 212 00:12:06,795 --> 00:12:09,755 Speaker 2: investigating a tip about an alleged prostitute living in an 213 00:12:09,875 --> 00:12:14,235 Speaker 2: apartment building. The other tenants had been complaining. When Stoker arrived, 214 00:12:14,355 --> 00:12:16,515 Speaker 2: he checked in with the manager, who happened to be 215 00:12:16,635 --> 00:12:20,235 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss, helping out a friend. Luckily for us, 216 00:12:20,395 --> 00:12:23,235 Speaker 2: Stoker was very much the hero of his own story 217 00:12:23,435 --> 00:12:26,115 Speaker 2: and later wrote about this fateful encounter in a memoir 218 00:12:26,195 --> 00:12:29,875 Speaker 2: called Thicker in Thieves, the nineteen fifty factual expose of 219 00:12:29,915 --> 00:12:34,835 Speaker 2: police payoffs, graft, political corruption, and prostitution in Los Angeles 220 00:12:34,875 --> 00:12:38,235 Speaker 2: and Hollywood. Stoker needed proof that the suspect was engaging 221 00:12:38,275 --> 00:12:40,955 Speaker 2: in prostitution, but it was going to be hard to 222 00:12:40,955 --> 00:12:43,995 Speaker 2: get the kind of evidence he needed, at least if 223 00:12:44,035 --> 00:12:45,155 Speaker 2: he was going to do it legally. 224 00:12:46,795 --> 00:12:49,515 Speaker 9: One glance at the apartment, and I knew that the 225 00:12:49,635 --> 00:12:52,635 Speaker 9: arrest was going to be difficult, since defendans must be 226 00:12:52,715 --> 00:12:56,115 Speaker 9: caught in the act of sexual intercourse. The apartment had 227 00:12:56,155 --> 00:12:58,755 Speaker 9: a long hallway and the rooms were so far from 228 00:12:58,795 --> 00:13:02,515 Speaker 9: the outer door it would be virtually impossible to detect 229 00:13:02,635 --> 00:13:04,115 Speaker 9: incriminating conversation. 230 00:13:04,755 --> 00:13:07,875 Speaker 2: Big Jim was there observing all of this. Truthfully, he 231 00:13:07,915 --> 00:13:09,675 Speaker 2: didn't really care if one of the tenants was in 232 00:13:09,835 --> 00:13:13,595 Speaker 2: aging and prostitution. He later wrote, I was keeper of 233 00:13:13,715 --> 00:13:17,875 Speaker 2: no man's morals. But having watched the cops haplessly climb 234 00:13:17,875 --> 00:13:19,635 Speaker 2: a tree in an attempt to catch the woman in 235 00:13:19,675 --> 00:13:23,835 Speaker 2: the act, Big Jim sensed an opportunity. He revealed to 236 00:13:23,875 --> 00:13:28,435 Speaker 2: officer Stoker that his real job was electronics microphones. He 237 00:13:28,515 --> 00:13:30,475 Speaker 2: told them that he could bug the room and get 238 00:13:30,515 --> 00:13:33,675 Speaker 2: them the proof they needed. The cops were thrilled. This 239 00:13:33,795 --> 00:13:37,235 Speaker 2: plan wasn't exactly legal, but it probably seemed better than 240 00:13:37,235 --> 00:13:40,675 Speaker 2: the climbing trees thing. So Big Jim Voss got to work. 241 00:13:41,275 --> 00:13:45,235 Speaker 2: He hit a microphone in the room, and then they listened. 242 00:13:45,475 --> 00:13:49,035 Speaker 9: To say that I was amazed what I heard would 243 00:13:49,115 --> 00:13:50,555 Speaker 9: be an understate. 244 00:13:51,475 --> 00:13:55,755 Speaker 2: Big Jim had struck gold. The vice squad cops loved him. 245 00:13:56,195 --> 00:13:59,075 Speaker 2: He began making them all kinds of wire tapping gizmos. 246 00:14:00,035 --> 00:14:02,715 Speaker 3: We had one gadget that made it possible for us 247 00:14:02,755 --> 00:14:06,835 Speaker 3: who listen into telephone conversation, so that we didn't have 248 00:14:06,955 --> 00:14:10,435 Speaker 3: to go anywhere near the telephone in question, but we 249 00:14:10,555 --> 00:14:14,315 Speaker 3: could sit back on the other side of town and 250 00:14:14,395 --> 00:14:16,835 Speaker 3: hear all what was being said on that telephone. 251 00:14:23,675 --> 00:14:26,275 Speaker 2: Big Jim was kind of like Queue in James Bond. 252 00:14:26,395 --> 00:14:28,195 Speaker 2: He kept coming up with new ways for the cops 253 00:14:28,275 --> 00:14:31,715 Speaker 2: to spy on people. Mostly his innovations came from hiding 254 00:14:31,715 --> 00:14:34,755 Speaker 2: miniaturized microphones in places and recording what he heard on 255 00:14:34,795 --> 00:14:38,435 Speaker 2: a wire, an old recording format. He was especially proud 256 00:14:38,555 --> 00:14:41,875 Speaker 2: of something he called a talking cane, which allowed cops 257 00:14:41,915 --> 00:14:45,115 Speaker 2: to hear things through walls. It looked like a walking stick, 258 00:14:45,355 --> 00:14:47,915 Speaker 2: except it probably had a tiny microphone hidden in the 259 00:14:48,035 --> 00:14:50,195 Speaker 2: end and a wire running up the cane through the 260 00:14:50,195 --> 00:14:52,955 Speaker 2: cops sleeves to an amplifier and then to an earbud. 261 00:14:53,475 --> 00:14:56,555 Speaker 2: It also sent a signal wirelessly to a recording device 262 00:14:56,635 --> 00:14:59,115 Speaker 2: hidden in a car outside, so they could tape everything. 263 00:14:59,915 --> 00:15:02,555 Speaker 2: And then there were the wire taps that became Big 264 00:15:02,675 --> 00:15:03,635 Speaker 2: Jim's signature. 265 00:15:04,435 --> 00:15:10,595 Speaker 10: Tectologically speaking, in the days of the Copper eelephone system, 266 00:15:10,595 --> 00:15:14,595 Speaker 10: the electro mechanical switching system, it was really quite easy 267 00:15:15,035 --> 00:15:16,115 Speaker 10: to tap a line. 268 00:15:16,875 --> 00:15:20,955 Speaker 2: That's Brian Hawkman, director of American Studies at Georgetown University, 269 00:15:21,195 --> 00:15:23,955 Speaker 2: an author of the book The Listeners, a History of 270 00:15:23,995 --> 00:15:27,115 Speaker 2: wiretapping in the United States, And. 271 00:15:27,315 --> 00:15:34,035 Speaker 10: It's Big Jim Voss who was a true pioneer in 272 00:15:34,195 --> 00:15:40,355 Speaker 10: the postwar electronic eavesdropping field and made an extraordinary name 273 00:15:40,435 --> 00:15:42,915 Speaker 10: for himself on both sides. 274 00:15:42,635 --> 00:15:43,075 Speaker 7: Of the law. 275 00:15:43,675 --> 00:15:46,595 Speaker 2: Big Jim didn't make much money off the LAPD, but 276 00:15:46,875 --> 00:15:50,235 Speaker 2: as his reputation grew, he started getting more work around town. 277 00:15:50,795 --> 00:15:53,915 Speaker 2: He claimed to do a lot of work for movie stars. Specifically, 278 00:15:54,035 --> 00:15:56,475 Speaker 2: he said he'd tapped Mickey Rooney's phone so he could 279 00:15:56,515 --> 00:15:58,115 Speaker 2: prove his wife was having an affair. 280 00:15:59,035 --> 00:16:01,875 Speaker 3: It's always interesting what goes on when people don't know 281 00:16:01,915 --> 00:16:04,155 Speaker 3: they're being listened to by so many people. 282 00:16:06,915 --> 00:16:09,795 Speaker 2: I think this line of business is basically the same 283 00:16:09,955 --> 00:16:13,675 Speaker 2: as broadcasting his sister's date to the neighborhood kids, exposing 284 00:16:13,675 --> 00:16:16,955 Speaker 2: women by means of technology. The history of the telephone 285 00:16:16,995 --> 00:16:20,235 Speaker 2: and wiretapping is a history of privacy and concerns about 286 00:16:20,275 --> 00:16:23,595 Speaker 2: privacy which have always been gendered. We made a whole 287 00:16:23,595 --> 00:16:26,675 Speaker 2: episode about this a couple of years ago, The Invisible Lady. 288 00:16:26,915 --> 00:16:29,115 Speaker 2: You can listen to it on your phone on Apple 289 00:16:29,155 --> 00:16:33,835 Speaker 2: Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Anyway, the idea of 290 00:16:33,875 --> 00:16:36,995 Speaker 2: an electronic ear sitting in your living room was worrisome 291 00:16:37,115 --> 00:16:39,875 Speaker 2: to the broader public, in part because it violated the 292 00:16:39,875 --> 00:16:43,355 Speaker 2: sanctity of the home, and also because nobody particularly seemed 293 00:16:43,355 --> 00:16:47,075 Speaker 2: interested in cracking down on it. Exhibit A. The cops 294 00:16:47,075 --> 00:16:50,595 Speaker 2: were hiring Big Jim to do more of it. 295 00:16:50,755 --> 00:16:53,635 Speaker 10: One thing that's extraordinary to note, Despite the fact that 296 00:16:53,715 --> 00:16:58,795 Speaker 10: wire tapping was illegal in the state of California, private 297 00:16:58,835 --> 00:17:05,755 Speaker 10: eavesdroppers for hire advertised their services openly in the LA 298 00:17:05,875 --> 00:17:09,395 Speaker 10: Yellow Pages. And this was a business that was out 299 00:17:09,435 --> 00:17:14,795 Speaker 10: in the olden It was illegal, but it was never prosecuted, 300 00:17:15,275 --> 00:17:20,275 Speaker 10: and Boss emerges as a leader in this very strange 301 00:17:20,315 --> 00:17:21,795 Speaker 10: gray area industry. 302 00:17:23,075 --> 00:17:26,235 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss, son of a preacher, two time convict 303 00:17:26,475 --> 00:17:29,875 Speaker 2: cat on his third life, was now simultaneously working for 304 00:17:29,955 --> 00:17:32,355 Speaker 2: a bunch of movie stars who wanted to expose There 305 00:17:32,435 --> 00:17:35,755 Speaker 2: soon to be ex spouses, rich men who wanted radar 306 00:17:35,795 --> 00:17:38,635 Speaker 2: guard at homes, and self righteous cops who wanted to 307 00:17:38,675 --> 00:17:40,195 Speaker 2: wire tap call girls phones. 308 00:17:41,035 --> 00:17:44,515 Speaker 7: I don't think at the time he thought much at 309 00:17:44,515 --> 00:17:48,875 Speaker 7: all about the morality of the things he was doing. 310 00:17:49,755 --> 00:17:51,635 Speaker 7: I think he thought it was great fun. 311 00:17:53,155 --> 00:17:57,075 Speaker 2: It probably was fun until Big Jim got in over 312 00:17:57,115 --> 00:18:09,715 Speaker 2: his head. We'll be right back. In nineteen forty eight, 313 00:18:10,075 --> 00:18:13,075 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss was wire tapping all over Los Angeles. 314 00:18:13,355 --> 00:18:15,715 Speaker 2: He was basically a character in a film noir movie. 315 00:18:15,755 --> 00:18:19,355 Speaker 2: Already that same year, an actual film noir movie came 316 00:18:19,395 --> 00:18:21,795 Speaker 2: out that opened with an epigraph which reads to me 317 00:18:21,915 --> 00:18:26,995 Speaker 2: like a mission statement for Big Jim. 318 00:18:25,275 --> 00:18:28,595 Speaker 11: And the tangled networks of a great city. The telephone 319 00:18:28,675 --> 00:18:31,915 Speaker 11: is the unseen link between a million lives. It is 320 00:18:31,955 --> 00:18:36,115 Speaker 11: a servant of our common needs, the confidant of our 321 00:18:36,275 --> 00:18:38,395 Speaker 11: inmost secrets. 322 00:18:39,595 --> 00:18:42,635 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss was wired tapping all over those networks, 323 00:18:43,075 --> 00:18:45,675 Speaker 2: and he was about to get tangled up in something 324 00:18:45,755 --> 00:18:52,835 Speaker 2: pretty serious. Among the many clients he claimed cops, movie stars, businesses. 325 00:18:53,195 --> 00:18:55,355 Speaker 2: Big Jim had been working with a private detective who 326 00:18:55,435 --> 00:18:57,835 Speaker 2: turned out to have a connection to the mob. The 327 00:18:57,915 --> 00:19:00,075 Speaker 2: Mob realized he could use a guy like Big Jim, 328 00:19:00,555 --> 00:19:01,475 Speaker 2: so they called him up. 329 00:19:02,155 --> 00:19:05,355 Speaker 3: One day, we were called after a little habitashery on 330 00:19:05,435 --> 00:19:07,115 Speaker 3: the Sunset Drip in Hollywood. 331 00:19:07,875 --> 00:19:10,755 Speaker 2: Big Jim drove out to the Habitashery, a little hat 332 00:19:10,835 --> 00:19:13,315 Speaker 2: shop on the Sunset Strip, and he made his way 333 00:19:13,355 --> 00:19:13,795 Speaker 2: to the back. 334 00:19:14,595 --> 00:19:17,075 Speaker 3: I was quite well impressed, first of all with the 335 00:19:17,115 --> 00:19:19,755 Speaker 3: steel doors that I passed through to get into it. 336 00:19:19,915 --> 00:19:24,195 Speaker 3: Secondly with its exquisite furnishing, walnut panels that ran from 337 00:19:24,235 --> 00:19:28,755 Speaker 3: ceiling to floor, suspended television set in the corner, red 338 00:19:28,835 --> 00:19:33,635 Speaker 3: leathered upholstered furniture in a semi circular death behind which 339 00:19:33,715 --> 00:19:36,715 Speaker 3: SATIS famed man Mickey Cohen. 340 00:19:37,835 --> 00:19:41,155 Speaker 2: Mickey Cohen was the head of the Los Angeles Underworld. Short, 341 00:19:41,275 --> 00:19:44,115 Speaker 2: bald guy with a pretty odd personality, a cold blooded 342 00:19:44,155 --> 00:19:46,475 Speaker 2: killer who loved eating ice cream and washed his hands 343 00:19:46,475 --> 00:19:49,355 Speaker 2: fifty times a day. In the back of that hat shop, 344 00:19:49,475 --> 00:19:53,315 Speaker 2: he explained the situation to Big Jim. The LAPD had 345 00:19:53,315 --> 00:19:57,035 Speaker 2: bugged Cohen's house. Cohen wanted Big Jim to find the bug. 346 00:19:57,835 --> 00:20:01,395 Speaker 2: He came by the next day piece of cake. Cohen 347 00:20:01,475 --> 00:20:04,115 Speaker 2: was impressed, and pretty quickly he hired Big Jim to 348 00:20:04,195 --> 00:20:06,915 Speaker 2: listen in on all of his enemies for him, including 349 00:20:06,915 --> 00:20:10,275 Speaker 2: the LAPD, for whom Big Jim had also been wired tapping. 350 00:20:10,795 --> 00:20:13,035 Speaker 2: He was a double agent, worked for the good guys 351 00:20:13,235 --> 00:20:15,955 Speaker 2: and the bad guys, except as I came to realize, 352 00:20:16,035 --> 00:20:19,195 Speaker 2: those were the same guys. In Los Angeles, there used 353 00:20:19,235 --> 00:20:22,635 Speaker 2: to be something known as the combination, the alliance between 354 00:20:22,755 --> 00:20:26,555 Speaker 2: city government, law enforcement, and the mob. Something like that 355 00:20:26,595 --> 00:20:29,435 Speaker 2: still existed in Big Jim's day, so he didn't have 356 00:20:29,475 --> 00:20:32,875 Speaker 2: to pick sides because there weren't really sides. He worked 357 00:20:32,875 --> 00:20:35,675 Speaker 2: for the LAPD and he worked for the Mob. He 358 00:20:35,755 --> 00:20:39,235 Speaker 2: got pretty cozy with them. Eventually he moved his electronics 359 00:20:39,235 --> 00:20:42,715 Speaker 2: shop onto the Strip, right alongside the mobbed up Habitashery. 360 00:20:43,355 --> 00:20:46,995 Speaker 2: The strip was outside city jurisdiction for quite some time. 361 00:20:47,115 --> 00:20:50,715 Speaker 3: After engaging in this activity with mister Cohen, I found 362 00:20:50,715 --> 00:20:54,075 Speaker 3: it convenience to work for him on the one side, 363 00:20:54,115 --> 00:20:56,595 Speaker 3: and for law enforcement agencies. 364 00:20:56,035 --> 00:20:59,795 Speaker 2: On the other Voss was still working with the LAPD. 365 00:20:59,915 --> 00:21:03,075 Speaker 2: Tapping the phones was amazingly useful for those guys, because 366 00:21:03,115 --> 00:21:05,195 Speaker 2: the phone has always been a kind of refuge for 367 00:21:05,235 --> 00:21:08,115 Speaker 2: the things people can't do in public. That's one way 368 00:21:08,155 --> 00:21:10,355 Speaker 2: to think about the telephone network as a kind of 369 00:21:10,435 --> 00:21:13,595 Speaker 2: shadow of public life, the place where secret lives and 370 00:21:13,635 --> 00:21:19,915 Speaker 2: longings go, things like prostitution. In the late nineteen forties, 371 00:21:20,075 --> 00:21:22,835 Speaker 2: Voss's main gig with the police had been helping Stoker 372 00:21:22,875 --> 00:21:26,755 Speaker 2: investigate probably the biggest prostitution ring in the city. It 373 00:21:26,835 --> 00:21:29,915 Speaker 2: was headed up by a woman named Brenda Allen. She 374 00:21:30,035 --> 00:21:34,475 Speaker 2: was a hard nosed businesswoman, glamorous, always in sunglasses. As 375 00:21:34,515 --> 00:21:37,675 Speaker 2: Time magazine put it, somewhat absurdly, she had a mind 376 00:21:37,755 --> 00:21:40,235 Speaker 2: like a cash register, and she hadn't been in love 377 00:21:40,475 --> 00:21:44,155 Speaker 2: since she was twenty one. Like Big Jim, She'd found 378 00:21:44,155 --> 00:21:48,035 Speaker 2: a good use for Los Angeles' vast telephone network. Brothels 379 00:21:48,075 --> 00:21:50,915 Speaker 2: were risky, they could be raided, all the foot traffic 380 00:21:50,915 --> 00:21:53,995 Speaker 2: would draw attention. But if you had a web of employees, 381 00:21:54,035 --> 00:21:56,755 Speaker 2: each with their own phone, the modern adam could function 382 00:21:56,835 --> 00:21:59,595 Speaker 2: like a telephone exchange. This is where the term call 383 00:21:59,635 --> 00:22:02,875 Speaker 2: girl comes from. Brenda Allen had one hundred and fourteen 384 00:22:02,915 --> 00:22:05,355 Speaker 2: of them all over town. She was always on the 385 00:22:05,355 --> 00:22:09,795 Speaker 2: phone setting up secret rendezvous, and Officer Stoker wanted Big 386 00:22:09,915 --> 00:22:13,995 Speaker 2: Jim to listen in. He wrote about the plan in his. 387 00:22:13,995 --> 00:22:17,875 Speaker 9: Memoir We went to Brendan entered through the basement through 388 00:22:17,915 --> 00:22:21,835 Speaker 9: a rear door, and in short order Voss had tapped 389 00:22:21,835 --> 00:22:25,555 Speaker 9: rendered Lyne. There were more calls than she could possibly 390 00:22:25,635 --> 00:22:28,035 Speaker 9: hand them. As soon as she received one call and 391 00:22:28,075 --> 00:22:32,355 Speaker 9: dispatched a girl or girls, she would dial the telephone, 392 00:22:32,395 --> 00:22:35,435 Speaker 9: exchange them and contact. The operator would give her the 393 00:22:35,515 --> 00:22:37,395 Speaker 9: names of waiting customs. 394 00:22:38,115 --> 00:22:41,595 Speaker 2: The scene was recreated in that movie Wiretapper, in loving detail. 395 00:22:41,995 --> 00:22:44,835 Speaker 2: You can see the real equipment, and the conversation is 396 00:22:44,875 --> 00:22:47,355 Speaker 2: straight from an account. Big Jim wrote of the night. 397 00:22:49,555 --> 00:22:57,475 Speaker 12: Cord, who gave you this number? Why, mister Fielding, our 398 00:22:57,555 --> 00:23:02,435 Speaker 12: sales manager. Oh, yes, Well, we have some very nice 399 00:23:02,435 --> 00:23:07,355 Speaker 12: books the heroine and one is especially attractive, A brunette 400 00:23:07,715 --> 00:23:12,155 Speaker 12: about five for three ads like very interesting reading. How 401 00:23:12,155 --> 00:23:14,755 Speaker 12: about ten o'clock at the corner of Sunset and Lbrea. 402 00:23:15,795 --> 00:23:19,235 Speaker 12: There'll be a picture on the front cover, a girl 403 00:23:19,275 --> 00:23:23,195 Speaker 12: in a mink coat. That'll be fine. Goodbye. 404 00:23:24,475 --> 00:23:28,115 Speaker 2: Stoker in real life was thrilled. Now he wanted to 405 00:23:28,195 --> 00:23:32,555 Speaker 2: find out who the call girls were, so a day later, 406 00:23:32,755 --> 00:23:35,355 Speaker 2: Big Jim came by with a device that could record 407 00:23:35,435 --> 00:23:39,315 Speaker 2: all the numbers. Brenda Allen was dialing an impulse indicator, 408 00:23:40,155 --> 00:23:44,195 Speaker 2: jammed in that basement, probably sweating, breathing as quietly as possible. 409 00:23:44,555 --> 00:23:48,755 Speaker 2: Big Jim and Stoker gathered twenty nine numbers in one night, 410 00:23:49,275 --> 00:23:52,195 Speaker 2: most of them for girls working for Alan. It was 411 00:23:52,235 --> 00:23:56,155 Speaker 2: a huge coup. Stoker was greedy for more numbers, so 412 00:23:56,235 --> 00:23:58,515 Speaker 2: he came back the next night with Big Jim's device, 413 00:23:59,075 --> 00:24:01,355 Speaker 2: hooked it up to the wire, and began writing down 414 00:24:01,395 --> 00:24:06,275 Speaker 2: all the numbers. And then he saw a number that 415 00:24:06,395 --> 00:24:12,035 Speaker 2: he recognized, the number of the La Vice Squad his 416 00:24:12,115 --> 00:24:12,995 Speaker 2: own department. 417 00:24:14,115 --> 00:24:18,235 Speaker 9: My ears twitching, my nostrils flared as I listened. When 418 00:24:18,275 --> 00:24:23,115 Speaker 9: someone answered Brenda's ring, she inquired if Sergeant Jackson. 419 00:24:22,835 --> 00:24:27,275 Speaker 2: Was in Moments later, according to Stoker's account, Stoker and 420 00:24:27,355 --> 00:24:29,835 Speaker 2: Big Jim were listening to one of the top aids 421 00:24:29,835 --> 00:24:32,155 Speaker 2: to the head of the vice squad as he talked 422 00:24:32,155 --> 00:24:35,035 Speaker 2: with the Cities number one madam about how much they 423 00:24:35,075 --> 00:24:38,555 Speaker 2: loved each other. The call also confirmed that the vice 424 00:24:38,555 --> 00:24:42,435 Speaker 2: squad was being paid off by Allan. The self righteous 425 00:24:42,435 --> 00:24:46,195 Speaker 2: stoker was aghast crooked cops in Los Angeles. 426 00:24:46,955 --> 00:24:50,195 Speaker 9: At the time. I had high ideals concerning the Los 427 00:24:50,235 --> 00:24:51,715 Speaker 9: Angeles Police Department. 428 00:24:52,715 --> 00:24:55,595 Speaker 2: Big Jim suffered from no such idealism, and when he 429 00:24:55,635 --> 00:24:58,115 Speaker 2: teamed up with Mickey Cohen, he told the mob all 430 00:24:58,155 --> 00:25:01,195 Speaker 2: about the recordings. It was too good not to share 431 00:25:01,595 --> 00:25:04,435 Speaker 2: leverage on the cops. But when word got out about 432 00:25:04,435 --> 00:25:07,715 Speaker 2: Big Jim's recordings of Brenda Allen and the LAPD, the 433 00:25:07,795 --> 00:25:13,955 Speaker 2: situation spiraled why out of control. Here's how bad corruption 434 00:25:14,115 --> 00:25:16,995 Speaker 2: was in Los Angeles in the nineteen forties. There was 435 00:25:17,035 --> 00:25:20,435 Speaker 2: a grand jury that met every year to investigate corruption 436 00:25:20,515 --> 00:25:23,675 Speaker 2: in government. When they caught wind of Big Jim's blockbuster 437 00:25:23,755 --> 00:25:28,195 Speaker 2: Brenda Allen recordings, they launched an investigation. It exposed corruption 438 00:25:28,435 --> 00:25:31,715 Speaker 2: all over the place, mobbed up cops, Brenda Allen paying 439 00:25:31,755 --> 00:25:34,195 Speaker 2: people off. It was so bad that the chief of 440 00:25:34,195 --> 00:25:38,275 Speaker 2: the LAPD even stepped down. Everyone was turning on everyone else, 441 00:25:38,955 --> 00:25:42,955 Speaker 2: and somehow Big Jim Voss and his wiretap recordings were 442 00:25:43,075 --> 00:25:44,475 Speaker 2: right at the center of it all. 443 00:25:45,275 --> 00:25:49,475 Speaker 7: The police was looking for these tapes that my father 444 00:25:49,555 --> 00:25:53,195 Speaker 7: had related to Brenda Allen. Then he wasn't giving them up. 445 00:25:53,875 --> 00:25:55,955 Speaker 2: Will Voss, Big Jim's son, the pastor. 446 00:25:55,995 --> 00:25:59,155 Speaker 7: Again he was leading them on a wild goose chase. 447 00:25:59,835 --> 00:26:03,555 Speaker 7: You're sure these tapes agrees, yes. And then in the 448 00:26:03,555 --> 00:26:08,195 Speaker 7: midst of all grand jury trial, you know he committed 449 00:26:08,395 --> 00:26:14,675 Speaker 7: perjury implicating a police officer that you know that Cohen 450 00:26:14,995 --> 00:26:19,515 Speaker 7: wanted to go down the whole thing. 451 00:26:21,475 --> 00:26:24,395 Speaker 2: It was the fall of nineteen forty nine and Big 452 00:26:24,475 --> 00:26:28,275 Speaker 2: Jim was in a tight spot. Everything was splintering. He 453 00:26:28,315 --> 00:26:31,875 Speaker 2: couldn't wire tap and bug for everyone anymore. The LAPD 454 00:26:31,995 --> 00:26:34,555 Speaker 2: and Cohen weren't on good terms. There was a gang war, 455 00:26:34,915 --> 00:26:37,155 Speaker 2: and Big Jim was involved in this whole other scheme 456 00:26:37,195 --> 00:26:40,995 Speaker 2: that was jeopardizing his relationship with Cohen. Big Jim had 457 00:26:41,035 --> 00:26:44,235 Speaker 2: been one step ahead of everyone the whole time, but 458 00:26:44,315 --> 00:26:46,955 Speaker 2: now it was all catching up to him. He had 459 00:26:47,115 --> 00:26:51,835 Speaker 2: nowhere to turn. In that exact moment, the modern evangelical 460 00:26:51,875 --> 00:26:54,835 Speaker 2: movement came crashing into Big Jim's life. 461 00:26:56,715 --> 00:27:01,955 Speaker 8: From Minneapolis comes a young evangelist, Billy Graham, to cooperate 462 00:27:02,035 --> 00:27:04,995 Speaker 8: with Christ for Great Heir Los Angeles in a Great 463 00:27:05,155 --> 00:27:06,395 Speaker 8: Revival campaign. 464 00:27:07,955 --> 00:27:10,875 Speaker 2: You probably know the name Billy Graham. He brought the 465 00:27:10,915 --> 00:27:14,355 Speaker 2: evangelical movement to political power in this country. His Los 466 00:27:14,395 --> 00:27:18,155 Speaker 2: Angeles crusade was what would make him famous nationwide. Graham 467 00:27:18,235 --> 00:27:20,635 Speaker 2: set up in a huge revival tent at the corner 468 00:27:20,715 --> 00:27:23,835 Speaker 2: of Washington and Hill Streets. It was big news. 469 00:27:25,195 --> 00:27:28,155 Speaker 8: There are sixty five hundred people seated here in this 470 00:27:28,315 --> 00:27:32,635 Speaker 8: canvas cathedral, and several thousands more stand around the sides 471 00:27:32,675 --> 00:27:36,835 Speaker 8: of the tent, approximately three hundred and fifty thousand total 472 00:27:36,875 --> 00:27:39,395 Speaker 8: attendants in two months. 473 00:27:42,715 --> 00:27:45,755 Speaker 2: Big Jim's preacher father was worried about him started trying 474 00:27:45,795 --> 00:27:47,955 Speaker 2: to get him to check out Graham. In a town 475 00:27:48,035 --> 00:27:50,675 Speaker 2: that loved celebrities, suddenly a preacher was one of the 476 00:27:50,675 --> 00:27:54,635 Speaker 2: most famous guys around. Down on his luck, Big Jim 477 00:27:55,035 --> 00:27:55,835 Speaker 2: decided to go. 478 00:27:56,915 --> 00:27:59,715 Speaker 3: I thought to myself, well, I'll just drive by and 479 00:27:59,795 --> 00:28:04,755 Speaker 3: see what's packed. I saw some fifteen thousand people trying 480 00:28:04,795 --> 00:28:08,475 Speaker 3: to jam their way in. I drove on by. Then 481 00:28:08,475 --> 00:28:10,395 Speaker 3: I thought, well, i'll park walk back. 482 00:28:11,675 --> 00:28:14,315 Speaker 2: Big Jim was at this point a recognizable face from 483 00:28:14,355 --> 00:28:17,915 Speaker 2: all the press coverage of the grand jury investigation. Someone 484 00:28:17,995 --> 00:28:20,635 Speaker 2: saw him. He was hard to miss and went to 485 00:28:20,675 --> 00:28:23,315 Speaker 2: tell Graham that a hardened criminal was in the audience. 486 00:28:24,115 --> 00:28:25,955 Speaker 3: And I muscled my way to the front of the 487 00:28:26,035 --> 00:28:28,915 Speaker 3: standing crowd. Some old lady got up and left her seat, 488 00:28:28,995 --> 00:28:33,635 Speaker 3: and I grabbed it and I sat down and listened 489 00:28:33,635 --> 00:28:37,315 Speaker 3: to the program, not enjoying it one bit. 490 00:28:38,875 --> 00:28:42,395 Speaker 2: Big Jim was uncomfortable. And then Graham came on stage 491 00:28:42,515 --> 00:28:46,115 Speaker 2: and began to preach this it's the climactic moment of 492 00:28:46,155 --> 00:28:47,355 Speaker 2: the movie Wiretapper. 493 00:28:48,355 --> 00:28:50,715 Speaker 6: As I've stood here this evening, I felt all evening 494 00:28:51,195 --> 00:28:55,275 Speaker 6: that there's a man somewhere in this audience. He's heard 495 00:28:55,275 --> 00:28:58,835 Speaker 6: this message many times before, and the Spirit of God 496 00:28:58,915 --> 00:29:01,875 Speaker 6: is striving mightily with him at this moment, and if 497 00:29:01,915 --> 00:29:04,835 Speaker 6: he doesn't come to Christ now, he may never come. 498 00:29:05,515 --> 00:29:08,275 Speaker 6: We're going to wait a moment. There's still time for 499 00:29:08,355 --> 00:29:11,955 Speaker 6: you to come and give your life to Christ. 500 00:29:15,355 --> 00:29:18,275 Speaker 2: Big Jim said he felt like Graham was speaking straight 501 00:29:18,355 --> 00:29:21,475 Speaker 2: to him. He stood up, he walked to the front 502 00:29:21,515 --> 00:29:24,875 Speaker 2: of the Canvas Cathedral. He fell to his knees, and 503 00:29:24,915 --> 00:29:31,075 Speaker 2: he gave himself to God. That speech you've been hearing, we. 504 00:29:30,995 --> 00:29:33,635 Speaker 3: Had one gadget that made it possible for us to 505 00:29:34,555 --> 00:29:36,515 Speaker 3: listen in the telephone conversation. 506 00:29:37,355 --> 00:29:41,955 Speaker 2: It's a sermon. Big Jim Voss cat on his fourth life. 507 00:29:42,035 --> 00:29:44,995 Speaker 2: After that night, he quit the mob joined up with 508 00:29:45,035 --> 00:29:47,555 Speaker 2: Billy Graham and helped to make him one of the 509 00:29:47,595 --> 00:29:52,635 Speaker 2: most famous religious figures of all time by preaching about 510 00:29:52,635 --> 00:30:04,875 Speaker 2: the telephone. We'll be right back. Some people were a 511 00:30:04,915 --> 00:30:09,155 Speaker 2: little suspicious of Big Jim Voss's conveniently timed conversion. Among 512 00:30:09,195 --> 00:30:11,115 Speaker 2: them Officer Charles Stoker. 513 00:30:12,075 --> 00:30:15,675 Speaker 9: Voss got himself a new code of celestial varnish. He 514 00:30:15,835 --> 00:30:18,355 Speaker 9: said that he was tired of being a sinner and 515 00:30:18,515 --> 00:30:19,915 Speaker 9: wanted to return to God. 516 00:30:20,795 --> 00:30:23,075 Speaker 2: Now Stoker might have been a little too hard bitten there. 517 00:30:23,475 --> 00:30:26,395 Speaker 2: Voss did ultimately set up a much acclaimed ministry called 518 00:30:26,435 --> 00:30:30,315 Speaker 2: Youth Development Incorporated, tending the gangs in Harlem. But look, 519 00:30:30,875 --> 00:30:33,435 Speaker 2: this episode is not about the ultimate state of Big 520 00:30:33,515 --> 00:30:37,475 Speaker 2: Jim Voss's soul. It's about the telephone. Remember, and Big 521 00:30:37,555 --> 00:30:40,475 Speaker 2: Jim was literally standing at the source of the twentieth 522 00:30:40,515 --> 00:30:43,635 Speaker 2: century evangelical movement in America with his ear to the 523 00:30:43,675 --> 00:30:49,875 Speaker 2: country's phones. Brian Hawkman, wiretapping historian on the line once again. 524 00:30:50,355 --> 00:30:57,835 Speaker 10: And Graham used Vassa's conversion as one of his great 525 00:30:58,915 --> 00:31:01,795 Speaker 10: kind of advertisements for his teachings. 526 00:31:02,515 --> 00:31:05,955 Speaker 2: Big Jim started spreading the Gospel of the reformed Wiretapper. 527 00:31:06,515 --> 00:31:08,955 Speaker 2: He even published a book with the help of Graham's network. 528 00:31:09,355 --> 00:31:12,075 Speaker 2: It's called Why I Quit Syndicated Crime, and it was 529 00:31:12,115 --> 00:31:15,395 Speaker 2: a hit. Then Graham's ministry made that movie in nineteen 530 00:31:15,435 --> 00:31:19,235 Speaker 2: fifty five, another success, albeit a really weird one. And 531 00:31:19,275 --> 00:31:22,715 Speaker 2: then Voss started touring the country trying to save souls, 532 00:31:23,235 --> 00:31:25,755 Speaker 2: and what he talked about all the time was his 533 00:31:25,835 --> 00:31:29,715 Speaker 2: career wire tapping. He even brought wiretapping gear on stage 534 00:31:29,715 --> 00:31:30,035 Speaker 2: with him. 535 00:31:30,795 --> 00:31:34,075 Speaker 10: He was God's wiretap. Where God had been calling, he 536 00:31:34,115 --> 00:31:37,235 Speaker 10: had never picked up the phone, and finally he tapped 537 00:31:37,275 --> 00:31:38,715 Speaker 10: in at just the right moment. 538 00:31:39,795 --> 00:31:42,795 Speaker 2: This was the early nineteen fifties. There was talk of 539 00:31:42,795 --> 00:31:46,075 Speaker 2: a bugging epidemic in America, but also a sense of 540 00:31:46,115 --> 00:31:49,835 Speaker 2: just how miraculous this technology was. Bill Labs, the famed 541 00:31:49,875 --> 00:31:52,875 Speaker 2: research arm of the telephone company AT and T, had 542 00:31:52,915 --> 00:31:56,475 Speaker 2: just invented the transistor, the electrical device that made possible 543 00:31:56,515 --> 00:32:00,115 Speaker 2: the miniaturization of everything, including the phone in your pocket. 544 00:32:01,235 --> 00:32:08,435 Speaker 10: So the story that Boss tells his congregation, illustrated through 545 00:32:08,475 --> 00:32:13,315 Speaker 10: the eavesdropping devices, is that no man can hide from God. 546 00:32:13,435 --> 00:32:18,435 Speaker 10: If man can't hide from man, if all conversations can 547 00:32:18,475 --> 00:32:24,075 Speaker 10: be recorded, everything hidden can be known, how can man 548 00:32:24,235 --> 00:32:26,275 Speaker 10: hope to hide from God? 549 00:32:26,595 --> 00:32:26,915 Speaker 7: Here? 550 00:32:27,035 --> 00:32:32,995 Speaker 10: Were man made miracles, evidence of the almost divine power 551 00:32:33,355 --> 00:32:36,515 Speaker 10: of technology to change the world. 552 00:32:36,675 --> 00:32:38,715 Speaker 13: And there's also, I guess, the sort of the way 553 00:32:38,755 --> 00:32:40,395 Speaker 13: in which your secret in our life is a saying 554 00:32:40,475 --> 00:32:42,955 Speaker 13: no normly to God that is now possibly also known 555 00:32:42,995 --> 00:32:46,315 Speaker 13: to man, and this is through things like the wire 556 00:32:46,315 --> 00:32:47,315 Speaker 13: tapping devices. 557 00:32:47,875 --> 00:32:50,795 Speaker 10: Absolutely he titled his sermon no Place to Hide. 558 00:32:51,795 --> 00:32:57,075 Speaker 2: This story has it all crime, corruption, electronics, evangelicals, but 559 00:32:57,595 --> 00:32:59,435 Speaker 2: I think the phone is the thing that brings it 560 00:32:59,475 --> 00:33:05,475 Speaker 2: all together. In Big Jim sermons and Billy Graham's wiretapper, 561 00:33:05,755 --> 00:33:09,395 Speaker 2: electronics are miracles to be wondered at. But they also 562 00:33:09,435 --> 00:33:12,795 Speaker 2: threatened to expose you to men like the old big Gym, 563 00:33:13,075 --> 00:33:15,515 Speaker 2: to take the secret things that once only God or 564 00:33:15,515 --> 00:33:18,195 Speaker 2: your priest and a confessional could have known, and broadcast 565 00:33:18,275 --> 00:33:23,435 Speaker 2: them to everyone. And it's kind of a classically American story. 566 00:33:23,755 --> 00:33:26,235 Speaker 2: No other country took to the phone as quickly or 567 00:33:26,275 --> 00:33:29,195 Speaker 2: as thoroughly as we did. People fretted about how the 568 00:33:29,235 --> 00:33:33,155 Speaker 2: suburban sprawl was telephone aided in a country this big, 569 00:33:33,355 --> 00:33:36,715 Speaker 2: the phone holds it all together. There's something really American 570 00:33:36,755 --> 00:33:40,155 Speaker 2: about that idea of this one vast, fragile system connecting 571 00:33:40,155 --> 00:33:44,595 Speaker 2: all these crazy disparate lives together, wiretappers to preachers, call 572 00:33:44,635 --> 00:33:49,035 Speaker 2: girls to cops. It's like democracy as a technology, but 573 00:33:49,115 --> 00:33:52,155 Speaker 2: again like a shadow democracy. The phone is what you 574 00:33:52,315 --> 00:33:54,235 Speaker 2: use for the things you don't want to be seen 575 00:33:54,275 --> 00:33:57,475 Speaker 2: in public, the place you lead your secret life, whatever 576 00:33:57,515 --> 00:34:00,315 Speaker 2: that consists of. It reminds me of those nine hundred 577 00:34:00,395 --> 00:34:02,555 Speaker 2: numbers that became a big deal in the nineteen eighties, 578 00:34:02,715 --> 00:34:06,595 Speaker 2: which were famously used for phone sex and also for spiritualists. 579 00:34:07,315 --> 00:34:09,315 Speaker 2: That's kind of always been the thing with the phone, 580 00:34:09,875 --> 00:34:13,555 Speaker 2: secret longings and spiritualism. A lot of people thought maybe 581 00:34:13,555 --> 00:34:16,195 Speaker 2: you could reach the spirit world through the telephone lines. 582 00:34:17,235 --> 00:34:19,755 Speaker 2: All this to say, the experience of hearing a voice 583 00:34:19,755 --> 00:34:24,195 Speaker 2: from miles away almost instantaneously, it collapsed time and space 584 00:34:24,395 --> 00:34:28,435 Speaker 2: in a completely unreal, visceral way. And because it lets 585 00:34:28,475 --> 00:34:32,715 Speaker 2: you share things privately without showing your face, it invited confessions. 586 00:34:33,435 --> 00:34:37,275 Speaker 2: It's always created this kind of otherworldly private feeling that 587 00:34:37,315 --> 00:34:41,635 Speaker 2: religion deals with. That's part of why I think Big 588 00:34:41,715 --> 00:34:45,475 Speaker 2: Jim's wiretapping was such a rich vehicle for any evangelical message. 589 00:34:45,995 --> 00:34:48,355 Speaker 2: But that message, as Graham used it, was a little 590 00:34:48,355 --> 00:34:51,395 Speaker 2: Old Testament. The phone's like a God who hears all 591 00:34:51,475 --> 00:34:54,435 Speaker 2: and spares no one. It's a connection to all the 592 00:34:54,475 --> 00:34:58,075 Speaker 2: sin coursing through the country. Like that poster for Wiretapper 593 00:34:58,115 --> 00:35:01,155 Speaker 2: of the movie said, if you're on the phone, you're 594 00:35:01,195 --> 00:35:05,955 Speaker 2: not safe. But there was another side to it. As 595 00:35:05,955 --> 00:35:08,755 Speaker 2: Big Jim was touring the country talking about the phone 596 00:35:08,795 --> 00:35:12,035 Speaker 2: and wiretapping and the state of his audience's soul, another 597 00:35:12,075 --> 00:35:15,475 Speaker 2: religious movement was beginning in Ocean Away that was also 598 00:35:15,595 --> 00:35:19,195 Speaker 2: all about the phone. So let's leave Big Jim Voss 599 00:35:19,195 --> 00:35:23,595 Speaker 2: for a minute and make a long distance call from 600 00:35:23,635 --> 00:35:27,315 Speaker 2: the northeast under the sea on the cable that stretches 601 00:35:27,355 --> 00:35:31,795 Speaker 2: from North America along the ocean floor and up the 602 00:35:31,795 --> 00:35:36,475 Speaker 2: craggy Rocks to England, down the winding streets of London 603 00:35:37,675 --> 00:35:42,835 Speaker 2: to a church Saint Stephen Wahlberg, a church that had 604 00:35:42,875 --> 00:35:47,275 Speaker 2: been bombed out during the Blitz. It's nineteen fifty three 605 00:35:47,315 --> 00:35:51,275 Speaker 2: and an Anglican vicar named Chad Vera is starting the 606 00:35:51,475 --> 00:35:54,515 Speaker 2: very first suicide hotline. 607 00:35:54,795 --> 00:35:57,835 Speaker 14: Vera had for a long time been really aware of 608 00:35:57,875 --> 00:36:02,275 Speaker 14: suicide and suicidality and been very preoccupied by the pain 609 00:36:02,875 --> 00:36:07,555 Speaker 14: that suicidality and suicide brought into communities, alongside, of course 610 00:36:07,635 --> 00:36:09,795 Speaker 14: the loss of individuals. 611 00:36:10,235 --> 00:36:12,675 Speaker 2: Hannah's Even is a historian of science who wrote a 612 00:36:12,675 --> 00:36:17,035 Speaker 2: book called The Distance Cure, A History of Teletherapy. Most 613 00:36:17,075 --> 00:36:20,035 Speaker 2: people think suicide hotlines are a secular kind of therapy, 614 00:36:20,435 --> 00:36:22,555 Speaker 2: but they came from the Church at a post war 615 00:36:22,635 --> 00:36:25,275 Speaker 2: moment when the suicide rate was rising in the US 616 00:36:25,275 --> 00:36:29,715 Speaker 2: and the UK. Chad Vera that Anglican vicar was trying 617 00:36:29,715 --> 00:36:32,235 Speaker 2: to figure out how to address it, and so. 618 00:36:32,475 --> 00:36:36,515 Speaker 14: Vera in the early nineteen fifties had become not only 619 00:36:36,555 --> 00:36:38,955 Speaker 14: really preoccupied with the fact that there was this increase 620 00:36:38,995 --> 00:36:43,155 Speaker 14: in suicidality in this society, but also that there weren't 621 00:36:43,235 --> 00:36:48,715 Speaker 14: social mechanisms for intervening and helping those in crisis, not 622 00:36:48,835 --> 00:36:51,795 Speaker 14: only because it's unspeakable and all of the things that 623 00:36:52,475 --> 00:36:55,555 Speaker 14: might trouble someone so greatly or unspeakable, but also because 624 00:36:55,555 --> 00:36:56,875 Speaker 14: it was a felony. 625 00:36:57,155 --> 00:37:00,555 Speaker 2: To the cops. Suicide was a crime. To the church, 626 00:37:00,955 --> 00:37:04,155 Speaker 2: it was a sin. So who could hear suicidal people 627 00:37:04,235 --> 00:37:06,955 Speaker 2: talk about it? They were totally isolated. 628 00:37:07,755 --> 00:37:10,475 Speaker 14: Well, he really understood was that in a urgencies, right, 629 00:37:10,515 --> 00:37:13,955 Speaker 14: we are conditioned to reach for the telephone then as 630 00:37:14,075 --> 00:37:16,955 Speaker 14: now it's a different form of telephone, no doubt, but 631 00:37:17,075 --> 00:37:20,515 Speaker 14: that that was already a kind of habitast of your 632 00:37:20,515 --> 00:37:23,955 Speaker 14: any given individual. Nine one one as a formulation didn't 633 00:37:23,955 --> 00:37:26,715 Speaker 14: exist for some time in the US. In the UK, 634 00:37:26,995 --> 00:37:29,395 Speaker 14: that history is a little bit different, right, They did 635 00:37:29,435 --> 00:37:32,595 Speaker 14: have a unified number already, So it makes sense in 636 00:37:32,675 --> 00:37:37,675 Speaker 14: terms of telephone history, right that British folks were already 637 00:37:37,755 --> 00:37:41,395 Speaker 14: conditioned to call nine nine nine. So instead of putting 638 00:37:41,595 --> 00:37:45,795 Speaker 14: fire and police, and also while not making it, a psychiatrist, 639 00:37:45,955 --> 00:37:49,075 Speaker 14: Vera knew that we needed some kind of his society 640 00:37:49,195 --> 00:37:50,395 Speaker 14: needed some kind of thing. 641 00:37:52,995 --> 00:37:56,155 Speaker 2: Vera decided to make a kind of telephone church. No 642 00:37:56,235 --> 00:38:01,155 Speaker 2: physical congregation, just phones and Vera with a secretary, Vivian Prosser, 643 00:38:01,355 --> 00:38:05,635 Speaker 2: offering counseling to people contemplating suicide twenty four hours a day. 644 00:38:06,435 --> 00:38:08,515 Speaker 7: Then Vera got to work. 645 00:38:08,315 --> 00:38:12,715 Speaker 14: He writ he offered this kind of serracutic confessional remediated. 646 00:38:13,395 --> 00:38:16,555 Speaker 14: And it was so popular because immediately it became a 647 00:38:16,595 --> 00:38:18,955 Speaker 14: feel good story in the popular person. 648 00:38:18,755 --> 00:38:19,315 Speaker 7: On the radio. 649 00:38:20,555 --> 00:38:24,795 Speaker 2: Vera was offering a kind of half psychoanalysis, half pastoral counseling. 650 00:38:25,315 --> 00:38:28,475 Speaker 2: But the key thing was the telephone, the privacy of 651 00:38:28,475 --> 00:38:32,355 Speaker 2: that conversation, the anonymity had offered, and the connection to 652 00:38:32,435 --> 00:38:35,555 Speaker 2: someone when you needed them most. It was a brilliant 653 00:38:35,555 --> 00:38:39,955 Speaker 2: idea and immediately it was extremely popular, and. 654 00:38:39,835 --> 00:38:43,755 Speaker 14: So Vera and Prosser couldn't handle the urgency of the 655 00:38:43,795 --> 00:38:46,475 Speaker 14: calls on their own, and it couldn't be truly twenty 656 00:38:46,475 --> 00:38:49,435 Speaker 14: four hours a day. That was another problem. So in 657 00:38:49,635 --> 00:38:52,475 Speaker 14: order to meet the demand for help over the phone 658 00:38:53,155 --> 00:38:56,875 Speaker 14: in its earliest moment, Vera trained fifty volunteers. 659 00:38:57,275 --> 00:39:00,035 Speaker 2: It kind of reminded me of Brenda Allen's call Girl Network, 660 00:39:00,395 --> 00:39:02,795 Speaker 2: the private thing that someone wouldn't seek out in public 661 00:39:02,835 --> 00:39:05,235 Speaker 2: but could ask for on the phone. It's like a 662 00:39:05,275 --> 00:39:09,075 Speaker 2: system of tunnels under polite society, connecting someone filled with 663 00:39:09,115 --> 00:39:11,875 Speaker 2: despair and bedroom to a kindly ear in a blitz 664 00:39:11,915 --> 00:39:12,955 Speaker 2: bam church in London. 665 00:39:14,035 --> 00:39:17,155 Speaker 14: And I just love this. The term of art is befriending, 666 00:39:17,995 --> 00:39:22,555 Speaker 14: which is this kind of ancient Christian term remade as 667 00:39:22,595 --> 00:39:25,875 Speaker 14: this new person to person, that mediated form of care. 668 00:39:26,475 --> 00:39:30,275 Speaker 14: And this is a Samaritans, which is the world's oldest 669 00:39:30,355 --> 00:39:34,475 Speaker 14: and also most used suicide hotline, and it's still active today. 670 00:39:39,475 --> 00:39:43,515 Speaker 2: Various ideas spread all over the world. The hotline went 671 00:39:43,595 --> 00:39:46,195 Speaker 2: on to take a lot of different forms, but it 672 00:39:46,275 --> 00:39:49,115 Speaker 2: was right there in the nineteen fifties a big news 673 00:39:49,195 --> 00:39:53,875 Speaker 2: story right alongside Big Jim's conversion narrative, two stories about 674 00:39:53,915 --> 00:39:58,835 Speaker 2: invisible listeners, overhearing you at your lowest point, and understanding 675 00:39:59,235 --> 00:40:11,995 Speaker 2: who you really are. Since the nineteen fifties, there have 676 00:40:12,035 --> 00:40:15,035 Speaker 2: been hotlines and dial of something services for pretty much 677 00:40:15,035 --> 00:40:18,475 Speaker 2: everything you can imagine, from the serious like nine to 678 00:40:18,475 --> 00:40:21,795 Speaker 2: eight eight today's National Suicide Hotline in the US, or 679 00:40:21,795 --> 00:40:25,435 Speaker 2: hotlines Fraid's Information in the nineteen eighties, to the less 680 00:40:25,435 --> 00:40:29,475 Speaker 2: serious nine five one two, six ' two three zero 681 00:40:29,555 --> 00:40:33,435 Speaker 2: six two Santa's Hotline six ' four to one seven 682 00:40:33,555 --> 00:40:37,635 Speaker 2: nine three eight one two two dial a pone. Even 683 00:40:37,635 --> 00:40:40,915 Speaker 2: Big Jim Voss started one one eight hundred hit Home, 684 00:40:41,435 --> 00:40:45,435 Speaker 2: a hot line for runaway kids looking for shelter. Will Voss, 685 00:40:45,475 --> 00:40:47,875 Speaker 2: big Jim's son, remembers working for it when he was 686 00:40:47,915 --> 00:40:48,435 Speaker 2: in college. 687 00:40:49,035 --> 00:40:51,715 Speaker 7: I did do a lot of listening to kids, and 688 00:40:52,955 --> 00:40:56,915 Speaker 7: you know, I didn't I didn't have to prompt them 689 00:40:57,115 --> 00:40:59,755 Speaker 7: very much, you know, to pour their hearts out. It 690 00:40:59,915 --> 00:41:01,315 Speaker 7: to stappen naturally. 691 00:41:01,715 --> 00:41:03,555 Speaker 13: It would have happened in the same way if you'd 692 00:41:03,595 --> 00:41:05,715 Speaker 13: been face to face with them. 693 00:41:05,835 --> 00:41:09,795 Speaker 7: Probably not. Yeah, I think the anonymity really helped. 694 00:41:10,995 --> 00:41:15,235 Speaker 2: The anonymity helps the phones a tool of alienation, the 695 00:41:15,275 --> 00:41:18,195 Speaker 2: phones a vehicle for connection. It turns out both things 696 00:41:18,235 --> 00:41:21,195 Speaker 2: are true. And what's amazing to me about these big 697 00:41:21,235 --> 00:41:23,835 Speaker 2: stories that people were using to understand the phone in 698 00:41:23,875 --> 00:41:27,875 Speaker 2: the fifties wiretaps and hotlines, is they've got these shadows, 699 00:41:27,875 --> 00:41:31,955 Speaker 2: spiritual messages. I think the phone still has those vestiges 700 00:41:31,955 --> 00:41:34,995 Speaker 2: baked into it. It's like a tiny god in your pocket, 701 00:41:35,555 --> 00:41:53,195 Speaker 2: wire tapping everything you say, surveilling and sometimes saving. The 702 00:41:53,275 --> 00:41:56,955 Speaker 2: Last Archive is written and hosted by me Ben Natapaffrey. 703 00:41:57,475 --> 00:42:00,555 Speaker 2: It's produced by me and Lucy Sullivan and edited by 704 00:42:00,595 --> 00:42:04,715 Speaker 2: Sophie Crane. Jake Gorsky is our engineer. Fact checking on 705 00:42:04,755 --> 00:42:08,915 Speaker 2: this episode by Arthur Gombert's sound design by Jake Gorsky 706 00:42:09,035 --> 00:42:13,075 Speaker 2: and Lucy solib Our. Executive producers are Sophie Crane and 707 00:42:13,155 --> 00:42:17,355 Speaker 2: Jill Lapour. Thanks also to Julia Barton Pushkin's executive editor. 708 00:42:17,955 --> 00:42:21,275 Speaker 2: Original music by Matthias Bossi and John Evans of stell 709 00:42:21,315 --> 00:42:24,395 Speaker 2: Wagon Symphonet. Many of our sound effects are from Harry 710 00:42:24,435 --> 00:42:28,635 Speaker 2: Jannette Junior in the Stargenette Foundation Special. Thanks to Gary Goff, 711 00:42:28,875 --> 00:42:33,995 Speaker 2: Emily Bills, Emily Bannis, and Lydia Jencott. Archival audio courtesy 712 00:42:34,035 --> 00:42:38,195 Speaker 2: of Buswell Library and Archives and Special Collections, Wheaton College, Illinois. 713 00:42:38,635 --> 00:42:41,875 Speaker 2: For a bibliography, further reading, and a transcript and teaching 714 00:42:41,875 --> 00:42:45,595 Speaker 2: guide to this episode, head to the Last Archive dot com. 715 00:42:45,795 --> 00:42:49,235 Speaker 2: The Last Archive is a production of Pushkin Industries. If 716 00:42:49,235 --> 00:42:52,835 Speaker 2: you love this show, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus, offering 717 00:42:52,835 --> 00:42:55,795 Speaker 2: bonus content and ad free listening across our network for 718 00:42:55,835 --> 00:42:58,555 Speaker 2: four ninety nine a month. Look for the Pushkin Plus 719 00:42:58,715 --> 00:43:02,115 Speaker 2: channel on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, and 720 00:43:02,235 --> 00:43:05,075 Speaker 2: please sign up for our newsletter at pushkin dot fm 721 00:43:05,115 --> 00:43:09,035 Speaker 2: slash Newsletter. To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the 722 00:43:09,075 --> 00:43:13,075 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 723 00:43:13,595 --> 00:43:14,755 Speaker 2: I'm Ben Nanna Faffrey.