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Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is

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Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,

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Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

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Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet

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Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Anyone who has weighted tables or cooked in

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Speaker 1: a restaurant has dreamed of it. The chance to get

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Speaker 1: back at an unruly customer, the kind of sends their

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Speaker 1: plate back because their green beans weren't hot enough, or

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Speaker 1: their burger was a little well done, or, if you're

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Speaker 1: Chef George Speck, because the French fries you made were

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Speaker 1: too thick. Spec born in eight grew up with his sister,

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Speaker 1: Caroline Wicks, in upstate New York. He had made a

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Speaker 1: name for himself by working at two restaurants in Saratoga County,

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Speaker 1: carry Moon's Lake House on Saratoga Lake and the San

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Speaker 1: Succi Hotel in nearby Boston, SPA. Speck had come to

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Speaker 1: know his regular customers at Moons, especially one Cornelius Vanderbilt.

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Speaker 1: The third Vanderbilt was a trust fund kid who had

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Speaker 1: been given the finest things in life. He'd grown up

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Speaker 1: in New Hampshire, where he attended an exclusive boarding school,

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Speaker 1: after which he had gone off to Yale for a

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Speaker 1: Bachelor of Arts degree. Vanderbilt was a man who've always

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Speaker 1: got what he wanted, even when it wasn't in his

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Speaker 1: best interest. After marrying the daughter of a prominent banker

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Speaker 1: from New York against his father's wishes, he was cut

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Speaker 1: out of his parents will when his father, Cornelius Vanderbilt

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Speaker 1: the second, passed away in eight The younger Vanderbilt was

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Speaker 1: given five hundred thousand dollars and the earnings from a

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Speaker 1: trust fund worth over one million. The other son, Alfred,

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Speaker 1: and clearly the favorite child, inherited most of his father's

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Speaker 1: seventy million dollar estate. Still, Vanderbilt the third did well

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Speaker 1: for himself. He held over thirty patents for inventions from

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Speaker 1: his own making, including a way to improve fuel efficiency

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Speaker 1: in locomotives. He also helped form a company that would

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Speaker 1: bring the subway systems of London and Paris to New

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Speaker 1: York City. Though he had to work a little harder

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Speaker 1: than his brother, be never forgot where he had come

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Speaker 1: from an extremely wealthy and impatient family who wanted for nothing.

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Speaker 1: It's what made him so memorable to George. Speck Moons

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Speaker 1: was a high end establishment, and Vanderbilt ate there often. However,

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Speaker 1: despite his frequent patronage, he never took the time to

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Speaker 1: learn George's last name. Whenever he asked the waiter to

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Speaker 1: pass a message to the chef, he would refer to

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Speaker 1: him as Crumb. George didn't mind too much, though, remarking

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Speaker 1: once that a crumb is bigger than a Spec. The

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Speaker 1: name stuck. Not only did George go by Crumb from

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Speaker 1: that point on, he also named his first restaurant Crumbs.

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Speaker 1: But that wasn't the only obnoxious habits of Vanderbilt's. It

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Speaker 1: seems that, even though SPEC's food was renowned all over

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Speaker 1: Saratoga County, a certain picky young man and from conquered

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Speaker 1: New Hampshire always found something to complain about. According to

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Speaker 1: the legend, Vanderbilt kept sending plates of French fries he

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Speaker 1: had ordered back to the kitchen. His problem, they had

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Speaker 1: been cut too thick. George cooked batch after batch of fries,

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Speaker 1: each one sliced a little thinner for Vanderbilt, but they

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Speaker 1: kept getting returned. Angered by the man's audacity, Spec tried

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Speaker 1: something new. Instead of cutting up another potato into fries

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Speaker 1: that would be sent right back, he sliced it into

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Speaker 1: countless pieces, as thin as sheets of paper. Then he

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Speaker 1: fried them until they were hard and crispy, and loaded

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Speaker 1: them up with salt. The idea was to discust Vanderbilt

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Speaker 1: into leaving at least for the day, but the opposite happened.

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Speaker 1: Vanderbilt couldn't get enough of them. Of course, the legend

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Speaker 1: was just that a legend. The true story was much

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Speaker 1: simpler and gave credit to the food's rightful inventor. Speck

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Speaker 1: had been in his own restaurants kitchen with his sister

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Speaker 1: by his side, when a thin slice of potatoes she

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Speaker 1: had cut fell into a pan of hot oil. She

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Speaker 1: fished it out and put it on a plate. Her

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Speaker 1: brother happened to walk by, popped it into his mouth,

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Speaker 1: and decided that he would serve it at crumbs. What

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Speaker 1: the culinary world had thought was an act of revenge

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Speaker 1: gone wrong had actually been a complete accident. Either way,

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Speaker 1: we all lucked out, because without George Speck and Catherine Wicks,

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Speaker 1: we would never have gotten the potato chip. At some

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Speaker 1: point in everyone's life they have someone to look up to.

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Speaker 1: It could be a mother or father, or an older

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Speaker 1: brother or sister, or even a celebrity. Often we look

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Speaker 1: up to people because they can do things we can't.

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Speaker 1: Think of the garage bands that were started after angsty

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Speaker 1: teens first heard Nirvana on the radio, or the kid

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Speaker 1: who Dove into Magic because she saw David Copperfield vanished

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Speaker 1: the Statue of Liberty on TV. But sometimes we don't

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Speaker 1: want to be like someone else. Sometimes we want to

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Speaker 1: be entertained by those with talents beyond our own. Like

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Speaker 1: Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Russian pianist and composer, was born in

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Speaker 1: eighteen seventy three to a family devoted equally to both

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Speaker 1: the military and music. His father and officer in the

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Speaker 1: Russian Army, played piano, as did his grandfather. Rachmaninoff started

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Speaker 1: piano lessons of his own when he was only four

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Speaker 1: years old, demonstrating surprising talent for a boy his age,

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Speaker 1: He was able to play sections of a piece of

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Speaker 1: music from memory without error. He advanced with the piano

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Speaker 1: over the next several years until his teacher, Anna Ornatskayo,

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Speaker 1: got him into her alma mater, the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

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Speaker 1: He was ten years old at the time. His family

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Speaker 1: suffered tragic lost during this time, as two of his

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Speaker 1: sisters passed away from illness and his father left the

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Speaker 1: family after squandering their money. Rockemaninoff instead focused on his music.

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Speaker 1: He started taking lessons with the more demanding piano teacher

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Speaker 1: named Nikolais Vereev and earned a scholarship at the Moscow Conservatory.

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Speaker 1: He had hoped to pursue composition, but Zverev told him

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Speaker 1: not to waste his time. As Rachmaninov pressed him further

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Speaker 1: to allow him to compose, Zverev cut ties with his pupil,

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Speaker 1: the teacher had him live with his relatives, the Sattans

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Speaker 1: in Moscow. These experiences and settings, such as the Sattans

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Speaker 1: home and the surrounding countryside inspired some of the budding

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Speaker 1: composer's earliest works. He went on to perform his own

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Speaker 1: pieces for the teachers and staff at the conservatory, graduating

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Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety two with one of the highest honors

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Speaker 1: ever awarded, which he'd earned for a one act opera

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Speaker 1: he composed as part of his final exams. Over the

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Speaker 1: next fifteen years, Rachmaninoff toured Russia, lost almost all of

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Speaker 1: his money and continued to compose. However, he was struck

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Speaker 1: with a severe case of self doubt and depression after

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Speaker 1: the premiere of his symphony Number one in eight. The

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Speaker 1: reviews were scathing and sent Rachmaninoff into a downward spiral.

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Speaker 1: The piece was never performed again. He didn't compose much

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Speaker 1: after that and resorted to teaching piano privately to make money.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't until he was offered a conducting job at

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Speaker 1: the Moscow Private Russian Opera Company where he started to

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Speaker 1: compose again. Still, he was plagued by impostor syndrome, punishing

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Speaker 1: himself for work he felt was never quite good enough.

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Speaker 1: It didn't help that many of his peers and contemporaries,

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Speaker 1: composers he had looked up to and learned from, also

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Speaker 1: began to pass away. At the dawn of the twenty century.

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Speaker 1: Rock Modernoff's life was one of pain, but not entirely.

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Speaker 1: He continued to conduct, compose, perform and he even started

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Speaker 1: a family. The composer eventually immigrated to the United States,

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Speaker 1: hoping to provide a better life for his wife and children,

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Speaker 1: far from the war and violence that had been ravaging

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Speaker 1: his home country. He performed concerts all over the US

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Speaker 1: and toured Europe before signing with Victor Talking Machine Company

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Speaker 1: as a classical recording artist. Rock Modernov settled into life

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Speaker 1: in America surprisingly well, a feat made easier thanks to

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Speaker 1: men like Benjamin Kubelski. Kubowski was a violinist who hailed

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Speaker 1: from Chicago. He hadn't been born into a life of

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Speaker 1: comfort as rockmaninnof had, but he did have some love

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Speaker 1: of music. It's what carried him through school and into

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Speaker 1: a life of entertainment. However, instead of a grand concert

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Speaker 1: hall like rock Monernoff was used to performing in the

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Speaker 1: young Kubelski cut his teeth on vaudeville stages for seven

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Speaker 1: dollars and fifty cents a week. His talent with the

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Speaker 1: violin also earned him admiration from up and coming performers

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Speaker 1: such as the Marx Brothers. He played vaudeville for quite

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Speaker 1: some time as he worked his way up to a

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Speaker 1: career in radio in the nineteen thirties. He'd always been

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Speaker 1: a capable violinist, and that talent had earned Kubelski guest

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Speaker 1: spots on popular radio programs such as one hosted by

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Speaker 1: Ed Sullivan. He became a hit and counted among his

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Speaker 1: fans one Sergey Rockmaninoff, who found himself in tears every

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Speaker 1: time the man played tears of laughter. That is you see.

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Speaker 1: Kubelski realized early on that he got way more laughs

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Speaker 1: if he played his violin badly on purpose, he'd his

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Speaker 1: career on it. And Rachmaninoff couldn't help but cry with

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Speaker 1: laughter every time he listened to his act on the radio.

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Speaker 1: Except he wasn't Benjamin Kubalski back then. He hadn't been

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Speaker 1: for a very long time, not since he had changed

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Speaker 1: his name. During his vaudeville days. Audiences everywhere, including Rachmaninoff,

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Speaker 1: had become devout fans of radio and TV star Jack Benny.

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Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet

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Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

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Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.

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Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership

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Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show

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Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,

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Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the

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Speaker 1: World of Lore. Dot com and until next time, stay curious,