1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Guess what, mango. So in reading up for today's episode, 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: I stumbled into this story about the old trick of 3 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,319 Speaker 1: pulling a rabbit out of the hat. Huh. And you know, 4 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,039 Speaker 1: while there's some dispute over who first created that trick, 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,239 Speaker 1: it apparently debuted in the eighteen thirties, and it goes 6 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: all the way back to Mary Toft. Do you do 7 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: you know Mary Toft? I'm not sure I remember. I 8 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: wish you a magician. No, she was this legendary con 9 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: artist from the eighteenth century, and she managed to trick 10 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: doctors into believing she'd given birth to sixteen live rabbits. 11 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: Now why she wanted to trick them into thinking she'd 12 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: given birth to sixteen rabbits, I'm not sure, but she 13 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: managed to hold the doctors and even the royal family 14 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: at the time. But part of the reason she was 15 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: eventually discovered was that someone spotted her husband buying all 16 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: these baby rabbits just on the slide. Anyway, once it 17 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,919 Speaker 1: was established that she was a fraud, magicians started parroting 18 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: her trick. In fact, in early renditions, they wouldn't just 19 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: pull one rabbit out of a hat, but a bunch 20 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: of them, which is so weird that magicians still do 21 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: that rabbit and a hat trick right like it's a staple. 22 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: I know. But that's actually just the first of nine 23 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: hat facts that we've got for you today. So let's 24 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: dig in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. 25 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my 26 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: good friend man guest Ticketer and on the other side 27 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: of the soundproof glass wearing a wide brimmed hat from 28 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: the what is that the Hamburglar collection is impressive? That's 29 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And of course we've 30 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: got our pal and had researcher Gabe Bluesier on the 31 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: line with us as well. How's it going Gabe? Hey, guys, 32 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. It's going well well because 33 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: I kicked off today's episode. How about I throw it 34 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: to you, Gabe for your first fact? Sure? All right? 35 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: Uh So, a year before he was killed, President Lincoln 36 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: had actually had another assassination attempt on his life, and 37 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: this was in August of eighteen sixty four. He was 38 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: out riding a horse who happened to be named Old Abe. 39 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: Also by the way, and uh he was three miles 40 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: away from the White House when someone took a pot 41 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: shot at him and the bullet just missed him, clipping 42 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: his stovepipe hat off his head, and the two abes 43 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 1: took off, and when soldiers found the hat later on, 44 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: they discovered that the bullet had gone right through the crown, which, 45 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: you know, it led everyone to believe that the lucky 46 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: top hat had actually saved his life. Oh wow, all right, 47 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: well that's a pretty crazy story. Okay, mango, what's your 48 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: first fact? Well, you know, since since Gabe had one 49 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: about Lincoln, I actually have one of Lincoln's hat as well, 50 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: and it's unfortunate that he wasn't wearing his lucky hat 51 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: at the FOURD Theater and instead it was sitting by 52 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: his feet during that performance. But that had actually has 53 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: its own story. So after the assassination Mary Todd, Lincoln 54 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: sent the President's hat to the Smithsonian, where there were 55 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: strict orders not to exhibit the hat under any circule stance, 56 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: and apparently they thought viewing the hat might induce too 57 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: much hysterian the public. So only a few people knew 58 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: about it, and for thirty years it was just hidden 59 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: away in the basement of the Smithsonian before it was rediscovered, 60 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: and of course today it's considered one of the Smithsonian's 61 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: most prized possessions. Yeah, I'd love to do a tour 62 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: one day of like the underground of the Smithsonian, not 63 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: just because like what do you see in the movies, 64 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: but there actually are just a ton of artistles. It's 65 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: just amazing. I don't know where you came up with 66 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: drawers full of birds. You haven't see that photo. It's amazing. 67 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: It's like this massive hall and they're like a few 68 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: curators who have just opened all the drawers and it's like, 69 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: like I want to say, hundreds of thousands of birds, 70 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: like just stuffed in for this hopefully dead. Well, I 71 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: did not know about that. We're going to have to 72 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: do an episode. I just didn't expect that to be 73 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: the response, Like all these things underground, you're like drawers 74 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: full of birds. Yeah, alright, Well back to the hats. 75 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: I've actually got a weird one here. So have you 76 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: guys ever heard of the straw hat riots? Well, apparently 77 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: on September fifteen, that used to be a big day 78 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: for the hating community, known as felt Hat Day, and 79 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: it's when men switched over from wearing summer straw hats 80 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: for winter ones, and actually if you wore a hat 81 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 1: after that date, you were basically asking to get made 82 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: fun of. In fact, for a while, young hooligans in 83 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: New York City would use sticks and nails at the 84 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: end to fish these straw hats off, you know, passers 85 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: by that had them on, and then they would stomp 86 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: them flat, like really really nice kids. But in n 87 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: this felt hat day, hooliganism got out of hand, and 88 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: so many boys were out there stomping these hats that 89 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: the police were called in. There was a subhead in 90 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: the New York Tribune that read, quote, many youthful marauders 91 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: are arrested and seven are spanked by irate parents at 92 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: station like that. They counted the number of them who 93 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: were spanked. Anyway, I think it's safe to say that 94 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 1: they learned their lesson from this event. Alright, mano, what 95 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: do you got next? So? Uh, this is just something 96 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: I found that I thought was funny. It's in honor 97 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: of George Orwell's a hundred tenth birthday. These two Dutch 98 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: artists in the city of Utrecht decided to celebrate his 99 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: legacy by putting little party hats on all the city's 100 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: surveillance cameras, and uh, it's really funny. You should look 101 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: these pictures up because all these sort of like Big 102 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 1: Brother lenses around the town are all dressed up in 103 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: these super festive party hats. And the whole thing made 104 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: the cameras look ridiculous, but it actually drew attention and 105 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,479 Speaker 1: it made people realize how much they're actually being constantly watched. Yeah, 106 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: oh that's pretty cool, all right. Actually, you know what, 107 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: there was another fact. I know we need to get 108 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 1: back to gay for another fact, but I meant to 109 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: mention this one after you talked about Lincoln's had I 110 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: know we talked about Lincoln's lost hat, but apparently Jackie 111 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: Kennedy's iconic pillbox hat has also gone missing. So while 112 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: her pink suit is an a vault in Maryland, it 113 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: supposedly won't be shown for a hundred years, but her 114 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: matching hat is nowhere to be found. Some hat conspiracy 115 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: theorists think that Jackieo's personal secretary, Mary Gallagher, that she 116 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: used to blame. She was the last one scene holding it, 117 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: and they think she might have sold it in an 118 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: online auction to you know, some fancy had collector or something. Yeah, 119 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,599 Speaker 1: you just never know. But Mary has been spotted putting 120 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: Kennedy memorabilia up for auction before. Actually, so this could 121 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: actually be the case, but she's refused to discuss the matter. 122 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: That's crazy, alright, gay, but I feel like Mango and 123 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: I were hogging it for a minute. We want to 124 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: come back to you got another hat fact for us? Yeah, 125 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: here's a quick one, actually, um, and that's that Daniel 126 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: Boone didn't actually wear a coon skin cap, so most 127 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: of the time he wore a beaver hat. And in fact, 128 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: that's where the whole thing started. So when an artist 129 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: named Chester Harding painted Boone, he painted him in an 130 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: accurate beaver hat. But then when the princes of that 131 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,159 Speaker 1: painting were sold, they hired a Daniel Boone impersonator to 132 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: hawk those prints. And unfortunately the impersonator you know, couldn't 133 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: afford a beaver hat, or maybe he just couldn't find one, 134 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: but either way, he showed up to sell in a 135 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: lesser coon skin hat and for some reason. But three, 136 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: you just do you feel like you could spot the 137 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: difference between a beaver hat and a coon skin head? Yeah? Yeah, okay, 138 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: all right. Well, actually, I've got a cool fact about 139 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: Carmen Miranda. You know, the Brazilian singer and dancer who 140 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: was popular in the thirties and forties. Well, she was 141 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: iconic partly because she wore that giant fruit hat on 142 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: her head, which inspired the chiquita banana woman. But here's 143 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: what's interesting, So she actually used to make these elaborate 144 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: hats herself. She had worked as a millner in her 145 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: youth and a hat shop, and so she knew the 146 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: art and she modeled those crazy fruit hats on the 147 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: girls in Brazilian villages who used to carry the baskets 148 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: of fruit on their heads to market. That's pretty cool, 149 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: all right, Mago, what's your last fact? So you know, 150 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: what's the opposite of making an iconic hat yourself is 151 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: a shoplifting one. But that's what Slash, the bad boy 152 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: guitarist of Guns and Roses, did. So this is well 153 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: before they had a record deal. Slash was looking for 154 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: something fancy to wear at a thrift store and because 155 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: he claims he didn't have the money at the time, 156 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: I mean, this is how he justifies it. He found 157 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: a top hat and then just walked out of the 158 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: store with it, and he was lucky that no one 159 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: chased him out. But of course that's not the only 160 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: part of his outfit that he filched. Since the top 161 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,239 Speaker 1: hat looked too plain on its own, he actually stole 162 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: a belt that he used as a hat band. And 163 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: so I mean, of course, the fact that he's so 164 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: happy to talk about all this stealing without feeling any 165 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: guilt kind of gives a little more credence to this 166 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: amazing theory. I saw online that Guns and Roses ripped 167 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: off their songs sweet Child of Mine from an Australian 168 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: band called Australian Crawl. Yeah, the song was out like 169 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: five years before, and apparently, I mean they say that 170 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: Guns and Roses was listening to like Australian rock at 171 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 1: the time. It's kind of crazy if you listen to 172 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 1: the suff to go back and listen to that right 173 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: after I look at the birds in the drawers. Okay, 174 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: gave you got one more fact for us. Yeah, so 175 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: this is a slightly sweeter one than that. But uh, 176 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: have you heard before that the hundred fleets on a 177 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: French chef's hat that they represent all the different ways 178 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: they know of how to prepare an egg? Familiar that. Yeah, well, 179 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: it's an often repeated story, but it's actually hard to 180 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: find any evidence of this. I mean, French cooks like 181 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: Jacques Pepin will tell you how much they love eggs 182 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,839 Speaker 1: and even used making perfect silky scrambled eggs as kind 183 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: of this test of whether you can work in their kitchens. 184 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: But Bon Appetite did some digging and they did find 185 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: a little bit of corroborating evidence for this. So apparently 186 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: the French cook who elevated French cuisine and kind of 187 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: put chefs in uniform, august Escoffe, he had one hundred 188 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:39,439 Speaker 1: and forty three recipes for mastering eggs and he documented 189 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: them all in his legendary h three cookbook. I feel 190 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: like I could come up with maybe four ways to 191 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: love eggs, so that is impressive, and I want to 192 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: give you today's fact Off trophy. But I really feel 193 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: like the whole birds and drawers came out of nowhere, 194 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: and so I gave I don't know how you feel, 195 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: but I feel like we have choice but to give 196 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: mango the trophy today. What do you think you can 197 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 1: get behind that? Okay with that mango? Yeah, definitely, I'm 198 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: going to stuff d but listeners. We've loved hearing from 199 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: you guys so many ideas for future nine Things episodes, 200 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: so if you want to keep those coming, we would 201 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. It's part time genius at 202 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com. You can also call seven 203 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: Fact hot Line one eight four pt genius, or hit 204 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: us up on Facebook or Twitter. We'll be back with 205 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: a full length episode tomorrow. Thanks so much for listening.