Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. It could be tough finding a place to live.
Speaker 1: There are so many factors to consider, like how much
Speaker 1: it costs, what the property taxes are like, and the
Speaker 1: quality of the school district, just to name a few.
Speaker 1: Not everybody gets to live in their dream home either,
Speaker 1: but for those who do, they are afforded a life
Speaker 1: of peace and comfort where they can make years of
Speaker 1: memories watching their family grow and prosper. Unless they've moved
Speaker 1: into one particular their home, that is. It was built
Speaker 1: in the Hollywood Hills in nineteen fifty, an English country
Speaker 1: revival with a breathtaking view of the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 1: Palm trees line it's perimeter and loom tall over the
Speaker 1: kidney shaped pool out back. It sits on three quarters
Speaker 1: of an acre and measures over three thousand square feet,
Speaker 1: but feels more like a private bungalow than a Hollywood mansion.
Speaker 1: Perhaps that's why this secluded residence has attracted so many
Speaker 1: high caliber owners. Thomas Thompson, the writer for Life magazine
Speaker 1: and the author of the best selling nineteen two novel Celebrity,
Speaker 1: once lived there. Before him, there was Ali Saddic. Ali
Speaker 1: was a cotton broker who, along with his twin brother Ahmed,
Speaker 1: kicked up a fight at a Hollywood press banquet with
Speaker 1: another pair of twins. Apparently, Scandinavian journalists Burtle and gust
Speaker 1: Of Unger were upset that the Saddics were sitting in
Speaker 1: their seats. Patricia Barren owned the house after Sattic in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five. Baron was a journalist whose father, Frank Barham,
Speaker 1: published the Los Angeles Harold Express and was a business
Speaker 1: partner of William Randolph Hurst. Young Patty spent countless weeks
Speaker 1: roaming the grounds of Hurst Castle as a welcome guest.
Speaker 1: But Patty wasn't just the daughter of a newspaper publisher.
Speaker 1: She made quite a name for herself, writing articles and
Speaker 1: books about the glitterati, including the late actress Thelma Todd,
Speaker 1: Marilyn Monroe, and even a book on Resputin, which she
Speaker 1: co wrote with his daughter. After she moved out, the
Speaker 1: lavish house on Woodrow Wilson Drive saw its fair share
Speaker 1: of celebrities walk through its door. There was former Beatle
Speaker 1: Ringo star actress Alfrey Woodard, and Mama Cass of the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties supergroup The Mamas and Papa's. In fact, while
Speaker 1: Cass was living in the home, she would often entertain
Speaker 1: other famous musicians and actors, asking them to write a
Speaker 1: little something on one of the walls in her living room.
Speaker 1: Among her guests were David Crosby, Eric Clapton, Ryan O'Neill,
Speaker 1: and future Miami Vice star Don Johnson. For decades, this
Speaker 1: home witnessed the presence of more celebrities than most awards ceremonies.
Speaker 1: But in the nineteen eighties, a new owner and his
Speaker 1: wife moved in, and what they thought would be their
Speaker 1: dream home turned into a living nightmare. Daniel was an
Speaker 1: up and coming actor. He'd been on television and was
Speaker 1: starting to get some movie roles, working his way up
Speaker 1: in Hollywood. However, soon after the couple settled in, they
Speaker 1: started experiencing some really odd things. Daniel's StairMaster exercise equipment
Speaker 1: would turn itself on out of nowhere. He sometimes heard
Speaker 1: his piano being played even though nobody was sitting at it.
Speaker 1: He caught his wife's jewelry moving across their bedroom dresser,
Speaker 1: all on its own. In one extreme instance, Daniel had
Speaker 1: been asleep in his bed when he felt someone cuddle
Speaker 1: up beside him. Thinking it was his wife, he rolled
Speaker 1: over and went back to sleep. It wasn't until after
Speaker 1: he woke up later that he realized nobody was there.
Speaker 1: With so much paranormal activity going on throughout the house,
Speaker 1: Daniel thought the ghost of Mama Cass had returned. She
Speaker 1: hadn't died there, but he felt her presence everywhere he went. Eventually,
Speaker 1: it all became too much to handle, and Daniel put
Speaker 1: the house back on the market. It took a while
Speaker 1: to sell, especially since he had to disclose all of
Speaker 1: those ghostly happenings going on, but in that time he
Speaker 1: started working on a new project. It was a movie
Speaker 1: script about a team of out of work scientists who
Speaker 1: start up their own business in New York City and
Speaker 1: their job busting ghosts. Daniel was snl Alum dan Ackroyd,
Speaker 1: and after seeing something strange in his neighborhood, he got
Speaker 1: to work writing one of the greatest horror comedy films
Speaker 1: of all time, Ghostbusters. A hero can come from anywhere.
Speaker 1: A bystander pulling someone back onto the sidewalk as a
Speaker 1: bus speeds by, a sibling rescuing their baby brother from
Speaker 1: drowning in the pool, or even a child telling a
Speaker 1: bully to leave someone else alone. Anyone can be a hero,
Speaker 1: no matter how small the act. But sometimes someone does
Speaker 1: something so heroic he doesn't just affect the person he's helped,
Speaker 1: He wins the love and respect of an entire city.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened to Jim in n Jim lived
Speaker 1: at fifty seven West fifty seven Streets in New York
Speaker 1: City with a man named Dr Harry Tower Galpin. Galpin
Speaker 1: owned an apartment building in ran the drug store on
Speaker 1: its ground floor, But on the morning of October one,
Speaker 1: Jim noticed a strange smell coming from the basement. He
Speaker 1: got to work right away, and after doing some sniffing around,
Speaker 1: he realized that everyone needed to evacuate the building immediately.
Speaker 1: He tried to wake up Dr Galpin, but the man
Speaker 1: was in a deep sleep. What nobody knew was that
Speaker 1: a vacuum cleaner had exploded in the basement, which had
Speaker 1: ruptured the caps on twenty two gas meters directly above it.
Speaker 1: While everyone was fast asleep, gas was filling Dr Galpin's apartment,
Speaker 1: where his brother and a family were staying. They were
Speaker 1: slowly being killed by the ensuing gas leak, so Jim
Speaker 1: jumped into action. He clamped his mouth around Dr Galpin's
Speaker 1: hand and bid him hard enough to rouse him awake.
Speaker 1: Dr Gelpin, realizing something was wrong, hurried to the window
Speaker 1: and threw it open. The apartment aired out quickly and
Speaker 1: everyone was saved, and Jim was a hero. He had
Speaker 1: left a hundred and six tooth marks on Dr Galpin's hand,
Speaker 1: an unusual way of waking someone up. So why didn't
Speaker 1: Jim just open the window himself? Because he couldn't. Jim
Speaker 1: was a dog, you see, a great Dane to be exact.
Speaker 1: Reporters who arrived at the scene asked Dr Galpin about
Speaker 1: what had happened. He told them how Jim had saved everyone,
Speaker 1: adding that he was grateful for each and every bite
Speaker 1: mark he received. To celebrate Jim's heroism and to show
Speaker 1: their appreciation, Dr Gelpin and others through the giant pooch
Speaker 1: a special lunch in his honor. It was held at
Speaker 1: the Alps, a restaurant, a match to Gelfin's apartment building,
Speaker 1: where Jim was able to eat to his heart's content.
Speaker 1: From that point on, Jim the Great Dane became something
Speaker 1: of a celebrity. His name was in all the papers,
Speaker 1: even the ones published outside of Manhattan. Folks as far
Speaker 1: away as Canada knew about the dog's courageous act, but
Speaker 1: he didn't let it go to his head. Jim started
Speaker 1: making the rounds among New York's elite, who very much
Speaker 1: wanted to be seen dining with this plucky pooch. The
Speaker 1: president of the New York Women's League for Animals had
Speaker 1: him in her Fifth Avenue home for a banquet. A
Speaker 1: hundred people attended, each one eager to shake pause with
Speaker 1: the one d and twenty seven pound Jim. One month later,
Speaker 1: he attended afternoon tea with Miss Kate Sanborn and her
Speaker 1: high salutant friends. He was even photographed taking a puff
Speaker 1: from a hookah while he was there. But Jim was
Speaker 1: finally given the honor of a lifetime when he received
Speaker 1: a life saving award on Memorial Day of nineteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: and he wasn't the only one. There were three other
Speaker 1: dogs receiving the same award, a police dog that had
Speaker 1: saved a child whose clothes had caught on fire, a
Speaker 1: Japanese spaniel who had woken up his family after a
Speaker 1: fire had erupted in their home, and a new fee
Speaker 1: named Teddy, who had pulled two people out of the
Speaker 1: Hudson River and saved them from drowning several years before.
Speaker 1: Later that year, Dr Galpin and Jim traveled to Saratoga Springs,
Speaker 1: where the Great Dane was hit by a car. His
Speaker 1: hip was badly injured, and the veterinarians did the best
Speaker 1: they could, but the wound wasn't healing properly and it
Speaker 1: kept him from getting around. Jim didn't hesitate, though, he
Speaker 1: bit into his flesh and punctured it, creating two holes
Speaker 1: so the wound could drain. Two days later, he was
Speaker 1: back on his feet as if nothing had ever happened. Sadly,
Speaker 1: jim Storied life came to an abrupt end in nineteen nineteen.
Speaker 1: It was a Monday night and Dr Galpin had closed
Speaker 1: the drug store for the evening. He went up to
Speaker 1: his apartment and directed Jim to the basement, the dog's
Speaker 1: normal sleeping spot. Hours passed. At five am, Dr Galpin
Speaker 1: was startled awake by the sensation of Jim's cold, wet
Speaker 1: nose on his hand. Something was wrong. Jim and Dr
Speaker 1: Galpin ran to the drug store, where a robbery was
Speaker 1: already in progress. Jim ran in after the thieves. There
Speaker 1: was a scuffle, followed by whimpers. Dr Galpin found his
Speaker 1: beloved pet bleeding on the floor. He had been bludgeoned
Speaker 1: by something heavy after attacking the robbers. They'd broken his
Speaker 1: ribs and caused serious damage to his midsection. Jim passed
Speaker 1: away a short time later. Jim the Great Dane was
Speaker 1: a dog, a bodyguard, a friend of high society, and
Speaker 1: a best friend. But above all else, he was a
Speaker 1: hero to the man who loved him, and a good boy,
Speaker 1: No the greatest boy there ever was. I hope you've
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore which is
Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the world of Lore
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious, Yeah,