1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,320 Speaker 1: Have you ever seen a death mask, maybe in a 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: museum or even just a photo of one. Like a 3 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:09,039 Speaker 1: lot of us, you probably thought, wow, that's creepy, But 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: they served a really practical purpose, and one of them 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: has become world famous. You may have touched her yourself, 6 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: and Michael Jackson referenced her in a huge hit record, 7 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:22,319 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The origin of the line Annie, are 8 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: you okay? Next on the backstory, We're back with the backstory. 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: Michael Jackson's song Smooth Criminal has the line Annie, are 10 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: yeah okay? Sorry for the music around three dozen times. 11 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: It also has the line mouth to mouth resuscitation sounding heartbeats. 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: Where did that come from? Well, it seems Michael was 13 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: trained in CPR, and the mannequin used worldwide for CPR 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: training is resus Annie. In fact, the model for Annie 15 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: was actually the death mask of a young woman in 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: Paris in the eighteen eighties. More unhear in just a moment, 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: So okay, death mask? Does that weird you out? Maybe 18 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: you've seen them in museums or even in photos of 19 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: historic figures like Abe Lincoln, although his was actually a 20 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: life mask. But these things were popular, and there was 21 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: a reason for them to understand where the idea for 22 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: a death mask even came from, we got to go 23 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: way back. Ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece, and Rome use them, 24 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: and interestingly, even though they lived on the other side 25 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,199 Speaker 1: of the world. South American civilizations including the Inca, Mayan, 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: and Aztecs also used death masks. In every case, it 27 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: was to honor the dead, show some of their physical features, 28 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: and facilitate their journey into the afterlife. Most of these 29 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: really early masks are works of art. King Tut's death mask, 30 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: which was found inside his sarcophagus, is hugely famous. It's 31 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: twenty three pounds of solid gold representing Tut's face, though 32 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: it's probably fairly idealized. Three D studies of his mummified 33 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: body show a guy with buck teeth and a receding chin. 34 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,679 Speaker 1: Oh well. As time went on, death masks were used 35 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: even more, not just for spiritual reasons or honoring big shots. 36 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: By the Middle Ages, they stopped burying the masks with 37 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: the bodies. Instead, they were used in funeral ceremonies, but 38 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: then kept in libraries, museums, and universities, as well as 39 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: in family homes. Death masks were made not just of royalty, 40 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: but also composers like Beethoven, military leaders like Napoleon, and 41 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: even inventors like Nikola Tesla, whose friend had a death 42 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: mask made of Tesla after his nineteen forty three death. 43 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: Some folks even have life masks done, like Abe Lincoln. 44 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: Now that was not just for the family to have 45 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: as a keepsake, although they did, but also so paintings 46 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: and sculptures of an individual could be done without their 47 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: presence in an art studio. You see, there was no photography, 48 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: or at least not very good but potography back then, 49 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: and other than in portraits, it was difficult to capture 50 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: the actual features of an individual. These masks were made 51 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: with plaster or wax and were highly detailed. And that's 52 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: how we get to the young woman whose face was 53 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: borrowed for the CPR mannequin resssa Annie. It was eighteen 54 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: eighty eight and the story goes that a young woman's 55 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: body was pulled from the Sene River, which flows through Paris. 56 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: She appeared to be about sixteen years old, but there 57 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: was nothing to identify her. The common practice in those 58 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: days was to immediately make a death mask of an 59 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: unknown individual so it could be placed with the remains. Then, 60 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: as the body deteriorated, it could still be identified by 61 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: the mask. They would then display the bodies, maybe as 62 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: many as a dozen at a time, in public, usually 63 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: behind glass in a chilled room. The public could check 64 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: them out to see if they could id them, and 65 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: also get a little bit of a morbid thrill. The 66 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: young woman was never identified, but people were enchanted by 67 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: her looks and seemingly calm demeanor. They called her len 68 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: Connille de la Senne, or the unknown woman of the Seine. 69 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: The French philosopher and author Albert Cameau called her a 70 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: drowned mona Lisa. Because of her serene smile, women wanted 71 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: to look like her, and everybody wanted a copy of 72 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: her death mask, so of course somebody figured out how 73 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: to make a book off of her. Plaster copies of 74 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: her death mask were sold all over Europe and still 75 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: by the way sol today. People hung them in their 76 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: homes as works of art. Paintings were based on it, 77 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 1: and books and short stories were written about her, all 78 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: made up, of course, since nobody knew who she was. 79 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: Some thought she'd killed herself after finding herself pregnant and 80 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: then being jilted by her lover. Fast forward seventy years 81 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:59,280 Speaker 1: or so. In the nineteen fifties, a couple of anesthesiologists 82 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: met at a men conference and they began developing what 83 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: was called mouth to mouth ventilation to bring people back 84 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: who'd stop breathing. That eventually led them to CPR. In 85 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: the early nineteen sixties, or Norwegian researcher volunteered to create 86 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: the mannekin they'd use to train people in CPR. They 87 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: just didn't know what it should look like. They decided 88 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: to make it female, feeling that both men and women 89 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: would rather do mouth to mouth on a woman who 90 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: looked less threatening, but choosing the exact face was tough. 91 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,720 Speaker 1: Then the Norwegian researcher was visiting a relative's house when 92 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: he noticed a reproduction of the Lost Woman of the 93 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: Sin the death Mask hanging on a wall. Voila. They 94 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: named her Anne, and resssa Annie was created. She's now 95 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: called the most kissed face in the world. Twelve million 96 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: people a year lock lips with her as they train 97 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: in CPR techniques. Among those hundreds of millions over the 98 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: years who've learned from her, Michael Jackson. Part of the 99 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: EMS training involves repeatedly asking the patient, Annie, are you okay? 100 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,239 Speaker 1: And that's where that line comes from in Michael's song 101 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: Smooth Criminal. Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. 102 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: Please leave a review. I would love it if you'd 103 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, 104 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a 105 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 106 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 107 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the 108 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is 109 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes 110 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to 111 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at 112 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks 113 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: for listening to the back Story with Patty Steele. The 114 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.