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Speaker 1: Hey, they're history fans. We're taking the day off, but

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Speaker 1: don't worry. We've got plenty of classic shows to tide

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Speaker 1: you over. Please enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI

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Speaker 1: HC Vault. Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that believes there's no time like the present

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Speaker 1: to learn about the past. I'm Gabe Luzia, and in

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Speaker 1: this episode, we're talking about a kidnapping in Greece that

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Speaker 1: went from bad to worse the more the government got involved.

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Speaker 1: The day was April eleventh, eighteen seventy Lord Moncaster of

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Speaker 1: Britain and four other tourists were captured in Marathon, Greece

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Speaker 1: by a gang of outlaws. The Greek pirates or Brigands,

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Speaker 1: later demanded a fifty thousand pound ransom for the release

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Speaker 1: of the hostages, which included Lord Muncaster and three other

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Speaker 1: British aristocrats, as well as an Italian nobleman. When the

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Speaker 1: King of Greece flatly refused the demand, the kidnapping quickly

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Speaker 1: spiraled into a major international incident, with Britain even threatening war.

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Speaker 1: Joscelyn Pennington, aka Lord Muncaster, was a British soldier and

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Speaker 1: Conservative Party politician with a seat in the House of Lords.

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Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy, he embarked on a tour of Europe

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Speaker 1: with his wife, Lady Muncaster, and six other traveling companions.

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Speaker 1: They arrived in Athens, Greece, in early April, and on

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Speaker 1: the morning of the eleventh they set out on a

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Speaker 1: day trip to the site of the Battle of Marathon.

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Speaker 1: It was a twenty five mile journey by carriage through

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Speaker 1: a mountainous region that was a notorious haven for bandits.

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Speaker 1: As a precaution, the the group's carriages were escorted by

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Speaker 1: four mounted police and twelve foot soldiers. However, on their

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Speaker 1: way back, the carriages got ahead of the marching soldiers

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Speaker 1: and were ambushed in a ravine by about twenty armed brigands.

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Speaker 1: Two of the mounted police were shot and killed, and

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Speaker 1: the travelers were then forced out of their carriages and

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Speaker 1: led deep into the mountains. A little while later, Lady

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Speaker 1: Muncaster and the two other women in the party were released,

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Speaker 1: along with the two surviving policemen. This group of five

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Speaker 1: was sent to deliver the brigand's ransom demands to the

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Speaker 1: Greek government, while Lord Muncaster and the other four hostages

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Speaker 1: remained behind. While they waited, Muncaster and the other hostages

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Speaker 1: negotiated with their captors, eventually convincing them to lower the

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Speaker 1: ransom from thirty two thousand English sovereigns to twenty five

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Speaker 1: thousand pounds, the equivalent of more than one point five

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Speaker 1: million pounds today. In addition, they also wanted amnesty for

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Speaker 1: their entire group. With a new set of terms decided,

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Speaker 1: Lord Muncaster was sent after his wife with the updated proposal,

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Speaker 1: and the Bandit's hostage count dwindled to just four. The

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Speaker 1: kidnappers were led by Tacos Arvanitakis, and they were no

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Speaker 1: strangers to capturing and ransoming tourists, and since they were

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Speaker 1: such seasoned pros, they were reportedly pretty laid back about

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Speaker 1: the whole thing, at least as far as captors go.

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Speaker 1: For example, Frederick Weiner, the youngest of the hostages at

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Speaker 1: twenty three, is said to have joined his kidnappers in

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Speaker 1: several competitions, including foot races and boulder tossing. However, once

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Speaker 1: the ransom demands were delivered to the Greek government, the

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Speaker 1: positive moods soured fast. The government agreed to pay the

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Speaker 1: bandits twenty five thousand pounds, but they said amnesty was

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Speaker 1: not an option under Greek law. When the brigands heard

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Speaker 1: how readily the ransom was accepted, they concluded that their

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Speaker 1: hostages must be relatives of Queen Victoria and were therefore

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Speaker 1: worth an even larger sum. So with amnesty off the table,

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Speaker 1: the kidnappers decided to go for broke and up their

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Speaker 1: demand to fifty thousand pounds. Queen Victoria followed the negotiations

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Speaker 1: closely and was annoyed by how long it was taking

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Speaker 1: the Greek government to deal with a simple gang of bandits.

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Speaker 1: This put King George of Greece in an awkward spot.

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Speaker 1: He didn't want to establish the precedent of giving in

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Speaker 1: to kidnappers, but he also didn't want England to think

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Speaker 1: that he wasn't doing everything possible to free their citizens.

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Speaker 1: Trying to save face on both accounts, the King made

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Speaker 1: a somewhat misguided compromise. He refused to pay the fifty

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Speaker 1: thousand pound ransom and instead offered to exchange himself in

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Speaker 1: return and for the hostages. Of course, the brigands wanted money,

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Speaker 1: not more hostages, and especially not one with as much

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Speaker 1: heat as a king. They rejected the offer, and negotiations

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Speaker 1: came to a standstill at that point. About a week

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Speaker 1: into the ordeal, the Greek government decided to try a

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Speaker 1: more direct, but no less misguided tactic. It dispatched a

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Speaker 1: group of soldiers to de Lesi, the coastal town in

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Speaker 1: eastern Biotia where the hostages were being held. The troops

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Speaker 1: tracked down the bandits, surrounded their hideout, and prepared to

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Speaker 1: lead a daring rescue. They had been instructed not to

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Speaker 1: shoot unless first fired upon themselves, but when the soldiers

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Speaker 1: sighted the brigands, some of them immediately opened fire. In

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Speaker 1: the ensuing panic, some of the brigands were shot and

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Speaker 1: others were captured, but most, including Arvanitakis, managed to escape.

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Speaker 1: As for Frederick Weiner and his three fellow hostages, they

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Speaker 1: were all shot dead amidst the confusion. It's unclear whether

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Speaker 1: they were killed by their captors or by the friendly

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Speaker 1: fire of there would be rescuers, but either way it

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Speaker 1: was the worst possible outcome for nearly everyone involved. The

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Speaker 1: ugly incident became known across Europe as the de Lessee massacre,

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Speaker 1: and both the British Parliament and the Queen herself condemned

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Speaker 1: the Greek government for its botched response. As public outrage grew,

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Speaker 1: England began to threaten war with Greece unless the country

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Speaker 1: cracked down on its bandit problem. Greece complied, and several

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Speaker 1: of the bandits involved in the kidnapping were arrested, tried,

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Speaker 1: and executed. Arvona Takis was eventually killed as well, and

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Speaker 1: the number of kidnappings in the country drastically declined in

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Speaker 1: the following years. These actions alone probably would have been

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Speaker 1: enough to ease inn the national tensions, but it didn't

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Speaker 1: hurt that Russia came to Greece's defense. The prospect of

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Speaker 1: taking on both nations at once put everything in perspective

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Speaker 1: in England's talk of war quickly ceased. Several months after

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Speaker 1: the de Lessee massacre, of photo titled the Seven Heads

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Speaker 1: of the Greek Brigands began to circulate across Europe. The

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Speaker 1: stereoscopic photo showed the severed heads of seven executed bandits,

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Speaker 1: which had been put on public display in Athens earlier

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Speaker 1: that year. When viewed through a stereoscope, the image appeared

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Speaker 1: in three D, making it seem like the men's heads

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Speaker 1: were right in front of you. According to the letter

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Speaker 1: of the law, the Brigand's punishment was justified, but by

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Speaker 1: immortalizing their suffering as a gruesome souvenir, the public demonstrated

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Speaker 1: the same inhumanity as those who would bargain for men's lives.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesyer and hopefully you now know a little

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Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. You can

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Speaker 1: learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have

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Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, you can always send them my

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Speaker 1: way at this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to

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Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day

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Speaker 1: in History Class. Hello and welcome to This Day in

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Speaker 1: History Class, a show that hits the high notes of

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Speaker 1: history every day of the week. I'm Gay Bluesiery and

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Speaker 1: today we're celebrating Barbershop Quartet Day with a look at

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Speaker 1: the story of the first group devoted solely to the

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Speaker 1: nostalgic cause of barbershop music. The day was April eleventh,

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight. The first meeting of the Barbershop Harmony

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Speaker 1: Society was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was organized by

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Speaker 1: Owen Clifton Cash, a local tax attorney, and by Rupert Hall,

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Speaker 1: an investment manager. A few weeks earlier, the men's paths

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Speaker 1: had crossed in Kansas City, where they discovered they had

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Speaker 1: a common interest in barbershop music. The two discussed the

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Speaker 1: idea of holding some kind of festival or meeting for

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Speaker 1: fans of the waning genre to get together and practice

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Speaker 1: their craft. They got the ball rolling by inviting fourteen

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Speaker 1: male singers to gather at the Tulsa Club that spring.

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Speaker 1: They weren't sure anyone would actually come, but in the

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Speaker 1: end it was a full house. They were even about

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Speaker 1: a dozen extra men who had been brought along as guests.

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Speaker 1: The following week, seventy men showed up for the second meeting,

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Speaker 1: and attendance continued to grow from there. What had started

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Speaker 1: as an informal organization eventually became an official one, complete

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Speaker 1: with officers, charters, and bylaws. The society helped revive interest

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Speaker 1: in barbershop quartets throughout the nineteen forties, making it socially

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Speaker 1: acceptable once again for four men to don striped jackets

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Speaker 1: and straw hats and sing together in perfect harmony. So

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Speaker 1: if you've ever seen the Dapper Dance perform at a

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Speaker 1: Disney theme park. Now you know who to thank for

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Speaker 1: helping keep that style of music alive. For the uninitiated,

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Speaker 1: barbershop music is a popular form of choral a cappella singing.

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Speaker 1: The focus is on tight, carefully arranged harmonies between four,

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Speaker 1: typically all male or all female singers in male groups.

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Speaker 1: The second tenor generally acts as the lead, carrying the

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Speaker 1: melody with which the other three voices harmonize. The first

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Speaker 1: tenor sings harmony above the lead, the baritone sings harmony below,

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Speaker 1: and the lowest voice, the bass, sings lower, still providing

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Speaker 1: the foundation. Other common characteristics of the genre include the

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Speaker 1: synchronization of word sounds, the repetition of phrases to produce

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Speaker 1: an echo effect, and the use of music with a

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Speaker 1: strong syncopated rhythm, such as rag time. The roots of

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Speaker 1: barbershop music are somewhat more diverse than you might expect.

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Speaker 1: Although the musical style is generally associated with the United States,

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Speaker 1: its name likely came from England. As far back as

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Speaker 1: the sixteen hundreds. British barbers kept a stringed instrument on

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Speaker 1: hand for their customers to strum while waiting for their

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Speaker 1: turn in the chair. Some of the regulars would even

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Speaker 1: rig up other instruments to flesh out their performances. One

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Speaker 1: popular trick was to fill a candlestick with coins and

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Speaker 1: then shake it to add a bit of percussion. The

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Speaker 1: resulting songs became known as barber's music, or more simply

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Speaker 1: as barber shop. The marriage of music and hair cutting

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Speaker 1: eventually made its way to the US, and by the

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Speaker 1: eighteen thirties, barber shops had become the social and musical

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Speaker 1: centers for average joe Americans. In their case, though the

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Speaker 1: communal instrument of choice was their voices. Sometimes it was

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Speaker 1: the barber himself who would lead things off, singing a

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Speaker 1: tune to pass the time as he worked. Then some

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Speaker 1: of his patrons would inevitably join in by adding their

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Speaker 1: own harmonies to the mix. Those impromptu songs usually took

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Speaker 1: the form of call and response, a compositional technique that

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Speaker 1: was brought to the US through the music of enslaved Africans.

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Speaker 1: By the late nineteenth century, the American family unit had

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Speaker 1: become quite musical, thanks to the spread of printed sheet

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Speaker 1: music and the presence of a piano in most middle

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Speaker 1: class homes. Those conditions allowed barber shop styles singing to

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Speaker 1: catch on outside of the barber shop, and in the

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Speaker 1: years ahead it became a full blown national craze. Although

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Speaker 1: the exact origins are unknown, most music historians believe the

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Speaker 1: barbershop style grew directly from the African American music of

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Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties and eighteen nineties. Many Black communal folk

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Speaker 1: songs of the era share qualities with barbershop, especially spirituals,

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Speaker 1: which place a heavy emphasis on timing, intonation, and of course,

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Speaker 1: the blending of voices. White minstrel singers began imitating that style,

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Speaker 1: and in the early days of the recording industry, white

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Speaker 1: quartets started recording and selling albums that showcase their vocal harmonies.

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Speaker 1: Some of the first hit barbershop songs later became genre

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Speaker 1: defining staples, such as Shine on Harvest Moon, Hello My Baby,

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Speaker 1: and Sweet Adeline. That last title will come up again

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Speaker 1: a little later, so for now, let's listen to a

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Speaker 1: clip from a nineteen oh four recording of the song

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Speaker 1: by the Hayden Quartet re.

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Speaker 2: Lone My Lone Up the Nightie.

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Speaker 1: Bodial pop.

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Speaker 2: In on my dere heel fell fancy mind.

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Speaker 1: If you formed a picture in your mind while listening

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Speaker 1: to that song. It probably involved four guys dressed in

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Speaker 1: bright striped jackets and straw hats, and maybe some big

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Speaker 1: mustaches too. That signature look became synonymous with the genre

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Speaker 1: at the turn of the twentieth century, when barbershop quartets

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Speaker 1: were fixtures of the vaudeville circuit. The singers would typically

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Speaker 1: take the stage in between the other acts while the

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Speaker 1: curtains were drawn and the next performers were setting up.

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Speaker 1: The quartet's flashy costumes and oversized facial hair were a

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Speaker 1: way to ensure that they could be seen by all

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Speaker 1: the patrons, even the ones way back in the cheap seats.

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Speaker 1: The distinctive sound and look of barbershop quartets remained in

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Speaker 1: vogue until the nineteen twenties or so, at which point

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Speaker 1: it was eclipsed in popularity by jazz and swing. However,

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Speaker 1: a decade later, harmony singing was still limping along in

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Speaker 1: some places. For example, it was featured fairly often in

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Speaker 1: early theatrical cartoons. In fact, one of my personal favorite

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Speaker 1: uses of barbershop was in the nineteen thirty four Merry

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Speaker 1: Melody short Pop goes Your Heart in It. The song

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Speaker 1: of the same name was performed by the Guard Mean Quartet.

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Speaker 2: Take a listens, and.

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Speaker 1: Outside of cartoons, barber shop was still alive in many

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Speaker 1: American homes as well. It was no longer the popular

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Speaker 1: music of the day, but for many men in particular,

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Speaker 1: barbershop was still their preferred form of musical self expression.

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Speaker 1: Owen Cash and Rupert Hall were among those faithful adherents,

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Speaker 1: and in the spring of nineteen thirty eight they decided

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Speaker 1: to get together with their fellow diehards. They sent out

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Speaker 1: us somewhat tongue in cheek invitation to that effect, writing, quote, gentlemen,

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Speaker 1: in this age of dictators and government control of everything about,

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Speaker 1: the only privilege guaranteed by the Bill of Rights not

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Speaker 1: in some way supervised and directed, is the art of

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Speaker 1: barbershop quartet singing. Without doubt, we still have the right

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Speaker 1: of peaceable assembly, which I'm advised by competent legal authority

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Speaker 1: includes quartet singing. The writers of this letter have for

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Speaker 1: a long time thought that something should be done to

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Speaker 1: encourage the enjoyment of this last remaining source of human liberty.

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Speaker 1: The letter went on to set the time and location

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Speaker 1: of the first meeting Monday, April eleventh, at six thirty

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Speaker 1: p m. At the Tulsa Club, an all white, all

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Speaker 1: male social club that served as a popular venue for

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Speaker 1: high class dinners and meetings. The invitation was signed, quote harmoniously,

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Speaker 1: yours Rupert Hall, the Royal Keeper of the Minor Keys

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Speaker 1: s and O. C. Cash, Third Assistant temporary Vice Chairman.

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Speaker 1: Those self applied titles were meant to sound ridiculous, and

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Speaker 1: so was the name of the organization. They claimed to represent,

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Speaker 1: the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartets

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Speaker 1: Singing in America or SPEBSQSA. Of course, once the organization

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Speaker 1: was formalized, it dropped the silly name and adopted the

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Speaker 1: much more sensible one of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Hall

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Speaker 1: and Cash had reserved the club's rooftop garden for their

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Speaker 1: first meeting, and the group spent most of the evening

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Speaker 1: out there singing old songs beneath the stars. The men

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Speaker 1: had so much fun they agreed to meet again the

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Speaker 1: following week. Unfortunately, some Tulsa Club members on the floors

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Speaker 1: below had complained about the hour's long singing session, so

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Speaker 1: the group had to relocate to a nearby hotel. By

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Speaker 1: the end of May, their now weekly meetings were drawing

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Speaker 1: upwards of one hundred and fifty men, and the group

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Speaker 1: was fast out growing its new venue. The decision was

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Speaker 1: ultimately made to start setting up other chapters outside of Tulsa.

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Speaker 1: The first of those offshoots was started in Oklahoma City

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Speaker 1: that July and was soon followed by groups in Kansas City,

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Speaker 1: Saint Louis, and four other Oklahoma towns. In the decades

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Speaker 1: that followed, chapters were added in other states as well,

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Speaker 1: fulfilling the dream of a wide scale barbershop revival. However,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't a very inclusive revival. Membership to the Barbershop

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Speaker 1: Harmony Society was open only to white men, just like

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Speaker 1: the Tulsa club where the group was founded. The organization

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Speaker 1: finally opened to men of color in nineteen sixty three,

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Speaker 1: but it remained close to women of any ethnicity until

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. Of course, that's not to say that women

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Speaker 1: interested in barber shop had just been sitting on the

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Speaker 1: sidelines waiting for permission. In fact, many of the wives

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Speaker 1: of early BHS members actually started as similar organization for

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Speaker 1: women way back in nineteen forty five as a nod

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Speaker 1: to an old barbershop standard. The group called itself the

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Speaker 1: Sweet Adlines, though after nearly eighty years of expansion, it's

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Speaker 1: now called Sweet Adelines International. Both groups are still going

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Speaker 1: strong in the twenty first century, with the BHS now

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Speaker 1: boasting more than eight hundred chapters and well over twenty

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Speaker 1: thousand members. When you factor in Sweet Adelines International and

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Speaker 1: other affiliated groups, the total number of active barbershop singers

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Speaker 1: is estimated to be more than eighty thousand worldwide, representing

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Speaker 1: more than thirty countries. The mission and motto of these

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Speaker 1: groups is harmonize the world. That's a demanding task for anyone,

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Speaker 1: especially these days, but who knows, maybe barbershop singers will

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Speaker 1: be the ones to pull it off. In our current climate.

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Speaker 1: It's the kind of ludicrous idea that just might work.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabe and hopefully you now know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you want

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Speaker 1: to keep up with the show, you can follow us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show. And

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Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, you can always

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Speaker 1: send them my way by writing to this Day at

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Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett

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Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day

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Speaker 1: in history class.