1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: I'm Fair Dowdy and I'm Delaney chalk reboarding. And every 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: now and then listener suggestions sync up exactly what ideas 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 1: we're already thinking of, and that has definitely happened this week. Yeah, 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: y'all are mind readers, for sure. It kind of scares 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: me a little bit. I'm not gonna lie, but I've 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: been thinking for a month or so of doing a 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: podcast on Madam Tissau, the famous woman who started the 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:39,560 Speaker 1: wax works in London, And since then listener emails have 11 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: been trickling in, not tons of them, but very very 12 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: pro Madam tiss listeners. Suddenly, I don't know where y'all 13 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: came from. Yeah, and it's interesting because a lot of us, 14 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: I mean me in particular, I hardly ever think about 15 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: Madam Tussau, the woman behind the wax figures. But I 16 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: think of David back hum or whatever wax figure is, 17 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: the celebra of the moment. Yeah, exactly will stop in 18 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,320 Speaker 1: on this particular visit or not. But her story is 19 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: actually really amazing. It combines court life at Versailles revolutionary 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: dangers and plucky business acumen. At least depending on who 21 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: you believe according to her own memoirs that's true. In reality, 22 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,119 Speaker 1: you might find that that's a little bit different, definitely. 23 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: But one recent biographer, Kate Barrage, wrote, Madam Tiss, Life 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,559 Speaker 1: in Wax I think it came out in two thousand 25 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: sixs and she described the wax artists as an original 26 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: tabloid journalist. And I thought that was a really interesting 27 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: way to think of her, and kind of a different 28 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: way to think of her, somebody who traded in celebrity 29 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: and images long before photography or video or even color printing. 30 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: I mean, just think of the little engravings you would 31 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: get in the newspaper. If you were lucky enough to 32 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: read the newspaper, that would be all you you had 33 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: to go on to know what you're king looked like. 34 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: Even so, she was a bit of a reporter, we 35 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: could say, and it was really more than entertainment. There 36 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: was sort of this sideshow nature of wax works at 37 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: the time. They were a little d class a depending 38 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,519 Speaker 1: on which exhibits you're going to, but it was about information, 39 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: you know, letting people know what folks looked like. And 40 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: teaching them a little bit about history too, which is 41 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 1: always good for our purposes. Yeah, definitely. But first, before 42 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: we delve into all those bigger issues, I think we 43 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: should take a look back at how she got into this. 44 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I find most interesting. How does 45 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: a woman of this era get into wax and education 46 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: in wax. Yeah, it all began for her. She was 47 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: born Marie Grossholtz on December one, seventeen sixty one and Strasburg. 48 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,239 Speaker 1: Actually her mother was a cook and her father was 49 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: a soldier who died before she was born. But when 50 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: she was still an infant, her mother went to work 51 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: as the housekeeper for a young doctor named Philippe Courtius 52 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: who lived in Bairn. Yeah, but he was more than 53 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:06,399 Speaker 1: a doctor. Quite notably, he made anatomical waxes, which, originally, 54 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: when you were short on cadavers, that would be a 55 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: good way to train your doctors to to study the 56 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: human body. But the waxes he made were also kind 57 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: of erotic in a way. They were sometimes called anatomical venuses, 58 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: and they were usually these young women waxes that had 59 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: parts you could unfold and look at their inner organs 60 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: and all of that and and study them anatomically. But 61 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: he did portraits to curiosity type stuff and started to 62 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: build a name for himself because he was quite good 63 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: at it, and most importantly for young Marie's future career, 64 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: he was really good at getting the color of the 65 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: skin right, making the waxes appear like flesh, not just 66 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: like a candle that melted down into a human shape. 67 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: They really look kind of like they're alive. Yeah, And 68 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: because of his skill at this, eventually a word of 69 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: Courtius's talents spread to the French court, and when the 70 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: Prince de Conti Louis the fifteen cousin, visits the wax maker, 71 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: he invites courtiers back to Paris, where he opens a 72 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: salon and does private commissions. Yes, so he's made it 73 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: to the big time. And it's a good time to 74 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: be in Paris in general, because it's booming. People of 75 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: all classes are seeking entertainment. It seems like just about 76 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: constantly when you read about it. And there's something new 77 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: going on too, and that's the culture of celebrity, So 78 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: people are really interested in images all of a sudden. 79 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: So a wax works like this is a potentially profitable business. Yeah, 80 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: But taste change so quickly that the wax head and 81 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: courteous the salon are actually chiseled off when to go 82 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: out of style, which is a little bit foreboding considering 83 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: when this takes place, that after after a little while 84 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: in Paris, you know, sort of setting things up, he 85 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: has his former housekeeper and her daughter joined him. So 86 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:01,039 Speaker 1: this seems a little suspicious, and a lot of historians 87 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: have speculated on what the relationship between Curtius and Mrie 88 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: really was. Um think that Marie's mother was his sister 89 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: and so he was her uncle, and then other people 90 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: think that maybe he was even secretly Murray's father. But 91 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: regardless of any possible blood relation between them, Curtius really 92 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: treated Murray like a daughter, definitely in every way. He 93 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: took her on as his pupil. He started her off 94 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: modeling fruit and flowers, which was a lot easier to 95 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: do than modeling the human form with all its different 96 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: textures and colors. And um, I guess we should give 97 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: you a little description of how the wax heads were made, 98 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: because it's pretty cool, yeah, and it really helps with 99 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: the understanding, I think. Um, So, basically a clay head 100 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: would be made and from that a plaster of Paris 101 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: mold was created in sections, and then the sections would 102 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,720 Speaker 1: be fitted together and molten heggs and stuff connecting them exactly, 103 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: and molten wax would be poured inside it, and you 104 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: had to be really careful so that bubbles didn't form 105 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,480 Speaker 1: when you did that bubble like taking out the nose 106 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: or something in a way. Um. So then when the 107 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: crust hardened, the center was poured out because the outsides 108 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: would harden a little faster than the center. And when 109 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: the whole thing was solid, the mold would be removed, 110 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: and then glass eyes would be fitted in from the 111 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: inside right, And that was apparently one of the trickiest 112 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: parts because you got to make sure the eyes are 113 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: going in the right direction. One isn't kind of protruding 114 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: more than the other. Um, you don't pop them out 115 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: of the mold entirely or the new wax more or 116 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: break the head. Yeah, exactly, So I think the the 117 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: eyes were the tricky part, but the hair was the 118 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: really painstaking part because unless there was a wig involved, 119 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: it had to be threaded through the wax strand by strand, 120 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: So you can imagine tedious. It would be really tedious 121 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: but by her teens, Marie is really good at making 122 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,679 Speaker 1: these wax models. She's as good as her so called 123 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 1: on goal. And so with these talents, it's maybe no 124 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,919 Speaker 1: surprise that in seventeen eighty a nineteen year old Marie 125 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: somehow ends up at very si or at least that's 126 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: her story. According to her memoirs, Marie instructed the devout 127 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: younger sister of Louis the sixteenth, who was Madame Elizabeth, 128 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: and she instructed her in religious vote of making, which 129 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,559 Speaker 1: was kind of like making wax relics. So the two 130 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: teenagers they really hit it off, and they hit it 131 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: off so well that Marie actually became a bourgeois star 132 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: of the court. So she'd supposedly sit in while the 133 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: king met privately with his sister. She'd have sittings for 134 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: waxes with Louie, Marie Antoinette and their children. She supposedly 135 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: got hit on by the future Louis the eighteen and 136 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: she stayed there for nine years at court. Yeah, so 137 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: this sounds really remarkable, and it's been a crucial part 138 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: of her legend since then, and especially since she set 139 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: up shop in England, especially considering what to come in 140 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: the Revolution. We're going to get into that in a minute. 141 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: But it's interesting to me that it's reported without questions 142 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: in most sources you find on Madam Tissou's life. It's 143 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: in Oxford Dictionary, National Biography, it's and Encyclopedia Britannica History Magazine. 144 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: But in that two thousand six biography I mentioned in 145 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: the beginning Barrage Kate Barrage's biography, she kind of raises 146 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: some questions about many aspects of Marie's memoirs, but especially 147 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: this first side part, because I mean, and we certainly 148 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: learned this in our in our Bourbon series. I would 149 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: imagine y'all remember this too. But Versaille is a really 150 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: rule driven place. It's not somewhere where you have breakout 151 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: stars from the middle class. Really, court etiquette would have 152 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: made it pretty unlikely that Marie, who of course her 153 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: family's main livelihood is this kind of sideshow wax exhibit, 154 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: would really thoroughly infiltrate VERSI. And perhaps most significantly, there 155 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: are no records of her and kind of two key areas, 156 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: there are no records of her in the ALMANACTIFERSI, which 157 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: is the exhaustive list of court employees, has everybody who 158 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: worked in verside, Yeah, she really should have been on 159 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,080 Speaker 1: that or there are also no records of her in 160 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: Madame Elizabeth's staff, which even includes Madame Elizabeth's part time hairdresser. 161 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: So yeah, even the little guys were making it on 162 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: the list well, and even if he was important to her. 163 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: I mean, the the main thing there is that if 164 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: it's including part chine people, it's really unlikely that she 165 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: would have just completely slipped through the cracks like this. 166 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: So she might have been to Versaill and she might 167 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: have even taught Madame Elizabeth a few classes here and there, 168 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: But what's perhaps more likely is that she was really 169 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,320 Speaker 1: spending most of her time back in Paris working with 170 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: her family's booming wax business and honing her art. You know, 171 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: she was making a lot of the figures herself by 172 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: the time she was in her teens, and learning the 173 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,959 Speaker 1: business to learning how to attract customers and advertise, all 174 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: things that are going to serve her really well later 175 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: in life. Of course, things changed a little bit when 176 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: the Revolution came around, or a lot, depending on how 177 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: you look at it. If in fact Marie was at Versailles, 178 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: Curtius recalled her and they consolidated their shows at the 179 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: Boulevard de Temple and what followed from there was nothing 180 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: short of amazing. Courtius and Marie somehow managed to actually 181 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: capitalize on the revolution good money during it. Yeah, they 182 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: actually profited. They switched from displays of the King and 183 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: Queen at the Grand Couvert to revolutionary heroes to later 184 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: suit scenes like the death of murat Um, all without 185 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 1: losing their heads. So it's pretty impressive because you can 186 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: imagine the mob in Paris during the revolution there. It's 187 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: not just like somebody goes out of style. They go 188 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,719 Speaker 1: out of style, and you better not still be exhibiting 189 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: the wax works when it when it happened. So Curtius himself, though, 190 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: played a role in the revolution, and he was among 191 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: those who stormed the Best steal and his wax works 192 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: had a role too. Surprisingly enough, even before the storming 193 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: of the Bastial, just a few days before it, a 194 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: crowd came to the salon and obtain the heads of 195 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: the heroes of the moment. This is pre guillotine, so 196 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: heads don't have quite the significance they would have later. 197 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 1: At this point it was Jacque Nickire and the Duke Dorleon, 198 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: and the crowd takes the heads and they go and 199 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,240 Speaker 1: show them off and um march around with them and 200 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: eventually run into some trouble with royal soldiers and try 201 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: to protect the heads. It's a it's a really wild story. 202 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: Some of them are killed trying to defend the wax heads, 203 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: and the Orleans bus is lost in the scramble, but 204 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: the Nick Caroline actually comes back to the shop badly sinned. 205 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: You can imagine at that point maybe the eyes would 206 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: be a little out of whack and the hair would 207 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: be burned off, but makes it back. Just a strange 208 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: story before the French Revolution even really starts. Yeah, definitely, 209 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: And they keep going with this though. They keep following 210 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: the crowd, and they keep following the trends. So when 211 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: bestial memorabilia becomes big, Marie models a figure of the 212 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: Comte de Lorge, a prisoner who's actually been made up 213 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: since the real guys inside had been a little less 214 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:21,559 Speaker 1: than her, Like Forgers. I think there was a guy 215 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:24,719 Speaker 1: in there for incest AND's family wanted him locked up. 216 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: Nobody in the best deal was really like super heroic. 217 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: You wouldn't want a figure of him hanging out in 218 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: your house exactly. So you just make one up and 219 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: then Murray makes a wax of it for you. There 220 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: you go. So by the summer of seventeen eighty nine, 221 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: an entire tableau of the siege was featured in the waxworks. Yeah, 222 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: but as the revolution turned, obviously, Murray's work became a 223 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: lot grammar, and she started to model the guillotine heads 224 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: of her supposed former friends at her side. And this 225 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: is a really poignant part of the two so legend. 226 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 1: You know, she claimed to have molded the heads of 227 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: the Princess de Lambal, who had been tortured for four 228 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:07,959 Speaker 1: hours at the Tuileries massacre Louis the sixteenth before he 229 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: was interred in a double heaping helping of quicklime because 230 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: the revolutionaries really didn't want any relics left and Marie 231 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 1: Antoinette herself. Although this story didn't come from Marie, it 232 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,839 Speaker 1: came from a nineteenth century exhibit catalog. Again, though there's 233 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: some issues with this idea of her catching the heads 234 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,319 Speaker 1: from the guillotine essentially and making molds of them. Yeah, 235 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: Marie always mentions that she models the head at the 236 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: order of the National Assembly. Perhaps unlikely though, considering the 237 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: efforts that the revolutionaries would take to erase all relics 238 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: of the royals. You mentioned you don't want anyone to 239 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: have Louie's body. Why would you want him? Why would 240 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: you want them to have a perfect likeness of him? Right? 241 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: And then also some of the heads just plane didn't 242 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: show up for a really long time. For instance, Louie 243 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: and Marie Antoinette weren't just blade at the wax works 244 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: after the revolution until the eighteen sixties in London, so 245 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,679 Speaker 1: it would have been dangerous to display them. Absolutely. Courtiers 246 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:11,719 Speaker 1: sold off a lot of the royal figures actually to 247 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: an exhibit traveling through India, which I think is interesting 248 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: to you. Marie Antoinette and folks traveling traveling around lot 249 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: safer there, I guess, so, unless it's hot, I'm not sure. 250 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: But that's not to say that Curtius and Marie weren't 251 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: taking models from guillotine victims. I mean, it is quite 252 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: possible they were doing that. Um, maybe just not Louis 253 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: the sixteenth himself. It's possible that Curtius made a deal 254 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: with one of the really famous executioners during the revolution 255 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: to inspect all the outgoing heads to see if any 256 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: famous faces were among them, and it's also likely that 257 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: he would visit the cemeteries and he may have modeled 258 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: Madame du Barry that way, um, since she was supposed 259 00:14:55,600 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: to be a remarkably good likeness. Marie actually even counts 260 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: her own near brush with the guillotine when she, her 261 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: mother and an aunt were seized in the middle of 262 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: the night, imprisoned and they got their weekly haircuts for 263 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: the blade. But by sevente four Marie was safe and 264 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,880 Speaker 1: supposedly making a mold of Robespierre's head. Always one step 265 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: ahead of the game, that Marie definitely But that same 266 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: year Courtius died at home. I mean, this is probably 267 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: kind of an amazing stat for the time. Anyways, dying 268 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: at home, and he left Marie everything he had. Like 269 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: we said earlier, he really did treat her like a daughter, 270 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: and one of the things he left her, one of 271 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: his most valuable possessions was, of course, the core of 272 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: his wax works. He had thirty six full figures, seven 273 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: half length figures, and three reclining figures. So it seems 274 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: like Marie is going to be able to carry on 275 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: the family business. Yeah, and she does that, and she 276 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: makes it even more of a family business, I guess 277 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: when she marries an engineer named Francois Toussau at the 278 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: age of thirty four and they have three children drown 279 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: the first of whom unfortunately dies young. But France wis 280 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: he wasn't really a good partner either at home or 281 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: in their business. He gambles and gets them into pretty 282 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,720 Speaker 1: bad debt. Plus business just isn't going that well in general. 283 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: I mean, you'd think Marie would be happy to be 284 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: out of the Revolutionary horrors, but business just has slumped 285 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: since then, maybe because people aren't interested in seeing grisly 286 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: thieves and heads and that type of thing when they've 287 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: seen it firsthand, not that long ago. So Marie takes 288 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: up the offer of showman Paul to Philip Stall to 289 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: tour England with him, and he owes her one. That's 290 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: why she gets this deal with him. She owes her 291 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: one since Courtius saved him from the guillotine. Um again, 292 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: though it's a poor partnership between the two of them. 293 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: Marie actually has to pay her own way and split 294 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: her takings fifty fifty. She also has to leave behind 295 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: her younger son and her elderly mother. Yeah, but she 296 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: does well for herself even then. So she's she's taking 297 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: her older son with her, and she's learning enough English 298 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: to get by and competing with the existing waxworks in England, 299 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: which I know now we only think of her as 300 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: far as waxworks go, but at the time there were 301 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: other big names in the business. Her quality those better, 302 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: and because she was French and fresh from the revolution, 303 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: that added sort of a cachet to the whole the 304 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: whole enterprise. Yeah. But even though Marie is doing well, 305 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: her partner Philip Stall, really isn't, and so he kind 306 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,159 Speaker 1: of changes the nature of their working relationship. It turns 307 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: more and more into a kind of indentured servitude. He 308 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: drags her to Scotland, always leaving one city right when 309 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: she's taking off and getting really successful. And from Scotland 310 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: they go to Dublin, where she's finally able to buy 311 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: him off, and she starts advertising under her own name 312 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: instead of the better known Courtius. Yeah. And it's also 313 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: in Dublin where she decided she's not going to go 314 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: home to France, but had always been the plan. Stir 315 00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: up some interest, make some money and then go back 316 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,400 Speaker 1: to France because that's where the core of her businesses 317 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: and where the rest of her family is. But her 318 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: husband won't respond to her letters. He loses their house, 319 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: he loses the collection, and there's really nothing there for 320 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: her anymore except her younger son. And it becomes clear 321 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: to her that the only way she's going to make 322 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: a future for her two children is to either succeed 323 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: or fail in England. Yeah. So, after four years in Dublin, 324 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: she makes the decision to go on the road and 325 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: as a traveling exhibit and tours Great Britain for twenty 326 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: seven years or so. She perfects her advertising in her 327 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,880 Speaker 1: business strategy. At this point, she starts plastering the towns 328 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 1: that she's in with her show. Before her arrival. She 329 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: threatens to leave, you know, with signs that say things 330 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,200 Speaker 1: like only one day left yeah, and then actually ends 331 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,920 Speaker 1: up staying instead of a popular demand right. Um, She 332 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: really only leaves a place when her business slows, and 333 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: she takes out these grand rooms to show off the figures, 334 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: and she only makes her customers feel comfortable too, which 335 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: was something of note at the time. There would be refreshments, 336 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: there would be ottomans, so you could relax and chat 337 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: with each other and look at the wax works at 338 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:17,200 Speaker 1: your leisure, not just some exhausting trip. There was background 339 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: music that was another kind of revolutionary thing, make the 340 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 1: place feel a little more comfortable, not quiet and weird. 341 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: And she pitched the educational value of the wax works too. 342 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: Like we mentioned in the in the introduction, she distanced 343 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: herself from the side show from those waxworks with her quality, 344 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: with her little biographies. It was like, this is a 345 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: really good way for people to learn about the heroes 346 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:46,200 Speaker 1: of the day, the famous criminals, famous people from the past. 347 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: She she pitched it from different angles. And she also 348 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: spent a lot of time making figures still, all the 349 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,080 Speaker 1: new celebrities, the thieves, the royals, she would make them 350 00:19:57,119 --> 00:19:59,200 Speaker 1: and she would fix the ones that got banged up 351 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: during stage coach journeys between towns, because gosh, I mean, 352 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,919 Speaker 1: can you imagine toting wax figures in a stage coach? 353 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,640 Speaker 1: Ye can't, because risky. An article in Chambers Journal from 354 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty one actually describes the appeal of these waxworks. 355 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,119 Speaker 1: It says one can fearlessly criticize the crowned kings of 356 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,760 Speaker 1: England and one can enter securely into a layer of 357 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: thieves and murderers and feel with a chill that they're 358 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: shockingly like commonplace mortals. Yeah, so, I mean, I think 359 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: that's it's an interesting way to look at it, to 360 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: have that closeness to your king or to people who 361 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: you're reading about in the news, and and really get 362 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: to see them almost firsthand. But Marie and her elder 363 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:48,160 Speaker 1: son's constant travel is interrupted a few times by real 364 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 1: life drama. They were shipwrecked one failing from Liverpool to Dublin, 365 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: a lot of people on board the ship drowned and 366 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 1: they narrowly miss losing their collection entirely to fire during 367 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: the one Bristol riots, which I think it was always 368 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: a constant concern, even back when she was traveling with 369 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: Philip Stall. She was really concerned when this new gas 370 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: light show is like going to come in downstairs, because 371 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: if you're dealing in wax, it better be a pretty 372 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: stable temperature. But when her younger son was twenty two, 373 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: he finally rejoined his mother and brother in England, and 374 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: the two sons got married to English women and they 375 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,920 Speaker 1: started families, and as late as nineteen sixty seven even 376 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: the Tissoda operation was still a family affair, but anybody 377 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,199 Speaker 1: who knows the company today knows that the original was 378 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,400 Speaker 1: in London. So when did she finally change her operation 379 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: from this traveling company to brick and mortar building. Well 380 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,640 Speaker 1: in eight thirty five, Marie and her sons took out 381 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: a nice spot at the Bazaar on Baker Street, still 382 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 1: a short term lease as usual, um nothing too serious, 383 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: but it proved to be just about the perfect bought 384 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: for them. There were commercial businesses nearby, so it was 385 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: a busy area. The annual Smithfield Cattle Show also took 386 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: place downstairs and brought in a lot of folks from 387 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: the country. So by eighteen thirty six they had decided 388 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: to stay. Yeah, and the Sun spent a lot to 389 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,320 Speaker 1: really outfit the place beautifully. They bought a lot of treasures, 390 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: you know, and they started actually buying art in nice 391 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: furniture and that sort of thing. The Duke of Wellington 392 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: paid them a visit and they really focused on Victorian 393 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: stuff too, because this coincides with the start of Victoria's Rain, 394 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: and so they had comfy exhibits way different from Louis 395 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: and Marie Antoinette at the Grand couvert where they're very 396 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: formal and stiff. At dinner, they had displays of Victoria 397 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 1: and Albert and their young kids, just sort of relaxing 398 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,360 Speaker 1: at home like a normal family. Wood. Yeah, the collection 399 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: starts acquiring real stuff too, not just good copies. Marie, 400 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: for example, buys the original guillotine from the Plas to 401 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,360 Speaker 1: Grev for the Chamber of Horrors. She also purchases George 402 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: the Fourth actual coronation robes, and perhaps most tellingly, amount 403 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: of dis becomes a star herself in her old age. 404 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 1: Dickens actually parodies her as Mrs Jarley and consequently doesn't 405 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: make it into the collection until both of them are dead. 406 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: So even though he's arguably the biggest star of the era, 407 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:24,439 Speaker 1: he must she must have not liked that very much. Currently, 408 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: not Westminster Abbey, which we just talked about on a 409 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: recent podcast. They asked her to refurbish their waxes, which 410 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 1: we also mentioned. She refuses, says, I have my own 411 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: wax shops, sorry, guys, and Barnum the circus man tries 412 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: to buy them out. She refuses him to, probably because 413 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 1: she's been into these She's gotten herself into these bad 414 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: partnerships before and she's not going to do it again. 415 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:54,640 Speaker 1: She's still sort of feeling the effects of her degenerate husband. 416 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: To France, Watus makes one last attempt to get in 417 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 1: touch and get something out of his long estranged wife. 418 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: I mean they haven't talked in decades by this point, 419 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: but he contacts her in the eighteen forties, and she's 420 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: really disturbed by it. She's disturbed that if she dies 421 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: before him, and she is a few years older than him, um, 422 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: he'll he'll get the business and and her sons will 423 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,440 Speaker 1: be left out in the cold. And so she signs 424 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: articles of partnership between herself and her sons to protect 425 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,720 Speaker 1: their interest, and she dies not too long after that 426 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: April eighteen fifty, which is one year before Prince Albert's 427 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: famous Great Exhibition, which proves to be sort of a 428 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: turning point for the show. They her sons prepare for it, 429 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: They enlarged their rooms. They really know how big it's 430 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: going to be, and they get ready and it it 431 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: serves to their advantage, and the exhibit eventually moves to 432 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: Marley Bun Road, and it was damaged during the Blitz, 433 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: but has since become an international chain with locations of course, 434 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: in Hollywood, New York, Bangkok, Berlin, DC, Shanghai, all over 435 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,920 Speaker 1: the place. They ditched the possessive too so now it's 436 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 1: just Madam Tusso it's yeah, but you might still be 437 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: wondering about our title, the too So Test of Popularity. 438 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,919 Speaker 1: I guess it's pretty obvious. But it came about in 439 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: an eighty nine issue of Punch magazine, and I'm just 440 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and read to you what was written 441 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: in Punch. In these days, no one can be considered 442 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: properly popular unless he has admitted into the company of 443 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: Madam Tussot's celebrities in Baker Street. The only way in 444 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: which a powerful and lasting impression can be made on 445 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: the public mind is through the medium of wax. And 446 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: I think that's interesting because it's still kind of true. Today. 447 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: I went to the Tussou's website and saw, you know 448 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,200 Speaker 1: who their latest figures were. There was like a giant 449 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: picture of Justin Bieber and Madame Tussas. In Hollywood even 450 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,160 Speaker 1: has a hot or not voting system. Lady Gaga, though, 451 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,919 Speaker 1: seems to be the wax celebrity at the moment, because 452 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: there are eight Lady Gagas in different costumes around the world. 453 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: I thought they'd at least be identical, because how many 454 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:09,320 Speaker 1: people are going to go to the one in London 455 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: and then Shanghai and then New York. I guess they've 456 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,360 Speaker 1: given super fans of a reason to do so now. 457 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: Absolutely and here Helen Mirren once commented on what it 458 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: was like, I guess to be immortalized in wax, and 459 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,360 Speaker 1: she said it's like becoming a dame, really a great honor. 460 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: So there you go, immortalized in wax something else indeed, um, 461 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: So I guess that brings us to Listener mail. So 462 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: today is a very special edition of Listener Meal because 463 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: it is reverse Listener Meal. It's a giveaway contest. Yeah 464 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:49,399 Speaker 1: who who? Listener? Ryan actually wrote in as a fan, 465 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: but since he works in marketing, he also pitched a giveaway. 466 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: That's really good news for all our listeners. Anchor Bay 467 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: Entertainment is giving away three DVDs of the Oscar Winning 468 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,640 Speaker 1: the Speech movie. Maybe you guys have heard of it 469 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: to stuffis in history cost listeners. Yeah, and we know 470 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 1: a lot of y'all are already fans of the movie, 471 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,120 Speaker 1: because I think you've been requesting more about the windsor 472 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: since before it even came out, even though we have 473 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: a few episodes on them. So yeah, I know you'll 474 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,119 Speaker 1: like this kind of thing. So if you happen to 475 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: live in the US and you're old enough for a 476 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: rated our movie, like really old enough, guys, cheating right 477 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,960 Speaker 1: into History Podcast at how staff works dot com by 478 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: May second with your most entertaining royal story. Yeah, and 479 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: and no novels sense to Blina and I are going 480 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 1: to read them all so you know, keep it, keep 481 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,399 Speaker 1: it to a reasonable and then at our sole discretion, 482 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,199 Speaker 1: we're gonna pick three favorites and we'll notify the winners 483 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,200 Speaker 1: by May nine, and san y'all some DVDs, so we're 484 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,399 Speaker 1: not getting paid DC deb don't worry. This is just 485 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: for fun. We thought that it was a neat opportunity 486 00:27:57,800 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: for you guys, and it seems like you like the 487 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: movie and it seems like a good fit for the podcast. Okay, 488 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: so one more time, that email addresses History Podcast at 489 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, so you can write in 490 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,159 Speaker 1: to enter the contest, or you can write in just 491 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: to let us know what you thought of the podcast 492 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: as usual or any future ideas that you'd like us 493 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,120 Speaker 1: to be working on. You can also look us up 494 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: on Facebook or on Twitter at Miston History. 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