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Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities,

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a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and

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Mild. Our

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world is full of the unexplainable,

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and if history is an open book, all

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of these amazing tales are right

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there on display, just waiting

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for us to explore. Welcome

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to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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When it comes to musical instruments, certain

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names tend to jump out, even to non

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musicians. Gibson, Les,

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Paul Steinway, and perhaps

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the most prestigious of them all, Strata

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barius. A strata various

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violin is widely considered to be the finest

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string instruments ever made. Some

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experts attribute the quality to the method

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of their construction. More recent findings

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suggest the cool temperatures at which the

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trees grew between sixteen forty five

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and seventeen fifty led to their

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superior sound. For

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Antoni Strativari, it was his love

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of music and woodworking, which he poured

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into every instrument he crafted, that

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made them so coveted. Born in

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Cremona, Italy around sixteen forty

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four, Strativari was apprenticed to the

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notable instrument maker Nicola Amadi.

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By the time he was just twelve years old. Under

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Amadi's tutelage, Strativari learned

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how to shape wood into curves and carve

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ornate headstocks for his violins. Over

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time, he honed his techniques manufacturing

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musical instruments under his own unique

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style. Early Strativarious violins

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were a bit smaller in size compared to his later

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works, which were not only larger but more

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ornate and deliberate in their design. They

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featured deep bevels along their edges

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and richer colorings thanks to a darker

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varnish. His violins and cellos

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earned him fame around Italy and all throughout

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Europe. In sixteen eighty two,

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a banker from Venice ordered one of every

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instrument Strativari had ever made, with

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the intention of gifting them to King

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James the Second of England. They were

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never given away, and nobody knows what

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happened to them. At the time of his death

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in seventeen thirty seven, Strativari

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was thought to have built over a thousand string instruments,

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spanning violins, cellos,

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and violas, but there was another

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model in his repertoire. Though he didn't

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make many of them, its roots could

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be traced back as early as the eighth century

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to an instrument with a large wooden body,

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a long neck, with a fingerboard and strings

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that ran almost its whole length. It

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then evolved into the loots of the Middle Ages

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to become what the Spanish called the viola.

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Today we call it the guitar. Its

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body style changed over hundreds of years,

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as well, shedding the bulbous back of the

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loot to accommodate to more tapered look.

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During the Baroque era, it shrunken size

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to not much larger than a ukulele. The

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maker's inlaid ornamental filigrees

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and accents onto its face and fretboard.

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The guitar are became a work of art in and

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of itself, except where Stratavarry

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was concerned. The

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Rawlins strata Varius was a different

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kind of Baroque guitar. Created in

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seventeen hundred, the rawlins Stratavarius

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bore very little ornamentation on its front

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or frets. It featured a mother of pearl

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inlay around a carved rose in its

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circular sound hole, which was about as

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fancy as Strativari was willing to get.

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He focused his work on shaping

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the instrument as well as the materials

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used. He modeled it after his

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violins, with gentle curves that sloped

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inward towards the center. It's back

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and sides were made of maple, a unique choice

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for such an instrument, which was typically constructed

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of harder woods like ebony.

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For the front or top, he chose spruce,

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which is still used on guitars made

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today. Those

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strata Varry made several guitars early

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on in his career, only four still

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exists today. The Rawlins Strata

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Varius is now on display at the National

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Music Museum, part of the University

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of South Dakota. Strataverry

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was better known for his violins rather than

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his guitars, but his contributions to the

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instruments development have become the norm.

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As of the eighteen fifties, the guitars

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form and function have been fairly standardized,

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though it comes in different shapes and sizes,

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electric or acoustic. The guitar

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has become a standard part of almost

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every band and orchestra in the world.

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In fact, it's importance was recognized by

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Congress even before the formation of the

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United States. One man saw the

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guitar as a gateway to new and better

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music, someone who had fostered

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a love of music early on in his life, spending

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money he'd gotten for Christmas one year

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on a fairly price eat whistle. While

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his older brothers made fun of him for it, That

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whistle sent him on a path of musical

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discovery. As he got older,

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he started playing more complicated instruments,

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such as the harp, the violin, and,

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yes, the guitar. He became

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proficient at all of them, even going

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on to invent his own, but the guitar

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was the only one he was known to have taught to

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others. His writings and contributions

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to American independence may have made him a

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historical icon, but musicians

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everywhere can tip their hats to this early

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American guitar teacher for tuning

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the world into the beauty of the instrument.

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Who was he? Benjamin

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Franklin. When

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a nation wants to show the rest of the world

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what it's made of, it holds an exhibition.

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The Olympics are a demonstration of athletic

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ability and stamina. Other types

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of exhibitions are comprised of booths, pavilions,

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and arenas designed to give each country

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the chance to both witness and present wondrous

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new ideas and technologies. In

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America, these events were known by a catchier

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name than international exhibitions.

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They were called world's fairs. Putting

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on a World's Fair cost millions of dollars

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and required the work of multiple architects

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and teams of builders. Together, they would

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change the landscape of a city by paving

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new walkways and installing elaborate

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features. Massive lagoons, for

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example, would allow guests to tour the fair

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by rowboats. In

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nineteen o four, one of the biggest and most impressive

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fairs came to Missouri, featuring almost

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fifteen hundred buildings across twelve

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hundred acres. The St. Louis World's Fair

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was open for eight months and welcomed nearly

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twenty million visitors through its gates.

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It was a feast for the senses to Listeners

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who walked into the festival hall could hear the

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blaring sounds of the world's largest pipe

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organ, whose construction led to

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the bankruptcy of its maker, the Los

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Angeles Art organ Company. A

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natural history fossil exhibit by the Smithsonian

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put dinosaur skeletons and a full sized

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model of a blue whale on display,

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while the Palace of Horticulture featured

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a jumbo elephant made entirely

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of almonds, which, when you think about

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it, it's just nuts. The

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fair was also the launching pad for countless

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inventions and ideas that flooded American

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popular culture. It inspired the hit

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song Meet Me in St. Louis, which in

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turn led to a feature film starring Judy

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Garland. Forty years later, ragtime

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composer Scott Joplin wrote a song about

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the waterfalls outside the festival hall called

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Cascades. It was a venue

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for the innovations of the era and provided

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audiences with glimpses into the future.

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The X ray machine, an early wireless

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phone, and the precursor to the fax

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machine all wild audiences and had

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them talking long after they'd left the Palace

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of Electricity. But

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perhaps the most important developments to come out

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of the fair were the ones the guests could taste.

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In fact, it's been said that the World's Fair in St.

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Louis marked the debut of the food court, and

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although they had been invented several years earlier,

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Culinary delights such as the hamburger,

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the hot dog, and cotton candy became

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big hits after appearing at the fair.

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One food, however, not only appeared

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for the first time at the nineteen o four World's

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Fair, It said that it was invented right

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there on the spot by a man named

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Ernest Hamley. Ernest

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was a Syrian baker who ran a modest pastry

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booth at the fair, Operating among

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the other food stands. He was selling a Persian

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style of an Indian and Arabic dessert

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known as Zalabia. Zalabia was made

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by frying dough in hot oil and then

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coating it in syrup and rose water. Ernest

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was doing well for himself, especially given

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the variety of foods available to fair goers.

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However, his next door neighbor was doing a

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lot better, selling a sweet treat of his

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own, ice cream. There

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was just one problem. People couldn't

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get enough of the ice cream. He did so

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much business on one day that he ran out

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of paper cups, so the vendor panicked.

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Without cups, he would have nothing to scoop his

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ice cream into for his customers. Ernest

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couldn't let the man flounder, so he stepped

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in with the solution. He took a thin layer

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of piping hot Zalabbia dough, rolled

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it into a cone shape and told his

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neighbor to drop his ice cream into it. The

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ice cream cooled the dough, quickly hardening

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it into something customers could hold upright.

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Everyone loved the delicious new creation,

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so much so that it took off like a rocket

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throughout Missouri and eventually the

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rest of the country, and it became a regular

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way for people to enjoy their favorite

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treat. Ernest

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Ham, we had stumbled onto a much more lucrative

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business than selling pastries from booth,

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which led to a whole new company instead,

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the Corner Copia Waffle Company

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their number one product the

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ice cream cone. I

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hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of

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the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

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for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

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more about the show by visiting Curiosities

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podcast dot com.

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The show was created by me Aaron

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Manky in partnership with how Stuff

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Works. I make another award winning

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show called Lord, which is a podcast,

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book series, and television show, and

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you can learn all about it over at the World

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of Lore dot com. And

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until next time, stay curious.

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Yeah,