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1:21

Hello everyone, it's Takuya here. And I'm

1:23

Gabby. And we are the hosts of

1:25

History of Everything, a podcast which you

1:27

can probably guess by the name is, well, I

1:30

mean, it's about everything. Do

1:32

you want to know why people thought potatoes were evil

1:34

and would give you syphilis? Are you curious

1:36

about all the stories of the terrible and stupid

1:38

ways that people have kicked the bucket over the years? Do

1:41

you want to hear tales about all of the different

1:43

badasses of history and the lives that

1:46

they had brought to life?

1:47

Well, if so, then look no further. History

1:49

of Everything is just the right podcast for you. It's

1:52

available on Spotify, Pandora and anywhere

1:54

else that you get your podcast from. Join

1:56

us for some fun and just see how weird

1:58

and wacky history can be.

2:01

Today, on the Useless Information Retrocast,

2:04

you'll hear the true story of three teenagers who

2:07

decided to take a joyride in an

2:09

airplane. A man

2:11

who was stabbed with a knife by GetThis

2:13

Adir. A dress

2:16

that was made entirely of postage stamps.

2:19

Plus, you'll learn about the

2:21

world's very first coin-operated paid

2:23

telephone, which is certainly something

2:25

you don't see much of these days. Well,

2:28

all those stories, the question of the day, today's

2:31

retro sponsor, and so much more. They're

2:33

coming up next on today's edition of the

2:35

Useless Information Retrocast.

2:39

I am Steve Saldman, and this is the Useless

2:41

Information Podcast.

2:44

Useless Information

2:51

Hi, everyone. I hope you're doing well. Now,

2:53

if you're new to this podcast, let me extend

2:56

a really big welcome to you. Anyway,

2:59

today I have a great retrocast for you,

3:01

and these are some of the shortest stories that I come across

3:03

while researching the full-length stories

3:06

that I typically do.

3:08

Anyway, let's dive right into today's stories.

3:10

So

3:13

a couple of weeks ago, I was on a family Zoom call,

3:15

and my dad's sister asked one of my cousins

3:17

if she had obtained her birth certificate yet.

3:21

And my cousin said she hadn't been able to do

3:23

so because the online application asked

3:25

her to list the hospital where she was born,

3:28

but she was unsure of that.

3:30

And the reason she doesn't know this is because when she

3:32

was three years old, her parents divorced, and

3:35

she moved to Arkansas.

3:38

For most of my cousin's life, she was told

3:40

by her mom that she was born in Queens, New

3:42

York,

3:43

and the reason why she didn't have a birth certificate

3:45

was that the hospital supposedly had a big

3:48

fire and the records were destroyed.

3:51

Sadly, her mom is no longer with us, but

3:54

my dad's sister is quite certain that my

3:56

cousin was born in Brooklyn,

3:58

most likely at Maimonides. hospital

4:00

just like I was, hence the question about

4:02

her obtaining her birth certificate.

4:05

I guess the one good thing is that my cousin knows she

4:08

was born in either Brooklyn or Queens, which

4:10

means she was definitely born in New York City.

4:13

But not everyone can be that certain.

4:16

For example, just what city do you list

4:18

on your birth certificate if one were to be

4:20

born aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean,

4:23

you know, in international waters?

4:27

Or how about if the child was born while flying

4:29

over another country, you know, some random country

4:32

while en route to its final destination?

4:36

Well,

4:36

such a problem confronted Henry Monroe

4:38

Maurer. That's because

4:40

his mother, Hattie Mae, she

4:42

just happened to be an actress who traveled from city

4:45

to city along the old Orpheum Vaudeville

4:47

circuit. And as she

4:49

was boarding a train in Kansas City, Missouri

4:52

on June 18th of 1903, she took a tumble,

4:55

you know, down she went. Hattie

4:58

was unhurt, but as the train moved

5:01

along his journey eastward, Mrs.

5:03

Maurer suddenly went into labor and she

5:05

gave birth to Harry.

5:08

Years later, Harry would know, quote, when

5:11

my mother got off the train in Jefferson City, she

5:14

put up at the Monroe Hotel. That's

5:16

how I got my middle name. It's a

5:18

funny thing, you know. Years

5:22

later when Harry went to enlist in the US Navy

5:25

during World War I, he was unable

5:27

to answer the very first question

5:29

that the government clerk asked him. It really

5:33

was a straightforward one, you

5:35

know. Where were you born? I mean,

5:37

most of us can answer that. But surprisingly,

5:40

Harry had no idea. And

5:42

that's because the question had never come up before

5:44

and his mother had never told him that

5:47

train story. It

5:50

wouldn't be until the late 1920s that

5:52

Harry would finally ask his mother where

5:54

he was born. And

5:56

she told him the story of how he was born on

5:58

a train somewhere between Kansas City.

5:59

City and Jefferson City.

6:03

Later on, when Harry applied for Social Security,

6:05

his papers were mailed back because he didn't

6:08

include his place of birth on the application.

6:11

So Harry sent the papers back with an explanation,

6:14

but he claimed that he never received any

6:17

further word on that.

6:20

Now let's fast forward to February 3rd of 1938, and

6:23

Harry is standing in line trying to register

6:26

to vote in Kansas City.

6:29

So he hands over his application, but the registration

6:31

official, well, you know, he's just puzzled

6:34

by it. In

6:36

the blank for place of birth, Harry simply

6:38

wrote quote, on a train

6:40

in transit between Kansas City and

6:42

Jefferson City. The official

6:44

then asked Harry, can you prove

6:47

it? Harry then reached into

6:49

his pocket, and he pulled out an old yellow newspaper clipping

6:52

from June 18th of 1903, and

6:54

it

6:55

told the birth of his son to Mrs.

6:57

Hattie Maurer, aboard a passenger

7:00

train that was headed toward Jefferson City.

7:03

He said, that's me, I'm

7:06

her son, Harry Maurer.

7:08

And with that proof, Harry was officially

7:10

allowed to vote. So

7:14

I decided to do some searching, see if I could find

7:16

that, you know, June 18th, 1903 article, but

7:19

I have to say it was unsuccessful.

7:22

But as I looked through the various articles that mentioned

7:24

Harry's name, I realized I had

7:26

recently done a story on him

7:29

that was back in retro cast 14, which

7:32

I recorded this past January.

7:35

In it, if you recall, Harry, his wife

7:37

and their son, they were on a fishing trip.

7:40

Harry slipped on the dock and he sprained his hand,

7:42

his wife fell on the lake and she fractured

7:44

her hand. And finally, their son,

7:47

he dropped a target pistol and the bull

7:49

went right through his arm.

7:53

One thing that I did find was Harry's World War

7:55

Two registration card.

7:57

He was 38 by this time and he listened to the story.

7:59

his place of birth as quote,

8:02

train between Kansas City and Jefferson.

8:08

Next up we have a story that took place in Skidneckt

8:11

in New York, which really isn't that far from my home.

8:13

We do consider it local.

8:15

I'm guessing it's about a 25 minute drive away.

8:20

And it involves a young man named Mario Mastriani,

8:22

and he was injured while fighting

8:24

in Tunisia during World War II.

8:28

If you've never bothered to look at a map to see where Tunisia

8:30

is, imagine where Italy is and

8:32

just go south across the Mediterranean,

8:34

and that's where Tunisia is located.

8:38

Anyway, during a devastating bomb explosion,

8:40

Mastriani was violently thrown to the ground.

8:43

And when stretcher bearers came to his aid, they

8:45

found him unable to speak. This

8:48

was the result of a severe concussion that rendered

8:50

him voiceless. Can you imagine not being

8:52

able to speak?

8:55

While at the hospital, army physicians attempted

8:57

various methods to restore his ability to

9:00

speak, but

9:01

their efforts proved unsuccessful.

9:04

As a result, Mastriani was sent back home

9:06

to Skidneckt

9:08

and their specialists were brought in to examine

9:10

Mario,

9:11

but the consensus remained disheartening.

9:14

They were unable to restore his speech.

9:18

So resigned to his fate, he embarked on a

9:20

journey to learn sign language, and

9:22

he was able to secure employment at an electrical

9:25

plant, and he communicated with his co-workers

9:27

simply by using pen and paper.

9:31

Then, in July of 1943, Mastriani

9:35

got into a heated argument with his 16 year

9:37

old brother, Tony. You

9:40

see, the young man was contemplating abandoning

9:42

his education to enter the workforce.

9:46

Overwhelmed by frustration and anger, Mario suddenly blurted

9:48

out the words, All right, you support the family and I'll stay home and have

9:51

fun.

9:56

Did you hear what I just heard? Tony certainly did and he was

10:00

jumping for joy. But it

10:02

took his brother Mario a full minute to comprehend

10:05

the significance of this utterance. These

10:07

were the first spoken words he had articulated

10:10

in nearly a year and a half. This

10:14

unexpected turn of events transformed what

10:16

began as a bitter quarrel into a

10:18

momentous celebration, and

10:20

it was witnessed by the entire family and

10:22

their neighbors.

10:25

Mario explained, I had quit

10:27

school and I didn't want Tony to make the same mistake.

10:32

Medical professionals were perplexed by Masrioni's

10:34

sudden restoration of speech. All

10:37

they could surmise is that the veteran's intense

10:39

anger somehow triggered a response

10:41

within his previously paralyzed throat muscles,

10:44

and that led to this miraculous outcome.

10:48

Now I did do a quick check, and it appears

10:51

that Mario remained a lifelong Schenectady

10:53

resident.

10:54

He passed away on February 25th of 2004, and

10:57

he is buried in Schenectady Memorial

10:59

Park. He was 84 years old.

11:03

His grave marker shows that he was awarded the

11:05

Bronze Star Medal and the Purple

11:07

Heart.

11:12

During the evening of July 2nd of 1959,

11:15

three teenagers decided to go for the ultimate

11:18

joy ride.

11:20

They stole an air coupe airplane owned

11:22

by the George H. Bailey company from

11:24

the Akron Municipal Airport, and they just took

11:26

to the skies.

11:29

And while I'm not an aviation expert, this

11:31

appears to be a two person aircraft,

11:34

so my guess is that two of them were

11:36

crammed in the rear seat. That is

11:38

one tight squeeze.

11:42

The three were later identified as 16 year old

11:44

Carl Fullerton, who just happened to pilot

11:46

the plane.

11:47

17 year old Paul V. Fabri,

11:50

and 15 year old Sandra Lee Lawson,

11:52

who just happened to have been reported missing

11:55

by her parents on June 13th.

11:57

That's about two weeks earlier. Fullerton

12:01

wasn't exactly a novice at flying a plane.

12:04

You see, his father, Ed, was a professional

12:06

pilot and he had given his son flying lessons.

12:09

But the youth had never flown without

12:12

an instructor long before.

12:15

After takeoff, it's believed that the trio flew

12:18

aimlessly over central Ohio until

12:20

they began to run low on fuel.

12:23

They were in desperate need of a place to land and

12:25

they found a flat field to safely

12:27

put down the plane in West Lafayette.

12:30

That's about 80 miles or 130 kilometers

12:33

south of Akron.

12:36

But now they had another problem. How were

12:38

they going to get home?

12:40

So they opted to hitchhike and

12:42

that really didn't work out too well for them.

12:45

That's because they were spotted by a deputy

12:47

sheriff and of course picked up.

12:50

Juvenile authorities were contacted who

12:53

in turn told their parents they

12:55

can go pick up their kids.

12:58

So some of Ed Fullerton's aviation

13:00

buddies flew to get the teenagers and

13:02

later brought them back to the Akron airport.

13:06

They landed around 6pm on Friday

13:08

and the police were called.

13:11

A patrol car was sent to pick up the three kids

13:13

but just before they got there, the

13:16

two boys said they quote, want to get

13:18

a drink of water. Well,

13:19

you guess what happened next. They didn't

13:22

return and that left poor Sandra

13:24

behind to face the consequences.

13:27

She was taken to the local juvenile

13:29

detention home.

13:31

I'm guessing that she wasn't too happy that her

13:33

two friends had abandoned her.

13:37

Well, it turns out that the boys had walked

13:39

to a farm owned by Paul Fabry's aunt

13:41

and they spent the night sleeping in a haystack

13:44

there.

13:45

And then early Saturday morning, the aunt took them

13:47

in and fed them. During

13:51

noon that same day, another aunt read about

13:53

the airplane theft in the newspaper and she

13:55

called the farm and

13:57

then drove to pick up the boys.

14:00

From there, they were driven home, then taken

14:02

to the Akron Police Station,

14:04

and ultimately ended up in the same

14:06

juvenile detention home that their friend

14:09

Sandra was in.

14:11

Mrs. Fabry told the press that the boys were quote,

14:14

scared and mighty sorry. They knew

14:16

they made a mistake.

14:24

Hello this is Matt from the Explorers

14:26

Podcast. I want to invite you to join

14:28

me on the voyages and journeys of the most famous

14:31

explorers in the history of the world.

14:33

At the Explorers Podcast, we plunge into

14:35

jungles and deserts, across mighty oceans

14:37

and frigid ice caps, over and to

14:40

the top of great mountains, and

14:42

even into outer space. These

14:44

are the thrilling and captivating stories of

14:46

Magellan, Shackleton, Lewis and Clark, and

14:48

so many other famous and not so famous

14:50

adventurers from throughout history.

14:53

So come give us a listen, we'd love to have you.

14:55

Go to ExplorersPodcast.com or

14:57

just look us up on your podcast app.

14:59

That's the Explorers Podcast.

15:07

I think I've mentioned this before on the podcast, but

15:09

when I first started teaching at Chatham High School

15:11

during the 1990-91 school year,

15:14

a student named Patrick asked me if he could borrow

15:16

a nickel.

15:17

And that request kind of puzzled me, and that's because

15:20

a nickel wouldn't purchase anything back then.

15:22

Maybe you can get a piece of gum, I don't know.

15:25

So I asked him what the nickel was for, and he

15:27

told me it was to use the payphone just outside

15:29

of the school's front lobby.

15:32

And I must admit, I found this surprising, because most

15:34

payphones were 25 cents back then,

15:36

not 5 cents.

15:38

But this was in Chatham,

15:40

and the area's phone company that was Taconic

15:42

Telephone, they took pride in having the

15:44

last payphones in the United States that still

15:47

only charged 5 cents for a local call.

15:50

The reality is they had very few payphones,

15:52

and this got them a little bit of national recognition

15:54

from time to time, and I think that's the real reason

15:56

why they kept them.

15:59

is a long gun as

16:01

is just about every other one in the world.

16:03

So my question for you is when

16:05

was the first payphone invented?

16:08

And you probably don't know the exact date but

16:11

see if you can come close.

16:13

And as you're trying to figure it out keep in mind

16:15

that Alexander Graham Bell made that famous first

16:18

phone call to his assistant Thomas Watson

16:20

on March 10th of 1876. So clearly the payphone had

16:23

to be invented

16:25

after that date.

16:27

So just when was the first coin-operated

16:29

payphone first invented? Do you have any

16:31

idea? Well

16:33

hang around for a bit and I'll let you know the answer at

16:35

the end of this podcast.

16:39

If it has been some time now since you have

16:41

tasted a forever yours candy bar, you

16:43

have a real taste grill in store for you.

16:46

For in each bite of forever yours

16:49

you enjoy that same delightful candy

16:51

treat we all remember. The thick

16:53

dark chocolate coating is no ordinary

16:56

chocolate but the finest specially

16:58

blended pure dark chocolate. The

17:00

golden layer of caramel is still that same

17:03

smooth caramel that has long been one of the

17:05

greatest triumphs of skilled candy makers.

17:08

And the soft vanilla nougat center

17:10

is creamy smooth and richly flavored

17:13

with real malted milk.

17:15

All melt together in each enjoyable

17:18

mouthful to give you that rare

17:20

taste blend you will

17:21

find only in forever yours.

17:24

Treat yourself to the enjoyment that is

17:27

forever yours.

17:33

That commercial for the forever yours candy bar

17:35

is from the March 13th 1948 broadcast of the romantic drama

17:40

Curtain Time.

17:42

This particular episode was titled Who

17:44

is Christopher Randolph?

17:47

The show had two distinct runs on radio.

17:50

It first ran on the Don Lee Mutual

17:52

Network from 1938 through 1939 and

17:56

it was sponsored by General Mills.

17:59

Later from 1930, 1945 through 1950,

18:01

it ran on the ABC

18:03

and NBC networks with Mars Candy as

18:05

you just heard as its sponsor.

18:09

The story of the Forever Yours bar traces

18:11

its roots back to 1923.

18:15

That's when Frank C. Morris introduced a new candy

18:17

bar that was made of nougat topped with caramel

18:20

and coated with milk chocolate. His

18:22

little side note that milk chocolate was made by

18:25

Hershey's.

18:26

Anyway, he named it the Milky Way bar

18:29

and oddly it wasn't named after the Milky

18:31

Way galaxy.

18:32

It was named after a malted milk drink that was very

18:35

popular at the time.

18:37

Anyway three years later, two different

18:39

varieties were available.

18:41

One was a chocolate nougat with a milk

18:43

chocolate covering and the other was a vanilla

18:46

nougat with a dark chocolate coating.

18:50

Beginning in 1932, they came

18:53

in a two piece bar, basically got one

18:55

of each in each package.

18:57

And that lasted until 1936.

19:00

That's when the company decided to market the bars

19:02

separately.

19:04

The chocolate nougat version stayed as the Milky

19:06

Way bar here in the United States, although

19:08

I should point out that it's marketed as the Mars

19:10

bar in the rest of the world.

19:13

The vanilla nougat version with the dark chocolate that

19:15

was renamed the Forever Yours bar and

19:17

was sold under that name until 1979.

19:22

At some point it was relaunched as the Milky

19:24

Way dark bar and today it's sold as

19:26

the Milky Way midnight bar.

19:30

Anyway, I have to admit that after listening to that commercial,

19:33

I want to try a Forever Yours Milky Way

19:35

midnight candy bar. I don't think I've

19:37

ever tasted one.

19:42

Next up I have five footnotes to history and these

19:44

are shorts that require no further

19:46

research on my part, so I'm simply going to

19:48

read them word for word.

19:51

And the first one has a headline of dress made

19:53

of postage stamps.

19:55

This comes from the June 2nd, 1906 publication

19:58

of the Buffalo News. disappeared on

20:00

page five. At

20:03

a ball and Bermuda, a wonderful dress

20:05

was worn in the making of which over 30,000

20:09

stamps were used.

20:11

Years were spent in collecting the stamps

20:13

and three weeks in the making of the dress,

20:16

which was of the finest muslin. The

20:19

lady called upon her friends to help her and the

20:21

dress was covered with the stamps of all

20:24

nations.

20:26

They were not put on anyhow, but in

20:28

an elaborate design. On

20:31

the front of the bodice was an eagle

20:33

made entirely of brown Colombian

20:36

stamps.

20:38

Suspended from the bird's talons was

20:40

a globe made of very old blue revenue

20:42

stamps.

20:44

On each side of the globe was an American

20:47

flag having stripes of red and blue

20:49

stamps.

20:51

On the back of the bodice was a collection

20:53

of foreign stamps in the form of a shield

20:56

in the center of which was a portrait of Sir

20:58

George Summers cut from old

21:00

revenue stamps.

21:03

But that's not all, the article goes on. A

21:05

picture hat covered with red and blue stamps

21:08

was worn with this remarkable dress. Now

21:12

this article does mention George Summers, who

21:14

you may not be familiar with. He

21:16

lived from 1554 to 1610 and is best remembered

21:20

today as the founder of the English colony

21:23

of Bermuda, which is of course where

21:25

this dress was being shown. And

21:28

the article does mention the 30,000 stamps

21:30

were used to make this dress and I'm gonna

21:32

go on the assumption these were canceled stamps.

21:35

You know nobody lined up at the post office to

21:37

purchase them all.

21:42

Next up we have a story that took place in Belle

21:44

Plain, Kansas on February 2nd of 1920.

21:49

Miss Almalaine of Belle Plain in August 1916

21:53

threw a tightly cork bottle containing a

21:55

slip of paper bearing her name and address

21:58

into the Nunesco River near here.

22:01

Recently, three and a half years after

22:03

launching the bottle, she received

22:06

a letter from R.S. Baldwin,

22:08

an engineer for the Puget Sound Light

22:10

and Power Company Seattle, Washington,

22:13

stating that he had picked up the bottle while

22:15

boat riding on Washington Lake Canal

22:17

near Seattle. Quote,

22:21

Evidently, the three and a half year journey of the

22:23

bottle took it down in Ineska to the

22:25

Arkansas River, then to the Mississippi,

22:28

out to the Gulf of Mexico, around

22:31

Cape Horn, and up along the

22:33

Pacific Coast of Seattle,

22:35

said Miss Lane. I

22:37

don't believe by any chance it could have made its way

22:40

through the Panama Canal. Either

22:43

way, whether it went through the Panama Canal or not,

22:46

making its way from the Atlantic Ocean all

22:48

the way to the Pacific Ocean and up to North

22:50

America, that is quite the

22:53

trip.

22:57

And I really like this story. It's from the November

23:01

19th, 1938 publication of the Ironwood

23:03

Daily Globe, and it's appeared on the front

23:05

page.

23:07

The headline reads, Dear Stab's

23:09

Man and Even Score,

23:11

Stambaugh, Michigan, November 19th, Associated

23:14

Press.

23:17

Albert Christiansen, who reported he was stabbed

23:19

by a deer, is recovering at

23:21

his home in Stambaugh Township.

23:24

Christiansen related this story. He

23:27

was hunting in the woods north of here and shot

23:29

a buck. He dropped his gun

23:31

and ran to the deer with a hunting knife in his

23:33

hand. The animal kicked, knocked

23:36

the knife from Christiansen's hand, and the blade penetrated

23:39

his right forearm, inflicting

23:41

a deep gash.

23:43

He was weak from loss of blood when

23:45

brought to a doctor's office here.

23:47

He walked two miles, that's around 3.2 kilometers.

23:51

He walked two miles through the woods and

23:54

then drove to Stambaugh.

23:56

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24:20

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Gothic.

25:02

This next story was published in the Akron Beacon

25:04

Journal on April 19th of 1943 on page

25:10

The headline reads, Horned Honks of Cab

25:12

Exceeds 35 Miles.

25:15

A honking method for compelling taxi drivers

25:18

to obey the 35 mph speed

25:20

laws has been devised by C.L.

25:22

Veering, president of the City Cab.

25:26

Now 35

25:26

mph is about 56 km per hour.

25:31

Anyway, let's continue.

25:33

He has had all the cabs wired in such a manner

25:36

that when the speedometer passes the 35 mile mark

25:39

the horn automatically starts blowing.

25:42

And it keeps blowing until a taxi gets

25:44

back to the garage or a mechanic

25:46

is sent out to stop the wailing.

25:50

I have to admit I'm kind of glad this idea never

25:52

caught on. Can you imagine every time

25:55

a taxi cab went over 35 mph

25:57

the horn would just continuously blow until it

25:59

got back to the garage?

25:59

back to the garage.

26:01

You just wake up everyone in the middle of

26:03

the night. And

26:08

the last little tidbit I have for you today is also

26:10

from the Akron Beacon Journal.

26:12

This is from October 21, 1959 and appeared on page 3. The

26:18

headline on this one is Short Stroll and

26:20

Adventure,

26:21

Bath, England, United Press International.

26:25

Anthony Scarrett, 22 months old, tumbled

26:28

out of his carriage in front of his house, bounced

26:30

up and ambled towards the front door.

26:34

He walked into a coal chute, fell 11

26:37

feet into the cellar, got up and tottered

26:40

toward the door, walked through

26:42

and tumbled into the River Avon. Neighbor

26:46

Vic Watterson spotted Anthony and jumped

26:49

in to pull him out.

26:51

Anthony recovered consciousness on the way to

26:53

the hospital where an examination

26:56

showed he received minor bruises.

27:00

I have to say, sometimes it seems like little

27:02

kids, they're just made of rubber.

27:07

So early in the podcast I'd ask you when the first payphone

27:10

was invented and there's

27:11

a little bit of guidance I added in the fact

27:13

that the first telephone call was made

27:15

on March 10th of 1876. You

27:19

know that famous call. Mr. Watson, come

27:21

here. I want to see you. Well,

27:24

the first coin operated payphone was invented

27:26

just 13 years later, in 1889.

27:31

Its inventor was William Gray, who was a

27:33

lifelong tinkerer and his other

27:36

major invention was a padded chest protector

27:38

for baseball catchers and that

27:40

became standard equipment in the sport in the 1890s.

27:45

The story goes that Gray's wife had fallen ill

27:48

and he urgently required a doctor's assistance.

27:51

However, despite his desperate situation, he

27:54

faced a significant obstacle.

27:56

That is that nobody was willing to lend them their telephone

27:58

to make the crucial call.

28:01

Of course, it's important to note that during this period,

28:03

telephones were a relatively recent invention,

28:06

and of course, they weren't widely accessible.

28:09

I should also add, they were prohibitively expensive

28:12

to install, and that made them unaffordable

28:14

for the average American.

28:17

Now, Gray's wife did recover, but he was determined

28:20

to make the telephone available to the masses.

28:24

And payphones did already exist, but they

28:26

required individuals to pay the attendant

28:28

before making a call.

28:31

What Gray did that was groundbreaking is he introduced

28:33

a coin-operated device.

28:36

In his initial design, he used a cover simply

28:39

to block the mouthpiece of the receiver. When

28:41

you drop the coin in, that cover would slide away,

28:43

and you could make your call.

28:46

But the problem was, if someone called

28:48

you, you wouldn't be able to answer the phone. Why?

28:51

Because the mouthpiece was covered. The only way to answer that

28:54

call would be to drop coins in.

28:57

So Gray thought about it, and he came up with a better

28:59

idea. When a coin was inserted,

29:02

a bell would ring, and that would tell the operator

29:04

that a call had been paid for. And

29:07

this was later improved so that there were three coin

29:09

slots with three different sounding bells.

29:12

This

29:12

would allow the operator to determine

29:14

whether a nickel, a dime, or a quarter

29:16

was inserted. Keep

29:20

in mind there were no direct calls at this time. All

29:22

calls went through an operator who would then connect

29:25

your line to the correct port on their

29:27

switchboard. So when

29:29

someone lifted the receiver, they'd be connected to the

29:31

operator who would then guide them on the appropriate

29:34

amount of money to insert into the coin box.

29:37

And then after the money was inserted, the operator

29:39

would connect the call.

29:42

So if you were to go to the corner of Main Street

29:44

in Central Row in Hartford, Connecticut today,

29:47

you would find a magnificent

29:49

building that was once home to the Hartford, Connecticut

29:52

Trust Company.

29:54

On the corner of the building is a little

29:56

sign that really is, you probably miss it, there's

29:58

a little sign that reads, quote, world's

30:02

first pay telephone,

30:04

invented by William Gray and developed by George

30:06

A. Long, was installed on this corner

30:09

in 1889.

30:13

In 1891, Gray established the Gray

30:15

Telephone Pay Station Company

30:17

and George Long, who I just mentioned,

30:20

he was responsible for many of the significant

30:22

improvements in their design.

30:25

Gray passed away on January 24th of 1903 at the age of 51, but of course

30:28

his invention lived

30:32

on.

30:34

By 1995, the number of payphones

30:36

in the United States had reached its pinnacle with

30:38

an estimated count of 2.5 million.

30:42

However, with the rapid proliferation of cell phones,

30:45

the prevalence of payphones swiftly declined.

30:48

I

30:48

mean, personally, I can't even remember the last time

30:50

I saw one.

30:55

Well, I do hope you enjoyed the stories that I selected

30:57

for today's retro cast.

30:59

The next episode will technically be my

31:02

200th episode, although there

31:04

really have been some other miscellaneous ones thrown

31:06

in there over the years,

31:08

but it is my 200th original

31:10

episode.

31:12

So the question is, do I have something special planned

31:14

for that? Let's kind of

31:16

put that in the sort of category.

31:20

And that's because I do have someone special lined up to

31:22

be a guest for the next podcast,

31:24

but at this point I'm not sure if that will materialize

31:26

in time or not.

31:29

And just in case it doesn't, I do have a couple

31:31

of backup stories I've been working on so I can pull

31:33

from those.

31:36

Now, if you've enjoyed this episode or the podcast

31:38

in general, I'd greatly appreciate

31:40

it if you could share it with someone. You know, that can be through Reddit,

31:42

Facebook, Twitter, or by whatever means.

31:45

Anything that will help grow my audience is greatly

31:47

appreciated.

31:50

Just to remind you, you can find the Useless Information

31:52

Podcast wherever you get your podcasts,

31:54

so make sure you subscribe. And

31:57

lastly, the Useless Information Podcast is now part of the Useless

31:59

Information Podcast.

31:59

the Airwave Media Podcast Network.

32:02

So be sure to visit AirwaveMedia.com

32:05

where you will find a curated selection of some of the

32:07

best podcasts not just in history,

32:10

but also in science, wellness, education,

32:13

and the arts.

32:15

As always, thanks for listening and take care everyone.

32:20

Bye! What did it take to survive an ancient siege?

32:22

Why was the cult of Dionysus behind so

32:25

many slave revolts in

32:26

ancient Rome? What's the tragic

32:28

history and mythology behind Japan's

32:30

most haunted ancient forest? We're

32:32

Jen and Jenny from Ancient

32:35

History Fangirl. Join us to explore

32:37

ancient history and mythology from a

32:40

fun, sometimes tipsy, perspective.

32:43

Find us at AncientHistoryFangirl.com

32:45

or wherever you get your podcasts.

32:49

The French Revolution set Europe

32:51

ablaze. It was an age of enlightenment

32:53

and progress, but also of tyranny and

32:55

oppression.

32:56

It was an age of glory and an age of tragedy.

32:59

One man stood above it all.

33:01

This was the age of Napoleon.

33:04

I'm Everett Rummage, host of the Age

33:06

of Napoleon podcast. Join

33:08

me as I examine the life and times of

33:10

one of the most fascinating and enigmatic

33:12

characters in modern history.

33:14

Look for the Age of Napoleon wherever you find

33:16

your podcasts.