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Kroger. Kroger, fresh for everyone. Races Peanut butter

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cups are the greatest, But let me play

0:38

devil's Advocate here. Let's see. so no that's

0:40

a good thing. Stiffly

0:43

not a problem. Raises

0:45

it. did it use don't put his

0:47

job in devil. Today.

0:51

On a useless information retro cast,

0:53

you'll hear a number of totally

0:55

true stories, including the one about

0:57

a guy who gained notoriety as

0:59

all you know to toenail and

1:02

that's because he was sneaking on

1:04

the library tables at California College

1:06

libraries, am painting the toenails of

1:08

unsuspecting young women. And.

1:11

Then you'll learn about a woman in

1:13

England who failed her driver's route, has

1:15

a staggering thirty nine times, and believe

1:17

it or not, she doesn't even come

1:19

close to the person who currently holds

1:22

the world record. Or.

1:24

Hell, but Amanda spent nearly as

1:26

entire life studying at Columbia University.

1:29

Reportedly because of he stopped attending

1:31

he would forfeit a substantial inheritance

1:33

bequeathed to him by a wealthy

1:36

relative. Well. All

1:38

those stories? the question Today, today's

1:40

Retro sponsor and so much more,

1:42

they're all coming up Next I

1:44

today's edition of the Useless Information

1:46

or Retro Cast. I

1:48

am Steve Someone and this is

1:51

the useless Information podcast. Use.

1:54

this information Hi

2:00

everyone and welcome to the 20th

2:03

edition of the Useless Information Retrocast.

2:06

Now what you're about to hear are some of

2:08

the shortest stories that I stumbled upon while doing

2:10

my research but rest assured I'll

2:12

return in a couple of weeks with

2:15

a captivating full length story. So

2:18

without further ado let's dive right into

2:20

today's collection of stories. Many

2:24

years ago while attending the University of Rochester

2:27

I lived in one of the towers of

2:29

their graduate living center which I just checked

2:31

has been renamed the Southside Living Area. And

2:35

while this place was a step up from my undergraduate

2:37

dorm room, I mean my roommate and I had separate

2:39

rooms, a kitchenette and our own bathroom, I

2:42

must tell you that this place was

2:44

a dump. It was roach infested. I

2:47

clearly remember the roaches every morning when I flipped

2:49

on the light in the kitchen. They would just

2:52

scramble to go back to their hiding places. It

2:55

was disgusting. Now

2:58

my first roommate while living there was much older

3:00

than me. How much older?

3:02

Well that's hard to say and that's because

3:04

I was an immature 21 year old. You

3:08

know so anyone who was even a few

3:10

years older back then, they seemed like senior

3:12

citizens to me. And

3:14

although his name is long slip from

3:17

my memory, I do distinctly recall him

3:19

sharing his aspiration of being a college

3:21

student for as many years as possible.

3:25

Unfortunately as long as he could secure research

3:28

grants to cover both his tuition and living

3:30

expenses, he was determined to remain a perpetual

3:32

student. However

3:34

an unforeseen obstacle arose in his

3:37

path. That is that

3:39

the university informed him that he had exceeded

3:41

their five year limit for residing in the

3:43

graduate dorm. So

3:45

needless to say he wasn't my roommate for very

3:47

long. I seem to recall he was gone within

3:50

a couple of weeks. The

3:53

reason I mention that is because the story came

3:55

to mind as I was putting together the one

3:57

that I'm about to tell you. It's

4:00

of a man named William Cullen Bryant Kemp and

4:02

he was born on November 10th of 1850 in

4:06

Janesville, Wisconsin. As

4:09

a little side note, he was named after

4:11

the famed poet William Cullen Bryant. Anyway,

4:15

not long after he was born, his family

4:17

picked up and they moved to New York

4:19

City where he attended both grammar and preparatory

4:21

school. Fast

4:24

forward to the early 1900s

4:26

and Billy Kemp had become the

4:28

focal point of numerous newspaper articles

4:30

chronicling his life as a perpetual

4:33

student at Columbia University. He

4:36

first matriculated into Columbia in 1872 and

4:39

remarkably he remained enrolled there until

4:43

his passing on February 3rd of 1929 at the age of 78.

4:50

And along the way Kemp picked up a

4:52

number of degrees. Are you ready? Listen to

4:54

this. He had a doctorate

4:56

in medicine, bachelor and master's

4:58

of art, bachelor and master's

5:00

of law, a PhD, degrees

5:02

in civil, electrical, and mechanical

5:04

engineering, as well as degrees

5:06

in chemistry and pharmacy. He

5:10

also had three separate bachelor of

5:12

science degrees which several newspapers concluded

5:14

their listing of his degrees with.

5:17

And I'm guessing this is a joke because

5:19

they wrote it as BS BS BS.

5:23

I'll let you fill in the blank there. So

5:27

you're probably wondering just what did he

5:29

accomplish with this extensive collection of degrees?

5:32

Well the answer is quite straightforward.

5:35

Absolutely nothing. He

5:38

simply continued on with his academic

5:40

journey and he made room 902

5:42

of Columbia's Livingston Hall dormitory his

5:44

home. And I should

5:46

probably just throw in the little factoid that

5:48

that building has since been renamed Wallach Hall.

5:53

But Kemp's notoriety didn't stem from

5:55

his voluntary continuous pursuit of higher

5:57

education. Instead... his

6:00

fame was born out of a rather

6:02

unusual circumstance. You

6:05

see, according to newspaper accounts from the early

6:07

part of the 20th century, Billy

6:09

Kemp began his unusual journey as

6:11

an abysmal student. He did not

6:13

like college at all. So

6:16

to remedy this, Kemp found himself the

6:19

beneficiary of a wealthy relative's bequest. It

6:22

ensured Kemp an annual income of $2,500. It

6:26

was over $90,000 a day, but it

6:29

was contingent upon his continued enrollment

6:31

at Columbia University with the payment

6:33

ceasing the moment he left the

6:35

institution. Basically,

6:37

Kemp had no choice but to stay in

6:39

college for the remainder of his life. And

6:44

that was a story that was repeated over and

6:46

over from most of Kemp's life. Which

6:49

of course made me wonder, is it really true? Well,

6:52

it turns out that it wasn't. At

6:55

least the wealthy benefactor portion of the story

6:57

isn't true. In

6:59

my research, I found an interview with Kemp that

7:01

appeared on page 10 of the March 28, 1922

7:03

edition of the Yonkers Statesman. So

7:09

what better way to find out the true

7:11

story than to read the exact words that

7:13

came directly from Billy Kemp's mouth. Here we

7:15

go. Quote, someone

7:18

conceived the story that I was going to

7:20

college to win an inheritance left to me

7:22

on the condition that I became a perpetual

7:25

student. That wasn't so. My

7:28

father and uncles being merchants were opposed to my

7:30

going to the university. They believed

7:33

the college education more of a detriment

7:35

than a benefit to one going into

7:37

business. Despite their objections,

7:39

I was able to enter Columbia in 1872.

7:44

After two years, I decided to follow their wishes.

7:47

I left and joined the house in which my father

7:49

was a partner. Unquote. The

7:53

article then describes how his family's business

7:55

was involved with foreign trade. So Billy

7:57

went to Spain, learned Spanish, and then

7:59

traveled. That

14:00

idea would have to wait. That's

14:02

because she had spent more than 300 pounds or

14:05

nearly $6,000 today on driving lessons.

14:08

And now she faced the unfortunate reality of

14:10

being unable to afford the purchase of a

14:13

car. Quote,

14:16

I hoped it went soon, but I spent all

14:18

the money that would have gone on a car

14:20

on lessons. But

14:22

I have to tell you, Chas Ah-Soon

14:24

of South Korea has Mrs. Hargrave beat.

14:28

You see, beginning in April of 2005, Mrs.

14:31

Cha diligently took the road test

14:33

on a daily basis. That was

14:35

five days a week for a

14:37

continuous three-year period. And

14:40

every single time she failed, but she refused

14:42

to give up. Then

14:44

her frequency decreased to approximately

14:46

twice a week, yet her

14:48

determination remained unwavering. Then

14:51

finally, in May 2010, Mrs.

14:54

Cha passed her road test and received

14:56

her driver's license. It was

14:58

her, you're gonna love this, it was her

15:00

960th attempt. And

15:04

as a reward for her perseverance, Hyundai presented

15:06

her with a brand new car. And

15:10

if you're curious about me, it took me 16

15:13

attempts to get my license. No, I'm

15:15

just kidding. I really did pass on

15:17

my first try. And

15:23

this next story, which I really love, begins

15:25

with a quotation. Quote, recall

15:27

him Leonardo de Toenail, declared Sergeant

15:30

Farina an officer with the University

15:32

of Southern California's campus police. Farina

15:36

was talking about a suspect who

15:39

had a peculiar inclination for crawling

15:41

on the library tables and applying

15:43

nail polish to the exposed toenails

15:45

of unsuspecting female students. What

15:49

would become known as the case of a

15:51

phantom pedicurist first came to light on

15:53

Friday, February 29th of 1980. That's

15:58

when one of the victims noticed a freshly-abused. I

16:00

couldn't nail polish on her big

16:02

toenails Upon departing The Joe and

16:04

A Library. The

16:07

since two males were pink when she entered

16:09

the library, yet they were Corinne when she

16:11

left. For. Arena reflect

16:13

a quote. Maybe. She thought

16:15

as a fraternity prank of first but

16:17

she found another woman in her apartment

16:20

with the same experience and Z decided

16:22

to contact authorities. Campus

16:25

Police promptly located a man in his

16:27

mid twenties who is neither a student

16:29

nor employee the library and he was

16:31

carrying a bag containing a Price is

16:33

keen bottles of nail polish. The

16:36

Los Angeles Police questioned him with

16:39

ofsted John Lockhart noting quote. He

16:41

had about every color you could think of. Nonetheless,

16:46

The act of adorning someone's toenails

16:48

without consent amounted to only a

16:50

misdemeanor. And since the

16:52

was dictated that the offs must personally

16:54

witnessed the wrong to into effect in

16:57

arrest. The. Man was subsequently

16:59

released. Nevertheless,

17:02

The Los Angeles Please Pledge to file an

17:04

official report with the City Attorney's Office and

17:07

they will be tasked with the citing whether

17:09

to issue an arrest warrant or not. I

17:12

should add of the identity. The suspect

17:15

was never revealed. But.

17:17

The key swing no further because the two

17:19

women were unwilling to testify in court. A

17:23

Census police sergeant bought Steel told The

17:25

Los Angeles Times quote. I

17:27

don't think they ever wanted to see the

17:29

guy again, even in court. Besides, maybe they

17:32

decided he done a good job. They

17:35

were new for the reports of the

17:38

phantom pedicures wielding his paint pressure us

17:40

see. The. Police did receive a

17:42

tip from an anonymous woman and

17:44

she said that he moved on

17:46

the same thing in California State

17:48

University Dominguez Hills the previous year.

17:52

So. They check the schools newspaper and found

17:54

the sorry that was remarkably similar. Quote.

17:58

He seeks have a lone female and. The cross

18:00

from or in the library. He carries

18:02

a large folders similar to a portfolio case

18:04

and sets up is the working on a

18:07

project. He causes

18:09

money or disturbances such as dropping pens

18:11

and paper says. As he

18:13

dropped something, he reaches under and quickly

18:15

one brush stroke will do it kings

18:17

the big toe now. He

18:19

dropped something else and pins be either.

18:23

Have to say I'm not a detective, but that

18:25

sure sounds like the same person's. What's

18:30

up? It's Kaylee Cuoco. When it comes to

18:32

travel, we all have a happy place. I

18:34

just went to my happy place. I just

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went to Maui, and it was truly amazing.

18:39

Priceline has always been about getting you to

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your happy place for a happy price with

18:43

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a happy price. Media Healthy.

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Go to your happy price,

18:58

Priceline. Couldn't

19:02

to two thousand and seventeen study buddies

19:04

season for dressings and sauces? Yes, as

19:06

in his see group for everything. The.

19:09

Most populous salad dressing here in United

19:11

States is t You know, Where.

19:14

And stressing. Forty

19:16

percent of those response to this

19:18

survey shows ranch with Italian coming

19:21

in at a distance second place

19:23

at just ten percent. To

19:25

seize Thousand Island and Caesar the

19:27

rounds out the top five. Son

19:31

of a two part question few. For.

19:33

Some more year and second in

19:35

which Us state was ranch dressing

19:37

first created. A

19:39

one hint that I will tell you said

19:41

it wasn't first mixed up in California where

19:43

the Hidden Valley romance was located. Are

19:47

always in suspense forbid hello. You know the

19:49

answer to both parts that question at the

19:51

end of this podcast. Oh.

19:56

we'll return to our story i'm just a moment

19:58

but now i'd like to have the ladies

20:00

a question. Have you ever had

20:02

the shampoo blues? The shampoo blues

20:05

of course is that dejected feeling you

20:07

get when your hair becomes dry and

20:09

unmanageable after a shampoo. If

20:11

that's been your experience then here's the way

20:13

to beat those blues. Try

20:15

Fitch's saponified coconut oil shampoo.

20:19

Use this clear golden liquid shampoo as often

20:21

as you like. It will

20:23

never leave your hair dry or

20:25

difficult to manage. That's because Fitch's

20:27

saponified shampoo is made from pure

20:29

natural oils. Just a

20:31

little makes oceans of cleansing

20:33

leather. Rinses out easily too

20:35

for Fitch's saponified shampoo contains

20:37

its own patented rinsing agent.

20:40

It leaves your hair soft, lustrous, and easy

20:42

to manage even right after you shampoo it.

20:45

Yes you can always use

20:47

Fitch's saponified shampoo with complete confidence

20:50

and freedom from the shampoo

20:52

blues. So use it

20:54

regularly. Buy an economical bottle at your

20:56

drug or toilet goods counter or ask

20:58

for a professional application at your beauty

21:00

shop. That

21:03

commercial for Fitch's saponified coconut oil shampoo

21:05

is from the January 3rd 1946 broadcast

21:09

of Rogue's Gallery. This

21:11

particular episode was titled Murder at

21:13

Minden. The show's

21:16

title is a play on the lead

21:18

character's name. That's private investigator Richard Rogue

21:21

and he was initially played in the series

21:23

by actor Dick Powell. In

21:26

a typical episode Rogue is somehow knocked unconscious,

21:28

whether that be through a blow to the

21:31

head, drugs, or some similar means. And

21:34

while he's in that senseless state Rogue

21:36

encounters his alter ego, Yugor,

21:38

which is actually Rogue's spell

21:41

backwards. And

21:43

it's Yugor who points out the

21:45

overlooked clues and evidence. And once

21:48

Rogue regains consciousness, he uses that

21:50

newfound information to crack the case

21:52

wide open. The

21:55

series premiered on the NBC network on June 24th of

21:57

1945. Then

22:00

it switched to the mutual network on

22:02

September 27th of that same year. Then

22:05

it switched back to NBC from June 23rd 1946 through September

22:07

28th of 1947 after which

22:14

production went on hiatus. The

22:17

show's final room was on the ABC network

22:19

from November 29th 1950 through November 21st of

22:24

1951. Each

22:27

episode ran 30 minutes in length. As

22:31

for Fitch's saponified coconut oil shampoo,

22:34

I should probably first begin by

22:36

explaining what saponified means. It's

22:39

really nothing more than the technical term

22:41

for turning fat or oil into soap.

22:44

Of course we don't know what process Fitch used

22:46

to make their shampoo, but the

22:48

general idea is that one takes the oil, that's

22:51

coconut oil in this case, and you mix it

22:53

with lye. Then

22:55

heat the mixer up, add a little bit of salt

22:57

in after it cools, and then filter

22:59

out the soap. That's really the

23:01

basic process, although I would not recommend that

23:03

you try it at home. Frederick

23:07

Walter Fitch was born on January 28th of 1870 in Webster,

23:09

Iowa. He

23:13

was the tenth of twelve children. Then

23:17

around 1876 his parents split up and

23:19

his father and two of his brothers

23:21

left for California while mom and the

23:23

remaining children were left impoverished back in

23:26

Iowa. When

23:28

Frederick turned eight his mother bound him out

23:30

to a farmer, which was a form of

23:32

child slave labor. Upon

23:35

turning twenty Frederick went to work for a

23:37

barber in Boone, Iowa. He

23:39

was soon able to purchase the barber shop

23:41

and then sold it six months later at

23:43

a profit and he continued

23:45

in the trade for the next eight years.

23:49

Along this journey, due to a scalp

23:51

condition, he would invent the product that

23:53

would forever change his life. That

23:56

was a dandruff remover that he

23:58

named the Ideal Hair Grower and

24:00

Dandruff Cure. The

24:02

original name of his company was the

24:05

Fitch Ideal Dandruff Cure Company, but he

24:07

soon changed it to the F.W. Fitch

24:09

Company, and from there the

24:11

company grew to become a multi-million

24:13

dollar manufacturer of shampoo, hair tonics,

24:16

and cosmetics. The

24:18

company did manage to make it through the

24:20

Great Depression and they survived World War II

24:23

through military contracts, but things

24:25

began to go south once the war

24:27

ended. Internal

24:29

disagreements between Fitch, his sons, the

24:31

company's board of directors, and senior

24:33

management, it just began to

24:35

tear the company apart. It

24:38

wasn't long before the company was sold

24:40

to Grove Laboratories in 1949.

24:43

Bristol-Myers then purchased Grove Laboratories

24:46

in 1967 and the Fitch line was gone. It was

24:50

relabeled under the Sandals brand name,

24:53

which also is no longer being marketed.

24:57

As for Frederick Fitch, who is known as the

24:59

Shampoo King when he's alive, he was

25:01

81 years old when he passed away

25:04

on October 1st of 1951. And

25:22

now we're up to

25:26

the portion of the podcast

25:29

that I've been calling Footnotes to

25:31

History. And

25:45

these are the very short stories printed

25:48

in newspapers that really require no further

25:50

research, so I'm just going to read

25:52

them word for word. And here's

25:54

the first one. edition

26:00

of the Independence Daily Reporter

26:03

and it is untitled. And

26:06

I should mention that the paper and the

26:08

towns mentioned in the story are in Kansas.

26:12

Selena, July 21st. As

26:15

a result of a fishing trip which he and

26:17

Mrs. Mooney took yesterday near Bennington, Clarence

26:20

Mooney will probably be forced by

26:22

necessity to purchase a new suit

26:24

of clothes, another shirt, and a

26:26

necktie. After

26:28

sitting on the bank of the river fishing for

26:30

some time, Mooney decided that he would

26:32

indulge in a little swim. And so

26:35

taking advantage of some friendly and

26:37

nearby bushes, he changed the scenery

26:39

from a two-piece suit to a

26:41

one-piece bathing costume and went into

26:43

the water. The

26:46

water was fine and he stayed in for

26:48

some time, finally crawling out with a look

26:50

of contentment on his face which

26:52

vanished when he reached the spot where he

26:55

had deposited his clothing. For instead

26:58

of the perfectly good clothes he had left there,

27:00

there remained only ragged and well-nawed fragments of

27:02

what had been a $60 suit of clothes.

27:05

Now $60 is

27:08

about $900 today.

27:10

Quote, the grasshoppers

27:13

did it, said Mooney, and

27:15

telling of the occurrence this morning. Mr.

27:18

Mooney brought in samples of the clothing to

27:20

show what the grasshoppers did. The

27:23

necktie was absolutely shredded, the

27:25

collar band had been shooed

27:27

away. Down one trousers leg

27:29

is a series of holes as though moths

27:32

have been feasting on it for a month.

27:36

Corporal Sam Shulman of the local recruiting

27:38

station was also a victim of the

27:40

hoppers while in bathing. He

27:42

came out of the water to find

27:44

the passage sheet holes in his shirt

27:47

leaving it unfit for wear and beyond

27:49

repair. To

27:51

be honest I never knew that grasshoppers

27:53

could be that destructive. Just

27:59

a little background. before I get into this next story

28:01

and that is it talks about a guy named Jim

28:03

Moran and he was considered to be the master of

28:05

publicity stunts starting in the 1930s all the way through

28:07

the 1950s. He passed away in 1999. Anyway this story

28:15

is from the July 7th 1946 edition

28:17

of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and

28:20

this appeared on the front page. The

28:22

headline reads, Hollywood eccentric hatches ostrich

28:25

by sitting on an egg. Hollywood

28:28

California July 6th United Press.

28:32

Professional screwball Jim Moran today became the

28:34

foster father of a one pound nine

28:37

ounce rooster ostrich hatched to an

28:39

all-star quartets rendition of let me

28:41

out of here. After

28:45

disturbing Moran with tremendous seismological

28:47

vibrations from its pecking during

28:49

the last two days the

28:51

bedraggled ostrich finally broke the

28:54

shell at 1005 a.m. Quote

28:57

it looks just like me to clad Moran

28:59

proudly. He

29:02

began sitting on the egg on

29:04

Father's Day attired in a special

29:06

hatching suit of ostrich feathers and

29:08

sequins. Quote

29:11

now that it's all over I'm egg-sasted

29:13

and that's not egg-sasted

29:15

it's egg-sasted in other words

29:17

it's exhausted beginning with e

29:20

g g s. Anyway

29:23

now that it's all over I'm exhausted.

29:25

Panted the eccentric who found a needle

29:27

in a haystack, sold an

29:29

icebox to an Eskimo and

29:31

went looking for whales in San Francisco

29:33

Bay. Quote I'm

29:36

taking nerve medicine by the gallon. Moran

29:40

was attended at the crucial hour

29:42

by pianist Lou Bush and orchestra

29:44

leaders Frank Duvall, Elvino Ray and

29:46

Jack Elliott. They

29:49

constituted the quartet which crooned the hatching

29:51

song as the ostrich pecked through its

29:53

shell. It

29:55

went like this. Moran

29:57

Popped the baby ostrich into a brood of. Forty

30:00

eight hours refusing even a

30:02

habit, photographs and silly seen

30:04

strength. The. Mother. She was

30:07

glaring over the fence when Junior

30:09

arrived. Mama. Was banished to

30:11

another pen was he deserted the egg

30:13

in a fit of jealousy over her

30:15

mates attention to a younger bird. Inexorably.

30:22

The Say from the July Thirtieth,

30:24

Nineteen Sixty Seven publication of The

30:26

Hollywood Citizen News and The Cypriot

30:28

on page Eleven. The. Headline

30:30

reads find it in the yellow pages

30:32

and he does to fifty dollar bills.

30:35

And by the way, one hundred dollars

30:37

would be worth over a thousand dollars

30:39

today. Police Mack

30:41

and twenty two or three west Twenty

30:44

Fourth Street had his one hundred dollars

30:46

back today in weirdly testify to the

30:48

truth of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph

30:50

Company. Add. You probably remember

30:53

this if you're old enough sign didn't

30:55

the yellow pages. Mack.

30:57

And turned in his old telephone book. Perfect! Got

31:00

to take out the to fifty dollar bills he

31:02

had hidden in the yellow pages. The

31:05

telephone company let him look over

31:07

the books at the warehouse. He

31:09

found the bills hence the house

31:11

and volumes of later. Can you

31:13

imagine looking through ten thousand volumes

31:15

of the pages. Although not

31:17

sure most young people today even know

31:19

what the yellow pages for her. You.

31:25

A for stories from the yeah August twelfth,

31:27

nineteen Secede edition of the New York Daily

31:30

News. and this appeared on page four. Headline

31:33

reads car gets kang by

31:35

a marsupial. And

31:38

an inside man was driving home

31:41

along the Grand Central Park where

31:43

yesterday morning and as he drove

31:45

past Laguardia Airport his car was

31:47

struck by a three foot kangaroo

31:49

embed hop. L three feet

31:51

as about a meter tall. The.

31:54

Car and driver survived the encounter.

31:56

The kangaroo didn't. And

31:59

Lisa Sweetest. The been told by

32:01

the Port Authority police at Laguardia

32:03

Airport where the cops say six

32:05

grown minute spend half the night

32:07

ceasing the kangaroo around a parking

32:10

lot. Is

32:12

detail as told by Port Authority patrol

32:14

Tom Cruise or who was working as

32:16

a police test in the Marine Terminal

32:18

at Laguardia at eleven fifty pm Saturday.

32:21

When. An excited employee of American Airlines

32:23

or ran in and blurted quote. I

32:26

want you to know that I'm perfectly sober

32:28

and I know you might not believe me,

32:30

but I just saw a kangaroo hopping around

32:33

the parking lot. Unquote, Naturally,

32:37

We thought there was something wrong with this

32:39

guy Crozier said. but the sergeant I went

32:41

out to look anyway. There really was a

32:43

kangaroo. He. Was about three feet

32:46

tall, was small little arms and i

32:48

big sick tail and she was a

32:50

strong as hell and jumping all around.

32:55

Loses. The keen the sarge pulled

32:57

in a media strategic withdrawal him

32:59

when for reinforcements consisting of one

33:01

more cop and three civilians. To.

33:05

The armed with a dog catching nice and

33:07

thick leather gloves. Six men

33:09

crypt stealthily back into pissy lot

33:12

number one, which is surrounded by

33:14

a five foot high. since. We'd.

33:17

Say something back and forth and are

33:19

around and around for about forty minutes.

33:21

crucial when aunts But we couldn't catch

33:23

the crazy thing. One guy had a

33:25

by the tail for a minute. that

33:27

kangaroo just wag them off. The.

33:31

Mensa they receive for about an hour and

33:33

put it in a call to be American

33:35

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

33:37

which promises and the crew out later in

33:39

the morning. But. After

33:42

an hour, the men decided to give

33:44

it another try themselves. A.

33:46

Poor kangaroo sing the six months back

33:48

in parking lot number one's to the

33:50

one monster leap over the fence and

33:52

onto the parkway. Where. He was

33:55

run down almost instantly. None.

33:59

of the port authority would venture a guess

34:01

as to where the kangaroo had come from. Animal

34:04

shipments did not usually handle at

34:06

LaGuardia, since Kennedy Airport is equipped

34:08

with special pens for animals in

34:10

transit. In

34:13

fact, the cops couldn't even prove the whole

34:15

thing ever happened. Quote, We

34:17

didn't take any pictures and we disposed of

34:19

the kangaroo in Flushing Bay, one cop said.

34:23

Anyway, the ASPCA called back at 7.30 a.m.

34:26

to check on the request for help, and

34:29

the Port Authority cops said, Never mind,

34:31

no help was needed after all. And

34:38

the last story for today I came across

34:40

while researching the Phantom pedicures that you heard

34:42

earlier in the podcast. This occurred about a

34:44

year later. It

34:46

appeared in the July 9th, 1981

34:48

edition of the Spokane Chronicle on

34:50

page three. The

34:53

headline reads, Cake Icer Puts

34:55

Frosting Over Women, Virginia Beach,

34:57

Virginia, United Press International. A

35:01

man police called the Phantom Cake

35:04

Icer apparently entered an unlocked apartment

35:06

and frosted a woman's face and

35:08

body with chocolate and vanilla icing.

35:12

Quote, She looked like

35:14

Al Jolson, Detective Lucien Collie said. She

35:16

was a mess. Her hair

35:18

was all matted and she'll have to take her

35:20

clothes to a cart wash to get them clean.

35:25

The woman's husband and five-year-old daughter slept

35:27

through the entire incident early Wednesday. Police

35:30

did not reveal the couple's name. Collie

35:34

said he found the frosting caper hard to believe until he talked

35:36

to both the husband and wife and

35:39

found two half-empty cans of frosting 20

35:41

feet from the apartment. The

35:45

woman told police the man uses hands to

35:47

smear canned chocolate frosting over her face and

35:50

blouse and vanilla icing over

35:52

her terrycloth shorts. He

35:56

allegedly told her that quote, She

35:58

Should have known this would happen if you leave your daughter alone. Doors

36:00

Unlocked Colleagues said. The.

36:02

Woman did not get a good look at

36:05

the intruder because her eyes were pieced it

36:07

shut with frosting. Call he said. Quote.

36:10

They. Don't know who was or what

36:12

the motive was. Collie said adding the

36:15

intruder if caught, would be charged with

36:17

burglary and assaults. As.

36:20

To tell you at hard time reading that

36:22

without bursting l I have things. So.

36:28

Early in the park has had asked you

36:30

about ranch dressing. Did you know where

36:32

and when it was first created? With.

36:35

The story of Ranch Dressing begins with

36:37

say your Nebraska Need of Steve Hansen

36:40

who moved to Alaska in Nineteen Forty

36:42

Nine. There

36:44

he became a successful plumbing contractor,

36:46

building some twenty five hundred houses

36:48

and earning quote more than he

36:51

ever thought possible. And

36:53

it's been said that he concocted a seem

36:55

to be famous salad dressing as a way

36:58

of keeping his workers happy. And

37:00

sad as the answer to the question. It

37:03

was first created in the state of

37:05

Alaska around nineteen fifty. Of

37:07

the exact year is unknown, So if

37:10

you said anything close to nineteen sixty,

37:12

give yourself credit. And

37:14

if he didn't get a steep part

37:16

of the question correct, don't worry about

37:19

it. You know why Alaska was in

37:21

a state Nineteen Fifties. It didn't become

37:23

a state officially until January third of

37:25

Nineteen Fifty Nine. Said.

37:28

Says with the name ranch come from. The

37:32

nineteen fifties for Stephen his wife Gail

37:34

purchase a one hundred and twenty acre

37:36

ramshackle piece of property known as the

37:38

Skeet. What a Lance. Is

37:40

located in the San Marcos Pass

37:42

in San Marcos County of California.

37:45

Didn't like the name so they renamed

37:47

it the Hidden Valley Ranch and it

37:50

was part dude ranch, part motel and

37:52

of course part restaurant. And.

37:54

each and every stick with the cook there

37:56

was cover with steve stressing which people just

37:59

love so they wanted to purchase some and take

38:01

it home with them. Now

38:04

remember that Steve initially created the dressing

38:06

recipe while in Alaska, and of course,

38:08

obtaining fresh ingredients there was a challenge.

38:11

So his formulation primarily relied on

38:14

dry ingredients to which buttermilk and

38:16

mayonnaise were later added. And

38:19

this worked to Steve's advantage. This

38:22

innovative approach allowed Steve to conveniently

38:24

provide customers with jars of dry

38:26

ingredients that they could take home.

38:29

And then soon after that, the Henson's

38:31

adopted the practice of packaging these dry

38:33

ingredients in envelopes, which simplified

38:35

mailing and then enabled nationwide

38:38

distribution. Those

38:40

packages first hit store shelves in 1957.

38:45

Without a doubt, by the late 1950s,

38:48

the Henson's had a certified sensation on

38:50

their hands. By

38:52

the mid 1960s, the decision was made

38:54

to close the guest ranch and focus

38:57

solely on the manufacture of Hidden Valley

38:59

Ranch dressing. And

39:01

having outgrown the buildings at the ranch, the

39:03

manufacturing was moved to a factory elsewhere. In

39:07

the business, it just continued to grow and

39:10

grow until it was sold to Clorox for

39:12

$8 million in October of That's

39:16

more than $58 million today. And

39:21

Clorox did tweak the recipe. The

39:23

first thing they did was to add dry buttermilk

39:25

flavoring to the seasoning packets. That

39:28

meant the consumers only had to add milk,

39:30

you know, regular milk, not buttermilk, to mix

39:32

up a batch. And

39:35

then in 1983, Clorox introduced a

39:37

bottled version of Hidden Valley Ranch,

39:39

and it didn't require refrigeration. That

39:42

meant it could go right up on the store

39:44

shelves with all the other salad dressings. But

39:48

what really made ranch dressing so pop, that

39:50

was the introduction of Cool Ranch Doritos in

39:53

1986. This

39:55

master stroke of marketing had opened the door

39:57

to ranch dressing being used in the house.

40:00

only on salads, but also

40:02

to dip for chips and chicken wings.

40:04

It can be drizzled on pizza, sprinkled

40:06

on popcorn, mixed into cake batter, and

40:09

so much more. That's

40:12

why ranch dressing is so popular. It

40:14

seems to be in everything. I

40:20

hope you enjoyed the stories that I selected for

40:22

today's retro cast. The Liberty

40:24

holiday has gotten me a bit off my

40:26

usual schedule, but be assured that I'll be

40:28

back in a couple of weeks with a

40:30

full-length story. And the one

40:32

that I'm currently researching I think is very,

40:34

very good, but I'll keep

40:37

in suspense as to what it's about

40:39

until then. Just

40:41

a general reminder, if you found this

40:43

episode or the podcast as a whole

40:45

enjoyable, I'd greatly appreciate if you could

40:47

share it with someone. Whether that's through

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Reddit, Facebook, X, that's the platform formerly

40:51

known as Twitter, or any

40:53

other method you believe will expand my

40:55

audience. Please note that

40:57

anything you can do to help spread

41:00

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41:03

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forget to hit that subscribe button. Useless

41:11

Information Podcast is part of the

41:14

Airwave Media Podcast Network, so

41:16

be sure to visit airwavemedia.com where you'll find

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podcasts, not only in history,

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but also in science, wellness, education,

41:25

and the arts. Anyways,

41:28

as always, thanks for listening and take care

41:30

everyone. Bye. Hello

41:35

everyone. My name is Wesley Levisay from the

41:37

History of the Second World War podcast. Join

41:40

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41:42

destructive conflict in human history, a journey

41:44

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42:01

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