0:00

You're listening to an Airwave Media

0:03

Podcast.

0:06

On November 10th, Brie Larson and Samuel

0:08

L. Jackson reunite on the big screen as Captain

0:11

Marvel and Nick Fury to assemble the MCU's

0:13

next team, the Marvels. After

0:16

Captain Marvel gets her powers entangled with teenage

0:18

superhero Ms. Marvel and Captain Monica Rambeau,

0:21

the three heroes will learn teaming up changes

0:23

everything. Don't miss Captain Marvel's

0:25

return November 10th in the Marvels, only

0:28

in theaters. And don't miss the PG-13. Get

0:30

your tickets now.

0:34

Welcome to From Beneath the Hollywood Sign.

0:37

If you love old movies, Hollywood history, or

0:39

the golden age of filmmaking, you've come to

0:41

the right place. This is the podcast that talks

0:43

about amazing stories of Tinseltown from

0:45

another era and fascinating conversations

0:47

with writer-producer Steve Kubine and actress-writer

0:50

Nan McNamara.

0:51

So Steve, did Ava Gardner and

0:53

Howard Hughes have a good relationship?

0:55

Well, they did until he dislocated her

0:57

jaw. What? Don't worry, she hit him

0:59

back with an ashtray. From Beneath the Hollywood

1:01

Sign is the gin joint for you.

1:06

Today on the Useless Information Retrocast,

1:09

you'll hear the totally true stories of a Marine

1:11

whose feet were so big that

1:13

he was forced to walk barefoot while fighting

1:16

in the South Pacific during World War II.

1:19

And then there is the story of a high school vice principal

1:21

who was so disgusted by some of the images

1:24

in the school's sex ed textbook

1:26

that he took a pair of scissors to cut the

1:29

pictures out of every single book.

1:32

Or at least that's what he thought he had done. Or

1:34

how about a sleepwalking man who walked off

1:36

the roof of a building only to be found

1:39

sound asleep on the lawn the following

1:41

morning?

1:42

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

1:45

retro sponsor, and so much more, they're

1:47

coming up next on today's edition of the Useless

1:50

Information Retrocast.

1:52

I am Steve Solman and this is the Useless

1:54

Information Podcast.

1:58

Useless Information Hi

2:04

everyone, I hope all is going well, and

2:07

if you're new here, welcome aboard! Today,

2:10

I'm thrilled to present a fantastic

2:13

retro cast, and for those of you who are

2:15

unfamiliar with the podcast, these are

2:17

some of the shortest stories that I come across through

2:19

my research for the full length stories

2:21

that I typically tell. Well

2:24

without further ado, let's dive right

2:26

into today's collection of stories. And

2:30

we'll begin with a front page story that appeared in

2:32

the April 25, 1938 edition of the

2:34

Boston Globe. It

2:37

revealed that single women who worked for Boston

2:39

Edison, aka the Electric Company,

2:41

they were in a race to get married.

2:46

Under a new company directive, any female employee

2:48

who got married after April 30, 1938 was

2:52

required to submit their resignation to their

2:54

supervisors within 30 days of their wedding

2:57

day. So in response

2:59

to this policy, at least 17 women opted

3:02

to accelerate their wedding plans to secure

3:04

their employment. The

3:07

rush to get married not only led to hurried weddings,

3:10

but also hastily organized bridal showers,

3:13

bachelor parties, and other celebrations.

3:16

Meanwhile, fellow employees were reportedly

3:18

going broke having to purchase so many wedding

3:20

gifts in such a short period of time. So

3:25

just who would take the place of any woman who married

3:27

after April 30? Well married

3:30

men of course, and in situations

3:32

where no married men were available, well

3:35

then a single woman could be hired to fill

3:37

the position. It

3:39

wouldn't be until 1972 with the

3:41

passage of the Massachusetts Maternity Leave

3:44

Act that it became illegal within

3:46

the state to force women to resign from their

3:48

jobs once they were married. This

3:51

law prohibited employers from terminating

3:53

or otherwise discriminating against female

3:55

employees because they were pregnant,

3:58

married, or planning to become pregnant.

4:04

Beginning on March 3rd of 1944, newspapers

4:07

across the United States began to follow

4:09

the unique story of Marine Private First

4:12

Class Lawrence Irving Hanson,

4:14

who was a 19-year-old who hailed

4:16

from the small town of Rigby, Idaho. What

4:20

set this Marine apart was this astonishing shoe

4:23

size. It was 15EE,

4:26

and this was significantly larger than

4:28

the largest size stock by the Marines,

4:31

which topped out at 12.5F. So

4:35

given the unusual circumstance, he was given

4:37

a choice that most men didn't have.

4:40

He could opt to remain stateside, you know, far

4:42

from the front lines of the ongoing World War.

4:47

Undeterred by the challenge of his outsized feet,

4:49

Hanson chose an unconventional

4:51

path. He purchased

4:53

three pairs of 15EE shoes at

4:56

his own expense, and he boldly

4:58

set off for overseas duty. His

5:01

determination was admirable, but

5:03

as we'll soon discover, these extra-large

5:05

shoes would prove to be both a blessing and

5:08

a burden. But

5:11

Hanson was no ordinary Marine. Standing

5:14

an impressive 6'4", that's 193cm, he was a standout

5:16

athlete during his high school

5:20

days in Rigby, excelling in football

5:23

weights and track, and at the time of the story,

5:25

he still held the district's shot put record.

5:30

His determination to serve his country was unwavering.

5:34

In places like Loyola Canal and the Gilbert Islands,

5:36

he wore those 15EE shoes proudly, even

5:39

when the situation became so dire

5:41

that he resorted to going barefoot on Tarawa

5:44

to save his last pair for emergencies.

5:49

By the time April 8th of 1944 rolled

5:51

around, the story of Schulze Hanson

5:53

appeared to be taking a turn for the better.

5:57

News arrived at the elusive 15EE shoe.

6:00

that he needed had been located. A Pocatello

6:04

Idaho shoe company stepped forward ordering a

6:06

custom-made pair of shoes tailored to Hanson's

6:08

extraordinary size and then

6:11

they turned them over to the local marine recruiting

6:13

office for shipment. This

6:16

is welcome news but the next obstacle was a

6:18

perplexing one. You know how to transport

6:21

those shoes to Hanson in the distant South

6:23

Pacific. That's

6:25

because the post office declined the shipment of

6:27

the oversized shoes citing their

6:29

considerable weight as a barrier

6:32

to overseas delivery. This

6:35

decision left citizens disheartened and several

6:37

of them took it upon themselves to voice their displeasure

6:40

through sharply worded letters. For

6:43

example, Frank Romalt of Detroit, Michigan wrote

6:45

quote, for bleep and say cut

6:48

the red tape and see that he gets the shoes as quickly

6:50

as possible. This item makes my blood

6:52

boil. But

6:55

sometimes one must think out of the box, in this case

6:57

a shoe box, to come up with a unique

6:59

solution. It was Miss

7:01

Mary V. Markle of Beechwood, New York who suggested

7:04

quote, did you ever think of sending

7:06

each shoe in a separate parcel? Hoping

7:09

my ideal work so marine private first-class

7:11

Lawrence I. Hanson gets so shoesy

7:13

so he can kick a jappy or two

7:15

for me.

7:16

Unquote.

7:19

On April 20th of 1944 a

7:21

breakthrough occurred when the post office reconsidered

7:23

its earlier decision and accepted

7:26

the shoes as quote, military

7:28

equipment unquote. This

7:31

marked a turning point and it paved the way for those

7:33

crucial shoes to reach Hanson in

7:35

the South Pacific. It

7:38

fell upon marine recruiter Sergeant Wallace Hanson,

7:40

the relation to manage the

7:42

logistics of getting the shoes from Idaho

7:45

to Hanson. He

7:47

acknowledged that it was quote, no small task

7:50

but his dedication was unwavering declaring

7:52

quote, but I do as much for any fellow

7:54

marine. Unquote. So

7:57

did you ever get the shoes? I honestly don't

7:59

know.

7:59

That's

8:01

because the press dropped the story shortly after

8:03

the post office agreed to ship them. But

8:06

I can tell you that after the war, Hanson returned

8:09

home and married Lois Burke on May 11, 1945.

8:13

Unfortunately they were divorced less than eight

8:15

months later on January 4, 1946. He

8:20

then married Bonnie Jean Larson on November 26, 1947.

8:25

The couple had five children and remained married

8:27

until his death on April 17, 2003. Hanson

8:32

was 79 years old.

8:38

In light of the recent headlines about book bands,

8:40

I've playfully quipped that I'd love for one of my

8:42

books to be banned. And

8:44

it's not because it's anything objectionable in any

8:47

of the three volumes I've written, it's

8:49

simply because banned books tend to see

8:51

a surge in sales. However

8:55

there is an alternative approach. You

8:57

could simply take a pair of scissors and cut the

8:59

offensive portions of a book out. And

9:03

that's exactly what Vice Principal Edward R.

9:05

Fisco did at Dumont High School in Dumont,

9:07

New Jersey back in 1977. The

9:12

book in question was titled Masculinity

9:14

and Femininity and was published by

9:16

the Houghton Mifflin Company. The

9:19

school had purchased 50 copies of the softcover

9:22

book for use in the school's family living class.

9:25

And this course encompassed subjects like reproduction,

9:28

birth control, family planning and venereal disease

9:31

and it was mandatory for all 300 senior

9:34

students at the school. The

9:36

way it worked was that the senior classes divided

9:39

into quarters with one quarter taking

9:41

the class every 10 weeks while

9:43

the rest continued with their gym classes.

9:47

Fisco claimed that during the previous school year

9:49

he had found several defaced copies of the

9:51

book. Furthermore a

9:54

student had torn an image from a reference copy

9:56

of the book, scribbled lewd remarks on

9:58

it and then pasted it to a locker.

10:02

Well, his solution was quite simple. He

10:04

cut the six images that he deemed offensive

10:06

from all of the books. Then,

10:09

each one was marked with his initials, that's E.R.F.,

10:12

and the year which was 1977.

10:15

And while the pictures were gone, Fisko

10:18

did leave the captions intact. For

10:20

example, one red quote, scrubbed

10:23

gound and gloved, the obstetrician guides the

10:25

baby's head out of its mother. One

10:27

of the arms has already emerged." It

10:32

wouldn't be until October 30, 1978 that

10:35

School Superintendent David Dervitz would

10:37

learn of what Fisko had done. He told

10:40

a reporter, quote, The philosophy

10:42

of the Board of Education is if you have to do all that,

10:44

you shouldn't be using the book at all. He

10:47

added, It could be that these are not

10:49

the books that should have been used in the course. If

10:52

he did not feel that the books were applicable at this

10:54

particular level, they should have not been purchased

10:57

in the first place, unquote. Fisko

11:01

claimed that he edited out the questionable images

11:03

because, quote, They were not the kind of pictures

11:05

I wanted high school students to look at. There

11:08

were snapshots of male and female organs which

11:10

I felt were too explicit. We

11:13

have slides with the same thing, but the slides

11:15

are locked up. In

11:18

addition, he expressed fear that the older students

11:20

would take the books home and show the pictures

11:22

to their younger sisters and brothers, quote,

11:26

Perhaps if I did not have two little girls at home, I would

11:28

not have done it. If it was a mistake,

11:30

it was human error, but it was done from

11:32

an emotional standpoint, unquote.

11:36

In editorial in the November 7th edition of

11:38

the Bergen's record, newspapers said, in part,

11:41

quote, Mr. Fisko's

11:43

censorship shows him to be pathetically out

11:45

of touch with his students. It

11:47

continues. We sympathize with

11:49

the school board members who must now try to resolve

11:51

this truly incredible episode. We

11:54

would ask them before they decide on a course of action

11:57

to consider two questions.

11:59

What would they do if the person who cut the pictures out

12:02

of the textbooks had been a student rather than

12:04

an administrator? How

12:06

would they act if the excised material were

12:08

not pictures of the human anatomy, but

12:10

the Second Amendment to the Constitution,

12:13

the right to bear arms, scissored out

12:15

of a history textbook by a teacher who

12:17

was personally committed to gun control

12:19

laws? The

12:22

whole issue would be resolved at the November 9th meeting

12:24

of the Board of Education. It

12:27

was learned that Fisco had only taken a scissor

12:29

to 28 of the books, not the 50 as originally

12:32

thought. He then told the board

12:34

that he was willing to pay for new copies of the

12:36

book, an offer that the board did accept.

12:41

The cost for each book was $3.90, which would set

12:43

Fisco back for a total of $109.20. That's

12:50

about $500 today adjusted for inflation. Board

12:53

President John J. Eskel then stated, quote,

12:56

for the board, the issue is closed.

13:00

Now if you're curious about the book and the images that Fisco

13:02

cut out, there is a copy that can be viewed

13:05

online for free on the Internet Archive

13:07

website at archive.org. Again,

13:11

the title was Masculinity and Femininity, and

13:13

it was written by Miller, Rosenberg, and Stokowski

13:17

with a copyright date of 1971. My

13:21

overall impression of the book was that it was quite tame

13:24

by today's standards. I mean, just

13:26

think about the images that kids have ready access

13:29

today on their phones. I

13:32

had a tough time identifying the six images that

13:34

Fisco cut out. Three were definitely

13:36

of male and female genitalia, but

13:39

they were actually detailed drawings, not

13:41

photos. The image

13:43

depicting a newborn's birth, which I had previously

13:45

read the caption for, that one was

13:48

a genuine photograph. But I have

13:50

to tell you, it offered little more than a view of the baby's

13:52

head cradled in the doctor's hands.

13:55

So here's

13:59

a question for you.

14:01

If you live in the United States, you're probably very

14:03

familiar with Girl Scout cookies. Every

14:05

year, girls all across the country sell boxes

14:07

of cookies to raise money for their local troop.

14:10

My personal favorite is a Thin Mints,

14:13

which also happens to be their best seller.

14:16

In order, samosas, tagalongs, dosey-dos,

14:19

and lemon-ups round out the top five.

14:21

I'll eat any of them, honestly. But

14:24

do you know when the Girl Scouts first started

14:26

selling cookies as a fundraiser? Of

14:29

course it started with just one troop selling homemade

14:31

cookies, and it spread from there. But

14:34

did you know the first year that they did

14:36

so? Well, I'll let

14:39

you think about that for a bit, and I'll let you know the answer

14:41

at the end of this podcast.

14:46

At Kroger, we know the minute a tomato

14:48

is picked off the vine, the fresh timer starts.

14:51

The sooner we get our produce to you, the fresher it is.

14:53

That's why we've completely overhauled our process

14:56

to shorten the time from harvest to

14:58

home for our tomatoes, strawberries,

15:00

and salads. Because we know how much you love

15:03

fresh produce, we give you more time

15:05

to enjoy your tasty fruits and veggies at

15:07

home. So whether you're shopping in-store, picking

15:09

up, or prefer delivery, we're committed

15:11

to bringing you the freshest produce possible.

15:14

Kroger, fresh for everyone.

15:17

Ironized yeast presents, Lights

15:21

Out, Everybody.

15:48

Lights Out brings you stories of the supernatural

15:51

and the supernormal, dramatizing

15:53

the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown.

15:57

We tell you this, frankly, so if you wish to

15:59

avoid it, we'll be back. the excitement and tension

16:01

of these imaginative plays, we

16:03

heard you calmly and sincerely

16:06

to turn off your radio

16:09

now. This

16:14

is Arch Obeler. Tonight

16:16

a strange story about ordinary

16:19

people. Two girls just like you

16:21

or your daughter or the girl who works

16:23

next to you in the office. At first,

16:26

Frank Wilkins. Worried because you're

16:28

underweight and frazzled out? Miserable

16:31

because you lack the pep and strength and energy

16:33

you need these busy days? Well, cheer

16:36

up. Very possibly you simply

16:38

need more vitamin B1 and iron

16:40

than you're getting from your food. And

16:43

pleasant little ironized yeast tablets

16:45

supply both of these vital substances.

16:48

They've been of amazing benefit to thousands

16:50

with these deficiencies. Gains of

16:52

glorious new pep and strength and

16:54

needed pounds within just a few short

16:56

weeks are nothing unusual. That's

16:59

right. Ironized yeast

17:02

tablets.

17:04

And now, lights

17:07

out everything. I've

17:16

always

17:16

loved that mood-setting lights-out introduction, so I thought you might be interested

17:20

in hearing it for yourself. This

17:23

particular episode was titled Little Old Lady

17:25

and was broadcast on May 25th of 1943. The series

17:27

was created by writer-director Willis

17:30

Cooper, who

17:33

would later go on to pen the classic Boris

17:36

Karloff movie Son of Frankenstein

17:38

in 1939. Lights

17:41

Out first went on the air on January 1st of 1934 on

17:45

a local Chicago station and

17:47

quickly became the premier horror

17:49

radio program of its day. It

17:52

was one of the first programs to incorporate realistic

17:54

sound effects. So here's a brief,

17:57

and I must admit a little bit gruesome summary

17:59

from the site old time radio downloads.

18:03

Adhesive tape stuck together and pulled apart simulated

18:06

the sound of a man or woman's skin being

18:08

ripped off. Pulling the leg

18:10

off a frozen chicken gave the illusion of an

18:12

arm being torn out of its socket. A

18:15

raw egg dropped on a plate stood in for an eye

18:17

being gouged, poured corn syrup for flowing

18:20

blood, clevered cabbage and cantaloupes

18:22

for beheadings, snapped pencils and

18:24

spare ribs for broken fingers and

18:26

bones. The sound of a hand

18:28

crushed, a lemon laid on an anvil,

18:31

smashed with a hammer. All

18:34

I can say is, ouch! Times

18:38

were very different back then as the short

18:40

advertisement for Iron Icede makes clear.

18:43

Today, people sell all kinds of pills,

18:46

dietary programs and gimmicks to lose weight.

18:49

One of Iron Icede's main selling points is

18:51

that it helped one put on weight. Clearly,

18:54

what was considered to be a healthy body back then

18:56

is very different from what people strive

18:59

toward today. But

19:01

you do need to keep in mind that this is at the tail

19:03

end of the Great Depression and food

19:06

was in short supply. So

19:08

selling someone on the idea that they could just pop a pill in

19:10

their mouth and easily gain weight back then is

19:13

really not much different from those who have sold weight

19:15

loss pills in recent years. Let

19:19

me just read you a portion of a print ad that the

19:21

company ran in the September 1937 publication

19:25

of Radio Stars magazine. Quote,

19:30

Thousands gained 10 to 25 pounds

19:32

quick with new Iron Icede yeast tablets.

19:36

Why be ashamed to be seen because of a skinny scrawny

19:38

figure? Thousands

19:40

of girls have put on 10 to 25 pounds of solid

19:43

flesh in a few weeks with these amazing

19:45

little Iron Icede yeast tablets. No

19:48

matter how thin and run down you may be, you

19:51

may easily gain normal attractive curves

19:53

this quick way. Also naturally

19:56

clear skin, new pep and all

19:58

the new friends and good times they do. bring."

20:03

And it goes on from there but there was also

20:05

a comic that accompanied the text and

20:08

it followed along the same lines as those old

20:10

Charles Atlas 98 pound weakling ads

20:13

except in this case it was aimed at women.

20:16

So let me set the scene. You have two women in the

20:18

bedroom and they're talking about their upcoming vacation.

20:24

Just think Helen only a few more weeks and

20:26

we'll be off on our Bermuda cruise. Aren't

20:28

you thrilled that Dick's coming along too?

20:32

Of course you can bet that Helen is not thrilled.

20:34

She replies quote, oh Anne I'm

20:37

sorry I'm going Dick's never seen me in a bathing

20:39

suit and I'm so skinny. And

20:41

of course Anne has

20:43

the perfect solution to Helen's problem.

20:46

And don't you worry Helen just start taking ionized

20:49

yeast right away. It built me

20:51

up in no time. I should

20:54

point out that the comic shows a voluptuous

20:57

Anne in her undergarments and a nearly anorexic

20:59

Helen to emphasize the point. The

21:03

final paint shows hunk Dick and Helen

21:06

now with the perfect figure and in a bathing

21:08

suit at the beach a few weeks later.

21:11

He says quote, Helen you've been holding

21:13

out on me. I never knew you had such a gorgeous

21:16

figure. She then slugged

21:18

him. No different times. Instead

21:21

she just smiles and thinks to herself thanks

21:24

to ionized yeast. So

21:28

did ionized yeast really work? You

21:30

could say there certainly was some benefit from the B vitamins

21:33

and the yeast and the added iron but

21:35

I'd say it's doubtful that it lived up to the claims

21:38

of the manufacturer. You

21:40

know even if it did give one a bit of an energy

21:42

boost and it helped put on a bit of weight there

21:45

are definitely easier ways to do that today.

21:48

That's because many of our foods are loaded

21:50

with vitamins and minerals plus as

21:52

a whole we eat foods that are way

21:55

too fattening. You're

21:57

curious the last listing that I could find

21:59

for a store selling ionized yeast was

22:01

from 1984. And

22:07

now we're up to the section that I've been calling footnotes

22:09

to history. And these are the short

22:12

tidbits I come across that typically require

22:14

no further research, so I'm

22:16

just going to read them word for word. And

22:19

our first story appeared on page 29 of the

22:21

Hartford Courant on March 20th of 1927. The

22:26

headline reads, Children play under ultraviolet

22:28

ray sun, Paris, March 19th,

22:31

Associated Press. An

22:34

ultraviolet ray sun that has never clouded

22:36

shines on an artificial sand beach in

22:38

a basement of Paris. Children

22:41

wearing only a pair of trunks and smoke glasses

22:44

play there on their way to health. This

22:47

city sea beach is a part of the Institute of Actonology,

22:50

a clinic fighting tuberculosis.

22:54

Edward Herat, Minister of Public Instruction,

22:56

dedicated the beach at a little ceremony

22:59

while the young patients played in the sand. The

23:02

beach is 40 feet square with the walls covered

23:04

with bright aluminum for reflection and

23:07

the blinding mercury lamps above.

23:10

What I'll add to this is that Niels-Reiberg-Finson

23:12

discovered that ultraviolet light can treat

23:15

tuberculosis lesions of the skin in

23:17

a process known as phototherapy, and

23:19

for that he was awarded the 1903 Nobel

23:22

Prize in Medicine. But

23:24

I can't help but wonder how many of these children

23:26

who had their tuberculosis treated this way would

23:29

go on to develop skin cancer later in

23:31

life. And

23:36

our next story is published on August 24th

23:38

of 1930 in the Brooklyn Daily

23:40

Times on page 2. The

23:44

headline reads, Sleepwalker Falls Two

23:46

Floors Sleeps On. New

23:49

Haven, Connecticut, August 23rd. the

24:00

Coleman convalescent home. While

24:03

sleepwalking last night, Bartholomew stepped

24:05

over the edge of the second story roof.

24:08

He was found sleeping peacefully on the lawn

24:11

this morning. He expressed surprise

24:13

at his position when he awakened. Bartholomew

24:16

was taken to Grace Hospital where his only injury

24:19

was found to be a bruised leg.

24:25

This third story appeared on page 12

24:27

of the May 18, 1944 publication of the Redwood City Tribune.

24:32

The headline reads, Warjitters,

24:35

Pasadena. Six

24:38

radio police cars and as many motorcycle

24:40

patrolmen sped away to capture

24:42

Irving Porky Wade,

24:44

16-year-old high school youth who was delivering,

24:47

what do you think, drugs, alcohol, nope,

24:50

eggs. Surrounded,

24:52

the youth stoutly protested to the officers. Look,

24:55

my nickname is Porky, Porky Wade,

24:57

see? Even

24:59

so, the police suggested it would be well if he paint

25:02

out the initials PW stenciled

25:04

on the back of his jacket because

25:07

someone thought he was an escaped prisoner

25:09

of war. Next

25:14

up we have a story from the December 26, 1957 edition of the

25:16

Evening Vanguard. This

25:20

appeared on page 17. The

25:24

poem reads, Winner gets word of free Hawaii

25:26

trip in Hawaii. Sometime

25:30

this week a telegram will be forwarded to Helen

25:32

Thortel, a Venice resident who is

25:34

now fulfilling a lifelong dream by spending

25:36

a vacation in Hawaii. It

25:39

will probably read, quote, Congratulations,

25:42

you've just won a free trip to Hawaii. Come

25:45

home at once so you can leave. Sometime

25:49

this week a telegram will be forwarded to Helen Thortel,

25:52

a description of the trip to Hawaii. It will probably read, sailed

26:00

to the island at her own expense earlier

26:03

in the month. Mr.

26:06

Tail had longed for a Hawaiian vacation

26:08

all her life so when she came into some unexpected

26:10

money left to her by her brother when

26:12

he died last month, she apparently

26:15

figured this was her chance of a lifetime.

26:18

She invested the cash in a plane ticket

26:20

to Hawaii. It

26:23

took Ray Johnson, who represented the Mar Vista

26:25

merchants, three days of telephone and legwork

26:27

to learn her whereabouts and it

26:30

wasn't until he stopped in a Mr. Tail's neighborhood

26:32

beauty salon that he learned the ironic

26:34

news. Because

26:37

Mr. Tail secured her winning ticket for a Mar Vista

26:39

market, that store's owner and manager

26:42

also received a trip for two to Hawaii.

26:45

The prizes along with scores of others were awarded

26:48

at a drawing held last Friday. It

26:50

climaxes a contest which was conducted

26:52

in the stores throughout Mar Vista. In

26:58

her last review today is from the December 19, 1979 publication of

27:00

The Argus Leader and the

27:03

story appeared on page 14. I

27:06

should mention that The Argus Leader is in Sioux

27:08

Falls, South Dakota. The

27:11

headline reads, Dresses Come 63 Years

27:13

Late by Mary Jo Howe, Argus

27:15

Leader's Staff Writer. 63 years

27:19

ago Matilda Hermanson ordered two frilly Easter

27:21

dresses for her daughter and two dresses

27:23

for herself from the Sears Robob catalog.

27:27

They arrived a month ago. The

27:30

four dresses still wrapped in the original packaging

27:33

with sales ticket and spring sale catalog

27:35

intact were found in the Sherman

27:37

Depot, Sherman, South Dakota as

27:39

it was torn down last fall. The

27:43

package found its way to an antique shop where

27:45

a friend of the Hermanson spotted it. Three

27:48

weeks ago it finally found its way into the hands

27:50

of Virginia Hermanson, daughter-in-law of

27:53

the woman who ordered the dresses. She

27:55

still lives in the Hermanson homestead west

27:57

of Garretson, South Dakota.

28:01

We don't know for sure when the dresses were ordered,

28:04

the daughter-in-law said, but since

28:06

the sale catalog said the credit is good through 1917, they

28:10

must have been ordered about Easter None

28:15

of Mrs. Herman's and daughters could remember their

28:17

mother ordering a package that never arrived,

28:20

but it brought back memories from Mrs. Agnes

28:22

Fugelsby and Mrs. Judith Nelson

28:24

Garretson and Mrs. Elsa

28:26

Songstead Sioux Falls who planned

28:29

to keep the package in the family. Mrs.

28:33

Fugelsby, who was 16 in 1916,

28:36

remembers that she wrote most of the catalog

28:38

orders for the family because she had excellent

28:41

penmanship. She also

28:43

solved the mystery of who the little girl dresses were

28:46

for as none of the living sisters

28:48

could have been the right size. Unknown

28:51

to the others, they had another sister.

28:54

Effie, who would have been three years old at the time, died

28:56

that year. The

28:59

dresses were probably ordered for Easter, the daughter-in-law

29:01

said. One of the little girl

29:03

dresses is pink with short sleeves, a low-waisted

29:06

pleated skirt, and white embroidery.

29:09

The other is a lacy white voil with

29:12

pink ribbons. According

29:14

to the sale catalog that came in the package, the

29:17

dresses probably cost between one and

29:19

two dollars. The

29:22

dresses for the mother include a fancy black

29:24

organ de-dress with a black petticoat and

29:27

a gold and white sailor-style dress

29:29

with 25 buttons wrapped from

29:31

the neck to the waist. According

29:34

to the catalog, the dresses cost close to

29:36

four dollars. That's

29:38

about a hundred and ten dollars today, so it clearly

29:41

wasn't a cheap dress.

29:43

Quote,

29:45

I suppose the dresses are quite valuable now,

29:47

but we wouldn't sell them, the daughter-in-law said.

29:49

Their sentimental value is so much more.

29:52

some

30:00

movies. Earlier

30:26

in the podcast I'd asked you about Girl Scout cookies.

30:30

Were you able to figure out when the first cookies were sold?

30:32

And you don't need an exact date. Do you think you're

30:34

close? Let's find out. Well

30:38

it turns out that they first started selling Girl Scout

30:40

cookies back in 1917. That's

30:44

five years after Julia Gordon-Lowe established

30:47

the Girl Scouts in the United States. It

30:50

was the mistletoe troop which was located

30:52

in Muscogee, Oklahoma who baked

30:55

the cookies in their own homes and then sold them in their

30:57

high school cafeteria and this is done

30:59

in an effort to raise money for their troops'

31:02

various activities. Then

31:05

in July of 1922, the Girl Scout magazine

31:08

The American Girl, it ran an article

31:10

by Florence E. Neal who was a

31:12

local director from Chicago, Illinois.

31:16

In this article Neal included a recipe that could

31:18

make between six and seven dozen cookies.

31:22

He estimated that the entire batch would cost

31:24

each Girl Scout between 25 and 30 cents. That's

31:28

between $4.58 and $5.50 today. Neal

31:34

instructed that the cookies should be placed in wax

31:37

bags provided by the local troop headquarters

31:39

and then sealed with stickers that had the Girl

31:41

Scout logo on them. She

31:44

recommended that the cookies be sold at two

31:46

for five cents, that's about 92 cents today

31:50

or in half dozen batches for 12 to 15

31:53

cents or one could get a full

31:55

dozen for the same 25 to 30 cents

31:58

that it cost to make the entire batch. batch

32:00

of cookies. From

32:03

the money raised on each batch, each scout

32:05

will be reimbursed for the cost of making the cookies,

32:08

then one dollar would go to the local headquarters

32:11

and the balance, whatever is left over,

32:13

would go to the local troop treasury. Neal

32:16

wrote that if each of the 2,000 Cook County

32:19

Girl Scouts baked and sold one batch

32:21

per month, $24,000 worth of cookies

32:23

would be sold each

32:26

year. That's nearly $440,000 today. It

32:32

wouldn't be until 1936 that the Girl

32:34

Scouts began standardizing their cookies and had

32:37

their first licensed baker make

32:39

them. My favorites

32:41

of Thin Mints weren't introduced until three years

32:43

later, and they were originally called

32:45

Cookie Mints. The name

32:48

was then changed numerous times after that.

32:50

In order, they were Chocolate Mint, then Thin

32:53

Mints, then Cookie Mint, then Chocolate Mint, then

32:55

Thin Mints, then Thin Mint,

32:58

and finally back to what I've known

33:00

my entire life, Thin Mints.

33:04

And as much as I'd love to have a Thin Mint cookie

33:06

right now, I can tell you nothing can beat

33:08

a tasty homemade cookie that comes fresh

33:10

out of the oven. So get your paper

33:13

and pencil ready because here is Florence

33:15

Neal's original Girl Scout cookie recipe.

33:19

First, let's start with the ingredients. You need one

33:21

cup of butter or substitute. One

33:23

cup of sugar, two tablespoons

33:25

of milk, two eggs, one teaspoon

33:28

of vanilla, two cups of flour, and

33:30

two teaspoons of baking powder. As

33:34

for the cooking directions, it states, cream

33:36

butter and sugar, add well-beaten eggs,

33:39

then milk, flavoring flour, and

33:41

baking powder. Roll thin

33:43

and bake in a quick oven. Sprinkle

33:46

sugar on the top. In other words,

33:48

these were sugar cookies. Anyway,

33:50

now that you have the recipe, start cooking!

33:57

Well, I hope you enjoyed the stories that I selected

33:59

for today's retro.

34:01

I just want to tell you that the next full-length story

34:03

may be delayed a bit, and that's because I'm giving

34:05

a talk on Thursday at Hudson Valley Community

34:08

College, which is right down the road

34:10

from me. I'm still not

34:12

sure which stories I'm going to be presenting there, and

34:14

I'm scheduled to talk for two hours, so I

34:16

have a lot of prep to do between

34:18

now and then. Now,

34:20

my plan was to announce that I was giving this talk on

34:23

the podcast a couple of episodes ago,

34:25

but they sold out all 32 seats within

34:28

a couple of hours, which basically meant there

34:30

was nothing left for me to announce. But

34:33

I did agree a few days ago to do another talk

34:36

on Friday, March 24th of next

34:38

year. Hard to believe it's going to

34:41

be 2024 already, but I was

34:43

told that that date could change, so just

34:45

pencil it in on your calendar if you're interested. And

34:48

that definitely won't be a repeat performance. I'm going

34:50

to put together a whole different set of stories to

34:52

tell. While I've

34:55

opted not to accept payment for the talk, they

34:57

do charge a fee to attend. It was $12 this

35:00

past time, and that covers the cost

35:02

of the facility, their staff, and all the

35:04

catalogs they mail to everyone in the area.

35:09

Just a reminder that you can find the Useless Information

35:11

Podcast wherever you get your podcasts,

35:13

so be sure to subscribe. The

35:16

Useless Information Podcast is part of the

35:18

Airwave Media Podcast Network, so

35:21

be sure to visit airwavemedia.com,

35:23

where you will find a curated selection

35:25

of some of the best podcasts in not just

35:27

history, but also science, wellness,

35:30

education, and the arts. As

35:32

always, thanks for listening, and take care, everyone. Bye.

35:39

Are you interested in the parts of history

35:41

that remain a mystery? Do you

35:43

want to learn more about the historical myths

35:45

and misconceptions used to prop

35:47

up false belief today? I'm

35:50

Nathaniel Lloyd. In my podcast,

35:52

Historical Blindness, I delve into

35:54

all of these topics, sharing puzzling tales

35:57

from the past and examining hoaxes

35:59

in spite of them. conspiracy theories and misremembered

36:02

events that provide insight into

36:04

modern politics and religion. Find

36:07

out what's real and what's not when it

36:09

comes to famous conspiracy theories

36:12

like those surrounding notorious assassinations

36:15

and secret societies. Discover

36:17

the weak and deceptive underpinnings

36:20

of modern political ideologies and

36:22

religious beliefs. Join me

36:24

as I attempt to shed some light on

36:27

our historical blind spots. Do

36:29

episodes every two weeks. Find historical

36:31

blindness on most podcast players

36:34

and platforms.

36:36

What does Sputnik have to do with student loans?

36:39

How did a set of trembling hands end

36:42

the Soviet Union? How did inflation

36:44

kill moon bases? And how did a former

36:47

president decide to run for a second

36:49

nonconsecutive term? These

36:51

are among the topics we deal with on the My

36:53

History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast.

36:56

We tell stories of history that relate

36:58

to today's news events. Give a

37:00

listen. My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

37:03

wherever you get podcasts.