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They Might Be Giants · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
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  Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Prolific authors leave behind a great deal when they die,
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  Speaker 1: not just their completed works, but every piece of paper
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  Speaker 1: that ever touched their pens suddenly becomes valuable for their
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  Speaker 1: next of kin. Going through the notes and assembling a
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  Speaker 1: legacy for the deceased writer can be a lifelong duty.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen twelve, an irishwoman named Florence fell into this
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  Speaker 1: very situation. She became a widow at the age of
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  Speaker 1: fifty four, her husband succumbing to disease almost immediately. She
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  Speaker 1: had work to do, not just in arranging his funeral
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  Speaker 1: or comforting his bereaved friends, but she also had to
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  Speaker 1: manage his literary estate for work. Her husband, Abe, had
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  Speaker 1: been a theater manager for most of his life and
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  Speaker 1: the assistant to a famous stage actor, and while the
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  Speaker 1: short stories and books were well received, they'd never sold
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  Speaker 1: quite as well as he had hoped. Florence hoped in
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  Speaker 1: her own way that she could provide literary success for
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  Speaker 1: her husband in death that he had not achieved in life.
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  Speaker 1: So throughout the nineteen tens she edited together collections of
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  Speaker 1: his short stories and negotiated with publishers to keep his
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  Speaker 1: novels in print. They provided the same modest income that
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  Speaker 1: they always had, never quite enough. And then in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty two, ten years after her husband's death, she received
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  Speaker 1: a strange letter in the mail. The envelope contained a
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  Speaker 1: handbill advertising and upcoming motion picture screening in Berlin. It
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  Speaker 1: wasn't an invitation, she lived in London, after all, but
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  Speaker 1: looking at the handbill there was no denying that it
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  Speaker 1: was meant for her. Her emblazoned underneath the film's title
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  Speaker 1: was her husband's name. They had changed the title in
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  Speaker 1: many plot elements, but the film was undeniably based on
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  Speaker 1: the book that Abe had written twenty five years before,
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  Speaker 1: and Florence was insulted. Despite making a screen adaptation of
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  Speaker 1: her husband's work, the producers had not asked for her
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  Speaker 1: permission or made any effort to secure film rights for
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  Speaker 1: the material. Florence didn't have the money to hire a
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  Speaker 1: lawyer herself. But she couldn't let this sort of behavior stand.
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  Speaker 1: She contacted the British Incorporated Society of Authors, imploring them
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  Speaker 1: to sponsor a copyright lawsuit against the production company, Prana Film.
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  Speaker 1: They accepted and engaged a Berlin based lawyer to take
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  Speaker 1: on Florence's case. As you'd imagine, the case dragged on
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  Speaker 1: for years, but as it did, the offending film spread
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  Speaker 1: from country to country. The case rolled on for more
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  Speaker 1: years to come. Prana Film fought Florence every step of
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  Speaker 1: the way, but ultimately the court found the case in
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  Speaker 1: the widow's favor. There would be no payout. However, in
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  Speaker 1: the court of the lawsuit, Prana Film ran out of
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  Speaker 1: money and declared bankruptcy. They couldn't afford to pay Florence
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  Speaker 1: even if the court ordered them to, so she had
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  Speaker 1: to get justice some other way. In July of nineteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty five, at her own request, the court ordered the
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  Speaker 1: producers to destroy all copies of the film in circulation.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately for her, this order would be difficult to enforce.
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  Speaker 1: Each copy of the film was seven reels of thirty
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  Speaker 1: five millimeter film stock, and once they were sent abroad,
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  Speaker 1: tracking them down required a lot of legwork. The film
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  Speaker 1: had already played in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, and by
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  Speaker 1: the late nineteen twenties copies were already spreading to the
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  Speaker 1: United States and Great Britain. Ultimately, a great many copies
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  Speaker 1: of this offending film would be destroyed, but at least
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  Speaker 1: one print would survive, preserving the adaptation for one hundred
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  Speaker 1: years to come. You may have already guessed by now
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  Speaker 1: that the Florence of this story is Florence Balcom, who
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  Speaker 1: had become the wife of Brahms Stoker, author of Dracula.
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  Speaker 1: She managed his literary estate for the rest of his life.
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  Speaker 1: The motion picture that she tried so hard to destroy
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  Speaker 1: is Nosferatu, the silent film that today is considered a
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  Speaker 1: landmark in the history of horror cinema. In a strange way,
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  Speaker 1: the result of Florence's Stoker lawsuit is a historical compromise.
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  Speaker 1: The producers of Nosferatu never made a profit from her
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  Speaker 1: husband's work, yet the groundbreaking art that resulted from their
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  Speaker 1: copyright infringement survived to the present day. The value of
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  Speaker 1: a work of art is greater than the amount of
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  Speaker 1: profit it makes in its lifetime. Bromstoker's Dracula, despite being
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  Speaker 1: one of the most beloved novels of its era, was
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  Speaker 1: not enough to guarantee financial security for his family. If
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  Speaker 1: it had been, maybe Florence wouldn't have pursued Prana film
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  Speaker 1: so aggressively. But Dracula and Nosferatu by extension, is a
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  Speaker 1: tenacious tale. Even when you try to kill it, it'll
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  Speaker 1: just rise up from the dead again, ready to spread
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  Speaker 1: the vampire's curse to a whole new generation. Everyone has preferences.
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  Speaker 1: You might want your dream partner to be athletic, or
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  Speaker 1: love the opera, or be really really into camping. Your friend,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, might want a homebody who loves
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  Speaker 1: to cook and play chess. For King Frederick William the
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  Speaker 1: First of Prussia, there was only one thing he cared
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  Speaker 1: about when it came to picking soldiers for his own
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  Speaker 1: personal regiment. He didn't care if they could shoot, or march,
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  Speaker 1: or even win in battle. None of that mattered so
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  Speaker 1: long as they were tall. When King Frederick took the
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  Speaker 1: throne in seventeen thirteen, his first order of business was
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  Speaker 1: strengthening his army. But while the rest of his troops
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  Speaker 1: recruited average type men, he had a special project of
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  Speaker 1: creating a regiment entirely composed of the largest men he
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  Speaker 1: could find. To join the regiment, a soldier had to
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  Speaker 1: be at least six foot two, a tall order today
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  Speaker 1: back then now. King Frederick himself was only five foot six,
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  Speaker 1: but that didn't stop him from scouring the country for
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  Speaker 1: tall recruits, and when Prussia's supply had been exhausted, he
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  Speaker 1: turned to other kingdoms. Zar Peter the Great of Russia
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  Speaker 1: sent Frederick a platoon of giant fighters as a gift,
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  Speaker 1: as did the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Other lanky
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  Speaker 1: legioneers were begged, borrowed, or stolen from other armies. They
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  Speaker 1: were promised high pay, and if that didn't work, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: they were simply kidnapped. One of the tallest men in
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  Speaker 1: the regiment, the towering seven foot one inch Irishman James Kirkland,
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  Speaker 1: was tricked into service when he boarded a Prussian ship. Now,
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  Speaker 1: life wasn't all that bad for this regiment. The group,
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  Speaker 1: nicknamed the Potsdam Giants or the Longfellows, enjoyed better housing,
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  Speaker 1: better rations, and better pay than the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: king's army. However, the pay scale was decided by height,
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  Speaker 1: which probably left some of the smaller recruits feeling underappreciated.
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  Speaker 1: Despite all of this, not every one of his soldiers
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  Speaker 1: was with their new life. Some, especially those who had
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  Speaker 1: been kidnapped, deserted the regiment, or even tried to take
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  Speaker 1: their own lives. Still, things weren't terrible for the Potsdam giants.
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  Speaker 1: For example, they never really saw any real action. Rather
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  Speaker 1: than being on the front lines, they remained in the capitol,
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  Speaker 1: acting as more of a ceremonial guard than a deadly
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  Speaker 1: military team. King Frederick oversaw drills of the Longfellows every day,
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  Speaker 1: delighting and watching them march through their maneuvers. He dressed
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  Speaker 1: them in striking uniforms with blue and gold jackets, clean
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  Speaker 1: white pants, and red hats that were eighteen inches tall,
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  Speaker 1: adding nearly two feet so they are already impressive height.
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  Speaker 1: It was Frederick's favorite diversion to parade them before visiting
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  Speaker 1: diplomats and leaders, having them march in time following their mascot,
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  Speaker 1: a particularly large bear. He also enjoyed spending time with
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  Speaker 1: the troops and painting their images from memory. Even in
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  Speaker 1: his sick bed, he delighted in being brought to a
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  Speaker 1: window to watch the tall soldiers march outside. The kings
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  Speaker 1: of session with tall soldiers, and the limited supply available
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  Speaker 1: soon led him into a new, darker direction. In his
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  Speaker 1: own personal eugenics experiments, he paired tall men with tall
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  Speaker 1: brides in hopes that their children would become fresh new
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  Speaker 1: recruits for his army. Although he didn't live long enough
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  Speaker 1: to see these children grow up. There were rumors for
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  Speaker 1: generations that the people of Potsdam were particularly vertically gifted,
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  Speaker 1: and in another dark turn, rumors swirled that the king
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  Speaker 1: tried to make his soldiers even taller by affixing them
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  Speaker 1: by the hand and feet to torture devices called the rack.
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  Speaker 1: He likely hoped that he could stretch these soldiers even longer,
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  Speaker 1: but as the story goes, he gave up when too
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  Speaker 1: many of them died in the process. Despite his interest
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  Speaker 1: in building up his regiment, though King Frederick's rule was
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  Speaker 1: mostly peaceful, he spent his time not in battle but
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  Speaker 1: reforming the military, bringing on new recruits and training them
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  Speaker 1: in new fighting techniques. By the time the king died
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  Speaker 1: in seventeen forty, the army had three two hundred giants
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  Speaker 1: on its roster, but his us on Frederick the Great
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  Speaker 1: didn't have the same enthusiasm for height as his father.
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  Speaker 1: Frederick the Great disbanded the regiment, sending soldiers to serve
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  Speaker 1: in other areas of the army. And here's hoping that
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  Speaker 1: those who were kidnapped were also allowed to return home.
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  Speaker 1: And Frederick the Great is remembered as both an impressive
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  Speaker 1: military leader and a patron of the arts. He made
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  Speaker 1: Prussia a huge military power, embraced Enlightenment ideals, and even
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  Speaker 1: wrote operas. But unlike his father, his enthusiasm for giants
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  Speaker 1: in uniform, well, let's just say that fell a little short.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore
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  Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.