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Storied Past · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild.
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  Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history
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  Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
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  Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: It was the early 1940s in London, one of the
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  Speaker 1: most frightening periods of the city's history, as German planes
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  Speaker 1: regularly swooped down and bombed the great city, in an
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  Speaker 1: episode known as the infamous Blitz. Many people, fearing for
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  Speaker 1: their families, loaded their children onto trains and sent them
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  Speaker 1: out of London, away from the Blitz and into the countryside,
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  Speaker 1: where they would be safe far, far away. It's one
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  Speaker 1: of the most enduring images of the war— Hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: children waving goodbye to their parents from a packed train car,
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  Speaker 1: heading for the relative unknown. The pain of war compounded
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  Speaker 1: by the pain of separation from their families, not knowing
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  Speaker 1: how long they would be away or whether they would
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  Speaker 1: ever see their parents again. Among the waves of children
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  Speaker 1: fleeing the city were 16-year-old June Fluitt and her two sisters,
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  Speaker 1: June had many hopes and dreams for her future. She
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be an actress, but that dream never felt
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  Speaker 1: more distant than when she was boarding that train. The
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  Speaker 1: three sisters moved to the suburb of Oxford, where they
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  Speaker 1: stayed with a family friend to wait out the war years.
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  Speaker 1: To pass the time in the summer of 1943, June
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  Speaker 1: took a housekeeper job in this Oxford suburb. One of
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  Speaker 1: the men that she wound up working for was Jack,
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  Speaker 1: a 45-year-old writer. Like June, he was also Catholic and
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  Speaker 1: and she was very much taken with him. He was smart, erudite,
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  Speaker 1: and a perfect gentleman. And the two became fond friends.
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  Speaker 1: June lived in his house for two years during the Blitz,
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  Speaker 1: and as those years passed by, she started thinking about
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  Speaker 1: going back to London, and then she found herself at
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  Speaker 1: a crossroads. She wanted to go to the Royal Academy
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  Speaker 1: of Dramatic Art, or RADA as it's known, but she
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  Speaker 1: saw Oxford as her home now, and she didn't really
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  Speaker 1: want to leave. Jack received a letter from her parents
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  Speaker 1: in 1945, asking what she should do about this. Both
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  Speaker 1: she and her parents valued his opinion, and so Jack
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  Speaker 1: wrote back immediately, insisting that she should pursue her dream
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  Speaker 1: of acting. Ultimately, June did wind up going to RADA,
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  Speaker 1: with Jack paying for her fees, and her acting career flourished.
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  Speaker 1: Under the name Jill Raymond, she performed on the stage,
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  Speaker 1: the screen, and radio from 1947 to all the way
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  Speaker 1: into the early 2000s. Her final on-screen appearance, which may
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  Speaker 1: be her most well-known now, was in the 2003 film
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  Speaker 1: Love Actually, in which she plays a housekeeper for the
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  Speaker 1: prime minister. Oh, and along the way, she married Sigmund
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  Speaker 1: Freud's grandson. She started an immense family, which included five children,
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  Speaker 1: 18 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. She was a vice president
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  Speaker 1: of the Actors' Children's Trust and got an honorary doctorate.
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  Speaker 1: She passed away in November of 2025 at the age
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  Speaker 1: of 98. Her theatrical accomplishments are impressive. But somehow, that
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  Speaker 1: is not the most miraculous part of her story. You see,
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  Speaker 1: her war years, fleeing London and staying with a writer
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  Speaker 1: named Jack, would become part of a story that defined
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  Speaker 1: millions of childhoods around the world. It opens with the
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  Speaker 1: names of four children and the innocuous line. This story
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  Speaker 1: is about something that happened to them when they were
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  Speaker 1: sent away from London during the war because of the
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  Speaker 1: air raids. They were sent to the home of an
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  Speaker 1: old professor who lived in the heart of the country,
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  Speaker 1: ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles
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  Speaker 1: from the nearest post office. The story, of course, was
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  Speaker 1: the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. And June herself
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  Speaker 1: became the inspiration for Lucy, the protagonist of the first book.
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  Speaker 1: And you've probably figured it out by now, but Jack,
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  Speaker 1: of course, was the nickname of C.S.
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  Speaker 2: Lewis.
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  Speaker 1: Donnie was only 13 and an orphan, working as a
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  Speaker 1: machine operator in a factory. He had a secret, one
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  Speaker 1: he hoped would never get out. He wanted to keep
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  Speaker 1: a low profile and just get on with his life. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in 1952, he was drafted into the Marine Corps, where
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  Speaker 1: he worked to distinguish himself. If Donnie could prove that
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  Speaker 1: he was tough, responsible, and kind, then maybe his fellow
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  Speaker 1: Marines wouldn't judge him for his past. And he did
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  Speaker 1: prove himself, becoming one of the youngest drill instructors in
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  Speaker 1: the Corps' history. He was seen as a model, completely
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  Speaker 1: reliable soldier. And so, when Donnie and his fellow Marines
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  Speaker 1: were deployed to Vietnam in 1965, he and those under
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  Speaker 1: his command were glad to have him by their side. Soon,
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  Speaker 1: they were involved in the Tet Offensive, a brutal, violent
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  Speaker 1: push by the North Vietnamese to try and take over
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  Speaker 1: the South. Waves of soldiers and bullets fell upon Donnie
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  Speaker 1: and his fellow Marines. He did everything he could to
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  Speaker 1: keep his companions alive, with little concern for his own safety.
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  Speaker 1: He was ultimately shot several times by enemy forces. Bullets
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  Speaker 1: pierced his lungs, his left leg, one even bounced off
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  Speaker 1: the back left side of his skull. And as he
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  Speaker 1: lay dying, all he could think of was that he
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  Speaker 1: hoped that he had proven himself. He hoped the men
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't find out who he really was at his funeral.
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  Speaker 1: But Donnie didn't die. His men got him out to safety,
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  Speaker 1: and the doctors patched him up. He received a Purple
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  Speaker 1: Heart and continued his service, now a spy in the
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  Speaker 1: broader Cold War. And then, in 1977, just as he
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  Speaker 1: was about to retire, Donnie's worst fear came true. He
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  Speaker 1: was called into the office of a general who told
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  Speaker 1: him that he had learned something very disturbing about Donnie's past.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted Donnie to conduct a time-consuming audit of the department,
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  Speaker 1: or else his secret would be revealed. He took out
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  Speaker 1: a large, red, top-secret folder with Donnie's name on it,
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  Speaker 1: saying that he was sure Donnie would find time to
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  Speaker 1: conduct the audit. He finished by saying, Won't you, Major Bambi?
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  Speaker 1: Donnie swallowed. After all these years, the truth was finally out. Donnie,
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  Speaker 1: you see, was a former child star who, among other roles,
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  Speaker 1: had been the voice of young Bambi in the classic
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  Speaker 1: Disney animated film, Now, the general was mostly joking around.
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  Speaker 1: The audit was just some clerical work that nobody wanted
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  Speaker 1: to do, especially not right before retirement. But to Donnie,
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  Speaker 1: it was no joke. He had tried to hide his
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  Speaker 1: past for fear that his fellow Marines would make fun
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  Speaker 1: of him and call him by that exact name. Even
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  Speaker 1: worse would be if they saw his live-action roles. As
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  Speaker 1: a little boy, he looked just like Shirley Temple, with
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  Speaker 1: a big head of golden curls. He had actually really
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed his time in Hollywood— He was pulled from poverty
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  Speaker 1: in Tennessee after a talent scout saw him dance at
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  Speaker 1: a talent show. He got to meet Walt Disney, who
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  Speaker 1: coached him through making different goofy facial expressions when recording
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  Speaker 1: his lines so that they would match Bambi's face. The
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  Speaker 1: movie was a hit, and Donnie was proud to be
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  Speaker 1: a part of it. He also worked with the legendary
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  Speaker 1: Frankenstein actor Boris Karloff in the film Son of Frankenstein.
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  Speaker 1: He played the son and remembers Boris being very playful,
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  Speaker 1: hoisting the small boy up onto his large shoulders. All
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  Speaker 1: of these men were a positive influence on him and
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  Speaker 1: helped inspire his career in the service. He saw a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the same leadership and maturity in the Marine
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  Speaker 1: Corps that he had seen among those titans of filmmaking.
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  Speaker 1: His acting career had come to an end because he
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  Speaker 1: had simply aged out of it, and because his family
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  Speaker 1: fell apart due to all the money and the fame.
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  Speaker 1: Donnie has never said exactly what happened, but it was
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  Speaker 1: bad enough to where he ended up broke and in
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  Speaker 1: an orphanage by the age of 13. And this is
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  Speaker 1: where he developed the grit to rise to the top
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  Speaker 1: of the Marines and fight in heavy combat. In his retirement,
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  Speaker 1: Donnie overcame his fear of talking about his Disney past
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  Speaker 1: and instead embraced it, giving interviews and doing charity work.
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  Speaker 1: He realized that as proud as he was of his service,
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  Speaker 1: it was an equally positive thing to have brought joy
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  Speaker 1: to so many people through film. Donnie Dunnigan led an
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  Speaker 1: incredibly curious life, and as of the time of this recording,
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  Speaker 1: he is still alive and kicking at the age of 91.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's fair to say that no one
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  Speaker 1: could have predicted that playing a famously gentle fawn could
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  Speaker 1: have ever prepared him for a lifetime of such grit
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  Speaker 1: and bravery. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through
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  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by me,
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Manke, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written
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  Speaker 1: by the Grim & Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk.
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  Speaker 1: Learn more about the show and the people who make
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  Speaker 1: it over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities. You'll also find a
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  Speaker 1: link to the official Cabinet of Curiosities hardcover book, available
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  Speaker 1: in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobooks.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're looking for an ad-free option, consider joining
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  Speaker 1: our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign
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  Speaker 1: up over at patreon.com slash grim and mild. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.