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Short Stuff: Robert the Doll · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: There's Jerry. This is Short Stuff, the creeps Fill Halloween
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Week edition, that's right. And before people get started with
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: this one, if you're in a place where you are
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: not going to endanger the life of someone else because
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: you're driving a car, just pull out the old phone
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: or the old laptop or the old tablet, the old Newton,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the old Newton, and just do a little image search
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: for Robert the doll mhm, because I just think knowing
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: what Robert looks like going into this is kind of nice, yeah,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: for sure. And you're gonna be presented with a couple
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  Speaker 1: of different images because they made a movie based on Robert.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah. One of them is like so overly
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  Speaker 1: stylized it's not at all scary creepy looking, sure, But
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  Speaker 1: the one that's like, holy cow, no one could ever
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  Speaker 1: come up with that, like like like it's just too
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  Speaker 1: scary and creepy on its own, that's the Robert, the
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  Speaker 1: one with just part of a face basically. Yeah. The
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  Speaker 1: modern one looks like a Ventriloquis dummy and is clearly
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  Speaker 1: more modern. The other one looks like an antique sort
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  Speaker 1: of faceless, uh death child. Yeah, And indeed he is
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily a death child, but he is an antique
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  Speaker 1: because um Robert was the toy and actually lifelong friend
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: and companion of a boy named Robert Eugene Otto. And
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  Speaker 1: Robert Eugene Otto, who went by Jean, moved with his
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  Speaker 1: family right before the turn of the twentieth century to
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  Speaker 1: Key West, Florida, and he brought with him his doll,
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  Speaker 1: this three foot straw filled cork faced doll named Robert Um,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: which had been a gift from his grandfather. Right, that's right.
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  Speaker 1: His granddad thought it would be funny and fun I guess,
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  Speaker 1: much like the father in Gremlins to rek havoc on
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: a family by bringing home a gift from some place
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: far away. And I believe he went on a trip
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  Speaker 1: to Germany and got this doll that was manufactured by
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the Steve Company, who the maker of Teddy Bears. But
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: this was not a toy that was ever sold, So
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  Speaker 1: the best they can reckon is that it might have
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  Speaker 1: been something that they made to like put in a
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  Speaker 1: window display or something. Um, maybe to help selt Teddy Bears.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing with Robert is he you know, he
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: kind of looks kind of creepy in his little sailor's outfit.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's all about that that nothingness of the face though. Really. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they think that collection of dolls he was a part
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  Speaker 1: of where clowns and jesters, so they think he actually
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  Speaker 1: originally was a harlequin jester. And I read a nine
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  Speaker 1: nine Palm Beach Post article about him, and they made
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  Speaker 1: reference to a photograph from I guess the early nineteen
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  Speaker 1: hundreds and they describe him as dressed up as like
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  Speaker 1: a harlequin jester. So and they said, it's not a
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  Speaker 1: very pleasant photograph. Right. You mentioned he's wearing a sailor's suit,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and he in, he definitely is, and he's been wearing
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: that sailor's suit for over a hundred years now. But
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  Speaker 1: the sailor suit originally belonged to Jean. Jean said, here, Robert,
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  Speaker 1: this is a hamm me down. I'm not wearing this anymore.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to be sailor boy for the rest
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  Speaker 1: of our lives. Yeah. So, I mean, I think that
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  Speaker 1: demonstrates the kind of closeness that Jean had with Robert Um.
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  Speaker 1: Jean has all the hallmarks of an only child, but
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  Speaker 1: apparently did have siblings because Jean, like you know, I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of times only only children have a
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: can have a more rich imaginary life when they're little, um,
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  Speaker 1: making up imaginary friends and things like that. And in
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  Speaker 1: Jean's case, he it was kind of a combination of both.
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  Speaker 1: He made up an imaginary friend in a way, but
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  Speaker 1: it actually had a physical manner infestation in and Robert.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: But Robert, you know, he would apparently they would uh
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  Speaker 1: his family and then people that would that worked with
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: them would hear them, well not them hear him in
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  Speaker 1: the room. Jean having both sides of a conversation as
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  Speaker 1: Gene and Robert quite often, or was it Jeane exactly? So, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: And the reason why stuff like that started to be
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  Speaker 1: reported to the Auto family parents I also read like
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a plumber heard um, Robert giggle um. The people would
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  Speaker 1: say that he could make things move on his own
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  Speaker 1: and you never saw him doing it. It's just like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: that Robert was not sitting in that chair, you know
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: this morning. The plumber heard Robert. Yes, that's what he said.
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  Speaker 1: That's what the plumber claimed. Sure, that's why Robert giggle so. Um.
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  Speaker 1: The reason people were talking about Robert like this because
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  Speaker 1: he had already gained a reputation as being kind of
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  Speaker 1: playfully mischievous, right. Um. And part of the reason he
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  Speaker 1: got that reputation is because whatever Jean did wrong that
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  Speaker 1: he would get caught doing, he would blame Robert for. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: which is it's also very cute too write. But then
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  Speaker 1: there were stories about how, you know, Jean's parents heard
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  Speaker 1: him screaming in the middle of the night one night
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  Speaker 1: and came running in to find the whole room trashed,
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  Speaker 1: and Jean curled up in a ball in the corner. Um,
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  Speaker 1: and he blamed Robert for trashing the room. Um, so
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  Speaker 1: quickly escalated as far as the legend goes, um from
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you know, hey, Robert wasn't sitting in that chair to
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  Speaker 1: Robert snow costing us mind because we're gonna have to
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  Speaker 1: replace that night's to all right, I think that's a
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: good break, because we're gonna pick up with time passing
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  Speaker 1: an adult Gene who surely doesn't have the stall anymore
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  Speaker 1: after he grows up, Right, we're going to cover that
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  Speaker 1: right after this. Okay, we've gone forward in time now.
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  Speaker 1: I think that it seems to have because Jean looks
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  Speaker 1: way older and paunchier than he did when he was
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  Speaker 1: a boy. So yes, I think we're too somewhere in
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  Speaker 1: like maybe the nineteen fifties. And by this time Jean
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  Speaker 1: has super grown up. Um. He has gone off to
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  Speaker 1: Chicago and Europe Paris even to study becoming a painter.
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  Speaker 1: He's developed quite a name for himself and Key West
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  Speaker 1: where he's stuck around. And he also got married to
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  Speaker 1: a very understanding woman named Ann Parker. Well why was
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: she understanding? She was understanding, Chuck, Because one of the
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: things that was a constant in Jean's life is Robert.
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  Speaker 1: Jean's still hung out with Robert, Robert Jean's best friend,
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  Speaker 1: still hanging out with Robert gets married to Anne Parker,
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  Speaker 1: who was I think a jazz pianist, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: she's a creative sort. He was a painter. She's like
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  Speaker 1: a little eccentric, is my husband, And that's fine. I
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  Speaker 1: don't love Robert being around, but this is our lot
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  Speaker 1: in life. Uh. He inherited Jeane, I guess, and Robert
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  Speaker 1: inherited the house on Eton Street in Key West, and
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  Speaker 1: they called it, they renamed it the Artist House, and
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  Speaker 1: it was just it was sort of a well known
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  Speaker 1: and still is kind of a well known house in
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  Speaker 1: Key West, because, like you said, he did make a
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  Speaker 1: name for himself. Like if you if you look up
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  Speaker 1: Jane auto Art like it, you know, there's there's stuff
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  Speaker 1: out there. Yeah, I get the impression that Robert really
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  Speaker 1: helped push along the same gene though too. You know,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure it was the other way around. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but you can tell, like Jeane clearly loved his childhood
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  Speaker 1: because he he stayed in his boyhood home. He kept
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: his boyhood best friend Robert the doll um. But he
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: managed to add a wife to the mix. Two and
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  Speaker 1: you know, yes, she was definitely she would put up
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  Speaker 1: with the fact that Robert was a part of their life.
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  Speaker 1: But there's a couple of stories. Um. One is that
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  Speaker 1: she was like, Okay, Robert can live here, but can
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  Speaker 1: we just like keep him in the attic, and Geene
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  Speaker 1: agreed to that, and they started keeping Robert in the attic. Okay,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: well then you're gonna like this alternative story. The other
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  Speaker 1: story is that um Geen built a room for Robert
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  Speaker 1: in the attic and furnished it with Robert sized toys
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  Speaker 1: and furniture, and it was Robert's room, like this attic
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  Speaker 1: was Robert. Now, technically those two stories are not mutually exclusive,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm guessing if you put them together you probably
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  Speaker 1: come close to the truth. Yeah, that makes a lot
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  Speaker 1: more sense, um, because I definitely don't see Jean just
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  Speaker 1: being like, sure, I'll just junk him in the attic. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but if I built him a very special place, that's
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  Speaker 1: a whole different story. So the and you know, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of this is obviously legend and or because some
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: really spooky things that don't make sense continue to happen
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  Speaker 1: with Robert the Doll. Like people walk by and they
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  Speaker 1: see Robert the Doll sitting kindly in a rocking chair
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  Speaker 1: in the original bedroom window. Uh. And apparently Jean would
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  Speaker 1: come downstairs and be like, Robert, you're not supposed to
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  Speaker 1: be down here, and then would take Robert back up
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  Speaker 1: into the fashioned attic room. Yeah, and then again he'd
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  Speaker 1: find Robert sitting in the rocking chair in the window
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  Speaker 1: of his bedroom. Again. Yeah. So um, this is just
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  Speaker 1: kind of how life was in the Artist's house. And
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  Speaker 1: then Jean passed, and um, Anne continued living there um
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  Speaker 1: with Robert uh until a little before she died. She
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  Speaker 1: sold the house before she died in nineteen to a
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  Speaker 1: woman named Myrtle Reuter. And um, this is why I
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  Speaker 1: think Anne is actually a good person. As part of
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  Speaker 1: the sale, Jean's dead. As part of the sale, Uh,
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  Speaker 1: Myrtle was required to leave Robert and the attic room.
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  Speaker 1: That alone, that was part of the real estate deal.
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  Speaker 1: And um, and what's even cooler is that Myrtle or
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  Speaker 1: Myrtle said all right, I can do that and actually
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  Speaker 1: abided by it. Yeah, and I think abided by it
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  Speaker 1: because you know, part of the legend we didn't really
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  Speaker 1: talk much about is that, um, Robert like if you like,
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  Speaker 1: if you cross Robert, bad things might come your way.
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  Speaker 1: And there aren't any like huge examples of you know,
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  Speaker 1: because he was more mischievous and supposedly not a truly
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  Speaker 1: evil doll. But for instance, in the mid nineties, Robert
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  Speaker 1: finally moved to a museum, the East Martello Museum. And
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: you would, uh, as as you know, sort of the
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  Speaker 1: fund of visiting, you were supposed to ask permission to
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  Speaker 1: take a photograph of Robert before you did so, and
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  Speaker 1: then if you didn't, then bad things might happen. And uh,
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  Speaker 1: there was a who was that person was that just
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  Speaker 1: like a historian, the director of the the Artist's House,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Bed and Breakfast. Okay, so this person went uh shrink
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  Speaker 1: and ghost not a bad name for this story, goes
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  Speaker 1: by and says basically like, Hey, I couldn't even ask
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  Speaker 1: the stall for permission because it was you know, I
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: felt kind of silly, so I didn't do it. I
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  Speaker 1: took a picture with my digital camera and the pictures,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: uh did not come out, only a few pictures that
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I took her even on it, and then I was
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: not able to say pictures anymore ever again on this camera? Yes,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: so was it Robert? Right, But that's one of the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: main reasons they tell you to ask his permission first
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: or else he's gonna mes your camera. Right, So you,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: me and I actually did that. We've we've been there.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: We've met Robert befour years ago. No, I didn't went
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to Key West. Yeah, and we asked his picture. We
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: asked his permission to take his picture, and good thing. Yeah. Um.
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  Speaker 1: But the one of the neat things I think is
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: that that in the four East Martello Museum, where he's
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: resided since and just getting more and more famous, the
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: person who donated him was Myrtle Reuter, who even after
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: she sold the Artist House, took Robert with her and
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: then just took care of him for the next twenty
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  Speaker 1: years until she handed him off to the museum. You
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  Speaker 1: can definitely like, go see Robert at this museum. There's
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: it's actually a really neat museum on your way into
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: her out of Key West. Yeah. And as far as
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the movies go, uh, they're very low budge that was
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: they started out. I say they because somehow there have
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: been four sequels, but they start out with just Robert. Uh,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: and very seemingly loosely based on the story. I think
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the the autos are in the story, but it's not. Um.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's a period thing. And again they
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: you know, it's a little it's way more like Chucky
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the Doll or something than this sort of antique looking guy,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: just not as charming as Chucky. Yeah, and then three
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: more sequels to follow. I did watch and encourage anyone
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: to watch the latest sequel trailer from just a few
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: years ago called Robert Reborn, because it just goes the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: story goes in some crazy directions, is all I'll say. Um.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: So I saw on Culture Crypt their initial m review
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: of the first movie Robert. They said that, um that
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the production company responsible has budgets barely bigger than the
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: cost of a Chipotle burrito. So unkind but so true.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: It is very clearly low budget. But there. I mean,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: they made these sequels, so somebody's watching this stuff for sure,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: for sure, or at the very at least somebody's financing them. Well, yeah,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I guess that's true. Uh, big ups to Alison Troutner
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: and house works dot com for some help with this,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: along with other great things and Josh's own lived experience. Yeah,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and if you ever get a chance, go down to
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the Fort East Martella Museum on your way in or
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: out of Key West and go visit Robert. And since
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: uh we talked everything we could about Robert or done
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and short stuff is that stuff you should know is
• 14:06
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