Latest / Ridiculous History / The Statue of Liberty Almost Lived in Egypt

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The Statue of Liberty Almost Lived in Egypt · Ridiculous History

• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Casey, could we get a little, a little inspiring music.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Here the new Colossus by Emma Lazarus, not like the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs, astride from
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: land to land. Here at our sea washed sunset gates
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of exiles.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: From her beacon hand glows worldwide. Welcome her mild eyes,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: command the air bridged harbor that twin cities frame, Keep
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: at lands your story, pomp Christ, She with silent lips,
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  Speaker 1: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: to breathe, free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lifted
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: my lamp beside the golden door man. That was beautiful.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Did you write that? No? No, I wish. Emma Lazarus
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: is not my pen name, But that is the that
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: is the poem that adorns the Statue of Liberty. I
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: thought it sounded familiar. Ben uh nol. Have you visited
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the Statue of Liberty? Um? You know? Actually, the last
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: time that I really saw the statue of Liberty relatively close.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I was with you. We were in New York and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: we were doing a thing for like Liberty Mutual. We
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: had to Casey super producer, Casey Pegram was there as well.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: We had to get to get the shot so that
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: it matched as close to those legit Liberty Mutual ads
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that that you'd see on on t BE. That was
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: deeply absurd that, Yeah, it was the whole deal. It was.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Was that the same Was that the same trip where
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: we hunted down fake buildings? Yes, indeed it was the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: same to very same. That's right. That was a whole
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the whole whole thing. What an adventure. No, but I
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: actually did go up you know, you can go up
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: inside and even go up to the torch. I don't
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: remember if I made at that far when I was
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: quite young, and I ended up with a little model
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: that you put together, you glue together, of Lady Liberty yourself. Yeah, yeah,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I I feel you, man. I loved going into the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty. I'm a I'm a sucker for touristy
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff. We live in Atlanta and I still
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: do touristy stuff here. I go to the world of
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Coke just on a weekend. It's been a while. It's
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: been a while. I wonder if it's still has that magic,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: propagandistic appeal. I'm pretty sure it does. And I'm pretty
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: sure it still has the tasting room where you can
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: taste bad soda drinks across the world, the Italian app
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: d gif. Yeah, Deveritely, It's funny that you mentioned that
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I was just in Chicago visiting and I was treated
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: to a quite disgusting liqueur that is very much a
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Chicago thing. A right of passage is called Mallards and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: it is a bitter, bitter, grapefruit LaCourse. So I love
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the idea of, you know, gross things associating with the place. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to go somewhere in Scandinavian try serm strong,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you know. And the the reason that we're mentioning New
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: York is because today's episode concerns the origin story of
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the Statue of Liberty. And while we were looking into
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: this off air, I was thinking about you guys. I
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: wanted to ask you Noel and you Casey and your listeners,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: do you have an Ellis Island story and your family's past,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: like in my family's admittedly murky history. Uh. The best
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: guess I can make is that we were here before
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Ellis Island, before the Statue of Liberty became a thing.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: But what about you guys. I think it's the same
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: with my family. It all comes back to England, and
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: so I think they probably made the trip over a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: little bit before Ellis Island got going. I don't really
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: know anything about any kind of immigration um stories about
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: my family, but I know when I did my ancestry
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: dot com report, I was like Scandinavian. Oh yeah, yeah,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: it's surprising this thing, the Statue of Liberty. It's one
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  Speaker 1: of the most famous monuments in the United States. People
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: from across the world may not know very much about
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: this country of ours, but they will likely recognize the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty. It's um, it's on the level of
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the Eiffel Tower, you know what I mean in terms
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: of it's iconicism. Yeah, and also in terms of its creation.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: In fact, yes, yes, Alexander, Oh gosh, we're gonna needt
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: some casey on the case help with this one. Let
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: me give it a shot, though. Um. Alexander Gustav iPhone
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  Speaker 1: Gusta he Fell, He designed the interior like the part
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of the you the things that hold up the outside,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the sculpture part, and the steps and all that stuff
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that you can go up into. In the Statue of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: liberty Um, the sculptor who designed the actual exterior, the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: sculpture part is Frederic August. Yes, that's correct. So let's
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: travel back in time to the completion of the Suez Canal.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: As it was getting closer and closer to being finished.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty nine, this French sculptor Bartoldi tries to
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: convince the Egyptian government to let him build a sculpture.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And he says, he walks into the room, he's you know,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: it's a pitch meeting, right, those never change, and he says, you, guys,
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  Speaker 1: I've got this idea for a statue. It's gonna be huge,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: literally and metaphorically. We're gonna call it Egypt bringing Light
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  Speaker 1: to Asia. Huge because it's inspired by another huge statue,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: huge even in the name itself, the Colossus of Rhodes,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a colossal statue um which was also the inspiration are
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: quite famous television sculpture, similarly the Titan of Bravos. And
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that's true, that's absolutely right. It's this massive stone creation
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: that stands astride the waterways entering the city of Rhodes,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: greeting visitors or scaring them away, depending on how you
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: look at it. But the French version of this was
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: meant to be much more of a welcoming experience, right right.
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  Speaker 1: And when we say the Statue of Liberty as we
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: know it today was inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: we mean that the sculptor was also following some of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the specifications of the Colossus. The Colossus, one of the
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  Speaker 1: Seven Wonders of the ancient world, was the tallest statue
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: of that time. It was about a hundred and eight
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  Speaker 1: feet high, and that's around the height of the modern
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty today from feet to crown. But you see,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: what you may not know about the Statue of Liberty
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: was that it was never a rich only meant to
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: be in the US. He pitched it to Egypt. First,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, he say, we just got the scraps
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Egypt scraps, sculptre sculpture scraps, we got the we got
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the tweak, we got the reboots. So he says, I
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  Speaker 1: want a ninety foot tall statue of a woman clothed
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  Speaker 1: in Egyptian peasant robes, and she'll be holding a torch.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: This torch will also serve as a lighthouse to help
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: guide ships into the canal, so a little function when
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: there with the form I mean, I'm on board. Unfortunately,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: although everybody agrees this is a good idea, negotiations breakdown
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: over the price and the leadership involved. They say, this
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: is this is way too expensive, we can't do this.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So instead they just built a lighthouse, the ports Lighthouse,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and then any other large project gets delayed by the
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  Speaker 1: Franco Prussian War because Bartolian, in addition to being a sculptor,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: serves as a major of the militia. So was this
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: lighthouse bespoken anyway, ben or was it just a real
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: old run of the mill lighthouse. It's bespoke. Yeah, it's
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  Speaker 1: one of the most important landmarks in the city of
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: port Side. A cool looking I mean beauty is in
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  Speaker 1: the eye of the beholders, but it's certainly not a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful robed woman extending a torch to the heavens right
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  Speaker 1: with a crown representing all that is good and pure
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  Speaker 1: in the world. Absolutely, they build that in eighteen sixty nine.
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  Speaker 1: That lighthouse. And as the war, the Franco Prussian War continues,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Napoleon three is captured and deposed. Bartoli's home province of
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Alsace is lost to the Prussian forces, and a liberal
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  Speaker 1: Republic or more liberal republic is installed in France. And
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  Speaker 1: for a while Bartoli has been planning a trip to
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the United States, and he and his partner decide that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: now the time is right, so they go across the pond,
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  Speaker 1: and in June of eighteen seventy one, or told, he
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: crosses the Atlantic with some letters of bona fides, some
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  Speaker 1: letters of introduction, and he starts looking for a place
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  Speaker 1: to stick this statue. Yeah, and and here's the thing, um,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: you know, immigration has been a hot button issue ever
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: since the founding of our country. It's like do we
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  Speaker 1: do we take whoever wants to come and breathe free
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: and all that, or do we draw some lines and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: be a little more choosy. And obviously that's something that's
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: very much alive today, maybe even more so than it
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: has been quite some time. Um, But the argument for
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: having some sort of symbol of you know, receiving immigrants
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: with open arms was certainly one being made at the
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: time and so it was kind of good timing that
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  Speaker 1: this particular statue was proposed. Yeah, And he also, for
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the record, tweaked his pitch a little bit. He wasn't
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  Speaker 1: building exact lee the same statue. He was making these
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: different sketches. He was figuring out how he would pitch
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: this to the Americans, and he decided to what would
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the corporate term be. He decided to pivot. He decided
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: to pivot from this depiction of an Egyptian woman that
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  Speaker 1: he described as a freed Egyptian slave, and he changed
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: the concept to libertas a robed woman, the goddess of
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  Speaker 1: free slaves in ancient Rome, a more universally understood symbol
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of freedom, at least according to National Park Service ranger
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Danielle Simonelli. And this happens right after the Civil War.
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  Speaker 1: It could have torn the country apart, but it came
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  Speaker 1: out of this traumatic event with more liberty than they
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: had had previously. So at this point everybody seems on
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  Speaker 1: the same page. And he starts wondering where they would
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: construct this statue. He zeroes in on a place called
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: bed Lowe's Island now spoiler alert named Liberty Island, and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: he does this because he has gobsmacked by the fact
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: that ships arriving in New York all have to sail
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  Speaker 1: past this island. So any ship that's arriving is going
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  Speaker 1: to see this statue. It seems like the best place
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: to put it. Who knows, maybe he was thinking Brooklyn
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: instead and changed his mind. There was another fantastic side
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: benefit to locating the statue on this island. It was
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: owned by Uncle Sam. It had been seated by the
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  Speaker 1: New York State legislature in eighteen hundred for harbor defense.
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  Speaker 1: This makes it land, in his opinion, common to all
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the states. So he begins meeting a lot of New
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: York v I p s. You know, and he even
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: meets the President Ulysses S Grant, and Ulysses S Grant says, hey, man,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: good idea. It's not going to be tough for us
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to get that site for the statue. And he begins
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: a tour pitching this idea and getting popular support from
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  Speaker 1: people of note and people with the financial wherewithal to
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: donate to the cause. He actually crosses the US twice
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: on rail, and the entire time he's on this tour,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: essentially this promo circuit, he is searching for people that
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: he thinks will be down with the project. Now at
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: this point in the story, some of us listening are saying, hey, guys, hey,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: hang on, the Statue of Liberty. Wasn't that a gift?
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Didn't France just give it to the United States? What's
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: all this about fundraising? Well, it's very Good's interesting because
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: the statue itself did become a gift from France to
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: celebrate the Franco American Union, and that was in large
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: part due to the efforts of Labollier right, Edward de
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: la Bolier Um. He was a French political thinker um
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: and a fan and an expert of the U s
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Constitution and also himself an abolitionist, and he ultimately proposed
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: that the monument be gifted to the United States from
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: France to commemorate um the preservation of freedom and democracy,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and um too memorialize the work of Abraham Lincoln and
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: his freeing of the slaves, which goes in line with
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: some of the original intent of the statue, and it
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: having been an Arab slave woman, right, which is which
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: is amazing. But they still had to raise money because
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the statue itself is the gift, right but the statue
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't come with the pedestal. They have to build something
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: to base the statue upon. It's it's sort of like, um,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: have you guys seeing those talk shows. This used to
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: happen a lot in the nineteen nineties talk shows where
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: everybody in the audience wins a big prize or someone wins.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Oprah is probably the most famous example. On one episode
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of the Oprah Show, if I recall correctly, she gives
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: everyone in the audience a car, of course, but the
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: problem is when you get the car, you also have
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to pay taxes on the car. My favorite of them
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: when she gives everyone in the audience killer bees as
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I was thinking of that same gift. Yeah, good one.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: And here's the thing. Laboulay was who was a huge
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: fan of the Constitution and the United States and the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: efforts of Abraham Lincoln in freeing the slaves. Um, because
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: you know, the French are all about revolution as we know,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: and liberty. That's the notion of individual freedom and uh
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: you know, self determination. So this guy who was a
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: political thinker um was already known to BERTHOLDI, or vice versa. Rather,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: he knew BERTHOLDI because he had commissioned him to do
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: a sculpture or like a bust of him, or it
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: had he had been commissioned. So they kind of joined
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: forces and we're able to get the ball rolling on
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the statue as a joint share between French and the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: United States. Like you said, Ben, they already had the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: side picked out. They had to raise some money to
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: build that platform, right, and then they were off to
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the races. Yes, yes, let's talk a little bit about
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the construction and the erection of the statue. So Bartoli
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: goes back to France in eighteen seventy seven and he's
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: concentrating on completing the head of the statue. He makes
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: of progress to exhibit it at the Paris World's Fair.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Models of the statue are put on sale to help
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: with fundraising in France, and they even sold tickets to
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: view the construction activity at the workshop where this was
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: being built. The French government even green lit a lottery.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Some of the prizes were things like a silver plate
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: or a terra cotta model of the statue, and by
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the end of eighteen seventy nine they have raised about
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: two d and fifty thousand frocs. So, Noel, you had
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: mentioned earlier that the same guy who built the Eiffel
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Tower helped create Gustave I failed right, helped create this statue.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: He decided to do some pretty innovative things. He opted
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: not to use a completely rigid structure because it would
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: force stresses to accumulate in the skin of the statue
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: and eventually lead to it cracking. He created one of
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the earliest examples of what's called curtain wall construction. That's
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: where the exterior of a structure is not load bearing
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and instead it's supported by this internal framework a skeletonists
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: which is also why it matters. You need a you
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: need an architect and a sculptor. This thing is literally
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a inhabitable structure. I mean, you wouldn't live there, but
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: you can certainly has to sup its massive and it
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: has to have the same care taken that you would
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: in building a skyscraper for example. Right. Yet, and they
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: also changed their minds about the structural material They were
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: originally just going to rely on masonry. But when they
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: changed the construction materials to iron, this allowed the sculpture
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to change his plans for the assembly of the statue. Originally,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: he thought they would assemble this skin on site on
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the island, but once the materials changed, he decided to
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: build the statue in France and then have it disassembled
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and transported to the US to be reassembled on the island.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: So we're building a thing, we're taking it apart, we're
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: literally putting it in crates on ships, and then we're
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: sailing back across the Atlantic. We're unpacking everything and we're
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: going to start putting it back together. Yeah, this is complicated.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: This is one way beyond IKEA for sure. And also,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I mean there's got to be something of a of
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: a language barrier that would have to be some interpreters involved.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: This really is a joint effort. I'm wondering who who
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: were the builders, like, the actual folks doing the work.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: It had to have been local people from New York, right,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: they weren't bringing people over from France to actually do
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the work. Yeah, excellent, excellent questions. So in France they're
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: using artisans and craftsmen under Bartoldi's direction, and they're they're
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: building a piecemeal you know, the head, the shoulders, the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: arm holding the torch. They don't just start at the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: feet and work their way up to your questionable about
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the people who were in New York helping construct and
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: reassemble the statue, we find a little bit of what
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: would you call it synchronicity big time. Yeah. They were
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: already uh, newly arrived immigrants because again New York was
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: known for that. It was this sports city, um, and
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: it was this kind of gateway to the United States
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: for people that were trying to come and start new lives.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: And they already had this opportunity to get some gainful
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: employment by building this massive thing that was a symbol
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: of what they represented in the first place, which I
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: think is really interesting. M m. There's another employee that
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: maybe doesn't get mentioned as often as they should in
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the story of the Statue of Liberties construction. It's the
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: model for the statue. It was a real person. It's
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: a real person. Not only is it a real person,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: but it is one of the best Mother's Day gifts ever.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Frederick Bartoldi uses his mother Charlotte, as the model for
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the statue. What a good son, what a sweet boy.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: You know, that is an enduring image. You know that
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: is going to be around for a long long time.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Uh man, his mother must have really loved him or
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: who knows. Maybe they had a really horrible, cantankerous relationship
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: and he was just trying to make nice. Well, either way,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: she is now. She is now the inspiration for the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: most recognized statue in the world. Yeah, immortalized perfect word.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: And this was first discovered in eighteen seventy six. Bartoldi
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: invited a French senator named Jules Bozzarian to watch the
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: opera with him. He had a box at the opera house.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And when the senator pulls back the curtain to step
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: into the box, he's freaking out because it looks like
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: the statue of Liberty is a real life person sitting
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: in that box. It's Charlotte. Oh yeah, right, that's right,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: that is wild Ben. But here's the thing, Um, this
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: is interesting. I didn't know this at all until we
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: started looking into this. Bertoldie held onto like the rights
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to the image of the Statue of Liberty for quite
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: some time. Um. And then eventually that copyright that he
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: held ran out, like they tend to do, and there
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: opened the doors to duplicate statues of Liberty. Here we go. Yeah,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: so yes, yes, this is a very important point. He
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: obtained a patent on the statue of liberty and it
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: didn't run out for what fourteen years? The patent itself,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the description verges on the poetic when when we're describing
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the statue, it's it's quote a statue representing liberty enlightening
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the world, the same consisting essentially of the draped female
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: figure with one arm upbraidsed, bearing a torch while the
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: other holds an inscribed tablet, and having upon the head
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: a diadem, which I love the phrase, the word diadem.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: We don't use that very often. Now what is It's
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: almost like a tr right, It's like a crown. H yeah. Um,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: so that's right. It did. Uh, it did run out.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: And now we have copycat statues of liberty all around
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the world. We have them in Tokyo, Norway, Brazil, Vegas, baby,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: you know yeah, um, and uh, of course replicas of
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: them that you can get and little models that you
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: can glue together. I have a cutout cardboard one that's
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: sort of like a secon. Assemble a little unch the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: holes and connect the pieces together. Um. So it's you know,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: it's it's everywhere. Do you have a secret treasure trove
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: of statue of liberty memorabilia? The two though I know
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: maybe that could be maybe that could be a new hobby.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Oh you know what we should mention the Statue of
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Liberty is not the official name. That's just the nickname.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: That's the real name. Was at least Bartoldi's name for
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: it was Liberty Enlightening the World. But according to the
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia, this statue has a ton of nicknames.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: We can go through a couple. One is Everybody's gal
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: which I had not heard. That would Everybody's Galgy, America's Freedom,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: America's Great Lady, onto Liberty, Lady Liberty, Lady Liberty, Yeah,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: grand damn green goddess, not to be confused with the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: dressing giant goddess, the lady higher up, Lady on a pedestal,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: lady with a torch, Mother of exiles, which is again
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: very Game of Thrones. And the list of names goes
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: on St. Liberty Giant Goddess, which I think is a
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: little bit heavy handed, but you know, it is an
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: an enormous statue, so I guess they've earned that. So
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: let's fast forward to the afternoon of October six. President
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Grover Cleveland, who was also the former governor of New
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: York presided over the dedication ceremony. The good old fashioned
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: New York take a tape parade, Yes, yes, the very same.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: It's a huge parade. Estimates. Estimates tell us that anywhere
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: from several hundred thousand people to a million people showed
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: up to be a part of history on that day.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And President Cleveland's headed the procession and then he stood
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in you know, the reviewing stand to watch bands and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: marchers from all across the country. The route begins at
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Madison Square where they once housed just the arm and
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: then it proceeds to the Battery at the southern tip
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: of Manhattan via Fifth Avenue and Broadway, with a slight
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: detour so the parade can pass in front of the
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: World Building on Park Row, and as people as as
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: the parade was passing, particularly the New York Stock Exchange
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: traders leaned out of the windows and started throwing ticker tape,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: beginning the tradition of the ticker tape parade. This is
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: the first one. That's fantastic. Um, yeah, it's true. And
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: around seven years this is this is around seven years
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: after he had originally patented his invention. He has an
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: invention I love that idea. It's not a work of art,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: it's like an in It's considered an invention because I
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: guess it's functional because it has the lighthouse qualities to it. Um.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: That is when BERTOLDI stood aloft himself up on the
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: statue's face and released this giant French flag um into
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the cheering crowd of like a million New Yorkers who
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: we're looking on. And here's here's one of the weird
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: parts about this. So there are a bunch of speeches, right,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the first speech is on behalf of the French Committee.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The second speech is going to is supposed to be
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: by the chairman of the New York Committee, a guy
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: named Senator William M. Evarts. And at this point he's
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: he's supposed to do the speech right, and then at
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the end of the speech, they're supposed to let the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: flag drop. But BARTOLDI, we can only imagine how nervous
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: he is. This has been years in the making, right,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: BARTOLDI has bad timing because Evarts has a pause in
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: his speech, and Bartoldi's like, oh, it's go time, and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: so he lets the flag drop in the middle of
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: this guy's speech, and the crowd goes wild, and the Senator,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: we can only imagine, has to, like, you know, throw
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: up his hands and exit the scene because you can't
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: keep talking when people are seeing this statue unveiled for
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the first time. So eventually President Cleveland comes up and
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: he says, quote the statue, stream of light shall pierce
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the darkness of ignorance a man's oppression until liberty enlightens
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the world. They asked Bartoldie to speak, like, hey, speech, speech, speech,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and he says, no, my work speaks for itself. There
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: we go. That's a move. By the way, Yes, how
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: come people don't name their kids Grover anymore? There's someone
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: out there there may be a Grover listening with us today. Well, hey,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: let us know, is your name Grover right in? Do
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: you know a Grover? Do you know a Grover? Have
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: you hugged a Grover today? And and let us know
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: if you have Ellis Island in your family's past and
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: what their experience was like. There are so many different
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: things that we could explore in the story of the
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Statue of Liberty, but for purposes the day, I think
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the thing that surprised both of us was that this
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: became pretty close to not being an American thing at all.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: That's true. That was the hook of today's episode, which
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: we alway got rid of in the front. Yeah, that's
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: how we do. We gotta have a ridiculous hook. And
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: then this is an excuse to talk about some cool histories.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: We go there, we go a reason, maybe exactly, always
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: always a reason. Um, but I enjoyed this very much.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Do you wanna should we do a little listener mail
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: we haven't done in a minute. Yeah, it's been a while.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Let's give it a go. Cool as the return of
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: listener mail. Our first email today comes from kimberly M.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Kimberly M says, Hi, guys, I'm a big fan and
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: came across the topic recently that I'm dying to hear
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: you discuss get this little trial by or deal. You've
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: heard of this, right, Yeah, it's like feats of strength
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: during festivals, so uh so, kimberly says. This is the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: practice of proving one's innocence of an accused crime by
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: participating in a dangerous or painful task and either avoiding
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: injury altogether via the intercession of a deity, or to
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: heal well from the injuries incurred. These trials occurred across
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the world, ranging from burning to boil into drowning to poisoning.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: The list goes on. It really boggles the mind that
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: one would have to submit to torture to keep one's
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: good name. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Here's hoping, Kimberly. M. That's a cool idea. I think
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: it's possible that we should just do one as an episode.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Were just do a trial by word, Yeah, we just
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: expose ourselves to some sort of horrific task um individually
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: and see who comes out on top, Like put put
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: our fist in boiling oil, or volunteer Casey to do
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: that on our behalf. He could be our champion, Casey.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Are you cool with that? Absolutely not? No, Okay, that
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: sounded like a yes. Whatever. We have to rewind the
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: tape on that. Whatever it was, it was definitely Casey
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: on the case. He's a problem solver, he's solution oriented.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for writing in with that fantastic idea, Kimberly. I.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: I think we put it on the queue. We'll see
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: about actually doing a trial. That's fair. I have one
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: here from Sawyer G. She says Hey, guys, I love
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: your show, and I was listening to one from a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: little bit ago about the casual cannibalism during the sixteen
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: and seventeenth century. During the episode, I was hashtag shook
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: when you started to describe the way old Arabian men
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: would allow themselves to be mommified alive basically by honey,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: and then after a century that mixture was used as
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: a cure all type of medicine. The reason I was
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: hashtag shook wasn't because of the nature of that validly
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: weird ritual, but because of a song on one of
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: my favorite albums. The song is called Sweet Bod by
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Lemon Demon, and the song is about taking a corpse,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: leaving it in a tomb of honey, and then a
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: hundred years later using it as a product to sell
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to housewives with headaches. I always loved the song because
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: it was such a strange and unique concept. I often
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: thought to myself, Huh, how did he make this up?
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Then as I was sitting down listening to your episode
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and the same process came up. Uh, my jaw hit
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: the floor. It's more of a coincidence for me, but
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: I thought you guys might want to check out the
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: song because it's incredible and up your collective alley. The
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: whole album is a concept album where ancient aliens and
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: any conspiracy of the like ends up being true. And
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: then she gives a Spotify lank and it turns out
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the guy responsible for the Lemon Demon is Neil Syria Syriaga.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: You see reggas when I say in my head, okay,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: got it? Casey on the case. He has an amazing
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: uh series of albums that Casey turned us onto called
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: mouth Sounds that's sort of like a ridiculous, hilarious kind
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: of girl talk mash up thing. A lot of it
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: uses all Star by Shrek uh and mashes up different
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: kind of like nineties songs like Ants Marching by Dave
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Matthews Band with like you know, all kinds of difference
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: of it's hilarious and a lot of fun to listen to.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Lemon Demon is much more of like a weird eighties
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: tinged like lounge kind of record with a little bit
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: of horror theme, and it's very true. He does have
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: a song about this concept that you found Ben, that
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: we talked about in the Casual Cannibalism. The Melified Man
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: that's the ones. Yes, no proven case of one has
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: been found yet, but is there somewhere in the world
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: in a dusty sepulchler a person who has been mollified.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it would be a world changing
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: event to find one, but it would be so very,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: very cool. And you have to ask yourself, without getting
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: too far into the ethics involved, you have to ask yourself,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: would you take a nip of you know, corpse honey? Yeah,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: sort of like tapping the admiral right, exactly exactly? Uh?
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: If so, let us know, or if you've actually run
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: into this in real life, if you've seen a mellified man,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: I will get on the plane tomorrow. I really want
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to see one in real life. You can write to
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: us at ridiculous at how stuff works dot com, or
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: you can check out our Facebook group Ridiculous Historians, where
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: all kinds of memory is afoot pretty much around the clock. Yes,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: and you can also see our personal adventures and misadventures
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: on our own Instagram accounts. I'm at Ben Bolan, i
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: am at Embryonic Insider. As always massive thanks to our
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: superproducer Casey pegram Um, our research associate Gabe and Alex Williams,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: who composed our theme, and hey, no, thanks to you
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: for coming by today because a lot of people I
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: don't want to put you on the spot. A lot
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: of people don't know it, but this guy woke up
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: at four thirty in the morning and flew in from
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a different state to do this show boy or my
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: arms tired, but it's but it's great exercise. It's really
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: good for your core. It's true. And there's nowhere I'd
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: rather be than right here with all of you folks
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: who we will see next time. Talk to you soon.