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Piano Man · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
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  Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
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  Speaker 1: is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
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  Speaker 1: open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
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  Speaker 1: on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. When we're told that we can't
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  Speaker 1: have something, we only want it more. If we can't
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  Speaker 1: read a certain book or listen to a particular band
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  Speaker 1: on the radio, It's forbidden nature only makes it more irresistible.
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  Speaker 1: By playwright Eugene O'Neill had written almost twenty full length
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  Speaker 1: plays and twenty one one act plays. To call him
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  Speaker 1: prolific would have been an understatement. He was born and
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  Speaker 1: bred in New York and overcame tuberculosis in nineteen twelve,
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  Speaker 1: only to go on and write some of the most
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  Speaker 1: highly revered and well known plays ever performed on stage.
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  Speaker 1: Often considered his magnum opus, ninety two's Long Day's Journey
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  Speaker 1: Into Night was a Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner, earning
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  Speaker 1: O'Neill legendary status and eventually a Broadway theater with his
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  Speaker 1: own name on it. But O'Neill had a long way
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  Speaker 1: to go before he'd reach his long day, and that
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  Speaker 1: road included one show so taboo it was banned in
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  Speaker 1: almost every city where they tried to stage a production.
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  Speaker 1: It was called Strange Interlude. Written between nineteen six and nine,
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  Speaker 1: the show follows the main character of Nina Leeds, whose
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  Speaker 1: fiance is killed in World War One. Nina, grieving and
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  Speaker 1: in need of companionship, begins having affairs with several men
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  Speaker 1: before marrying a man named Sam Evans. Soon, Nina is
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  Speaker 1: with child, but Sam's mother informs her that insanity, which
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  Speaker 1: has befallen many Evans children over the years, could be
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  Speaker 1: passed down to her own. All. Nina and Sam want
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  Speaker 1: is a child, but she didn't want to go through
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  Speaker 1: the pain of wondering if hers will fall victim to
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  Speaker 1: such an illness. Throughout the rest of the play, topics
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  Speaker 1: such as abortion and infidelity are discussed, Relationships are tested,
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  Speaker 1: regrets that had once been buried rise up to the
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  Speaker 1: surface through O'Neill's use of soliloquies long monologues where the
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  Speaker 1: characters tell their deepest thoughts to the audience. The play
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  Speaker 1: opened on Broadway on January thirty nineteen twenty eight, and
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  Speaker 1: a London production was staged a few years later. But
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  Speaker 1: between nineteen twenty eight and nineteen thirty one, O'Neill tried
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  Speaker 1: to put on a version of the show in Boston, Massachusetts,
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  Speaker 1: and it didn't go well. Boston's mayor of the time,
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  Speaker 1: Malcolm Nichols, didn't appreciate the show's taboo nature, and in
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  Speaker 1: a nod to the city's puritan roots, refused to let
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  Speaker 1: the show go on. Instead, the production was moved about
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  Speaker 1: ten miles away to the town of Quincy. Despite the
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  Speaker 1: complex story and delicate subject matter, Strange Interlude was a hit. Today,
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  Speaker 1: many theaters that produced the show tend to cut it
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  Speaker 1: down to a more manageable three hours, and Quincy, however,
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  Speaker 1: O'Neill's nine act play, ran unedited for over five hours long.
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  Speaker 1: A dinner break had to be scheduled that intermission, which
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  Speaker 1: meant Quincy theater goers needed somewhere to grab a quick
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  Speaker 1: bite to eat before going back for Act two. Luckily,
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  Speaker 1: a new restaurant had opened across the street a few
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  Speaker 1: years before, and most of them headed there. It was
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  Speaker 1: a small operation, serving hot dogs grilled in butter, chicken
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  Speaker 1: pop pies, baked beans, fried clams, and hand cranked ice
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  Speaker 1: cream loaded with butter fat. Healthy it was not, but
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  Speaker 1: it gave hungry audience members something to fill up on
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  Speaker 1: as they prepared for the final few hours of the show.
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  Speaker 1: As the play gained steam and Quincy, so did the restaurant,
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  Speaker 1: which welcomed hundreds of patrons throughout its run. The publicity
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  Speaker 1: was a godsend, as were the new highways being built
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  Speaker 1: over the next decade. The restaurant's popularity led to expansion
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  Speaker 1: all over New England. When the Pennsylvania Turnpike was completed
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen forty, the little restaurant from Quincy became the
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  Speaker 1: highways exclusive eatery for hungry motorists. World War Two brought
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  Speaker 1: all but twelve of the restaurants to a close, but
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  Speaker 1: after nineteen forty five, two hundred more open for business
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  Speaker 1: in New Jersey, Ohio and beyond. The country was flooded
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  Speaker 1: with them, and by the nineteen seventies there were over
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  Speaker 1: a thousand in business. About half were tied to motor lodges, too,
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  Speaker 1: providing weary travelers with a warm meal and a warm bed,
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  Speaker 1: all in one convenient place. Sadly, the good times didn't last. Today,
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  Speaker 1: only one of these restaurants remains. It's located in Lake George,
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  Speaker 1: New York, and can be recognized by its iconic orange
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  Speaker 1: roof and the sign outside, which bears the name of
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  Speaker 1: the man who ran that original restaurant, and, for over
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  Speaker 1: six decades was a household name for motorists all over America.
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  Speaker 1: Who was he? Howard Johnson. Childhood is a time for dreaming,
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  Speaker 1: a time when the future is as far away as
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  Speaker 1: another planet, but still somehow within reach. When asked what
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  Speaker 1: we want to be when we grow up, we respond
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  Speaker 1: with words like astronauts, or firefighter or doctor. Whether those
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  Speaker 1: aspirational answers come to fruition, well that's another story. But
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  Speaker 1: one man had a dream that wasn't so far fetched.
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  Speaker 1: He might have gone on to pursue it too, had
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  Speaker 1: he been given the chance. His name was Harry and
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  Speaker 1: he was born in eighteen eighty four in Lamar, Missouri,
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  Speaker 1: a small town about four and a half hours southwest
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  Speaker 1: to St. Louis. His family moved around a lot while
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  Speaker 1: he was very young. When he was six, his mother, Martha,
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  Speaker 1: and his father John moved Harry and his brother and
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  Speaker 1: sister over one miles away to Independence, Missouri. The town
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  Speaker 1: was a lot bigger than Lamar was six thousand residents,
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  Speaker 1: but it meant a fresh start for everyone. From a
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  Speaker 1: young age, Harry took a keen interest in the arts.
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  Speaker 1: Music was a particular passion of his. Every morning, at
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  Speaker 1: five o'clock, he would wake up and practice the piano.
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  Speaker 1: He also studied privately twice a week until he was fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: Harry considered going to college to study music with the
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  Speaker 1: goal of becoming a concert pianist. His first choice had
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  Speaker 1: been West Point, but he was turned away due to
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  Speaker 1: his poor eyesight. His father is financial situation also made
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  Speaker 1: a four year college impossible. Instead, Harry enrolled at a
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  Speaker 1: business college in Kansas City for one year, after which
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  Speaker 1: he was forced to drop out to help his family.
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  Speaker 1: Money had become tighter than ever, so Harry found himself
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  Speaker 1: at a job in a mail room at the Kansas
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  Speaker 1: City Star newspaper. He bounced around from job to job
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  Speaker 1: over the next several years, working for a construction company
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  Speaker 1: for a short time before taking a position as a
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  Speaker 1: bank clerk. He carried that knowledge with him in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: oh six, when he left the workforce to rejoin his
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  Speaker 1: brother and father on their farm. He was their bookkeeper
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  Speaker 1: for the next ten years. Still, Harry knew that there
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  Speaker 1: was more out there for him. In nineteen seventeen, he
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  Speaker 1: joined the National Guard to serve in World War One,
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  Speaker 1: where he proved himself as a competent leader. His unit,
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  Speaker 1: which had been looked down on for their wild behavior
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  Speaker 1: and lack of direction, was quickly tamed like a difficult
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  Speaker 1: piece of music under Harry's fingers. They became a well
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  Speaker 1: regarded battery, taking on missions overseas towards the end of
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  Speaker 1: the war. After his service had ended, Harry and a
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  Speaker 1: war buddy of his went into business together. The experience
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  Speaker 1: allowed him to keep in touch with the other men
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  Speaker 1: he served with, some of whom introduced him to powerful
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  Speaker 1: people who could help him move up the business letter.
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  Speaker 1: Harry worked his way up through different positions thanks to
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  Speaker 1: his fellow National guardsmen and their network of professional connections.
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  Speaker 1: Over the next two decades, Harry started a family and
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  Speaker 1: became a success, yet still remembered his days tickling the
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  Speaker 1: ivories as a child. It wasn't until World War Two
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  Speaker 1: when his musical skills would come back to help him again.
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  Speaker 1: It was February oft and Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall had
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  Speaker 1: arrived at a lounge in Washington to perform for a
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  Speaker 1: group of US troops. At the time, Harry was there
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  Speaker 1: to give a speech, but a piano sitting off to
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  Speaker 1: the side gave him a better idea. He sat down
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  Speaker 1: and started playing. Bacall, egged on by her press agents,
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  Speaker 1: climbed on top of the piano and post for pictures
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  Speaker 1: alongside him. The pictures have since become iconic, a truly
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  Speaker 1: viral moment in history, captured for all time. The idea
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  Speaker 1: of mounting that particular piano for a photo op became
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  Speaker 1: so common that would eventually collapsed and the piano had
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  Speaker 1: to be rebuilt. Even the room where it happened was
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  Speaker 1: renamed for the man who started it all, the Vice
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  Speaker 1: President who would go on to become the thirty third
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  Speaker 1: President of the United States, Harry Truman. I hope you've
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
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  Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
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  Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
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  Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
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  Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore which is
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  Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
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  Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the world of Lore
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  Speaker 1: dot come and until next time, stay curious.