Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Rock Star

Transcript

Rock Star · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. George Washington is often remembered as a fierce general,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: commanding his army of trained soldiers from one battle to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the next, from the Battle of Trenton to the Siege
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of Yorktown to the Battle of Princeton. History books have
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: painted the American army at that time as a collection
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of the finest soldiers ever assembled. However, reality couldn't have
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: been farther from the truth. Washington was indeed a powerful
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: force during the war. He was calm, organized and intelligent.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: He was also soft spoken, not relying on loud outbursts
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to corral his troops. In fact, thanks to several illnesses
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: contracted throughout his life, Washington most likely had a high pitched,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: breathy voice due to his weakened lungs. But that didn't
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: stop him from leading his troops to victory. Of course,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: they weren't always successful. The American Army was made up
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: of young men, many of whom had never served in
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the military before. They were inexperienced and scared, a combination
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: that led to a rocky start for the war. One
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: battle in particular happened to be the biggest of the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: entire revolution, and it has largely been forgotten for one
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: big reason. The battle occurred in late August of seventeen
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: seventy six, weeks after the Declaration of Independence had been
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: signed in Philadelphia. The British had been in Boston but
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: were run out of town back in March. They traveled
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: up to Canada as they waited for a backup to arrive.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Washington started moving his troops to New York a few
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: weeks later, arriving in the Big Apple by mid April.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: His focus was on building up defenses in and around Brooklyn,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: as he believed New York would be the British Army's
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: next target. His forces were thin, only several thousand. He
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: had several forts built, each with an array of cannons
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and surrounded by a large ditch. The British came to
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: town from Canada with more than thirty thousand troops ready
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to put an end to a war that had just begun.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Their goal was not only to take over New York,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: but to take down Washington himself and destroy the Continental
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Army once and for all. British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: took over Brooklyn with ease. General William Howe moved nearly
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: five hundred ships into the East River while his men
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: stormed the beaches of Long Island. American forces paled in comparison,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: with a paltry nine thousand soldiers to keep up the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: entire defense. The British all but wiped out Washington's defenses
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: as he rearranged his regiments and moved half of his
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: troops from Long Island to Manhattan, partly to salvage the situation,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: partly because he that the British were more interested in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the main island than they were in using Brooklyn as
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a distraction. Unfortunately, on August it was too late. British
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: loyalists in the area helped General Howe and his men
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: navigate the hills of the Jamaica Pass. Late that night,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: along with the assistance of a local tavern owner and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: his son, the British managed to capture the five Continental
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: soldiers guarding the past without incidents before coming up behind
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the Americans In a surprise attack, Hessians rushed Washington's troops
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: while Red Coats surrounded them. A brave four hundred Maryland
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: soldiers stayed behind to fight them head on in order
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: to let their fellow men escape, but over half of
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: those four hundred were killed. Washington saw the writing on
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the wall. There was no way his army could outlast
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: or outfight the British onslaught, but he refused to surrender. Instead,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: during a bad rainstorm, he orchestrated an evacuation of nine
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: thousand American soldiers, moving them across the East River under
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the cover of night. He worked for hours putting his
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: men on boats, but by the next morning there was
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: still many left to go and the British weren't far behind.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Washington was worried that he'd be found out before everyone
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: had gotten away. Luckily, a heavy fog moved into the area,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: hiding his actions from the enemy long enough for every
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: last soldier to get out of harm's way. Washington was
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the last person to get on a boat. He and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: all nine thousand of his men reached Manhattan by seven
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: o'clock that morning. When House forces finally reached the American fortifications,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: they were stunned to find them empty. So why has
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the Battle of Brooklyn gone relatively unnoticed by the history books?
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Well because we lost, and history tends to remember the winners.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: The Battle of Brooklyn went down as the largest battle
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: of the war. Roughly three hundred American soldiers lost their
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: lives compared to the sixty three or so British casualties
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: that day. But their defeat in New York taught Washington
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and his men a valuable lesson and how to organize
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: an army, and in December of seventeen seventy six they
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: put what they learned to good use. The Battle of
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Trenton became a turning point in the Revolution. It was
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a much needed win for America, and it inspired others
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to join the fight. Had it not been for Washington's
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: quick thinking back in Brooklyn, though, the war might have
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: ended a lot differently, and a lot sooner. Sometimes the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: best way to win a fight is not to fight
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: at all. He was insanely talented even as a young child.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: A prodigy, he entertained local audiences, not just with his
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: gift for music, but with his distinctive stage performance. While
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the press initially ridiculed him for his facial expressions and
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: animation as he played, the crowd ate him up. As
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: he grew older, he perfected that technique, developing a certain swagger.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: He'd tossed his shoulder length hair over his shoulders as
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: he moved to the beat and pounded out tunes unlike
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: anyone else in his genre. His good looks helped with
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: his popularity. His dark hair, handsome face, and his physique
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: spurred one writer to say how powerful and shattering he
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: was to see in person. When his father passed away,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: grief overtook him. He stopped performing and taught piano lessons.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: For a short while, he fell in love with Marie,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: a students and the wife of an affluent aristocrat. When
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the affair was discovered, Marie left her husband and family
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: to join her young lover. The two went on to
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: have two children together, but marital bliss didn't last long.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Relations between them became strained, and she returned to her
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: homeland while he joined a tour to help fund a
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: charitable cause. The separation from Marie took its toll, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: for a short time he considered dedicating his life to
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the church instead of music. Three things changed his mind.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: His undying love of music, his mother's insistence that he
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: followed his dreams, and attending a charity concert where he
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: became so moved that he out to be as good
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: or better than his idols. He wrote new music and
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: practice his showmanship techniques designed to set him apart from
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: his peers. His efforts at redefining his music and stage
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: performances paid off. Royalty treated him like one of their own.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Women practically threw themselves at his feet. The press always
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: had a story about his escapades, the length of his performances,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: and the feverish audiences who couldn't get enough when he
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: took to the stage. Crowds of women screamed and cried.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: On more than one occasion, they rushed the stage to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: be near him, to rip off a shred of clothing
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: or cut off a lock of his hair. As a souvenir.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Women tore at each other's hair and fought bitterly for
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a glass that he might have touched. The audiences bordered
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: on downright delirious. Female fans held him in their dreams
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and fantasies. He'd reached fame far beyond his musical heroes.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Europe had never seen anything like the mania that surrounded him.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: He was bold, charismatic, and deliver the style of playing
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the piano unlike anyone before him. He turned the piano
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: sideways to allow the audience to better view. Sometimes he sat,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: other times he stood, pounding so hard on the keys
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: at times that one reporter dubbed him the smasher of pianos.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: It was common for him to play so powerfully that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: pianos required repair after his shows. Though he continued to
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: spend holidays with Marie and their children, the couple soon
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: called it quits for good. He threw himself fully into
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: his work, some say his best work. Over eight years,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: he visited one d fifty cities and played in over
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a thousand concerts. His work influenced other musicians and sparked
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: new trends. Performing became as much showmanship as talent. Though
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: he was financially stable, he never forgot his poor beginnings
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and gave away large portions of his wealth and performed
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: for fundraisers. After a fire destroyed much of one city,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: he played several venues to raise money for the homeless.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: To this day, some consider him one of the most
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: talented pianists to have ever lived. So who was the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: superstar who brought audiences to their feet like Jerry Lee
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Lewis and had women screaming and swooning as they did
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: when The Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Hungarian concert pianist Ron's list who passed away in eighteen
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: forty seven, ten years before Lewis and a hundred and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: thirteen before the Beatles ever took the stage? Rock on France,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Rock On. I Hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. Yeah