October 13, 2022 • 11 mins
Sometimes we take two swings and miss both times. And sometimes both are hits. It should all make sense once you hear today's tour of the Cabinet.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Life is a one way trip depending on
what your beliefs are. Buddhism, most Hinduism, and even most
Paganism believe in the concept of reincarnation, that when we die,
our spiritual essence is reborn in a new body. But
(00:49):
for those who don't believe in second chances, our lives
go on for a set amount of time until they're over.
We may get eighty years or a hundred, while the
truly unfortunate pass on much lier than that. What I'm
saying is this life is short, no matter how long
we're here for, so it's best to make the most
of what time we do have, just like the vin
(01:10):
Back before Austria was a landlocked country in the middle
of Central Europe, its footprint was much larger and stretched
all the way to the sea. Austria Hungary was a
force to be reckoned with and even had its own navy.
In March of nineteen eighteen, a massive passenger steamship named
the Vine was launched by Austrian Lloyd Shipping Company. It
(01:30):
entered the water from Trieste, a city in northern Italy
that was still under the thumb of Austro Hungary. Ven
weighed over seven thousand tons and measured a hundred and
thirty five meters long. It was considered the largest Austrian
ship of its time. Along with its sister ship, the
hell Yuan. The Vian's primary route was from Trieste to Egypt.
With one five first class cabins, sixty one second class cabins,
(01:54):
and fifty four third class cabins on board, It also
came equipped with two engines powered by boilers, capable of
producing ten thousand horsepower At the start of World War One. However,
just a handful of years after its launch, the Ven
shed her luxurious nature and was recommissioned as a hospital
ship by the Austro Hungarian Navy. She only lasted about
(02:15):
four months in this capacity before damaging her propellers after
running aground. She was repaired over the next several months
before she returned to active duty, but no longer as
a hospital ship. Instead, the Vian became a barracks for
the German sub cruise stationed in the waters near the
Croatian city of Pula. Then, on Halloween nights of nineteen
(02:36):
two frogmen from the Italian Royal Navy broke through the
barricade into the port. They were gliding beneath the surface
of the water on a vehicle known as a mignata,
which resembled a large torpedo. The men attached limpet minds
to one of Austro Hungary's battleships, the very Bus Unitas,
but were caught almost immediately. They quietly got rid of
(02:57):
the Big Nada before they were taken into custody. Now,
one of those men, Raphael Rossetti, didn't tell anyone about
the mines. He merely informed them that the battleship was
about to sink in the harbor. His captors didn't believe
him until the mines went off and the Viribus Untas
went down. Meanwhile, the Magnata, which had been tucked beside
the vine, began its self destruct sequence. It exploded a
(03:20):
short time later and tore a hole into the side
of the ship. Sending her into a watery grave. After
the war had ended, the Vine was raised and brought
back to her manufacturer in Trieste, which was now part
of Italy and no longer under Austro Hungarian control. The
vessel was repaired once more and renamed the Vienna, before
resuming her original function as a passenger ship in The
(03:43):
Vienna continued on that way for fourteen years until a
war broke out in Ethiopia. She was then requisitioned by
the Italian Navy as an infirmary ship and transport vessel
for soldiers and ammunition. The war eventually ended, though, and
Vienna was back to cruising the high seas as a
liner with a brand new name po It carried on
for several years, hauling passengers from Italy to Egypt and
(04:05):
back again, until Italy entered World War Two in ninety
pose days as a civilian ship were over again, she
was called back to active duty once more as a
hospital ship. They gave the ship a fresh coat of
white paint and a belt of green around her middle,
so other ships, specifically those on the other side, knew
that she meant no harm. However, on the night of
(04:27):
March fourteenth, ninety one British aircraft fired a torpedo at
the vessel, which was coasting along incomplete darkness. They couldn't
tell Poe from any other ship in the sea. She
sunk off the coast of Albania, killing twenty crew members
and four Red Cross nurses. The ship, formerly known as
Vienna and Vien, was a versatile one, but doomed to
(04:48):
a bitter sweet legacy. Not only did it sink twice
in its lifetime, but it also served in two World Wars. Curious,
you better believe it. It's hard to ask for help.
(05:12):
Sometimes we don't want to burden others with our problems,
choosing instead defend for ourselves rather than involve someone else.
Maybe we'd like the satisfaction of fixing our own issues
on our own, or maybe we're just scared of being
told no. But there are problems that, no matter how
hard we try, we cannot surmount them on our own,
and every once in a while, the people who are
(05:33):
able to help us are the ones we never expected
to in the first place. It all started with an
actress and a producer by the name of Lucille Ball
born in Jamestown, New York. In nineteen eleven. Ball got
an early starts in the entertainment industry when she was
just twelve years old, performing for her father's Shriner's Guild.
From there, she works her way through show business as
a model and film actor. Ball appeared in small roles
(05:56):
during the nineteen thirties in three Stooges shorts and a
Marx Brothers film. She also played bit parts in several musicals,
hoping she would eventually reach her ultimate goal the Broadway stage.
You see, that was where she truly wanted to be,
and she got close in ninety seven when she started
in a production of a play by playwright Bartlett Cormick.
But the show didn't make it to Broadway, and Ball
(06:18):
got as far as a theater in Princeton, New Jersey.
Her co star got sick and could no longer perform,
so the show was shut down. It had only been
up for a week. Saw Lucy back in Hollywood, starring
in the musical Too Many Girls. This was where she
met her future husband, Cuban actor and bandleader Desi Arnez,
who performed in the film alongside her. It wasn't until
(06:41):
eight years later when she finally got her big break
Ball was cast as the character Liz Cooper, the Zaney housewife,
in a comedy show for CBS Radio called My Favorite Husband.
Her husband was played by Creature from the Black Lagoons
star Richard Denning. The radio program was a hit, airing
for three years in a total of one d and
(07:01):
twenty four episodes. It was so successful that CBS insisted
Ball adapted for the screen as a television show. There
was just one caveat. She had to bring over her
co star Richard Denning to play her husband in the
TV version of the show as well, and Ball refused.
She wanted her on screen husband to be played by
her actual husband, Desi Arnez. The network and sponsors were
(07:25):
hesitant at first. They didn't think American television viewers would
accept an interracial couple, but they were very wrong. I
Love Lucy premiered in nineteen fifty one and ran for
six seasons. It was a monster hit and proof that
Lucille Ball wasn't just a comedic genius. She also knew
a good idea when she saw one, which is why
she didn't immediately pass on a script that came across
(07:47):
her desk in nineteen sixty four, It had been penned
by a television writer who had worked on several shows
during the nineteen fifties and sixties, including Have Gun, Will
Travel and The Lieutenant. However, in the mid sixties, this
teleplay writer wanted to dip his toe into the realm
of science fiction. He'd come up with a stellar plot
get It about a spaceship called the s S Yorktown
(08:09):
and it's captain Robert April, who searched the Milky Way
for new life and new civilizations. Lucy didn't quite get
the show. She initially thought it was about a troop
of celebrities on a World War two U s O tour,
but she bought it anyway and funded the production of
a pilot through Daisilu Studios. Her production company, now CBS,
(08:29):
passed on the idea since they already had a science
fiction show on the air called Lost in Space You've
probably heard of that. Instead, NBC agreed to take it on. However,
the network called the finished pilot to cerebral and chose
not to pick it up for a full series, but
they did like the concept, so rather than dump it entirely,
they commissioned a new pilot with a reworked script, Captain
(08:53):
Robert April was changed to Captain Christopher Pike, and the U. S. S.
Yorktown became the iconic starfleet vessel, the U. S. S. Enterprise.
The second pilot also introduced new characters who had not
been part of the original, including Captain James T. Kirk
and Lieutenant Sulu Leonard Nimoi's Spock had been a part
of the show since the very beginning. Desilu funded the
(09:16):
new pilot as well, and thanks to Lucy Gene Roddenberry,
Star Trek became a major hit and a cultural touchstone
for decades to come. But the story doesn't end there.
Star Trek, you see, wasn't the only show that Lucy
helped bring to the airwaves. Several years earlier, in nineteen
fifty eight, Desilu Studios was in the process of launching
(09:37):
a brand new television program called Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. The
show was designed as an anthology series where each week
a new story would be told with roles played by
different A list actors, and in the process of hunting
for new scripts to adapt, producer Burt Granite happened upon
one that had been bought and shelved several years earlier.
(09:57):
It was about a man who was plagued with a
recurring nightmare in which he constantly appeared at Pearl Harbor
just before the attack on December seven of ninety one.
He told his psychiatrist about the dreams and believed that
they weren't dreams at all, that he was actually going
back in time to the real event. The psychiatrist assured
him that he was fine and that they were just
(10:17):
dreams that at the end of the story, the psychiatrist
learned that this patient had really died at Pearl Harbor.
The episode was hosted by Desis Arnez and acted as
kind of a backdoor pilot for a brand new series,
one that would be hosted by the stories writer, a
guy named Rod Serling. It was a show that welcomed
viewers into a fifth dimension, the middle ground between light
(10:41):
and shadow, but the mention of imagination. Because of the
efforts of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, the world was
able to step inside the Twilight Zone. I hope you've
enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the
(11:03):
show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
created by me, Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
learn all about it over at the World of Lore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Life is a one way trip depending on
what your beliefs are. Buddhism, most Hinduism, and even most
Paganism believe in the concept of reincarnation, that when we die,
our spiritual essence is reborn in a new body. But
(00:49):
for those who don't believe in second chances, our lives
go on for a set amount of time until they're over.
We may get eighty years or a hundred, while the
truly unfortunate pass on much lier than that. What I'm
saying is this life is short, no matter how long
we're here for, so it's best to make the most
of what time we do have, just like the vin
(01:10):
Back before Austria was a landlocked country in the middle
of Central Europe, its footprint was much larger and stretched
all the way to the sea. Austria Hungary was a
force to be reckoned with and even had its own navy.
In March of nineteen eighteen, a massive passenger steamship named
the Vine was launched by Austrian Lloyd Shipping Company. It
(01:30):
entered the water from Trieste, a city in northern Italy
that was still under the thumb of Austro Hungary. Ven
weighed over seven thousand tons and measured a hundred and
thirty five meters long. It was considered the largest Austrian
ship of its time. Along with its sister ship, the
hell Yuan. The Vian's primary route was from Trieste to Egypt.
With one five first class cabins, sixty one second class cabins,
(01:54):
and fifty four third class cabins on board, It also
came equipped with two engines powered by boilers, capable of
producing ten thousand horsepower At the start of World War One. However,
just a handful of years after its launch, the Ven
shed her luxurious nature and was recommissioned as a hospital
ship by the Austro Hungarian Navy. She only lasted about
(02:15):
four months in this capacity before damaging her propellers after
running aground. She was repaired over the next several months
before she returned to active duty, but no longer as
a hospital ship. Instead, the Vian became a barracks for
the German sub cruise stationed in the waters near the
Croatian city of Pula. Then, on Halloween nights of nineteen
(02:36):
two frogmen from the Italian Royal Navy broke through the
barricade into the port. They were gliding beneath the surface
of the water on a vehicle known as a mignata,
which resembled a large torpedo. The men attached limpet minds
to one of Austro Hungary's battleships, the very Bus Unitas,
but were caught almost immediately. They quietly got rid of
(02:57):
the Big Nada before they were taken into custody. Now,
one of those men, Raphael Rossetti, didn't tell anyone about
the mines. He merely informed them that the battleship was
about to sink in the harbor. His captors didn't believe
him until the mines went off and the Viribus Untas
went down. Meanwhile, the Magnata, which had been tucked beside
the vine, began its self destruct sequence. It exploded a
(03:20):
short time later and tore a hole into the side
of the ship. Sending her into a watery grave. After
the war had ended, the Vine was raised and brought
back to her manufacturer in Trieste, which was now part
of Italy and no longer under Austro Hungarian control. The
vessel was repaired once more and renamed the Vienna, before
resuming her original function as a passenger ship in The
(03:43):
Vienna continued on that way for fourteen years until a
war broke out in Ethiopia. She was then requisitioned by
the Italian Navy as an infirmary ship and transport vessel
for soldiers and ammunition. The war eventually ended, though, and
Vienna was back to cruising the high seas as a
liner with a brand new name po It carried on
for several years, hauling passengers from Italy to Egypt and
(04:05):
back again, until Italy entered World War Two in ninety
pose days as a civilian ship were over again, she
was called back to active duty once more as a
hospital ship. They gave the ship a fresh coat of
white paint and a belt of green around her middle,
so other ships, specifically those on the other side, knew
that she meant no harm. However, on the night of
(04:27):
March fourteenth, ninety one British aircraft fired a torpedo at
the vessel, which was coasting along incomplete darkness. They couldn't
tell Poe from any other ship in the sea. She
sunk off the coast of Albania, killing twenty crew members
and four Red Cross nurses. The ship, formerly known as
Vienna and Vien, was a versatile one, but doomed to
(04:48):
a bitter sweet legacy. Not only did it sink twice
in its lifetime, but it also served in two World Wars. Curious,
you better believe it. It's hard to ask for help.
(05:12):
Sometimes we don't want to burden others with our problems,
choosing instead defend for ourselves rather than involve someone else.
Maybe we'd like the satisfaction of fixing our own issues
on our own, or maybe we're just scared of being
told no. But there are problems that, no matter how
hard we try, we cannot surmount them on our own,
and every once in a while, the people who are
(05:33):
able to help us are the ones we never expected
to in the first place. It all started with an
actress and a producer by the name of Lucille Ball
born in Jamestown, New York. In nineteen eleven. Ball got
an early starts in the entertainment industry when she was
just twelve years old, performing for her father's Shriner's Guild.
From there, she works her way through show business as
a model and film actor. Ball appeared in small roles
(05:56):
during the nineteen thirties in three Stooges shorts and a
Marx Brothers film. She also played bit parts in several musicals,
hoping she would eventually reach her ultimate goal the Broadway stage.
You see, that was where she truly wanted to be,
and she got close in ninety seven when she started
in a production of a play by playwright Bartlett Cormick.
But the show didn't make it to Broadway, and Ball
(06:18):
got as far as a theater in Princeton, New Jersey.
Her co star got sick and could no longer perform,
so the show was shut down. It had only been
up for a week. Saw Lucy back in Hollywood, starring
in the musical Too Many Girls. This was where she
met her future husband, Cuban actor and bandleader Desi Arnez,
who performed in the film alongside her. It wasn't until
(06:41):
eight years later when she finally got her big break
Ball was cast as the character Liz Cooper, the Zaney housewife,
in a comedy show for CBS Radio called My Favorite Husband.
Her husband was played by Creature from the Black Lagoons
star Richard Denning. The radio program was a hit, airing
for three years in a total of one d and
(07:01):
twenty four episodes. It was so successful that CBS insisted
Ball adapted for the screen as a television show. There
was just one caveat. She had to bring over her
co star Richard Denning to play her husband in the
TV version of the show as well, and Ball refused.
She wanted her on screen husband to be played by
her actual husband, Desi Arnez. The network and sponsors were
(07:25):
hesitant at first. They didn't think American television viewers would
accept an interracial couple, but they were very wrong. I
Love Lucy premiered in nineteen fifty one and ran for
six seasons. It was a monster hit and proof that
Lucille Ball wasn't just a comedic genius. She also knew
a good idea when she saw one, which is why
she didn't immediately pass on a script that came across
(07:47):
her desk in nineteen sixty four, It had been penned
by a television writer who had worked on several shows
during the nineteen fifties and sixties, including Have Gun, Will
Travel and The Lieutenant. However, in the mid sixties, this
teleplay writer wanted to dip his toe into the realm
of science fiction. He'd come up with a stellar plot
get It about a spaceship called the s S Yorktown
(08:09):
and it's captain Robert April, who searched the Milky Way
for new life and new civilizations. Lucy didn't quite get
the show. She initially thought it was about a troop
of celebrities on a World War two U s O tour,
but she bought it anyway and funded the production of
a pilot through Daisilu Studios. Her production company, now CBS,
(08:29):
passed on the idea since they already had a science
fiction show on the air called Lost in Space You've
probably heard of that. Instead, NBC agreed to take it on. However,
the network called the finished pilot to cerebral and chose
not to pick it up for a full series, but
they did like the concept, so rather than dump it entirely,
they commissioned a new pilot with a reworked script, Captain
(08:53):
Robert April was changed to Captain Christopher Pike, and the U. S. S.
Yorktown became the iconic starfleet vessel, the U. S. S. Enterprise.
The second pilot also introduced new characters who had not
been part of the original, including Captain James T. Kirk
and Lieutenant Sulu Leonard Nimoi's Spock had been a part
of the show since the very beginning. Desilu funded the
(09:16):
new pilot as well, and thanks to Lucy Gene Roddenberry,
Star Trek became a major hit and a cultural touchstone
for decades to come. But the story doesn't end there.
Star Trek, you see, wasn't the only show that Lucy
helped bring to the airwaves. Several years earlier, in nineteen
fifty eight, Desilu Studios was in the process of launching
(09:37):
a brand new television program called Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. The
show was designed as an anthology series where each week
a new story would be told with roles played by
different A list actors, and in the process of hunting
for new scripts to adapt, producer Burt Granite happened upon
one that had been bought and shelved several years earlier.
(09:57):
It was about a man who was plagued with a
recurring nightmare in which he constantly appeared at Pearl Harbor
just before the attack on December seven of ninety one.
He told his psychiatrist about the dreams and believed that
they weren't dreams at all, that he was actually going
back in time to the real event. The psychiatrist assured
him that he was fine and that they were just
(10:17):
dreams that at the end of the story, the psychiatrist
learned that this patient had really died at Pearl Harbor.
The episode was hosted by Desis Arnez and acted as
kind of a backdoor pilot for a brand new series,
one that would be hosted by the stories writer, a
guy named Rod Serling. It was a show that welcomed
viewers into a fifth dimension, the middle ground between light
(10:41):
and shadow, but the mention of imagination. Because of the
efforts of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, the world was
able to step inside the Twilight Zone. I hope you've
enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the
(11:03):
show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
created by me, Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
learn all about it over at the World of Lore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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