January 7, 2021 • 9 mins
Sometimes a person's name is forgotten, but their deeds live on. Other times, the name is all most people see anymore, unaware of the powerful story behind it. Let's explore both today.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Menkey'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. When we think of people who shape music
as we know it, you might think of names like
Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury or Bob Dylan. Every generation has
a handful of artists who move the needle and push
music forward. David Bowie, Eddie van Halen, Johnny Cash, Dave Grohl. Honestly,
(00:53):
whatever your style, I'm sure a few names come to mind.
And then there are the inventions, the gadgets that changed
the way we experienced music, which all started with Thomas
Edison and the phonograph and the first recorded song heard
on the device, Mary had a little lamb. But there's
another innovator, and while you've probably heard what he's written,
(01:13):
the chances are good you don't know his name. Meet
Guido Aretinas, a Benedictine monk born in France over a
thousand years ago, sometime in the mid nine nineties, and
like most creators and masterminds throughout history, he had a
problem to solve. The problem was chanting. You see, at
the time, composers of sacred music had never written down
(01:36):
their musical creations. Instead, the monks memorized music and taught
others through practice. As you might imagine, passing a song
down from generation to generation, or even from one monastery
to another, was like passing down a story in that
old telephone game. Naturally, that led to a lot of changes.
I can only imagine what that sounded like. Different monks
(01:58):
with various voices and pitches. Is chanting sacred music in
different ways. As the choir director, performances for holidays or
mass had to have been rather stressful. Sure, while the
words had been written down in manuscripts, how to sing
them had not, and that bothered Brother Guido so much
so that he set out to change how music was taught,
(02:19):
which got him kicked out of the monastery. He joined another, though,
this time at the monastery and Pomposa near Ferrara, Italy.
Their brother Guido was free to work on his new
method and teach it to the other monks and it worked.
In five short months, his students learned what had taken
years for others to comprehend before long. Word of the
(02:40):
monk's accomplishments and success spread across Italy, and once again,
after his brothers became jealous, he found himself kicked out
on the proverbial streets. But along with teaching, the monk
had also been writing too, and one piece on the
discipline of musical art caught in one other than the
Pope's attention, who requested a demo in straution. It clearly
(03:01):
went well. Guido was asked to stay in Rome and
teach his new ideas about music while he was there,
but sadly, the climate of Rome didn't agree with his health,
and the monk returned to Pomposa for a while before
moving to yet another monastery, where he eventually became the prior.
Little is known of his fate after that, though, but
what did survive were two things, the staff notations that
(03:24):
we use today and his clever melody teaching device. You see,
Guido's educational tool had to do with the tonal scale.
As he saw singers were more likely to learn and
remember songs if they could associate the sound with scale notations.
Each note had a corresponding tone. It's called palmization or
sulphage if you're feeling particularly Italian. The way brother Guido
(03:48):
built it is that each note starts higher than the
previous one. And if you've ever had piano or singing lessons,
you've probably played and sang it until you could do
it in your sleep. But rather than fade away over time,
it has only grown in popularity. Centuries later, Rogers and
Hammerstein created the stage play that went on to become
the musical film The Sound of Music, where actress Julie
(04:10):
Andrews teaches children to sing in the Austrian countryside, and
Guido's teaching tool is right there. Eight seemingly nonsensical words
that have become the bedrock of musical education. Don't ray
me bass so la t do. Everybody needs a little
(04:41):
help every now and then, someone to guide them in
the right direction, to give them a boost. Edward Joseph
was the kind of guy to do exactly that, and
even if it meant aiding unknown criminal. Edward was a
lawyer from St. Louis, Missouri, in the nineties. In his
spare time, he ran several dog racing tracks in these
around the country, and fancied himself an aviation enthusiast. He
(05:04):
flew as often as he could, delivering airmail and allowing
his teenage son Butch to act as his copilot from
time to time. Now Butch was a smart boy, but
he lacked ambition, so his father sent him to a
military academy in Illinois, hoping to break all the bad,
lazy habits Butch had begun to develop. Meanwhile, Edward was
getting ready to begin a new chapter in his life.
(05:26):
In n he divorced Butch's mother, Selma, and moved to Chicago,
and it was there that he met an up and
coming entrepreneur named al Al Capone, who took the flying
lawyer under his wing. The two men went into business together,
with Edward earning himself the nickname Easy Eddie. He was
skilled at keeping Capone out of jail, and in return
(05:47):
for those services, the mobster made sure Eddie was well
taken care of, setting him up in a big house
and making sure all his needs were met. And Eddie,
who had been turning a blind eye to Capone's more
violent activities, made sure his son Butch also reaped the
rewards of his labor. He tried to be a good
father to his son and kept him on a righteous
path despite his own moral failings. After all, Butch was
(06:11):
supposed to turn out better than his dad. Unfortunately, by
nineteen thirty, the years of extortion and murder had finally
taken their toll on easy Eddie. He couldn't stand back
and let such atrocities happen while preaching the difference between
right and wrong to his son. Knowing the I R.
S Was building a case against Capon for tax evasion,
he reached out to the agents and put them in
(06:32):
touch with his boss's bookkeeper. Together, they managed to put
big Al away for almost eight years, but the gangster
eventually got his revenge on the man who had betrayed him.
The week before Capone's release from prison, two men pulled
up alongside Edward at a busy Chicago intersection. They fired
shotgun blasts into his car, killing him on the spot.
(06:53):
As his nineteen thirty nine Lincoln Zephyr rolled off and crashed,
The gunman sped away, never to be seen again. In Butch,
mourning the death of his father, took the man's lessons
to heart. He had inherited his love of flying and
became a decorated Navy pilot. During World War Two. He
earned a Medal of Honor for his actions in Papua
(07:13):
New Guinea. Butch managed to shoot down three mitsubisheep bombers
otherwise known as Betty's that had targeted the U. S. S.
Lexington aircraft carrier. He had saved the Lexington from being
badly damaged and sinking into the Pacific. Upon returning home
to St. Louis, Butch was thrown a parade in which
he wore his Medal of Honor for everyone to see,
(07:35):
and then he continued to fight lying dangerous missions against
the Japanese until his death in nine He was killed
during a nighttime combat run. He had been behind the
controls of a hell Cat fighter plane when it was
taken out by friendly crossfire. It fell into the sea,
and neither the plane nor Butch were ever found again.
(07:57):
His service was recognized at the end of the war
with a Navy US posthumously awarded to him by the
President of the United States. In ninety five, a Navy
destroyer was named after him as well, but it was
Colonel Robert R. McCormick. Who ultimately solidified Butch's legacy for
decades to come. You see, McCormick was the editor of
the Chicago Tribune and believed that the late pilot should
(08:19):
be honored in a much larger way. Thanks to his influence,
Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport was renamed in nineteen to honor
Butch or should I say Edward Butch. O'Hare that's right.
The son of a mobster turned decorated war hero is
the name behind one of the busiest airports in the country,
(08:40):
O'Hare International. 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 show by visiting Curiosities podcast
dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
(09:01):
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,
Welcome to Aaron Menkey'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. When we think of people who shape music
as we know it, you might think of names like
Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury or Bob Dylan. Every generation has
a handful of artists who move the needle and push
music forward. David Bowie, Eddie van Halen, Johnny Cash, Dave Grohl. Honestly,
(00:53):
whatever your style, I'm sure a few names come to mind.
And then there are the inventions, the gadgets that changed
the way we experienced music, which all started with Thomas
Edison and the phonograph and the first recorded song heard
on the device, Mary had a little lamb. But there's
another innovator, and while you've probably heard what he's written,
(01:13):
the chances are good you don't know his name. Meet
Guido Aretinas, a Benedictine monk born in France over a
thousand years ago, sometime in the mid nine nineties, and
like most creators and masterminds throughout history, he had a
problem to solve. The problem was chanting. You see, at
the time, composers of sacred music had never written down
(01:36):
their musical creations. Instead, the monks memorized music and taught
others through practice. As you might imagine, passing a song
down from generation to generation, or even from one monastery
to another, was like passing down a story in that
old telephone game. Naturally, that led to a lot of changes.
I can only imagine what that sounded like. Different monks
(01:58):
with various voices and pitches. Is chanting sacred music in
different ways. As the choir director, performances for holidays or
mass had to have been rather stressful. Sure, while the
words had been written down in manuscripts, how to sing
them had not, and that bothered Brother Guido so much
so that he set out to change how music was taught,
(02:19):
which got him kicked out of the monastery. He joined another, though,
this time at the monastery and Pomposa near Ferrara, Italy.
Their brother Guido was free to work on his new
method and teach it to the other monks and it worked.
In five short months, his students learned what had taken
years for others to comprehend before long. Word of the
(02:40):
monk's accomplishments and success spread across Italy, and once again,
after his brothers became jealous, he found himself kicked out
on the proverbial streets. But along with teaching, the monk
had also been writing too, and one piece on the
discipline of musical art caught in one other than the
Pope's attention, who requested a demo in straution. It clearly
(03:01):
went well. Guido was asked to stay in Rome and
teach his new ideas about music while he was there,
but sadly, the climate of Rome didn't agree with his health,
and the monk returned to Pomposa for a while before
moving to yet another monastery, where he eventually became the prior.
Little is known of his fate after that, though, but
what did survive were two things, the staff notations that
(03:24):
we use today and his clever melody teaching device. You see,
Guido's educational tool had to do with the tonal scale.
As he saw singers were more likely to learn and
remember songs if they could associate the sound with scale notations.
Each note had a corresponding tone. It's called palmization or
sulphage if you're feeling particularly Italian. The way brother Guido
(03:48):
built it is that each note starts higher than the
previous one. And if you've ever had piano or singing lessons,
you've probably played and sang it until you could do
it in your sleep. But rather than fade away over time,
it has only grown in popularity. Centuries later, Rogers and
Hammerstein created the stage play that went on to become
the musical film The Sound of Music, where actress Julie
(04:10):
Andrews teaches children to sing in the Austrian countryside, and
Guido's teaching tool is right there. Eight seemingly nonsensical words
that have become the bedrock of musical education. Don't ray
me bass so la t do. Everybody needs a little
(04:41):
help every now and then, someone to guide them in
the right direction, to give them a boost. Edward Joseph
was the kind of guy to do exactly that, and
even if it meant aiding unknown criminal. Edward was a
lawyer from St. Louis, Missouri, in the nineties. In his
spare time, he ran several dog racing tracks in these
around the country, and fancied himself an aviation enthusiast. He
(05:04):
flew as often as he could, delivering airmail and allowing
his teenage son Butch to act as his copilot from
time to time. Now Butch was a smart boy, but
he lacked ambition, so his father sent him to a
military academy in Illinois, hoping to break all the bad,
lazy habits Butch had begun to develop. Meanwhile, Edward was
getting ready to begin a new chapter in his life.
(05:26):
In n he divorced Butch's mother, Selma, and moved to Chicago,
and it was there that he met an up and
coming entrepreneur named al Al Capone, who took the flying
lawyer under his wing. The two men went into business together,
with Edward earning himself the nickname Easy Eddie. He was
skilled at keeping Capone out of jail, and in return
(05:47):
for those services, the mobster made sure Eddie was well
taken care of, setting him up in a big house
and making sure all his needs were met. And Eddie,
who had been turning a blind eye to Capone's more
violent activities, made sure his son Butch also reaped the
rewards of his labor. He tried to be a good
father to his son and kept him on a righteous
path despite his own moral failings. After all, Butch was
(06:11):
supposed to turn out better than his dad. Unfortunately, by
nineteen thirty, the years of extortion and murder had finally
taken their toll on easy Eddie. He couldn't stand back
and let such atrocities happen while preaching the difference between
right and wrong to his son. Knowing the I R.
S Was building a case against Capon for tax evasion,
he reached out to the agents and put them in
(06:32):
touch with his boss's bookkeeper. Together, they managed to put
big Al away for almost eight years, but the gangster
eventually got his revenge on the man who had betrayed him.
The week before Capone's release from prison, two men pulled
up alongside Edward at a busy Chicago intersection. They fired
shotgun blasts into his car, killing him on the spot.
(06:53):
As his nineteen thirty nine Lincoln Zephyr rolled off and crashed,
The gunman sped away, never to be seen again. In Butch,
mourning the death of his father, took the man's lessons
to heart. He had inherited his love of flying and
became a decorated Navy pilot. During World War Two. He
earned a Medal of Honor for his actions in Papua
(07:13):
New Guinea. Butch managed to shoot down three mitsubisheep bombers
otherwise known as Betty's that had targeted the U. S. S.
Lexington aircraft carrier. He had saved the Lexington from being
badly damaged and sinking into the Pacific. Upon returning home
to St. Louis, Butch was thrown a parade in which
he wore his Medal of Honor for everyone to see,
(07:35):
and then he continued to fight lying dangerous missions against
the Japanese until his death in nine He was killed
during a nighttime combat run. He had been behind the
controls of a hell Cat fighter plane when it was
taken out by friendly crossfire. It fell into the sea,
and neither the plane nor Butch were ever found again.
(07:57):
His service was recognized at the end of the war
with a Navy US posthumously awarded to him by the
President of the United States. In ninety five, a Navy
destroyer was named after him as well, but it was
Colonel Robert R. McCormick. Who ultimately solidified Butch's legacy for
decades to come. You see, McCormick was the editor of
the Chicago Tribune and believed that the late pilot should
(08:19):
be honored in a much larger way. Thanks to his influence,
Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport was renamed in nineteen to honor
Butch or should I say Edward Butch. O'Hare that's right.
The son of a mobster turned decorated war hero is
the name behind one of the busiest airports in the country,
(08:40):
O'Hare International. 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 show by visiting Curiosities podcast
dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
(09:01):
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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