August 6, 2026 • 10 mins
Two curious men, both thrust into curious situations. Character, though, isn't a mask you can put on; it's found deep in the heart of the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
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 of Curiosities. The man walking the
(00:37):
smoky streets of nineteenth century Paris moved cautiously through the crowd,
even though nearly every citizen of the city knew him.
As a matter of fact, the whole of Europe knew
his work, although very few would recognize him if he
stood directly in their faces. This was, after all, Jean
Gaspard Debureaux, the man who many believed had changed the
(00:57):
very soul of theater. He was a brilliant and brazen actor,
intense and volatile, and well completely silent. Born Jan kasparb
da Vorak in a small Bohemian town, Debureaux's family was
a troop of traveling acrobats. Seeking a bigger life, he
ran away from the circus as a teenager and made
his way to Paris, where he found the troop of
(01:19):
funambul This troupe performed Comedia dallarte, an Italian art form
steeped in mask work and slapstick comedy, and there he
took the role of Pirot, a clumsy, clownish figure known
for his bumbling antics. But Debureau wasn't content with bumbling.
His Pirot was not some fool, but a victim of fate,
(01:40):
a romantic and one that was capable of expressing deep
emotion with silence and the simplest of gestures. An elevated
form of the historically lowbrow comedia, it was a hit too.
Parisian theater goers were enthralled with this sad character, so
much so that his performances regularly sold out. But this
proved to be a double edged sword. That Pierrot fandom
(02:03):
was intense, and many being unable to see the difference
between the character and the man who played it. Although
he had some amount of anonymity due to the mask,
the makeup and the costumes that he wore on stage,
he was still regularly called out to on the street
and accosted at cafes, and then, one fateful day in
eighteen sixty three, it all.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Became too much for him. He was walking out one
day when a young boy called to him Pirot. He
ignored the boy, but the boy persisted, finally running up
behind him and shouting again Pierrot. In a lapse of temper,
debureau turned and struck the boy with his heavy walking stick.
Although details are somewhat scant, we do know that the
blow landed hard and that the boy fell. He died
(02:46):
a short time later. The murder and the subsequent arrest
of Jean Gaspard Debureaux sent shockwaves through Paris. What followed
was no mere trial either. It was a cultural moment.
Parisians by the thousand gathered at the courthouse, eager to
catch a glimpse of the famous performer or to hear
his voice, which he never used on stage. The courtroom
(03:09):
itself came to feel like a theater, with crowds watching
breathlessly as the prosecution attempted to paint the actor as
a cold blooded murderer, the defense arguing that he was
merely a victim of his own fame and had snapped
after being overwhelmed by the boy accosting him in the
busy street. It hardly seemed fair how much Debureau's fame
tilted the scale in his favor. Many on the jury
(03:31):
had likely seen him perform and were reluctant to convict
a man who had brought so much joy to the masses.
In a verdict that surprised no one, Debureau was acquitted
of the murder charge, with the court ruling that it
had been an unfortunate accident that arose from a moment
of desperate confusion. Although Debureaux had committed the crime, it
was Pirot who won the case. In the years following
(03:55):
his trial, Debureau remained in charge of the funambul In fact,
he remained with them until till his death in eighteen
forty six. Although the murder remained a shadow on his
legacy and may have actually done the theater some good,
audience has continued to buy tickets to see Pirout, now
made more tragic by real life events. When Jean Gospard
Debureau died, he left behind a body of work. As
(04:18):
complex as he was. He was a genius who transformed
a stock comic character into a symbol of human suffering
and resilience, and he is considered by most to be
the archetype upon which all silent performers have been built.
Ever since. That's right. Jean Gaspard Debureaux was a mime.
(04:50):
On September seventh of nineteen forty, life in the city
of London changed forever. German planes darkened the horizon, carrying
with them three hundred and thirty seven tons of bombs
directed at the city itself. Air raid sirens sounded and
the city was rocked day and night by explosions. This
was the first day of the Blitz, a fifty seven
(05:12):
day long air raid conducted by the Lufwaffa against Great Britain.
For the people of London, it became a defining event
of the war. Londoners who couldn't flee to the countryside
were stuck with a new horrible reality. Their city had
just become an active war zone. Over four hundred civilians
died on that first day, and the bombs kept coming.
(05:33):
On September thirteenth, a bomb destroyed an optometrist shop in
the East End. The man who ran the business was
well known locally. His name was Michael Davies. Davies, who
went by Mickey, had been born with a spine defect
that impeded his growth. At the age of thirty, he
wasn't much taller than a ten year old child. Sources
differ on how tall he actually was. Some say a
(05:53):
little over three feet, some say a little over four
but he was a hard person to miss either way.
It's hard to imagine how he felt when his livelihood
went up in flames, but he didn't have much time
to think about it either way. Mickey and his wife
Doris crowded with many of their neighbors into their local
air raid shelter, the Spittlefield's Public Shelter. It was a
(06:14):
pitiful place to hide, a run down series of tunnels
attached to the basement of a local shop. Thousands of
panicked Londoners packed into these tunnels. The air was too close,
making it hard to breathe. There was garbage everywhere. People
slept overnight on piles of trash rather than actual bedding.
Water and food were sparse, and medical supplies were non existent.
(06:36):
In short, it was a problem. With thousands of people
packed underground, some of them permanently displaced from destroyed homes,
there was the real risk of disease spreading through the city.
Mickey was one of several who noticed this, and they
took their problems directly to their elected representatives. The members
of the Stepney Borough Council were sympathetic but unable to help.
(06:57):
They were too occupied trying to figure out how to
get the barness cities of food and heating into the tunnels.
They couldn't manage medical supplies as well. But rather than
give up, Mickey redoubled his efforts locally. He helped to
put together an organizing committee for the air raid shelter
and went out to raise money for medicine and first
aid supplies. He managed to convince doctors to commute to
(07:18):
his shelter to help administer medical aid to his neighbors.
The Spittlefield's public shelter provided medical aid to people for
free and gave milk to children. The organizational efforts didn't
stop with charity, though. Mickey and his committee created a
card index system so that they could keep track of
the twenty five hundred people who used the shelter. They
implemented hygiene measures that could prevent disease, and did their
(07:41):
best to make sure that the shelter would be a
home for those who couldn't go anywhere else. A persuasive
public speaker, Mickey soon became one of the most fondly
remembered figures in the Blitz. Eventually, the British government, seeing
that shelter's needed organization, mandated that every shelter have a
shelter marshal to be responsible for the people, and then
(08:02):
they appointed an official marshal for the Spittlefields Shelter, effectively
replacing Mickey. The Shelter Committee almost immediately took a vote
to reappoint him. The shelter would eventually become known as
Mickey's Shelter thanks to his efforts. People who passed through
were amazed at how well it was run in comparison
to other London air raid shelters. Mickey cut a strange
(08:24):
figure at the head of the small community. He was short,
but he commanded immense respect from the people around him.
His work didn't stop once the Blitz ended either. With
many people left homeless after the bombing, Mickey still had
plenty of people to look after. His community service work
led him into local government. Later in the nineteen forties,
he was appointed Deputy mayor of Stepney Borough. He passed
(08:47):
away in nineteen fifty four, honored by his community, but
largely unsung by the world outside of London. Sometimes when
faced with the terrors of bombing and destruction, community is
all we have to protect ourselves. So I like to
remember stories about people like Mickey Davies because they speak
to what we're capable of when ordinary people work together
(09:09):
to survive. When working toward the greater good, even a
little man can accomplish more than a giant. I hope
you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and
(09:30):
Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about
the show and the people who make it over at
Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link
to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in
bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And
if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining
our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
(09:53):
interruption for.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
A small monthly fee.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com,
slash Grima and Mild, and until next time, Stay curious.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
M HM
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
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 of Curiosities. The man walking the
(00:37):
smoky streets of nineteenth century Paris moved cautiously through the crowd,
even though nearly every citizen of the city knew him.
As a matter of fact, the whole of Europe knew
his work, although very few would recognize him if he
stood directly in their faces. This was, after all, Jean
Gaspard Debureaux, the man who many believed had changed the
(00:57):
very soul of theater. He was a brilliant and brazen actor,
intense and volatile, and well completely silent. Born Jan kasparb
da Vorak in a small Bohemian town, Debureaux's family was
a troop of traveling acrobats. Seeking a bigger life, he
ran away from the circus as a teenager and made
his way to Paris, where he found the troop of
(01:19):
funambul This troupe performed Comedia dallarte, an Italian art form
steeped in mask work and slapstick comedy, and there he
took the role of Pirot, a clumsy, clownish figure known
for his bumbling antics. But Debureau wasn't content with bumbling.
His Pirot was not some fool, but a victim of fate,
(01:40):
a romantic and one that was capable of expressing deep
emotion with silence and the simplest of gestures. An elevated
form of the historically lowbrow comedia, it was a hit too.
Parisian theater goers were enthralled with this sad character, so
much so that his performances regularly sold out. But this
proved to be a double edged sword. That Pierrot fandom
(02:03):
was intense, and many being unable to see the difference
between the character and the man who played it. Although
he had some amount of anonymity due to the mask,
the makeup and the costumes that he wore on stage,
he was still regularly called out to on the street
and accosted at cafes, and then, one fateful day in
eighteen sixty three, it all.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Became too much for him. He was walking out one
day when a young boy called to him Pirot. He
ignored the boy, but the boy persisted, finally running up
behind him and shouting again Pierrot. In a lapse of temper,
debureau turned and struck the boy with his heavy walking stick.
Although details are somewhat scant, we do know that the
blow landed hard and that the boy fell. He died
(02:46):
a short time later. The murder and the subsequent arrest
of Jean Gaspard Debureaux sent shockwaves through Paris. What followed
was no mere trial either. It was a cultural moment.
Parisians by the thousand gathered at the courthouse, eager to
catch a glimpse of the famous performer or to hear
his voice, which he never used on stage. The courtroom
(03:09):
itself came to feel like a theater, with crowds watching
breathlessly as the prosecution attempted to paint the actor as
a cold blooded murderer, the defense arguing that he was
merely a victim of his own fame and had snapped
after being overwhelmed by the boy accosting him in the
busy street. It hardly seemed fair how much Debureau's fame
tilted the scale in his favor. Many on the jury
(03:31):
had likely seen him perform and were reluctant to convict
a man who had brought so much joy to the masses.
In a verdict that surprised no one, Debureau was acquitted
of the murder charge, with the court ruling that it
had been an unfortunate accident that arose from a moment
of desperate confusion. Although Debureaux had committed the crime, it
was Pirot who won the case. In the years following
(03:55):
his trial, Debureau remained in charge of the funambul In fact,
he remained with them until till his death in eighteen
forty six. Although the murder remained a shadow on his
legacy and may have actually done the theater some good,
audience has continued to buy tickets to see Pirout, now
made more tragic by real life events. When Jean Gospard
Debureau died, he left behind a body of work. As
(04:18):
complex as he was. He was a genius who transformed
a stock comic character into a symbol of human suffering
and resilience, and he is considered by most to be
the archetype upon which all silent performers have been built.
Ever since. That's right. Jean Gaspard Debureaux was a mime.
(04:50):
On September seventh of nineteen forty, life in the city
of London changed forever. German planes darkened the horizon, carrying
with them three hundred and thirty seven tons of bombs
directed at the city itself. Air raid sirens sounded and
the city was rocked day and night by explosions. This
was the first day of the Blitz, a fifty seven
(05:12):
day long air raid conducted by the Lufwaffa against Great Britain.
For the people of London, it became a defining event
of the war. Londoners who couldn't flee to the countryside
were stuck with a new horrible reality. Their city had
just become an active war zone. Over four hundred civilians
died on that first day, and the bombs kept coming.
(05:33):
On September thirteenth, a bomb destroyed an optometrist shop in
the East End. The man who ran the business was
well known locally. His name was Michael Davies. Davies, who
went by Mickey, had been born with a spine defect
that impeded his growth. At the age of thirty, he
wasn't much taller than a ten year old child. Sources
differ on how tall he actually was. Some say a
(05:53):
little over three feet, some say a little over four
but he was a hard person to miss either way.
It's hard to imagine how he felt when his livelihood
went up in flames, but he didn't have much time
to think about it either way. Mickey and his wife
Doris crowded with many of their neighbors into their local
air raid shelter, the Spittlefield's Public Shelter. It was a
(06:14):
pitiful place to hide, a run down series of tunnels
attached to the basement of a local shop. Thousands of
panicked Londoners packed into these tunnels. The air was too close,
making it hard to breathe. There was garbage everywhere. People
slept overnight on piles of trash rather than actual bedding.
Water and food were sparse, and medical supplies were non existent.
(06:36):
In short, it was a problem. With thousands of people
packed underground, some of them permanently displaced from destroyed homes,
there was the real risk of disease spreading through the city.
Mickey was one of several who noticed this, and they
took their problems directly to their elected representatives. The members
of the Stepney Borough Council were sympathetic but unable to help.
(06:57):
They were too occupied trying to figure out how to
get the barness cities of food and heating into the tunnels.
They couldn't manage medical supplies as well. But rather than
give up, Mickey redoubled his efforts locally. He helped to
put together an organizing committee for the air raid shelter
and went out to raise money for medicine and first
aid supplies. He managed to convince doctors to commute to
(07:18):
his shelter to help administer medical aid to his neighbors.
The Spittlefield's public shelter provided medical aid to people for
free and gave milk to children. The organizational efforts didn't
stop with charity, though. Mickey and his committee created a
card index system so that they could keep track of
the twenty five hundred people who used the shelter. They
implemented hygiene measures that could prevent disease, and did their
(07:41):
best to make sure that the shelter would be a
home for those who couldn't go anywhere else. A persuasive
public speaker, Mickey soon became one of the most fondly
remembered figures in the Blitz. Eventually, the British government, seeing
that shelter's needed organization, mandated that every shelter have a
shelter marshal to be responsible for the people, and then
(08:02):
they appointed an official marshal for the Spittlefields Shelter, effectively
replacing Mickey. The Shelter Committee almost immediately took a vote
to reappoint him. The shelter would eventually become known as
Mickey's Shelter thanks to his efforts. People who passed through
were amazed at how well it was run in comparison
to other London air raid shelters. Mickey cut a strange
(08:24):
figure at the head of the small community. He was short,
but he commanded immense respect from the people around him.
His work didn't stop once the Blitz ended either. With
many people left homeless after the bombing, Mickey still had
plenty of people to look after. His community service work
led him into local government. Later in the nineteen forties,
he was appointed Deputy mayor of Stepney Borough. He passed
(08:47):
away in nineteen fifty four, honored by his community, but
largely unsung by the world outside of London. Sometimes when
faced with the terrors of bombing and destruction, community is
all we have to protect ourselves. So I like to
remember stories about people like Mickey Davies because they speak
to what we're capable of when ordinary people work together
(09:09):
to survive. When working toward the greater good, even a
little man can accomplish more than a giant. I hope
you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and
(09:30):
Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about
the show and the people who make it over at
Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link
to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in
bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And
if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining
our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
(09:53):
interruption for.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
A small monthly fee.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com,
slash Grima and Mild, and until next time, Stay curious.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
M HM
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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