August 29, 2023 • 9 mins
Even something as simple as a name can be a curious thing, as today's tales demonstrate.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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 of Curiosities.
(00:36):
True genius should be rewarded. People who invent things to
save lives, or explore the stars, or find new cures
for fatal diseases should be honored for their contributions. And
don't get me wrong, many are. But every once in
a while someone slips through the cracks. They fall into
obscurity and are not remembered by history for what they
gave to the world. Someone like ha Large Lamba was
(01:00):
a writer from Scotland. Born on March third of eighteen
forty seven. He had one older brother and one younger brother,
but they apparently died young from tuberculosis. He developed a
keen interest in science and nature from a very young age,
often collecting plant specimens and conducting experiments on them. He
went on to invent a machine that used rotating paddles
(01:22):
and nail brushes to de husk wheat for a flour
mill owned by his best friend's family. The friend's father
gave the boys room for their own to invent other
contraptions that might come in handy someday as a thanks.
But Large Lamb had other talents. For example, he was
also an accomplished pianist, and he dabbled in throwing his voice,
(01:42):
both of which played to one of his many passions sound.
His mother, Eliza, had been a phonetician, someone who studied speech,
and her interest in words and language found its way
into her son. But as he got older, Large Lamb
realized something was happening to his mother, she was going death.
To help her function in a world built for those
(02:03):
who could hear, he developed new methods of communication for her.
One involved speaking directly into her forehead so that she
could hear the words more clearly. He also came up
with a silent language using a series of taps, which
would allow her to participate in conversations going on around her.
But despite his keen mind and ingenuity, Large Lamb wasn't
(02:24):
much of a student. His grades were mediocre and he
spent a lot of time outside the classroom. He got
more of an education, traveling with his grandfather, who helped
him to find his love of learning. Large Lamb eventually
moved to London in eighteen sixty five with his family,
where he continued to experiment with sound and electricity. After
he moved to Canada five years later, he worked his
(02:46):
way down to Boston, where he helped teach a new
system of communication that his father had developed the deaf community.
Over the next several years, Largelamb developed a relationship with
one of his students, Mabel Hubbard, and the two were
eventually married. They built a life together, including a summer
home in Bideck, Canada, where they explored their shared love
of gardening. Because here's the deal, no matter how deep
(03:09):
in the woods, so to speak, Large Lamb became while
working with the Death and the Heart of hearing, he
never forgot his first passion, plants. He often wrote about
botanical and animal life that he encountered, and he helped
found a new academic journal called Science that led to
his role as president of the National Geographic Society from
eighteen ninety eight until nineteen oh three. Large Lamb continued
(03:34):
to write and publish essays about nature, such as a
piece in National Geographic Magazine on the remarkable habits of
certain turtles and lizards. Because of his work, the publication
incorporated more and more photographs and illustrations to not only
provide additional entertainment to the reader, but greater value as well. Meanwhile,
Mabel would often walk around their neighborhood and inquire about
(03:56):
the various flowers and foliage growing in her neighbour's yards.
She also donated many of her own plants to help
their gardens look lush and beautiful. It's believed by Canadian
scientists today that an invasive species known as giant hogweed
may have come to the area due to Large Lamb
having planted it in his own garden. Its sap can
(04:16):
cause sensitivity to sunlight in a person's eyes. But that's
not what the inventor and writer is known for, nor
is he best known for his work with the Heart
of Hearing. His legacy is actually an invention he built
in the eighteen seventies. It had started as a type
of telegraph I'll tell his assistant Thomas Watson, accidentally demonstrated
that the lines between the transmitter and receiver could carry
(04:39):
sound thanks to ha large lamb were able to talk
to people all over the world on modern versions of
his original creation, the telephone, because Ha large Lamb the
Man with the Green Thumb was actually a pseudonym and
an anagram for the name of the one and only
Alexander Graham Bell. An icon doesn't become an icon overnight.
(05:16):
It takes time and effort to rise out of anonymity
and into a household name. People like Thomas Edison, Alexander Grahambelle,
and Marie Curie devoted their entire lives to their work,
and their legacies have ensured that the world will not
allow them to be forgotten. But some people aren't so lucky.
They struggle for years without any recognition. It isn't until
(05:37):
they do something drastic that people notice who they are.
Like Lucille Lsour, most people don't know her name, but
maybe they should. She was born in San Antonio, Texas,
to Thomas Larsour and Annabel Johnson in nineteen oh six.
Her father disappeared less than a year after she was born,
and her mother went on to marry a vaudeville theater
(05:58):
manager named Henry Cassen. Soon after, the whole family left
Texas to make a new home for themselves in Lawton, Oklahoma. Now,
Lucille had known Henry for much of her life and
even took to calling him Daddy, even though he wasn't
her biological father. Still, that didn't stop him from teaching
her like one of his own. He would let her
hang around the theater and watch the various vaudeville acts perform.
(06:20):
Lucille enjoyed the idea of being on stage as well.
She had dreams of becoming a famous dancer, but her
parents had enrolled her in piano lessons, which she hated.
She once took a flying leap off her front porch
to avoid one of her lessons and landed on a
broken milk bottle. The injury to her foot was so
severe she required three surgeries over eighteen months and had
(06:42):
to stop dance classes for some time, But as she
got older, she got back on the stage and eventually
worked up to performing as a chorus girl in a
traveling review show. Producer Jacob Schubert of the famous Schubert
family of theater owners saw Lucille dancing in Detroit and
hired her immediately. They moved to New York in nineteen
twenty four, where she joined the production of a show
(07:03):
called Innocent Eyes at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway,
and it was around this time that she met her
first husband, a saxophone player named James Welton. But their relationship,
much like her career, left Lucille wanting more, so she
reached out to publicist Nils Granland for some help in
getting her more work. He made a few calls and
got her a screen test, which was quickly sent off
(07:25):
to Metro Goldwyn Meyer in California, you know MGM. The
studio liked what it saw and she was hired at
a rate of seventy five dollars a week. Her first
film was a nineteen twenty five silent drama called Lady
of the Night, where Lucille played the body double of
a film star named Norma Shearer in an uncredited role.
Many of her early performances were uncredited, which left Lucille
(07:49):
feeling unfulfilled. She knew that she had what it took
to be a movie star, and so did MGM publicity
manager Pete Smith. Smith saw her raw talents, but there
was one thing getting in her way. Her name, Lucille
Lassour was just an unflattering name for an actress. For one,
it sounded like a stage name, and Smith even once
(08:09):
told his boss that it reminded him of the word sewer.
So Lucille did what a lot of other actors did
in Hollywood. She adopted a stage name. In fact, many
of our favorite stars took on pseudonyms to sound more
appealing to American audiences. Archibald Leitch became Carrie grant Isser,
Danielovich Demsky became Kirk Douglas, and Judy Garland was born
(08:31):
Francis Gumm. But rather than come up with a name
on her own, or except one from the studio, a
different plan was hatched. Lucille's new stage name would be
chosen by the readers of a popular film magazine as
part of a name the star contest. Entries poured in
from all over, and the winning moniker chosen was Joan Arden. Unfortunately,
(08:51):
that name was already in use by someone else, so
the second most popular name was selected instead. Lucille Lsour
was gone. The world would only know this San Antonio
born dancer and actor by her new name, one that
would grace marquis and billboards for decades to come. So
who was she Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. I hope you've
(09:18):
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 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
(09:40):
learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com.
And until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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 of Curiosities.
(00:36):
True genius should be rewarded. People who invent things to
save lives, or explore the stars, or find new cures
for fatal diseases should be honored for their contributions. And
don't get me wrong, many are. But every once in
a while someone slips through the cracks. They fall into
obscurity and are not remembered by history for what they
gave to the world. Someone like ha Large Lamba was
(01:00):
a writer from Scotland. Born on March third of eighteen
forty seven. He had one older brother and one younger brother,
but they apparently died young from tuberculosis. He developed a
keen interest in science and nature from a very young age,
often collecting plant specimens and conducting experiments on them. He
went on to invent a machine that used rotating paddles
(01:22):
and nail brushes to de husk wheat for a flour
mill owned by his best friend's family. The friend's father
gave the boys room for their own to invent other
contraptions that might come in handy someday as a thanks.
But Large Lamb had other talents. For example, he was
also an accomplished pianist, and he dabbled in throwing his voice,
(01:42):
both of which played to one of his many passions sound.
His mother, Eliza, had been a phonetician, someone who studied speech,
and her interest in words and language found its way
into her son. But as he got older, Large Lamb
realized something was happening to his mother, she was going death.
To help her function in a world built for those
(02:03):
who could hear, he developed new methods of communication for her.
One involved speaking directly into her forehead so that she
could hear the words more clearly. He also came up
with a silent language using a series of taps, which
would allow her to participate in conversations going on around her.
But despite his keen mind and ingenuity, Large Lamb wasn't
(02:24):
much of a student. His grades were mediocre and he
spent a lot of time outside the classroom. He got
more of an education, traveling with his grandfather, who helped
him to find his love of learning. Large Lamb eventually
moved to London in eighteen sixty five with his family,
where he continued to experiment with sound and electricity. After
he moved to Canada five years later, he worked his
(02:46):
way down to Boston, where he helped teach a new
system of communication that his father had developed the deaf community.
Over the next several years, Largelamb developed a relationship with
one of his students, Mabel Hubbard, and the two were
eventually married. They built a life together, including a summer
home in Bideck, Canada, where they explored their shared love
of gardening. Because here's the deal, no matter how deep
(03:09):
in the woods, so to speak, Large Lamb became while
working with the Death and the Heart of hearing, he
never forgot his first passion, plants. He often wrote about
botanical and animal life that he encountered, and he helped
found a new academic journal called Science that led to
his role as president of the National Geographic Society from
eighteen ninety eight until nineteen oh three. Large Lamb continued
(03:34):
to write and publish essays about nature, such as a
piece in National Geographic Magazine on the remarkable habits of
certain turtles and lizards. Because of his work, the publication
incorporated more and more photographs and illustrations to not only
provide additional entertainment to the reader, but greater value as well. Meanwhile,
Mabel would often walk around their neighborhood and inquire about
(03:56):
the various flowers and foliage growing in her neighbour's yards.
She also donated many of her own plants to help
their gardens look lush and beautiful. It's believed by Canadian
scientists today that an invasive species known as giant hogweed
may have come to the area due to Large Lamb
having planted it in his own garden. Its sap can
(04:16):
cause sensitivity to sunlight in a person's eyes. But that's
not what the inventor and writer is known for, nor
is he best known for his work with the Heart
of Hearing. His legacy is actually an invention he built
in the eighteen seventies. It had started as a type
of telegraph I'll tell his assistant Thomas Watson, accidentally demonstrated
that the lines between the transmitter and receiver could carry
(04:39):
sound thanks to ha large lamb were able to talk
to people all over the world on modern versions of
his original creation, the telephone, because Ha large Lamb the
Man with the Green Thumb was actually a pseudonym and
an anagram for the name of the one and only
Alexander Graham Bell. An icon doesn't become an icon overnight.
(05:16):
It takes time and effort to rise out of anonymity
and into a household name. People like Thomas Edison, Alexander Grahambelle,
and Marie Curie devoted their entire lives to their work,
and their legacies have ensured that the world will not
allow them to be forgotten. But some people aren't so lucky.
They struggle for years without any recognition. It isn't until
(05:37):
they do something drastic that people notice who they are.
Like Lucille Lsour, most people don't know her name, but
maybe they should. She was born in San Antonio, Texas,
to Thomas Larsour and Annabel Johnson in nineteen oh six.
Her father disappeared less than a year after she was born,
and her mother went on to marry a vaudeville theater
(05:58):
manager named Henry Cassen. Soon after, the whole family left
Texas to make a new home for themselves in Lawton, Oklahoma. Now,
Lucille had known Henry for much of her life and
even took to calling him Daddy, even though he wasn't
her biological father. Still, that didn't stop him from teaching
her like one of his own. He would let her
hang around the theater and watch the various vaudeville acts perform.
(06:20):
Lucille enjoyed the idea of being on stage as well.
She had dreams of becoming a famous dancer, but her
parents had enrolled her in piano lessons, which she hated.
She once took a flying leap off her front porch
to avoid one of her lessons and landed on a
broken milk bottle. The injury to her foot was so
severe she required three surgeries over eighteen months and had
(06:42):
to stop dance classes for some time, But as she
got older, she got back on the stage and eventually
worked up to performing as a chorus girl in a
traveling review show. Producer Jacob Schubert of the famous Schubert
family of theater owners saw Lucille dancing in Detroit and
hired her immediately. They moved to New York in nineteen
twenty four, where she joined the production of a show
(07:03):
called Innocent Eyes at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway,
and it was around this time that she met her
first husband, a saxophone player named James Welton. But their relationship,
much like her career, left Lucille wanting more, so she
reached out to publicist Nils Granland for some help in
getting her more work. He made a few calls and
got her a screen test, which was quickly sent off
(07:25):
to Metro Goldwyn Meyer in California, you know MGM. The
studio liked what it saw and she was hired at
a rate of seventy five dollars a week. Her first
film was a nineteen twenty five silent drama called Lady
of the Night, where Lucille played the body double of
a film star named Norma Shearer in an uncredited role.
Many of her early performances were uncredited, which left Lucille
(07:49):
feeling unfulfilled. She knew that she had what it took
to be a movie star, and so did MGM publicity
manager Pete Smith. Smith saw her raw talents, but there
was one thing getting in her way. Her name, Lucille
Lassour was just an unflattering name for an actress. For one,
it sounded like a stage name, and Smith even once
(08:09):
told his boss that it reminded him of the word sewer.
So Lucille did what a lot of other actors did
in Hollywood. She adopted a stage name. In fact, many
of our favorite stars took on pseudonyms to sound more
appealing to American audiences. Archibald Leitch became Carrie grant Isser,
Danielovich Demsky became Kirk Douglas, and Judy Garland was born
(08:31):
Francis Gumm. But rather than come up with a name
on her own, or except one from the studio, a
different plan was hatched. Lucille's new stage name would be
chosen by the readers of a popular film magazine as
part of a name the star contest. Entries poured in
from all over, and the winning moniker chosen was Joan Arden. Unfortunately,
(08:51):
that name was already in use by someone else, so
the second most popular name was selected instead. Lucille Lsour
was gone. The world would only know this San Antonio
born dancer and actor by her new name, one that
would grace marquis and billboards for decades to come. So
who was she Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. I hope you've
(09:18):
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 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
(09:40):
learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com.
And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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