Bell’s and Whistles

This is the story of how facial paralysis almost ended my career. I’ll also introduce you to the inventor of cruise control… and how he faced the people that underestimated him.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today's stories about perseverance, cruise control, and overcoming challenges to
create something special. It's also about me, your host an
opum Care, but mostly it's about making you smile. Welcome
to an Opum Cares, Chapter twelve, Bells and Whistles. In

(00:37):
the nineties, I played roles in two hundred or two
fifty films. I honestly don't even know. I've lost count.
There was a joke about me by the famous lyricist
Ja Doctor. You cannot make in the films without two things,
film rostock and an open care. As you can imagine,

(00:59):
it was a far space lifestyle for a decade. I
worked three shifts today, seven days a week, and I
traveled near and far. I loved it, but it was
chaotic and my body paid the price. When I felt tired,
when my back hurt and my feet were sore, I

(01:20):
tucked those feelings away and I just told myself to
keep going with this mentality and this workload. It was
only a matter of time before my body could rise
up in protest, and it did. It happened one night
in early I was at dinner with my close friend,

(01:43):
actor Anil Kapoor and his wife Sunita We were laughing,
sharing stories, having the most wonderful time, when suddenly Sunita asked,
what is the matter with your eye? Your left eye
isn't blinking. I had no idea what she was talking about.
Everything felt normal, but her words worried me. For some reason,

(02:08):
perhaps to calm myself down, I decided to play it
off as no big deal, so I casually said, oh, yes,
that I've noticed that happens when I'm working too hard.
It's nothing to worry about. I tried to push UNITA's
observation out of my mind, and I did. In fact,

(02:29):
by the time I got home after dinner, I had
completely forgotten her comment. But the next morning, when I
was brushing my teeth, I noticed water dripping from a
lower lip. I leaned in closer to the mirror and

(02:51):
tried to stop the dripping by pursing my lips together. Yes,
then I noticed that my mouth would not close all
the way. Now I was officially concerned. I asked one
of my dearest friends, producer director Yes, to come and
see me, and I told him yes, since last night,

(03:14):
the left side of my face is I don't know,
It's like the left side of my face is not
responding to what my brain is telling you to do.
Y as, she told me to consult his friend, Dr
be A Single in Bombay hospital. Doctor Single is a
highly respected professional. You just told me he will know
what to do. I called the hospital and asked to

(03:41):
see doctor Single as soon as possible. I had no
time to waste that week. In particular, I was about
to start working on Shooragea's film con It was from
the same production company that had given me my first
truly big break in the film Sarrange. I needed to
be fixed immediately. O. As I sat in doctor singles office,

(04:03):
possible scenarios swirled through my head. What if I needed surgery?
Would I have to miss an older filming. Could I
do the surgery at night so that I could be
on the set the first thing in the next morning.
Maybe Doctor Single could prescribe me a pill to fix
this by tomorrow. After the examination, Doctor Single sat me down.

(04:30):
He said, Mr Kerr, you have Bell's policy. It's facial paralysis.
Every word he said sounded so serious. I had so
many questions, Doctor sub What is my body doing to me?
How did this happen? Doctor Single responded, Bells policy doesn't

(04:54):
typically develop from isolated reactions within the body, but rather
the condition is triggered by surch substances in the environment.
When I see patients with facial paralysis, they are typically
experiencing high levels of stress. Would you say you have
been under stress lately? That's an understatement, I thought, so,

(05:14):
dr what do I do now? Doctor Single advised, I
will give you steroids to take and you must drop
everything and rest for two months. I couldn't process what
Doctor Single was saying. At the time. I was so
laser focused on meeting my career goals that when doctor
Single told me to drop everything, I did not think

(05:35):
that he could possibly be advising me to stop filming.
So I responded, okay, so should I confirm the morning
or afternoon shooting shift. I could tell Doctor Single was
getting a little irritated with me. He said, Mr Kerr,
shift the focus from your films to your face. If
you don't take this seriously, you may never be able

(05:57):
to move the left side of your face again. You
must stop filming now. Still, I pushed back, Sir, I
don't think you understand whatever I am today. It's because
of rage reproductions. They gave me my first big break
in Sarranch. If I do not follow my shooting schedules,
the producer Mr Rachmarata will face a huge financial loss

(06:20):
and filming will be greatly delayed. I cannot do that
to him. Doctor Single was not impressed. He told me
to put everything down and give my body the rest
it needed for two months. I asked him, Doctor Single,
how will I know when or if I have healed?
He answered with one word, whistling. Now. I felt there

(06:44):
was something wrong with my hearring. Sorry, sir, I I
don't think I heard you correctly. Doctor Single leaned back
in his chair and said, Mr kir try and whistle
for me right now. I puckered my mouth and prepared
to whistle. I blew air through my lips, but there

(07:06):
was no whistling sound. I stopped and relaxed my mouth
for a moment and tried again. M M. My stomach sank.
Doctor Single looked at me knowingly. Then he said, softly,

(07:27):
the day you can whistle properly, missr Care, you will
be fine. I was scared. As an actor of facial

(07:48):
expressions are a big part of how I perform. If
I had no control over my face, then was I
even acting. What would become of this career I had
been working so are to build. In the car ride home,
I wondered what should I do. I knew I had

(08:10):
two options. I could go home, as doctor single instructed
and hide my twisted features for two months, or I
could face the world. I was overwhelmed, but I do
think there are times in life where you are put
into situations where you must make difficult decisions so that

(08:33):
you can discover your own courage. I made my decision
after a short car ride I reached the studio. When
I arrived, I requested the whole crew, the technicians, assistant actors, producers,

(08:54):
and the director to gather around me. Then I told
them everything. I told them a out my diagnosis, my
doctor's advice, and how despite everything, I had decided to
film such immediately suggested that we cancel the shoot, but
I told him no. I told him that I wanted
to work and I would do my best, but I

(09:16):
would need his help. The shooting carried on for twenty days,
and I was there every day. Everyone came together to
help me to work through my facial paralysis. If you

(09:37):
were to look at me straight on, you would see
that only the right side of my face was expressive,
But the crew was extremely creative and choreographed scenes to
avoid filming the paralyzed side of my face. But it
was amazing the whole team was there for me. Between scenes.
I wore a placard around my neck. It said, don't

(09:59):
look at my is, look at my heart and hug me.
I needed kindness and support from the cast, and they
gave it to me right when I needed it the most.
Those hugs yield my spirit. Of course, there is a
little more to the story. I knew doctor single the
advice was sound. I just hope there was some compromise

(10:22):
a medical treatment that would allow me to continue to film,
And there was physiotherapy. As an actor who has played
a villain many many times, I have performed many torture scenes.
I've hung people upside down and smacked them, or thrown
people from the top of a mountain into the sea. Physiotherapy,

(10:46):
I think must have been designed by one of these villains.
During the filming, I went for treatment, which included an
electro pulse therapy for my face. The therapist would look
wires to my face and say and little shocks through
it to stumulate the nerves. It isn't exactly pleasant, but

(11:06):
after each session I would attempt to whistle and nothing.
I did this every day for months. It was agonizing.
Then one day I puckered my mouth blew a puff
of air through my lips. I could whistle, and I

(11:35):
did whistle. I did whistle again and again. I felt
such an incredible sense of relief. I can hardly describe
it in words. Since then, the first thing I do

(11:56):
every morning when I wake up is whistle. Yes, whistle loudly,
as if to declare to the world that a new
days here and all will be well. And the film
alhama Con turned out to be a blockbuster. We all

(12:17):
rose to the unexpected challenge, which sparked a creativity that
I believe made the film better. But speaking of creativity
in the face of adversity, I want to tell you
a story about an inventor who, against all odds, developed

(12:40):
a technology we all use today, cruise control. The story
starts in Hagerstown, Indiana, with a man named Ralph Theater
and his lawyer. Back during world out to the U S.

(13:00):
Government set a speed limit to help conserved gas. The
limit was just thirty five miles per hour, and most
people had an easy time staking to it. But Teter's
close friend and patent lawyer, Harry Lindsay, was a terrible driver.
In fact, Lindsay jerked the car around so much, speeding
it up, then breaking, then speeding it up then breaking,

(13:23):
that it made teeter car sick. After one particularly bad right,
Teter decided he needed to do something, so he set
out to invent something that would keep the car moving
at a consistent speed. In his mind, he wanted to
create something where a driver could just press a button,
take their foot off the excelator, and then relax as

(13:46):
the car kept moving. Teeter was a genius. Furthermore, playing
with cars was in his blood. Growing up, his family
had owned a bicycle manufacturing shop. Later it evolved making
engines for cars, so he knew his way around the machinery.

(14:08):
Once he perfected the technology, he just had to come
up with a great name. Tater first called it the
ConTroll Omatic, then speed of stat then Autopilot. The glamorous
Chrysler already has led the way to the dawn of

(14:28):
a new era, and now for the first time in
Taters Cruise Control premiered in select Chrysler models. The company
charged eighty six dollars for the feature to appear on
the highways in a generation right from the Star, But
after only one year, the setting was so popular that
Chrysler offered cruise Control on all models, and now it's

(14:52):
a common feature on most American cars. Acclaim and noticed
the location of the new parking lamp. But perhaps the
most incredible part of this story is the part we
didn't tell you. Ralph Teter, the engineer and inventor behind
cruise Control, was blind. When Teeter was five and playing

(15:17):
in the family shop, he had an accident that squarely
injured his eye. Within a year, the trauma had spread
and he was completely blinded in both eyes. But Teter
never lost his enthusiasm for building things. In nineteen or two,
he built an automobile that could zip around town at

(15:39):
up to twenty five miles per hour. He was just
twelve years old at that time. Then, after high school,
Teter applied to engineering programs, but it wasn't an easy process.
Most universities dismissed him out of hand. A blind man

(16:00):
could never be an engineer, they told him. In fact,
he was only accepted to the University of Pennsylvania after
his cousin, who was an economic student there, pleaded with
the Dean of engineering to give him a chance. Of course,
the dean was skeptical, but he eventually agreed. All Teter

(16:21):
needed was that first foot in the door. He excelled immediately,
quickly becoming one of the most promising engineers in the program.
But the truly amazing thing is that Teter's blindness improved
his ability to invent new things. He developed an exceptional
ability to visualize objects and to guide himself via touch.

(16:45):
His daughter recalls watching him in the shop being able
to feel when pieces of machinery varied by less than
two one thousands of an inch. Through this heightened sense
of touch, he was able to solve problems other engineers couldn't.

(17:07):
During World War One, he developed a new technique for
balancing steam turbines on torpedo boat destroyers. Other engineers had
tried for years to solve the problem, but his deft
hands gave him the advantage. Teeter would go on to
invent and improve several things, but his crowning achievement would

(17:30):
always be cruise control. It's surprising to think that he
almost couldn't get into college because of his disability. But
it is precisely because he was blind that he came
up with the idea. If he could have driven himself
and didn't need his lawyer to give him rides, he
might not have realized the need for the invention. Taters

(17:56):
Killed with Cars was so revered that he later became
president of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and before he died,
he was inducted to the Automotive Hall of Fame. So
the next time you're driving and you flick on the
cruise control, give a little vessel for Ralph Teter. That's

(18:30):
it for today's episode. I'm an Open care Be kind
to yourself and thank you for listening. And opum Cares

(18:55):
is a production of I Heart Radio. I'm Your Host
An Open care Our. Executive producer is Mang, Senior producer
Julian Weller, Associate producer Morgan Lavoy. Sound design and mixing
by Julian Weller and Dan Bauza. Music by Aaron Kauffman.

(19:16):
Production support from Emily Maronoff and Married du Writing by
Lucas Riley, Matt Riddle, Margon Lavoy and Julian Weller. Lucas
Riley and Matt Riddle are our story editors thanks to
Seekin Paru, Hermand de Suza, gadwain Amana Sidium Studios, Conald
Byrne and Bob Pittman