January 24, 2019 • 9 mins
Some of the most amazing tales in history are about artwork, and today's tour of the Cabinet will reveal a couple that you'll never forget.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
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. It's been said that
(00:28):
beneath yellow Stone National Park in Wyoming, there exists a
supervolcano so big that if it were to erupt, it
would spew enough ashen rock into the atmosphere to destroy
the world, or at least most of it. We have
nothing to worry about, though, as such an event wouldn't
occur for another few thousand years. But volcanoes do erupt,
(00:49):
and when they do, they have devastating effects on the
people and areas surrounding them. They dramatically change the landscape
and at least in one case, how the population of
the planet looks at the world. To understand how, we
need to go back in time to the Indonesian island
of Krakatoa had been active for some time. Earthquakes from
(01:11):
the region had rippled out as far as Australia, and
there was evidence that something big was brewing below. For weeks,
thence forming around the island blasted steam and ash into
the atmosphere, turning the sky dark and casting a black
fog over everything. Then the eruptions got worse, each one
firing more and more debris into the air and sending
(01:32):
out shock waves that could be felt for miles. The
final explosion was so loud it could be heard over
three thousand miles away. One sixty five villages were destroyed,
more than thirty six thousand people died, and two thirds
of the island was annihilated. So yeah, it was bad.
But a strange side effect of the eruption happened shortly
(01:54):
after The skies had been transformed darker, sure, with all
that floating in the air, but sunsets in particular were affected.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the
sky lit up in dazzling shades of orange and yellow
and white. Such wondrous sunsets could be seen as far
as England and Norway. Photography at the time couldn't produce
(02:18):
pictures with any color, let alone reflect the skies and
all their glory. However, another medium could. Artists were so
captivated by the colors overhead they took the painting the
sunsets more vibrant than any photo could ever exhibit. William
Ashcroft painted and sketched dozens of scenes of the blazing
skies over the Thames and Chelsea. His works are so
(02:40):
lifelike the clouds appeared to be on fire, swallowing the
vulnerable blue expanse behind them. Since we don't have color
photographs of the skies at the time, ascroft sketches are
as close as we can get to experiencing even a
fraction of what he saw. The poet Gerard Manly Hopkins
attempted to paint the sun sets with his words, describing
(03:02):
them as looking more like inflamed flesh than the lucid
reds of ordinary sunsets. He also wrote, it bathes the
whole sky. It is mistaken for the reflection of a
great fire. But he wasn't the only artist influenced by
Krakatoa's afterglow. Another painter, this one from Norway, looked up
(03:23):
and didn't see fire. He saw blood. To him, someone
had sliced open the sky like a vein and coated
everything in red. It instilled in him a feeling of
angst of despair, as though the world had ended and
only he had survived. He channeled these feelings onto the canvas,
producing four different versions of a painting that has come
(03:46):
to symbolize the entire Expressionist movement. Knowing all of this,
it becomes clear that the painting subject is most likely
the artist himself. In it, he stands on a wooden
platform set against a blue sea. Overhead, the sky swirls
with red, orange, and white. The man's head is deformed,
(04:08):
and his hands frame each side of his face, which
is trapped in a chilling look of horror a scream.
The Scream painted by and of Edvard Munk. Since the
(04:35):
country's founding, the United States flag design has followed a
fairly standard formula each time a new state has been added.
The thirteen original colonies are represented by the seven red
and six white stripes, while the current states themselves are
represented by white stars against the field of blue in
the upper left corner. Something's changed from flag to flag.
(04:57):
For example, when Oregon became a state in eighteen fifty,
several different versions of the flag existed at the same time,
one where the thirty three separate stars were arranged in
the shape of one big star, while another flag chose
a diamond shape for them instead, but the blue background
and the thirteen stripes remained the same no matter what.
(05:17):
But despite calls for change to the status quo, it
seems people still love and admire the flags simple yet
iconic design. However, things were a bit different almost sixty
years ago. After Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as states
in nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty, respectively, it had
been decided that such a drastic change to the country
(05:39):
required an equally drastic change to its flag. To that end,
a government employee named Stanley Pratt solicited ideas for new
flag designs from a group of Ohio residents. Within a week,
he had flags of all shapes and sizes on his
desk and had one of the toughest jobs of his
career ahead of him, judging every single submission. He wrote
(06:02):
back to each entrance explaining his decision. Almost everyone took
it well except for one. Robert Heft, felt he had
put a lot of work into his flag. He didn't
just draw it on a piece of paper. He spent
twelve and a half hours sewing a full size version
for Mr. Pratt. He kept the thirteen stripes of red
and white, as well as the blue rectangle in the
(06:25):
top left corner. The stars he arranged in a kind
of grid pattern, the lines of five and six stars
alternating until they numbered fifty. Mr Pratt's comments weren't entirely wrong.
He felt He's flag lacked originality, which it did, but
he felt that he had something special, something fit for
(06:45):
a country. So he did what any self respecting flag
designer would do. He wrote his congress person. Ohio Congressman
Walter Moehler hoisted Robert's flag all the way up to
the United States Congress for a vote. It didn't take
much for him to convince his fellow congressman of the
flag's importance. They voted in favor of its design, and
(07:06):
it was formally accepted as the new symbol of the
United States on ly four. Yeah, Independence Day. Poetic right. However,
the story doesn't end there. In fact, it wasn't even
the whole story. You see, I haven't been completely honest
with you about the flags provenance. You might be asking
(07:26):
why a government official went to Ohio to source a
new design rather than open up the opportunity nationwide. And
it's true that Robert half designed the flag, but he
didn't do it as part of a contest, and Stanley
Pratt technically did work for the government, but not for
any federal agency. The flag had been part of a
(07:47):
class project. Pratt had been a high school teacher and
Robert Heft his student. Robert ended up getting a B
minus on his project. Disappointed and as grade, he asked
his teacher if there was anything he could do. After all,
he'd spent an entire day stitching it together, it had
to be worth more than a B minus. So Mr
(08:08):
Pratt gave him a seemingly impossible task. He told him
if he could get the United States Congress to accept
his design as the official national flag, then he changed
his grade to an A. Robert passed away in two
thousand nine, but his design lives on flying over the
White House and every government building across the country. Has
(08:29):
family still possesses the original flag he made by hand,
although museums and wealthy collectors have tried to purchase it.
To them, it isn't just a piece of history, it's
a family heirloom. And as for Mr. Pratt's promise, he
made good on it. Robert got his A. I hope
(08:52):
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 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
(09:15):
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
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. It's been said that
(00:28):
beneath yellow Stone National Park in Wyoming, there exists a
supervolcano so big that if it were to erupt, it
would spew enough ashen rock into the atmosphere to destroy
the world, or at least most of it. We have
nothing to worry about, though, as such an event wouldn't
occur for another few thousand years. But volcanoes do erupt,
(00:49):
and when they do, they have devastating effects on the
people and areas surrounding them. They dramatically change the landscape
and at least in one case, how the population of
the planet looks at the world. To understand how, we
need to go back in time to the Indonesian island
of Krakatoa had been active for some time. Earthquakes from
(01:11):
the region had rippled out as far as Australia, and
there was evidence that something big was brewing below. For weeks,
thence forming around the island blasted steam and ash into
the atmosphere, turning the sky dark and casting a black
fog over everything. Then the eruptions got worse, each one
firing more and more debris into the air and sending
(01:32):
out shock waves that could be felt for miles. The
final explosion was so loud it could be heard over
three thousand miles away. One sixty five villages were destroyed,
more than thirty six thousand people died, and two thirds
of the island was annihilated. So yeah, it was bad.
But a strange side effect of the eruption happened shortly
(01:54):
after The skies had been transformed darker, sure, with all
that floating in the air, but sunsets in particular were affected.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the
sky lit up in dazzling shades of orange and yellow
and white. Such wondrous sunsets could be seen as far
as England and Norway. Photography at the time couldn't produce
(02:18):
pictures with any color, let alone reflect the skies and
all their glory. However, another medium could. Artists were so
captivated by the colors overhead they took the painting the
sunsets more vibrant than any photo could ever exhibit. William
Ashcroft painted and sketched dozens of scenes of the blazing
skies over the Thames and Chelsea. His works are so
(02:40):
lifelike the clouds appeared to be on fire, swallowing the
vulnerable blue expanse behind them. Since we don't have color
photographs of the skies at the time, ascroft sketches are
as close as we can get to experiencing even a
fraction of what he saw. The poet Gerard Manly Hopkins
attempted to paint the sun sets with his words, describing
(03:02):
them as looking more like inflamed flesh than the lucid
reds of ordinary sunsets. He also wrote, it bathes the
whole sky. It is mistaken for the reflection of a
great fire. But he wasn't the only artist influenced by
Krakatoa's afterglow. Another painter, this one from Norway, looked up
(03:23):
and didn't see fire. He saw blood. To him, someone
had sliced open the sky like a vein and coated
everything in red. It instilled in him a feeling of
angst of despair, as though the world had ended and
only he had survived. He channeled these feelings onto the canvas,
producing four different versions of a painting that has come
(03:46):
to symbolize the entire Expressionist movement. Knowing all of this,
it becomes clear that the painting subject is most likely
the artist himself. In it, he stands on a wooden
platform set against a blue sea. Overhead, the sky swirls
with red, orange, and white. The man's head is deformed,
(04:08):
and his hands frame each side of his face, which
is trapped in a chilling look of horror a scream.
The Scream painted by and of Edvard Munk. Since the
(04:35):
country's founding, the United States flag design has followed a
fairly standard formula each time a new state has been added.
The thirteen original colonies are represented by the seven red
and six white stripes, while the current states themselves are
represented by white stars against the field of blue in
the upper left corner. Something's changed from flag to flag.
(04:57):
For example, when Oregon became a state in eighteen fifty,
several different versions of the flag existed at the same time,
one where the thirty three separate stars were arranged in
the shape of one big star, while another flag chose
a diamond shape for them instead, but the blue background
and the thirteen stripes remained the same no matter what.
(05:17):
But despite calls for change to the status quo, it
seems people still love and admire the flags simple yet
iconic design. However, things were a bit different almost sixty
years ago. After Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as states
in nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty, respectively, it had
been decided that such a drastic change to the country
(05:39):
required an equally drastic change to its flag. To that end,
a government employee named Stanley Pratt solicited ideas for new
flag designs from a group of Ohio residents. Within a week,
he had flags of all shapes and sizes on his
desk and had one of the toughest jobs of his
career ahead of him, judging every single submission. He wrote
(06:02):
back to each entrance explaining his decision. Almost everyone took
it well except for one. Robert Heft, felt he had
put a lot of work into his flag. He didn't
just draw it on a piece of paper. He spent
twelve and a half hours sewing a full size version
for Mr. Pratt. He kept the thirteen stripes of red
and white, as well as the blue rectangle in the
(06:25):
top left corner. The stars he arranged in a kind
of grid pattern, the lines of five and six stars
alternating until they numbered fifty. Mr Pratt's comments weren't entirely wrong.
He felt He's flag lacked originality, which it did, but
he felt that he had something special, something fit for
(06:45):
a country. So he did what any self respecting flag
designer would do. He wrote his congress person. Ohio Congressman
Walter Moehler hoisted Robert's flag all the way up to
the United States Congress for a vote. It didn't take
much for him to convince his fellow congressman of the
flag's importance. They voted in favor of its design, and
(07:06):
it was formally accepted as the new symbol of the
United States on ly four. Yeah, Independence Day. Poetic right. However,
the story doesn't end there. In fact, it wasn't even
the whole story. You see, I haven't been completely honest
with you about the flags provenance. You might be asking
(07:26):
why a government official went to Ohio to source a
new design rather than open up the opportunity nationwide. And
it's true that Robert half designed the flag, but he
didn't do it as part of a contest, and Stanley
Pratt technically did work for the government, but not for
any federal agency. The flag had been part of a
(07:47):
class project. Pratt had been a high school teacher and
Robert Heft his student. Robert ended up getting a B
minus on his project. Disappointed and as grade, he asked
his teacher if there was anything he could do. After all,
he'd spent an entire day stitching it together, it had
to be worth more than a B minus. So Mr
(08:08):
Pratt gave him a seemingly impossible task. He told him
if he could get the United States Congress to accept
his design as the official national flag, then he changed
his grade to an A. Robert passed away in two
thousand nine, but his design lives on flying over the
White House and every government building across the country. Has
(08:29):
family still possesses the original flag he made by hand,
although museums and wealthy collectors have tried to purchase it.
To them, it isn't just a piece of history, it's
a family heirloom. And as for Mr. Pratt's promise, he
made good on it. Robert got his A. I hope
(08:52):
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 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
(09:15):
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Death, Sex & Money
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.