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valid on select items only. What

1:00

follows may not be suitable

1:02

for all audiences listener

1:04

discretion is advised The world

1:07

is full of stories

1:09

Join Kat and

1:11

Jethro Gilligan Toth for

1:14

the strange the

1:16

bizarre the unexpected as

1:18

they lift the

1:21

lid and cautiously peer

1:23

inside the box

1:25

of oddities The stairs

1:28

is exhausting I'm still

1:30

not used to the altitude. We've been here

1:32

nearly two years. And I

1:34

get winded putting my socks on. I

1:36

did get my steps in today

1:38

though. So those stairs just now,

1:40

that was all extra steps. That's

1:42

bonus steps. Yes. I

1:45

wanted to mention to you

1:47

some of the great feedback that

1:49

I've had on my new

1:51

series on threads. called

1:54

How My Husband Greeted Me

1:56

This Morning, which I've been

1:58

really enjoying. Episode

2:00

one was Good Morning

2:02

Bitch Muffin. You're

2:04

my bitch muffin. Yeah,

2:07

some really, some really great

2:09

responses to that one.

2:11

Liv Laugh Larsonie podcast commented,

2:14

I gotta give this one a spin. I

2:16

really liked that. Well, to

2:18

me, it sums it up because

2:21

I love muffins. One

2:23

of my favorite things. Right.

2:27

I'm really curious about where

2:29

this is gonna go. I'm

2:31

thinking a strong independent woman,

2:33

maybe. No, it

2:35

doesn't work, does it? No, okay.

2:37

I liked episode two much better. Good

2:39

morning poodle. Yeah, I call you

2:41

that quite a bit though. You do,

2:43

you do. Anyway, stay tuned to

2:46

see how my husband greets me in

2:48

the morning on threads. That's it. Two

2:51

episodes? Uh, no, episode

2:53

three. Sorry, my bad. Uh,

2:55

good morning, beautiful wharf face. Beautiful

2:58

what? Wharf face. Wharf,

3:00

oh, as in wife. Yeah, I'm the

3:02

other one that said it, so. Well,

3:04

I'm barely conscious before I have coffee.

3:06

And those are the types of things

3:08

that I say before I have coffee.

3:11

I have to say, I woke you

3:13

up the other night. I

3:15

was like 2 a .m. I had

3:17

had a nightmare and so I

3:19

came in and I was like

3:21

love me and You were so

3:23

funny for it being 2 a

3:25

.m. Yeah, like you were all

3:27

you you rolled over and you

3:29

went what's up girl? And

3:34

then you were trying to get your

3:36

audio book to stop playing, and it wouldn't

3:38

stop playing, so you were like, stop

3:40

jamming me. I just

3:42

thought it was very funny for 2

3:44

a .m. Well, it may have been funnier

3:46

in your mind because it was 2 a

3:48

.m., know, I'm pretty sure it was funny.

3:50

Okay. Anyway. If you say so,

3:53

Waffle. Well, not

3:55

only are we dealing with

3:57

the altitude here in the high

3:59

Andes, but it seems like

4:01

a windstorm is coming up. Indeed.

4:03

And it gets breezy up

4:05

here. It actually blew the

4:07

window out of our skylight one

4:10

day. That was something. So if

4:12

you hear a bunch of howling

4:14

noise, just consider it. Just

4:16

pretend we've hired a

4:18

world -class Foley artist. It's

4:21

ambiance. I'm going to talk

4:23

about weird things. that people have found

4:25

in their walls. Ooh, okay.

4:27

Now I like this. I already

4:29

like it. You wouldn't believe some

4:31

of the things that people have

4:33

found inside the walls of their

4:36

old buildings. Now, there used to

4:38

be a show on HGTV called

4:40

If These Walls Could Talk, and

4:42

that was pretty much it. Just crap they

4:44

found in old buildings inside of walls. It

4:47

must have been hard to flesh that one

4:49

out. Well, it was a short -lived series,

4:51

and I haven't been able to find it

4:53

anywhere. It's probably on YouTube or something. But

4:56

we're not talking about forgotten treasure

4:58

chests or hidden love letters, although

5:00

those things have turned up too.

5:03

We're talking about just

5:05

really weird stuff, like

5:07

a stash of 1940s

5:09

notes written entirely in

5:12

pig Latin. A pair

5:14

of dentures wrapped in

5:16

tinfoil that was embedded

5:18

in the drywall. What's

5:21

that about? All of this, I

5:23

think, is some sort of old

5:25

school protection spell. It's got

5:27

to be something like that. That's my first

5:29

thought. And it's my last thought.

5:31

I have very few thoughts about it, really. Well,

5:33

at this altitude, who can blame you? Somebody

5:36

found a vintage McDonald's

5:38

hamburger that was over 60

5:40

years old inside the

5:42

wall of a school. Like

5:44

an actual hamburger. An

5:47

actual hamburger. Probably is still

5:49

good. My

5:51

guess is that 60

5:53

years ago, somebody, a

5:56

kid, didn't like what they

5:58

were getting at the school cafeteria

6:00

and had brought a McDonald's

6:02

hamburger and was about to get

6:04

caught for it and somehow

6:06

stuffed it inside, I don't

6:08

know, an opening on the wall or maybe

6:11

like where the window meets. And that's

6:13

my theory. Kind of like our old neighbor

6:15

on South Shore Road. The guy that

6:17

used to get fast food and beers on

6:19

his way home from work and then

6:21

toss the trash out on the road on

6:23

the way home so that his wife

6:25

wouldn't know that he'd been. We

6:28

never determined which neighbor that was. No,

6:30

but it was so consistent like you

6:32

knew what was happening. Yeah. Yeah, he

6:34

didn't want his wife to find out

6:36

he was eating McDonald's and drinking beers

6:38

on the way home. Every

6:40

day, apparently, an

6:42

entire family of porcelain

6:45

clown dolls were found

6:47

grinning from behind a

6:49

bathroom mirror. Someone

6:51

found a perfectly intact

6:54

rotary phone with a

6:56

phone book from 1972

6:58

duct taped to the

7:00

receiver inside a wall.

7:04

An unopened can of surge soda.

7:06

Nice. Did they still make

7:08

that? I don't know. I don't

7:10

know. Somebody found a full

7:13

set of bowling trophies that were

7:15

wedged between the framing of

7:17

a suburban basement, probably a 1950s

7:19

rumpus room, and they had

7:21

their bowling trophies up, and then

7:23

they decided when it was

7:26

time to put the paneling up,

7:28

moving the trophies was too

7:30

much trouble. Why? Why even worry

7:32

about it? Why? And

7:34

then, of course, there was the

7:36

famous and extremely creepy collection

7:39

of Victorian dolls discovered behind a

7:41

fireplace in an English cottage

7:43

not too long ago. But

7:45

even among the pantheons

7:47

of these truly unhinged discoveries,

7:50

one stands out and

7:52

you're probably not going to

7:54

like it. It happened

7:56

at the old defunct Dayton's

7:59

department store building in

8:01

Minneapolis. Okay. So to kind

8:03

of give you some

8:05

context, the Dayton's building is

8:07

no ordinary structure. It's one

8:09

of those big old ornate department

8:12

stores. This one was built

8:14

in 1902 and it's 12 stories

8:16

high. Oh, wow. And it

8:18

served as the flagship store for

8:20

the Dayton company, a

8:22

department store that would eventually

8:24

morph into retail giants like

8:26

Target. For more than a

8:28

century, Dayton's wasn't just a

8:30

shopping destination. It was a

8:32

full -blown Minneapolis cultural landmark. Kind

8:34

of like Freezes was for

8:37

Bangor. For Bangor, yeah. Or

8:39

Macy's in New York, or

8:41

Gimbles, or those types of

8:43

stores, Marshall Fields. It

8:45

was known for its glittering holiday

8:47

displays, sprawling sales

8:49

floors, and a

8:51

huge pet department,

8:54

which wasn't uncommon. in

8:56

those days for big

8:58

department stores. It was

9:00

the kind of place where grandmas

9:03

took their grandkids and you probably

9:05

couldn't walk more than 20 feet

9:07

without running into a display of

9:09

reasonably priced hosiery, probably like legs

9:11

that came in those little plastic

9:14

eggs. I loved those. Did you?

9:16

They seemed so fancy. Which

9:19

of... And a little spinny carousel

9:21

rack. Tells you what my

9:23

idea of fancy was back then.

9:25

legs and Vienna frozen dessert.

9:27

Vienna, Vienna. I knew

9:29

what you meant. Yeah, there we go. Yeah,

9:31

it was kind of an ice cream

9:33

freezer cake type thing. Fancy shit you can

9:35

imagine. Well, it

9:37

had quite a history and

9:40

it was a beloved landmark, but

9:42

times change. And after closing

9:44

its doors for good in 2017,

9:47

after a short period of

9:49

it being abandoned, they began

9:51

a massive renovation project aimed

9:53

at transforming the space into

9:55

a mix of offices, retail

9:57

and food venues. So

10:01

construction crews began gutting the

10:03

place in early 2018, peeling

10:05

back decades of old plaster

10:07

and drywall and ductwork. I

10:09

hope they were trying to

10:11

preserve, you know, the woodwork

10:13

and all the ornate stuff.

10:15

It really makes me mad

10:18

when people just tear that

10:20

out. They were

10:22

quite literally revealing the

10:24

building's guts. Most of what

10:26

they found pretty predictable, outdated wiring, dust,

10:29

maybe a few rogue paper clips

10:31

from the Eisenhower era, then

10:34

came the seventh floor and

10:36

the air duct. That's where the

10:38

pets were, wasn't it? No,

10:40

I don't think the pet store

10:42

was on the first floor.

10:44

Okay, thank goodness. Don't thank goodness

10:46

too much too fast. The

10:48

construction workers made a discovery that

10:50

was unexpected, a bit

10:52

eyebrow raising, and it

10:54

managed to simultaneously perplex

10:56

historians, somewhat amuse

10:59

internet sleuths. And it

11:01

made animal lovers everywhere

11:03

sad because they

11:05

found a monkey inside

11:07

the ductwork. of this

11:09

department store. More specifically,

11:12

a small, long -deceased,

11:14

shockingly well -preserved monkey

11:16

mummified by time ductwork

11:18

in a cruel twist

11:20

of fate. I

11:22

don't like this story.

11:25

Yeah, yeah. It's

11:27

safe to say no one expected

11:29

to find the mummified remains of a

11:31

small primate hiding in the ductwork

11:33

of a 20th century department store, yet

11:35

there it was. According to reports,

11:37

the monkey was found in the duct

11:39

like it had just fallen asleep

11:42

and never woke up. Its

11:44

body was perfectly preserved and

11:46

they're guessing thanks to the cool

11:48

dry conditions in the airflow

11:50

in the venting system. What

11:53

might have been more

11:55

gruesome sight, he

11:57

seemed weirdly peaceful. The

12:00

immediate question was

12:02

how? followed closely

12:05

by why. Followed

12:07

by much more logistical weight, there

12:09

were monkeys in the department store

12:11

duct work? Well, these

12:13

were different times. Let's

12:22

be real, life is full of

12:24

uncertainties, whether you're considering a career change,

12:27

changing a relationship, big decisions or

12:29

just trying to figure things out. And

12:31

I was really excited to find

12:33

out that Strawberry .Me was going to

12:35

sponsor the box of oddities because I

12:37

had been thinking about checking in

12:40

with a personal coach. And the reason

12:42

is, and this may surprise you,

12:44

I tend to procrastinate. And so my

12:46

to -do list gets overwhelming for me

12:48

and that causes stress. So I

12:50

just finished my first session on Strawberry

12:52

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12:55

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12:57

having somebody to listen to me and

12:59

also ask the right questions. And

13:01

they paired me up with Paul, who

13:03

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13:05

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13:07

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13:52

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13:57

it's being known as. And how

13:59

we settle situations like that by

14:01

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14:03

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to support them on their journey. because

15:24

you deserve quality care from

15:26

someone who truly cares. The

15:31

most popular theory traces the

15:34

monkey back to Dayton's famed

15:36

pet department. It was

15:38

a real thing. In the

15:40

golden age of department

15:42

store grandeur it wasn't uncommon

15:44

for high -end retailers to

15:46

have in -house pet shops

15:48

and Dayton's being as

15:50

big a store as it

15:52

was took that concept

15:54

apparently to a whole new

15:57

level and created an

15:59

entire rainforest display. In

16:01

the 1960s, Dayton's reportedly

16:03

had a tropical theme

16:05

display complete with plants,

16:07

mist, and live animals. And

16:10

legend had it that one of

16:12

the monkeys, whether out

16:14

of curiosity or just

16:16

a miscalculated leap, managed

16:18

to escape the enclosure

16:20

and vanished into the

16:22

store's labyrinth -like infrastructure. Unseen

16:25

and unreachable, they probably thought

16:27

he just got away, likely

16:29

wandered through the ducks and

16:31

crawl space until it found

16:33

itself stuck. Animal lovers

16:35

rightly cringe at the

16:37

idea of this happening, the

16:39

idea of monkeys in

16:42

a department store. Today,

16:44

the thought of exotic animals

16:46

being used as decor would

16:48

spark outrage. And for

16:50

good reason. Back then,

16:52

it was another example of

16:54

mid -century America being well

16:56

unhinged. But there's another

16:58

theory, too. Oh. Of

17:00

what happened. And it kind

17:02

of reads like a mash

17:04

-up of a 1980s teen

17:06

comedy and a true crime

17:08

podcast, according to Robbins Dale

17:10

Mayor Reagan Murphy. His

17:12

father, Larry Murphy, confessed to

17:15

a rather bizarre tale right

17:17

before his death. He said

17:19

as a teenager in the

17:21

60s Larry and a friend

17:23

decided it would be hilarious

17:25

to steal a monkey from

17:27

Dayton's pet department and they

17:29

succeeded briefly The story goes

17:31

that once the monkey was

17:33

back at their house chaos

17:36

ensued the monkey started tearing

17:38

up their house because of

17:40

course monkeys They're not house

17:42

pets and

17:44

certainly not stolen ones.

17:46

So faced with reality,

17:48

the reality of their

17:50

primate pilfering, the teens

17:52

panicked. They brought the monkey

17:54

back to Dayton's. But rather

17:56

than handing it over to customer

17:58

service or a security guard,

18:00

they just let it loose inside

18:03

the store. And from there

18:05

it likely did what any confused

18:07

monkey would do, flee and

18:09

hide, climb up into a wall

18:11

or something. Murphy's story

18:13

has never been

18:15

fully verified, but

18:17

it has a certain chaotic

18:19

plausibility. This was

18:21

his deathbed confession in a

18:24

way. Either way, the ending

18:26

was the same, the monkey's fate

18:28

was sealed inside the walls of a

18:30

Minneapolis icon. After the

18:32

discovery, the mummified monkey became

18:34

a local legend overnight. Social media,

18:36

of course, lit up with

18:38

theories. The Science Museum

18:40

of Minnesota hosted the remains

18:42

briefly before returning them to

18:44

the Dayton's project team. It

18:46

was a strange and poignant

18:49

reminder of how weirdly layered

18:51

our history can be. Now

18:53

today, Dayton's building is modernized,

18:55

but the tale of the

18:57

monkey lingers. a tragic, cautionary

18:59

tale and a bizarre urban

19:01

legend. The story is a

19:03

reminder that the past is

19:05

never really buried, and if

19:07

anything else, let this be

19:10

a lesson. If you

19:12

ever find yourself in a

19:14

department store that features live monkeys

19:16

as a decor run, or

19:18

at least don't take one home,

19:20

and for the love of

19:22

God, Can we treat animals with

19:24

some respect? Now, I know

19:26

this was 70 years ago or

19:28

something, but the idea to

19:30

me of just, hey, we're going

19:32

to put up some chicken

19:34

wire and show off some monkeys

19:36

and tropical birds. Yeah, it's

19:39

pretty gross. Anyway, that

19:41

came from Atlas Obscura and also

19:43

CBS News. I think it's a

19:45

really great example of why we

19:47

shouldn't sell animals, period. Especially

19:50

when you're in places like

19:52

Ecuador where you can just

19:54

find anything you want out

19:56

on the street constantly. No,

19:58

anywhere. Stop selling animals. That

20:00

story really me out. I'm

20:02

sorry. I tried to find

20:04

a way around it that would

20:07

it wouldn't hit you as as

20:09

hard as it might but I

20:11

had no luck. It is it

20:13

is a sad tragic tale but

20:15

it's just weird enough to be

20:17

a box of oddities topic. And

20:20

now, that thing in the middle.

20:22

Along with your threads series of

20:24

names I call you first thing

20:26

in the morning, you have another

20:28

popular series, I think it's on

20:30

TikTok though, where you just try

20:32

strange and exotic fruits. From

20:34

where we are yeah in Ecuador.

20:36

Yeah That's been a lot of fun

20:39

And so you came up with

20:41

a list today for a thing in

20:43

the middle and what exactly I

20:45

know they're strange and exotic fruits But

20:47

what's the story behind them? These

20:49

are fruits that you cannot try because

20:51

they're now extinct. Oh They're extinct

20:53

fruits. Okay, we don't really talk about

20:55

very much. Okay. How about this

20:57

one then? I'm looking at over now

20:59

a number five. Is it gross

21:01

Michael banana? Yeah don't

21:03

know if that's how you pronounce it,

21:05

but that's how I would pronounce it.

21:07

Also known as the Big Mike. Before

21:10

the 1950s, this banana

21:12

was the one everybody knew.

21:14

It was sweeter and

21:16

creamier and way more robust

21:18

than the cavendish, which

21:20

we eat now. The flavor

21:23

banana that we all

21:25

know was based on that

21:27

old species of banana. That's

21:29

why... flavoring doesn't taste

21:32

like bananas. 4.

21:42

The Calvill Blanc The Iver

21:44

Apple Once the prized

21:46

baking apple of French royalty,

21:48

apparently, Marie Antoinette

21:50

loved it. And it technically

21:52

still exists, but it's nearly

21:54

impossible to find. It looks

21:56

bumpy and weird, but apparently

21:59

it tastes very citrusy and

22:01

spicy. People say that it tastes like

22:03

an apple that's already been baked in a pie.

22:05

Number three, the Bermuda tomato.

22:09

Bermuda tomato. I

22:12

wanna, nevermind. In

22:15

the late 1800s, this

22:17

tomato was the tomato

22:19

exported from Bermuda to

22:21

the US before diseases

22:23

and shipping costs caused

22:25

commercial extinction, described as

22:27

rich, bright, and deeply

22:29

flavorful. Number two, the

22:32

Judean date palm. Seeds

22:34

from a date palm tree that

22:36

went extinct 2 ,000 years ago

22:38

were found in an archaeological site

22:41

and found to have actually sprouted

22:43

in 2005. Yes, let's bring it

22:45

back. Yeah, the resulting trees are

22:47

part of an effort to do

22:49

just that. I love that, and

22:51

I wish we could do that

22:53

with number one, the purple chili

22:55

peppers of the Aztecs. I love

22:57

their song, Airplane. The

23:00

purple chili peppers. These

23:02

dark purple chilies were

23:05

described in early colonial accounts

23:07

of Aztec markets, but

23:09

haven't been seen in centuries.

23:12

They were likely the victim

23:14

of colonization and the cultural

23:16

disruption that took place. That's

23:18

very interesting. One

23:22

thing here at the Box of

23:24

Oddities that we feel very strongly

23:26

about is supporting our veterans. And

23:28

that's why we're so thrilled that

23:31

hometown hero is part of the

23:33

Box of Oddities family. Hometown Hero

23:35

is an Austin, Texas -based brand

23:37

rooted in community and dedicated to

23:39

supporting veterans. It was founded in

23:41

2015 by US veterans like Lucas

23:43

Gilkey, who've made it their mission

23:45

to craft premium hemp products while

23:48

giving back to those who have

23:50

served our country. Obviously, their connection

23:52

to veterans runs pretty deep, and

23:54

a portion of their profits are

23:56

donated to non -profits that support them.

23:58

And we love their products. I'm

24:00

especially fond of their live rosin

24:03

gummies. they've got all

24:05

kinds of fun stuff like caramels

24:07

and chocolates, drink mixes and more.

24:09

They're locally sourced and sustainable practices.

24:11

Yeah, their hemp is organically grown

24:13

in Texas. You know I'm not

24:15

one of those sleep's well people. Thanks,

24:19

hometown hero. You've changed that.

24:21

When you place an order,

24:23

they ship it free and

24:25

discreet packaging straight to your

24:27

door. Reclaim your evening. Visit

24:29

hometownhero.com and use code oddities

24:32

to take 20 % off

24:34

your first purchase. That's hometownhero.com.

24:36

Code oddities for 20 % off

24:38

your first purchase. I

24:41

think you're on mute. Workday

24:43

is starting to sound the

24:45

same. I think you're on

24:47

mute. Find something that sounds

24:50

better for your career on

24:52

LinkedIn. With LinkedIn job collections,

24:54

you can browse curated collections

24:56

by relevant industries and

24:59

benefits, like FlexPTO or

25:01

Hybrid Workplaces. So you

25:03

can find the right job

25:05

for you. Get started

25:07

at linkedin.com/jobs. Finding where you

25:10

fit. The curator was at a

25:12

party a few weeks back where

25:14

he learned that a woman in

25:16

the neighborhood subscribes to this podcast

25:18

but had no recollection of hearing

25:20

the curator. Weird about

25:22

her house fire that

25:24

night. Don't you think?

25:26

This is The Box

25:28

of Audities. Okay, bitch

25:30

muffin, what you got for

25:32

me? The cabinet of

25:34

curious clay sent me the

25:37

link about this topic

25:39

and The photos that were

25:41

included alone blew my

25:43

mind, super excited to talk

25:45

about it. We're getting

25:47

into banner ladies today. Banner

25:50

ladies? Banner ladies. I

25:52

don't know what that is.

25:54

In the 1870s -ish, a

25:57

peculiar and visually

25:59

striking form of advertising

26:01

emerged, blurred

26:03

lines between commercial promotion

26:06

and photographic novelty. Known

26:08

today by collectors and

26:10

historians as banner ladies

26:13

or product girls, this

26:15

was an early form of

26:17

marketing that involved women, often

26:20

anonymous and lovely

26:22

models, being

26:24

elaborately costumed in

26:26

goods. So they

26:28

would like drape band -aids on them,

26:30

things like that? Sort of,

26:32

yes. Interesting. We need to

26:34

bring that back. The goods that

26:37

they were dressed with were

26:39

associated with the business that they

26:41

were advertising, obviously. Retailers

26:43

were eager to catch

26:45

the eye of a

26:47

growing consumer class, and

26:49

they would adorn these

26:51

women with full -size

26:53

merchandise, everything from sewing

26:55

accoutrement to silverware to

26:57

pretzels, even coffin plates. So

27:00

these women weren't just holding

27:03

signs or wearing a sandwich board.

27:05

They were the sandwich board.

27:07

Okay. So they were

27:09

wearing like a cape made

27:11

out of spoons like that

27:13

imaginary friend the guy wrote

27:15

us about. Yes, exactly. You

27:17

can hear more about that

27:19

on the Box of Oddities

27:21

in Box of Oddities episode.

27:23

Ran last Friday. From last

27:25

Friday. Yeah. So their blouses

27:27

were somehow turned into advertisements,

27:30

their big ballooning skirts

27:32

were great big sources

27:34

for material to adhere

27:37

products to. Even their

27:39

hairstyles were co -opted to

27:41

support or showcase merchandise.

27:44

Hair was sculpted and pinned

27:46

up to hold products or

27:48

shaped in elaborate ways to

27:50

make company logos, the

27:52

effect was somewhere between high

27:54

concept art and a human billboard.

27:57

So they would take photographs

27:59

of this and then they would

28:01

publish them in magazines or

28:03

put them up on billboards and

28:05

things like that? Or was

28:07

it a live performance or was

28:10

it? A little bit of both. A

28:12

little bit of both. Wow. And it

28:14

was highly effective. and very

28:16

forward thinking for the time.

28:18

Sometimes there would be merchant

28:20

parades where these banner ladies

28:22

would march carrying their banners

28:25

and sporting their wares. Really?

28:27

But it also intersected with

28:29

the popularity of cabinet

28:31

cards. Cabinet cards were a

28:33

type of photography that was

28:36

popular during the 1860s, about

28:38

to the 1900s. They were

28:40

usually made from card stock

28:42

and featured a photograph that

28:44

was mounted on a larger

28:47

card. You've seen them. A

28:49

lot of times they'll have panels that

28:51

closed over the photo, then

28:53

you open up the panels and there's

28:55

the photo on this card stock. Sometimes

28:57

they'd even have a little panel that

28:59

would jut out in the back so

29:01

that the card would stand up on

29:04

its own. Oh, wow. Like a kickstand.

29:06

I know exactly what you're talking about.

29:08

Thank you. First, I was thinking of

29:10

the little 3D cards that they made

29:12

back in those days that you had

29:14

to put into like a little viewer.

29:16

Yeah, yeah. No. A lot

29:18

of the Civil War photography.

29:20

was done like that. Stereoscope, I

29:22

think, or something. Yeah, something

29:24

like that. We had

29:26

a cabinet card of my

29:29

mother's mother. I ended up

29:31

giving it... her when we

29:33

were moving but very common

29:35

for them to be portraits

29:37

and they were commonly used

29:39

by professional photographers for studio

29:41

photographs. The cards became quite

29:43

fashionable during this time and

29:45

they were often collected and

29:48

even exchanged as a form

29:50

of social sharing. Like baseball

29:52

cards. Kind of like baseball cards.

29:54

Though I don't understand why on

29:56

Brenda would be as interesting on

29:58

your cabinet as, let's say, a

30:00

shoeless Joe might be. Well, that's

30:03

a good point. But the name

30:05

cabinet card likely derives from their

30:07

size. So it was suitable for

30:09

display in a cabinet or on

30:11

a mantle. They often

30:13

included the photographer's information

30:15

printed on the bottom,

30:18

helping to establish the

30:20

brand. Many of these cabinet

30:22

cards featured theater stars.

30:25

socialites, and European

30:27

courtesans. Again, I

30:30

don't understand, like,

30:32

oh, look, it's Paris Hilton on

30:34

my, like, I just, it's

30:36

a strange, it was a different

30:38

time, I guess. There's a

30:40

picture of Paris Hilton on my

30:42

cabinet, and they found a

30:44

monkey in the wall. Those were different

30:47

times, sweetie. Businesses saw

30:49

an opportunity to piggyback on

30:51

this craze. So the

30:53

banner ladies, weren't often famous,

30:55

but they were posed in

30:58

the same way, dreamy

31:00

expressions and high fashion, lending

31:02

an air of glamour

31:04

to your silverware ad. Now,

31:07

it seems strange, of course, but

31:09

there are a lot of... common

31:11

themes between that type of advertising and

31:13

what we still see today, sex

31:16

appeal, novelty, the juxtaposition

31:18

of beauty with the banal,

31:20

you know, like these beautiful ladies

31:22

were covered in baked goods. And

31:26

then I think about what was

31:28

that fast food brand that had the

31:30

hot chicks eating the burgers on

31:32

cars. It was like

31:34

the late 90s, early 2000s.

31:36

I don't remember. Anyway. but

31:39

you get it. It's like, you

31:41

know, that beautiful lady is in no

31:43

way connected to that burger, but it

31:45

works. Yeah. Victorian entrepreneurs

31:47

used the female form as a

31:49

visual magnet, regardless of whether or

31:52

not that lady had anything to

31:54

do with the product. It was

31:56

a spectacle and it worked. Today,

31:58

surviving banner lady cabinet cards are

32:00

coveted by collectors, not just for

32:02

their aesthetic oddity, but because it

32:04

was such a unique period of

32:07

time and it's a cultural snapshot.

32:09

Now, while the banner ladies

32:11

were an attempt in earnest,

32:13

at marketing. About two

32:16

centuries earlier, there are a

32:18

series of pieces that appeared kind

32:20

of similar. Nicholas Day

32:22

-Lermessen, likely Nicholas Day -Lermessen

32:24

II or III, is

32:27

best known for

32:29

a visually captivating and

32:31

interesting series of

32:33

engravings created in the

32:35

late 1600s, titled

32:38

Costumes Grotesques or Habit

32:40

des Métiers. Metir,

32:42

I don't know what the little

32:44

accent over the E means. Exante

32:46

gu, nothing. Gu? Exante

32:49

gu? Oh, there's an exante

32:51

gu over this E, and

32:53

I don't know what it means. Anyway, it

32:55

literally means costumes of

32:58

the trades, and these engravings

33:00

depict various professionals doctors,

33:02

bakers, musicians, soldiers,

33:04

dressed head to toe in the

33:07

tools and symbols of their professions. For

33:09

instance, the habit -day

33:11

medicine doctor's costume

33:14

might show a man

33:16

cloaked in apothecary

33:18

jars, syringes, and diagrams

33:20

of anatomy. A

33:22

musician might wear a coat

33:24

made of sheet music, flutes, and

33:27

violins, or the bookbinder draped

33:29

in leather -bound volumes. Each print

33:31

is a character and a kind

33:33

of visual taxonomy of the

33:35

trade it represents. They're

33:37

theatrical, they're rich with symbolism, and

33:40

the idea was not that

33:42

he was trying to sell something

33:44

or he was trying to

33:46

help them sell their things, but

33:48

he was poking fun at

33:50

the vanity and the high ambitions

33:52

of these careers. or

33:54

the absurdity of various professions

33:56

and how people made it their

33:58

entire lives. So while his

34:00

engravings were artistic and metaphorical,

34:02

the banner ladies were photographic

34:04

and literal, but both used the

34:07

human body as a canvas

34:09

to communicate identity through commerce. So

34:12

it's kind of an interesting

34:14

parallel. I mean, not the

34:16

same thing, but kind of

34:18

the same thing. The key

34:20

difference was that his works

34:22

were more allegorical and often

34:24

ironic and satirical. Banner ladies

34:26

were just there to sell.

34:29

And sell they did. Sell they did.

34:31

Looking through some of these photos,

34:33

I want to I want to try

34:35

to express to you. Of course,

34:37

I'll share these, but I want to

34:39

try to express to you how

34:42

incredible some of these ladies looked. You

34:44

know, that is the most amazing

34:46

photo I think I've ever seen.

34:48

It's a woman and she's beautiful.

34:50

She is lovely. But she's not

34:53

made up in any way. She

34:55

looks like just a person, maybe

34:57

not a professional model, but her

34:59

gown is covered in pretzels and

35:01

fresh baked goods. It's really quite

35:03

striking. It is. and a little

35:05

bit sinister. This model,

35:08

who is wearing the

35:10

goods of Criswell and

35:12

Miller hardware, looks

35:14

even more sinister. I would

35:16

be concerned about this woman

35:18

cling -clangin' down the street. She's

35:20

got scissors attached to her

35:22

and pliers. Spoons.

35:24

Spoons. Looks like the Tin Man from

35:26

The Wizard of Oz. That looks like

35:29

a trivet. It is, and some

35:31

of these sit, like the scissors

35:33

are open, like over her breasts. Oh

35:35

my god. At least she wasn't

35:37

advertising for a surgical instrument firm. Bunch

35:39

of scalpels and forceps and things

35:41

like that. I don't see much difference.

35:44

Those scissors look sharp. This

35:46

lady is covered in silverware

35:48

and looks completely not impressed. Yeah,

35:50

she looks a little awkward.

35:52

Maybe she wasn't on the job

35:54

during this photograph. Either way,

35:56

I will definitely share some of

35:58

these. I am obsessed and

36:00

I cannot wait to go to

36:02

an auction and keep my

36:05

eye out for some banner lady

36:07

cabinet cards. This is now

36:09

on my needs list. And once

36:11

you post some of those

36:13

photos, I am issuing

36:15

you, our Freak Family members,

36:17

a challenge to create your

36:19

own banner lady card using

36:21

a product of your choice.

36:23

I want that so bad.

36:25

Make it happen. I

36:28

got my information

36:30

from advantageinvintage .co .uk, the

36:33

Daily Mail, and whatever this shit is that

36:35

I'm looking at. Where is it? And

36:38

if you do want to do your

36:40

own banner girl photo and you're looking

36:42

for a product, might I suggest tickets

36:44

to our live show? Oh, I see

36:46

what you've done there. Segway.

36:50

Segway. They're

36:53

on sale now and

36:55

you can find them

36:57

at theboxofidities.com. live

36:59

show section or on

37:01

our social media. They've

37:03

been on sale for a few

37:05

days. There's a very limited number

37:07

of what we're calling RIP passes.

37:11

That includes a meeting greet and seats

37:13

right up front, first come, first

37:15

serve. And we're so looking forward to

37:17

seeing you guys. I cannot wait.

37:19

We're going to be in Seattle. We're

37:21

going to be in Portland, Oregon.

37:23

We're going to be in Atlanta for

37:25

a couple of nights. We're going

37:27

to be in Philadelphia for a night.

37:29

And still waiting to hear on

37:31

a couple of other venues as well.

37:33

We'll let you know as soon

37:35

as we find out. And we'll see

37:37

you next time. Until then, keep

37:39

flying that freak flag. Fly it proudly,

37:41

you beautiful freak. And so let

37:43

it be known that the box of

37:45

oddities belongs to you. and its

37:47

fate is in your hands. We

37:49

wish to offer our deeply

37:51

felt gratitude and appreciation for your

37:53

patronage. Hey

38:03

everyone, it's Dan Sousa from America's Test

38:05

Kitchen. I'm super excited to let you all

38:07

know that we're launching a new video

38:09

podcast that takes you behind the scenes into

38:11

the messy, imperfect, but riveting day -to -day

38:13

life right here in our Test Kitchen. Not

38:16

only do I get to talk to

38:18

my colleagues about the latest taste tests they

38:20

attended. I just came from a tasting

38:22

of salted caramel apple pie bars and then

38:24

roasted garlic, so I apologize. Or about

38:26

a recipe they're developing. The thing about this

38:28

recipe is it's a secret. The restaurateur

38:30

refuses to tell people what her secret ingredients

38:33

are. We also chat with amazing guests

38:35

from the culinary world and beyond. The lamest

38:37

joke I've ever said. I said to

38:39

Marie Bamford. Great. definitely

38:41

great. Thanks. Make sure to subscribe to In

38:43

the Test Kitchen so you don't miss an episode.

38:45

You can watch In the Test Kitchen on

38:48

YouTube and Spotify and listen to it wherever you

38:50

get your podcasts. Can't wait to see you

38:52

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38:55

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