Bob and Marcia Smith engaged in a wide-ranging conversation, touching on topics such as lobsters, yellow fever, and the importance of preserving historical media. Bob shared interesting facts about lobsters, while Marcia provided information on a disease that had a devastating impact on Memphis, Tennessee. They also discussed the significance of preserving cultural artifacts, with Marcia sharing an anecdote about Truman Capote and Bob explaining how a spear in the belly may have saved Christianity during the reign of Emperor Julian. The speakers also touched on the parliamentary system of animals and the first meal consumed in space.
Outline
Lobster history and taste evolution.
- Lobsters were considered a nuisance in the 18th century due to their poor taste and spoilage after death.
Lobster, Super Bowl, and media preservation.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee, which killed over 5000 people and reduced the city’s population by half.
- Marcia and Bob also talk about lobster, including its weight, lifespan, and the fact that Maine and Massachusetts are responsible for 94% of the lobster consumed in the United States.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the discovery of a rare copy of the first Super Bowl, which was found in an attic and secured by the NFL.
- Bob Smith reveals that Truman Capote wanted Audrey Hepburn to play the role of Holly Golightly in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, despite Hepburn being the eventual cast choice.
Marilyn Monroe, Civil War veteran, and owls.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the last surviving Civil War veteran, Albert Henry Wilson, who lived to 106 and outlived 2 million Union army soldiers.
- Bob and Marcia discuss a man who served as a drummer boy and bugler during the Civil War, and how his funeral attracted a large crowd including the grandson of Ulysses S. Grant.
Historical events and figures.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Eddie Rickenbacker, a World War I ace pilot who survived 24 days in a raft after his plane was forced down in the Pacific.
- Marcia and Bob also talk about the first meal consumed in space, which was pureed meat, and the early Mercury astronauts’ experience with freeze-dried food.
- Bob Smith explains why some people believe a spear in the belly may have saved Christianity, citing the death of Roman Emperor Julian in 363 AD.
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about the shortest period a former President spent out of office, to which Bob replies James Polk died three months after leaving office due to exhaustion.
Roman slavery, movie trivia, and state names.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the differences between Roman slavery and modern-day slavery, highlighting that Roman slavery was not based on race and that enslaved people were often educated and had upward mobility.
- Marcia Smith asks questions about geography and movies, including the location of the northernmost point of mainland Europe and the names of the seven actors in the movie The Magnificent Seven.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss famous actors who played cowboys in movies, with Bob getting names mixed up and Marcia correcting him.
- Bob Smith shares a funny story about how the state of Wyoming was named after a valley in Pennsylvania, despite the soil not being fertile enough to support agriculture.
History, language, and philanthropy.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the origins of the term “jukebox” and “Wyoming Massacre,” and a woman named Ruth Gottesman donates $1 billion to Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss a $1 billion donation to provide free tuition at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Marcia shares a thought for the day about the simplicity of wheels on a shopping cart going in the same direction.
Bob Smith 0:00
What creatures did fishermen once consider a nuisance calling them? Cockroaches of the sea?
Marcia Smith 0:08
I’ll have to please and in 1878 What killed more than 5000 people in Memphis Tennessee Well,
Bob Smith 0:17
answers that wasn’t cockroaches of the sea finding answers to those and other questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob
Marcia Smith 0:25
Mr. Shot Smith.
Bob Smith 0:42
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy and take a side road to Saturday with some fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. Well, Marcia, what creatures did fishermen once consider a nuisance, calling them cockroaches of the sea? Now a hint, this is considered a great delicacy to eat these
Marcia Smith 1:04
days is something I love. This is something you love. That would be lobster. That’s right.
Bob Smith 1:11
They were so plentiful that during the 1700s They used to wash ashore on Massachusetts beaches in piles up to two feet high. Oh
Marcia Smith 1:21
my god.
Bob Smith 1:22
So plentiful fishermen consider them a nuisance calling them cockroaches of the sea. Holly come only did they eat them then? No, they were used primarily for bait for other fish. Oh no, their meat was considered fit only for the poor. So they were also called the poor man’s chicken, the poor man’s chicken and primarily were used for fertilizer or fed to prisoners or slaves. Wow. So why Marcia? Why weren’t lobsters considered tasty?
Marcia Smith 1:51
Because they hadn’t discovered drawn butter yet? Well, that’s
Bob Smith 1:54
actually that’s a good answer. But it’s not because they found
Marcia Smith 1:57
all that good meat in the tails. No, but because they
Bob Smith 2:01
didn’t prepare them like they do today. What did they do? Well, today we know lobster meat is freshest when lobsters are cooked alive, but during the 18th century, lobsters were prepared like any other meat after the animal was already dead. And when a lobster dies, it stomach releases enzymes into the rest of the body that accelerate its deterioration, causing it to go bad quickly. So cooking the lobster alive went a long way to changing the perception and taste of lobster meat.
Marcia Smith 2:31
I knew I was in love with you. When I told my girlfriend I loved him more than lobster. And she said whoa.
Bob Smith 2:40
This is big stuff. Okay, Bob
Marcia Smith 2:42
in 1878 What killed more than 5000 people in Memphis, Tennessee. 1878
Bob Smith 2:48
Yeah, 5000 people died. This wasn’t one of those race riots or anything else. No, no. 5000 people died in Memphis. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 2:58
it was a disease. What was it?
Bob Smith 2:59
Is this a communicable disease or something? Oh, it is. So something like measles or something like
Marcia Smith 3:04
that. Now, what’s interesting about this, it’s usually associated with the tropics is yellow fever. Oh my goodness. Yeah, it took its toll as far north as Memphis where a devastating yellow fever epidemic in 1878 killed more than 5000 people. Wow, those who could fled the city, reducing Memphis population by half. Many of the dead were not found until long afterward when the stench of decaying flesh led to the discovery of their bodies. So
Bob Smith 3:35
it was a tropical disease that made its way up to Memphis. Up the River, I’m sure. Holy
Marcia Smith 3:40
cow. Yeah. Okay, who would have guessed that that’s, that’s disturbing. Yeah.
Bob Smith 3:46
I want to get back to lobster. Just a couple more questions here. How much can a classic American lobster weigh? And how old can lobster live? Wow,
Marcia Smith 3:55
jeez, I don’t know. I’ll say Can it be up to five pounds up to 44 pounds? Yes. 44 pound lobster. Yes. My gosh, I could have friends over.
Bob Smith 4:07
That’s because lobster if left unattended can live as long as 100 years. No kidding. So they can grow up to be 44 pounds in weight. Well, you
Marcia Smith 4:16
have enlightened me today. Matt. Good. All
Bob Smith 4:19
right. Well, Maine is hailed for being the freshest most delectable lobster because of the means warmer water. The main waters helped to create a more tender, sweeter tasting lobster. And Maine and Massachusetts are responsible for 94% of the lobster consumed in the United States.
Marcia Smith 4:35
Yeah, okay, Bob. We were discussing the first Super Bowl the other day. That’s right in 1967. And where did they play it? I didn’t even know this. I had no idea.
Bob Smith 4:46
I thought it was in the Superdome. That’s what I was thinking that the Superdome originally gave the name to the Super Bowl and it was played in New Orleans. That’s where I thought they
Marcia Smith 4:55
did it. And I thought it was played in Green Bay. Oh because of the ice bowl that I suppose but no, no, no, it was played in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. And it wasn’t even a full house, Bob. Really? Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t not a big deal. And it was between the Packers and the chiefs, which we enjoy that rivalry still. But so here’s the question. Today, the broadcast is locked in a vault in New York City, and hardly anybody sees it. Why? Because
Bob Smith 5:23
it’s so poor quality. It’s a reverse polarity. Everything’s played in reverse and the the Packers lose the game. I don’t know why
Marcia Smith 5:33
finding. Well, you’ll like this because this really grinds your beans. Because NBC and CBS both presented the game on TV. And they both taped over
Bob Smith 5:44
it. Oh, they ruined it.
Marcia Smith 5:46
It was never archived. It was never saved. Just awful. You worked at radio stations where everything was taped over because they wanted to save the tape a lot. But no one ever thought of preserving the world’s first Super Bowl. No,
Bob Smith 5:59
everybody would read record over everything. I kept my own stuff. Of course, yes. Anybody who wanted to keep their own materials would do it themselves. You archive it yourself. Yes. No sense of history in broadcasting
Marcia Smith 6:11
No, and especially back in the day. They finally years later found a copy made by a Scranton New Jersey engineer watching television. Yeah. And it was the CBS broadcast and it was found in an attic, and not even his in Shamokin. Pennsylvania Shamokin What a name for a town and the NFL secured the footage. I wonder what they paid and placed it in a vault at the Paley Center for Media in New York. Well, and reporters can go into View the footage but they’re not allowed to take it out take in their cell phones or anything else because they’re not allowed to make a video of how stupid it I assume it was. Alright, but anyway, that’s a weirdness. I never knew never heard of that. Yeah, never heard it. Nobody saved it. Except this one engineer guy.
Bob Smith 7:03
That’s the way things were for years. And in corporate America, you’ll find that too. There’s no sense of history. It’s like well, let’s get rid of this. Get rid of that. Don’t use that anymore. You know, Artie Shaw, for instance, was walking down the street, the great bandleader Artie Shaw, back in the 50s. And he was told by somebody, Hey, you better go over to NBC go in the alley there. Why? He says they’re throwing away all the transcription records of the big bands. All of these broadcasts, caught he went over and got him and he reissued in his old age all these broadcast recordings of his band athlete on NBC, you know, over night on Saturday nights and stuff, because NBC we Oh, we got to get rid of the stuff we need room, you know, for the stuff. Good for him.
Marcia Smith 7:45
Okay, what do you got? Okay,
Bob Smith 7:47
what actress was first cast to star as Holly Golightly? In Breakfast at Tiffany’s that was a famous film which starred who? Audrey Hepburn beautiful young Audrey Hepburn, but who was first cast to star in that who did Truman Capote want to play the role of Holly Golightly? It’s
Marcia Smith 8:05
hard to imagine anybody is probably somebody just absurd. Who? Marilyn
Bob Smith 8:11
Monroe. Oh, no
Marcia Smith 8:12
kid.
Bob Smith 8:13
She was his first choice according to same thing. Yeah. And another thing you didn’t know, Maryland was offered the part and she didn’t take it because Paula Strasberg, her advisor and acting coach said she should not be playing a lady of the evening. And
Marcia Smith 8:29
you know, I was so young when I saw that. I didn’t know that’s what she was. I didn’t either. You
Bob Smith 8:33
know, just a well dressed woman who likes jewelry. You know?
Marcia Smith 8:38
I didn’t get it. Oh, well, that’s what you get for. So
Bob Smith 8:41
Truman Capote, who authored the 1958 novella was reportedly very disappointed the studio went with Audrey Hepburn saying Parramatta double crossed me in every way and cast
Marcia Smith 8:51
Audrey now that I know all that and she is more fit the part voluptuous wise of a hooker. Marilyn Monroe Yeah, then does so you can see why it was
Bob Smith 9:01
turned down then. Yeah, you you would look like a horror and you don’t want to take that part. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 9:05
And Audrey Hepburn was more of a fashion icon classy
Bob Smith 9:09
young woman. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 9:10
not at all looking like a like a hot lady of the evening. The night that last surviving Civil War veteran died when
Bob Smith 9:20
and this was a veteran of the war who actually fought in the war. Yes. Died
Marcia Smith 9:24
me approximate when you think I think 1930s No. 40s No. When 56 Holy cow that something 1956
Bob Smith 9:36
That’s like 89 years after the Civil War ended? That’s right. There’s
Marcia Smith 9:40
a Gettysburg Memorial, some memorial that stands out for its strikingly modern appearance, and it features a man in a mid century suit and a tie and there’s no musket or battle flag in his hand. The statue honors Albert Henry Wilson, who el sol he’s the last surviving son Have a war veteran, the statue, it’s how he appeared at the age of 106. Oh, really? nine decades after the end of the war, Wilson outlived more than 2 million union army soldiers 106 years old. And he was accepted into the ranks at age 14.
Bob Smith 10:19
Wow. While the guys did that, yeah, people did that. And he served as
Marcia Smith 10:23
a drummer boy and a bugler and all that which probably helped him survive the darn thing. That’s right. No, no, I always thought those buglers didn’t they come up front. I thought they
Bob Smith 10:31
I think it’d be dangerous you be with the flag or the horn because everybody knows where you are. Right? Yeah,
Marcia Smith 10:36
no kidding. Okay. But in 1956 at his funeral, he attracted a crowd of more than 1500 people, including the grandson of Ulysses S Grant. Oh no kid. Wow. Who helped lay the soldier to rest as an honorary pallbearer? That is amazing.
Bob Smith 10:53
Okay Marsha animal question. Yes. Which animals form a parliament when they gather was give you some choices here. Is it gorillas? Yeah, is it hyenas is it kangaroos or owls? Which animals form of Parliament
Marcia Smith 11:12
when they gather I’ll say the wise ones the Outlaw. That’s it.
Bob Smith 11:16
Is it really is that a great thing?
Marcia Smith 11:18
It doesn’t make sense does Lane Lucy Well,
Bob Smith 11:20
safety numbers that’s one reason for animals together in a group but many animals also rely on collective wisdom to help them make better decisions. And apparently that’s what owls do. A group of animals comes together and they socialize but they also apparently exchange information and they’re known as a parliament so it’s a perfect name to give to something you consider wise group of owls getting together as apart
Marcia Smith 11:43
artists always put glasses on them, you know?
Bob Smith 11:47
They do look like yeah, in cartoons always have glasses on the elves because they’re wise. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 11:53
Okay, Bob time for who am I? Okay.
Bob Smith 11:57
Wait a minute. Try that again.
Marcia Smith 11:59
Who am I?
Bob Smith 12:01
There it is. There it is. Thank you voice came out of the cave. Okay.
Marcia Smith 12:04
All right. I’ll give it to you in little dribbles. Okay, as you will probably get it faster than a speeding bullet. This is a he he was a leading US Air ace in World War One. Eddie
Bob Smith 12:17
Rickenbacker.
Marcia Smith 12:18
Oh, Shomali.
Bob Smith 12:20
Actually, I read his book when I was a kid. Oh, you
Marcia Smith 12:22
did? Yeah. Well, let me just say a few things about Okay. Before he was a World War, one AC had been an internationally known racecar driver. But in 1917, he joined the army, a pilot has to shoot down five enemy aircraft to be counted as an ace and he shot down 22 planes and four balloons. In World War Two he served again. Yeah, he’s this guy. Yeah, but this time he went is a civilian inspector of air bases in the United States and overseas. In 1942. He was in a plane that was forced down in the Pacific along with six compatriots. He survived 24 days in a rubber raft before being rescued. This guy was meant to live a long life. That’s
Bob Smith 13:07
what I remember is that raft so many days in a raft might have been the name of his book or something.
Marcia Smith 13:11
Oh, yeah, that’s the one you read them. Yeah, as a kid. He didn’t die till 1974. He’s one of those ones that had a I’m destined to survive. Wow,
Bob Smith 13:19
forehead right. And listen, he was a daredevil because he was a racecar driver, how
Marcia Smith 13:23
many daredevils survive all this stuff? Amazing.
Bob Smith 13:26
And then he goes into well, I’m gonna go and be a pilot. Just like Errol Flynn kind of guy. Yeah. And he’s good. Look into All right, my shit, which was the meal that was first consumed by humans in space, the first human in space. So this would have been URI Garga. And who was the Russian right? So was it bacon, pureed meat, scrambled eggs, or the Russian version of peanut butter and jelly? What was it?
Marcia Smith 13:50
I’ll say the peanut butter and jelly? No, Marcia.
Bob Smith 13:53
It wasn’t it was bacon. No, Marcia. It wasn’t a Big Mac, the first meal and space two servings of pureed meats and one of chocolate sauce all in the yummy form of paste. He had to squeeze from tubes like toothpicks. Oh
Marcia Smith 14:08
my god. That’s why he never went up again. That’s right. The
Bob Smith 14:11
early Mercury astronauts, they took freeze dried food in powdered form and bite sized cubes, which they did not enjoy trying to rehydrate and eat. They hated this. Like all of these guys were only up during one day and came back down.
Marcia Smith 14:25
Yeah, that’s Africa at that URI. They went up there for taken a no G
Bob Smith 14:32
bar. Yeah, take a candy bar something
Marcia Smith 14:35
you won’t die from a one lousy meal. Alright, I’m gonna give you choices here. Okay. This was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 2000 Okay, this small Italian city is the birthplace of the Franciscan Order of Catholicism. Was it Palermo? I see see Capri or Sienna Palermo?
Bob Smith 14:58
Nope. Okay Assisi, yes. Okay, because
Marcia Smith 15:02
when I only guess that proper because of St. Francis St. Francis of Assisi. Yeah. That’s the birthplace of that Franciscan Order.
Bob Smith 15:11
Well, I have a question for you on Christian history. Okay. Why do some people feel a spear in the belly may have saved Christianity? How did a spear in the belly save Christianity? Well,
Marcia Smith 15:25
I don’t know. The Roman Emperor
Bob Smith 15:26
Constantine is the one who became a Christian 313 and made that the official religion of the Roman Empire. Yeah. Okay. And things went well for him and the next successor, who was his son, but the third person that came along was a cousin, kind of a Judas. His name was Julian. Julian became Roman emperor, and he was actually a secret pagan. He thought that Christianity was this cult, we should get rid of it. Once in power, he began a two year program to weaken the influence of Christianity. But when he was serving as the Emperor, they always went into battle. He was marching on Persia with an enormous army one day in 363 ad he took a spear to the stomach and died.
Marcia Smith 16:10
And that saved Christianity. Yes, because the Christian cavalry
Bob Smith 16:13
officer Jovian was chosen to succeed him. So in the words of author Philip Freeman, if not for a lucky Persian spear, or was it a Roman spear? Julian might have ruled the Roman Empire for decades, accomplishing his objectives. And Christianity may have disappeared completely instead of flourishing with the blessings of Rome. So that’s why some people feel a spear in the belly may have saved Christianity.
Marcia Smith 16:38
I get it now. Thank you, Bob. All right. Is it time for a break?
Bob Smith 16:42
Okay, we’ll take a break and be right back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob,
Marcia Smith 16:45
Mr. Shaw Smith.
Bob Smith 16:48
We’re back. Bob and Marsha Smith. It’s the off ramp out. We do this every week for the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and it’s internet radio station. It airs Monday nights, then it goes on podcast platforms and is heard all
Marcia Smith 17:03
over the world. Okay. All right, Bob, which President spent the shortest period as a former President spent the
Bob Smith 17:13
shortest period as a former president? Yeah. So he died almost immediately after he left office. Was that LBJ? Nope. Lyndon Johnson because he died pretty soon. It was
Marcia Smith 17:23
like a year or two years. Yeah, three years. Now. This guy beats that way to hell really?
Bob Smith 17:27
Well, okay. I don’t know. Who is it? James Polk. Oh, really died really quickly after he left off
Marcia Smith 17:33
three months. Wow. Yeah. And he once said, No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure, he meant it to because during his four years in office, his wife Sarah, and he spent only six weeks away from the job. No dancing, singing or alcohol was permitted in the White House. He died just three months into his retirement, quite possibly from exhaustion.
Bob Smith 18:00
Well, that’s at least he gave us all for the job. He certainly did. Getting back to the Romans, I have a question for you. Yes. Here. What are the main differences between Roman slavery and what we think of slavery today? The main differences there’s about three main differences. Did they
Marcia Smith 18:15
pay their slaves? Well, no.
Bob Smith 18:17
Oh, nobody pays a slave come OS and
Marcia Smith 18:21
tears it off to be well, there’s one
Bob Smith 18:23
big thing Roman slavery wasn’t based on. It wasn’t based on race. And it wasn’t permanent. Oh, slavery in the Roman system was not based on racist assumptions. Also, was it poor people? Well, they took them from everywhere. They were equal opportunity and slavery. So slavery in the Roman Empire was not based on races, and also unlike American slavery. Many enslaved Roman people were educated in the household, and they were often freed, okay, and there was upward mobility for former slaves in the Roman Empire. One highly influential freed slave was Antonio Qeynos. Ever heard of her now? She started her career as a secretary to Caesar Augustus is nice, who thought this is a very intelligent slave, so she eventually freed her. And in 31 ad, she was in a position to help emperor Tiberius avoid a coup, because she was in a position to hear thing Oh, yes, she also carried on a long affair with a widowed Senator Vespasian, protecting him when he nearly wrecked his career falling asleep during one of Niro’s vocal recitals. And if you fell asleep, you
Marcia Smith 19:30
could be killed. Really? Yeah. And he was really long winded as I recall. Oh, yeah.
Bob Smith 19:35
So after Vespasian, became emperor, this former slave and Tony okayness lived with him as his wife in all but name so people could really survive slavery. Okay,
Marcia Smith 19:45
quickie that northern most point of mainland Europe is in which country? I’ll give you choices. Okay. Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden.
Bob Smith 19:56
I thought it was Russia, but it might be Finland. Alright. What is it It’s Norway.
Marcia Smith 20:00
Really? Yes. And on to a totally unrelated question. You’ve heard of the movie The Magnificent Seven. Yes. Yes. Yes. So old classic movie that’s still rolling around there on all the streaming channel Hollywood
Bob Smith 20:12
film. It was based on a Japanese samurai film.
Marcia Smith 20:16
That’s right. Yeah, that’s very good. Okay, so how many of them Magnificent Seven. Can you name they were pretty much all movie star
Bob Smith 20:24
cheese. You know, I could I think you’ll Brenner was one. Yeah, he’s the one I remember because of the bald head. Let’s see. Lee Marvin. Was he one of them? No, he wasn’t. So you’ll Brenner. I got six more to go. That’s right. I don’t know
Marcia Smith 20:36
Charles sponson. Oh, Charles Bronson was one of you played Bernardo. You will Brynner. He was Chris horse boo calls. He was Chico. James Coburn was Britt
Bob Smith 20:46
I remember him I guess I get James Coburn and Lee Marvin confused. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 20:50
that can be Brad Dexter. I don’t know who he is. I don’t either know, he played Harry. Steve McQueen was in it. And he played Vin and Robert Vaughn. Really he was Lee and those are the difficiles seven. Star lineup. Yes, that was time.
Bob Smith 21:06
And there was a famous theme to it too, and everything else. Well, speaking of Western, I got a question for you. What famous western state that we associate with cowboys was actually named after a valley in Pennsylvania. A famous western state. We associate the name with cowboys. What was its name to a valley in Pennsylvania and a congressman who later wanted to take the name back. Take
Marcia Smith 21:30
the name fat. Yeah, I will say Nevada. Nope. Wasn’t California.
Unknown Speaker 21:37
No,
Marcia Smith 21:38
I was Idaho.
Bob Smith 21:39
No, no, I don’t know. It’s next to Idaho. Yellowstone is in it. What’s the state,
Marcia Smith 21:44
Wyoming?
Bob Smith 21:45
There you go. So Wyoming was named by a congressman from Ohio named James Ashley. This is kind of a funny story. Okay, so this guy grew up in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania, a lush, verdant area. And he assumed that this new swath of unsettled land taken from Idaho, Utah and Dakota was probably as agriculturally rich as his own Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. So, in 1865, when there was this new territory form, he introduced a bill in Congress to name the new territory, Wyoming. That’s after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. You know what it means Wyoming is a Delaware word meaning at the big Plains or the large plane, okay, either way, in Pennsylvania or Wyoming, it meant the same thing, a lot of space. But here’s the problem. years later, he finally visited it, and he wanted the name change. He said the soil wasn’t fertile enough to support a single congressional district, not one acre in 1000, could be irrigated. We gotta change the name of this, too late. Folks in Wyoming love the name they assume made it synonymous with cowboys, not some Valley back in Pennsylvania. So Wyoming it was, okay. Now, why did early Americans associate Wyoming with the Revolutionary War? Really, if you grew up in the early United States, and you heard the term Wyoming, you would associate it with the Revolutionary War, there was a big battle there in the Wyoming and Wyoming and a massacre afterward, a patriot militia was defeated by a combined force of British loyalists and Iroquois warriors 300 people died and apparently most of them died at the hands of the Indians after the battle, where they were either killed running away or they were taken prisoner and executed and tortured. So the massacre the Wyoming massacre was a famous thing that early patriots associated with Canary Wharf,
Marcia Smith 23:34
yeah. All right. Why do we call the jukebox a jukebox? Well,
Bob Smith 23:39
it was because of places that played the music. It was playing rhythm and blues and that was associated with juke joints places in the south that had liquor and loose women.
Marcia Smith 23:51
While you’re close, I often wondered growing up what’s a Juke? Well, it is a African word, meaning to make mischief. And the word came directly from African slaves and became part of the Creole language in the deep south. But the word morphed into something that meant dancing and getting rowdy. So when a music vending machine came along in the late 1930s, people call it a jukebox because they could crank up the music and really let loose.
Bob Smith 24:18
I think that we should give kudos to a woman in the news, whose name probably it was never heard before Ruth Gottesman, or goddess Minh GOTTE SMA N. She was a former professor at the Bronx medical school. And she was also the wife of a New York investor. And she shocked the world by donating $1 billion is the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Really? That gift is so big. It dwarfs almost anything ever given to anyone. One gift. $1 billion. Here’s how significant that is. That money will make tuition free to all students going forward. Anybody who is admitted to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will have free tuition from this point on.
Marcia Smith 25:12
Holy Come on.
Bob Smith 25:13
Isn’t that amazing? Oh, that’s a gift that is just amazing. An amazing gift. I don’t think any kind of philanthropist has ever done anything that
Marcia Smith 25:21
you go there to be a doctor or researcher or both. Yeah. Amazing. Her. Yes. Well, Bravo just to me. What’s her name again,
Bob Smith 25:29
Ruth Gottesman, and she’s a former professor at that school. Really? The Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx medicals,
Marcia Smith 25:35
and they say higher education doesn’t pay. Well, it’s
Bob Smith 25:39
because of her. Her husband was so she’s the widow of a Wall Street investor. Okay,
Marcia Smith 25:43
I was being amusing. Isn’t that wonderful, though? Yes, it certainly is
Bob Smith 25:48
making free tuition available to all students going forward. We can leave our
Marcia Smith 25:52
largest to the Cedarburg nursery school. Will give two years of free tuition
Bob Smith 26:00
to one baby. There we go. Well, that’s all we can do, folks. I’m sorry. We just didn’t have that. That large jests that she had. But yeah, what a great thing to do to teach medical students for free. Yeah. $1 billion donation will provide free tuition at a Bronx medical school from here on out. Amazing. It
Marcia Smith 26:17
is. Last question for me. Before 1941 Bob, there was childhood and adulthood. How did teenagers become a new class of people? Well,
Bob Smith 26:28
that was during the 50s, wasn’t it? No earlier? Oh, really? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 26:31
The term teenager was first introduced to the American public in the early 40s. As a moniker coined by advertising executives, of course looking to sell their products to a new audience that never existed. So the
Bob Smith 26:48
term teenager was coined by advertisers. Yeah, yeah. Wow.
Marcia Smith 26:52
They called it the jackpot market. And they decided they’d be a great market to sell fashion and grooming products, cars, sporting goods, whatever. And
Bob Smith 27:02
what was one of the big companies that was the first to capitalize on that what clothing company?
Marcia Smith 27:07
Was it Levi’s?
Bob Smith 27:08
Yes, we like jeans. They were called dungarees before that and everything. It was for
Marcia Smith 27:12
farmers. Yes. All right. Okay, so
Bob Smith 27:15
what’s your thought for the day? Well,
Marcia Smith 27:16
I like things that keep it simple and this one does. A good day is when all the wheels on your shopping cart go in the same direction.
Bob Smith 27:26
That’s true. That doesn’t keep it simple. We like to keep it simple for you. We hope you enjoyed the show and would like to join us again when we return with more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith,
Marcia Smith 27:37
Marsha Smith.
Bob Smith 27:38
Join us again next time for more fun when we return with the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin, visit us on the web at the off ramp dot show.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
