Bittersweet Infamy - #81 - The Flying Tailor

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

Taylor tells Josie about garment-maker/inventor Franz Reichelt and his fateful 1912 flight from the Eiffel Tower. Plus: unmasking Saúl Armendáriz, a.k.a. Cassandro, an iconic and exotic figure in the world of lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling).

Hey sweethearts, Taylor here. Just a heads up that today's episode contains discussions around death and suicide that may not be suitable for all listeners. Please use discretion. Thanks. Welcome to Bitter Sweden. I'm Taylor Vaso. And I'm Josie Mitchell. On this podcast, we share the stories that live on and in the... The strange and the familiar? The tragic and the comic?

The bitter and the familiar? The tragic and the comic. The bitter and the sweet. So how's the planning going for a the Mitchell Mitchell wedding? It's like it's getting heightened. Like the highs are higher and the lows are lower. The Rolee coaster. The Rolee coaster is coaster. We did look at a venue that was right next to a roller coaster. We did not select it. that was right next to a roller coaster.

We did not select it. What the fuck? I know. I'm so upset. I love rollercoasters. I love you. I love you. Listen, if it was the choice between going to your wedding

and going to an incredibly sick roller coaster, I would go to your wedding. Yeah, thank you. No problem. Thank you. And I mean that. But if you could do both, then my god. Was the fear that the people going by on the roller coaster would spew vomit on you during the ceremony, which you would have next to the roller coaster?

Um, that wasn't a specific fear, but in general, no, no, no, no, I'm popcorned at the logistics meeting. It was a very loud space yeah so for those who don't listen regularly Josie is getting married to Mitchell who has been on at least three episode wait no no four episodes of the show and yeah so if you want to go back to listen to episodes 16, 41, 42, and 60. You will see Mitchell and he is great and she's hoping he's gonna- You won't see him. You're gonna see him with your mind's eye. Do you think that he will picture us? Hey, here's a question for you at home. I never perspective take because I would assume that the majority of you

aren't really on our Instagram, bittersweet infamy where you can see pictures of us occasionally. What do you think we look like? Well, the majority of our listeners are your mom. So she listens to each episode at least 250 to the 300 times conservatively. No, that's it. Yeah.

Your mom does it. Your mom just looks at the title and says, I can probably bullshit this conversation. I liked the one you did about Elizabeth shrugged. I liked when Elizabeth shrugged. Yeah. Elizabeth shrugged. Elizabeth shrugged. Elizabeth shrugged. Elizabeth shrugged. Elizabeth shrugged. Elizabeth shrugged. I like to wanna lose it as a choice. I like to lose it as a choice. I like to lose it as a choice. I like to lose it as choice.

I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice.

I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like to lose it as choice. I like but but. Telephone. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. it. What do you think my ethnicity is hint I'm white. But Mediterranean white. A little exotic not that much but a little. Ah, ah, ah, ah. Josie, what do you have for me as far as a minfamous ghost? Oh, are we ready? I'm ready, I feel ready, I feel ready. So, I know that I cannot rival, I cannot compete, I cannot like be in this same... Let me stop you right there, self-defeated Mitchell. Okay. There is nobody in my eyes that you cannot compete with. What about when it comes to wrestling knowledge? I'm impressed. I'm excited to see what you're gonna do with this. There's your you're a bigger wrestling fan than me I think. We went to the

role of them together. We're facing the little two. She has a new day shirt. I don't have a new day shirt. So what do you got? What do you got? That's true. That's true. Okay. Taylor, please welcome into the bitter sweet ring. Un luchador fantástico. Sí? Un regalo de la frontera, The pride and joy of not just El Paso Tejas. But see that what is. The queen of the ring,

el exático Cassandro. Cassandro, exótico me I love the exotics! That's something from my story too, because the exotics, let me talk in English, this is in English podcast. I was going to say, I'll translate this one. Translator. The exoticos are a very important part of Mexican wrestling history and they are gay as hell. Gay as fuck. Yes. So, if you are unfamiliar, Mexican wrestling, also called lucha libre, translate directly to like free fighting.

It's extremely popular in Mexico. It is practically a religion. Yes. I don't know if you know this, but every October we get a little spooky around here. And we do something called trick-or-treat-in for me. And last October I mentioned a little bit about El Santo, who was the, the great, the Hulk Hogan, let's say, of Mexican wrestling of his era, of just like being known and being this larger than life figure. And Lucha Libreza, I'm sure Josie is going to tell you, is full of these larger than life figures who inspire

these very large audiences. Yes, huge audiences. The storylines are very involved. The setup of the fights is very involved. Like, I mean, if you think like American, Canadian, wrestling has like intricate storylines, which they do, like WWE. WWE, WWE, WWE, all the way back. And you can go back into the into the ages, but it WWE, WWE, all the- Yeah, it's all the way back. And you can go back into the- into the ages, but it's almost like-

I think one of the- personally for me, I'm so sorry, you did Agatha Christie and then you did this. You can't do them two in a row, but things like- I know. You fought this one up. I know. I just- I think I like the Agatha Christie one so much. You need to come back for more. There it is.

I was like, that dude is again. One of the things that ones so much. You need to come back for more. Fair enough. Fairfax. That dude is again. One of the things that I love most about wrestling, and I remember extolling about this in a sushi restaurant on commercial drive to Josie, one of the times that she was around. OK, yeah. I was just talking about how one of the things that most fascinates me about wrestling

is how, in spite of the fact that at its core it's like fake fighting with soap opera element tied in. So it's like it's like soap opera infused stunt work essentially. So many cultures in the world have some iteration of this. You can find voodoo wrestling in Africa. You can find wrestling in the Andes where it's like indigenous women in beautiful skirts coming out and sticking up for what's right. Jesus, I didn't know that that's red. I thought about it as an infamous for you specifically because I'm like I think Josie would get a kick out of that. I would. There's so many different cool Japan has

its own long history. Mexico has its long history. There's so many different cool Japan has its own long history. Mexico has its long history. There's so many cool versions of this that I guess so much in body, the cultural moors that are important to the various people that they show. And like the silliness is not lost on me. That's part of what draws me, right? Is the fact that it's this like very stylized fake fighting where you throw each other into the ropes and the internal logic of this just dictates that you run off the ropes forever until someone gives you a hip-dose or whatever it is. Yeah. And Mexico in particular has such a rich, rich, deep stylized, important history in this art form. It's an art form. It's performance, right? It's totally. Something in my research and that kind of became obvious when

I was thinking about it is that Luchelieber practice is much more aerobatic. Yeah, flippy. A lot of flippy whippy. It's much flippy. A lot of like gymnastics that are happening in it. You're doing a front forward hand spring. Your back of your body will hit the ropes and then you'll do a backhand spring off. Do a backflip and kick someone in the face. Is it the most efficient way to kick someone in the face? Absolutely not. Is it the kind of kicking in the face that will make the audience stand up and say

Yes, the fuck it is Well and look at libert has these intense storylines that we were kind of talking about that telenovela styling the very basics of it are There's technicals which are essentially like the good guys There's the rudos, which bad guys. I'm very impressed by you right now. Did you, when we were Mexico City, did you end up going to a luxury libre match? What happened was we were supposed to, so when we were in CDMX, me, Josie, my ex-boyfriend Adam, we were in Mexico together, Mexico City, and we had a coin

toss between going to the ballet folklorico and the Lucha Libre, and in the end we ended up going to the ballet folklorico, which I don't regret, I really enjoyed that, I thought that was a really cool show. But I would love I would love to go to a triple-a Lucha Libre show in Mexico City. That sounds dope as hell. Why don't we go back sometime? There we are. So you have the good guys, the bad guys,

technicals, rudos. Faces and heels. Which boils translates again to good guys. Yeah, here's a good guy. Yeah, exactly. In the Lucha Libre tradition, there's also starting in about the 1940s, this third category, which is the exotico's. My impression of the way that the exotico's got started is they had this vibe of kind of being clowns in the ring or like a rodeo clown vibe, where they were the comic relief. They came in very flamboyantly. They looked very

effeminate in this wrestling tradition that is very machismo. It's guys beating the shit out of each other with flesh. Totally. Yeah. They are, they are punching each other. It's still very like vibrant and colorful, but that's also just a tenet of Mexican culture in general. And in North American culture we usually tie like masculinity to dark dark colors and like Grey's and Totsis. We're glitter. Listen.

The H.O.A. has weighed in here and we that yellow hat you've got hanging off your door that won't that will fly around Irvine so But even within those that brilliantly colored atmosphere of Luccia Libre, the exotic goes like took it up to 11 because it was feathers, it was glitter, it was makeup, it was essentially drag. Your hair all permed in style and beautiful and your legs and your legs all all waxed and shaven and your little Sparkling singlet all glittery. Yes, the early exotic goes would always say like well. This is just for show I'm no, no, I'm not gay. I'm not gay. No, no, no, no, no

You can't you can't be it's let me let me tell you some of it being gay Okay, there was a real gap between ancient Greece and now or wasn't so cool Listen listen, yeah, it is how it is we're back We're back RuPaul's on the TV. She's fracking. We're doing great Yeah, it's all coming together so for a long time exoticals we're seen as just kind of a little extra spice. They weren't taken very seriously as wrestlers. Right. So just to just be super clear. These are male performers. Yes. Thank you. Josie was quite right to compare it to drag. It's not a one-to-one match, but it's like a one-to-zero point-some-five match. They have feminine qualities, but it's more akin to something like almost like Liberace, or like,

it's not like they're out there pretending to be women. They are just like incredibly effeminate men slash occupying this in-between trickster space that the audience is meant to like laugh at, slash with a little bit. Like they're not entirely the object of scorn, but they are very feminine seeming men, very as Josie says, macho culture. I think in their earlier iterations they were tied to Rulos, they were seen as healers. Oh were they? Okay, so this is history that you have that I don't, okay? But part of how that change came about is tied to our boy here, Cassandra. Cassandra, so his out of the ring name is Saul Arbindaris.

So that's interesting that you have this person's full name. It's often the case because so many Mexican wrestlers are masked in inhabiting these large personas that even to this day we don't have their full names. Yeah, like El Santo. He was buried in his lucha libre mask. Like his open casket? That's my man.

I watched Shnelsanto. I watched Shnelsanto I watched in El Santo. Um It was El Santo versus the Aztec mummies. He came in. It was basically his Brendan Fraser moment coming with a big group. Uh-huh. How do I put this? Pill for someone's to and As such get cursed and of course all the people around El Santo get cursed They get killed. There was a lot of like archery murders as I remember.

Good story. Good. The main thing that I remember is that some kid went in there with I think his abuelo and the abuelo got murdered. But I remember a scene of El Santo sitting down with the kid with his arm around this kid's shoulder being like, don't worry, I'm your dad now. The Hulkster. The Hulkster is your dad now, brother.

Like, bury that, bury that. So it was exciting. I watched that on Tubi. I don't know if it's still on Tubi, but I enjoyed it. It was a good Halloween show. Take a look. Take a look. Saul slash Cassandra. He's born 1970 in El Paso in West Texas, but his family is from CU Dad Waras. So he lives a little bit in El Paso growing up and then he lives a little bit in CU Dad Waras. If you know that town at all of those towns, it's a border town, so the Mexican U.S. border runs right through and the

geography of the places that there's this big ring of mountains, and the border divides right through that ring of mountains. So the cities are very close, but even just looking at it, like being in El Paso, you see into Ciudaduores. Being in Ciudaduores as you look into El Paso. Like they're very connected. Which is also interesting because CU Dead War is one of the more dangerous Mexican cities in the north. And El Paso is a relatively safe American town,

as far as American towns go. So little grows up, he knows from a very early age that he is gay and he feels strongly about being out. He says quite clearly, being gay is a gift from God. Fuck yes, I've never heard it express that way, but I- Yeah. Can I tell you something? I'm a much more empathetic and kind person because I'm gay. Being gay is something that has led me to forge greater connection with others rather than the opposite. I don't regret having been made an outsider in some way by circumstance because I think being an outsider in some small ways can be a gift from God. It allows you to relate to more people. Yeah, totally. And for Saul, it wasn't always easy growing up in kind of a, yeah, I'm a chiseled cook, for sure.

For sure. Yeah, his dad really didn't know how to handle him and just didn't at all. And eventually he left the family when Saul was 13 years old. So quit high school so that he could start wrestling. He mentored with a luchador in Tijuana and he for about a year and a half he was studying the blade, getting things together and he created a character named Mr. Romano. Mr. Romano, okay?

And Mr. Romano was a masked fighter, he wore a mask, and he was a rudo. So he was one of the bad guys. One of the bad guys, and the mask, sorry, the mask is so incredibly important. The mask is important. Do you do you have a bit on this? No, you go. Frequently when masked wrestlers face each other the mask will be on the line and as we said earlier in the segment people straight up don't know who you are underneath that mask they don't know what your face looks like they don't know

what your name is they don't know what position you fulfill in society outside of the ring. Literally all they have is like, for example, El Santo, when we talk about him, you must imagine this very ornate crazy mask. It was just a silver mask that he pulled over his head. Yeah, plain, Jane. That was his entire identity outside of that. Nobody knows who you are unless, I don't know, they happen to to recognize your tattoos will your skin and something through in the supermarket, right? Yeah, supermercable

so So it's it's a very interesting thing the mask people will frequently wager it It will be mask versus hair if you lose you get your head shaved or you get your mask taken off It will be mask versus title. It will be mask versus et cetera. And the great draw is, will I be there when this person who I have known as this great masked rudo my whole life is a mask that brings up the stakes. That's what we in the literary game call stakes.

So Mr. Romano doesn't really take off. It doesn't really get any... After all that hype I just gave him. After all that. He meets up. He takes on another mentor with an exotical named baby Sharon or I've also heard his name called babes Sharon. Sure.

And baby Sharon says to Saul, listen, I think you should be an exotical. You're an out gay man. Let's go. According to Saul, baby Sharon was the first out gay exotical. Wow. I guess that's not that. So what error are we in? Will you remind me?

We're talking like mid 80s. So yeah, that's right there in the US. And AIDS, air, fuck. That's not nothing. That's very important. Yeah, that's, no, it's certainly. And to be wrestling. Let me give a big salute to Cassandra Rho and to you, Mr. Romano.

So, I like this. Let's try this. Let's do this exotico thing. And his first exotico appearance, he is built under the name Rossa Salvaje, which translates to wild rose. Very cute, very cute. And it's in Wores, it's in Sea of Dead Waters. And so he's kind of thinking like, oh my gosh, everyone's gonna know me. And he says it was kind of a terrifying night, quote, I thought it was a secret that I was gay so I thought I was coming out in this fight but everybody already knew I was the only one who didn't know for my entrance he continues I wore a butterfly blouse my mother's I wore the tail of my sister's kinsing Yere dress Konjou Mira Terrestrial I War Woman's bathing suit

Well Oh and I'm sure he looked fucking snatched Yes He comes out as Rosef Savahe and it's working He has a little bit of a different style Because some of the other exaticos They have the very kind of stereotypical gay man, like the limp rest, the like...

Right. It was too heavy to have up. They're being caricatures as opposed to Cassandra who is kind of being some version of himself. Exactly, yeah. An amplified version, a heightened version, but some version and treating himself with the dignity that one should treat oneself with, even if you're wearing a women's bathing suit and getting booed. Exactly, yes. No.

And his style was this kind of like very strong, very quick. There were elements of exotic goesms that he was bringing, like he would do a bump in a grind on somebody that he was wrestling, or like this very showy kiss, if he had somebody in a headlock. But his style is really loved within the world of Luke Chenliyebete, exotic goes, were, and probably still are a little bit, this pressure valve for a lot of homophobia.

So there is a lot of homophobia. So there is a lot. But probably also some homosexuality too. A lot of like, I hate you, but I do want to fuck you on the low low. And so that makes me hate you even more because I don't understand that. Yes, the fallicism has really done a number on me.

Yes, no I got it, I got it. It can be rough. So he kind of, he starts to establish himself. He's ready to go. And then he gets in one of those fights that you mentioned, the wager fights, the bet fights. Yes, Lucha de la Poestas. Very good, wow, you impressed me.

You impressed me that you knew what I was. I, we impressed each other frequently. Josie's the best bitch I know. Taylor's the best bitch. I thank you. So... So, Rosa Salvaje ends up losing his name in a luchadea puesta. So he had to retire the name Rosa Salvaje. But what happened instead is he took on another name

He didn't have to retire completely because sometimes those up west does are that but Rosa went up to somebody who was like I'm tired of Rosa Salvaje, we can make some of you Yeah, exactly. So he decides to take on this name Yeah, exactly. So he decides to take on this name Cassandra. It's derived from a famed brothel, Madame in Tijuana named Cassandra, who was very well known for sharing her profits with like, with youth, with poor youth.

Conrad Cassandra. Madame. Yes, yes, she was this very altruistic Madame. What a woman. Doing the Lord's work, Cassandra. Get that fuck money, share it with the kids. Go on. Exactly, it's beautiful.

And I think so was really intrigued by this idea of a profession or persona that's deemed as like, bad. Not good as evil, doing good things. But it's charitable, yeah, absolutely. I'm being charitable. Bitter, sweet. It's the same thing that we're dealing with here

is like what I think that seems to be something but maybe is another, yeah, all right? Exactly, yeah. So he is kind of thrilled by that. And I think that kind of, that goes into the ethos of Cassandra is that he's this exotic go that is usually seen as kind of a bad character but he's gonna like turn it around it doesn't you don't have to be the

heal all the time. Absolutely interesting. I haven't so for the record I haven't heard of Cassandra before this is my first time I'm very interested. Oh, very good. His career starts to get a lot of traction. People kind of love to hate him, but they also like... Hate to love him. They love to hate that exotic persona, but he's also just a really talented wrestler. That's the other thing. It doesn't matter how much you as a wrestler want people to

boo you and we'll still do it. If we know that's what you want and we like you will do it. But yeah, some wrestlers are really really good and I feel like and when you might think if you are not somebody who is like really acquainted with wrestling you might think like what does it mean to be good in a scripted sport where the outcomes are predetermined, it means that you make things look real, it means that the moments that you want the audience to boo they boo, it means that you want the audience to cheer, they cheer, there are some people who

are very good at having the crowd in the palm of their hand. Think about exactly. Think of it like ballet, right? Like the palm of their hand. Think about, think about ballet, right? Like the outcome of ballet is predetermined, but you can sit there and be like, damn, she knows how to extend her leg. It's kind of the same thought. Yeah, the feet of human physicality. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's stunt work, right?

And you can recognize good stunt work from bad stunt work. Bad stunt work is not convincing. Good stunt work makes you feel like Somebody is about to get seriously hurt even though they've got it totally under control. Yeah in 1991 it's right before Saul's 21st birthday. Oh, he's young He's very young because he's born in 1970 right right right yeah, and he started he started wrestling in the professional circuits at age 15 Yeah, so yeah, he's got some experience, but he's still quite young

But his career has taken off so much that he is build to wrestle against El Ijo del Santo The San El Ijo del, the son of santo. That's basically santo. It's true. El hijo del santo wears the silver mask, wears his dad's mask. Is it literally a son?

I believe so. Wow. Okay, that's a big deal. That's a big deal. And it's such a big deal that it kind of freaks out loud. Amida. It's like really. It's pressure. It's like really... It's pressure.

It's a lot of pressure. It's really intense. Within the lore of Lucja Libre, like he's quote-unquote just an exotico. Like people come up to him and like, who do you think you are wrestling at Lee Holes Anthem? Right.

You're just an, you know, like... You must remember also that like, up until very recently, a lot of, a lot of people took this quite convincing storytelling to be real. Yeah, fair, fair. I mean, and there's accounts too of like people who were upset enough with Cassandra that like at one point an old woman stabbed him in a crowd. That's how it went, the old women? K, K, K, do the old women, and kick it more seriously than you're else.

When we go into like, fake reality versus real reality, the fake reality of wrestling is called K-Fabe. In America, the K-Fabe was broken. I don't know if it was in the same way in Mexico and especially around this time, 1991. You could still meet old ladies who would stab you. Put it that way.

Or little old ladies who would stab you put it that way or Little little ladies who there's one account that he recalls were a woman through Green chiles at him fuck you and Apparently like he was like my back was so sweaty because I was wrestling and so like my Was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced and this man has been like you know Doused with thumbtacks. That makes me so fast Mashra fluorescent light. She knew she's like these chillies a little get into his back He won't be able to compete with Santa El hijo de Santa right. Yeah, no people take it very very seriously and that fight

With Ellie hold this anthem really got Seoul, really got to Cassandra, enough that he did attempt suicide a week before the match. He was so wild up, he was so nervous, he was so just upset. Keep in mind. I know. And another wrestler of another friend of his found him in the bathroom where he'd slit his wrists and saved his life as actually. Got him to a hospital and everything. He survived. Wow. Wow.

Wow. And he went on the next year, 1992. He kept competing at this high level, and in 1992, he won a World Lightweight Championship title, which marks the first ever Exotico to win a World title. Get out of town! A year after the pressure of that fight. Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! I respect that a lot. That's wild. I

respect that. Even if it's a fictional title, that means that you're competing very regularly on the shows and that means that the person who is booking the booker has a great deal of faith in you both as a fictional character and as a professional athlete to go out there to put on a great deal of faith in you both as a fictional character and as a professional athlete to go out there to put on a great show for the people and to rile them up and to make them interested and to make more people come back and buy a ticket to this show. So that's a very good yeah even if it sounds like oh you know it's a fake title for a fake sport whatever it's a great vote of faith in your ability to command an audience.

Totally. It was such a huge turnaround and the pressure didn't necessarily stop. I mean, it's not like he healed and then everything was okay. For those years, he struggled a lot with addiction. He drank a lot. There was a lot of tequila, a lot of cocaine, a lot of piranhas. He's pretty high and numb through a lot of those years in his career. Starting June 4th, 2003 though, he became sober. Hey. And he's been sober ever since June 4th 2003 is marked in his life on his back. He has a huge tattoo. I have a lot of men with huge tattoos on their back, especially gay men with huge tattoos

on their back. Call me. Yeah. With sobriety. I'll take it. I'll take it. Listen baby, massage is the same way. I can get those knots out. Let's go. It's true. And it was a struggle. I mean, like anybody's story, right? We say it in one sentence, but it takes years and years of moving through it and understanding it. To help him, he turned to a spirituality. He kind of developed his own understanding of a Catholic mysticism. And exoticos guide to Catholicism. A little bit, yeah.

And so you got to throw in some Mayan and Aztec, spiritual practice in there. He does a lot starting then. And I think he currently does too. A lot of like Danza Azteca. Cool. The traditional dance of the Meshika people, and through that sobriety and through kind of adopting the spirituality, he still wrestled as Cassandra, but he took

on a new attitude with it. There's this really wonderful quote from him that I want to share because I feel like it reveals so much about him as this very down to earth person. And he says, you know who I fight in the ring? Cassandra. The guy who needs to be famous. Your ego is not your amigo. It's so cool against Cassandra up there.

I had to become humble. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Which is like, for a man who is such a charismatic performer, to be able to kind of understand. Identify that, yeah. Yeah, to identify that and like to be able to see like, no, who I am, it's so old, and I'm also a Cassandra.

I'm these two things but what I need to be in all of it is humble is like oh so rad absolutely and as he's gone a little bit older he's had like four knee surgeries that's also part of the story yet that's the classic wrestler story is my knee is turned to sawdust yes yes. Very intense. A lot of other gnarly surgeries, stitches, he had a hair fight, a hair lucha where, yeah, he had to shave all his hair. Which is a big deal as an exotico because you're a beautiful lady.

Right. He has this like, fair faucet. Yes, exactly. Not like down, but he's a short, fair faucet. So, it's exactly. Not like down, but it's a short fair faucet. Some feathering, some flipping, some in and around. Yeah. Uh-huh. He's such an interesting wrestler because he's in his 50s,

and he's still wrestling. He's even been doing the Luchra extra-dama. So that's like, what did you call it with, uh, Wishanda, the like, lightbulb smashing it with, uh, with Shandha? The like lightbulb smashing. Oh my gosh, deathmatch wrestling. It's like deathmatch wrestling. It's like, comes to my throat with a pizza cutter.

Oh, the pizza cutter, that's what got me. Oh, Nina, see, see, that's the problem is, is, is these, these fucks are sick. That's the problem. Exotic, rude, technical, sick fox. Yeah, yeah. And what I really also love about Cassandra is he's willing to do the Luke Shakespeare movie? Like, he's an older guy.

He's like, he's like confirmed. He's like in there. And this is a newer style. You said he was the first exotical to achieve a world title. That's your, like, a certain stone. But he he's like no, I'm gonna give this a try And he says like it gets him all this adrenaline. He's like it's fucked, but I don't know am I I kind of like it Am I doing again? You're all sick fucks. It's so good. All of you wrestlers who are listening to this and it lose a lot of you your sick fucks

And if Spanioli, Thambian, and English. And as you could probably imagine, he's a fantastic teacher. He travels around the world to teach wrestling in particular, Lucia Libre style wrestling. He has given talks on diversity at the US Embassy in Mexico City. I mean, look at this what a national University in Mexico City yeah, it's a name He I mean like I said he still wrestles in 2000

Well, this is a little like earlier, but even still this is rad in 2009 him and Ijo de los Santos wrestled for two consecutive evenings at the Louvre. Wow, my dude. I know. That's pretty high level shit. Yeah. So he's all over the world, but he still lives in El Paso and he has all types of programs within his own community to support Wrestling to support kids support LGBTQ plus He's a licensed massage therapist massage my back His house missage my get in there Cassandra you you know the knots go. You've landed on your back a few times. Get in there.

Yeah, no, exactly. Yeah. He even, because he's still part of AAA, which is the Mexican WWE. Mexican Federation. Yeah, essentially, yeah. And he's been really integral and helping other luchadores get visas, get work visas to come to the US to help them with their careers. He's a fantastic mentor to all sorts of folks. Yeah, there's a lot of good wrestling mentoring going out to Texas. Texas is a really good spot for wrestling.

That makes sense to me. Booker Tee has got a wrestling school done. There's a few people who got wrestling schools down there. It's a good spot. Yeah. And there's been loads of documentaries. I'll reference in my notes, a New Yorker. Really? A New Yorker documentary. Yeah. I'm a vice The day after we are recording is the premiere date for a feature length fictionalized by it's a biopic film. That's fun. That's wrestling baby. What's real? What's fake we don't know.

True enough. Directed by Roger Ross Williams. Wow. An American director who's won awards for documentaries that he's made. Some very cool stuff. He sounds like a very interesting guy too. So this is his first biopic starring Bad Bunny and Gail Garcia-Bernel. Oh, you want me to say it?

Royal Rumble, Enter It, Bad Bunny, WrestleMania performer, Bad Bunny, actually a pretty good wrestler, Bad Bunny. Yes, yes. The film is called Cassandra, El Exactico. Wow. And a week after it premieres in select theaters, so September 22nd, it will be available to Wax on Amazon Prime.

Do it! It's so interesting. It's so interesting. Do it! It's so interesting. I will pause it here now on the record that we should Wax it, and we should have a discussion of the film and make it available on our coffee. Yeah I'm done with that. I'm 100% done with that. Easy one. Easy one. Yeah. But the easiest sale you ever made in your life. Easy a sale. I love

God. I want to fucking so bad and still do. And I'm like super stoked for this movie. I think it's gonna be fuck. I didn't know about this movie. I am thrilled to hear about it. I wanna go back to Mexico City with you so we can watch a lucha libre event with some exoticos. Dude, let's go to El Paso.

Let's book a massage appointment. He's a little... Couple massage. Yeah. Dude, let's go to El Paso! Let's book a massage appointment! A massage appointment! Couple massage! Yeah! La Suavecito, la Suavecito, la Suavecito. Le tour, I fell. The Eiffel Tower. Oh! The Eiffel Tower, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. 70, no, no, no. You live near the border, it's fine. Thank you. you know, you live near the border, it's fine. Thank you. 70, 300 tons of iron punctuated with 2.5 million rivets and coated with 60 tons of paint. Ew, what?

That's so much paint. It's a lot of paint and you gotta imagine that they're re-upping that shit every now and again So probably more than that the iconic monument was originally conceived by engineers Emil Nugier and Maurice Cochlan and commissioned architect Steven Sovesre working under the banner of Entrepreneur Gustav Eiffel. It was selected from among 107 applications

to serve as the centerpiece for the 1889 World's Fair and Mark 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The iron tower on the Champ de Mar remains arguably the most recognizable landmark on earth. Totally. Disappointing Japanese tourists to this day. As we join our story, it is February 4th, 1912. Okay. Oh. A chilly morning in Paris and perched upon the Towers First Platform, 57 meters or 187 feet

from the ground, is a man wearing an unusual sort of garment Okay is swaddle around his head shoulders And arms no knees and toes no knees and toes just arms Well under the arms let's say a little bat wing Okay, oh Under the arms, let's say a little bat wing. Okay, okay. Ask. Oh, oh, oh.

He's surrounded by bundles of fabric that he hopes will catch air and inflate. Yeah, I bet he hopes. When he steps off the platform carrying him safely down to the ground. Right, yeah, just gentle as a feather rocking. Loft right on down. Settling. Yeah. Two men, companions of his, hang back nervously in hopes that the man's flight goes

his planned. How do we know this? There is film. Our would be aviator has alerted the media of his exhibition and journalists with the New Israel cameras have captured the whole saga in a piece of film that is still accessible to this day. Okay. Thanks to these-

Is it a snuff film? Yeah, it's actually a- Okay, no comment. Thanks to these cameras. We are able to see the moments where the man in the flying suit stands on the edge of the first platform of the Aful Tower, stealing his nerve and contemplating his fate. This goes on for a while, about 40 seconds before the man finally steps off the tower and into his destiny. Josie, this is the story of a man known in infamy

as the flying tailor, not me, Franz Reichelt. Have you heard of this story before? No, I have not. Okay. Not whatsoever. Sorry, the flying tailor, as in TA. I. I.

I. L.O.R. Okay. Okay. As in the garment. As in the garment. As in the garment. As in, as in, he's created a flying suit of some kind. Let's see if it works.

Oh my God. So... You know, it's kind of comforting though, because I was just about to ask. I was like, is he dead? And I was like, wait, this happened in 1912. So, yeah, he is. And regardless, yes, yes.

It is. No matter what's happened here he has met his fate since we'll put it that way yes so the two main characters of our story are actually conceived within a year of each other the first the Eiffel Tower begins construction in 1887, seeing completion time for the 1889 World's Fair. Okay, that's a fast construction. Yeah, the tower itself is constructed in record time for a monument of this kind. And it is seen widely as a triumph of manpower and resources and design and speed and so on. Yeah, interesting. It is also a powerful symbol for the turn of the century,

which as we've discussed in the past, is a very interesting time for science and invention of all kinds. We're in the era of electricity and motor cars and cloud seeding all of these important technologies, which we still access today, make it rain. It feels very much like a time of limitless innovation. Truly, yeah.

One of the great scientific and industrial discoveries of the era is aviation. After too long on the ground, men has finally taken wing in the aeroplane. Kitty Hawk, baby. Kitty Hawk, baby. Kitty Hawk, baby. The modern airplane with a motor is very famously invented and successfully tested by the Wright brothers in 1903, by which point people have been experimenting

with different types of flying devices for many years. Totally. Unfortunately, when things go wrong, we need a way for pilots to escape and land back on Earth safely. And the current iterations of the parachute, as we now know it, aren't quite cutting it. A parachute, to keep it simple, slows the parachuters' descent by increasing their surface area. It's the reason a plastic bag floats, but a ball bearing doesn't, or at least one of the reasons.

It's more complicated than that, but a ball bearing doesn't or at least one of the reasons it's more complicated than that But I'm not a physicist sadly. I didn't that that wasn't my degree. Josie and I did a degree together. Josie was it in physics? Yeah, that's right. It was so there's still time dude. There's still time. Don't never say never So I'm not a physicist, but I am however an amateur historian So let me give you a very abridged history of the parachute Okay Squirrel suit, let's go flying squirrels. You didn't think you were sitting down here the history of the parachute today, but here we are It's true did not but glad I'm here

I gotta say the earliest version of the modern parachute was invented and successfully tested in 1783, over 100 years before our story for this episode takes place. The inventor Louis Sebastien Le Nœur Monde, a Frenchman himself, jumped from the observation deck of the Montpellier Observatory, holding his device which resembled a large parasol.

So rather than thinking about it in terms of like the more compact parachutes that we know of today, think of it in terms of him just kind of Mary Poppinsing down. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I'm actually kind of surprised that that's the first parachute. I feel like there's there was a lot of time there Like even in ancient times where folks could have maybe but there wasn't I don't know I wonder if there was

Maybe not the purpose for people to jump down from that kind of height Prior to then because I feel like as I say like as the story goes on we're about to get into the history of aviation, which certainly didn't exist prior to that. So it was basically like if you wanted to recreationally jump from the white cliffs of Dover or whatever, and just catch a breeze down, there was kind of that but there wasn't a, I guess, a practical safety purpose in the way that there was once aviators began to get introduced to the equation. Did a didn't Da Vinci? They don't know Da Vinci did that. It's actually pronounced Da Vinci. Oh is it? Yeah. Okay. Maybe I'm just thinking of that Drew Barrymore movie happily ever after where Maybe I'm just thinking of that Drew Barrymore movie happily ever after where there's like a

Duffinkie care Josie have I ever told you I don't know if I've ever addressed this to you outright and I don't know if it's like a Confluent now that Drew Barrymore is widely perceived as a scab in this exact moment. Yeah Fucking scab Drew Barrymore is the person I would clock to play you in the Josie movie. Well, she did, she was Josie Grossee, and never read it. Josie Grossee.

Josie Grossee. She has carried the mantle of Josie, so. It wasn't that, it had nothing to do with that. It was specifically that one, I think it was like an in-stream live, maybe where she went out in the rain and was very happy about it and I looked at that and I was like very jozy coated very jozy coated I'll take it that's okay I'm no scab though I watch it no no no you don't cross the pick a line I've never known you to cross the pick a line so apparently she was invited for like

national book award not anymoreception or something like that? Her invitation was accepted. Yes. They shoved that bitch through the shredder. It's true. Yeah. So to bring it back to the Drew Barrymore of the 1700s, Luis Abastanlino Monde.

Right, thank you. He created this sort of, um, parasol-esque parachute, which is cool, but is not necessarily useful in the sense that, like, you imagine the kitty hawk era of a biplane going up in the sky, you know, think of these people with a fucking Paris all over their shoulder, it needs to be something a little more intuitive than that. Right, it's not a mechanism, it's not a device, it's not, yeah. You don't want to catch a draft, a menu poppin's draft. I'm leaning back over the side of my chair as Laura is being dragged by the air drag of my biplane that I'm in.

Yeah, yeah. Imagine a cross Atlantic with that rough. Nope, nope, nope, nope, that's a big ocean. The device, the parachute that Leno Monde devices, it gets refined and tested, refined and tested in 1887, right around the time of the Eiffel Tower's construction. Circus performer and aviator Thomas Scott Baldwin made the first known North American parachute jump which he undertook from a hot air balloon. Oh wow.

So we're sort of like pre-mechanical air flight. We're able to get off into the sky, but we require this very specialized device to get down, and if we don't have it, it's not very safe. Okay, okay, yeah. And of course, now that airplanes and other devices are taking flight, there's a huge onus to perfect a collapsible, frameless parachute, suitable for use at low altitudes in order to save lives. Yeah. For example, in 1896, the flying contraption of German aviator Otto the Glider King, Lillian Fall. It sounds like a bad like regional, like a bad commercial, like a-

Get your glider from the glider king, king, king. Yeah, no, I got you, I got you. Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you. Anyway, he crashes 50 feet to the ground and breaks his back. So he dies. Oh, God, I mean, I'm so sorry. No, that's what you were saying. He dies in hospital.

The next day, his final recorded words are said to be in German Sacrifices must be made so he's on board don't worry. Oh Oh my gosh and into this context is born the second of our main characters the first being the Aful Tower the Human main character of our story Frans Reichelt is born October 16th, 1878 in Vigsbattle, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria, Huyfenhungry, in what is now the Czech Republic. Okay, okay. In 1898, at the age of 19, he moves to Paris, France. He takes to his new home, obtaining French citizenship in 1909, and going by the French equivalent of his name, Francois. Okay, cool. In 1907, Raikal

opens a successful dress making business near Avenue Laplac. Seems like he's mainly catering to the tastes of Austrians who come into Paris and want some fancy made. At some point, Franz, here's about the efforts to perfect the parachute and having the mind of an inventor as well as a tailor. He sets himself to the task of creating a parachute suit. A parachute. If you like, my name is not his, I don't know if it works in French. Okay, nice.

I like it in English. It works in English. I haven't checked with the French, but I seldom do. The suit, Mary Kate, I'm sorry. The suit is not much bulkier than a typical aviation suit, but it includes some rods for structure, a silk canopy, and a small rubber component that allowed the parachute to fold out when you're following. Oh, okay, okay. Once you've designed your prototype parachute, what do you next?

You test it. Oh yeah. For Franz, that involved tossing mannequins out the window of his fifth floor apartment on Rue Gaillant. He's able to achieve soft landings with some early prototypes, but the more he tweaks the design to be something an aviator could actually wear the less effective

the tests become. Okay, yeah, sucks, sucks for him. Nope, sucks for him mainly, but also whatever dummies he's checking out the window. For example, once the suit is smashy smashy, once the suit is smashy smashy, it's 70 kilograms or 150 pounds altogether. As you might imagine adding 150 pounds of weight to a body doesn't do great things for

its air buoyancy especially when you're like 158 pounds yourself. So it's not, it's kind of doubling your weight. Yeah. The leading aeronautic organization of this era is La Ligue Rien at the Ereau Club de France. A man named Colonel La Lance has written in and offered an ample 5,000 franc reward to whoever can design an effective safety parachute for aviators. So he's got 5,000 francs out on the table. Yeah, damn. France Reikel brings his designs to La Ligue Rien, they reject them, And attempt to dissuade him from pursuing them further, saying that the surface of Raikert's device is too weak.

And he will aboutless break his neck. Unfortunately, the next year when Colonel-Alaunt doubles his reward to 10,000 francs in 1911, Franz is only more determined to make this new dream a reality. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. That same year, according to the French newspaper L'Horestit Claire, Franz tests his invention personally in Joanneville by jumping from a height of 8 to 10 meters, he lands in a bay of hay and escapes injury. Okay. According to another paper, Lume 10, who you may recognize from our episode

about Jean-Waubair, they were all over her. A similar test at N'Jant doesn't go so well, the inventor jumps 26 feet and breaks his leg. Rik out believes that these tests failed because of the short jump distance and begins unsuccessfully to petition the Parisian prefecture of police for permission to jump from the Aiffel Tower. Meanwhile another inventor Gaston Eurey is also very publicly competing to win the Colonel's bounty using dummies and an aircraft which only increases the pressure on friends right called to be the first the finish line. In 1912, Franz receives the permission he seeks to carry out his experiments at the Eiffel Tower with mannequins. Oh, and important distinctions to be made there. Yeah, I would start the request with that.

That's what he did. You know, put it that at the end. Yeah, I mean, he got it, yeah. Well, he lied. So, um, so does. Unbeknownst to the French police, Raquel has something different and much more dangerous in mind I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that.

I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that.

I'm not sure if I can say that. I'm not sure if I can say that. These sorts of parachute jumps are becoming more common around this time and in fact, a parachetist named Fredrick Arla has just jumped off the statue of Liberty two days prior to Raik Elp's own jump. Oh. Landed safely. Oh. So, perhaps he feels some pressure to live up to these public stents. I feel like our dude is not gonna land safely.

If somebody has done it two days before, but you're not telling me that story. I just told it to you. I just told it to you just now. I mean, it is a sentence. In a sentence, yeah, you know how this podcast goes. Anyway, it's difficult to know what is going through Franz Reichelt's head as we

rejoin that cold February morning in 1912 as as they sing along when they say Mille-, they say Rulan Rouge, Milan Rouge, Milan Rouge, Milan Rouge, Milan Rouge, Milan Rouge. And next one, Ciswa, as Eve said at the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. So the police have cordoned off the base of the Eiffel Tower with ropes to ensure no unfortunate member of the public Wonders into frame and catches a fallen dummy to litette Yeah, Raquel arrives at 7 a.m. A company by friends to find members of the Parisian police They're for security as well as about 30 journalists there for security as well as about 30 journalists, some of the video cameras, as we now know, for which Raquel proudly shows off his winged suit, tipping his You can find this on Franz Reichelt's Wikipedia page right now. Don't do it because I'm going to tell you the rest.

Tell me the rest. I don't like, let me just pull that up. It's like, wait, why am I here? Tell me. He also finds his aviation arrival guest Donna Lvier. They're evidently to watch 10,000 francs fall through his fingers. Oh, right, just to rub it in, yeah. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear that Franz is not going to use mannequins as he indicated, but plans to undertake the test himself. So did the guy before did not use mannequins, is that right? Which guy, Gastonovia?

Yeah. He's only used dummies. He's he's only used mannequins. Okay. He's never jumped off just him. Right. Or had any person use the device that he's been working on? No, not as far as I'm more. Okay. So unfortunately it quickly becomes clear to his friends that Franz is not going to use mannequins as the indicative of plans to undertake the test himself. According to one of Franz's friends who is present, this is a complete surprise to absolutely everyone who naturally from this point forward sets out to dissuade Franz from his very extreme plan. Yeah, I don't want to gather under the Eiffel Tower to watch you jump to your death.

No, thank you. Like, this is not the Sunday morning I was planning. If it were me, your buddy. And I was like, look, I've got this nailed down. I'm pretty sure I've got the physics figured out here. Would you want to come to the Eiffel Tower and watch me jump? I would say I support you. I love you. Come to my house after for croissants, but I will not be in attendance because it's something in the off chance.

I'm not saying it well, but in the off chance, my nerves, my nerves couldn't handle it. Yeah, I don't, I could not. Uh-uh. I won't watch you do it either. I think if if you did that, I would be like, listen, Josephine. I know your full name is Josephine. I respect you for living up to your dreams. I would like to be elsewhere when you live up to your dreams. I think that's what I'd say. In French. In French. Oh yeah, this is all in French. Yeah.

Hahaha. Can you please listen retroactively in French to what we just said? Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. The Friends tell him it's windy. Can't you at least lay it? Right. Even his blood arrival, Gaston El-Rieu, tries to convince Franz that the 57 meter distance

from the first platform of the tower means that the opposite actually. Too short for the wings of the parachute, his parachute, to catch the appropriate amount of wind to fully expand. Oh, the parachute will not engage! Parasute will not engage. Franz has no answers to LVU's criticisms, but even still he cannot be swayed, telling a journalist from Luma Tess. He's feeling it. Quote, you are going to see how my 70s who kilos and my parachute will give your arguments the most

decisive of denials. I do like the way that that kind of goes because it's like it'll be decisive either way. It'll work or it won't, yeah. Whether I'm dead or not, you are going to figure this out. So, up goes Franz Reichelt as everyone loses their collective mailed in horror on the ground below. Oh my god. Also losing his mailed is a security guard named Gaston, who apparently goes hell for leather to try to keep Reichelt from ascending to the first platform of the tower.

Yeah. Afterwards, the newspaper L'hôpétit Parisienne, subtitles, the small Parisian, posits that it was due to Gassion's terror from watching other similar failed experiments with dummies take place on the tower. Another rag lefigo suggests that he was merely unaware of the experiment and had to wait for a phone call from his peers. Either way, the argument subsides and phones gets passed but the exchange evidently leaves both him and the security guard very rattled. him and the security guard very rattled Thrones isn't gonna show it though. He turns to the gathered crowd below and

happily announces see you soon Before finally ascending to the first platform With two friends as I mentioned before who attempt to talk him out of it the whole way. Right. Good friends. At 8.22am, Franz Reichelt stands facing the Sun River on a stool placed on a table from the restaurant on the first platform of the Eiffel Tower. There's a restaurant there. I think it's still there. I didn't know that. Yeah let's go to Paris together. Paris, CDMX, etc. Yeah great. He makes some final adjustments with the help of friends and he tosses a piece of paper off the deck to test the wind. Okay okay.

Okay. Scientific. I like it. Cian Tifique. He places one foot on the guard rail, seemingly ready to jump, and then he waits for 40 seconds, as I said. Yes. Working up the nerve to step off the Aval Tower, because that's a big deal. God, she's gonna piggy hillhill it, isn't he? And then he drops.

We are not close enough to register his facial expression, but according to the paper L'h'f'g'r'o, he wears a serene smile. Because we have this newsreel footage, It's very easy to describe what happens next without any sort of speculation. We see a man-shaped tangle of fabric, plummet from the airful power, and slam into the ground below generating a cartoon like cloud of dust from the impacts. The parachute wings of the suit have crumpled around friends Raikel, exactly as Gaston El Rio predicted. The next thing we see is the members of the Parisian Provector, carrying an inert rakeel away from the scene as though he's had too much to drink at a party. That's all one thought.

And finally, we see investigators with their measuring devices, measuring the depth of the fron's shaped imprint that has been left in the ground. I'm sorry, that's the first thing they do! Like, what? So it didn't go well. No, it went bad. I've never seen a newsreel of somebody's death that looks more like a wily coyote cartoon when he hits the ground there's this like of yeah splat of wily coyote does i don't know how else to describe it

yeah no totally oh Oh my gosh. He does peggy hell it. He peggie hells at hardcore but the difference is that peggy hell lives. I didn't want to ask. According to Le Petit Parisian, though this is not visible in the newsreel, both Reicheltz-Riteleg and arm were crushed by the impact his skull and spine were broken and he was bleeding from his mouth nose and ears. Uh, yeah, no good. Le Figurus, as his eyes were wide open and dilated. These are not great signs and as you might

imagine friends, Raquel is formally pronounced dead at the Necker hospital. Writing in the French newspaper Liberation in 2009, so quite recently, Edwild, Lene claims an autopsy indicated that Raquel died of a heart attack during the fall, rather than upon impact. Oh my! Wow! Do you think he just like, this thing isn't gonna open a heart attack? Kaboom? I don't know.

I think that it was the fall of it and I imagine a fall like a severe fall could probably impact any of us similarly, but yeah, my feeling is I Don't know how else put this he just tapped out. He was like no missing gonna go well That's yeah, I mean, I guess maybe that's a bit lucky or horrible because he's like, maybe it'll open and it'll work, but I believe died. Anyway.

Regardless of what happened, Breakout's experiment and death are headline news in all of the Parisian and I would imagine French in general papers. Probably thrown some Austrian when it was not raised from, yeah. Interviewers are hunting down exclusives with absolutely everyone you might imagine. No photographs are widely circulated, and the newsreel video of the attempt is condensed, which is still very easy to access to this day. Oh my gosh. You can watch this man

step off the Aful Tower and not live even now. And I have, and it's very unusual. Were you apprehensive about hitting play? Being like I know this man is I'm gonna watch somebody die like yeah I know what you mean. Honestly just for my own personal boundaries yeah typically not a huge fan of watching people die. There's a video of a young woman named Alisa Lam, this very infamous. She was a UBC student who went to a hotel in California and disappeared and then she unfortunately was found to have died in the hotel's water tank. I've always kind of stayed away from looking more into

that because I understand that there's a security video of her on the elevator acting quite strangely beforehand and even though that doesn't depict a death, I've always found that like very foreboding and disturbing. It's not my favorite thing. The same with when George Floyd was murdered and the footage was doing around on social media. I stayed plugged into that story, but I didn't watch the footage, because I thought that it was... I don't know, it was incredibly disturbing the idea of watching someone get murdered in that way, and like I also felt reservations about the dignity of the person who died in the video. I wouldn't want somebody to watch me die. It's very strange with the right-killed newsreel though. I think

maybe because it's presented in such a clipped and stylized and cartoonish way. There's no gore. It lands differently if you'll forgive the wordplay. Yeah, it's definitely something though that if you have any reservations, you're not missing out by not watching it, so I would advise you against it if that is a concern, which is a very reasonable concern. Franz Reichelt's jump rather than the parachute suit itself remains his legacy in a modern context along with comprehensive bands with comprehensive bands on any attempt to accomplish any similar such stunt. The band was relaxed in the 1980s for a successful stunt for the James Bond film of You Do a Kill. Oh, interesting. It went off successfully and there have been other successful illegal jumps including a British couple in 1984 and a New Zealander, Bungee jumper in 1987.

Unfortunately, others who have snuck in have not been so lucky Snuck in have not been so lucky Including in Norwegian stunt jumper who died when his parachute got stuck on the Eiffel Tower itself the structure of the Eiffel Tower It's all he attempted to film an illegal jump for an advertising campaign and it didn't go so well. Oh my oh God in March Oh, I don't got it, I don't got it, I don't got it. In March, 1912, a month after Raquel's death, a Russian man named Gleb Katelnikov is granted the French patent for the Napsack parachute,

which will go on to save countless lives. It's one final note of Graham irony in the story of Franz Reichelt, the flying tailor who never flew. Never did. And one month after... Yeah! That's such a bummer. That is such a bummer. I bet he wished it were sooner. I wish it were me too me too

but that man have some kids. I feel like this dude catches friends right kelp catches a bad rap in terms of being a little bit premature or being foolish. Impulsive maybe? He was ultimately trying to save people's lives and broaden human knowledge. Yeah yeah yeah yeah he was it's the scientific method and and when it works out we remember the ripe brothers and we remember uh well we don't remember because I can't remember the Russian's name who actually did invent the parachute. Gleb Katolnikov, another person who saw a need and just maybe went about it in a little bit less misguided of a way, but no less pure hearted, I'm sure. There was a need.

Yeah, there was a need. There was a need. There was a need. Yeah, and yeah, for every invention that is successful, that gets the pattern, that changes the world, there's so many other attempts behind it. By that same inventor or by that same person or by folks who will be lost to the sands of time. And it's just a shame that our boy is not lost at the sands of times because his death was recorded.

I feel bad for him because I feel like he gets recorded as a sort of Darwin award type. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no totally, totally. But he really stepped up and tried to solve this particular problem. It didn't turn out well, but he did trust his design. He trusted it enough to like, I'm gonna do this. It's not gonna be a mannequin, it's gonna be me. This is what's important. And there's something lot of all in that like a confidence I suppose.

But it falls into that Darwin Awards situation when you have the confidence and it plements. I don't want to give anybody a dollar. Those upset me. They've sent me to. There's some meanness in it as well, especially when the perk, because with the Darwin Awards recipients always are no longer with us. Is that true? Yeah. Let them rest in peace. We love the dead. We love the dead over here a bittersweet infamy. Yeah, yeah, we're all about the dead. We're all about the dead. D-A-D. And on that note, the next time you hear from us, it's gonna be a lot smoother around here. Thanks for listening.

If you want more infamy, we've got plenty more episodes at BitterSuiteInfamy.com. Or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to support the podcast, shoot us a few bucks via our coffee account. At KO-F-I-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D at BittersweetInthMe. Or just pass the podcast long to a friend who you think would do it. Stay sweet. The sources that I use for today's infamous included a video from Vice, entitled How a Gay Pro-Restular Became Mexico's Liberaxi of Yucha Libre. It was posted June 25th, 2019, to YouTube. I read a profile in the New Yorker by William Finnegan,

published August 25th, 2014, entitled The Man Without a Mask. Have a drag queen Cassandra became a star of Mexican wrestling. I also read an article in The Guardian entitled Meet Cassandra, the drag queen star at Mexico's wrestling circuit written by Tim Dowling published December 1st, 2014 and lastly I watched the trailer for the upcoming feature film directed by Roger Ross Williams entitled Cassandra El Exotico. It comes out on Selected Leaders, September 15th, and is available on a prime video, September 22nd. Catch a bittersweet Exotico exclusive on our coffee.com account, coffee.com.

Slash bittersweet.com. KO-FI.com. Slash bittersweetinfme.co-fi.com slash bittersweetinfme. As a tailor-night do-little post-viewing chat about the feature length film, the Samuel. My sources for this week's episode include a pair of Atlas Obscure articles by Eric Grundhouser, the last flight of Germany's glider king who inspired the right brothers, as well as the sad tale of the flying tailor those were published April 19, 2016 in November 14, 2017, respectively. I read what goes up, the ballad of Frans Reichelt, from the blood tales of history and imagination, strange and eccentric tales from the street by Simone Whitlow.

I read Parachuteist Kilden Eiffifele Jump on CBS News May 17, 2005. The contemporary sources that I read included L'Unventure d'une vétement par la chute se gède de le tour et fel, et viance de classeuse de la soeur. In Lois de Claire, February 5, 1912, day after the Big Attempt, and also from the day afterwards, Luma Tens article, which is simply titled, Experiance Trajique. My information about the Eiffel Tower itself came from Toreyfeld.Paris, the Eiffel Tower's official website. I also read the Wikipedia articles for Thomas Scott Baldwin, Parachute, and Franz Reichelt.

The other student for me is a proud member of the 604 podcast network. Thank you Jonathan Mountain for your monthly co-off-y co-fe-wow donation. If you want to be like Jonathan and get your name, share it out in the Zincreddit. Sign up to give us monthly. Any amount will do. We don't care. At KO-Hipen-FI.com slash Bitter-Sweeten for me. The interstitial you heard earlier was Suavecito Suavecito by Laura León, that's the ring song of Cassandro, Alex Ótico.

In the song you are currently listening to is two students by Brian Stio. Happy birthday, mom! Thanks for your coffee donation as well. you