The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 509 - Adah Isaacs Menken

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine actress Adah Isaacs MenkenONLINE SHOW DECEMBER 16SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

Do I start? Yes. Okay. You're listening to the dollop on the all-fang comedy network. This is a buy-pedal American history. It's actually just a weekly podcast. I don't even think you need to say it anymore. Actually it would make a lot of sense to drop it.

So just say it's a weekly podcast. Three, two, and action. This is a weekly podcast. Now I'm confused. Of course. It's about American history. My name is Dave, and I do it with... Oh my God.

Gareth Reynolds. And I don't know what the topic is about. So... You threw me, man. That's like... Really, not a big note. I mean, I've been asking you to drop a buy. I've been saying it.

Absolutely. Just like saying one last buy. Perfectly. For like 400 episodes. Now, the intro is to you... My... Look. Nailing it every time.

I get to complain about the preposition ending, but I don't care. You're beef is... you've gone... It's... You're like... You treat the intro like jazz. You're like, we'll find it, baby. Thank you. Let's go out there and we'll find it together.

Okay. So you notice I'm doing jazz over here. You're not in a bad way. Like I'm doing... Yeah, but you're doing jazz like during a rock set. So it's like you... Like nobody wants that person. It's like you...

Nobody needs that person. It's like you doing a podcast with Monk, right? Thelonious Monk. You're over here. We're jamming. And I'm... Okay. Look, I'm sorry.

I don't mean to... Yes. I'm not trying to pull out any age card. You can't say Monk to me and think that I'm going to go to Thelonious first. I go to Tony Shalub, the OCD investigator. I know you did. Well, that's why I said it. And by the way, it's a lot closer to doing a podcast with Tony Shalub than it is.

I saw your face in Thelonious Monk. Very confused. Very confused. I was like, dude. Okay. I guess... I mean, you do look... You're Shalub-esque, I suppose, if you really want the compliment.

I didn't know I'd have to say the first name, but I did. Yeah. Well, Monk, he doesn't... Thelonious Monk goes by Thelonious Monk. Monk goes by Monk. I can't believe... I've said Monk so many times, it's lost all purpose and meaning. And called it, quote, his jam patch.

Jam patch? I'm the fucking hippo guy. Steve, okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become a tiggly pod, guys.

Okay. This is like anarchy. And a five-part coefficient. My room's a place. Now hit him with a puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep down hippos. That's like no hippo.

Actually, heart... Hi, Gary. No. I sleep down, my friend. No. So, I'm going to do an anti-add. Okay. Went on, you know, Thanksgiving vacation with some relatives.

I'd never... I haven't rented an Airbnb in ages. I just stopped doing it a while ago because we had bad experiences. But it was like... It was like the cheapest and best thing, you know? So, I rented a very nice place and I was like, oh, this is a good deal. Now, I didn't know how bad Airbnb can be, but it's not really Airbnb that's the problem here.

Okay. So, as soon as I made the reservation, it popped up VACASA. So, VACASA is another company, V-A-C-C-A-S-A, and they own properties and then they rent them through Airbnb. Sure. And that's what the model... That's what we all... Yeah, it should be.

Yeah, it's how you go. It should be double and triple renting through people. Absolutely. No. So, now our plane was delayed as they are, like four hours. So, at the time... That's spirit for you, maybe. Yes.

At the time our plane is supposed to land, I get a text and a call from VACASA that our condo is not available. Sure. Sure. And does this to you is problematic? Yeah, because that's where I'm actually staying. Sure. And they offer us two separate versions, two separate places that are nowhere near as good,

like just shitty... But at least that your kid can live alone for a week. That's right. Yeah. So, just shitty comparisons and they're like, these are what we can offer you for the same price. And I'm like, well, that's obviously not acceptable. Right.

I call Airbnb and Airbnb is like, yeah, we'll look into it. So we're fucked. Okay. Right. Basically, we're just fucked. Right. Right. Turns out they do this constantly.

VACASA. VACASA. Sure. And Airbnb does not allow you to put a review on a site if you've been canceled an hour before you're supposed to check in. Weird. I wonder how many of you have seen this place, odd. So my sister actually looked into it.

She was furious. She was on the emails and she found a scientist. A scientist looked at the data and I'm not crazy about this scenario already. He's, this is what he said, the most common Airbnb scam, the host offers a nice accommodation for a good price unbeknownst to the guests. The property was listed more than once on Airbnb and potentially other short-term rental platforms once at a cheaper rate and once at a much higher rate. If the host has a new guest, make a booking at the higher rate, they cancel the guest

who booked at the lower rate, usually last minute, but that's not what happened to us. That's one of their scams because I went to the place. You went to where, of course you did. You went to where they canceled? Yeah, this is what they said. They said, they said, this is my house. You are. Are you?

I just want to look at it. They said, they said, well, there's construction going on. And I said, well, how long did you know the construction was going on? Could you not have told me yesterday or the day before? We found it a four day. It was supposed to be done this morning. So why are you calling me at 3 p.m. if it was not done this morning? Yeah.

Oh, whatever. So I go to the place. The entire building's gutted. Oh my God. The entire building is gutted. The entire, the plastic over everything, the balconies, it's being completely redone and it hasn't had a person in it for months. There's no recourse.

So do you get your money back? Airbnb gave me my money back and I'm still like, you have to figure out where you're going to live. You're going to spend more money. Right. You should use Airbnb. They have a lot of money. But Vakasa is the main, and they clearly work together, but Vakasa is this company that

runs out tons of, and here's the thing. I say to my sister and she goes, this is what happened to us in Lake Tahoe five years ago. We had a family reunion. We rent through Vakasa. We go to the house. It's fucking canceled. It's amazing. It's exact same thing.

And then we stay in the shittier place. It was the exact same fucking thing. I just didn't remember it. So this company, that's what this company does. Vakasa does this. So you're telling people don't stay the fuck away from Vakasa. If Airbnb, if you rent a place from Airbnb and it says, you know, Jimmy's going to rent it and also it's Vakasa, it's a fucking scam.

Get the fuck out. Get the fuck out. Run. Run from Vakasa. Run. Okay. Well, I think that's good. Aaron, did you learn something?

Okay. Good. All right. Good. Well, that sounds fun. Yeah. That's cool. It was fun.

We also, Dave, have to remind people that we have a live virtual show. I just remembered. Yeah. December 16th. We have a live virtual show that we're doing with Moment House. We're very excited about, we will be doing it at 6 p.m. Pacific time. You can go to momenthouse.com slash the dollop to get tickets. But it's going to be one of those ones, you know, where we've got a bunch of pictures

and videos and Dave does a shirtless and all that stuff. So join us for that December 16th and we're calling it go big and stay home. My iPad like this, so I don't have to hold it. This is a Jesus Christ one. Speaking of Jesus Christ, June 15th, 1835, year of, you can say it. You can say it. I mean, he was our Lord Jesus. Yes.

Christ. Christ. Say it in Spanish. Our Lord Jesus Cristo. Good. Well done. Thanks. It's for everybody.

It's the worst. Thank you. Again, it's not jazz. I'm jazz. This whole fucking show is jazz. We should actually redo the logo and say the dollop and then jazz, like in a Miami, like in a Miami Vice lettering, jazz, Adois Dolores McCord was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. The name again.

Adois. Adois. Adois. We're going to change. It'll be more English. Is it A-D-R-O-I-T? A-D-O-I-S. Adois.

Okay. Adois. Okay. That's what I was told. Something's going to say that's wrong. Yeah. That's what I was told. It's Adois.

Her mother, Marie, was a super good looking mixed race woman. Okay. She was French Creole. Okay. Her father. Freole for those of you who are. That's correct. Her father was a very respected shopkeeper, not doing that well with the shop.

He was a free black man. Okay. Named. Where are we? Are we in New Orleans? We're in New Orleans. Okay. New Orleans.

I think they say it. Yeah. Named. His father, August Theodore, was her father. She had one brother and one sister. They were raised Catholic. Although, at one point, she said she was born in Bordeaux, France as Marie-Rachel Adelaide de Vair Spencer.

Okay. Wait. So she is like, she's like, I don't love the name Adois. I guess not. And she's, so she's, this is again, I mean, always good. How old is she? She's young. Oh, she's young.

But later on, she would, we're talking about her past. So later on, she would say she was also born in France. Right. Okay. And her name was Marie-Rachel Adelaide de Vair Spencer. Sure. Yep. Close.

Yeah. Close to the original. If you're going to make up a name, make it 9, 10. Sounds like she's working with Monk. Yeah. Adelaide. Celebrate. Oh.

Yeah. I tried to hit it, but thank you, Aaron. That did deserve a spotlight. Fuck you, Dave. And she said after France, she was raised in Cuba for a while, and then the family moved to New Orleans. She also said she was born to a French woman and a Spanish-Jewish man, and her name was Dolores Adois Los Fiertes.

But another writer said she was born Ada McCord in Memphis, the daughter of an Irish merchant and his wife, Catherine. In that version, her dad died and her mother remarried, and then they moved to New Orleans. The truth is her father was August and her mother was Marie. So the version you've told us is the real one, but she... There's a lot of embellishing. And to me, that's not a red flag to just have carved out four different lives at the end of your life.

That, to me, seems fine. I mean, I haven't told you this, but I'm actually... I'm living a couple other lives, doing a couple other... I have two other careers. What's your other... All comedians. What's your names? Well, I do Smashy.

Uh-huh. Smashy the Fruit Man, which is where I have a fruit stand. I didn't know that was you. It's a very offensive Italian situation. How's it go? I have a fruit stand. I mean, I don't want to do it because... So I walk up and I go, me, I have a banana.

No, you're not on stage. No, I'm doing the whole thing and I have a little cart and I'm just... I walk up and I say... If you walk on the stage security... Again, this is a structure show. I say it from the audience. I say, me, I have a banana, sir. I mean, again, that would be considered heckling, but I go, I have a banana, what is it with

this guy? And I'd smash a melon. Okay. Yeah, I like that. So I do that one. And then I have another guy who is another comedian, too. Who's that? That's Magic Joseph.

Okay. Yeah. And that's comedy and magic, which I really love doing. It's a lot of Dove stuff. I love Dove. Yeah. It's a lot of Dove stuff. And yeah, so...

What do you mean stuff? Like what? I kill a lot of Doves. Same thing as the Italian guy, I'm smashing Doves. Oh, Jesus. I thought, like, just take him out of a hat or something? Or... No, they basically come out of a barrel.

You know, there's jammed in a barrel. There's 30 of them in a barrel. Can they fly? Well, I mean, they could. I don't allow it. You know, by the end, they definitely can't. None of them can. This sounds less like magic and just more like a barbarism sort of horrible.

It's all done with curtains. And... Do you get an audience? No. What? Is there an audience that comes to this? Absolutely. Yeah.

How many people? Let's get back to the story. Come on. Focus. So, her father died when one... I found some people that said seven, other people said when she was a baby. Okay. So, Marie then sold the shop and moved into a boarding house.

A Bordeauxing house. A Bordeauxing house. And that's where she met and married Dr. J.C. Campbell, who was the chief surgeon of the U.S. Army. Okay. So, he's a chief. Sure. She raised Ada.

Now, she's been called Ada. Okay. Uh, he raised... he raises Ada as his own child. Sure. He's very generous. He encouraged... It's a real low bar for fathers who come into this situation. It's like, he treats her like his actual daughter.

It's like, okay, that seems like fair. What he should be doing. As opposed to a stranger. Yeah, as opposed to a guy who's like, don't touch me. Touch your mom. You ain't come from me. This thing's just blinking come as far as I'm concerned. Every day she comes out.

Oh, the fuck is this? Oh, here we go again. Let me guess. You need something. I just wanted some water. Oh, my God. That's all. It never ends.

Drink from the toilet, like the dog. They wanted daddy. You're still here, huh? Jesus Christ. I'm gonna drink in the morning again. Have a banana. Oh, no. Has somebody said a banana?

Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana.

Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana. Have a banana.

Have a banana. Have a banana. Oh, no. Has somebody said a banana? Have a banana. There he is. So he's very generous. He encourages her many talents, but she has many talents.

She's a writer, a painter, an actress, a dancer, and he pushes her to learn different languages, so she speaks French and Spanish. Sure. She studied the classics. She read poetry. He got her dancing and horseback riding. By the time Ada was 11, she had several poems published. Yeah, okay. She's she's a fucking she's a good poet. She's a good poet. She just is I mean

She just this becomes a horrible liar. That's right, right She then danced in the ballet of the French opera house in New Orleans. Okay Her relationship with her mother not as good. All right Ada wrote her sister describing how much her mother disliked her Okay, it's a cool letter. Yeah, that's cool Apparently her mother was jealous. It's also that was like therapy back then. Yeah. Oh, yeah, right Well, I'll play it from her someday until then. I'll just live in the darkness That'll be fine

Apparently your mother was jealous of all the attention Campbell gave to Ada. Oh my god So that's to me is the worst situation too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're like a kid is just like but I was just trying to be cool It's like shut up. I just wanted dad. You're not my daughter and you're not my daughter either The guy who doesn't like her the mother is jealous of no, he does. All right. Sorry. I'm invented that part Now it's like talking to my mom So they're to prod me back. Nope. Yeah, you made that up sir. Oh did I oh, right? Oh, right? So in turn, she's not treating her own daughter. Well and it is dreaming of better life and Then her stepdaughter died stepfather dies in

1852 she's 13. Okay So she's crashed. She's totally destroyed. She'd relied on his encouragement and his support Some people said that that he was kind of an absent father to her Yeah, I'd heard that I heard an improv guy say that just so you know. Yeah, a couple camps. Okay. Well, I mean that one's real and then one's just something Some was someone's right now. I don't think we need to get fax This guy was good. Let's keep going but So the family's destitute

Ada has to work as a language tutor She says I can't catch if I can just get my next poem published Now she's a little she's a little ahead of the time. She kept a diary and she wrote in a quote She's 17 at this point the one the one woman of today is not a slave, but free So she's saying like right, you know time to take out the chains and Be be aggressive and get out there. Yeah, so like we shouldn't put up with this shit, right? Obviously not a prevailing attitude at the time especially for her 17 year old, right? Yeah, her mother

Didn't take long to remarry This time to a man who actually made improper advances toward Ada and her sister and finally Ada couldn't take any more and she left home Good times you really want to vet these step five. I mean if you marry three one's gonna do it. Yeah, you got a dud Yeah, I'm always gonna find a shamp so She hooks up with a local troop of entertainers in October 1853 an

Austrian noble Mm-hmm Baron Frederick von Erberstadt. They're excited for this. Okay. That's this man comes in on a chandelier, obviously Holding his the leash of his tiger. Yeah, what do you think? He asked her to come with him to Havana Uh-huh Sure, listen, hey, if an Austrian Baron with a tiger asks you to go anywhere. You got it. Yeah percent She had tutored his daughter. That's how he that's how he knew her. Okay in Havana

She was apparently yes. Yes, obviously. Yeah for sure. She was apparently his mistress in Havana Okay, and she performed for the well-off. She danced the audience has loved her Uh, she says she was called Queen of the Plaza while she was there. Is that okay? Now an actor Horace Keane wrote quote scarcely 16 So the age obviously a lot but scarcely 16. She overwhelmed the audience with her charm and talent her tiny frame crisp black curls and dark sparkling eyes made her a beauty unlike any that have entertained her before is It any here before is it any wonder Havana is bewitched by her. What is she doing at the show? She's just kind of like dancing. Yeah, she's dancing. It's a she's a ballet dancer. So she's dancing

Okay, she was really good and she's smoking. She's really attractive. She's smoking. Yeah, right? So they're like wow, I didn't know I love dance I don't think it's dance. I love the way the breasts move. I love the ballet Could she stop moving so much and just stand Is there a dance called jiggling please? so now this At this point in her life, there's different versions of what happened. So another

Version the so the the Baron bailed on her. Sure. This is on encyclopedia.com. She Some believe she then survived as a sex worker to get by for a little while Okay, and then she got back to the US in 1856. Wow, okay a fucking Barons a fucking Barons. I would just you never want to put your fate in a Barons ever ever If a dude has a tiger on a leash, you're out. It's hard though It is I mean, I just I would even even knowing that I'll be destitute and doing sex work I'd still be like that's the tiger that's a Baron. Yeah, it's pretty good. It's a lot of good There's a lot of good. Yeah, it's gonna be good sexing. Well, that's not necessarily where I barons all I'm more into the tiger

Like rhinos. Yeah, as you know, what? Yeah, I was I spent some time nevermind After after he bales on her and she does that then she gets back to the US and her fellow entertainers tell her She she goes back to you know, the troop or whatever, right and they tell that she can make money as an actress Okay, so she quits dancing in the ballet and goes all for acting. She's all in okay Um difficult because always a good call by the way. Oh, yeah acting is when people are like I'm gonna narrow it down to acting. You're like, that's gonna be fruitful. Yeah. No, you should learn landscaping also. Yep It was so it's difficult cuz she is mixed-race sure the theater owners who knew of her background refused to hire what year we in

Sorry, roughly we're in the 1850s. Oh Jesus. Okay. Yeah, right so So this is probably where all the stories of her childhood came from she uses them in the moment to you know finagle any situation, right? Okay, interesting, but it also makes her seem mysterious and that helps her get work So it's all it's a whole thing Whatever, it's just so the entertainment business has always just been absurdly done. Just fucking dumb as shit Well, now that we don't know your history. We're interested in working with you Yeah, it's weird that you lied to us. We like it

so She makes her way to Liberty, Texas Where she worked as an actress which I Mean this was just when they just had theaters all over the place because there's nothing else to do right So she would give public readings of Shakespeare. She also wrote newspaper articles and she wrote poems and she taught dance classes But it was a lot So she decided she needed a wealthy husband who could support her acting career. So she's looking for a sugar dad. Sure So she put an ad in Liberty Gazette seeking a husband

Okay, that's a crazy ad to see. I mean, it's a weird. Look at that. I think I'm gonna marry this girl So the yeah, I was just looking for a refrigerator. I think I found my wife Look at this. She sounds wonderful. Hello. I'm interested in your ad about getting married to you I understand you're young. Tell me what you are and what you look like and what you look like And who what you like? I am a woman. I'm ready to sign anything. I have I don't need to hear any more details I have hair. I like what I'm hearing. Don't talk past the clothes though and I you don't listen enough I'm waiting for some red flags. You have hair eyes and or a woman E Gads all I've got is this cooling box that I'm buying from the paper. I have all my parts

Lady enough There's probably some things I should tell you Like I don't have a bottom half, okay, and uh or I'm not I'm more of I'm not I am more of a animal man than a man. Okay. I'm what they call uh a humanzi Half chimp half human. Oh Now are you rich? Yeah, I have a lot. Okay, great This is a good match. Hmm

Hmm my wife my it became weird looking Oh, look at all your hair. Yeah, it's everywhere rush Was that common? I don't know I mean she she definitely does stuff that is not common. So I don't know. Okay. I tried to figure it out But I couldn't start at the bachelorette. I mean it seems like yeah, she yeah, I mean I mean she did she started all that shit. I guess let's say that let's say she's the first

On this episode. Okay. Uh, this is November 12th 1855. This appeared. Uh, sorry November 23rd Quote I'm young and free the pride of girls with hazel eyes and nut brown curls They say I'm not void of beauty. I love my friends and respect my duty. I've had many full, uh A boo ideal bow ideal yet never never found one real there must be one I know somewhere in all this Circumambian air and I should ads going on a lot by the way when you're talking about the air It's like yeah, she's just rhyming per letter. She's just trying to rhyme really hard Right, okay, and I should dearly love to see him now. What if you should chance to be him Um, so this dude reads it just one. Well, I'm sure a lot did. Yeah, I would imagine there were

I'm sure they printed her address too. No So there's just a bunch of horny weirdos like I'm in I got no questions So this traveling well off a musical musician and conductor reads the ad Isaac Alexander Isaacs Menken. Uh, he's on tour in texas Sort of on tour his dad was a dry goods manufacturer And alexander was probably a traveling salesman telling people he was a musician Lot all I mean, I guess every way we still got a tremendous amount if right you could get away with it Think about the times in your life where things were going shitty and you could have just gone somewhere else and lied

Yeah, wait, yeah, yes Yeah, so I'm sure tons of people are doing it. It's just it's very appealing to just you can walk into a town and just be like I'm a doctor. Yeah, so this is where I'll see patients I need my gallbladder out. Yeah, great Jesus What am I done? Get me the saw And some lemon juice well whole lemons

Okay, here we go. I put the lemons inside him like I'm supposed to oh my god, then you go to another town. I'm an accountant That way I don't have to put lemons in a guy uh, so Either way, he reads her poem slash ad in the paper and he writes to her and then they meet in person and instant connection I mean yeah instant connection. It's but it's going to be an instant connection Yeah, when one person is putting an ad in the paper and the other person's like, I'll marry her Like the two people are like looking for this situation, you know They also both performers sure they're both ambitious sort of he's a dry good. Well, okay

So they quickly got married in Galveston. Okay, right after the wedding Ada started working In supporting roles at the Liberty Shakespeare theater Her name is now Ada Isaacs Menken. Okay, and that'll be her name for good. She's keeping that one. Sure Then as Alexander backed her she started landing lead roles at the Crescent Dramatic Association of New Orleans An encyclopedia calm article quote hardly a great actress the pretty somewhat exotic looking young woman provided a striking physical presence on stage audiences received her well So not a good actress, but hot hot. So

I read a couple different. This is when being in the entertainment business and your looks where it was like wow Imagine imagine a time where you're just judged upon your appearance. I can't imagine it And but that's what this was strange to envision people didn't care as much about the acting as the looks very strange very weird Just feels like the entertainment would be diminishing returns. Interesting. Yeah, you'd think so at some point Yeah, unrelatable, right when every main character has to have a super hot You know, I mean just every single time is this place named fuck town. Yeah, cuz I want to fuck everybody Uh, yeah, I mean what that really that should be that would be a great movie like hot town and you just put like an ugly guy Like a not even a regular regular guy a human a human person there

Just living amongst these tens who are just it's just it is absurd. Yeah Oh, like with Zach Efron Oh, uh, what's his name? Uh, Ted Bundy. Oh, yeah. Oh, it was like really this is seriously Dude, is that right? I feel like we're not like I get it. He really wants to be a good actor and god bless him Come on, but this is not uh why you're here. No, or the best one was what This is the best one was when ashton kutcher played steve jobs when job just died And then they were like you were like thinking like well at some point

They'll make a movie about him and we'll find and he's like I finished mine everyone's like what no, you're not the person No, and he's like I did it first everyone's like no, no, no, dude. We don't Don't want you to be doing it. He's like, yeah, I did it. I'm steve jobs I'm not kidding. I don't remember the last time I saw a movie as high as I saw jobs in the theater Very quickly I was high as shit watching jobs in the theater with three of my buddies And we were just laugh. I mean we were genuinely laughing like it was like we were there seeing a different movie And when it couldn't get more absurd this one dude walks into a room and is like hello No, gareth and we were like what the fuck is going on?

Okay, so yes, all right, so she's okay the paper review is basically like she's not a good actress But wow did people like watching yeah, yowza That's there are some people like she was the best actress over time But like this is the reality that I found yeah, there's more of this Uh, so alexander just worships her she's into him too. They're really into each other sure Uh, she uh converts to Judaism or she already was I I found this again. I found different versions of where she learned Hebrew as a child and then other ones where she didn't So I feel like she converted here. Okay

She uh So when she wasn't acting in a play then she was writing articles in a paper called israelite Wow, so she went she went full on like that's not like she went into politics words, right? It's not like we don't get into the super dark It's uh israelite For those of you who don't like all that you want to read israel heavy That is you're not ready for that do diet israel. It's an unbelievable magazine Um

Yeah, so she got into it. She also wrote she was also writing poems So in the israelite articles she called on the jewish people to defend themselves And to prepare for the return to Zion. She had an essay on Jewish men being allowed to sit in britain's parliament It's a little scholars started quoting her articles in their lectures. She it seems a little like it's a little fast For the first person in the room to just be like now we go to Zion Hey, hey Listen to one of these meetings before you know we're going. I am now a jew. Let us attack Hey, hey, hey, put the brakes over there a little bit, huh?

Relax. We have been through too much, ladies. You just start, you just yesterday. I will not be silenced like my people have been for centuries. So she wants more success, and so they moved to New York. Okay. She makes her stage debut there in March, 1859.

She had a small part, but she wins over audiences. Okay. She got more and more roles. Sometimes plays close quickly and she'd have a dry spell. Right. Alexander does not want to be in New York. Okay. He...

You didn't put that in your ad. He didn't. I thought I knew you. You have to follow the ad. Willing to convert was what got me here. That's it. Open to conversion. So he wants to go back to his hometown,

which is Cincinnati. Ada wants to be a... You never hear that. What you miss the bright lights of Cincinnati? No. Sin City, baby. No, no, it's definitely not Cincinnati. Yeah, that's why they call it Sin City, baby. No, they do not at all.

They call it Cincinnati. It's called Cincinnati. Sin City, baby. It's just... What can't happen in Cincinnati? Everything's open till 8.30. Sin, Cincinnati, baby. Can I have a beer?

Sure. Or wait, no, I don't know, you know better than me. No. Yes? Yes. No, you can't. Okay. Yeah, sorry.

There's no alcohol in Sin City. No, but you said it's in Sin City, so I would like a beer. It is Sin City. You can do anything you want. I know it's a 10, but I would like a beer. It's too late. Drink from that fountain.

Sin City. That's water. We should go to bed. Sin City. It's 8.15. Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, the neighbors. Sin City.

Think of the neighbors. This is terrible. It happens. Let's do a puzzle with a contact only. Oh, God. Sin City. I'm so fucking bored. Yeah.

It's not Sin City. Sin City. Don't do a song. Sin City, baby, take a ride. I'm dancing. So yeah, that's gonna be a problem, right? Alexander actually wants the classic stay-at-home wife. Sure.

He wants her to make the meals. I like that he's ringing up now. Like, he's in New York, he's acting, and he's like, you know, I'd rather if you weren't you now. How is this not a phase? Yeah. Now that you have a man. Seems like you're really trying to do stuff,

which I'm not loving. Yeah, he wants her to just stay home, have kids, make the meals, you know, the usual. You're a baby machine. Yes, crank out the babies and make the meatloaf. Ada was not remotely interested in being a housewife, and that's why she'd placed the ad in the first place for someone to take care of her while she acts.

Surprised that they didn't really get to know each other super well through her role. I found some people that said they got married, they got married the next day, so yeah, I mean. Seems nothing crazy there. In an article in Liberty Gazette, Ada wrote that, quote, women should believe there are other missions in the world for them besides that of wife and mother.

Put that paper down, Diane, what are you reading? She clearly wrote it to Alexander, but it publicly. It's great though, she's trolling him. Things took a turn for the worst when Alexander lost all of his money in a bad real estate investment, and now he was living off of Ada's theater income. You know, New York ain't that bad, babe. To make him feel better, she named him as her manager.

Okay, wow, okay. Now, audiences fucking love her. Okay. And that meant men adoring her. Sure. They would crowd around the stage door, holding flowers to give her. Okay, wow.

And she also started becoming more and more flirtatious. Okay. Alexander got very jealous. As your manager, we should leave. Don't touch his hand. Stop making out with that man. As your manager. I'm your manager.

And then Ada started wearing pants. I can't do this again. I don't, I can't, I can't, I can't. I can't, I just, I've already had to do this once. I don't want to, I, it's okay that she wore pants. We really need to. Well, it upset Alexander. Well, now you're wearing pants.

And then she started. You've changed. And then she started smoking in public. So you're smoking, you're wearing pants. When does it end, Ada? What next? Are you gonna grow a dick? Wearing pants and smoking.

Men smoked in public, but it was unheard of for a woman to do. She wrote in her diary, quote, I literally can't process it. I know, it's crazy. Even with the standards as they were, as whacked out as all that stuff was, I still, there are elements of it where I'm like,

I just can't, I don't, like, I don't know how it happened. How did they get to the point? Even pants, like, I don't get it. But I'm like, okay, they weren't wearing, but smoking. I know. In public. Yeah.

While men are smoking, big like, what are you doing, lady? You're a woman. I just comfortably walk around like, what the fuck is she doing? The whole thing's gonna fall apart if you start smoking. This is not a man in pants, but a lady. Oh, so she wrote in her diary, quote,

I have told him I will leave him if he does not stop badgering me with his sermons on cigarettes. I do not criticize him for smoking. I will not submit to the dictation of any man. Yeah, which I mean, yes, which I think. Correct, yes. But he, I bet you what he's doing is,

he knows it's ending. He's got to. So he's doing this thing where he's trying to be over-controlling. But no, I also think like he, at this time, you meet a woman like this, right? She's an actress, she's doing things. But you think in your head,

well, all she really wants is to be married, and then she'll do what she's supposed to do, which is just have babies and stay home. Right, and then she's getting further and further away. Yeah, they all think that way. And then he marries her and she's not doing that. He's like, wait, no, no, no, no. I am man, I gave you me, now you make my baby.

We can't both be wearing pants. Are you crazy? So he couldn't take it anymore, and they separated in July. Okay. Now she was getting poems published in the Clipper newspaper for five bucks each, and one day she's at the paper's offices

and she meets California boxer, Johnny Benisha Boy Heenan. Hey, Johnny Benisha Boy Heenan. He's from Benisha Boy? He's from Benisha. What's Benisha? Benisha's a city in California. Okay. That at one time for like six months

was the capital of California before everybody was like, oh God, this is Benisha. It's a Benita. He's six two and over 200 pounds. He has a big black mustache. She's very famous, he's a famous boxer. Right. Johnny proposed while asking her to abandon acting

and writing to concentrate on being a wife and a mother. That's a very So he's like, look, I will marry you. I will marry you if you give up your dreams. It's not a proposal for marriage as much as a contract, but twist us. It's the best thing to be like, give up everything you love.

Darling, you have changed me for the better in every way. Yeah, I agree. I love you so much. You're wonderful. I'm down on one knee for a reason. Yeah. What? Oh my God.

You make me the happiest man in the world and give up your career and stop smoking in public and with your pants and acquiesce to the system in the world that I deem appropriate and the fit into my life completely and have none of your own thoughts or artistic creative developments. Hold on, hold on.

This is long. This is long. Because I mean all of it. Usually people just say, I mean all of it. People wait on me hand and foot. Whatever I want will be brought to me on a tray. I will eat on the tray mainly,

but if I don't want to eat on the tray and I'd rather you get down and I eat off your back, that's also a possibility. Every day I look into your eyes, I know there's something special about you and it's your malleability. You're so open to change, which is why the idea that if potentially

you don't get to go in every room in the house we share, that's not going to strike you as crazy. So I take your hand. I take your hand. Shut up. I'm serious, shut up. You're saying, man. I take your hand and I ask you,

I ask you as I put the ring on, will you marry me? Just say yes and it's legally binding. Also you'll make my clothes. Also I get massages whenever. And you have to pee standing up. I don't want any of this toilet seat bullshit either. Stop squeezing my hand.

Say yes. I love you baby, she said yes. We're doing it. Oh my lord, I got a maid. Wife, sorry. Okay, but somehow she agrees. But she just went through this. I know.

She's like with you, you have a mustache, it's different. She must have really been into him. Sure, I guess, but yeah, all right. But they got married secretly on September 3rd, 1859. It didn't take long for the seeker to get out. Sure. Now, Johnny taught Ada to box on their honeymoon.

Great, good. But not in pants. That's the best. But on your dress, we're going boxing. Come on. He was a drinker and a crouser. This is gonna be good. This is gonna be good.

I like what this is. He did not spend much time with his wife. Ah, weird. There were rumors of abuse. And they were very prevalent at the time, but we have no proof. But I'm assuming if there were rumors, he's a boxer. Yeah.

It's true. Look, I think you're right in this until proven guilty. This one we're going with. I'm ready. She said he was jealous of the adoration from her fans and that she made more money than him. And then Alexander showed up in New York and announced that he and Ada weren't divorced yet.

I mean, I've moved on from this guy. She said she thought he had divorced her, but he hadn't. I didn't. I couldn't afford it. Can I borrow $30? But he now begins divorce proceedings, but the public is like, it's a scandal. Right, how dare she?

Johnny, meanwhile, when he learns this, he hops on a ship and goes to London to fight in the World Heavyweight Championship against champ Tom Sayers. OK. So he just bails. He's like, fuck this shit. The fight lasted 37 rounds.

Jesus Christ. What? Until one man died of natural causes. Johnny was beating him well. And the promoters were so concerned he was going to kill Sayers that they stopped the fight and called it a draw. At 37 rounds? That's right.

So they were just like watching an execution. And they're like, yeah, let's call it. We're good. This man's out of blood. But he still made a lot of money from the fight. He had also left. The 50 count back then didn't help anything on it. No, it didn't at all.

34. 35. 36. Is this my eye? 44. This is my eye. 37. He's up.

He's up. He's ready to go. All right. Look alive. Smell this. Smell this. There you go, buddy. Oh, what is that shit?

Oh, boy, he's got his brain smashed again. Is that manure? One. Oh, God. Two. So remember, he had left Ada to deal with the scandal. She was also pregnant. OK, good.

Good, good, good. While he was gone, she gave birth to their son, who died soon after expected. Which is, I mean, not the death part. But that is what he wanted. She was doing what he had asked. That is true. Except for the biggest still being married part.

Yeah, but I mean, I guess, yeah, that is a big part. But she didn't know. He's a drunk. Yeah, right, yeah. He's also been hit in the head a bunch of times. Yeah, right. When Johnny came back to New York in July, he had nothing to do with her.

OK. Some people said she only married him to increase her fame. OK. And then Ada divorced John. And right after that, her mother died. So she's super depressed. She's had a fucking run of luck. That's just terrible.

And Alexander, that one's over, too. They're divorced, too. Yeah, they found me that. Finally wrapped up. It's all wrapped up. Yeah, I got to divorce him. Then I'll divorce you. So in August 1860, Ada was the lowest point in her life

in her career. The New York Sunday Mercury published her despair poems. Wow. So it's like TikTok, where girls just go on there and show videos of them crying. Or, I mean, or just Twitter, whereas I'm going to be like, really can't bother with today, and you're like, eh. Finn shows me videos all the time.

It's like, oh, look, this girl just broke up with her boyfriend, and they do crying videos. No, I know. It's really stopped that. I mean, I don't even think it's just, I mean, I've definitely seen a lot of, there's a, the filming yourself for sympathy is like a thing where I'm like, it actually makes, it's gutting,

because it's like, oh my god, you're not going to get the, not only the attention you want, but like, it's not, you're not going to. Oh, no. You will regret this to some extent. Finn shows me the comments, and they're like, oh, you're so emo. And I'm just like, Jesus Christ, man.

The internet is not the place to go to look for sympathy. No. So. Comment section, especially. Right, so she's doing. Comment sections, what makes you do the crying video. That's right. So she does her despair poems.

And a critic called them, quote, more self-revealing than those which any other female American poet had ever dared to publish. OK. She couldn't bring herself to work until early 1861. Oliver Troubles, though, had only increased her fame. I thought that was going to be a character, Oliver Troubles. All right.

Hello, I'm Oliver Troubles. Just comes out of a cloud of smoke. I heard you've got some trouble. What you've called Oliver Troubles. Now, all of your trouble's over. You're probably not going to want me around. Which would you rather? Your trouble be over or Oliver be your trouble?

The artful dodger. Right, so, but it increases her fame, right? So she realizes that, and then she vows to, quote, never again be a victim or sacrifice anything for the male-dominated society. Well, huh, bully. Yeah, good luck with that, Pets. Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble.

OK, Pets won. Grumble, grumble. She returns to the stage in Mazapa. I love that show. And in that, she would play a boy. OK. The final scene in this play, the boy is stripped of his clothes, lashed on the back of a horse, ridden up to cliffs,

and then disappears in the clouds. How big is this stage? Well, they would build this. We're doing it in Montana. They would build a staircase, and the horse would go up the staircase. Poor horse. I can only imagine the abysmal treatment.

I'm a theater horse. I'm sorry, I'll be doing what? I'm actually two men named Dan. Do I not have lines? Do I just go up these fucking stairs? What do you mean I can't wear pants? I'm a horse. Usually, the production would put a dummy on an old horse,

and it would walk up the stairs. OK. But Ada and her manager had another idea. OK. She would ride the horse. Up the stairs, on the stage. So they'd put her on a horse. Oh, boy.

Dressed, it's right. Remember, the boy's topless. Yeah, she's a boy, right? Oh, he's topless. Yeah, they strip him, and then they lash him. I mean, it's essentially naked. Yeah, OK. So, OK.

Dressed in skin-colored tights, so she would appear naked. OK. Since she was playing a boy, it wasn't the same as if she was portraying a naked woman. Right. Because naked women couldn't appear on the stage. But since she was a boy, then that gave it a pass. I love these, again, these artworks.

The dumbest thing ever? Well, it's just like, with the culture of the men back then, their dumb rules, like, they're like, you're not allowed to see a naked woman. And they're like, wait, wait, hold on. It feels like we went a little far. No, consistency is what we're preaching here. Yeah, I'm just saying, though, like, maybe it's

equal with nudity. Of course it can't be. That's crazy. You can't have a nude woman will allow men to only be nude. Yeah, but I feel like let's let nobody be nude. What are you talking about? That's insane. Of course a man can be nude.

So we're only allowing dicks to be seen. All right, now that's how you create a society that's perfect for our vision. Look, there's zero, it makes zero sense. Well, if she's dressed as a man, as a woman, and she's naked as a man, that we can do. That's legal. That's exactly what I'm saying.

That's exactly what I'm saying. So it opens on July 3, 1861 in Albany. It's a packed house. She cut her hair short like a boy. Sure. The audience couldn't tell if she was naked or not, but they were shocked and excited as she rode through the crowd. So she must have taken stairs through the crowd at the end.

Jesus. She got crazy standing ovations every night. And overnight, she became a huge name. Wow. And then the play opens on Broadway. This was the year the Civil War broke out, and she was like a bright spot in this dark nightmarish time. The New York Post, quote, she is so lovely

that she numbs the mind and the senses real. I mean, is this a story about how the post has changed? I give the show full bonus. Yeah, I mean, honestly. I mean, it's just a dude going, fuck, she is hot. What was the play about? She's hot. It's a new one.

Did you hear me? I don't know what the play is about. She's fucking hot. What's the play about? The play is about 90 minutes with a grid in it. New Yorkers packed the theater. She was known as, quote, the naked lady. You know, it felt for a minute like there was some real maybe

change, like something had changed, you know? Like she was like, wow, she's finally this human. But it's like, she's not a human. She's the naked lady. Like the naked cowboy in Times Square. It's like, you're like him, but on a horse. Yeah. Yeah, OK.

Victor Hippard of the New York Sentinel, he's a critic. He wrote, quote, she glosses my face with laughter and tears. She is the Aphrodite of a male world, the male world has waited for. Imagine. She is a rare beauty perched upon one of heaven's high hills of light. I just like go. I've seen a naked woman, gentlemen.

His wife reading that. Did you write this? Just I'm going to close my eyes and fuck you. Put this article on your face. It's amazing to be like. This is so embarrassing for men. Like they just losing their fucking minds and writing. Like there's a publisher who's like, we'll go with it.

Front page. Let me tell you about a boner I experienced. Oh, God. Soon. And some people told me she was on a horse, but I hadn't noticed. Soon, Ada was making $500 a week. OK, which is a shitload. She buys a big house, which became a center for New York intellectuals. So now all of the writers and the actors and all the, you know, it's one of right.

It's a social. It's like a she's the place for people of the time. Yes, right. The editor of the Mercury said, quote, she could discourse fluently on matters pertaining to literature as well as the sciences and the latest news of the world. I don't want you to freak out, but behind this woman is actually some conversation that you enjoy.

I've discovered woman can talk. This lady, not like others. She have thoughts that we like to digest. Makes sense. She know what moon is. She know moon. We like moon. We like her.

She became good friends with Walt Whitman and Fitz James O'Brien. So the play goes on tour. Sometimes she would make she sometimes she would get cat calls because she was from the South because the Civil War is on. Right. Like people would be like, you know, maybe she probably had an accent. I would assume. What do you mean cat called like saying just it's derogatory shit.

Oh, I thought isn't cat called more like a salacious sort of. I you know what this article said cat calls and I looked it up and it says sometimes it's just demeaning also. So yeah, I think our version of it's different, but that's. Yeah, both, I mean, both wildly appropriate at any point to just shout it as strangers. They walk by you, you know, I mean, I like your tits. You southern monster idea that they would just yeah, it is crazy.

Yeah, cat calls are weird. But I've seen, I mean, New York construction workers are amazing at cat calls. They don't do it anymore, though. Yeah, of course they do. They do. Yeah, I believe so. I mean, yeah, I don't think they stopped maybe some. It's probably why the city is always under construction.

Well done. Thank you. So when she made some pro secession remarks, she was almost arrested in Maryland. But this all increases tickets. So yeah, because and she's probably doing this with that in mind now because she's become very good at keeping herself constantly in the public eye. She's she's Kim Kardashian in a way. She knows that anything she does, yes, anything she does.

She marries the editor of the Mercury, the one who said, oh, she she understands sciences and then she can talk like a human. Right, right, right. Robert Henry Newell, they get married. He had been convinced they would end up together after reading her poems and watching her acting. He said she had the keenest mind he had, quote, ever encountered in a member of her sex. It really didn't feel like it was going to get there.

But oh my God, you're so smart for a woman. You are still perfect for sometimes I feel like I'm almost talking to a man. If I close my eyes, sometimes I forget you're just beneath me. The owner of the opera house in San Francisco offered Ada fifteen hundred dollars a week for twelve weeks. OK, that's thirty two thousand dollars a week. Twenty two thousand dollars a week today is decent. As as we learned previously in a previous episode,

San Francisco is theater crazy, right? There are lots of rich people and then there's lots. I want to be minors, lots of dudes, a lot of dudes, right? Men of the frontier were already drooling over Ada knowing about her. It's very strange. She's beautiful. She has an amazing body. She also she also has come to understand the value of photography for publicity.

OK, so playbills with their picture on the front would appear in a town before she arrived. So oh, right. She's advertising. She's showing the picture runners. I mean, they're like little shorty shorts and like, you know, revealing tops, right? And they'd be in every paper and they'd be placed in every theater. So people see a hot lady going to be here.

Right. She's fucking smart. Nobody told me this was a play. I thought she was just going to stand there and not talk. Oh, shit. I guess we got to live into her jabber jabber ever. So they set sail. Excuse me. When do you get naked? Pardon. Sorry. I'll sit down. Sorry.

So awkward. Why are you talking with clothes on? This is not what I ordered. Would it help if some of us men got naked? No. OK. One of us already has Frank. Sorry. Drop the gun.

Yeah, I'll say. Can't find my belt. OK. Can we get the house lights out? No. No. Dropped a bunch of change. No house lights. Dropped a lot of change.

Is there a bag I could have? What did they think when they put on marathon runners? The foil? Just, can you leave? I mean, I'd love to get my pants. Oh, this is a pickle. I mean, the situation. Oh, boy, LOL.

LOL. Look at everyone looking at me. Sorry. You keep going. I'll find them. I'd love to get them. I, before we start, I'd just love to get them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. OK. Yeah, sure.

You should not go outside. Well, let's start again. OK. Start over. So they set sail for San Francisco on July 13th, 1863. They go through the Panama jungle. Because that's there's no Panama. San Francisco. There's no Panama Canal.

So the way that you would do it is you'd sail out of Panama and then cross the fucking 15. Well, we have to go through the Panamanian jungle, obviously. We're headed to San Fran. You know how it is. The kids didn't make it. They were killed by Jaguars. So the trip really harmed their marriage

and it never really recovered. At some point, he insisted Ada give up her stage career telling her she should read and write only poetry in her spare time and she should focus on being a wife. I really feel like maybe dating for a little while would be a good idea. Like a year, two years. She's going to make 32,000 a fucking week in our money.

And he's like, you shouldn't do this. Write poetry. By the time they arrived in San Francisco, the theater owner had done a ton of PR. The entire run was sold out. Opening night. I mean, look, this is obviously isn't going anywhere. It's time to give it up, hang it up.

Lord, read the room. Shouldn't you be cooking? Come on. Opening night, August 24th, 1863. San Francisco's elite packed McGuire's opera house. Ladies were wearing diamonds and furs. The gentleman had capes and silk and silk hats. I'm going as an X-man tonight.

We're all going to see the naked woman. As an opening night, such as the city had never seen, 1,000 seats filled. It was rumored she played the part in the nude. So they think she's going to be totally nude. Oh, oh, okay, sorry. Okay, I thought you meant she had done it. The next day critics claimed, quote,

prudery is obsolete now. Wait, prudery, so they're into it? Yeah, they're like, that's it. That's it, game over. Game over, there's no more prudes. Right, I thought they, because it was rumored she was naked, they were like, well, it's disappointing. She's not fully nude.

She's still, in their eyes, like basically nude. Yes, this is escalating. She got rave reviews. Taking on men's roles were very daring for the time, especially when you wore almost nothing. Audiences just go bug fuck over the naked lady. She was also in other plays while there. She hung out with the best authors again,

like she's again, right? In the mix. Because even though she's not a great actress, she's, I think writers are like, she's fucking taking the chance, she's doing something. There's like an artistic skew to it, like she's. A clear empowerment thing where she's like,

okay, so I'll fucking, I'll use my sexuality, and look at you idiots. Yeah, right, right. Are the women equally into it at the time? Or is it like half a room of men like, stand up Barbara, come on, show some respect. That was unbelievable. There's nobody better than her.

Boy, oh boy, can you imagine a woman doing something like that? I know you couldn't, darling. Come on, stand up for her, look at her, she's amazing. God, do you think if I got two of you, I could trade it in? Oh, I know, I don't want to say that. I'm gonna rush the stage, I'm getting the divorce, I can't handle you. I couldn't find anything about the women's response,

but there's a couple of negative, there's a little bit of negative stuff, but I'm sure the women did not enjoy it for the time. Yeah, well, I think going with your, if all the men are like losing their minds, you're like, all right, Frank. Yeah. So.

Like what you got on the horse last night? Yes, you've asked me a few times. That was definitely the best part. Honey, we're buying a horse. That was definitely the best part. What was your favorite part of the horse? Oh, the lady, the... Great, good.

Mine was the lady on the horse. Oh. You know, some people say there was a show before the horse part, so crazy. I didn't, we're not together anymore. Oh, man. Such a good show, we should go again. No.

Halloween, let's go as a couple. No, let's not. Let's, you go as her. No. And I'll go as the horse. No. Maybe when she was on the horse? No. Naked?

No. At the show? No. Was that last night or two nights ago? It was like an eternity. Wow, that's all I think about. I know. A toast to that time she was on the horse. No.

And she was totally naked. The best part of everyone's life. Cheers, ding. Oh, man. That was good. All right, I'm gonna go to bed and hope I dream about it. Have a good night, honey.

I sleep with you in a bed. I remember she was on the horse or she was on the naked. No, no, no, she didn't remember. Oh, I hate my wife. I wish I was on the horse. Oh, that happened again, baby. Whew, that awful nightmare.

God, should we go to the show? No. Only they did them during the day. Remember that when she got on that horse? Oh my God. All right, I'm gonna turn in. I've been up for an hour. I've been up for an hour.

So, yeah, the people are going fucking crazy for it. There are a lot of rumors that she's having affairs with millionaires in the city, which she wrote about them in her diary. Okay, so rumors may be true. Yeah, none of this helped her third marriage, which fell apart and a new old return to New York City. Right.

Aida now publicly acknowledged she was not good at picking husbands, but the marriages had given her a new view of the role of women. Quote, a man discovered America, but a woman equipped the voyage. So everywhere a man executes the performance, but woman trains the man.

Will men ever learn to be grateful? I mean, aside from a man discovering America, that's pretty good. The theater owner asked Aida to remove even more clothing. Hey, we got some notes from the union. They was wondering if maybe a nipple could pop out. Is that crazy?

I say no, but we was just getting some notes from the studio. Studio, I know it's all sold out, but what if I, what if I? We was just thinking maybe a show, a little B-Crack. We just want to say maybe a little bit, it's just, it's nothing. If you don't want to, it's fine.

We're just saying, you know, everybody loves the show, but some people are thinking the one note is could we see a little B-Crack. More, more, yeah. Is it crazy to get a little B-Crack in there? We like, we like to get. And maybe a quarter ariola. What's your, again, as the character.

Yeah, as the, it's all, it's all within, it's within the characters. We think this guy would show his B-Crack a little more. I think so. No. As a boy, a boy, you want to see more nipples. We'll talk to wardrobe about adjusting the B-Crack. I just want to ask a question, is, is,

is it a boy if we don't see the nipples? Yeah, that's true. That's what we're all wondering. Yeah. So we'll leave you a good show. Good to talk. Good show. Maybe cut a little B-Crack.

I'm going to go into the closet and just leave it a crack open. There we go. Go ahead and get dressed. So, he agrees to increase her salary and she agrees to wear only a blouse and shorts that revealed most of her legs. Okay.

It was incredibly scandalous for the time. People are now literally fighting to get tickets. Jesus Christ. An organization known as the Reform Group complained, quote, her style belonged more to the wild old time of 49ers than to a respectable society where many days often pass without any murders at all. What are they even talking about?

Ha, ha, ha. Well, so 49ers, it's 20 years before and everyone's like just bat shit fucking crazy. Yeah, but this idea. It's all dudes. It's fighting and the lawless. And they're saying this is what it was like then. Right, okay.

There's a naked woman here. So clearly that's the same as murder. Yeah, right. But she's making tons of money. The theater's making money. The crowds are fucking loving it. So no one gives a shit about the Reform Group. Right.

She became known as the frenzy of Frisco. Wow. The adopter is their favorite daughter. The St. Francis Hook and Ladder Company made her an honorary member. You're a ladder, officially. You're a fireman. You're now a ladder.

She was given a beautiful belt by them and the entire brigade, including a brass band. Championship. Serenaded her. All the firemen serenaded her. Oh my God. Just. Hey, we are, mm, we are embarrassing.

Fire! How embarrassing are we? So the Civil War's on. Ada hung a big Confederate flag across the Walleter hotel room. Great. Again, that's gonna get. Great.

It's gonna get pressed. Oh, right. During the day, she walked the streets dressed in a single yellow silk garment. What? Journalists were constantly writing about her. When writer Joaquin Miller came to her hotel room for an interview, she was lying upon a yellow rug

wearing a yellow sheath. Okay, so she, I mean, really at this point, is it, she's just realized the power of manipulating media on a level where she's like Neo in the Matrix. She, yes, she realizes how easy it is to be slightly sexual and men go fucking insane. Right, and media goes insane, yeah.

They go insane. Right. She wrote, quote. I'm dressing like a sponge now. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He wrote, quote, I doubt if any other woman in the world could wear a dress like that in the winds of San Francisco and not look ridiculous.

But this one, this one, I tell you, she look woman. She look woman! And what's the Confederate flag? That's just, again, to just be controversial. Yes, 100%. Okay. Aidenow headed east over land. She did show them.

I'm gonna go through the jungle. She did show us in Virginia City. The Gold Hill News, quote, she has come. Oh my Lord. She has come. I mean, honestly. I mean, honestly. Woman here!

She has come, she's decidedly a pretty woman and judging her style, we suppose she does not care how she rides, she was on the front seats with her back turned to the horses. Well, fuck, it's madness, this woman. Oh my God. She has no cares. She doesn't.

She has come, like Jesus is walking through parted clouds from the sky. The woman who wears barely anything is here. I mean, that's why I just can't picture being married to one of the, he's like, oh baby, in the place finally, we get to see her. Ah, ah, we finally get it, I've been waiting for purpose. I didn't say it wouldn't happen,

but it can't hug me, hug me baby. Oh my God, oh, I will kill someone to go see it. There's nothing matters more to me than this. Woo. Woo. I mean, it's really fucking insane. It's nuts. This reminds me a lot.

It's like girl watching. It is exactly like girl watching. It's just, except this person is like figuring out ways to kind of modulate it. Yeah, she, girl watching that, she was more of a, yeah, that was like a, that was a victim, like that was crazy. This is a woman using her, she understands

what she's doing and fucking good for her. Like she's like, these guys are, I assume she thinks they're all idiots. My guess is now she can wear pants. Yeah. So, and smoke in public. Hundreds are turned away at the door in Virginia City. People stood in the, packed in the aisles.

The male miners couldn't believe what they were seeing. Encyclopedia.com quote, estimates place the value of gifts and payments of silver and shares of stock at a hundred thousand or more. So they were just giving her shit. Wow. Although that could be exaggerated, but you know, also probably true.

Yeah. When she left Virginia City. I got you under my teeth. When she left Virginia City, miners gifted her a silver brick valued at $403.31. It was stamped Miss Aida Isaacs Menken from Friends of Virginia City, Nevada Territory. My kids ain't eating in a while,

but I, me and the fellas put in a bunch and we thought we'd get you this silver brick here. I wish I, I wish. There's no, well we don't have food or anything, but we don't need it. We don't need it. I haven't seen you up there in that outfit. It made us say, you don't need food.

I am nourished. I am nourished. We are full. I'm sorry. Physically we are starving. Physically we are starving and our bones are whittled, but we are, we are, we are, we are just so happy. So as we, some of us have actually died during the play

because it took us so long to save up, but we wanted you to have this. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's sick. Yeah. Sex brick. Yeah, so please.

Thank you so much. Sorry, sorry. I meant silver brick. Shut up Dan. All right, well, we live in, we don't have homes. We sold them for this. We sold her. We'll see you later.

Bye. Bye, Miss. That was worth it. Oh my God. She's so normal. I almost, I like sleeping outside. She's so normal. Yeah.

She's down to earth. I've never seen one before except my wife, but this one. So they also named a mine after her and formed the Menken Shaft and Tunnel Company. This here's the Aida Hole. Stock certificates had a picture of a naked lady bound to a galloping stallion.

It's homage to the time you was naked on a horse, which is something we just are unable to forget. Woo. So when she got back to New York City, she was loaded, but the East Coast wasn't the West Coast during the war. Easterners were worn down by four years of fighting. They didn't want to go out to shows. So Aida got an offer to come to London

and off she went on in April 1864. Mazzappa and the naked lady opened on October 3rd. There had been a lot of discussion in London papers over whether or not audiences would like it, but I mentioned a naked lady, right? Yeah. Yeah, so they went apeshit. Okay, for sure.

She received 12 curtain calls on opening night. That's the honest to God. That can't be. You, at what point, like after three, you're like, I'm not going out there again. They're beating each other up. Fine, one more. That's it.

I'm capping it at nine. Well, unfortunately, the man has strung up and they said that they will take his life and left there's another curtain call, for God's sake. They don't even need the other cast members to come out anymore for the curtain call. A critic, quote, the most popular of American actresses has conquered us.

Once again, the top writers became her friends. Poet Algenon Charles Swinburne wrote the poem, a law venus for her. She would next perform in the play, Children of the Sun there, but ticket sales dropped off. Interesting. So after six weeks, she did it, Mazepa again. So she was like, I mean, obviously,

like this is like she's typecast. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, they just want to see her in the tight outfit. Yeah, so she wants to, she tries to act, just acting acting and they're like, man. Sad thing was different. It's not naked enough. Weird, weird, weird.

Her marriage with Newell was officially over in 1865. They got it annulled, right? Annulled, that's correct. She went on an American tour again in 1866 and did well. And then she met and married James Paul Barkley. Jesus. Not much is known about him other than he was rich. The reason not much is known is because three days

after the marriage, a pregnant Ada sailed off to Europe and never saw him again. Interesting. How did you get pregnant so fast? We haven't even had sex. Yeah, bye. Oh, this is like Jesus. Bye, see you soon.

I love you, baby. Well, she was just using him to cover for the pregnancy so that she could say I'm married and have a kid. She went to Paris where she had the baby. The son was named Louis Doudvant Victor Emmanuel Barkley. So she was like, well, I've been in Paris for a day. It's a French baby. That's right.

She wasn't there to perform Mazeppa, but to play the Pirates of the Savannah. Audiences and critics loved it equally, sold out shows. And she was constantly in revealing clothes in the play. Right. Artists and writers once again formed her circle. And while there, she also had a very close relationship with novelist Ademine Aurora-Luce Dupin,

who went by the pseudonym George Sand. Cool. My last name would be Sand. Sand was the godmother to Ada's son. By the time the show closed, Ada was now one of the biggest celebrities in the global North. Wow.

So she's now huge everywhere. Newspapers and magazines wrote about every move she made, rumors whether true or false just increased her fame. But it wasn't enough. She wanted more. She believed if she published her best poems, it would lead to true immortality. What?

She wants to be forever known. And she thinks that she writes. That's not true immortality. What is her, as an artist, I guess? Right, right. She wants her work to live on forever. She doesn't want to be like, I'm immortal. I'm 500,000 years old.

If you write good poems, you never die. And you want to see the play again, just me. Ada. Old Ada. I'm Ada from the mountain. So she starts working on her collection of poems called In Felicia. Now she's not the best actress.

Her fame on the stage was, you know, from being naked mostly and the ability to keep her name in the papers constantly. But she's a good poet. Okay. Critics praised many of them, although the technique isn't great. As she was waiting for the book to be published,

she headed for London and opened Pirates There, but nobody cared. Some said she was lacking energy. She probably was not well. She returned to Paris and began rehearsing a new play. It turns out that previously during her performance, the horse had ran too close to a flat on the stage and her leg was badly cut.

Okay. On June 9th, she collapsed on stage. She spent the next month in bed and doctors had no idea what was wrong, but they told her she would make a full recovery. Okay. Good. On August 10th, she died.

She was 33. Holy shit. The cut had led to a cancerous growth and she had advanced tuberculosis. Wow. She was buried in a cemetery, but then later moved to a Jewish cemetery the next year. George's son, George Sand, had her son secretly adopted

by wealthy parents and no one knows who to this day. Wow. Eight days later, she died. Eight days after she died, her collection of poems in Felicia was published. It was dedicated to Charles Dickens, who believed she had the heart and brain of a great poet. Ada Mencken's success in California theaters

was not matched until films became popular. She was appreciated around the world, but never felt more loved by an audience as she was when she formed in California and Nevada. That's crazy. It's also crazy. I was thinking of this with, because I got bitten by a pig on a farm,

and I was like... You can't just say that. Yeah, I was bitten by a pig on a farm within the last eight days. Well, that's not a normal thing for a human being to say. Dave, shut up and let me tell you my story that's relevant about it. What a pig bit my hand.

And very good to be blood poured from it. How many puncture marks is it? One, it's just this one. Just one. It's this one. And blood's pouring out of your hand. Pouring out of my hand. Is the pig apologizing?

The pig never was an attack. The pig was just trying to eat a lot, and I understand that. But I was like, when I was at the rapid care, and you know, you're in the back, and they're like, they want to do all this stuff, and I'm going, I don't need all this. And the guy's like, listen, if this hit your bone,

I mean, it was just really dawned on me like how I was being the worst, because I'm like, I don't need all the medical care. And it's like, no, you would die from cuts. Like, you would get cut and you would die. Before antibiotics, you would just be like, well, that's it. Your life's over.

You cut it on this rusty thing. Like, that your life's over. It's over. But that is crazy. I mean, it is really weird how in order to kind of, I guess sort of fool the men who are in charge, you almost have to like hack their rules, which she basically did.

She did. She like figured out the way that you still were, you know, I mean, first of all, the idea that she's basically naked and people are like, at least it's not pants. Like, it's very strange. Yeah, it's the craziest. But so she kind of found this route in a way

that she was able to kind of carve out you know, she manipulated it to her advantage. She had all the power. Yeah. Right. And she hacks the minds of the men who are like the ones who are... I mean, essentially, it's like Pavlov's dogs.

Like, the men are so, like, everything is, you know, sexually repressed, right? Yeah. So no one can see this stuff except your wife at home. Right. Like, it's like there was a balloon and she just popped it and they all just fucking lost their minds. Like, they could not believe what was happening.

Right. But then again, also, it's like, then if she's wearing pants, then people are like, well, that's okay to wear pants. Well, then that's the crazy part. Yeah, you're normal. Because you can do it. She found that you can... She found a loophole, right?

You could do it on stage. She was like, oh, they're monkeys. They're totally monkeys. They are monkeys. But if she walked around outside like that, they would be like, oh, whore. Yeah, she had to do it under the guise of character. Yeah.

It's so fucking... It's weird, but it's, I mean... Jesus Christ. Still very much, you know, relevant and prevalent in many different ways today, obviously. Yeah. Wow. Sources encyclopedia.com.

You never mentioned encyclopedia.com. That's right. And Chris Ennis' book, Entertaining Women, Actress, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West. Yeah, man, I mean, look, dudes are fucked up. Yeah. Dudes are fucked up.

Yeah, it really is strange that there's still basically a monopoly on, I mean, on white dudes being in charge. At some point, you would think that we would... We should self-topple, you know? Like, it's just... I think we are, right now. I mean, we are, for sure.

But it's still like, it would have been nice if, you know, it didn't have to be this way. It's just... But look, people always say, if women were in charge, it would be a lot better. But, you know, I always think, like, well, how's Margaret Thatcher? Like, the thing about our society,

and particularly capitalism, is it allows psychopaths to rise to power. And so you're just gonna get women psychopaths. I mean... Also, if someone dies, it's like they're absolved. It keeps happening. Oh. Like, with Colin Powell...

Oh, Colin Powell. When Ron Reagan died. Colin Powell's a fucking monster. By the way, I love... I care to you right now. He's getting one. Colin Powell's getting one. But I guarantee you right now.

So I'm like, hey, I got through it without fucking being too political. What? And then I'm like, Colin Powell. Yeah, also, fucking turn it off. If you don't want to hear our dumb leftist opinions when the show's over, fucking turn it off.

Stop it at the end, yeah. Just stop it. The story's over. But no, it's true. It doesn't matter who you are. You die and you're back. You're okay. I mean, it is an incredibly dangerous part of our society

that if you wore a military uniform, you can literally do whatever in the fuck you want. You're gonna be the worst human beings. And they're like, yeah, but he sacrificed so much. No, did he? Did he? Yeah, well, yeah, it's also, I think, you know, yeah, when you place,

when you, when lives have different value put on them, that's a problem. When you say one for one, you know, one for a hundred is the same. It's like, I don't think that, I don't know how you kind of get there. Do you know what math is? Yeah.

Yeah, all right, December 16th. Momenthouse.com slash backslash the dollar. And then San Diego. December 10th. December 10th. Join us.