The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 630 - Ganna Walska

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine Ganna Walska Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources   Lectric Bikes Squarespace...

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Starting point is 00:00:00 And we are also brought to you by Airbnb. Now look, there's actually a couple times a year when a big group of my oldest friends and I, and they are old, get together and we will rent an Airbnb and stay in it for a few days over like a holiday weekend or something like that. It just always makes the experience a lot better because, you know, we're in a home. But on the road, if I ever have the choice between a hotel or an Airbnb I always go Airbnb just because it's better. I like a home over a hotel.
Starting point is 00:00:31 But recently I did start thinking well while I'm gone can I turn my place into an Airbnb? And the answer is yes. It can be as easy as putting your place up and then having a little more scratch generated from someone staying at my place while I'm on the road. So whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something more fun, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how and how much at airbnb.ca. I have dollop tour dates to announce for the year 2024 of our Lord J town. We have our 10th anniversary show coming up
Starting point is 00:01:06 in Los Angeles on April 27th. Guests are Karen Kilgareff and James Adomian. And then we are going to Australia starting on May 13th in Perth, May 16th in Sydney, May 18th in Brisbane, May 20th in Canberra, May 22nd in Melbourne, and May 24th in Adelaide. You can get your tickets at dolloppodcast.com. Hey, Gareth, do you remember riding your bike as a kid and you have a sense of freedom? Where would you go on your bike? I rode around Brown Deer Park. We're at SE Sportscaster Tim Van Voren Golf. That's it. Do you want to get out? It's spring. You get out there, you You enjoy the weather you recapture the magic of meeting who? Tim Van Vorn
Starting point is 00:01:47 Electric Pike has an amazing variety of models that are built for riders of all abilities It's never been easier to fall in love with riding again go to electric ebikes.com to discover ebikes that start at just $799 with the XP light You're listening to the dolllep on the All Things Comedy Network. This is an American History podcast where each week I read a story from American history to a hooded person. Named Dave Anthony, who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. You didn't say your name.
Starting point is 00:02:23 But you said you're me. Listen, it got, we, it became, I don't know what it became, but we had to figure it out and there were some creative decisions made and you know. It got more confusing. Look, I am, I am willing to, here's what I'll do. Here's, here's what I'll do. I'll do it again. If you want to try one more, I'm open to, here's what I'll do. Here's what I'll do. I'll do it again. If you want to try one more, I'm open to that.
Starting point is 00:02:47 No, I think that's more confusing. I'm Dave Anthony. This whole thing is just kind of, I'm not even sure. I don't even know what this is anymore, to be quite honest with you. It's not that. So my name is Gareth Patrick. By the way, I'd like to be called Gareth Patrick and I came up with a name for our fans. I forgot to mention this.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Is Gareth Patrick actually a person that I should know? I want to be called Gareth Patrick from now on. But you want to know what I've decided our fans can be called? And it's good because I've got a gimmick involved and merch. Our fans are the doll heads. No. And they bring doll heads to shows. No. And we sign them.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. And we can sell doll heads. No. No, no, no, no, no, no. So if you're out there and you're a fan, if you're a doll head, bring a doll head to a show. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's the thing we're doing now. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Starting point is 00:03:49 no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, No, we bring him to the show on April 27th at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles for our 10th anniversary. Bring your doll heads. Throw your doll heads on stage.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Throw your doll heads at me, Dave Anthony. It's gonna be so bad. It's gonna be terrible. Action. Wait, should I mention my gripe now or after this? All right, go. Okay, so I know that we have comedians. I meet comedians and comedians all the time who love the show.
Starting point is 00:04:28 They love it. They think it's the best. And I've been trying to get paid since December for a show I did in London at a club called 21 Soho on Sutton Row in London. When did you do it? December, some point. Wow. Okay. on Sutton Row in London. When did you do it? December some point. Wow, okay.
Starting point is 00:04:48 Yeah, something like that. Maybe even early, it might have been in September. But either way, I've been trying to get paid since then and I had the people who booked it reach out to them repeatedly after I'd sent my invoice and multiple emails. And apparently this is a place that just decides to not pay performers. I didn't know that. What's the name of it again?
Starting point is 00:05:10 21 Soho. Okay, 21 Soho. So there are places that have a similar name, like there's the Soho Theater. It's not that, it's 21 Soho. And I go on their website, they are still a functioning place. You call them, they will not return your calls, they will not return emails. So anyone who's ever thinking of performing at 21 Soho, just know going into it that this is a place that doesn't pay people. They owe me
Starting point is 00:05:32 thousands, they owe me thousands of dollars. And it's, let's put it out there, not just performers, but if you're a customer of a place, do you think it's fair that the labor is being done for free? Well. Yeah, and this is what they do. They have a reputation for doing this. The management people who booked it, they were like, give us a minute because they didn't want me to do this because they wanted to try to preserve, they didn't want this, but I am just so fed up.
Starting point is 00:06:01 So I don't even want my money, I just want other comedians to not do shows there because they do not pay people. They negotiate deals, they sign contracts, and then it's like legally, for me to go after them for whatever, like, you know, the money, costs me more money, it's an international thing, so. You should see if legally you can report wage theft to,
Starting point is 00:06:27 because it's illegal, they're committing a crime, so it's a legal thing. Yes, okay. But anyway, so if you're thinking of it, do not perform there. Anyway, back to the show. Hey, we're brought to you by electricbikes.com. It is the best, I have electric, not electricbikes.com. It is the best.
Starting point is 00:06:46 I have electric, not electric, electric, starting with an L. I love my electric bike. It is fantastic. I'm riding it all over town. You can fold, mine you can fold so it fits in the car if you wanna take a drive out somewhere and then ride your electric bike in the country or whatever.
Starting point is 00:07:06 Or if you live in the country, drive it to the city and you can ride it around. It really, it folds so small, it's easy to put in a car. Could you lose it? No, it doesn't fold that small. You can't put it in your pocket. Okay. But it's really great.
Starting point is 00:07:20 It's super comfortable. It's as fast as I like it. It's not too fast, I don't want it too fast. I don't want it. You know what I mean? It's safety fast. Like I'm happy with it. We need you to stay alive.
Starting point is 00:07:30 Yeah. We need me alive. Everyone should have an electric bike. I mean, it's great. It's really great. And so, you know, you can skip on car rides because you can go do something on an electric bike. You can commute on it.
Starting point is 00:07:40 You can go to school on it, whatever. It's great. And you can lock it up like a bike. That's great. I really, yes, I do not have one. But I know you have texted me repeatedly how much you love this. I do. I do. Love it. They can get up electric bikes can get up to 150 miles on a
Starting point is 00:07:57 charge. It is crazy. They also have financing if you're like I can't afford electric bike, you can pay is low down as 49 dollars a month I can't believe that mileage it's completely nuts they're super durable then they got a bunch of accessories you can add on for safety and convenience like you know a little basket or whatever and all that stuff it's really are you talking about a safety basket yeah I don't know so there's a bunch of different kinds there's the XP light which is very quick and affordable There's the expedition very sturdy. It's like a cargo e-bike called and hold up to 450 pounds So that's probably made for you. And then there's the XP trike, which is the foldable one
Starting point is 00:08:39 The daddy has the ad just really went off the rails The daddy has. The ad just really went off the rails. Got very confusing. 22 seconds. Very, very upsetting. Go full throttle into spring with Electric Bikes, the number one selling e-bikes in the nation. Get your adventure started at electricbikes.com.
Starting point is 00:08:55 And please mention the dollop sent you in the post checkout survey. That's L-E-C-T-R-I-C ebikes.com. Nice. Nice. We are on tour in Australia starting on, what, the 10th or something? At 10th or 11th. May 10th.
Starting point is 00:09:15 Yeah. We're gonna be doing shows in Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. And you know, if you're going to the Brisbane, if you're going to the Brisbane football tourney, why not at nighttime, enjoy a dollop? Yeah, we are competing. We're declaring war on this tournament.
Starting point is 00:09:33 We are declaring war on it. Yeah. And then we also have our anniversary show here in Los Angeles coming up on the 27th. Yes, and if you're unable to attend it, you can watch the live stream of it. We will be live streaming it. We have James Adomian, we have Karen Kilgarriff, we have Carrot Top, we have former president
Starting point is 00:09:51 Bill Clinton, we have Muscles the dog. He's not, he canceled. Dog was so- Muscles, he always cancels. It's a live stream, but one of us will be dead. That's a- By the end. By the end. Just how it's supposed to go. Okay, you ready?
Starting point is 00:10:07 Action. So, this is another episode that, this is the famous episode in my mind where we walked out on stage, we had David Cross with us in New York. I walked out and saw the recording device just sitting on my chair. This show, this is why you go to the live show.
Starting point is 00:10:28 Because sometimes these are only going to happen once. And this show in particular was, again I don't remember what it's about. I remember one thing because David and I debated it a little. But David was, we've got to have him back on because he was such an incredible guest because a couple things happened. The first thing that happened was, it's the first time we thought, apparently I guess someone else did do this during a show,
Starting point is 00:10:57 but David had to go to the bathroom during the show and he just stood up and he goes, which way is the bathroom? And he just walked off stage and went to the bathroom. We were like, oh, and then he came out with balloons and then he started to sing Happy Birthday to the dollop on a loop and he went into the audience and it was an incredible moment.
Starting point is 00:11:16 But let's do the crossless version. Yes. Finally, the way it's supposed to be. Like God intended. Yeah. June 26, 1887. Year of our Lord, Jesus Christo, also known to the kids as J-Town. Are you sure?
Starting point is 00:11:37 Because he's hip and they dig him. And he, by the way, is giving out flame decals for your board. Hannah Puch was born in Brest in Russia, occupied Poland. Brest? Brest. Brest. Brist. Brist. Occupied Poland to Polish parents Napoleon Pusz and Karolina Masalska. Masalska.
Starting point is 00:12:11 They're Nepal. Masalska, Masalska. Yeah, they're Polish. Or. Nepalish. Yeah, I think those are both Polish names, right? Polish. Sure, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:20 So her mom dies when she's young and she's sent to St. Petersburg to be raised by relatives. She's raised in poverty. She's also considered extremely good looking. She's a very good looking young lady. When she's a teen, she's so hot that she's invited to the Royal Ball in St. Petersburg. I don't think you're allowed to say she's hot, even though this is back then and she's dead.
Starting point is 00:12:54 That's what they saw. You're saying it. You said it. No, this was in the books. The books said everyone- Well, you're reading- Everyone- These are books that I want thrown out of the Florida library.
Starting point is 00:13:03 So whatever you're reading the book said Everyone thought she was super hot and they also said she was bringing it Now those that's in the books, I mean screenshot, please And at the ball, she was chosen as the most beautiful woman there by the czar The most beautiful woman there by the Tsar. It's happening. Yeah. Don't ever say that again. I wasn't sure you got that.
Starting point is 00:13:29 Oh, I did, no, I'm upset by it. I'm happy. He dug her so much that he had a painting done of her, which is now known as the Tsar's portrait. Sure. And so- That's what we call a Tsar. I'll keep going. Apologize. No, the more that you push me, the more that I'll do it. But it's apology time. It could always be done. I choose to let you go. I choose to free the people of this problem.
Starting point is 00:13:55 I feel sorry for what happens inside your skull. It's a nightmare. Yeah, it seems like it really is. Yeah. So at 19, she elopes with a Russian count named Arkady Dei Ingorn. But he's a drunk and he's a cheater. She has the marriage dissolved by the Orthodox Church in 1915. And then right after that, he is shot in the head and killed in World War One. So she could have waited. That's one of those things where yeah that's one of those things where you're like ah man
Starting point is 00:14:31 yeah just hung in there he's gonna die yeah yes so Hannah was raised in a religious home and she was told that nice girls are not supposed to be stage performers okay but she wants to be a singer I was told that nice girls are not supposed to be stage performers. Okay. But she wants to be a singer. I was told that too. Yeah, I know. So she starts taking lessons in opera.
Starting point is 00:14:54 And she moves to Paris because she's going to have a go at opera singing. She changes her name to Madame Ghana Wolska. Better. Much better. Changes her name to Madame Ganna Walska. Better. Much better. What's the angle on the name change? She picked it because she loved waltzing. Oh, I was gonna say that, that's crazy. Okay, Madame Ganna Walska?
Starting point is 00:15:18 Yeah, Walska. It's, it can't be that. I think that's what it is. That's pretty good. She gonna waltz good. She's gonna waltz go. I'm gonna waltz. And can not. She's like the erotic Russian version of herself, right? This is the stage persona.
Starting point is 00:15:40 And so as World War One gets going, she decides to just get out of Europe and she's gonna head for New York City, make her fame. That's why we recorded this originally. Yeah. This is a very similar story to the original record. It really is. Except the recorder isn't sitting by me on the chair or table. Yeah, except this, we will have the audio.
Starting point is 00:16:02 Yeah. She has a pretty decent divorce settlement. So she also has a letter of introduction by Anna Heldt for her to meet. Sorry, isn't it easy to get a good divorce settlement when the husband is dead? No, because the divorce settlement came before he died. Oh, right.
Starting point is 00:16:18 OK. Yeah. OK. But he also was a, what was he, a baron? He was a Russian count. So he had cash. Right. So she also has this letter of introduction
Starting point is 00:16:29 written by Anna Held, and that's for her to meet Diamond Jim Brady, who is a single millionaire. Okay, I feel like this is the guy who I remember. Yeah, probably. So Diamond Jim is famous for eating. That's the... The name is perfect, probably. So Diamond Jim is famous for eating. That's the... The name is perfect, obviously. I mean, he would eat three dozen clams in a sitting.
Starting point is 00:16:57 Oh God. It's disgusting. It's really. Just a mid-morning snack, just a snack, not that a meal, That's a snack. People put away that stuff. Those are so gross. You know what it is? It's the water that's in it that I think.
Starting point is 00:17:15 Well, it's the whole thing. The whole thing looks like a cow eye, but then it's also sitting in like, like people are like, you want the brine. I don't want the brine. I don't want the brine. I don't want anything to do with it. No. At lunch- That would actually be a good Patreon Extra.
Starting point is 00:17:32 For lunch, he would have two ducks, seven lobsters, and a steak. Oh my God. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Yeah, he's got issues. Yeah. That's really- And now he would be on the Food Network. Yes, that's got issues. Yeah. That's really- And now he would be on the Food Network.
Starting point is 00:17:45 Yes, that's correct. But unfortunately for, again, this awesome man is no longer on the market. He has been snapped up, he has fallen in love with celebrity opera singer Lillian Russell. So she, did she like him? I think she was looking to land a Richie so I don't know if she liked him or not or if it was just like this could be good for me. I think that's one of those people you might like but then you see him eat and
Starting point is 00:18:16 you're like, eh. Probably not. I mean 36 claims. It's the way you eat them. Yeah. No, the whole thing is... Horrible. So, uh, Lillian also loves to eat. Big eater. Sometimes she would put away a 12-course meal for dinner. And reporters would go to fancy restaurants to cover Jim and Lillian's eating contests. Which is really terrible. I... Terrible and yet so, like such an obvious seed of today.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Yeah, yeah. The two of them also started riding gold-plated, diamond-studded bicycles around New York City. It's like you with your electric bike. It's the same deal. This awesome dude is off the market. So, again, he's looking for other wealthy dudes. She's having throat issues, and she's a singer singer so she goes to the doctor to have them check it out and that's where she-
Starting point is 00:19:27 Have you tried having 24 clams? Get the clams on it. Get 36 clams. So we call this deep clamming. So we're gonna need to clam your throat. From 11 to 1 PM just constant clamming. You're on what we call a clam slam. You want to clam slide over the throat every single nonstop.
Starting point is 00:19:48 Keep going, keep slamming the clams, brine them down. So she meets the doctor there, Dr. Joseph Frankel. He's immediately like this, I love this woman. So they get married after just 10 days. Oh Jesus Christ. Now around this time, Ganna starts getting really into mysticism. And quote, the meaning of life.
Starting point is 00:20:17 She's on a journey. She's on a spiritual and emotional journey. This is it. This is the line. This is where you're like, all right, let's start the story. She starts taking part in seances using Ouija boards, yoga, astrology, meditation, and telepathy. I would love to go to telepathic yoga.
Starting point is 00:20:39 Yeah, right. Don't tell me, downward dog. Yes. I should focus on my breathing. I should, right. Don't tell me, downward dog. Yes. I should focus on my breathing. I should, yeah. Exactly. She cold calls this guy Harold McCormick. Harold is the largest donor to the Chicago Opera Company. Okay.
Starting point is 00:21:00 And his fortune came from International Harvester, which is the biggest maker of farm equipment. Okay. So Harold had to take over the company for his brother who had a mental breakdown. And the McCormick brothers had a horrifically sexually repressed upbringing, which led Stanley, the other brother, as an adult to sleep in a harness he made that strapped his hands to his ankles to stop him from jerking off.
Starting point is 00:21:35 No, how is this, this says a lot about this show that I feel like I haven't heard this before. I know, right? They gave him a hankle machine so that he wouldn't whack. Yeah. Yeah, I got a strap. He strapped himself He probably he might have made a came up with this he had made I bet that I bet they existed because it sounds like something That would have existed back then surely couldn't you just? Like there has I don't mean to sound like the black and white part of an infomercial, but there has to be a better way There has to be a better way. I'm trying to think of one.
Starting point is 00:22:07 I am too because I'm the only one I can think of is hands behind your back. Yeah, I wouldn't do ankles. You don't have to do ankles. Yeah, that's just so obvious. And now your face is closer to your dick, so it's almost mean to yourself. I thought you were going to say you could suck your own dick, because I was going to say that's not easy. Well, if you do this enough and you are into you try it right? It's very possible. You've tried right? You've tried to do it right? No, I've never actually never tried that you have no number one
Starting point is 00:22:35 I know I couldn't like I know I doesn't mean Dave you got a first of all believe in you can achieve No, second of all, I you might be the only guy I know who had... Really? Well, I mean, you hear about it and then at some point you're like, I mean, let's make sure. I mean, I kind of feel sorry for the guy that can. I knew a guy who could. What, he told you? Yeah, well, his girlfriend told me and then he admitted that he could, but he said it
Starting point is 00:23:04 wasn't easy, but that he could but he did he said it wasn't easy But that he could he could start to yes. I was reading a subreddit once I don't know what it was It was like one of the people confession ones and this guy said that he went over to have a three-way with a couple that he knew they use friends with they're like let's have a three-way and he goes okay, and he went over and and then at some point, the conversation got around to the fact that he could suck his own. And then they're like, well, do it. And so he did it. And then it got all weird and they didn't do the three-way.
Starting point is 00:23:35 He had a one-way. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. But no, I mean, one time I was like, let's make sure. And no, I mean one time I was like, let's make sure. And no. It can't, right? No, can't, no. Okay, so Harold, like I said, Harold is the largest donor to the Chicago Opera, right? So when Stanley met and married a woman,
Starting point is 00:24:03 he was too freaked out to have sex. And then he eventually had a psychotic break from the pressure to have sex. Oh. More like you now, right? It's just, now I'm starting to get it. Now it's like, yeah. That is, and this is all because of
Starting point is 00:24:23 the sexual repression they felt. Something in their childhood. It must have been more than. Something where it shamed sex and shamed. Yeah, it must have just been horrifying, whatever they. Had to be. Well yeah, if you jerk off so much, you need to be taped together as one.
Starting point is 00:24:36 But the parents must have been like, if you ever fuck anybody, you're terrible. Yeah, like that kind of deal. Because he won't even do it when he's married. So this leads Stanley to becoming obsessed with the texture and weight of his underwear. Oh What I? Felt like you were just gonna do a quick drop on this guy, but we're still we're still sticking around No, the five-pound he becomes obsessed with the texture of his underpants. Are we all?
Starting point is 00:25:04 Nope. Nope, nope. Okay, that's just. So the family put him under guard and imprisoned him. Oh my god, he had a whack guard. Well. I mean it's so bad that he is like, harnessed his hands to his feet and there's now a guy who also is like,
Starting point is 00:25:21 just in case you get out of that thing, I'm here. No, he's his own wack guard. They did that because he had a mental breakdown and is now like, how much does my underwear weigh? And they're like, okay, we need to get him somebody. So do not engage in the conversation about how much his underwear weighs. Mother!
Starting point is 00:25:37 Do not ever. It's 18 ounces! Don't, and so he's gonna say stuff like that, and your job is to go, just don't pretend like you didn't even hear it, okay? So he's going to say stuff like that and your job is to go, just don't pretend like you didn't even hear it, okay? So he will... I'm going to weigh the other parts. So that obviously doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense, but none of it does.
Starting point is 00:25:55 So look, the whole thing here is just let him be. Let him be. Let him cry it out. You know, he will constantly try to figure out the amount that it weighs. He loves the texture of it. Hi, mother. Hello, Stanley. Hi.
Starting point is 00:26:12 This is Bruce. He's going to be your new friend who watches over you. Hi, Bruce. Bruce, can I say something? Hold on. I'm going to jump in. Before you say anything, don't say anything about how much your underwear weighs.
Starting point is 00:26:26 My underwear weighs 18 ounces. So do not bring up how much your underwear weighs to him. Because Bruce has told me that he will not be your friend if you talk about that stuff. Because like, what did I tell you before? Nobody wants to hear that. Because we're not doing that. No, it doesn't.
Starting point is 00:26:41 Stop. Stanley, no. Now you go, no. Don't. Don't have a statement on deck like that. Just go to, Stanley, go to your room. Go in there. Put your hands in your ankle mittens and just go in there. Mommy?
Starting point is 00:27:00 If this is anything about underwear, do not say it. If this is about how much your underwear weighs. No, it's not about how much they weigh. Is it about how they feel? Yeah, they feel like the couch. No, they don't. What? OK.
Starting point is 00:27:17 They feel like the couch. Go to your room. Go to your room now. So it pays $2.50 an hour, which we think is super generous. Okay. That's actually a lot for back then. Okay, it pays $75. Well, it should pay a lot.
Starting point is 00:27:34 That guy was like, wait, what's the job? Okay, so I can't believe he. You can't what? So I just can't believe he bets his thing. Oh, yeah texture and weight of underwear No, he sounds like crumb So he's in a mansion in Montecito, California where he's basically imprisoned with the guards and the mansion has sprinklers in trees to spray him with cold water if he loses his shit while he's walking on the grounds cold water if he loses his shit while he's walking on the grounds.
Starting point is 00:28:08 They also kept him from seeing his wife because he would get too upset if he saw her. But she, what, this poor woman. I mean what? She made her choice. He wasn't gray from the get-go. They were talking about red flags. Turn this, he's having him up. Turn the sprinklers on. Get him the get-go. They were talking about red flags. Turn the sprinklers on. Get him.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Get him now. Go, go, go. Like, they had to have a conversation where he's like, no, I chained myself up not to masturbate. And at that point, you're like, all right, I should find a different person. How did he stay single for so long? He's got it all. He has ankle mittens for jacking off too much. He continuously
Starting point is 00:28:46 talks about how much his underwear weighs. And look, sometimes he goes off the rails and then we just water him. Yeah. So she would sometimes come by the mansion and she would hide in the bushes and watch him with binoculars. She's not normal either. I actually, that part to me is like why I would stick around. I mean, I am married to the best nature documentary around. Yeah, true. Sprinklers.
Starting point is 00:29:15 So Stanley escaped in 1920 by hiding in a grocery truck that was leaving the estate. Oh. But they found him pretty soon after hiding behind a rock. Why are all these melons holed? They start letting visitors come to see him, but a guard had to be hiding behind a potted plant to make sure everything was okay during the visit. And after Stanley dies, the estate is broken up and sold. Wow. Can we just say, as far as characters in this show, that guy's in the conversation for goats.
Starting point is 00:29:51 This is a best side character of all time. Is he? He's pretty great. Yeah. I mean, that's a really epic run. Way up there. That's an epic run. So Gareth, the land that they were on that was broken up and sold, Prince Harry and Meghan
Starting point is 00:30:07 Markle live on a piece of that land. And have similar issues from what I understand. Yes, exactly the same. Anyway, back to Harold and Ganna. So she just called Harold out of the blue and said she's a singer and she has heard that he's connected to the Chicago Opera Company and she asked, can you help me? Despite having never done anything like this ever, he's like, yeah, I can help you. So then he falls head over heels in love with Ganna. Her European style just completely blows him away. But a big problem was that Harold is married.
Starting point is 00:30:47 Sure. As is Ganna to the doctor. Yeah. But then the doctor dies after he went into hospital with a, quote, stomach complaint and then was dead. He leaves her $350,000. Nice. And today's money. Oh leaves her 350,000. Nice. Today's money.
Starting point is 00:31:07 Oh, okay, still nice. That's a lot of money, but Ganna, she's tired, she's depressed, and Harold is like, do you wanna go to Europe, where I'm gonna ask my wife To marry me again. To divorce me. No, close.
Starting point is 00:31:25 So Harold's wife is Edith Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller's daughter. Yeah. Can he get some of that? Not if he divorces her, I would think. Or maybe, I don't know what the laws are. I don't either, back laws are. I don't either back then. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:47 Who knows? So she lives in Switzerland, Edith, where she had gone because she had a nervous breakdown and she went to study with Carl Jung. Okay. Wow. As Richie would do, I'm ready. You're chuffing a lot of names. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:03 A lot of names. Yeah. The AP reported, quote, she has known for a long while that her husband is an intimate friend of the beautiful young Polish singer, Walska. She has taken it calmly because as a student of mental science, she understands his urges and his right to freedom of action. By the way, if you're're gonna go pull something like this,
Starting point is 00:32:26 you definitely are lucky that she's in that situation with Carl Jung, you know what I mean? She's like, of course, you are in charge of your own destiny. That's awesome, because I've been fucking her. So this is great. Well, I support that your physical body at this point is betraying some of the things we agreed to,
Starting point is 00:32:47 but you want what you want, and that has nothing to do with me. I do want what I want. Exactly. Oh, I want, oh, I want what I want. Oh, boy do I. My underpants were 15 ounces. How much do they weigh?
Starting point is 00:33:01 15 ounces. Yeah. How much do they weigh? 15 ounces. 15 ounces. Yeah. Yeah. So, right, so he's basically got an open marriage, right? So on the ship going across the Atlantic,
Starting point is 00:33:12 Ganna meets the richest single guy in the United States, Alexander Cochrane. Cochrane of the Cochrane fortune? No, Cochrane, Cochrane, not Cochrane. Sorry, sorry. Like Johnny. Right, right, okay, gotcha. He's a carpet manufacturer and he has 80 million dollars.
Starting point is 00:33:28 So she is just like the light to affluent moths. Yeah, they just are into it. Okay. Yeah. He was known as America's wealthiest bachelor. He proposed the day they met on the ship. She's got a she she's like a like Pam Anderson, like dudes are just like, let's go. How about we get married? Yeah. Yeah. Gannett says no, but he wasn't going to give up. And he kept courting her and proposing while they were in Switzerland. And she finally gave in and they got married in Paris. So, okay, wait.
Starting point is 00:34:07 So she's with, what's that other guy's name that she went on the boat with? Harold. Okay, so she goes there with Harold. He's going to ask for a divorce. While they're on route to the divorce thing, she meets this guy and marries him while Harold is there going to the Rockefeller daughter to ask for divorce and she's...
Starting point is 00:34:27 But then he doesn't ask. Because she's... She's for divorce. Because she's married. Okay, well at least it's not like noises off where... Okay. So then he shows up there and she's like, what are you doing here? And he's like, I just missed you. Awesome to see you. God, that's so unlike you to come see me. Thank you. Awesome to see you.
Starting point is 00:34:50 God, that's so unlike you to come see me, thank you. Yeah. So, so Ganna's marriage to Alexander quickly goes south. Quote, Alec turned out to be the most miserable man I have ever met. He was angry she still had furniture from her first marriage. Well, I mean, look, there's a lot of times where you and I will rag on men on this show,
Starting point is 00:35:11 but there are gripes that are actually legit. You do not hold on to old furniture, you just don't do it. No. That's just a slap in the face. Every time you enter a new relationship, you refurnish. That's what you do. That's right. That's right. Gareth. That's what you do. That's right. Gareth. That's why it's called a love scene.
Starting point is 00:35:31 Gareth, speaking of refurnishing, we are brought to you by Squarespace. This podcast, The Dollop, is brought to you by Squarespace. We both love Squarespace. Door. We both have our webpages with Squarespace. We have The Dollop sources with Squarespace. We have our, the dalapodcast.com Squarespace where you can get all your tour links. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Starting point is 00:35:54 no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, You can upload, you can organize, you can access all your content from one place. With a new asset library, you're able to manage all your files from one central hub and use them across the Squarespace platform. This is the real deal. It is.
Starting point is 00:36:19 You can also have an online store, you can sell your products in the online store, physical, digital, service products, whatever. And you can do custom merch. You can sell your products in the online store, physical, digital, service products, whatever. And you can do custom merch. You can sell custom merch, create a nice income stream for yourself. I've actually been making a lot of Squarespace merch. You can design your products and your production inventory.
Starting point is 00:36:35 Shipping's handled for you. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash dollop to save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. Dollop! And we are also brought to you by Airbnb. Now look, there's actually a couple times a year when a big group of my oldest friends and I, and they are old, get together and we will rent an Airbnb and stay in it for a few days over like a holiday
Starting point is 00:37:06 weekend or something like that. It just always makes the experience a lot better because, you know, we're in a home. But on the road, if I ever have the choice between a hotel or an Airbnb, I always go Airbnb just because it's better. I like a home over a hotel. But recently I did start thinking, well, while I'm gone, can I turn my place into an Airbnb? And the answer is yes.
Starting point is 00:37:27 It can be as easy as putting your place up and then having a little more scratch generated from someone staying at my place while I'm on the road. So whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something more fun, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how and how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Now Gareth, Ghana, she thinks Alexander is very jealous of her career. That's what she thinks is going on. He's also upset and jealous about her friendship with Harry McCormick.
Starting point is 00:38:04 Because she stays friends. He's also upset and jealous about her friendship with Harry McCormick. So she stays friends. Who is the guy that she went on the ship with. Because he has the opera company. She still wants to be an opera singer, so she's not gonna give that relationship up because that's her dream. Right.
Starting point is 00:38:18 So she desperately wants to be an opera singer, but the big problem is that she, it turns out, is a terrible singer. Is that gonna be an opera singer, but the big problem is that she, it turns out, is a terrible singer. Is that going to be an issue? Her own music teacher said her voice was, quote, like five million pigs. What? That doesn't even make sense. So she's like got, she's got a strong voice, but it's like a squeal.
Starting point is 00:38:49 Yeah, it must be, it must be like a squeal, right? Very high and terrible. Five million pigs. It's wild. Still. Okay. She's not giving up, even though her teacher says that. By the way, he, that's obviously quite hyperbolic
Starting point is 00:39:06 because there is, he's never heard five million pigs. That's true. Nobody has. But he can imagine, he can imagine. I mean, I don't know, that seems tough. Some people heard five million pigs. I, okay. It's called CPAC.
Starting point is 00:39:22 The dollop will be right back. So she's not given, we know Pumineans like this, she's not given up. She did everything she could to overcome her nerves in her singing voice. It doesn't sound like it's a nerve problem. It doesn't. It sounds like it's just a talent problem. She's got pig throat.
Starting point is 00:39:41 Yes. She was stage productions in which she was the lead. So she's got the money, she's putting on shows. In Havana during Fedora, her voice was so off that the audience threw rotten vegetables at her. Pigs love that. Pigs do. The pigs in her throat were like, yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:00 Wow. But that means that people went to a show with rotting vegetables. That's a very good point. You have to come with that, Wow. But that means that people went to a show with rotting vegetables. That's a very good point. You have to come with that or do you go outside and someone brings in a box? Or if you're smart, you do what we do, which is you sell that sort of stuff, like the way we sell doll heads at the live performances for our fans, because our fans have started
Starting point is 00:40:20 to call themselves the doll heads. They haven't. They have. So we're encouraging people to bring a doll head to a show. We're signing them. We're doing a whole thing. So but anyway, you were saying about the fetch. But that is a true point.
Starting point is 00:40:36 Where do you get, like you don't go to the performance being like, this is going to be rotten vegetable. Or you people at that time walked around to every performance with like rotting cabbage just in case. I mean, I would imagine that there's guys selling at this time vegetables on carts all over the place. So maybe you could leave the theater and go out and come back.
Starting point is 00:40:54 Yeah, you gotta, there's gotta be. Can I come back in and out? I need to go get, this is awful. I gotta come back with a bunch of eggplants that are leaking. I'm gonna get some tomatoes. Leaky eggplants! The Philadelphia Enquirer said, quote,
Starting point is 00:41:07 famous musicians and audiences of cultured music lovers have fled in anguish from the sound of her voice. This is crazy. Stop. She's not the blob. But it's so funny. Maybe people love attacking her because she is so good looking. Right. But still, this is like,
Starting point is 00:41:26 they're saying she's like literally Godzilla. Yeah, they are. Her marriage, this, I don't know if this surprises you, but it was not going well. Right. Ganna said Alexander was cruel, and one example was when he gave her, quote, eight or nine priceless Cartier bracelets.
Starting point is 00:41:43 This upset her because she would never cover the, quote, eight or nine priceless Cartier bracelets. This upset her because she would never cover the quote, natural beauty of my delicate wrists with the artificial beauty of Ruby's diamonds and emeralds. So she was mad about that. If you can get over the fact that rich men are always coming after her and that she is, if you can go to like, you and I, we've done, you've gone to shows with someone you're like kind of seeing
Starting point is 00:42:09 and watch them do something and you're like, oh boy. Like we've done this and if you can get over that, she's very close to perfect because the idea that this woman wants no jewelry, is smoking hot, has money. I get it, is that what she wants? Is that what it is she doesn't want any jewelry? Or it's because of her wrist,
Starting point is 00:42:30 she doesn't want her wrist covered, I don't know. Maybe it's her wrist. Either way, I want people to pick up on the fact that I don't know what her personality is and call her perfect. That's right. She also said Alexander, quote, forced me to accept a sable coat worth a million francs,
Starting point is 00:42:47 so big and heavy that it made me look old and fat. These are- Is it sable? What is sable? A sable coat. It must be like a mink offshoot or something. Sable coat. Oh, I think sable's actually an animal, a fur coat. Yeah, that's right. Just sable fur coat, yeah, you're right. Yeah, that's what I mean. So that's what it is, sable coat. Oh, I think sable's actually an animal, a fur coat.
Starting point is 00:43:05 Yeah, that's right. Just sable fur coat, yeah, you're right. Sable fur. So that's what it is, sable fur. Okay. So I bought her a fur coat and she's like, "'This makes me look fat.'" Right.
Starting point is 00:43:15 Okay, so she's hard to please. Hard to shop for, yeah. Alexander was soon done and left her in Paris and he came back to the US. So, Ghana found out she couldn't get alimony in France, so she returned to the US and filed for divorce. Now, Harold and Edith returned around the same time and the press knew Harold was a sponsor
Starting point is 00:43:37 and close friend of Ghana. They started asking questions and Edith said she did not know, quote, that woman. Okay, but are they like, not you? No, they asked, I think they asked Edith. I don't know her. They asked Edith if she knows Ganna, and she's like, I don't know that woman.
Starting point is 00:43:56 Yeah. She also said there was no trouble in her marriage, and then Edith filed for divorce. Perfect. That's the move, that's what you do. Months later, Ganna filed for divorce from Alexander for abandonment. Okay.
Starting point is 00:44:13 And she gets a huge settlement. So, wait, oh, gotcha, gotcha. The doctor she got money from, the count. And now she's got the richest guy in America giving her a settlement. Yep, and now she's got the richest guy in America giving her a settlement. And now Harold is single too. He's single and four days later they get married. Jesus Christ.
Starting point is 00:44:34 Ganatola reporter quote, I shall not let my matrimony interfere with my operatic career. My voice will do that. That is understood by both of us. It would be, just because that's a great impression, could you try to just do a Figaro as a pig and we could call it Pigaro? Figaro! Pigaro! Okay. Harold the Green quote,
Starting point is 00:45:00 Ghana is the greatest singer of all time. Shit dudes will say when they're getting laid. Oh man, that's great. So Harold does everything he can to support her struggling opera career. He somehow gets Ganna into the lead in a Chicago production of Zaza. I love Zaza. Zaza, so good. So good. So good.
Starting point is 00:45:26 Just. So good. The best. The way Zaza just, yeah. If I were to ask you your favorite song from Zaza. It would be Zaza. I agree. Yeah, right? Great part of it. Yeah. During the final dress rehearsal, the director begged her to sing at a normal volume.
Starting point is 00:45:48 So she really is pushing it. I guess. Because he says five million pigs. So she really is. She must be, right? Just screaming. She must be screaming. She must be screaming. And that note is pretty... I mean, I'm sure he gave it before, but I'm sure now he's like, look, we open tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:46:09 Yeah. Please. So when he said that, Ganna burst into tears and yelled, quote, swine, you would have ruined my performance. And then she stormed off. She's talking to her throat. After a little while, she came back and announced, quote, gentlemen, I am packing my bags. At the end of the season, you will be packing yours.
Starting point is 00:46:31 What the fuck does that mean? Yeah, I was gonna ask you that. I'm packing my bags, you'll be packing yours at the end. But that means she's leaving and then they're gonna get fired later? But is she, who's funding this endeavor? This is her? Well, I mean, no, Harold got her into a production in the Chicago Opera Company.
Starting point is 00:46:54 Okay, so she's basically saying Harold will get rid of all of them. Yeah, I think so. The production goes on. The New York Times review said, quote Gena Walshka fails as butterfly, voice desserts her again when she assays role of heroine. And also that quote, Madame Walshka clings to ambition to sing. Not great.
Starting point is 00:47:20 No. Not great. She then comes up with a way to get critics to like her. She joined a German opera company that's touring the US, but this time she would be in disguise and using the stage name Lewis Berard. So she's like, they're doing this because they don't like me.
Starting point is 00:47:43 I'm gonna go with somebody else and then they will hear my voice and they'll be who is this fucking angel? Who is the angel? Okay? Okay? It's so she's there is they're gonna fold fold. They're gonna praise her amazing voice because they don't know it's her They're gonna pray. They don't like her because of who she is. Gotcha the company Does worse and worse with each city they go to on the tour. The owner kept calling Harold for money. Harold gives thousands of dollars over the tour. Quote, to her great disappointment, the critics in no cities went into raptures over the voice
Starting point is 00:48:20 of Louise Burrard. So that's like when a celebrity funds their kids music. It's like when Hulk Hogan and his daughter was trying to become a pop star. Or no, who's the guy who had the country singer guy? Fuck. Oh, Garth Brooks when he did Chris Gaines. Chris Gaines.
Starting point is 00:48:40 Nobody knew that was who he was at first. I think we did know that. I thought we didn't first. I think we did know that. Did we? I thought we didn't know. I think we did. No, I think we knew and I think we just were horrified. Okay. Because there was, I believe there's an episode of Saturday Night Live where Garth Brooks hosts and Chris Gaines is the musical guest. Totally normal shit.
Starting point is 00:49:01 Like writers do this sometimes. They will, like a Stephen King wrote books under another name and put it out to see what would happen. Yeah, but it was King Stephen, so yeah, I think so. Yeah, so I guess he was going to do a movie about Chris Gaines. So it was going to be... And then to promote the album's release. Oh my God, they did a behind the music on him.
Starting point is 00:49:29 Oh shit, God, how fucking weird. I think he kinda kept doubling down. Really weird. But he did have a single that did alright. Okay. That's all that matters. Called I'm Really Garth Brooks. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh right. Okay. That's all that matters. Called I'm Really Garth Brooks. All right, well that was a good time.
Starting point is 00:49:50 Yeah. So, $100,000 he puts down on the tour. And back then money. You know, nobody likes it, it's what you'd think. After he buys, again, a theater in Paris to put on a big production. He's like, this is it. You can, I mean, he buys the theater
Starting point is 00:50:09 to put on a production, okay. Yeah, he's definitely like, yeah. Just have the conversation. But Ganna tells the Chicago Tribune that she used her own money, not Harold's. Sure, so she lied. Quote, I will never appear in my own theater until I've gained recognition based solely
Starting point is 00:50:26 on my merits as an artist. So never. Never. So she starts, now she starts studying. With a famous vocal teacher, Cecile Gillie. Another famous of Gillie said Ganna had no ability to sing and that Gillie just took her on as a student for the money. You can imagine a teacher of any art form doing that,
Starting point is 00:50:50 if you can imagine that. Shocking. Harold paid for $1,000 worth of voice lessons. Back then, that's a crazy amount. The Paris production is a disaster. Orson Welles based the opera singer with no talent in Citizen Kane on Ghana from this run in the theater. I was going to say that it feels very, very similar.
Starting point is 00:51:15 By the way, I saw Citizen Kane for the first time like a year ago. That's all right. That's one of those movies where... I still haven't. That's when I was... I haven't seen it still. I will at some point It's on my list. I just I don't think I don't like it. You want yeah, it's one of those movies You're back. I'm gonna shoot a couple texts
Starting point is 00:51:36 So Bad reviews come obviously again. It tries to cheer herself up by buying for abergé eggs Harold decides to have monkey testicles put into his testicles. We talked about this in another episode where the guy was putting testicles in testicles. Goat testicles. I don't, to me monkey balls are new.
Starting point is 00:51:56 Well, it's not something that he just came up with on his own. There was a surgeon, Sergei Voronov. He was a Paris doctor. He had come up with the idea and it just took off. So he became incredibly wealthy from putting monkey nuts into men's nuts. The rest of the world thought he was crazy
Starting point is 00:52:14 and then would just mock him, but a small handful of rich dudes started doing the procedure. Go ahead. Now I'm not trying to retread Trot and Territory, but um... Oop, oop, oop, oop, oop. So she's got a pig throat and he's got a monkey sack? Oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, oop, if you take thinly sliced, sexual drive, you take thinly sliced monkey testicles. This is, are you being fucking serious? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:50 You slice them? Very thinly sliced, like you would with like garlic. They're like garlic? Yeah, they're like garlic. Yeah. And they would up your sex drive and slow down aging. So it's the combo. And I think this has been medically proven.
Starting point is 00:53:06 You put the sliced monkey balls in your scrotum just like sitting next to your balls. Slip them right in there. And then that is... And you're... I'm picturing the way you do it also, much like garlic on a cutting board, and then you kind of knife it in there a little bit. Yeah, and then you're... And there's probably a sizzle.
Starting point is 00:53:22 And then you're ready to go. That is fucking crazy Gareth athletes were really into it In in the 1939 FA Cup soccer final it was supposedly was fueled by men who had monkey nuts in their sacks So very enough takes like genital bitcoin. Verinov takes things too far when he put a human ovary into an ape and tried to get it pregnant.
Starting point is 00:53:54 What is going on? Who is contrying things? What is going on? You can't say no until we tried it. Novary. Why would he do this? And who, where is the semen coming from, a monkey? It might already be impregnated or you know, then you gotta fuck the, I guess fuck the monkey.
Starting point is 00:54:16 No, stop, stop. They, they love loving. He didn't do it. Monkeys love loving. No, Dave, come on. Apes love. Stop it, I'm not gonna let you just sit here and say he was trying to make a choo man people who fucked monkeys a Humane see also started a man pansy trying to get the testicles of executed murderers
Starting point is 00:54:37 Wait, what who wants their balls? I I would be like give me monkey. Well, he thought it'd be better than monkey nuts Man, I look this guy is nuts. You know what? He's trying, at least he's trying. He's not, it's really bad. Well, you say that now, but what if it worked? You know how many people we would be executing? Somehow more than we are now.
Starting point is 00:55:02 That is very true, yeah, that's very true. Hey, just may I talk to the family? Have you made plans for the burial of the man? And what are y'all doing with his testes? But he wanted to be cautious and keep an eye. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, no, this guy screams trepidation. When he puts an executed murderer's sliced testicles into another guy, he wants to make
Starting point is 00:55:26 sure to keep an eye on them so they don't suddenly start committing crimes. So it's kind of like the movie Heart Condition with Denzel Washington and Bob Hoskins. So you think that you're going to get the convicted person's drive, sex drive, but then the downside is you'll also have a compulsion to commit the same criminal acts. Yes, and Why slice them the flavor and potency comes out more opens up? The flavor profile decision. Yes flavor. It's like a scratchy sniff when you scratch the book All right. One of these one of those questions. I guess I shouldn't have asked for sure I wouldn't have so
Starting point is 00:56:01 I guess I shouldn't have asked. For sure. 100%. I wouldn't have. So the idea catches on a little bit. Dr. Leo Stanley removed 30 testicles from executed prisoners at San Quentin and put them into other prisoners just for the hell of it. To see what would happen. Hey, what's up, Chuck?
Starting point is 00:56:17 I got your balls. Hey, man, how are my balls doing? Anyway, Harold undergoes the procedure in Chicago at Wesley Memorial Hospital. It was done by Dr. Victor Darwin Lespinese and he is America's number one top testicle doctor. At first the press thought he was doing a human to human testicle surgery with a donator Or sometimes not a donator from from the AP in 1920, quote, a married 34-year-old Husky World War I veteran and marginally employed Wisconsin beet farmer
Starting point is 00:56:54 living in Chicago named Joseph Wozniak reported to police that he and a friend went to a Chicago bar where they drank heavily with four other men. Later, as Wozniak explained to a Chicago bar where they drank heavily with four other men. Later, as Wozniak explained to a physician, Dr. Sempolinsky, that four men threw a bag over his head, forced him into a car and chloroform to him. He woke up on a sidewalk under a viaduct near 17th street. Then he discovered that one or both of his testicles were missing. Oh my God. Hey.
Starting point is 00:57:26 If you can make a buck. You know what I mean? These guys are entrepreneurs, baby. These guys are, they see a market. I cannot believe. Like you wouldn't do it if you needed some cash. I mean, the place went ball crazy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:44 They bagged, first of all, they bag his head and then they unbag his junk. You wouldn't do it if you needed some cash. I mean, the place went ball crazy. Yeah. They bagged it. First of all, they bag his head and then they unbag his junk. Mm-hmm. They unbag. Yeah. Double bag. And then imagine waking up and being like, my balls.
Starting point is 00:57:54 Like, I've like not been able to find my phone and been like, ah. It's the same, I think. Like if you miss your AirPods, you're like, oh no. Boy, that would be... You're like, I think, I think my balls are gone. Yeah. Hey, excuse me, sir, can you do me a favor? I just woke up under an aqueduct.
Starting point is 00:58:13 And um. Viaduct. If you're under an aqueduct, you'd be underwater. Uh, yeah, yeah. Well, we have bigger fish to fry right now. I'm in the middle of a bit of a conundrum. Now, when I peel this back, what do you see? Anything?
Starting point is 00:58:27 Nothing, nothing. Oh, good fuck, Christ, what? No, why are you peeling that back? Don't. Because someone pinched him. Someone had some sticky fingers. No. Well, I'll tell you what, buddy.
Starting point is 00:58:40 I have a monkey, and we can put a couple in there. I also have a dog. Oh my God. Thank God I met you. Anyway Harold apparently gets the monkey testicle surgery, not the human testicle surgery. So later Genna would say Harold was insatiable after the surgery. Really? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:03 Like monkey fucking. So he was a real monkey fucker. Yeah, all right So Harold gets her the lead in an opera in Nice And she's supposed to be in two shows, but then after the first the mayor of Nice Refuses to let her take the stage again now. That's bad That's when you're real bad when they mayor. When the mayor has to step in. Yeah, legally shut it down. And by the way, in French, mayor means mother. That's right. So it could go either way. He said quote, I just don't dare risk what might happen. Fortunately.
Starting point is 00:59:40 A guy got monkey balls put in him and nothing, but then this woman can't sing. That's how bad she is. Fortunately, the folk's opera house was in debt, so Ganna offered $100,000 if she could sing once a month. You know, she should have done a show at 21 Soho. Yeah. In London, if money's not an object. That's the place where you pay to fly there and then put yourself up.
Starting point is 01:00:04 That's the place where you book your hotel there and then put yourself up. That's the place where you book your hotel and you book your travel and then you get there and then you sell out a show and then they don't pay. Because wage theft. Because that's the business model. And that's 21 Soho that steals from comedians. That's right. Okay.
Starting point is 01:00:18 And performers, that's right. So the opera management is like, "'Okay, we'll take that money.'" And she then appeared in butterfly quote, seldom has a singer more vigorously and unanimous unanimously been roasted by Vienna's critics. One asked the opera house to give back the hundred thousand dollars. Oh my God. Wow.
Starting point is 01:00:42 Oh boy. I mean, take the note. It ain't happening. Yeah. So she keeps getting a shot in operas all around Europe and quickly fails everywhere she goes. Harold supports her and he's in the audience every single time she sings.
Starting point is 01:00:59 But he wants to go back and live in Chicago and she wants to stay in Europe and pursue this singing career that's going awesome. So in 1931, Harold returns to the States and sues her for desertion. Okay, that's strange. But she's a bit older now, and she said her search for truth and great purpose was reborn. Oh, okay. She said there would be, quote, no more waiting for Prince Charming and focused
Starting point is 01:01:28 on her career. But then in 1937, she met scientist Harry Grandel Matthews, who lived in a fortified compound in Wales. The mammal? No, the country. It's like a Pinocchio situation. Okay. Harry had once claimed to have invented a death ray. Dave. Mm-hmm. Just. Mm-hmm. It just feels like every man in this story. They're fine. Is absolutely. No. Normal. Insane. I wouldn't say the women are looking good either. I wouldn't either, but really, really the log lines on these gentlemen are pretty airtight. Don't say. We've got the clam slammer.
Starting point is 01:02:14 If you haven't tried it. I've tried clams. And we've got the clam slammer. Monkey nuts. In your nuts. We've got monkey balls. Have you made a death ray? Have you tried making a death ray now? We got death ray, man No, I haven't nope So he made
Starting point is 01:02:36 How do you even make a death ray and by the way remember I I did just gloss over obviously the hero of the story the monkey ankle bind oh right I did just gloss over obviously the hero of the story. The monkey? Ankle bind. Oh, right. So the Death Ray is a doomsday weapon able to disable engines by remote control, set fire to distant objects, and strike death at long ranges.
Starting point is 01:02:58 This is not a real thing. It also has other convenient functions. So incredibly. It's a stapler. Incredibly, the Death ray is not real. That's what I and Harry refuses to demonstrate it for other scientists or the military. He just held a press conference where he'd kill a mouse with a death death ray. So he put on this little demonstration and say this is what it can do, but at larger scale. What would it do? I don't know exactly what he'd do at the press conference,
Starting point is 01:03:27 but he would kill a mouse with the death rate of some kind. Reporters love it. And he gets a lot of backing from the media. He's a bit of a musk. Despite physicists saying the mouse killing was an experiment anybody could do, was not a thing. But the media is like, no, this guy's fucking great. And they want to know why British Parliament is ignoring this amazing death ray invention.
Starting point is 01:03:52 Like what's going on with Elizabeth Holmes? Yes. Right. Turns out the military was allowed to see a death rate demonstration just once. And the military scientists so didn't believe in it that they stepped right into the beam to show it didn't do anything. Oh, wow, that's pretty good. Must've just been like.
Starting point is 01:04:11 I mean, it's rare to be on the side of the military. The MIC, but yeah. Very odd. The military scientists stepping in front of it's not great for Harry, because he said it could destroy entire cities and it was making his assistants pass out all the time. So now the press starts fighting over whether it's real or not real.
Starting point is 01:04:35 Crazy. Harry goes bankrupt, but then bounces back with other inventions that actually made money. And by the time he- A life ray. By the time he meets Ghana. A death ray Romano. By the way, that's a new bit I'm working on.
Starting point is 01:04:53 A sex ray. Say, that's good too. Do you wanna hear death ray Romano? Sure. Turn it on. My parents live next door to me. You want more? No.
Starting point is 01:05:06 Pull the trigger again. My brother's a cop. Okay, I'm done. I gotta take that to the stage. I don't think you do. That's real good. We should do one more. Pull the trigger one more time. I have twin boys.
Starting point is 01:05:24 Having twin boys is crazy. I Love when you watch it a guy who does impressions and he's like, hey, here's something What if William Shatner was sitting around a fire? Christopher Lloyd the band and Bob Dylan. I Have a couple of jokes where I'm like, it's Bordering on that like where you're like, I wonder what that would sound like. But yeah, those are the best. Where it would just be like, you know, I don't even know this,
Starting point is 01:05:51 but Bob Dylan loves to build fire. What would it be like camping with Bob Dylan? Be like, yay, you can't get this tin. Maybe we should camp on Maggie's farm. It's so bad. Maybe we should camp on Maggie's farm. It's so bad. Okay. So by the time Harry meets Ganna, he has made money off his other dimensions. He owns his own compound and he has a brand new invention with military potential, aerial
Starting point is 01:06:21 mines. What? They're aerial. What? Walk me through. They're in the air. How? potential aerial minds What their area Airy they're in there How their minds in the air? Isn't it great that that actually kind of exists now trying to? Awesome so
Starting point is 01:06:39 Course it's aerial months Wow, so here explains to the New York Times quote, "'It has been said that the principle "'is to establish a minefield in the air "'by means of rockets and aerial torpedoes "'fitted with time fuses which can be sent up "'to great heights to release a colony of smaller torpedoes. "'Each of these torpedoes drops on a parachute
Starting point is 01:07:04 "'fitted to long wires, and together, they would form a web-like network around enemy airplanes. There's a great deal more to it than that, and I am naturally not telling anyone yet. Well, it seems like you told everyone everything, and it also sounds extremely impossible. It sounds really dumb. Wow.
Starting point is 01:07:24 So, Harry is, like every other dude in the story super into Ghana and they both have a love of opera. He should come up with a Ghana Ray. I want to be clear all I want to do is more Death Ray Romano. No I know but it's not. You can do that after the show with yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll do it. I'm going to do an album called Death Ray Romano. Just took out Q-Bone.
Starting point is 01:07:51 Okay, Gannet is not into Harry. She thought he's ugly and that he has a giant ego. And that makes Harry really depressed, which worries the British government because he is now inventing a way to detect submarines. Quote, her indifference might kill him before his invention for detecting submarines and defending London to reach the hands of the War Ministry.
Starting point is 01:08:20 So they are the government's worry It's fake stuff might not happen I mean Really amazing it really is Silicon Valley. Yeah 100% so Harry starts giving interviews and He's attacking Britain for not backing his incredible work and said he would sell his inventions to a foreign country. And so like I said, Gannon likes nothing about him, but she is sort of into the possibility of saving England from military attacks. And her friends and the British government now start begging her to give him a chance.
Starting point is 01:09:02 Give him a chance. Yeah, just get in there once. Get in there once. On behalf a chance. Please fuck it. Yeah, just get in there once. Please. On behalf of us. Just the tip. Please. Just the top of it.
Starting point is 01:09:11 Just the very top. Just the little mushroom. What we call the steeple. Let him steeple you, please. Become steeple people, please. Your sacrifice on behalf of the British people would never be overlooked. Give her a little bronze. Here you people, please. Your sacrifice on behalf of the British people would never be overlooked. Give her a little bronze,
Starting point is 01:09:28 to put on her. Here you are, yes. Take this, yes. By a sex. Yes, you see, this recessed copper will actually allow him to enter you without actually entering you. The sex will never be achieved as long as you put this coppered cul-de-sac inside of you. Please, please.
Starting point is 01:09:45 Well, she did. And three months later, they were engaged to get married. Wow, okay. After, she goes back to France, and he goes to his compound, and she found him grating. She can't, she's not into him. Didn't take it long.
Starting point is 01:10:04 Please turn that stupid death rate from the people off. I can't believe it. I'm in another conundrum. Didn't take it long to realize he wasn't going to save anyone from war because his vengeance were bullshit. She's like, this is crazy. So she goes back to the US and she's now insanely rich.
Starting point is 01:10:23 When she went through customs in New York after a trip abroad, she had $2 million in clothes and jewelry. Back in New York, Ganna starts writing her memoirs called Always Room at the Top. Yeah, well, I mean, you could also call it Marry the Rich Guys. Yes.
Starting point is 01:10:43 She gets into yoga, and that's how she meets Theos Bernard. He is the first American to be initiated into the rites of the Tibetan Buddhism, sorry, of Tibetan Buddhism, and he nicknamed himself the White Llama. So after all this, she ends up with a creepy weird yoga guy. Look, the guy that's out in town looks like, yeah, this is a guy who can suck his own dick.
Starting point is 01:11:11 Now we've met the guy who can suck his own dick. I can steeple myself. I'm a self-steepler. He's a Buddhist mystic and he's a celebrity yoga instructor and he wrote just clearly fabricated stories about traveling in Tibet. So, Theos married a bunch of rich women
Starting point is 01:11:37 and used their money to fund his religious practices. Yep, we've heard these types on the show before. He's 21 years younger than Ganna. Oh wow. She's not that into him, but she starts taking yoga every day, and then he tells her that he loves her and wants to marry her.
Starting point is 01:11:59 Okay. When she said when they did get married, he just burst into tears. He started crying, He was so happy. Ganna wanted to live more within her means and she decides to buy a ranch in California. More within her means? I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:12:14 I mean, her means are basically endless. Yeah. Now, Theos goes and finds two properties for her in Montecito, California and commences her to buy them and then turn that into a retreat for Tibetan monks. Okay. And then Harry dies of a heart attack in 1941 and Ganna is a widow. Think it might have been the monkey balls?
Starting point is 01:12:37 Too many. Maybe he got a monkey heart. Oh, so they're not married yet. He's asked her to marry. So, Theos pressures her to marry him and she gives in, but she does make him sign a prenup. Smart. So they got married in 1942 in Las Vegas, as you do if you're a yoga instructor. Yep.
Starting point is 01:12:55 World War II breaks out and now Tibetan monks cannot come to the retreat because of visa issues, which makes Theos very upset. Well and he's the real victim of this. Yeah. Thank you So he starts having wild yoga instructor mood swings and then she's like I can't take this and she files for a divorce and Theo's takes a bunch of Ghana's books and furnishings and then he sues her for support, saying even though there was a prenup, he had been accustomed to this lifestyle. This is so monk.
Starting point is 01:13:34 This is one of the main practices of Buddhism. This is a tenant of Buddhism. It is. Get, I believe get yours. That was what Buddha said. He was under the trade. He. Get, I believe, get yours. That was what Buddha said. He was under the tree. He was like, get yours, get it. Get everything you can. Hurry.
Starting point is 01:13:53 So there's a trial, and during the trial he purges himself about how much he had from previous marriages, and he loses the case. And then he goes to Tibet, where he gets shot in the head and thrown in a river. No one knows why, but that's what happened. I'm sure he annoyed someone. This guy sounds like he should've been shot a lot in the head. What is your deal? Leave him alone.
Starting point is 01:14:16 You know what, I know this guy. White Llaman didn't deserve to die. I've seen this guy too many times. He's out in New Mexico, in the fucking desert. He's got... I bet they probably turned on the Death Ray Romano. Have you ever seen the video Sex Magic? It's a documentary. Really, people won't go watch it. It's really horrifying.
Starting point is 01:14:32 Really? Yeah, it's a guy out there who's like a yoga type guy, but he's having sex with all the women who come to his place. It's just like tantra, of course. So that's the And of Ganna's marriages. She lives on the estate in Montecito and she renames it Lotus Land. And she turns it into one of the greatest botanical gardens in the world.
Starting point is 01:14:57 Nice. She spent the next decade just taking care of and expanding her garden. You can still visit it today. You can go visit it. Great. She spent so much money on Lotus Land taking care of and expanding her garden. You can still visit it today. You can go visit it. That's great. She spent so much money on Lotus land that she ran out of money and had to sell her jewelry to expand.
Starting point is 01:15:11 And she did that up until she died in 1984. Wow. What an ending. God damn. That is, that is, if you're, if you're looking for a starting five, husband-wise, suitor-wise, that's top notch. Can I ask for something that I don't believe I've ever asked for before?
Starting point is 01:15:35 No. Please. It has nothing to do with Death Ray Romano, I promise. Fuck. What? Can you reread the ankle guy part just real quick? Uh, okay. Just the part about the guy who had to masturbate
Starting point is 01:15:51 and was obsessed with his underwear. I won't even interrupt you. I just wanted to. Stanley, um, Stanley was a McCormick brother and they were horrifically sexually repressed, leading to Stanley as an adult to sleep in a harness that he made strapped harness that strapped his hands to his ankles to stop him from jerking off.
Starting point is 01:16:09 Stanley married a woman he was too freaked out to have sex with, which eventually led to a psychotic break from all the pressure to fuck, which led him to becoming obsessed with the texture and weight of his underwear. The family put him under guard and imprisoned him in a mansion in Montecito and the mansion had sprinklers and the trees to spray cold water on him if he lost his shit during a walk on the ground. Oh man, that guy's awesome. And sadly, he probably had monkey, if you want more, take that guy's balls
Starting point is 01:16:47 and put them in your bag. Yeah, 100%. That's your one. Okay, what a ride. Sources, biography of Madame Genna Walscom by Nina Wald, lotusland.org, independent newspaper, cracked.com, The Washington Times, Buffalo Times, Fiddle of Inquirer, The Daily News, The New York Times, all this interesting.com,
Starting point is 01:17:11 newspapers.com, and Chicago Magazine. Man, I cannot believe how little of that I actually remember. I don't remember any of it. I remember, well, one thing's gonna come up, people are like, I kinda remember this. You know what I remember is the guy eating.. I remember, well, one thing's would come up, you'd be like, I kind of remember this. You know what I remember is the guy eating. The guy eating, oh yeah. Isn't that crazy that that's what I remember?
Starting point is 01:17:30 I remember that too. I think because we maybe had a moment with David where we were talking about that a little bit. Everything else is like, what the fuck? Yeah. That is so crazy. All right. Well, I would encourage people to go to my website, DeathRay Romano, if you want to hear
Starting point is 01:17:47 more sound drops and if you want to get... Jesus Christ, man. What? What the fuck happened in this place? My wife and I are having issues. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you. Bada bing. All right, beauty. And we are also brought to you by Airbnb. Now look, there's actually a couple times a year when a big group of my my oldest friends and I, and they are old, get together and we will
Starting point is 01:29:20 rent an Airbnb and we'll do a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of times a year when a big group of my my oldest friends and I and they are old Get together and we will rent an Airbnb and stay in it for a few days over like a holiday weekend or something like that And it's just always makes the experience a lot better because you know we're in a home But on the road if I ever have the choice between a hotel or an Airbnb I always go Airbnb just because it's better I like a home between a hotel or an AirBnB, I always go AirBnB just because it's better. I like a home over a hotel. But recently I did start thinking, well, while I'm gone, can I turn my place into an AirBnB? And the answer is yes.
Starting point is 01:29:54 It can be as easy as putting your place up and then having a little more scratch generated from someone staying at my place while I'm on the road. So whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something more fun your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how and how much at airbnb.ca slash host

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