the mistake of telling him one time in the car that I hated chewing noises when it was really quiet.
Well, he was chewing. So then I made him self-conscious.
Then he starts choking. And he turned towards the window and was trying to chew.
Oh, I know. I felt that. You're like, whatever you're doing right now, I hate it.
I'm like, not to make you feel self-conscious, but when people do this, I want to kill them.
And he was driving? No, he wasn't driving. Oh, I thought you were in the car.
I'm sorry, we were sitting in the car. Oh, okay. And he was driving and drove into a tree.
Oh, how sad.
Nizifonia.
If anyone's wondering that's listening, um, r- Dang it! Oh my gosh.
Roman, our producer, slash Olivia's husband, he's actually Olivia's husband first, then he became a
producer. That's true. Yeah. He had us practice not saying um, so I wrote um on my hand and then I
was getting ready to say, I'm not going to say um, and then I said um. I won't say um ever again.
We're going to try and not say um. And if we do, I'll just edit it out. So just disregard, but
it makes editing easier if we don't say it to begin with. Yeah, we're just trying to make our
lives easier. Can you blame us? Can I say what I'm drinking? Yeah. Is that against the rules?
We've definitely talked about this like every time. Oh yeah, okay. Um, I am drinking an old-fashioned
made by Olivia's husband slash our podcast producer. And it is delicious. It's really good.
We had some nice salt and vinegar chips and now we have our old-fashioned. Lots of flavors.
It's probably because this episode's going to be a little heavy if beforehand Olivia found out what
I'm doing. I found out what she's doing and it's all sad. It is just tragic women. I started to
disassociate while thinking. Hello, my friend. Yes. Tragic women um, living tragically. I don't think
we've said who we are. No. Let's start from there. Okay. Um, no.
Hello. Hello. I am Drew and I'm Olivia. And if I remember right, we are all the curious. Yes. Yes.
And hello. Hello. We're just going to give a good old Mrs. Doubtfire. Hello. Hello. I'm coming for you,
dearie. Help us on the way. Help us on the way. I don't know what's happening. I know.
Uh, not saying um, so what is new with you, Olivia? Well, uh, what is new with me?
Oh, I was, I think I was telling you a little bit about this earlier, but we both had a week of
just misadventure. So the other day me and Roman were getting ready to go to an event and on the way
there, I spilled coffee on my white dress. Classic. I would really never spill on myself.
It's because you were wearing white. I never wear white. That's what happened. Yeah. And then,
uh, oh, and that morning when I was getting ready, I burned my wrist on my curling iron,
which I haven't done in years. I'm an expert with the curling iron now. Oh, that's a bad burn.
Yeah. It's so much smaller now. It was this big the other day. I mean, that's a good one.
Usually, I mean, when I do it, it's like a little like a cinch, but that is like a,
yeah, I got myself good. You got yourself good. And then I just wasn't feeling good that day. And
it just kept going downhill. And then the end of the day, I was like, I need to go home. And then
I immediately spilled another drink on the floor. The snowball effect. And Roman looked at me and
he's like, what's happening? Because I am not a clumsy person, but that day was just a lot. It's
a lot. Yeah. I wish I could say I'm not a clumsy person. Boy, am I a clumsy person. Tell us about
that, Drew. Yeah. So, um, dang it. I said, um, it's okay. I forgive you. It's because I was trying
to think of the day it was. When was this? This was this week? Yeah, I was a couple days ago.
It was Monday. This Monday. Um, sorry. Where I was working is, uh, an old mall, I guess,
but that's been like refurbished into like office, office rooms for a surge, like not surgical, what
am I trying to say? Medical. A medical company. Like the medical company of the town I live in
has refurbished so many buildings and this is one of them. And they're, it's a really cool,
like old staircase going up it, listening to a podcast out loud, like a jerk.
Except no one was around. I thought, yeah, I, um, going up the stairs, I tripped on a step so hard
and it was the one day I did not wear closed to choose, which they're always like, oh, you know,
please wear closed to choose. No. My hydro flask flew off the stairs. It could have landed on
somebody and killed someone. It didn't thankfully, because that is a heavy object. They're hefty.
Hefty. Um, my phone skittered across the landing. It could have also fallen. It didn't, my toe, I have
a big chunk out of it. It was bleeding everywhere. And the person that came over to help me was somebody
I knew in real life. Like, of course I would never see this person until I hurt myself.
And that's just a tip of the iceberg of what I do to myself on the regular, because I just don't
pay attention. And we both have our, our injuries from our past week. Yeah. My toes wrapped
up and her, my burn is slowly getting smaller. Time heals all wounds. It does. Except internal
ones. Except for the embarrassment. I'm kidding. I feel like, was there something else we're
gonna talk about? Anything else? Roman hit his head today. Oh, yeah. He did. And he spilt his first
cocktail all over the floor. Yeah. Trying to figure out the cocktail shaker. Yeah. But our
kitchen smells really good. Mm-hmm. Uh, there's a plus side. Yeah. It was not too bad of a loss.
So we didn't, we didn't lose too much of alcohol, which is good. No. And I figured whoever watched
me fall apart, like drop everything. It's kind of like I fell and everything I owned in my hands
just scattered. I hope they had a good laugh because it was probably really funny. And then I limped
up the stairs to my little office and my manager was like, how did you do that? I'm like, I don't
know. I just did. I know. I knew I was falling apart the other day when both Roman and my mom
were both looking at me like, are you okay? Like, how are you gonna injure yourself next?
You're like, please don't ask that because it'll come true. Yeah. But we're good now. And now we're
recording a podcast. Yes. And boy, is it a good one. It is a good one. Also, I would like to say
I enjoyed people's responses to our questions of what fictional character do you relate to
on our Instagram? Yes. Some fun answers. Yes. Thank you for indulging us. Yeah. We should try and do
some more questions on Instagram. Mm-hmm. Because those are fun. I just want to know
people's answers to things. Yeah. I just really want to know what people are thinking.
Really nosy. What people think. What they be thinking.
And there are probably also, I'm always afraid, I'm like, is our introduction going too long? I
wonder if they're also thinking get on with it. I don't know. Like, you can skip forward. We put
timestamps in the description. So, oh, you do? Yeah. We do. I'm sure I've noticed, but I'm again,
I smell. It's okay. I didn't know that until I was the one that edited the podcast and then Roman
was like, here's how I do this. And I was like, I don't know. You did that professional through
and through. That's us. Yeah. We can't stop. Also, I, this is just how I listen to podcasts.
I love the random conversations that people have at the beginning. Me too. And so, when I think
about people skipping ours, I'm like, but why would you do that? But we're so interesting. I
think we just want to be your friends. I just want you to know that I bled in front of people.
We want to tell you about how dumb we are. Yeah. Oh, good times. Yeah. Oh, and this isn't really,
I don't know, anything that exciting, but my cat, he keeps finding new ways to escape out of the house.
What? Not really like new ways. He's just getting sneakier about when we open the front door. He'll
just like, bob and weave. And so the other day, Roman let him walk around just like on the grass
area over here a little bit and he got some sap on his foot. And so he had to get a bath.
And he is very fluffy and cute now, but he was like, very angry, very angry. He sounds a lot nicer
than when I gave Greg a bath. Oh yeah, I think Greg would probably murder someone. Well, my roommate
and I did give him a bath one time and it was a two person job because it was like, hold his hands
away from your face so you can wash him. Yeah. And then he'll never talk to you in the next 12 hours.
Roman was able to give Henry a bath by himself, but Henry kept trying to like
dig his claws into the tub, which was like making him slip more. So he's like, what's happening?
Maybe he's like, where's the traction? Anyway, that's my little cat story.
Poor, poor. He just wants to be outside all the time. I know. So does my kitty. Yeah. Except
that he gets mad at the neighbor girl cat to the point where he is, if the window's open and she
comes over, they are so loud at yelling at each other. There's a park across the street from my
house and people will literally stop what they're doing to turn and look and be like, is someone
being murdered? No, it's two cats. But just, we like to believe that they're Romeo and Juliet.
I really don't think they are. I think it's like, I feel like it's more turf war. It's a turf war.
Yeah. I think that's a lot of yelling. But anyway, they're really cute about it. It's cute yelling.
We're going to see if we can get Henry a harness so we can walk him around outside. Please do.
And then we will take a picture and post it to our podcast. Yes. Instagram, which I've changed the
name by the way, a little bit clunky before our podcast name. No, our Instagram name is now
oddly curious pod. Just one word, no underscore. Perfect. You're in and you're out. That's our
Instagram. Yeah. So if you want to follow us, please do oddly curious pod. Yes. Cool. Cool. Cool.
On that note, is there anything you'd like to add before I jump into this tragic story? No, let's
just get right into it. Let's get right into it. Okay, here we go. Olivia, today I'm going to tell you
and our dear listeners the story of old Hollywood, like as the beginning of Hollywood and also
the tragic story of actress Peg and Twistle. I am excited and sad because I have listened to one
of the podcasts that is your sources, but I'm excited to learn more. You're excited but deeply
grieved. Yes. Yes, me too. And I know this through and through because I've practiced it many times,
but here we go. So my sources for today. It's a podcast episode from Stuff You Missed in History
Class. A podcast episode from You Must Remember This, which we love that one. We love Bower.
Yeah, we love both of those. But Karina Longworth is on the Dana Schwartz level of podcast voices
where you're like, your voice is like a blanket that's holding me tight and safe. I'm like,
this is magical. Please tell me stories forever. Please. I'll listen to anything. Anything. So,
yeah, check it out. History.com article written by History.com editors. That's all it said, which
I'm sure they have real names, but they did not provide them. And last but not least, an Oprah
Daily article written by not Oprah, actually written by Samantha Vincente. It was just funny to me.
It's Oprah Daily. She's not writing this article. That was unexpected. I know. I know. Maybe it's
just Samantha Vincente who was interested, but perhaps Oprah was also interested in this. Maybe.
So, we will find out. And then trigger warning for this. I discuss a little bit about domestic
violence and suicide. Of course, I do not go into detail, but I just would like you to know ahead
of time. And now we are here in Hollywood. It is now 1853 in the part of Hollywood, California,
that is not Hollywood yet, but is a part of California. It's just a little piece of land.
I mean, it's not a little piece of land, but it's a piece of land that just has a little adobe hut
and then like rolling hills, trees, and then to the west is the ocean. It's just small.
Eventually, over the next few decades, this area becomes an agricultural community
called Cahuenga Valley. And if you're familiar with Los Angeles, you'll recognize the name Cahuenga.
It is a huge boulevard through Los Angeles that has been around since, well, since the beginning,
the very, very beginning. In 1883, a prohibitionist from Kansas, his name is Harvey Wilcox,
he moved out west with his second wife, Diada, and they purchased 150 acres of land west of
Hollywood. And he was trying his hand at ranching. It did not go so well. So, four years later in
1887, he filed plans with Los Angeles County to subdivide the land. And this is where homes
start popping up, but it becomes a real community with people, not just farming or ranching.
By 1902, a real estate magnate named H.J. Whitley, who is known as the father of Hollywood,
he transforms this land into a wealthy and popular residential area, which is more of what we know
today. So by 1902, when he moves in, this small town already has a post office, a market, a livery,
and a streetcar. Cute. Cute. But when he moves in, he adds more to it, including a hotel,
which is called the Hollywood Hotel. And the site of this hotel is now the site of the Dolby
Theater, which hosts the Oscars annually. So, so the original Hollywood, O.G. Hollywood, like this
is the beginning. By 1903, Hollywood becomes a municipality, but due to issues within like its
sewage system and many other things, they can't really like be on their own. So 1910, it is incorporated
into Los Angeles, so it's just absorbed. And then Harvey Wilcox, when he first moved in,
way back in 1883, he built a road and named it Prospect Avenue, but this road is now renamed
Hollywood Boulevard. I know that place. You know that place. You know it and I know it.
As far as the name Hollywood, however, where did that come from? It's been disputed. There's
actually several different versions of where it came about. One of the biggest iterations is
Diada Wilcox. When she and Harvey moved in, she named their ranch Hollywood after Hollywood,
Illinois, which is a train station they passed while traveling to California. That's cute.
Or another one being H.J. Whitley, naming it after the holly trees that grew rampant in Santa
Monica Mountains. That does make sense. That makes sense too. Yeah, either one, it's like,
hey, they both sound cute. But Hollywood, much like the area, it came from a humble beginning
and has really just grown into this elite upper class. Now it's crazy town. Crazy town. Hollywood
is known for crazy town, but it used to be just literally just a mint hollywood. It's all it was.
We like these trees. These trees. They're great. So from there on, the film industry moved in.
And you're wondering why they're, I mean, I'm sure we all have wondered that. And guess what?
It's because of Thomas Edison. Wow. If I knew that, which I don't think I did, I forgot it,
but that's interesting. Really interesting. And it's kind of like the like Monty Python's,
you never expect the Spanish Inquisition. You never expect Thomas Edison. You don't.
You really don't. He just kind of shows up and he's like light bulbs. He's like, I'm gonna take
credit for everything. Pretty much. And he's like, and if you're going to talk to me about Tesla,
I will not have it. Tesla's like, Hey, I actually started hollywood. Hey, I love pigeons. He loved
pigeons. He's like, look, I'm David Bowie. I'm David Bowie and I do not drive a Tesla. Okay. So
hollywood was an ideal place to produce movies because they would not be sued for infringing
on motion picture film patents held by Thomas Edison. Did you know he held patents? No, I was
like, this guy, what I know about him, it's, you know, very vague of what I've learned throughout,
like history class, and then the Simpsons episode where Homer invented something,
and then he left it at the Thomas Edison Museum. And then the money for this invention went to the
Thomas Edison family. The more I learn about Thomas Edison, the less I like him. Yes, that is
actually, we should do a story on him sometime. And we're like, this guy, what's his deal? What?
He made electricity. No, he didn't invent it. He didn't make electricity. What if, sorry, I
am like, for me this right now, what if we did an Edison versus Tesla? Yes. I think there's also,
do you know of on YouTube, they have the, the rap battles? I think there's one. Isn't there,
I think there's a movie too that has like, Benedict Cumberbatch and Nicholas Holt. I forget who plays
who, but I hope Benedict Cumberbatch plays Tesla because he's got a Tesla face. It makes more sense.
What if someone just looked at you and said, you have a Tesla face? I mean, forever in my mind,
Tesla looks like David Bowie because of the prestige. Because also David Bowie is,
should, is David Bowie should be everything. I can't even finish the sentence. I'm like, David Bowie
is everything. I just want to say we, we haven't had that much of our old fashions. This is just,
this is just normal. This is normal us. Yeah. Anyway, sorry, I got you off. Yeah, no, it's okay.
So Thomas Edison, who's just trying to throw a wrench in the movie industry, but they were like,
nope, we're going to California. So Edison owned the motion pictures patent company. And for some
reason, this did not extend to California. So a lot of these movie film industries or like
companies were like, Hey, we can go out there and we're, we're good to go. And as you know,
California, especially Southern California, it's warm, predictably sunny, and it has a diverse
terrain for movie backdrops. You can literally be on Mars, you can be in the old West, you can be in
the tropics. The tropics. I mean, literally every movie that has ever been made for the past like
last 50 years. It's been there. Anyway, by 1908, the first film completed was the Count of Monte
Cristo, although this movie started production in Chicago, it was finished in Hollywood. And then
the first film made entirely in Hollywood was in 1910, which was a short film called In Old
California, which is funny, because that's what they became. They were inside old California.
Funny. They're like, we're in New California. But now we're like, no, it was old. They're like,
it's a prophecy. It's a prophecy. By 1911, the first movie studio appeared on Sunset Boulevard.
And by 1915, many major motion picture companies relocated from the East Coast. And last but not
least about our little Hollywood segue before getting into like the crux of the story, you cannot
think about Hollywood without thinking of the sign. True. And the sign is funny because it
originally was not even supposed to be a thing, but now it is the it is the thing. Yeah. When you
think of Hollywood, that's what you think. That's what you think. Yeah. When you fly into LA, every
time I'm like, if I have a window seat, I'm always like, can I see it? Can I see it? So the
original sign read 1923. That is not what it read. The original sign, they're like, turns out this
isn't very long lasting. Right. The original sign said Hollywood land. And it was erected in 1923.
And it was built by this Losh, my gosh, we start over. It was erected in 1923. And it was erected
by a Los Angeles Times publisher and real estate developer. His name is Harry Chandler. And at the
time it costs about $21,000 to make. And today's money, it's about 300,000 for this sign on the
hill. Each original letter was 30 feet wide and 43 feet tall and attached to telephone poles to
keep it upright. The sign was automated and timed with flashing lights. 4,000 light bulbs
illuminated the massive marquee. First the holly lit up, then the wood, then the land. The sign was
only supposed to last one and a half years. It was supposed to draw people to this real estate
development cell houses and be gone. But so many people like, I mean, it was like, it literally
was the glitz and glamour of what they were creating. They're like, we got to keep it.
However, the Great Depression took a toll on the sign. It started to deteriorate. The H fell off
by the late 1940s. It started to read, Hollywood land. It's my land. Oh yeah, only the land.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took over maintenance in 1949. And they took off the land.
It was easier to maintain with just Hollywood. And it's not like people refer to it as Hollywood
land. It was Hollywood. And then by the 70s, it really fell into disrepair. And I will share
pictures on our Instagram. It looks a little creepy. I can't even imagine, I think it was 1973
to 1978. It was really sad looking. And I can't even imagine if you were a tourist, you're like,
this is my time to go to Hollywood. You visit, you look at the sign and you're like, I'm scared.
Take me home. I don't know if you noticed, but when you said it, it looked kind of creepy. My face
just went up and I was like, you're in the right place. It's really, really disturbing looking.
And it's so many letters fell down. And it was made out of wood before they refurbished it in 1978.
But it was like, this is very disturbing. When you look up at the hill, you're like,
I am uncomfortable. Why is it like that? The 70s were a hard time, I guess, for everyone.
We weren't there, but I wouldn't want to be. No, I mean, there were like, I would love to like,
do like a time travel afternoon. Yes. But to visit. But this, if this Hollywood sign
sums up how rough the 70s were, well, you just got to see it to believe it. They're like, look,
serial killers are everywhere. Everyone's feeling creeped out. We might as well reflect it with
the sign. Right. Look at the sign and feel sad. But also, as of this year, the Hollywood land sign
is 100 years old. Yeah, that's cool. So, oh yeah, because 1923, 1923, it's having a little anniversary.
Cute. Yeah. We should go there. We will podcast for Otr. Okay. Okay. So now that we have established
Old Hollywood and the sign, it is time to talk about Peg and Twistle. So we are going across the pond
to Britain back to 1908, back when Hollywood completed its first film. And it's February 5,
1908, and Millicent, Lillian and Twistle was born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales.
Two English parents, Emily and Robert, who are also stage actors. So despite being born in
Wales, she's not Welsh. She is English. And soon after her birth, they go back to West Kensington,
London, where they're living. And that's where she spent the first few years of her life.
When she was just two years old, her parents divorced. And when she was five, Peg and her
father emigrated to New York in 1913. So he was a stage actor. But after just a minor stint on
Broadway, he retired from acting, got remarried and opened a store in Manhattan selling custom
gift boxes. This store was called Box Mart, which is kind of cute and very modern sounding.
Yeah. And they're like, this is what we sell. This is what we sell. I googled it and it's still a
store. I don't think it's related, but it's a store in the UK today, kind of like a Walmart.
But despite this box Mart sounding so simple, it was actually very upscale. And you even had to
schedule time with him to even have him in the store with you to make the box. Like rich people
and their boxes. And he knew it and he made very good money. So he was doing well for himself.
Yeah. So despite Robert retiring from acting, Peg was bitten by the acting bug right away.
She developed her own dreams of acting on stage. And by 1921, she was a preteen. She
saw the play, Peg o' my heart on Broadway. And when she was, you know, watching it,
she was so enthralled. And afterward she insisted her friends and family start calling her Peg.
That is so cute and such a teenage girl move. Right. Yeah. And such a theater kid move. Oh,
for sure. She's like, I am now Peg. Which I mean, she was Millicent Lillian before. I don't know if
they called her Millicent or Millie. The podcast stuff you missed in history class. One of her
nick things growing up was Babs, which I mean, like, I don't know how you get Babs from Millicent.
I don't know. That's more like the name for Barbara. Yeah. But she was all about that short
name. Must be just like one of those weird family names that happens. Probably. Yeah. She went from
Millicent to Babs to Peg. So now she is Peg for good. So Peg was determined to be successful
in her acting career. And she felt that she's living in Manhattan. She's close to Broadway.
Her father had been somewhat successful. It's inevitable. This is going to happen. However,
her life and her Broadway goals are uprooted just a year later after her stepmother dies
unexpectedly to an illness. And her father was killed following a hit and run accident in Manhattan.
So she and her two much younger half brothers moved to Ohio to live with her father's brother
and his wife. And then not so long after that, her four year old brother became ill. And this is
1923. Doctors recommend a move to warmer climate. So the whole family relocates from Ohio to Los
Angeles and more specifically Beachwood Canyon, which is right next to the Hollywood Hills.
So Hollywood, it's 1923. It's now rampant with would be film stars. They're lured by this promise
of being rich and famous. Kind of like a proverbial gold rush, you know, who's gonna, who's gonna get
the success. However, it's becoming more noticeable that it's not successful for everyone. It's a
little few and far between even now. And I feel like it's just like either who you know, you're
there at the right time. Yeah, or maybe now you're a nepo baby. Yeah, that's the new thing.
So when Peg and her family moved into Los Angeles, the sign had not been built yet, but it was being
built that year. And it said during her first summer break in California, Peg at one point was
practicing a play on the front porch of her family's Beachwood Canyon home. And she was rudely
interrupted by the sound of trucks and tractors carrying what would become the letters of the
Hollywood sign. Could you even imagine like history is right out your front door? Oh man.
And you're like, you're like, get out here. I'm busy. And then she's like, wait, this is my dream.
This is my dream. So despite being so close to the heart of the film industry, Peg was focused on
the dream of being a New York stage star. She seemed impervious to the allure of Hollywood,
which I mean, like good for her. I feel like that would be hard to ignore, especially at her age.
But she felt like she just did not fit in. She was British. She had an English accent.
She was in the middle of the Wild West literally. So she stuck it out in LA for two years.
And by 1925, she returned to the East Coast. And at first she was lured to Boston
with the promise of a six month contract with an acting repertory. By January 1926,
17 year old Betty Davis watched Peg on stage playing Hedwig in the Boston production
of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck. That's right. Right. Yeah. Which is so cool. And Betty over
the span of her career repeated that Peg's performance ultimately made her decide to
become an actress. Which I mean, could you even? I know. I love Betty. I know me too. She's so rad.
So Peg, despite her success in Boston, she had a grueling schedule. She did 12 performances a week.
And eventually even at her young age, she burnt out. So she quit the repertory, moved back to
New York, and she quickly found work on Broadway. And she managed to have moderate success.
By early 1927, the New York Times profiled her as the new It Girl of the Stage. And by spring of
1927, she fell in love and married a fellow actor named Robert Keith. Two first names.
Two first names. Which I mean, if that's good or bad, I don't know, but it's not, he's not great.
So Robert was 10 years her senior and they married after dating four days. Oh my gosh.
Wow. Red flag. I don't do that. Don't do that. Even if it's the most amazing person in the world,
please don't get married right away. What? I feel like by today's standards, like me and Roman
didn't date as long as a lot of people, but four days. Never in my life. No. No. Never.
But it didn't matter because Peg was happy. However, just two days after getting married,
Peg was sitting with her new mother-in-law in her new home and she asked about the picture
of the young boy on the piano. Peg's mother-in-law said, why, that's Bob. That's your husband's
little boy. No. No. I knew it was going to happen. Yeah. You never expect Thomas Edison,
but you should expect your four-day dating husband to have baggage. Yeah. Why does he want to get
married that fast? Exactly. So, yeah, Peg was not aware that her husband had a little boy or even
an ex-wife. Turns out Robert Keith falsified their marriage certificate, stating that he was single.
He did not indicate that he was divorced. And eventually his red flags became more apparent
as he brought to the marriage a history of debts. He owed so much in alimony and a series of arrests
because he's not paying alimony. It's like, oh no, Robert. And to top it all off, as soon as they
got married, he ceased working altogether so that Peg could support not just them,
but also his mother who moved in with him. Oh, God. Yeah. Turns out 1927 guys that are terrible
are not too different from 2023 guys that are terrible. Yeah. Like, I literally love my in-laws
so much, but to think that like they would move in like right after we got married, man. And you
had to support them financially? Like, if they did it now, like I would be fine with it, but like
a week after you get married or something. You're like, no. Oh gosh, that's creepy. Or two days after,
in fact. Oh, it wasn't even a week. Oh my gosh. Just poor girl. Okay, so in addition to this,
Robert became physically abusive. One night he drunkenly attacked her, ripping out pieces of
her hair. Oh, God. Yeah. Finally, by 1929, Peg is granted a divorce citing mental anguish in the
court papers. Robert Keith remarried for a third time before their divorce was finalized.
So he has a pattern. He's got a pattern. Robert Keith, we hope you made it to therapy. Why do you
have two first names? First of all, why is your last name Keith? In addition to all of this, Peg
realized the New York Theatre Company was effectively shutting her out due to the association with her
ex-husband because she was creating drama, not her own drama. It was her husband making the
life miserable. So they blacklisted her from pursuing stage acting going forward. Poor Peg.
Poor Peg. Because of this, she moves back to Los Angeles with her tail between her legs,
moving into an apartment near her family's home. For the next few months of living on the West Coast,
she was notably depressed, which I do not blame her at all. Family members noticed she stopped
talking altogether. Oh, man. Yeah. But she was given a ray of hope. Peg was invited to play
the detective's love interest in the stage adaption of Sherlock Holmes. And it would be this tour
that would get her back out of Los Angeles because it was going to tour the East Coast and the Midwest.
And when it ended, she joined a repertory in Maine at an exclusive resort. And she stayed there for
two summers, which a summer resort in Maine signed me up. I know. It sounds nice. It sounds so nice.
So from there, she went back to New York and was given the opportunity to
play in the stage adaption of Little Women. Who did you play? I actually didn't look it up. I
realized now I was like, oh, no, we should look it up. Yeah, we should. Because we have the power to pause.
I'm like, what if she was Amy? That'd be so cute. That would be cute. I feel like
maybe Meg? Oh, I could definitely see Meg. I can also see Joe. Yeah. I mean, she's,
I literally put in Peg and it was a little it was a little. Maybe it's because I couldn't find it.
If we can't find it, we'll just cast her in our mind. Yeah, we've got to find it at some point.
I think that was the problem. I think at one point I did search for it, but it's also the 30s and
yeah, and that's also stage acting. So it's like their records are probably not as good as
well acting. We'll just pretend. We'll pretend. Who did you cast her as? Meg. Meg. She would have
been pretty young. So she would have been in her early 20s. She could have been. They were all
pretty young. Yeah. I could, I'm gonna say that she was either Meg or Beth.
Yeah. I feel like she's got the wistfulness and the sadness of Beth. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So we're
going back, back to Peg. After the little women opportunity, she was given a few more opportunities
in New York, even though they were small. However, she was asked to move back to Los Angeles to try
out for a role in a play called Mad Hopes. She auditioned for the part of the ingenue,
received rare reviews, and even started dating her co-star Humphrey Bogart. Oh,
it seemed things had really turned around for her. When the Mad Hopes LA run ended, they offered the
role on Broadway to her the following September. And it was because of this Mad Hopes show in LA
that caught the eye of the casting office of RKO Pictures. Ultimately, it led to just a single
picture contract with RKO and it was a film titled 13 Women, which I'm, you know, you're familiar
with that. Yeah. I've never seen it. It sounds a little out there, especially when it's a white
actress playing an Indian woman. Yeah. Myrna Loy. We love her, but she is white. Wasn't Joan Crawford
in that too? Or am I thinking of something else? You're thinking, yeah, you're thinking of the women.
Oh, yeah. Which they're both like heavily. Yeah, I think it's because Karina Longworth talked about
both of those. Yeah. And the women as much as a bigger, like a bigger, like what am I trying to say?
It has more people who are actually interested in seeing it. Gotcha. 13 women is like people are
like, this is not good. The women is actually well done and well made. Yeah. Okay. So 13 Women
was not the best film to be cast in for your, your only picture contract with RKO.
Peg's part was Hazel Clay Cousins, which was a character that had 16 minutes of screen time
that was shredded and cut down to just four minutes after production. The problem wasn't her
performance, of course, but it was a perceived violation of the motion picture production
code known as the Hayes Code, which the Hayes Code was conceived by former Postmaster General
Will Hayes in an attempt to make Hollywood wholesome and clean. So Peg not only had her part
nearly cut out of the film, but because she did this, she broke her theatrical contract with
Broadway and she was dropped from Mad Hopes in New York. So it's like this little glimmer of
something involves into nothing. Yeah. And two weeks after the filming of the movie RKO declined
to extend Peg's contract. So sad. So sad. So on September 16th, 1932, two days after news broke
that RKO dropped Peg and that, and it made the papers, which is so sad that everyone is seeing
this, Peg told her uncle she was going to the drugstore to and to see some friends right after.
By the next morning, she still hadn't come home. Her family started to worry after she had been
gone, been gone especially 24 hours. And then 24 hours after that, with her still missing,
the LAPD got a report from a woman who stumbled across a woman's jacket and purse while hiking
near the Hollywood land to sign. This woman supposedly looked down from where she found these
items, saw a body at the bottom of the hill and decided she, I mean, she was the only one up there,
she had to make that call. This anonymous color dropped the woman's things on the steps of the
Hollywood Police Department. Inside the purse, the police discovered a note and this is very sad.
The note reads or read, I am afraid I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had a
long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. Signed PE. So sad. The police rushed to the base
of the Hollywood sign and there they found a female body. The detectives concluded this woman
climbed up the 45 foot ladder behind the H of the Hollywood land sign and jumped. She was just 24
years old. Oh my gosh, she's a baby. Such a baby. What's and also what's really sad is they figured
that from the trajectory because I mean they found her, she had already died and she had many
broken bones, but she had broken her pelvis first. So she didn't even die immediately. She probably
suffered. Yeah. And it's just like, oh, that just breaks my heart. And also her speaking from experience.
Oh, that's right. I have also fractured my pelvis and several places. I can confirm it is excruciating.
It's excruciating. Thankfully, you had a recovery. Yeah. Oh gosh, poor thing. Yeah, this is, it's just
so sad. So at first, the police had no way of identifying the body as the purse did not have
anything other than the note. They ran a new story where they described her features and
they asked the public for help. Peg's family saw the story and they knew it was her. Her uncle went
to the morgue to identify her remains and the detective wrote up cause of death being
suicide by despondency. Many dispute that the claim she was despondent was due to her failed
film career as she wanted to be a Broadway star. So it really makes sense to them.
Reporters used this failed film career as basically fodder for selling papers about
the failed Hollywood aspirant and there's so many of them out there and this is what can,
you know, it will chew you up and spit you out. So you're saying nothing's changed. So nothing is
so Hollywood is the same. But yes, but really, that was not the full story for her. No, she was
a theatrical actress at heart. She was moderately successful in New York. But because of the theater
guild being upset with breaking her contract and with her past with being associated with her
loser of a ex husband, New York Repertories finally ultimately blackballed her from her
one true love. So it was she felt like she couldn't go back. Yeah. In addition to this,
her New York apartment which she had been trying to keep afloat had been seized in lieu of back rent.
So all of her clothes, furniture and items from her childhood were gone.
And yet another example of her unfortunate poor timing, it said that pegs uncle received a letter
from RKO Studios shortly after her death, offering her another film role. No. Yeah, it's just I mean
like obviously I don't think that's the only reason no that she was depressed. But it's still
so sad that maybe that would have given her a little glimmer of hope. Yeah. And this is just
really like hammers home. Please take care of your mental health. And if you are friends or family
of someone you recognize that is suffering from depression, anxiety, get them help but also don't
be a jerk about it. Yeah. But if you can please help your friends and please take care of yourself
because it is so so important. Let's see. So her ashes were interred with her fathers at the Oak
Hill Cemetery in Springdale, Ohio. However, it wasn't until 2010 that her grave was even marked.
And I'm not sure why it took so long. Yeah. But in 2021, in Port Talbot in Wales, there was a
mural that appeared for her, which was really nice. Oh, that's sweet. I put podcast road trip.
Yeah. Let's go see pegs mural in Wales. We're gonna go to LA. We're gonna go to Wales. We're gonna
we're gonna do it all. So some little like interesting side pieces not to like end it on such a
really sad note. There have been many pieces of media that have been created from this story or
inspired by peg story. Many speculated that the 1977 Steely Dan song peg was about her. However,
it was finally like, I can't even think of the word. They're basically like, no, it's not that.
But it can't even think of what that word is. But Steely Dan co founder Donald Fagan said that
there's no hidden meaning behind the song. They just needed a short name. I'm like, well, that's
true. That is funny. There was a 2017 film called Hollywood Girl, the peg and whistle story made
about her last days of her life. There was a mini series on Netflix called Hollywood,
where it was about a fictional production of a film called Meg. And then it was about the actress's
career and apparent suicide. There was another film that some people felt might have been inspired
by her, which was not too long after her death. And it was stage door starring Catherine Hepburn.
Oh, yeah. Which is interesting because Catherine Hepburn and peg, they really circled each other's
lives. They had really similar interests in Broadway. And then Catherine Hepburn really wanted to
move on to the film industry. And there was one role that RKO pictures pushed to giving peg even
before Peg got her her chance with RKO. And they ultimately went with Catherine Hepburn. So it's
interesting if she had received that role, if she would have changed. I think it was the Bill of
Disp. Divorcement. I looked it up. And Billy Burke was the main character. Billy Burke played
the good witch of the yeah, in Wizard of Oz. And so it's like people were like, okay, well,
Peg looks even more like Billy than Catherine Hepburn. Like this is perfect. But I think it was
George Cook or somebody. He just really went with Catherine Hepburn. So who would have known? I don't
know. And then finally, the song Lusts for Life by Lana Del Rey has a reference to Antwistle.
I immediately thought of it. Right. Exactly. The song includes the lyrics as climbing up to the
age of the Hollywood sign. And then the music video shows Lana Del Rey and the weekend dancing
atop the age of the Hollywood sign, which is actually a really nice song. It's I mean, Lusts
for Life is sadly that's something that Peg did not have. But it's towards the end. Yeah. But I mean,
like, you know, it's it's nice to keep her in mind. I would like to see if there's even like a clip of
13 women to to like even see her and like hear her voice. Yeah, that'd be cool. But that's the story
of early Hollywood and actress Peg and Twistle. Well, that was very interesting and very sad.
Thank you. Also, my story is going to mirror that as well. But let us take a quick break.
Let's take a breather. For sure. Okay. So before I get into my story, I just need to do a little,
we're gonna call it a curious correction from my class. I like that. So Drew asked me during my
story if the Kickapoo tribe was a real tribe and I said no. And as soon as I said it, I thought to
myself this doesn't sound right. But I did not correct myself. And so I looked it up. The Kickapoo
tribe is indeed a real tribe and I am very sorry for misleading anyone. That was nice. But I just
misunderstood what I heard on the podcast that I listened to. And then I thought about it some
more. I was like, no, you idiot, they're real. They're real. They're like, not only are we real,
but you are disgracing us. No, you didn't disgrace them. The people naming their fake medicine after
that. You were telling me I was a disgrace. No, sorry. I was like, I know. I'm so sorry. I was like,
you are a disgrace. But I look at what your face is actually the face of a medicine bottle from the
1800s. Okay, I will get into my topic now, which is also about a tragic woman, although a more
well known woman. And that is Marie Antoinette. And I just have to preface this by saying,
I have been obsessed with Marie Antoinette since I was like, seven years old. I don't know how I
like first learned about her. But I know when I was young, there was this Royal Diaries series that
it was about different queens and princesses. Is that a book series? It is. I read that too.
Yes. They had one that had like Cleopatra. Yes. And Marie Antoinette and Cleopatra
were my favorite, but I became obsessed with Marie Antoinette specifically. And I would like play
princesses with my friends, but like Marie Antoinette. And I always wanted to be her. I didn't
know that she died. But you also were probably like justice for Marie Antoinette. Yeah, I didn't
know at first that she died. But then even when I found out I was still like, Hey, I know she
didn't deserve it. No, she did not. And then when the Sophia Coppola movie came out, I very
vividly remember the Vogue issue with Kirsten Dunst dressed up as Marie Antoinette and it was
life changing. You're like, this is everything. I want this to be my aesthetic. It is a good one
too. And I'm also currently wearing a Marie Antoinette shirt. Dear listener, if you could see
Olivia's shirt, it is amazing. Describe it. It's like reminiscent of like,
like the sex pistols. But I was gonna say sex pistols, but I was also gonna say, um,
my gosh, brain, what's it called? Like the clash. The clash. Yeah. So it's like vintage 70s London,
but it's her face and she's black and white. But then over her eyes is let them and over her mouth
is cake, which is pretty awesome. I think it's supposed to be like the sex pistols God Save
the Queen. Oh, yes, it is. Yeah. But um, yes, I found this shirt recently because literally
God should have saved the Queen. Yeah. Poor Queen. But also, the peasants just shouldn't have,
you know what? I'm not going to blame the peasants. I'm going to blame the revolutionaries. I think
everyone needed to come to like a nice bonfire. Let's talk this out. Yeah. Everyone, you know,
have a, you know, like a couple drinks, just like, what are we, what's happening here? Yeah. Let's
figure something out. They did not do that. They did not. They stormed the Bastille and it was over.
But before we get to that part, we have to talk about Marie's early life. Yeah. Okay. So let me,
I'm totally distracting. I'm sorry. That's okay. I mean, I feel like most people know the general
parts of her story. So we're just going to fill in some gaps. Yeah, let's go. Let's go there.
So Marie was the 11th daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis the first and Maria Theresa.
And she was born on the 2nd of November, 1755 in Vienna, Austria. And she was born as Maria Antonia.
And as a child, she was an accomplished musician and sang during family gatherings. And she was
said to have a lovely singing voice. She excelled at dancing and had exquisite poise and love dolls.
She sounds like a lovely little girl. Yes. And she had many siblings, but she was specifically
close with her sister, Maria Carolina, who was three years older than her. And she had a lifelong
close relationship. And she also had a loving but a somewhat difficult relationship with her mother.
And she referred to Marie as the little madam Antoine, which I think is kind of cute, but also
kind of condescending at the same time. Yeah. And she was also very affected by the death of her
older sister, Maria Josepha, who died from smallpox during the epidemic in October, 1767.
So she had some good times in her childhood, but she also had some sadness and some deaths in the
family. But she overall had what seemed like a lovely childhood. And then when she was set to
marry Louis the 16th, before they would marry, she, his father sent Matthew Jacques de Vermont to
tutor her. And he noted that her character and her heart were excellent, but said that she was
rather more intelligent than generally supposed because she is extremely frivolous, very lazy and
hard to teach. She's too smart for her own good. Like she's very smart, but she's a little lazy and
frivolous. I actually relate to that. Not that I'm saying that I was smart in school. I just meant
that I did not try hard enough because I was like, I don't want to be here. I know. Not because I'm
too smart, just because I don't want to be here. Yeah. Like I, I don't mind being a little frivolous.
And when she was 13 years old, she was married to Dauphin Louis, the grandson of Louis the 15th,
on May 16th, 1770. And the reaction to their marriage was mixed because there was already
a stigma that came with being Austrian. The French people didn't think well of the Austrians,
especially Vienna. I think they're great. I think they're great too. Have you heard of Mozart?
Actually, she met Mozart when she was a child. Oh, so this is my little sidebar for a moment.
Okay. I just watched the 30 Rock episode where they reference Mozart and Sallieri.
Uh-huh. And Frank and Tracy are talking and Tracy's talking about his genius and he's like,
I'm Mozart and you are the guy that was jealous of Mozart and Frank says, Sallieri. Tracy says,
no, thank you. I just ate. It's so silly. But I'm like, man, I love 30 Rock. I mean,
that's a great comeback honestly. Oh no. Okay. So even though there is... Austrians are good.
Austrians are good. The French didn't think that. And even though there was a mixed reaction,
the Dauphin being Marie Antoinette was very beautiful and very likable. So initially,
people had a good response to her because she was just young and sweet and very lovely and seemed
like she was a vivacious, friendly person. Although the Queen spent heavily on fashion,
luxuries, and gambling and Rose... Because she could. She could. Yeah. Because she was frivolous.
Yeah. But she was also smart. Yeah. And Rose Bertin created dresses for her and hairstyles
such as poufs, which is what she's famous for. And if you see any portrait of Marie Antoinette
or any iteration of her, that is the pouf what she has on her head. And they would be up to
90 centimeters high. That is amazing. I know. The fact that they could... That's why their
doorways were so tall. They were so tall and the fact that they could walk gracefully with such a
huge thing on their head. I strong neck muscles. Yeah. Good thing she was graceful. I like,
remember when I talked about tripping while going up the stairs? I could not have a pouf on my head.
Your hair would topple over. Yeah. As a result, Marie had one of the most fashionable and important
courts in history. I think a lot of people when they think of Marie Antoinette think of her fashion
partly because of the portraits of her and I'm sure also partly because of Sophia Coppola's
iteration of Marie. Yes. She also had the misfortune of having a timid, inattentive, and slightly
awkward husband. And Louis the 16th's inability to consummate the marriage made others... I know.
Sorry. Sorry. We got to talk about it. No, it's just funny. The sound I just made, I was like,
ugh, poor guy. He's like, hey, we all have trouble. I don't know what I'm talking about. I actually
read something that said that... He was shy. It was, he was not very motivated and she was
uninterested. Yeah. So they probably were like, what if we just played cards? They're like, look,
we got married when we were teenagers. So they were not married each other because they liked
each other so much. It was a political move. Right. So those who might inherit the throne
got greedy and they began to spread rumors of affairs, including the affair of the diamond
necklace where Marie was wrongly accused of having an affair with a cardinal. And I will not get into
this whole thing because it is a very long and intricate plot, but there is a great episode
of noble blood where she goes into the whole plot of the diamond necklace and placing the blame on
Marie and trying to, they're trying to get rich and also trying to insinuate that there was an
affair between this cardinal and Marie. I remember that episode and it was good. It is big. It's,
Dana Schwartz gives it in such a way that it's like you're on the edge of your seat.
It's one of the sillier episodes, even though ultimately it is one of many things that went
into people destroying Marie's reputation. Yeah. Because even though the people who were involved
the plot were charged, there were still people who believed that she had an affair with the
cardinal and that she was trying to defraud this jewelry company. No. No. So in 1778,
Marie finally gave birth to a daughter, Marie Therese Charlotte, followed by her first born son,
Louis. And in 1782, after the governess, I went to a little British Ag, my governess, the governess
of the royal children. Her name was Princess de Guémenet. I haven't spoke French in a long time,
so I'm sorry. She went bankrupt and resigned and then Marie appointed a favor of hers,
Duchess de Pont-Lenyac, to the position. And this was another controversial move, even though it
doesn't seem to us like it would be because people thought that the Duchess was from too
humble of origins to be in the position. It's like this weird mixture of people being upset with Marie
because she spent so lavishly, but then also she was very kind to people of lower station
and she even would like help children along the roadside. If she saw children who were begging,
she would stop and help them and would offer to pay their way in school. So it's that's really
sweet. Like she couldn't win. No. And then Count Axel von Fernsson was accepted into the Queen's
private society when he returned from America in 1783 and there were rumors of an affair between
him and the Queen, but most of their correspondence has been lost or destroyed over time. And on the
27th of March 1785, Marie gave birth to her second son, Louis Charles, and it's very confusing because
she has two sons named Louis and her husband's name is Louis, so get used to that. So they were
like, so we're going to call them Charles. Yeah. I see. I do wonder that if they went by middle names.
Oh, they were like, Louis, no, not you. No, you. Other Louis. That Louis. Nope, not your dad. That one.
And Louis was born nine months after Count Fernsson's return. So it was speculated that
the child was his. But a couple of her biographers, Antonia Frazier and Stefan Zwieg,
believe that Louis, her husband was in fact the father, but they also believe that Antoinette and
Fernsson were involved in an affair, but that he was not Louis's father because there was a conjugal
interaction between Louis and Marie at the time, so it is perfectly reasonable that he would have
been the father. Right. But this didn't matter because Marie was already being libeled in court
and was declining in popularity and public opinion. And around this time, there were pamphlets that
were put out that were farcical portraits of sexual deviancy of the royals, but especially the queen,
no matter what it was about the royals, Marie was always the one that got the Brent of the libel.
And the Portafoye d'Antoine Rouge was one of the first to put out political statements
about immoral practices of the queen and those at court. She was also the perfect target because
France still didn't think much of Austrians, and so her heritage was blamed for her alleged
immoral behavior. So they were like, oh, it's just like an Austrian or a German thing.
Why did France think so much of themselves? I don't know. That's a whole thing.
That's a whole thing. That was more of a, what's it called? Geez.
I don't know. Rhetorical? Rhetorical question. Yeah. But that's always been the thing. I mean,
like, France is better today, but historically, France has always been like, oh, we're French.
The end. That's it. Yeah. That's the funny thing about a lot of these political alliances between
different royal families is like, they're doing it so they can unite their countries and create
alliances. Justicly. Essentially. Yeah. But then the people, like the common folk of the country have
this bias against them. And so it never goes as they think it's going to go. No.
And then finally, that should be like the tagline for history. This never goes the way you think it
will go. No, no matter how many times you do it, it doesn't go that way. Finally, her last child,
Marie Sophie Helene Beatrix, was born on 9th of July 1786. And then a few years after that in May
1789, Marie was directly involved with the exile of parliament and the estate general,
which convened at Versailles. And she actually served on the King's Council. And she was the
first queen in 175 years to do so. The last one being Marie the Medici in 1614. Oh, I've heard
that name. I know. I'm like, Medici is a future episode. Like Medici, am I right? What? I'm like
history nerds, right? Oh, yeah. Hello. But Marie did little to intervene with politics at this time
because her elder son, the first Louis was ill and passed away in June from tuberculosis. Oh. She's
still blamed for a lot of the political moves going on at the time, but really she was just a
concerned mother. So now we're going to jump ahead a few years to when the revolution reaches a
crescendo. There have been several plots to try and get the royal family to safety, but Louis's
indecisiveness and Marie being unwilling to leave without her husband foiled the plans,
it's so frustrating because they might have been safe if they got out in time. Who knows,
they could have still been captured. Right. But Louis was just so indecisive about leaving,
and Marie even like tried to convince him several times to leave. So finally on the 21st of June,
1791, they began what would become known as a flight of Verrain to reach Mont-Medis, a safe harbor
for royalists. The plan was for some members of the royal family to pose a servant for the imaginary
Madame de Coff, a wealthy Russian Baroness, played by Azizbeth de Croix de Torzell. So I just like
that they had this intricate plot where they're going to have people pretend to be like a Russian
Baroness and the servants from another country. However, it didn't work and the entire thing
was like Russia, that's as bad as Austria. They're like, you're not fully anyone. Yeah.
The entire family was arrested less than 24 hours later at Verrain and taken back to Paris to be in
prison. And now is when we get into some trigger warnings. So trigger warning for death, decapitation,
and being accused of child abuse. There's no evidence that it was real, but just if you don't
want any mention at all. But I'm not going to get really detailed. Yeah. So in August 1792,
Marie's good friend, Princess de Lambelle, was taken in for interrogation and asked to renounce
the Queen. But she refused to do so because they were good friends and she didn't want to do that to
her friend. But unfortunately, she was savagely killed. And then her head was paraded around on a
pike near the temple prison where the Queen was imprisoned in hopes that she would see the gruesome
end of her dear friend. And they even wanted to get her close enough to get Marie to give her
a kiss on the cheek. I can't even imagine, like I remember the very first time I even read about
this. It's so upsetting. It's like, so it's essentially her best friend who did not betray her.
But they were like, all right, well, I'm just going to parade her decapitated head.
Mm hmm. And then why don't you give her a kiss on the cheek? I would be like, no, please.
Fortunately, Marie never saw that good. But when she heard about it, she still fainted because
it's shocking. It's shockingly that's that would be upsetting for literally anyone. Yeah. And like
even regardless of your position in life, you should not treat people like that. No, absolutely not.
And again, we'll not get into detail. But there is another great episode of noble blood that I
will cite at the end that has not more detail about that, but about Marie's execution. Yes.
And on 20, sorry, I was writing down the date in the French way, on the 21st of January, 1793,
Louis the 16th was executed and leaving Maria Widow. And I don't know if this was a familial name,
but their name was changed back to the common Capette. And so Marie was henceforth known as
the widow Capette. And soon after Marie's children were taken from her, and they were put in separate
cells, but she could still hear her children crying and hear them being interrogated by officials.
And unfortunately, officials manipulated her youngest son into saying that she had molested him,
which there's no evidence of this. I want to stress that there's no evidence. The evidence is
strongly pointing towards the fact that she was in fact a really good mother. Yeah, he was a little
boy. He was away from either of his parents, had no people near him, except for people that hated
his parents, and was kept until they got the answer they wanted. Yes. Probably didn't even understand
what they were saying to him. Yeah. And of course, when Marie heard about this, it broke her heart
and enraged her at the same time. And when she was put on trial, she was quiet and solemn for most
of it when they were bringing up accusations. But when they brought up the accusation of her
possibly molesting her son, she was compelled to speak out. And she entreated the mothers and the
audience to listen to her. When asked why she hadn't responded to the accusations, she said,
if I have not replied, it is because nature itself refuses to respond to such a charge
laid against a mother, which is so heartbreaking, so heartbreaking. And I'm sure all of the mothers,
they're probably related to her, probably felt for her, but it didn't matter. They were going to
sentence her no matter what. Well, and if it's just women who are swayed, what, they have no
political pull at all. It's an all male jury. Yes. That have already decided. Yeah, it's heartbreaking.
Yeah. So Marie was sentenced to death by guillotine. And as Marie stepped onto the platform for execution,
the last thing that happened was she accidentally stepped on the foot of the executioner,
and she uttered her last words, I'm sorry, sir, I did not do it on purpose, which I don't know.
That just makes me so sad. It's so heartbreaking. I feel like it's so poignant because I mean, she's
just having this last meaningless interaction with this man, but really, she could, she should have
been like, I don't care. That's if she really was true, what they say, but also like describes her
whole reign and everything she did, like she may have done things that weren't great, or just weren't
very sensitive to like the peasants and the commoners. But I feel like I'm sorry, sir, I did not do it
on purpose. Yeah, it sums it up perfectly. Very much so. And one last bit about Marie, the phrase,
let them eat cake has become synonymous with Marie Antoinette. Everyone has heard this phrase,
even if you don't know a lot about Marie Antoinette, you know the phrase, let them eat cake.
There's it's on cute little signs, it's on t shirts, it's everywhere. It's said to be funny.
It's said to be funny. You know, I might say it if I want cake. I don't know. We joked about why
didn't we have cake with us today. Yes. But the problem is, she probably never said it. And it
sounds a bit flip for someone talking about impoverished and starving peasants, you know,
let them eat cake. Although Kristen Dunn's delivery in the Sophia Coppola Marie Antoinette
is a bit more sweet and coquettish, I imagine if Marie did say it, she would have said it in a very
cute, like, I don't know, she just seemed like a sweet girl, like she was a young girl at the time.
But if she had said it, it would have been,
qui manger de la brioche, which brioche was a, it's kind of like brioche bread that we have now,
but it was a little more enriched and sweeter. And so it is not even historically accurate to say
what cake. Which I would, I mean, like, I'll try it. Sounds good to me. I know. I would like brioche.
Yes. And the phrase or something like it actually appeared in a 16th century German story and was
later translated into French in Rousseau's confessions and was most likely meant as more of
like a commentary on the upper class. But when Rousseau wrote this story, Marie Antoinette would
have been nine years old. But the revolutionaries took up Rousseau's writings as kind of one of their
main sources for the revolution. And so they might have even known that Marie didn't say it,
but kind of attributed it to her class. And it's been debunked over time. But it's like,
no matter how many times it's debunked that she didn't say it, people continually associate it
with Marie, which is so awful. It's awful. And never mind the fact that she was a queen,
which at the time was more of a figurehead or I wouldn't even say an accessory, but she didn't
really have any political power. Right. So she wouldn't have been able to do anything really to
help the poor of France, except for the occasional works of charity that she did just on her own
volition. Right. So that's my little rant about Marie Antoinette. I like that. But I also, much
like you, I went into some areas of popular culture where Marie shows up, which there are many.
Yeah. Unlike mine, Marie Antoinette has been everywhere. Yes. She has been portrayed at least
in 21 different movies. Of course, probably the most notable being Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.
There was also a Marie Antoinette in 1938 starring Moira Shearer. She's often referenced in fashion,
art, and music. So my personal favorite, Marie has said to have inspired Electra Heart by
Marina and the Diamonds. One of my favorite fashion brands, Selkie, has had Marie Antoinette
inspired launch parties. Their fashion shows, like, they're kind of like modern day interpretations of
like the color palette and the look of the Selie beautiful pastels. And then they have the poofs.
Yes. I love that. And then my absolute favorite, Moschino did a Marie Antoinette and cake themed
collection at Fashion Week 2020. Did you know that I, so this is sidebar, we have Pinterest boards
for our friends. And when we come across something that we'll be like, I'm saving that to their
board. I just saved a Moschino, Marie Antoinette inspired dress to your Pinterest board like
just a few days ago. I love that. That's so funny. I will never get over Moschino's Marie Antoinette
or their Barbie collection. Moschino is good always. Yeah. So that is Marie Antoinette. And
I feel like I want to eat some cake, some macaron and watch Sophia Coppola's movie. Yes. I think we
should. We should watch a scene of Peg and Twistle acting in 13 Women. I think there's one on YouTube.
And then we'll wrap it up with Marie Antoinette. What's so funny though is I was thinking about who
could play Peg and Twistle in a movie. And to me, she looks a lot like Kirsten Dunst. Oh, I could see
that. And it's like, what a, I'm like, get Sophia. Right? Like Kirsten Dunst, she's in both of our
stories. Also, I forgot to do my sources at the top. So I'm going to do that now. Wait, did I?
I don't remember. I don't, I don't know because you did it earlier as to practice. Oh, that's right.
I just did it for practice. All right. So this is real now. I'm like, am I having a stroke? You
were doing a speaking practice to not say the word um. Yes, I like I do. I'm not sure how I did, but
you did great. Thank you. Yeah, very well done. So there was a Britannica.com article on Marie
Antoinette and of course the Wikipedia page for Marie Antoinette and cultural depictions of Marie
Antoinette. And Nobleblood has three episodes involving Marie Antoinette. There is historical
myth busting spectacular where she goes into uh five of history's most persisting myths. And the
first one she does is let the meat cake, the neck and the necklace about the necklace affair,
and the second death of Marie Antoinette, which is so sad. So sad. I remember listening to that on
a long drive by myself and it literally made me cry. It was upsetting. So good. And just in general,
listen to Nobleblood Danish words is the voice of an angel, the voice of an angel, the best storyteller.
You just need to listen to that podcast, but yeah, I listened to that again for research for this and
it made me cry. Yeah, you're like right in the heart. Yeah. And if anyone is listening and they're
really upset about the French Revolution, which why are you not? Watch a Scarlet Pimpernel with
Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour because the Scarlet Pimpernel is a fictional character,
but if he was real, he would have made everything better. And if you want to be a little bit of a
revolutionary sympathizer, watch Les Mis. Les Mis, just in general. Yeah. Because you're like, you
know what, these people have had a hard life. They are, they are miserable. Yeah. I'm like, look,
I am glad I didn't live around that time because I would feel bad for Marie Antoinette and I would
feel bad for the revolutionaries. But I'd be like, Hey, let's not kill anyone. How about that?
How about that? And probably considering my ancestry, I would have been a peasant. Oh,
I definitely would have been a peasant if I hadn't already died. My teeth gone. Yeah. I, my cake,
not being eaten. Going, going back to little women, I definitely would be Beth and have just died.
Yeah. Got the personality of Amy, the constitution of Beth. I think we talked about this one time.
And I was like, well, I have the personality of Joe, but I probably was Lori's grandpa.
I remember you said, you're like, it's the Colonel Mustard effect. I know I have the
Colonel Mustard effect. Is there a grumpy old man with a mustache? And I'm not even like a grumpy
old man at heart because we were talking about this earlier. I was with a different friend who
was the grandpa friend. Like there's, you have your mom friend, you have your, I guess, a dad friend.
I'm not even the grandpa friend, but I'm the Colonel Mustard friend.
I don't think I'm structured enough to be the mom friend. You're the wine aunt friend.
That's what one of our other friends said. He's like, you're the aunt. Yeah. You're the fun aunt.
I'm like, I'll do that. Yes. I'll be the aunt that has cats and drinks old fashions and can return
the kids at the end of the day. That sounds great. Yeah. I'll be the, I'll be one of those aunts too.
You can be aunt slash grandpa. I'm going to be the Colonel Mustard aunt.
Oh my gosh, I love it so much. Anyway, that, well that is a very heavy episode. I think
because this one was so intense, my next story will be much lighter. That'll be my promise to you
well. Maybe I'll try and find a kooky story to do. Let's kooky it up. Okay. Yeah. And have cookies.
Okay. Or we could also have macarons. Yeah. We could have had today. We're having them in spirit
for Marie today, but we could have them for real next time. If I hadn't had to do other errands,
I would have gotten macarons, but I know I feel bad. You could have told me I didn't even.
It's okay. I have a side out of mind. You know, even though I'm always thinking about macarons.
Oh, right. Me too. And that is not the macaroon. It's not the macaroons. Yeah, it's, it's not
male. Oh, it's not the president of France. It's also not macaroons. It's not macaroons. It's not
the president of France. No, these are macarons. These are beautiful cookies. Yep. Made out of
almond flour and dreams. I was like, and happiness and happiness. Yeah. And anything to add before we
wrap her up? I don't know. Did we have any, anything about the pod? Oh, we're working on our designs
for merch. I'm really excited because the merch that we have going, I'm just wanting to buy for
myself. Yeah. Actually, there's one sticker that we created that would look good on our,
any kind of drinking utensil that we have. Yeah. I, I am not good at coming up with designs like
Drew. So I have been creating a mood board. You're really good at coming up with ideas,
because sometimes I will just kind of like see something and go off of that. But I'm like,
I would like to create something that's pretty like unique. That's not just influenced by something
else. But I also like the influence by something else. My good ideas and I'm jumping off of their
little picture. 70s horror movies, movie posters, not the horror movies, but the posters. Yes. And
the book covers. We got to figure that. That's our aesthetic. Yes. Someday you'll see. You'll see.
And you'll know. You'll see. You'll see. I don't know. We got so aggressive.
Well, I also have to drive home. So yeah, we should wrap this up. I'm going to say good night
and good luck and be odd and be curious and always be closing. I've never, I don't know where
that came from. Is that a saying? I just, is not from, um, oh no, that movie is Owl of Baldwin.
Is it? Hunt for the Red Octobre. No.
Yeah, it was Sean Connery. Always be checking those submarine hatches. They get a little crazy.
Mike, get some water. It's gonna bug me what that movie was. But it's like coffee is for closers.
Oh yeah, I don't know. Well, and always be knowing your movie references and always,
not me. Uh, just try not to jump off Hollywood signs. Yeah, don't do that. And
and always be charitable despite people around you being terrible. And don't be so hasty to
guillotine people. And always, always be working and taking care of your mental health. It's the
most important part of your body. Yes, I think that is probably the most productive advice that we
have. Your brain, your brain loves you and wants you to take care of it even though it lies to you.
Yeah. So take care of it for yourself and for us. And on that note, goodbye. We love you. Love you.
Goodbye.