WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:19.400 A man compiles the dictionary of chimpanzee language. 00:19.400 --> 00:21.320 Cinderella did not wear a glass slipper. 00:21.320 --> 00:24.120 A cross of gold brings disaster to many men. 00:24.120 --> 00:25.120 Can you imagine that? 00:25.120 --> 00:27.080 Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is Lindsay McCurry speaking. 00:27.080 --> 00:30.680 I'm back with my charts and another collection of odd and sensational facts with which to 00:30.680 --> 00:32.080 regale you for a while. 00:32.080 --> 00:35.080 In just one minute and a half, we'll all be back with the proof of the statements made 00:35.080 --> 00:36.080 a moment ago. 00:36.080 --> 00:37.080 So wait for us, will you please? 00:37.080 --> 01:05.320 I'm back with the proof of the statements made a moment ago. 01:05.320 --> 01:26.080 I'm back with the proof of the statements made a moment ago. 01:56.080 --> 02:13.120 Well, that's a strange noise, isn't it? 02:13.120 --> 02:14.120 But don't be alarmed. 02:14.120 --> 02:17.800 No one here has suddenly gone to chasing imaginary dinosaurs around the studio. 02:17.800 --> 02:20.600 What you heard was Charles Fuller saying he's glad to see us. 02:20.600 --> 02:22.040 And who is Charles Fuller? 02:22.040 --> 02:26.640 Well, according to a newspaper of March 6, 1915, Charles Fuller was a chimpanzee who 02:26.640 --> 02:28.800 could talk so that his owner, E.W. 02:28.800 --> 02:31.440 Nolton of Pasadena, California, could understand him. 02:31.440 --> 02:32.640 Can you imagine that? 02:32.640 --> 02:34.000 Said Mr. Nolton when interviewed. 02:34.000 --> 02:39.480 I have lately been making a dictionary of the words I found for uses. 02:39.480 --> 02:43.480 So far, I have found six distinct words. 02:43.480 --> 02:48.360 No doubt there are others, but these six I have identified positively. 02:48.360 --> 02:52.080 Each one is said on precisely the same sort of occasion. 02:52.080 --> 02:58.280 I think this proves that monkeys of the higher orders can converse among themselves. 02:58.280 --> 03:01.080 That they can think is already proved. 03:01.080 --> 03:03.360 But listen for yourself. 03:03.360 --> 03:05.160 Fuller, Fuller. 03:05.160 --> 03:12.520 That means he's hungry. 03:12.520 --> 03:13.880 He wants something to eat. 03:13.880 --> 03:16.640 And that wasn't all Charles Fuller would say. 03:16.640 --> 03:24.800 Here are a couple more of the phrases in his vocabulary. 03:24.800 --> 03:27.560 That according to Mr. Nolton meant I am afraid. 03:27.560 --> 03:32.000 And then. 03:32.000 --> 03:35.300 In chimpanzees, that is go away and don't bother me. 03:35.300 --> 03:39.840 We have Mr. Nolton's word that Charles Fuller could sew, untie knots, and untwist a swing 03:39.840 --> 03:41.340 when the rope got tangled up. 03:41.340 --> 03:42.980 But other chimps have done that before. 03:42.980 --> 03:46.400 What made Charles Fuller unique was the fact that his vocabulary could be understood by 03:46.400 --> 03:47.520 his owner. 03:47.520 --> 03:49.280 Can you imagine that? 03:49.280 --> 03:51.600 Well now comes the time for our fairy tale class. 03:51.600 --> 03:54.000 Today's story is that of Cinderella and the fur slipper. 03:54.000 --> 03:56.120 Pardon teacher, glass slipper. 03:56.120 --> 03:57.120 Fur slipper. 03:57.120 --> 03:58.120 Glass. 03:58.120 --> 03:59.560 It's still fur and I'll prove it for you. 03:59.560 --> 04:00.560 Glass. 04:00.560 --> 04:02.080 All right, sit in the corner and I'll explain. 04:02.080 --> 04:04.880 You see, the story of Cinderella is of French origin. 04:04.880 --> 04:08.380 When the translator took the story and began his work of translation, he made a very odd 04:08.380 --> 04:12.200 but still a natural mistake for anyone not working in his native language. 04:12.200 --> 04:16.760 In the original French version, the slipper is referred to as pantoufle en verre, meaning 04:16.760 --> 04:18.480 a slipper made of fur. 04:18.480 --> 04:21.320 V-A-I-R is the French word for fur. 04:21.320 --> 04:25.040 The translator was more familiar with the actual sound of the word verre than he was 04:25.040 --> 04:26.040 with its meaning. 04:26.040 --> 04:30.720 He wrote the word down as V-E-R-R-E, meaning glass. 04:30.720 --> 04:34.840 So we today, because of a translator's odd mistake, know the pretty little fairy tale 04:34.840 --> 04:39.920 as Cinderella and the glass slipper instead of Cinderella and the fur slipper. 04:39.920 --> 04:42.160 Can you imagine that? 04:42.160 --> 04:45.720 Well there are countless stories about the evil that follows famous jewels, about the 04:45.720 --> 04:48.360 bad luck they bring to each successive owner. 04:48.360 --> 04:53.000 The Hope Diamond, for instance, has a history crowded with deaths of tragic episodes in 04:53.000 --> 04:54.600 the lives of its owners. 04:54.600 --> 04:58.160 Along that line, I dug up a story that has all the character of melodramatic fiction 04:58.160 --> 05:00.600 with the added punch of being true. 05:00.600 --> 05:05.640 From a newspaper dated July 8, 1929, comes an item saying that the curse of the cross 05:05.640 --> 05:07.000 has been set at rest. 05:07.000 --> 05:10.360 The cross is really the mount of the Holy Cross that nestles in the heart of the Rocky 05:10.360 --> 05:12.760 Mountains of Colorado, and the curse? 05:12.760 --> 05:14.240 Well, listen to this. 05:14.240 --> 05:18.920 In 1873, members of the Hayden Geological Survey Party were exploring in that particular 05:18.920 --> 05:20.380 region of the Rockies. 05:20.380 --> 05:24.680 As they went on, they became more and more awed by the grim grandeur of the scene before 05:24.680 --> 05:26.160 them, and then suddenly... 05:26.160 --> 05:27.160 Wait! 05:27.160 --> 05:28.160 Wait down there! 05:28.160 --> 05:29.160 Well, what's the matter? 05:29.160 --> 05:30.160 Look! 05:30.160 --> 05:31.160 What? 05:31.160 --> 05:32.160 Look at that. 05:32.160 --> 05:33.440 Just look at it. 05:33.440 --> 05:36.680 Why, a mountain must be over 10,000 feet! 05:36.680 --> 05:37.680 Oh, easily. 05:37.680 --> 05:38.680 But that isn't what I mean. 05:38.680 --> 05:39.680 Look at the side of it. 05:39.680 --> 05:40.680 That cross. 05:40.680 --> 05:41.680 Yes, I see it. 05:41.680 --> 05:46.080 Why, it runs the entire length of the mountain. 05:46.080 --> 05:47.940 The stem must be a crevice. 05:47.940 --> 05:50.520 And the cross piece up near the top is another crevice. 05:50.520 --> 05:51.520 Just imagine. 05:51.520 --> 05:54.520 A gigantic cross over 10,000 feet high. 05:54.520 --> 05:55.520 Why it's... 05:55.520 --> 05:56.520 But wait. 05:56.520 --> 05:57.520 Look. 05:57.520 --> 05:58.520 Here is the foot of the cross. 05:58.520 --> 06:00.680 What does this look like? 06:00.680 --> 06:01.680 Look like? 06:01.680 --> 06:04.840 Why, it's gold. 06:04.840 --> 06:08.160 This is... this is literally a cross of gold. 06:08.160 --> 06:15.520 The geologists stood at the foot of the great cross, awed by its mighty size. 06:15.520 --> 06:19.040 Perhaps they felt something of the intangible majesty of the unknown as they gazed at this 06:19.040 --> 06:20.640 masterpiece of nature. 06:20.640 --> 06:24.640 They reported the discovery of the mountain and also of the gold to be found there. 06:24.640 --> 06:29.880 Then in 1879, two prospectors named Farley and Smith staked out a claim at the foot of 06:29.880 --> 06:30.880 the cross. 06:30.880 --> 06:31.880 Hey, Smith! 06:31.880 --> 06:32.880 Smith! 06:32.880 --> 06:33.880 Come here! 06:33.880 --> 06:34.880 Yes? 06:34.880 --> 06:35.880 What's the matter, Farley? 06:35.880 --> 06:40.400 Say, this place has got enough gold in it to set us up for life and then some. 06:40.400 --> 06:41.400 Look at it! 06:41.400 --> 06:42.400 Yeah. 06:42.400 --> 06:46.600 Say, I've been wondering about the stories we hear about this place. 06:46.600 --> 06:49.720 Some folks say it's sacred or something like that. 06:49.720 --> 06:52.400 Sure, I hear them too, but gold ain't sacred. 06:52.400 --> 06:54.040 And there's plenty of it here for the taking. 06:54.040 --> 06:55.920 Oh, come on, now pitch in, give me a hand. 06:55.920 --> 06:58.480 We'll clear the rubble away and then start digging in earnest. 06:58.480 --> 07:00.600 Why, this whole cross is filled with gold. 07:00.600 --> 07:02.320 Come on! 07:02.320 --> 07:04.320 But did they get a chance to get the gold out? 07:04.320 --> 07:09.320 Suddenly, Smith and Farley fell ill of a mysterious malady which the doctor could not diagnose. 07:09.320 --> 07:13.520 Unable to work their claim, the prospectors hired two men, Johnson and Olsen, to dig the 07:13.520 --> 07:14.880 claim for them. 07:14.880 --> 07:17.960 Then one day the two hired men were out on a little lake rowing. 07:17.960 --> 07:21.720 Hey, we better get back to land. 07:21.720 --> 07:24.720 Looks like this storm is coming up faster than we thought. 07:24.720 --> 07:25.720 Look out, Olsen! 07:25.720 --> 07:26.720 The boat! 07:26.720 --> 07:27.720 It's there! 07:27.720 --> 07:28.720 Oh! 07:28.720 --> 07:36.600 Both men were drowned in the sudden squall that overturned their tiny boat. 07:36.600 --> 07:40.000 Farley and Smith went back to working their claim, back to the business of taking the 07:40.000 --> 07:43.000 precious ore from the cross of gold on the mountainside. 07:43.000 --> 07:45.320 Then one day, while they were at their cabin... 07:45.320 --> 07:47.280 How much we get out today, Farley? 07:47.280 --> 07:49.760 Hey, what are you watching out the window? 07:49.760 --> 07:50.760 I don't know. 07:50.760 --> 07:53.640 I thought I saw something moving in the brush over there. 07:53.640 --> 07:54.640 Smith! 07:54.640 --> 07:55.640 Indians! 07:55.640 --> 07:56.640 Oh! 07:56.640 --> 07:57.640 Farley! 07:57.640 --> 07:58.640 Farley! 07:58.640 --> 07:59.640 Oh! 07:59.640 --> 08:00.640 Oh! 08:00.640 --> 08:01.640 Oh! 08:01.640 --> 08:02.640 Oh! 08:02.640 --> 08:05.440 Farley was killed. 08:05.440 --> 08:07.440 Smith escaped and went to Australia. 08:07.440 --> 08:10.400 Even going to another country didn't save him from the weird curse of doom that hung 08:10.400 --> 08:13.440 over him, for he was killed in a mine explosion. 08:13.440 --> 08:17.720 In succeeding years, the cross brought tragedy, disaster, or death to every man who scarred 08:17.720 --> 08:20.080 his sides in search of gold. 08:20.080 --> 08:25.240 Then on July 8, 1929, the Mount of the Holy Cross in Colorado was made a national monument 08:25.240 --> 08:26.780 of the United States. 08:26.780 --> 08:30.200 The glittering yellow metal lies in the cross protected from men. 08:30.200 --> 08:33.240 Or perhaps men are protected from it. 08:33.240 --> 08:35.160 Who knows? 08:35.160 --> 08:37.840 And now for the musical portion of this Can You Imagine That? 08:37.840 --> 08:41.840 I wonder how many of you remember that famous old song Under the Bamboo Tree? 08:41.840 --> 08:42.840 Of course you do. 08:42.840 --> 08:46.160 It's an exceedingly hard song to forget once you hear its catchy tune, the lively sparkling 08:46.160 --> 08:48.920 lyrics and the toe-tingling swing of its rhythm. 08:48.920 --> 08:52.360 But if you remember the song, I wonder if you remember the story of how it was written. 08:52.360 --> 08:54.280 Just in case you don't, here it is. 08:54.280 --> 08:58.800 It was written, you may recall, by two gifted Negroes, Bob Cole and Rosamund Johnson. 08:58.800 --> 08:59.800 But how? 08:59.800 --> 09:04.040 Well, it seems that Cole and Johnson were walking uptown one evening in New York. 09:04.040 --> 09:07.280 Johnson was humming as Bob Cole turned to him and spoke. 09:07.280 --> 09:12.880 Hey, Rosamund, you know, that's the song we need for our new act. 09:12.880 --> 09:14.320 Nobody knows the trouble I see? 09:14.320 --> 09:16.480 Oh, no, you don't, Bob. 09:16.480 --> 09:19.080 We're not going to desecrate a sacred song that way. 09:19.080 --> 09:21.320 We simply can't use it in our act. 09:21.320 --> 09:23.680 It's more than just a song to me, Bob. 09:23.680 --> 09:25.400 Now it typifies our whole race. 09:25.400 --> 09:26.960 Oh, I know that. 09:26.960 --> 09:28.960 But listen to me. 09:28.960 --> 09:31.400 You went to the Boston Conservatory, didn't you? 09:31.400 --> 09:33.840 Well, what's that got to do with a new song for our act? 09:33.840 --> 09:35.120 Oh, a whole lot. 09:35.120 --> 09:39.940 Well, you should be able to take that song and change the melody a little and set the 09:39.940 --> 09:42.840 rhythm up a little and have a new song. 09:42.840 --> 09:43.840 Well, I... 09:43.840 --> 09:44.840 Mm-hmm. 09:44.840 --> 09:45.840 I'll try it. 09:45.840 --> 09:46.840 Yep. 09:46.840 --> 09:47.840 I'll try it. 09:47.840 --> 09:48.840 Good. 09:48.840 --> 09:55.880 Inspired by the grand old spiritual, Rosamund Johnson set to work on the melody for a new 09:55.880 --> 09:56.880 song. 09:56.880 --> 09:57.880 Finally, he finished it. 09:57.880 --> 10:01.640 Its first title was If You Lack a Me, but when Cole and Johnson presented it to a music 10:01.640 --> 10:06.360 publisher, it was suggested that the title be changed to Under the Bamboo Tree. 10:06.360 --> 10:09.840 Then the two sang it for Miss Marie Cahill, who liked it instantly. 10:09.840 --> 10:14.120 But when she insisted that it be incorporated into the show Nancy Brown, another snag was 10:14.120 --> 10:17.000 hit, or said the composer of Nancy Brown. 10:17.000 --> 10:18.000 What? 10:18.000 --> 10:19.000 That in my show? 10:19.000 --> 10:20.000 Never. 10:20.000 --> 10:21.000 Never. 10:21.000 --> 10:22.000 I might have my score ruined by that... 10:22.000 --> 10:25.000 Well, I refuse to call it a song. 10:25.000 --> 10:28.520 But the lively Miss Cahill, who knew a hit when she heard it, calmly put her dainty foot 10:28.520 --> 10:32.040 down and said the song went in or she went out. 10:32.040 --> 10:33.240 The song went in. 10:33.240 --> 10:37.960 And so out of the past, out of a race in whom music and love of it is born came Under the 10:37.960 --> 10:40.960 Bamboo Tree. 10:40.960 --> 10:59.360 Down in the jungles lived a maid Of royal blood or dusky shade, 10:59.360 --> 11:06.120 A mark impression once she made Upon a Zulu from Matamulu. 11:06.120 --> 11:12.480 And every morning he would be Down underneath the bamboo tree, 11:12.480 --> 11:24.840 Awaiting there his love to see, And then to her he'd sing. 11:24.840 --> 11:31.800 If you like me like I like you, And we like both the same, 11:31.800 --> 11:37.520 I like to say this very day I like to change your name, 11:37.520 --> 11:44.360 Because I love you and love you too, And if you love me, 11:44.360 --> 11:52.000 One lives true, two lives one, Under the bamboo tree. 11:52.000 --> 11:58.360 And in this simple jungle way He would the maiden every day, 11:58.360 --> 12:05.120 By singing what he had to say, One day he seized her and gently squeezed her, 12:05.120 --> 12:11.520 And then beneath the bamboo green He begged her to become his queen, 12:11.520 --> 12:24.200 The dusky maiden blushed unseen And joined him in his song. 12:24.200 --> 12:30.960 If you like me like I like you, And we like both the same, 12:30.960 --> 12:37.080 I like to say this very day I like to change your name, 12:37.080 --> 12:44.240 Because I love you and love you too, And if you love me, 12:44.240 --> 12:52.240 One lives true, two lives one, Under the bamboo tree. 12:52.240 --> 12:56.040 Well now it's time to turn you back to your own announcer, and until we get together again 12:56.040 --> 12:58.340 for another session of Can You Imagine That? 12:58.340 --> 13:27.440 This is Lindsay McCarrie saying goodbye now.