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Harold's Old Time Radio
Answer Man - Who Wore The First Fancy Watch Band
00:14:31
Answer Man - Who Wore The First Fancy Watch Band
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- [00:02]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
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Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson
Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [00:15]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [00:22]
Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.
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Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty.
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Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson
Liberty. Liberty.
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The Answerman Host
The Answerman Would you like to know
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The Answerman Narrator
if the Indians ever fought with their fists or what birds like to play tricks on each other? Would you like to know the answers to many other interesting questions? The Answer man will tell you, and here he is to answer your questions.
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The Answerman Host
The Answer man hello everyone.
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The Answerman Expert
Now let's get right at the questions.
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The Answerman Narrator
Certainly. Let's start with this one from a Boston, Massachusetts, woman who wore the first fancy watch band so far as we
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The Answerman Expert
know, Queen Elizabeth the First of England on New Year's Day. The Earl of Leicester gave her a wristwatch with a gold band set with diamonds and rubies.
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The Answerman Narrator
And a Williston, Florida, man asks, did the Indians of this country ever indulge in fist fights?
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The Answerman Expert
Occasionally, especially the women. A Pueblo Indian woman, for example, finding another woman trying to take her brave away from her would challenge the the vamp to a public fist fight. Pueblo women frequently had black eyes.
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The Answerman Narrator
This question comes from a Phoenix, Arizona, student. Are birds intelligent enough to play tricks on each other and enjoy it?
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The Answerman Expert
Oh, yes. Ravens play tricks on each other quite often. One of a pair of ravens has been seen to sneak up from behind when its mate was sitting on a low perch and then reach up and knock the perching bird's foot right out from under it with evident malicious enjoyment.
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The Answerman Narrator
A sports fan writes from Seattle, Washington, to inquire, in the old rough and tumble days of football, did a player receive any penalty for slugging?
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The Answerman Expert
Yes, he did, but not until he'd been warned three times that he was breaking a rule. This meant that a player could get in at least two good licks at an opponent before he was penalized.
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The Answerman Narrator
And a Griswold main man asks, are two brothers or two sisters more closely related to each other than a brother and his sister?
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The Answerman Expert
No, their relationship is just as close.
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The Answerman Narrator
A note from a Los Angeles man reads, can you please furnish me with a light definition of an optimist and not that old saying about the optimist seeing the doughnut and the pessimist seeing the whole something different Please.
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The Answerman Expert
Well, here's one that's different, though. I'm not at all sure it's much of an improvement. An optimist is the kind of person who if he fell from a 10 story building would shout to his friends at each window, all right, so far.
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The Answerman Narrator
Before the next question, here's a special
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The Answerman Expert
message and one with good news for all of you who take vitamins for it's a way you can get the best government standard vitamins at half price or even less.
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The Answerman Host
Yes, just let us send you a free Hudson catalog and then compare the prices. Now, the Average cost of 125,000 unit vitamin A capsules is $4.10, but you can get the same government standard vitamins from Hudson for only $1. That's right, you save $3.10. A high potency formula that generally sells for 9.45 per hundred is only 350 at Hudson. That's a saving of 5.95. Yes, Hudson means it when they say you can save 50% and more at Hudson. So start saving today. Write for your free catalog of Hudson vitamins and food supplements. Just put your name and address on a postcard and send it to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18.
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The Answerman Expert
There's no obligation to buy anything. No salesman will call on you or telephone. But compare the prices and you'll see why. For 25 years, doctors, nurses and thousands of others have bought their vitamins from Hudson.
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The Answerman Host
So get your free catalog. Just send your name and address to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18.
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The Answerman Narrator
Next, a wolf. Wyoming listener inquires, what's the favorite diet of a kiwi bird?
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The Answerman Expert
Worms. And a kiwi bird is quite good at getting them. A kiwi can smell a worm that's several inches underground.
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The Answerman Narrator
And a White River, South Dakota man asks, is there any difference in the hardness of diamonds?
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The Answerman Expert
Yes, the carbonado black diamond is harder than all other diamonds. But you seldom see it in jewelry, for it lacks the lustrous beauty of the other gems.
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The Answerman Narrator
This question comes from a corning, New York listener. Is there a place anywhere in the world a man likes to have a lot of in laws?
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The Answerman Expert
Yes, there is. In the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia, a young man tries to marry a girl with a lot of brothers. For there you see, the brother's prestige depends on how well he provides for his sister during her whole life. Therefore, a girl with a lot of brothers is usually well off and so is her husband.
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The Answerman Narrator
Yanceyville, North Carolina youngster asks, can you get a drink from the bottle of a bottle tree.
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The Answerman Expert
You can indeed. The bottle tree secretes large quantities of very refreshing watery SAP. The natives of Australia drink bottle tree water in preference to that in stagnant pools because it's far more pure and tasty. During World War II, American GIs fighting in the jungles of the Philippines drank fresh water from the joints of bamboo plants for the very same reason.
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The Answerman Narrator
Here's a Westbrook, Minnesota listener who wants
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The Answerman Host
to know if Jesse James dad was a bandit too.
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The Answerman Expert
Oh, no. Robert James, the father of Frank and Jesse James, was a graduate of Georgetown College. He became a Baptist minister in Missouri, and he was outstanding for the services that he rendered to his community.
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The Answerman Narrator
This question comes from a Woodcliff, Georgia listener. Why are there so many more earthquakes on the Pacific side of the North American continent than on the Atlantic side?
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The Answerman Expert
There are several theories. One is that early in the Earth's history the moon was torn loose from what is now the Pacific Ocean basin by some great cataclysm, such as a large celestial body passing nearby, leaving behind the tremendous hole that is the Pacific. And according to this theory, it's the fractured edges of this hole trying to readjust their equilibrium that causes the earthquakes. Another, more widely accepted theory is that the continental mass of America and South America was once attached to Europe and Africa. Then it broke loose and sort of floated westward. Indeed, it's still moving westward very slowly. And it's this drift of this whole continent to the west which causes the disturbances of the Earth's crust along the western coast.
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The Answerman Host
Before the next question, a reminder to get your free Hudson vitamin catalog today. A free catalog that shows you how you can save 50% and more on vitamins and food supplements.
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The Answerman Expert
The quality of Hudson vitamins is standardized by US Government regulations. There are none better just check them with your doctor. And all Hudson products are sold with a money back guarantee.
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The Answerman Host
So get your free Hudson catalog. Just put your name and address on a postcard and send it to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18. Let's name an address on a postcard to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18.
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The Answerman Narrator
Next, a list of living in Zurich, Montana asks, is there any truth to that old story about cows getting up on their feet promptly at midnight on Christmas Eve?
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The Answerman Expert
None at all to prove it, just spend a Christmas Eve with 50 or
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The Answerman Narrator
100 head and a Matthew, Kentucky man inquires, where is the smallest religious chapel in the world?
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The Answerman Expert
It's a tiny chapel built by brother Solstice in 1901 near Covington, Kentucky. It measures 4 by 6ft inside, has stone walls and roof and a stone spire. Only three people can get into this tiny chapel at one time.
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The Answerman Narrator
Here's a More Arkansas woman who asks, does a porcupine kill a tree by eating the bark?
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The Answerman Expert
Yes, but not by eating all the bark. The outer bark of a tree doesn't appeal to the taste of the average porcupine. But the porcupine kills the tree just the same because it likes to feed on the succulent inner cambium layer. And this is the lifeline of the tree.
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The Answerman Narrator
Now a New York City man wonders what the origin is of the Democratic Jackson Day Dinner that is held every so often.
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The Answerman Expert
The first Jackson Day Dinner was held in Washington in 1835 to celebrate what President Andrew Jackson himself regarded as the outstanding achievement of his administration, the payment off completely of the public debt. Indeed, this was the only time in the history of the United States that the country was free of debt.
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The Answerman Narrator
This question comes from a Toledo, Ohio woman. Has the fame of playwright Tennessee Williams yet spread beyond the borders of the United States?
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The Answerman Expert
It most certainly has. His plays are regularly being produced in England and on the European continent. Some time ago, too, a Tokyo producer decided to put on two of his plays, but he felt he'd have to make their titles a little more understandable to his Japanese audiences. So the Glass Menagerie became the zoological Garden within the glass enclosure, and A Streetcar Named Desire became a motorbus by nickname Hope.
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The Answerman Narrator
Before the next question, a special message
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The Answerman Host
One of the essentials of safe driving on our modern, crowded highways is a smooth, even flow of traffic.
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The Answerman Narrator
Speeding, of course, is an obvious hazard
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The Answerman Host
on any road, and on a busy highway it can be suicide. On the other hand, slowpoke driving is extremely dangerous too, because slowpoke driving causes rear end collisions and tempts other motorists into taking deadly chances in passing. Very often the cause behind frightful smash ups on the highway is the eccentric behavior of the lane switcher, the driver
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The Answerman Narrator
who weaves his way along the highway,
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The Answerman Host
rolling from lane to lane.
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The Answerman Narrator
Other careless drivers are those who fail
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The Answerman Host
to dim their lights at night, literally blinding drivers of oncoming vehicles. And there were those wreck inviting drivers who just seem to have to dart across intersections through the yellow light.
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The Answerman Narrator
National Safety Council surveys prove that safe
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The Answerman Host
drivers share the road equally, and they keep up with traffic, not going too fast or too slow for safety's sake.
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The Answerman Narrator
They obey all the rules of the road.
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The Answerman Host
You obey them too, won't you? For safety's sake. This message is brought to you as a public service.
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The Answerman Narrator
Next, a new point, Missouri Listener inquires, why didn't the ancient Babylonians have a God of rats?
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The Answerman Expert
Because there were no rats in ancient Babylon. However, the ancient Babylonians did have a God of flies. He was called Beelzebub.
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The Answerman Narrator
And a Spring Grove, Illinois man asks, why do the cadets at West Point wear the chin straps of their military caps under the bottom lips instead of under the chin?
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The Answerman Expert
Well, for the sake of uniformity, of appearance. If the chin strap were put under the chin, it would become loose when the chin was moved, slide down and look sort of sloppy.
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The Answerman Narrator
A letter from a Sodas, Michigan sports
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The Answerman Host
fan reads, am I not correct that
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The Answerman Narrator
we had ice queens in this country long before we had any ice kings?
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The Answerman Expert
Only if you're referring to ice carnivals. For Frederick Tudor of Boston was called the ice king of the world long before we thought of having ice carnivals. Tudor was a dealer in ice, and he shipped ice by boat all the way around the world.
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The Answerman Narrator
Here's a Sharon, Pennsylvania boy who writes, my uncle always lets his roosters out of the chicken house by 8 o' clock in the morning, and the roosters always crow. And my uncle says, that's because they like to be outside early. But if I got up some morning and let them out at seven, do you think they'd like that better?
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The Answerman Expert
They probably would, but perhaps your uncle wouldn't.
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The Answerman Narrator
And a letter from a Royal Oak, Maryland listener reads, when our boyfriends take my girlfriend and me to the movies, isn't it alright for us girls to sit together in the middle with the boys on either side so that we can put our heads together and whisper girl secrets to each other?
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The Answerman Expert
Not according to the rules of etiquette which maintain that you should sit boy, girl, boy, girl, whisper as little as possible and keep your girl secrets to yourselves as best you can when you're out with boys. Besides, I'm sure the boys don't take you to the movies so that you girls can get your heads together before
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The Answerman Host
the next question, a special message. Chances are, the thought just may not
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The Answerman Narrator
have occurred to you.
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The Answerman Host
But do you realize that you that's right, you folks who are listening to me right now are potential fire bugs. Nine out of every 10 forest fires are not caused by lightning, as many people still believe, but by human beings.
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The Answerman Narrator
Just a little care, a little thoughtfulness
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The Answerman Host
on your part and on the part of everyone, and our valuable timber and watershed land, so vital to national strength and civilian security, can be saved. Don't you be guilty of arson through neglect. Memorize and observe these four simple rules and you'll Be doing your part to Prevent forest fires. 1. Crush out cigarette, cigar and pipe ashes.
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The Answerman Expert
2.
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The Answerman Host
Break matches in two after using. 3. Drown all campfires and then stir and drown again. 4. Find out the law before using fire. Remember that only you can prevent forest fires. Do something about it. Prevent them. Remember, nine out of every ten forest fires are caused by human beings. This message is brought to you as a public service.
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The Answerman Narrator
Next, a Randall, Kansas listener asks, is there any translation for the name Yankee?
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The Answerman Expert
Well, the name was originally Young Key and originally meant John Cheese.
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The Answerman Narrator
Next, a note from a Peyton, Mississippi man reads. Since your library is probably in much better order than mine, could you come to my rescue with the informal prayer by the gentleman who asks the Lord for a good digestion and a sense of humor? I'm afraid I'll lose both if I keep on looking for it.
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The Answerman Expert
Well, you needn't keep looking for. I'm sure this must be the verse that you have searched for. Give me a good digestion, Lord, and also something to digest. Give me a healthy body, Lord, and sense to keep it at its best. Give me a mind that is not bound, that does not whimper, whine or sigh. Don't let me worry over much about the fussy thing called I. Give me a sense of humour, Lord. Give me the grace to see a joke to get some happiness from life and pass it on to other folk.
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The Answerman Narrator
This is Mutual, the world's largest network.
- [15:03]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [15:12]
Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson
Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [15:16]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Oh, no. We help people customize and sell save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Together we're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [15:23]
Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [15:24]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Anyways, only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
- [15:28]
Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
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Event Announcer
Get ready to rev those engines. The 2026 Les Schwab Classy Chassis Parade and car show is back in East Wenatchee, WA. Kick things off Friday, May 1st at 6pm for the big parade plus the after party with live music. The Then join us on Saturday, May 2nd at 10:00am at the Eastmont Community park for the car show. It's two days of classic cars, food, music and free family fun for everyone. For all the details, visit Eastwanancheewa.
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The Answerman Narrator
Go.
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Event Announcer
We'll see you there.