Loading summary
Transcript9 lines
- [00:07]
Nate DeMaio
Hey, folks, it is Nate. Before we get started, I want to ask you to consider two things. I'm talking to you today at kind of a pivotal moment in the history of this history project that you know as the Memory Palace.
- [00:21]
Unknown
Here's the first one.
- [00:22]
Nate DeMaio
On November 19th, I have a book coming out, and I am delighted about that. For years, I have wanted to collect the sorts of stories that I do in this podcast in a book, like something that you can hold in your hands, give as a gift, and something that could live on your shelf. As a kid, I grew up loving these old paperback collections of Ripley's Believe it or not, also things like where the Sidewalk Ends, the poetry book by Shel Silverstein. It's collections of short pieces that you could turn to again and again. You could find new things every time you took it off the shelf and maybe find that they connect differently this time now that you're that little bit older or a little bit changed since last time you read it. And I want to make one of those books, you know, but for adults that might have a little bit of that same magic. And I'm excited now to see that if that magic trick works. And so I am here today, days before its release on November 19, to encourage you to order the book, to help it jump out of the gate with some momentum so other readers might find it, especially people who don't listen to the show like you do. So that is thing one and thing two is deeply related.
- [01:33]
Unknown
This show, book or no book, successful.
- [01:37]
Nate DeMaio
Book or flop, will go on. And it will go on, thanks to listeners like you. Each year, we at Radio Utopia ask you directly to support the work that we do. We are one of the rarest, and I am more convinced all the time in this time of increased media consolidation and corporate nonsense and private equity raiders, that independent media is vital. I look around my industry and I see layoffs and cost cutting at big podcast companies. I see terrific shows getting worse because some corporate suit says they need to come out more often the episodes and more often that the people can make them or at least make them well. Or these shows are just shutting down because some investor needs someone to cut some bottom line to meet second quarter estimates. And that doesn't happen at Radiotopia. At Rodeotopia, what shows sound like, how often they come out, is up to people like me. The people make them. And whether those shows survive and thrive, it's up to you, honestly. Listener support provides the foundation of each of these shows, including mine. It allows me to keep the lights on at the Memory palace, even in times like these when ad revenue is vanishing. It has allowed me in this last stretch, which has been fairly rough, honestly, to wait out the storm. It is thanks literally to listeners like you. So if you would like to join the tiny fraction, the select group, the elite squad who contributes, if you want to do it this time, in this moment, for this show and for the uncertain times here in these United States, it is a perfect time to join them and join us. You can donate to help this show and the work that Radiotopia is doing, the fight we are fighting in this very strange landscape. We are very proud of what we have built together and we would love you to be a part of it. So donate today if you can at Radiotopia fm. Donate and thank you so much.
- [03:44]
Unknown
This is the Memory palace. I'm Nate DeMaio. Hazel Kirk was a sensation. The play was the hottest ticket on Broadway from its very first performance at Madison Square Theatre in September of 1878. Though on opening night, the theater itself was part of the draw. It was the best in the city, maybe the world, at least in terms of state of the art amenities. It had a stage built on two levels with two prosceniums, with two sets of curtains, and under each level a hydraulic lift. So while the actors were performing on one stage, the lift was moving the next set into place, swapping a saloon out for a drawing room, say. And the actors would go up and down stairs from stage to stage, semi seamlessly moving from scene to scene. No audience had seen anything like that. And that audience was kept cool or warm by an innovative, if a little primitive h back system which was a delicious novelty in those days and would prove valuable as the seasons changed. And that was particularly helpful in the case of Hazel Kirk. A melodramatic epic that for years held the title of the most successful show in Broadway history. Made Effie Elsler a person we do not know now, but back in the 19th century she was a superstar thanks to playing the titular role in Hazel Kirk. This theatrical sensation that had lines going for Manhattan block after Manhattan block that sustained a frenzy for tickets for 486 shows straight, a record breaking Broadway run. At the time, Hazel Kirk was the biggest thing going in the biggest city in America. So why was it playing in Canton, Mississippi at the very same time? Mark Claw was the manager of the Madison Square Theater and a man who on the one hand never expected to become a detective, but on the other hand was named Mark Claw, which is a pretty great name for detective and he turned out to be a pretty good one. Hazel Kirk was not scheduled to play anywhere but Broadway. Not at that point. Not for well over two years, when the New York production would move to Boston and when two touring companies would be sent out, one to Chicago, one to San Francisco, to bring the blockbuster play to eager audiences clamoring to see this Broadway juggernaut. Canton, Mississippi, whose population would be counted two years later by the United States Census at 3,404 souls, was not on the itinerary. But having heard word of this mysterious Mississippi production, Mark Claw caught a train at Grand Central Station and headed south. It may have been harder to find Canton itself than it was to find this illegal Hazel Kirk when he got there. Because right as he got off the train on Thanksgiving morning, he was greeted by the sound of a ramshackle parade comprised of 15 of the most raggedy wretched, that was how Klaue put it. Group of so called actors marching through Canton's so called downtown. One of them beating a bass drum, upon which was painted a sign advertising matinee performances of the Broadway sensation Hazelkirk. That very weekend, the theater manager went into detection mode. He asked one of the marching actors just how it came to be that they were performing the hit of the Broadway season. How had they managed to secure the rights? Klaue told them that he was an aspiring producer looking to set up his own productions. Ones that may just have a part for an actor willing to provide a glimpse into the criminal underbelly of the 19th century theater world. The actors spilled. They told him that he could get just about any play for five or ten bucks. Now, this was a time before scanners and photocopy machines, when a play's author and copyright holder had to hold those copies tightly, quite literally, lest they fall into the hands of someone who would mount their own production and make money they wouldn't pay to the play's rightful owners. So theater people like Mark Claw had to keep an eye on audiences. Security staff would scan the crowd and kick out anyone who seemed to be taking notes during a show. But yet, play pirates, that is what they called them, were still managing to pirate plays. The actor told Claw about a recent innovation in theatrical theft. The pirates had taken to hiring stenographers who could write in shorthand and take everything down as it was spoken. They would be sent to the theater with a massive sheet of paper that had been meticulously folded into a tiny structure, bent and twisted like some ingenious criminal origami, such that it could fit in the stenographer's pocket. He would then scribble with a pencil nub blindly right there in the pocket, while flipping and folding the page in a precise sequence as he went so it could be unfolded and decoded later on. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the theater would be an accomplice whose job it was to pay attention to everything but the dialogue, the entrances and exits, the sets and the queues. What they called the business of the play. And that was fine for a short play, a comedic one act, maybe even typical Broadway fare. Those things might have been able to be scribbled down on a shorthand sheet while another guy captured the business. But Hazel Kirk just had so much business. It was a four act, three hour long melodramatic extravaganza with 15 actors playing multiple roles. There are love triangles, a near fatal drowning, evil schemes, ludicrous action, miraculous rescues, preposterous plot twists that all played out on spectacular sets that had been specifically designed for the best theater on Broadway, not for whatever they had in Canton, Mississippi. Mark Claw knocked on the door of the producer later that day, interrupting the man's Thanksgiving dinner and told him that he was looking to buy a copy of the play for himself. Where could he get one? He was given the address of a couple in New York City. Then Claw told him who he really was. And the man went ashen and was all blubbering, apologies and groveling, hoping not to be sued. Claw just told him to shut the show down. He had bigger fish to fry. Adolini Gasparini was a remarkable juliet. One of America's biggest theater critics called her star turn as the Star crossed Lover. One of the best debuts he'd ever seen. The New York Times raved about her performance in the lady of Lyon. Called her comely. Said she exuded a graceful intelligence. Her career was on the rise until Mark Claw knocked on her door. He said he was a theatrical agent. He'd heard he could buy a copy of Hazel Kirk. He was told he'd come to the right place. Hazel Kirk could be had for 10 bucks. He had 10 bucks. When he was handed the script, he noticed it was in a woman's hand. He asked the comely Ms. Gasparini if this was her work. She was happy to take credit. How'd she pull it off? He asked. Did she use shorthand? Did she have accomplices? The show was so long and so complicated, she must have had an ingenious plan with complications to match. She told them she was an actress. She just memorized the lines. She caught the show six times, and each time she'd go home and write it all out. It was pretty easy for her. She was an actor of grace and intelligence, though not for much longer. Mark Claw left, but later the cops came by. The actress wasn't arrested, nor was her husband her partner in the scam. It seems they were let off the hook in exchange for coughing up the names of the people who had bought copies of the show. So no jail time for Adelina Gasparini. But her time in the theater was over. The scandal sunk her career. Meanwhile, Mark Claw leaned into this new criminal justice aspect of his own busting play, piracy rackets in other cities. 2 guys got 3 years in jail each for trying to mount Hazel Kirk in Chicago, so they were locked up when its official production rolled into town and sold out shows for months on end, as it did all over the country, where it was an enormous hit. A cultural juggernaut with massive productions in Europe and the UK, Canada and Australia. For the next 30 years, well into the 20th century, not a single day went by when there wasn't an official production of Hazel Kirk playing somewhere. But not even the most graceful and intelligent among us can remember that now. This episode of the Memory palace was written and produced by me, Nate DeMaio in May of 2024. The show gets research assistance from Eliza McGraw. It is a proud member of Radiotopia, a network of independently owned and operated listener supported podcasts from prx, a not for profit public media company. And it is because of those things independence and PRX's mission driven dedication to independence and putting art in artists needs over the needs for profit and market share. It is because of that that this show gets to be what it is.
- [13:03]
Nate DeMaio
If you like this show that my.
- [13:05]
Unknown
Friends, that commitment and support from PRX and Radiotopia and from listeners like you is what allows me to make this show this way on my terms, following my own vision or muse or whatever you want to call it. If you want to help me do that, if you want to help me make the show, you can consider making a donation at thememorypalace Us. Donate if you want to follow me on social media, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, TheMemory palace on Instagram and Threads. TheMemoryPalacePodcast if you want to meet me back here in the credits of the next episode, I will tell you all about how you can subscribe to my new newsletter. And in the meantime if you want to drop me a line, you can always do so at Nate Themorypalace us.
- [14:08]
Nate DeMaio
Radiotopia from prx.