The Day's Dumpster Fire

Prohibition Fire Part 3. - Episode 61

• Ed and Kara

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Kara is back in the third installment of her ongoing Prohibition series. In this episode Kara paints a picture of how American culture was changed and adapted to the new restrictions of alcohol being band. Many people conformed to the amendment, but others saw a golden opportunity to make a grip of money as well as "sticking it to the man" 

You'll get to see what "speakeasies" were all about, how they worked, and many of the colorful figures who mixed good business sense with super shady dealing that would eventually shape the American culture of the 1920s. 

In this episode you'll get an idea of how the speakeasy sparked the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, gave black men and women a platform to which they could speak their minds and messages which was rising to the surface. 

Then there's the ever present "flapper" or young women you balked at the old ways of morality from the Victorian Era of modesty. They developed their own personalities, view of their bodies and how they dressed and presented themselves. Women did not have to wait for the perfect man to find them, in stead they were empowered to do it themselves. 

In other words, this episode will shed light on the positive aspects that came out of the Prohibition years. In the next episode, Kara is going to describe the crime, destruction, and brutality associated with this time period in American history. Mob bosses, gangsters, gang wars, and the never ending cat and mouse cycle of the mob and the authorities are coming up next!

You can find Part 1. of the Prohibition series on Apple Podcast here or on Spotify here or anywhere else you get your podcasts 

You can find Part 2. of the Prohibition Series on Apple Podcast here or on Spotify here or anywhere else you get your podcasts

You can find more show notes, Kara's super cool artwork and the entire back catalog at thedaysdumpsterfire.com

Below is a link to Langston Hughes reading his famous poem "Dream Deferred" mentioned in the episode. 

"Dream" Deferred read by Langston Hughes

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/


SPEAKER_02:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the day's dumpster fire where we don't celebrate humanity's successes, maybe sometimes, but also its most fantastic failures. I am your host, as ever, Kara, and with me, as ever, is Ed. How you doing, Ed?

SPEAKER_00:

I am doing fantastic. I am just like scouring through this anthology of notes that you have in store for us.

SPEAKER_02:

I had so much fun though. So much fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. No, I I I I kind of like the uh the picture of the uh the four girls just like chugging back boots.

SPEAKER_02:

I like that. I like that too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was a good one.

SPEAKER_02:

I was like, I have to add that picture in here. That is a must.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, no, it's uh it's um we we we we've got an episode uh here.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, lots of culture, um lots of unintended changes in culture in terms of the passage of prohibition in the 18th amendment, and this was not something that was at all expected when we were talking about banning alcohol.

SPEAKER_00:

So we should actually probably start by rolling the credits.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that's a good idea. That's it. Alright.

SPEAKER_00:

And we're back, and we're back.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to part three of Prohibition. I'm calling it the hidden door. Hope everybody's doing okay out there.

SPEAKER_00:

The hidden door?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Oh, because we're talking speakeasies today, baby.

SPEAKER_00:

So this uh so like are we getting into the point where like Prohibition has like officially failed?

SPEAKER_02:

And we will be doing the Charleston in the fire that is in the dumpster. That is where we're at.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, yeah, no, kick it off because I'm really curious because I I I grew up around people who were around at this time, and they remember a lot of the chicanery and the craziness, their experiences of it.

SPEAKER_02:

That's excellent.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, like the St. Valentine's Day massacre and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02:

Excellent, yeah. So today we're gonna take a broad scope of things in terms of speakeasies and how speakeasies changed culture and kind of moved those social um aspects of US beliefs and traditions and things like that along. So that's what we're gonna talk about. But first, let's recap just a little bit, just a wee bit, because we're on part of the. I mean, we started in 16, whatever part one. So we might as well just help you out a little bit. January 17th, 1920, America goes dry. At least that was the idea. But within hours, the cracks begin to show. A lone woman in Washington, Maybelle Walker, Willem Brett, my girl, was tasked with enforcing the impossible, armed with just 1,500 agents who can barely make rent. Out at sea, Rumro bristled with ships carrying contraband liquor across the Canadian border. Smuggling became a booming business, doctors scribbled whiskey prescriptions by the millions, and a lawyer named George Remus turned loopholes, made of paperwork into a personal empire. Even churches and synagogues kept the wine flowing. And while all of this was going on, the consumer, the drinker, the dancer, and the flappers were consuming the alcohol we talked about in the last episode. Women can vote. African Americans are making major cultural moves in cities, and Zelda Fitzgerald is the poster child for young progressive women. The food is new, the alcohol is flowing underground after dark, and the jazz age is booming. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00:

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So Zelda Fitzgerald?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought she was kind of quiet.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh no, people she she became kind of like the role model for for the flappers.

SPEAKER_00:

Really?

SPEAKER_02:

For a little bit. Yeah. At least that's what I read.

SPEAKER_00:

Dang. Because I always thought Zelda and Esca Fitzgerald, they were like too busy like fighting each other.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, there was a lot of that going on, but also um they were in the public eye, like they were celebrities at the time.

SPEAKER_00:

That's gotta be awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, not not not.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know about living their lives, but but sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but to be known as Zelda Fitzgerald.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

That's pretty epic.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. She's an she's a really interesting human. Anybody who wants to go down that rabbit hole, I suggest you do.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. No, she she struggled through a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So and that may be an episode unto itself.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree. In fact, you could do an episode on their relationship if you really wanted to. Just the drama.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, like those two had the most love-hate relationship known to mankind.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, talk about a toxic relationship. That's one.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Speaking of Fitzgerald, we're going to start our episode here with F. Scott in a quote. He says, It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire. That was F. Scott Fitzgerald talking about the 1920s. I thought it was a good encompassing quote on what we're talking about today. So I'm going to have you do a brain experiment. If you're driving, please don't close your eyes. Just listen. I'd appreciate it. Alright, picture this, ready? Here we go. It's 1924, New York City. You and your friend are walking down 46th Street near Broadway just past midnight. Your friend leads you to an unmarked building. You follow him up a flight of stairs to a door with a peephole, and you wait about 30 seconds. Maybe you heard a password whispered from the person next to you, but you're not really sure. Then the door opens and your buddy shuffles you inside. All of your senses go off at once. The smell of cigarette smoke and tobacco hit first, and then the sound of jazz, men and women talking and laughing rings in your ears. A woman's voice carries over the noise referring to you, who had just walked through the door. She says, Hello, sucker! And you finally orient yourself, orient yourself and you take in your surroundings. You're in a room big enough for about 80 people. The walls are decorated with silk with a small stage where a girl of maybe 14 was tap dancing to the jazz being played by a band behind her. In the center of the room, perched on a stool, is a young woman with short blonde curly hair, wearing a sparkling red dress, bantering with various patrons. You could swear you've seen her before. She looks like a movie star with a sense of humor. You order yourself a gin rickie and grab a little piece of food from a tray of a pass by waitress. So small. Your friend looks at you and he laughs and he says, They call it finger food. It's small to make it easier when you drink. It's genius. Great idea. You enjoy your deviled egg and gin ricky, and you think to yourself, amazing. A place to drink, party, and meet women in the middle of a prohibition.

SPEAKER_00:

That was my grandmother.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

She uh she participated in this.

SPEAKER_02:

A lot of people did.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, and I knew a lot of other ladies that participated in this.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah. We're gonna talk about the ladies.

SPEAKER_00:

This is wild. Like, I I like you're you're bringing me back to my childhood growing up in a retirement community.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, how funny.

SPEAKER_00:

That's like that.

SPEAKER_02:

I like it. No, it's good. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. So when Prohibition began, its original intent was to ban consumption of alcohol by men who abuse it in salute. The first people who fought for it during the temperance movement in the 1800s were mostly religious, pious women who held traditional family values. As the year progressed, a new generation found themselves as young adults in a country that was dry by law. Maybe not necessarily actually dry. Maybe in some states. It's fine.

SPEAKER_00:

Not not by choice.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's just say if you're in Kansas, you're dry. If you're in New York, you're not. With them came a change in traditions, values, and culture, creating numerous unintentional outcomes of prohibition that came far from the goal of the original champions of temperance in the late 19th century. Many of these changes can be traced back to the invention of the speakeasy. It can probably be assumed that many of us today think of dark, crowded nightclubs behind a secret door that can only be accessed with a password. And there were certainly speakeasies like that. However, speakeasies could be anything from lavish secret nightclubs or two chairs and a table in a closet of a warehouse. If liquor was sold there and people were drinking it, it could be called the speakeasy. The term speakeasy can be traced back to bartenders in dry states like Kansas before the national prohibition law was passed. They were known to tell their customers speakeasy or speak quietly to avoid detection and eventually it stuck. Because of the broad definition. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh sorry. So like so like the the term speakeasy was like kind of like the precursor to like what a bar is today.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, or like a nightclub.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And by speakeasy, it's almost like fight club, where you don't talk about the fight club.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I could see it. I can I can see the relation.

SPEAKER_00:

And so like they just exploded because nobody was allowed to talk about the speakeasy, and yet everybody was talking about the speakeasy.

SPEAKER_02:

100%.

SPEAKER_00:

Got it.

SPEAKER_02:

A thousand percent. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Because of the broad definition of speakeasy, the number of speakeasies that were active between 1920 and 1933 is impossible to come up with. For example, in 1921, the New York police commissioner stated that there was at least 32,000 speakeasies in the city that year alone. An estimated, going off that number, maybe some other numbers that I couldn't find, but historians have found an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 speakeasies were in New York over the 13-year period. Keep in mind, New York City was the wettest city in prohibition during the time New York was not dry. So their numbers compared to somewhere like Kansas or somewhere in the south, it was already very different. And yeah, it was just a very different place. So just remember that. Anyways, the numbers, huge, crazy, ridiculous. Plus, if you're trying to get a number on something that's supposed to be secret, it's a little hard to define. Speakeasies, because there are so many, they also come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some were private homes, basements, or parlors, others were in restaurants or cafes, ice cream parlors, soda fountains like soda shops, which we don't see anymore. I've been to one. I found one. It was in Burbank, California. It was cool. Uh candy stores, larger mats, funeral parlors, which that's a funeral parlor. Okay. And bookstores.

SPEAKER_00:

Funeral parlors.

SPEAKER_02:

Somebody should make a speakeasy that's maybe not as disrespectful as a funeral parlor, but like kind of morbid like that. I like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like the corpse in like ones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Good. That's good. Some had peepholes or passwords, double doors. Many had secret escape plans, just depending on where you were. They all kind of had some sort of secret something, right? Some were hidden in plain sight, some were very hidden in secret, all kinds of stuff. It was crazy. I I yeah, there's a lot of different kinds of speakeasies, different themes, uh, different ways to hide, literally in a closet. Uh, one I read about and I um heard an author talking or a historian talking about was uh there was one in an elevator. So like they go in the elevator, you'd get offered a drink, and then they'd give it to you, and then you'd get off the elevator.

SPEAKER_00:

I know my uh my uh my great-grandfather, he uh he helped build a shower into his basement, and people were more than welcome to use the shower, but if you used up the last bar of soap, you had to buy the next bottle of liquor.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Like it that this is this is the most violated law ever put in humanity.

SPEAKER_02:

It's just like truly, it's uh it's so funny because as much as I love Maybelle Willow and Brown, I also love what the speakeasies were able to do in terms of culture.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, so there was a lot of things happening. We're gonna get we're gonna get to it right now. I'm now I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm excited. Uh there were smaller speakeasies that made a name for themselves in cities across the country. There was chumleys in the bark room in New York City. Chumleys. In Philadelphia, they had the blind pig and blind tigers. I don't know why there's lots of blind things in Philly, but okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh the larger people went blind drinking.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, you know what? You got you got something there.

SPEAKER_00:

They're drinking the drink drinking all that moonshine, just some ever clear, just the industrial alcohol that's been circulating. Oh gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

If you are wondering what we're talking about, listen to the last episode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

The larger, more lavish speakeasies were usually found in larger cities, along with some smaller ones, but usually, you know, it was the big places. The Cotton Club, the El Morocco, and the 21 Club were all in New York City. There was the Homestead in San Francisco and the Luisa Hotels Club Royale in Los Angeles. Those were the big ones.

SPEAKER_00:

So this was nationwide.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Like this this wasn't just located in a specific portion of the country. This was like oh coast to coast.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, coast to coast, nationwide. In the last episode, I left out because it was already really long. I left out a bootlegger who was based in Seattle, and he was called the gentleman bootlegger because he had a role where he would never deal with gangsters, he would never kill anybody in order to make his money. And he was based in Seattle.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. So yeah, across across all unless you're Kansas. Oh yeah. They were the guys who were flying it in on their airplanes from World War I. Crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That's right. I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_02:

The number of speakeasies made it incredibly difficult for the understaffed prohibition unit run by Mabel Walker Willembrett. And as a reminder, to make it worse, there's corruption literally everywhere. People in politics, celebrities, law enforcement, everyone in between would have a favorite speakeasy that they would always frequent. There's evidence of cases of speakeasy raids where prohibition agents would end up running into police officers or their own people in a speakeasy. One story from a 1929 edition of the Australian newspaper, The Recorder, reported, quote, New York's funniest speakeasy raid occurred tonight when a score of regular city police were caught red-handed by federal prohibition officials, unquote. Great headline. Yeah, it's uh very common.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like I said, it's just like the most unbroken, broken law known to man.

SPEAKER_02:

That's why I was like, guys, I found the biggest dumpster fire in American history, I think. Like this one's a pretty big one. That's why I'm spending so much time on it. It's fun. Anyway, despite the vast number of speakeasies and the wide way, way wide range of different kinds, there were similarities or commonalities among them. They were hidden places for people to drink alcohol together. And when people are drinking, what do they generally enjoy? Food, entertainment, like music, and the opposite sex. We'll start with the first one. We're gonna start with food and drink. Here we go. How did speakeasies change food and drinks? The purpose of a speakeasy was to have a place where people could drink in secret. That's the whole point. Sometimes it's a bit difficult to keep that secret if you have a bunch of drunk people running around after drinking in your establishment. Fair. So, speakeasy owners, especially if they were connected to a restaurant or a cafe, would offer food to mitigate that issue. And if they charged for food, guests would stay longer and spend more money there. Because the focus of a speakeasy easy was drinking, food portions became small and compact, making it easy to eat and easy to serve, especially if the speakeasy is a little smaller, so you don't have a lot of room. The invention of finger foods came from this need. Deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp patties, ew. Oyster toast, cheese balls. This one's really gross. Jellied anchovy molds, and radish roses were popular finger foods and various speakeasies that offered food with liquor at the time.

SPEAKER_00:

And I all things considered, I've actually had jellied anchovy molds.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

They're actually not half bad.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh Lord. All right. I'll take your word for it.

SPEAKER_00:

Just don't don't just don't ever exhale into your spouse's face whenever you have one of those things.

SPEAKER_02:

That's fair. Because they're pretty bad, but that's raunchy.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a good time.

SPEAKER_02:

For real. So next time you see little finger food plates floating around at a fancy party, remember, they exist thanks to prohibition. In terms of drinks, cocktails themselves were born out of the necessity as well. Liquor quality, especially in smaller speakeassies, were questionable at best. With industrial alcohol amassed as safe drinking alcohol floating about, bartenders began mixing other flavors, beverages, juices, syrups, or sodas to make the drinks taste better. While this wasn't entirely new before the nineteen twenties, the need for mixing or mixology, as it's known today, exploded. Why?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I noticed your dog is just exploding in the background.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Alright. This isn't gonna go well.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_02:

She's happy though. I hold her up. Every chapter in this episode is a name for a cocktail created in prohibition, often created to mass the bad taste of moonshine or renatured alcohol. The white lady, the bee's knees, the Manhattan, Jin Ricky, the last word. If you're feeling adventurous, you can find a lot of these recipes online. You can make them at home. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, but but per proceed with caution.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. I mean, I suggest you don't use bad moonshine for starters.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the last thing you need is to go blind on your way to work.

SPEAKER_02:

Drink responsibly, you know, do it on a weekend. 21 and over only adults, please. Anyway, if you're an adult, try it. But good point.

SPEAKER_00:

I know. I'm I'm I'm already thinking of like the former students that we had, and like that applies to you, Nathaniel. Don't do anything stupid.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Also, I I didn't note this, but remember that before there wasn't really a place to go just to drink, right? Like there were the saloons, and men did go there to drink, but they also went there to like relax after work or whatever, which is fair. People are coming to speakeasies drink to get drunk or drink to drink. So the intention is starting to change a little bit too, which I thought was interesting.

SPEAKER_00:

So like men were becoming more alcoholic during this time?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, well, no, I'm gonna say no, because remember, alcohol use and arrests from alcohol and stuff like that, it started to actually decrease and go down when you compare it to the 1800s.

SPEAKER_00:

So this actually did play a part in it did help.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh yes, but then we have all of these shenanigans happening, especially with younger people. So I will say I I can make the argument that it did help with moderation.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. I mean, I think. But then we have Lynx and Hughes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, chapter 14. Busy easy highballs.

SPEAKER_00:

Busy, easy highballs. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02:

We're gonna start this chapter with a short little poem by Lynx and Hughes called Harlem. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load, or does it explode? Such a good poem.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no. Uh I I studied this poem in college, and so the way that you're actually supposed to read this is one continuous sentence. Okay. So what happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run? Does it sink like rotten meat or crust over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load, or does it explode? Nice. Only reason why I know that is because I had a professor in college who actually heard like Langston Hughes perform this.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice. You could probably see English nerd. I'm wondering if you can find like a video of him reading it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yeah. No, there's a lot of people out there that have like accurately represented this poem. Um, maybe, yeah, maybe I'll try to find some and and then link it in the show notes because it's pretty cool to like to hear this actually performed.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, for sure. I agree. A new phenomenon born out of the African and American communities making their way into the big cities post-Civil War. A movement many refer to as the Great Migration started to come about. The Great Migration was the migration of black families, professionals, and hopeful travelers from the South gripped by Jim Crow to the north in hopes of a better life. The Great Migration introduced black culture to big cities and towns throughout the entire country, but flourished the most in northern places like New York City and Chicago. The area that became the center of this cultural explosion would be Harlem in New York. The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance is what it was called, would begin shortly before Prohibition, but it can be argued that Prohibition kept it alive or it moved it along, kind of boosted it a little bit. And I'm gonna tell you why. I I have my arguments listed for this, for this thesis statement here. The Harlem Renaissance brought about influential authors such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neil Hurston, and County Cullen, whose writings explored African-American experiences. It also introduced visual artists like Aaron Douglas and Archibald Motley, who helped shape modern art. And for our purposes, the major edition of this cultural movement was jazz, a genre that emerged from Louisiana, then spread north along those who participated in the Great Migration. Alright, so I'm gonna tell you a little sweet little story. It's very short. I could have made it much longer, but I'm not going to. A young musician named Louis in his early 20s arrived from Louisiana to Chicago after being invited by his mentor, Joe Oliver, in 1922. He described his experiences in his autobiography, Chicago, oh sorry, quote, Chicago offered plenty of work, lots of dough flying around, all kinds of beautiful women at your service. A musician in Chicago in his early 20s was treated and respected just like some kind of god, unquote. Louis played in his mentor's jazz band until about 1924 when he moved to New York to play with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. His time in New York with the orchestra gave him a new outlook on how to play his instrument, not just a smaller jazz band like he had done previously, but with a larger ensemble. His experiences there influenced the way he would play music throughout the 1920s and later in his career. Louis returned to Chicago in 1925, starting up a solo career and leading his own band that he called the Hot Five and later the Hot Seven. Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five would play in Chicago and New York clubs and speakeasies while redefining jazz music, playing in a style nobody has heard before. Armstrong and his band played for both white audiences, black audiences, and audiences of mixed races while people ate finger foods and drank illegal alcohol. Armstrong was a pitiful figure was a pivotal figure, not pitiful.

SPEAKER_00:

Wrong with Louis Armstrong was like icon.

SPEAKER_02:

Pivotal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

To the Harlem Renaissance, crossing racial barriers, trumpet in hand, he became a huge star throughout the entire country, went on tour, and even had a stint in Hollywood. Long after Prohibition was over, Armstrong would continue to play jazz like nobody else, releasing new music well into the long 1960s. Louis Armstrong died in 1971 at the age of 69.

SPEAKER_00:

So, like to kind of put it in perspective a little bit, if if you're a musician in in high school, your goal is to get into the jazz band.

SPEAKER_02:

That's the best.

SPEAKER_00:

That that the the the jazz side of things is so hard, and you can't just replicate it. Like you have to be a master of your of your instrument in order to be in the jazz band. And it's even like that in college, like the yeah, the the jazz scene is strictly improvitized.

SPEAKER_02:

For the most part, yeah. That's that's fine, it works.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like you, you, you can't just read cheat music in the jazz band, and Louis Armstrong was one of the guys that spearheaded that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Um, and he was also arguably America's first pop star, first celebrity, if you want to call him that, first music star. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because like because he he laid the the foundation for like Elvis and and whatnot, because like Elvis looked at Louis Armstrong's music and like, okay, let me try to take black people music and make it like in in terms of like the pop culture, and he did, and then we have like the the foundation for like Eminem, who did the same dang thing where he took African-American music and made it his own. Yeah, so it's one of those things like we we can kind of like continuously see uh the the steamroller effect of somebody like Louis Armstrong and and and the rest of them of their like.

SPEAKER_02:

Speaking of, Louis Armstrong was not the only jazz legend to get his start in speakeasies. Duke Ellington, arguably one of the best composers in American history, would play in various New York speakeasies throughout the Prohibition era. Duke Ellington played in Harlem's famous cotton club in New York City in the late 20s. He was a piano man, and like Armstrong changed the way jazz sounded. He became a star in his own right, taking advantage of his jazz fame after Prohibition ended as well. Bessie Smith was a singer who would be nicknamed the Empress of Blues, and she became famous for her mix of blues and jazz. She would sing in different speakeasies throughout the country from New York down to Atlanta. If there was a speakeasy culture, Smith would be there.

SPEAKER_00:

I remember my grandmother would play uh Bessie Smith records. Nice while she while she cleaned the house, she I still have them. Um, yeah, well, I mean, obviously uh the audience can't see, but I'm I'm pointing towards the uh Bessie Smith records that I have from the 1920s and 1930s sitting on my bookshelf. Yeah, that's cool. That man, you did your research.

SPEAKER_02:

I did my homework. I did it right.

SPEAKER_00:

Love it.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, the yeah, well, the Harlan Renaissance and jazz culture spread throughout big cities. It's important to note that this did not at all mean racism and segregation did not exist in these spaces. For the most part, the entertainment in clubs or speakeasies were black and the audience was white. There were indeed black speakeasies in clubs, and there were also white speakeasies in clubs. One of the most famous speakeasies in the country throughout the entire 13 years of Prohibition was a club in New York that you've heard me talk about already called the Cotton Club. The Cotton Club opened in 1923 in Harlem amidst the Harlem Renaissance. It was owned by a white gangster named Oni Madden, who decorated the interior. He such is so bad. He decorated the interior like a plantation or a jungle with black entertainment as the centerpiece for a white audience. This is a terribly racist idea. Awful. Like I cringed when I when I read that. At the same time, black performers such as Duke Ellington, Cab Callaway, Bilbo Jenkles, Robinson, and Ethel Waters were able to reach audiences that they would have never dreamed of. The club had broadcasts their performances on the radio, reaching people far beyond Harlem. But also that doesn't mean they were treated very well. So it's like, you know, you don't know how to feel about it. It's it's yeah, it's the 20s, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

It's yeah, yeah. It it's um it's hard. And and I I would say a lot of the listeners had no idea that they were listening to black folks. Yes, in fact, it wasn't until television came out that it became apparent, like, oh wait, my favorite performer is black, and then they got super awkward.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Unless they saw them live, like if they went out of their way to go see them live, which is different.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because then you I think you feel like I feel like if you were going to a speakeasy to see live entertainment or a jazz club, you're going to expect them to be the musicians to be African American.

SPEAKER_00:

But then again, though, too, like you don't give a crap. Like, I I I I I I feel like the speakeasy culture was like, who cares about color of somebody's skin? It was just like you're here to hang out and just roll with it.

SPEAKER_02:

I think they enjoyed the music, and there there could have been some of that going on, but I also know that the racist ideologies were still very much present. The the help and the the help quotes people who were working, they were African American. People who were serving were often African American, and people who were entertaining for the white people were African American.

SPEAKER_00:

So there was still was that still prevalent in the North versus the South?

SPEAKER_02:

Or even in Harlem.

SPEAKER_00:

Really? Interesting. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So we we aren't quite to a point where it's it's we're not quite to a point where segregation doesn't exist. Segregation is still very real, it's not as bad in the north as it was in the south, um, but it it crept its way up still. Like the south, you have full-on Jim Crow. The South, yeah, very much uh way more strict than in in the north, but you you still had that happening at a lower level, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

Interesting. Okay, I I always thought because based off of like what my grandfather described, it may but we're also talking about Elgin, Illinois, right? Just outside of Chicago. Like he remembers a very different time in American history. But then again, though, like what he saw, because he's a primary source, what he saw was just a tip of the iceberg compared to what was really going on across the nation.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, drop in the barrel. Um, and like I said, there were definitely communities who were much more tolerant of each other and treated each other with respect and all of that stuff. But I think it's important not to I don't want to say downplay, but it's important to understand that that we're this is still a very racist time period.

SPEAKER_00:

Very divisive time period. Like we we we we we we can never escape the divisiveness of race in this nation from before the Civil War, during the Civil War, after the Civil War. It's still a hot mess.

SPEAKER_02:

It's still a hot mess. Yes, it's a whole thing, yeah. Yeah, so just you know, I wanted to make sure that we we cover everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly. So there you have it. The Cotton Club. In contrast to the Cotton Club, however, there were several black-owned speakeasies throughout the United States during the Prohibition area that era that spurred the Harlem Renaissance and even supported inclusivity in some cases. Pod and Jerry's great name in Harlem was a black-owned speakeasy on what would become known as Swing Street during the 1930s. The club would accept both black and white compatriots in their establishment and was open until 1966. The Black and Tan Club, which I've heard of, in Seattle, Washington, was a black-owned club that opened in 1916. During Prohibition, it hosted countless jazz stars and served people from all backgrounds in the Seattle area. Its staff was all black and it remained open until about 1969. The club is still a famous landmark today. In Seattle, I thought this guy was pretty interesting. I couldn't find a lot of information about him, but I found a couple museum sources uh that were pretty cool. In Seattle, John Henry Doc Hamilton from Mississippi opened his speakeasy in 1920, right at the start of Prohibition. His family moved to Seattle in 1914 to escape Jim Crow as part of the Great Migration of the early 19th century. He served in France in the 92nd Infantry Division during World War I. In 1920, when Prohibition went into effect, Hamilton opened his speakeasy in his house and operated there for four years before he was shut down by law enforcement. He would open several more, including one that he called the barbecue pit. Hamilton had guests that included members of law enforcement, aristocratic members in Seattle, and the mayor Edwin J. Brown. Between 1924 and 1933, he was raided several times, but he was protected by the judges and politicians who would frequent the pit. However, in 1932, he was convicted of five years in prison, but he was pardoned 10 months later in 1933. So I thought he was a pretty cool guy.

SPEAKER_00:

I noticed a lot of this was in the PW.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh. Yeah. That was kind of surprising to me. I thought like New York, Chicago, Detroit was gonna be. And New York has has been fairly massive. And and and if you do think about the Great Migration more, if you deep dive into it or the Harlem Renaissance, Chicago is a lot bigger of a deal than New York is. But um I I think arguably, I think uh both New York and Chicago are up there.

SPEAKER_00:

But uh, but yeah, the PW is just yeah, it's just interesting to see how like Seattle Yeah, isn't that funny? Kind of a hotbed for all of this.

SPEAKER_02:

Seattle is popping. Despite the underlying racial issues, the Harlem Renaissance was an important step forward for an African American culture with a backdrop of speakeasy entertainment. I would make the argument that speakeasy club culture would be a stepping stone, not the full cause, but a stepping stone towards the civil rights movements later in the 20th century due to the exposure of black culture to white audiences and the intermingling of people in these spaces that chipped away at old traditions from the 1800s.

SPEAKER_00:

I would I would agree with that. Like 100%.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, you agree?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. When when you we when you read the literature from the time period, like this isn't so w when you read the Harlem Renaissance literature, it this isn't like oh black men are superior to white men. Instead It is we have our own stories, we have our own identity, and so much of what with what was being projected at that time was trying to like show the world like this black identity. So like, yeah, I I I 100% agree that like the 1800s were carrying the momentum into the uh 1920s, and the 1920s into the sixties. Yes, because that's a whole nother era of literature.

SPEAKER_02:

That piece of history has a special place in my heart.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

It does. Alright. Chapter 15, The White Lady. We're gonna start with another poem here. The Flapper by Dorothy Parker. The playful flapper here we see, the fairest of the fair. She's not what grandma used to be. You might say, au contraire. Her girlish ways may make a stir, her manners cause a scene. But there is no more harm in her than a submarine than in a submarine. She nightly knocks for many a goal, the usual dancing men. Her speed is great, but her control is something else again. All spotlights focus on her pranks, all tongues her prowess herald. For which she well may render thanks to God and Scott Fitzgerald. Her golden rule is plain enough, just get them young and treat them rough. Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

Did she just look like a top fuel car just drive by?

SPEAKER_02:

Right? It's 1015. My goodness. Anyway, that was rude. Here we are. Before the 18th Amendment was passed, saloons were primarily a gathering place for men. Women were generally not allowed in such establishments, and seeing a woman drink in public was extremely rare, typically only occurring in aristocratic restaurants or hotels. This gendered separation in public would be turned on its head when the US went to war in 1917. So we're gonna go back just a little bit. Just a tiny bit. During World War I, women stepped into roles traditionally held by men, taking jobs in factories, offices, and other workplaces. After the war, many women sought to maintain this newfounded dependence and financial autonomy. Even their clothing reflected their new attitudes towards their gender roles. They traded corsets and massive dresses for the more utilitarian or scandalous fashions. Fabrics became lighter, hemlies rose just a little bit, and hair was cut to the now famous bob. The concept of the new woman emerged during this period, symbolizing independence, mobility, and social change. The 19th Amendment in 1920 granted women the right to vote. A milestone they had been working towards for 72 years, signaling that domestic life and traditional expectations for women publicly was in a new era. Here we go. Women's rights. Woo! With more independence and a growing sense of freedom, the newest generation of women embraced behaviors that had previously been the domain of men. They worked, they voted, they smoked, and they drank. The rise of speakeasies during prohibition made it a lot easier for women to break social norms. After all, if society was already flouting the law by drinking illegally, why adhere to traditional expectations? It doesn't make sense. That's stupid. And so, society was introduced to a new cultural icon of the 1920s, the flapper. Flappers were young, vibrant, and unapologetic in their enjoyment of dancing, fashion, and social life. Speakeasies became a natural space for them to flourish, embracing freedom and leisure in ways their mothers had never imagined. As Zelda Fitzgerald has described, quote, the flapper awoke from her lethargy of subdemism, bobbed her hair, put on her choicest pair of earrings, and a great deal of audacity and rogue and went into battle. She flirted because it was fun to flirt and wore a one piece bathing suit because she had a good figure. She covered her face with powder and paint because she didn't need it, and she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring. She was conscious that the things she did were the things she had always wanted to do. Mothers disapproved of their sons taking the flapper to dances, to tease, to swim, and most of all to heart.

SPEAKER_00:

So I actually have a picture of my grandmother. Where she is the iconic flapper image. Yeah, yeah. And and I actually I have a picture of her on my uh behind my couch up here in the loft of my grandmother being, I think she was like 14 or 15, where her boots were unstrapped.

SPEAKER_02:

How dare she?

SPEAKER_00:

And that was the equivalence to like my oldest daughter getting a nose piercing.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Like my my great grandparents could not handle that's funny. Handle that that that that site. And I and I'm and I'm I love that picture because it's like my grandma's kind of hot. Like go go her. Go grandma. Go grandma. She was she was a rebel, like she really pushed things to the limit by showing ankle.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, yeah. That's great. But yeah, flapper culture is really cool. I I didn't do too much writing on it just because I'm trying to keep this one a little lighthearted and short compared to the one last time and the one that we've got coming up. Um, so I do suggest taking a look into that. Flappers, vaudeville. I I talked about here very soon. I'm gonna talk about an actress, and I watched a couple of her films. So some silent films, you should watch those. But yeah, it's pretty cool. Flapper culture extended beyond speakeasies. Young women were challenging societal norms across the board, embracing behaviors that conservative or traditional individuals often criticized. Their pursuit of personal freedom reflected a broader generational push against the limitations set by parents, elders, and long-standing social conventions. Uh and I will also want to note that younger men were super into it. Uh they they they were not at all like, oh, you're gross, uh, hence the quote at the end of uh Miss Zelda's quote there. Uh don't let your sons get caught with the flapper because they're all chasing them anyway. But but yeah, just want to note that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, I mean, okay. I I I I I can't speak for all men, but I can speak for all men. In that, like a woman who is like self-empowered and is capable of holding her own and is completely cool with her identity is way more attractive than somebody who doubts every ounce of herself.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, confidence.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and and and I think it goes the other way too. I think women like a man who's confident but not a jerk, right? The same way that like men are attracted to a woman who is competent and self-empowered, but yet not a jerk. Right, exactly. Makes sense. So, yeah, I I mean, if if you put me back in the 1920s and you present me with a uh quote unquote flapper, I'm gonna ask her for a cell number. The problem is that they don't have cell numbers.

SPEAKER_02:

I was gonna say, I don't think that's gonna work.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it doesn't. It doesn't work at all. So I'm gonna be like the weirdo, just like, hey, can I have your number? And they're gonna be like, What? What? Okay. Oh, yeah, you can call my operator, but oh okay, fine, whatever.

SPEAKER_02:

While some women women express their independence through lifestyle and fashion, others seized the moment to become entrepreneurs. The speakeasy scene offered opportunities for women to assert leadership and ownership. Two of the most notable figures were Texas Gynan and Belle Livingston. Texas Gynan was born in Waco, Texas in 1884. Before Prohibition, she had already made a name for herself as America's first female Western movie star. This is the person I was talking about. She appeared in roughly three dozen silent films. After moving to New York City in 1906, she performed on the broad on the vaudeville stage and then transitioned into silent films during the late 1910s and early 20s. Her career took a dramatic turn in 1924 when bootlegger Larry Fay recruited her to headline entertainment at his Speakeasy The L Faye, a role that made her very famous, and probably more famous than her film career did. At the L Fae, Gaynan became a legendary figure. She was perched on a stool in the middle of the club. She greeted patrons with hello, sucker, and bantered with the crowd, cracking lines like, a fight a night or your money back. She would lead sing-alongs, she called her wealthy patrons butter and eggmen, and attracted celebrities, including Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, and Edward Prince of Wales. When prohibition agents raided and shut down her clubs or clubs that she worked in, Gaynad would pop up somewhere else. She's just like, all right, and then she'd go somewhere else. Uh she would end up opening new establishments, establishments like Texas Guyned's Club or later the 300 Club after working for other Speakeezy owners. Despite multiple arrests, she always insisted that she was only a hostess and never the owner, so she was never actually convicted. And then in 1927, at one of her clubs, Guynan met Belle Livingston, a woman who would soon leave her own mark on New York's nightlife. And Livingston was in her early 50s at this time. She had just returned from Paris after having a career in vaudeville when she was younger, known in her youth as the ideal woman for her beauty and charisma, Belle entered guidance world with confidence. The two women struck up a friendship and soon devised a plan. They would open a new speakeasy aimed at the aristocratic upper class in New York society. Exclusive patrons would pay an annual membership fee of$200, which is a god-awful amount of money for the 1920s. And the guest list promised aristocrats, business magnets, and celebrities.

SPEAKER_00:

I wonder if gynen here is you you never really watched Star Trek Next Generation, have you?

SPEAKER_02:

Not a big Star Trek person. I tried.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because she she in in the series she traces her lineage all the way back to like the 1700s. Oh, that's funny. And yeah, she she's done everything from running bars, speakeasies, the works. So I wonder if they based that character off of the actual Gaynan.

SPEAKER_02:

I wouldn't be surprised.

SPEAKER_00:

That's actually really cool. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I didn't either. And and I I was reading about her and I was like, this is cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like she's she's pretty uh like this lady. Yeah, she she she's been through it.

SPEAKER_02:

So Belle and Tex found investors among the speakeasy crowd, maybe a gangster, and then they went into operation. This first attempt did not last. It was raided by prohibition agents in 1929. She would try again later that year, but that one was also rated not long after it opened. Belle Livingston did not give up, however. She would open her club for the third time at 126 East 58th Street in Manhattan. She asked for permission and protection from a nearby speakez owner slash mobster before she opened her own club to ensure it would stay open. His answer to her was, Lady, go as far as you like.

SPEAKER_00:

Love it.

SPEAKER_02:

Great. Livingston called this club the 58th County Country Club. Sorry, the 58th Street Country Club. And its opening night was scheduled for October 25th, 1930. That night, Livingston's club drew the highest members of society, just like she had hoped for. Some of the guests had arrived were Archduke Leopold of Russia, the Duke of Manchester, John D. Rockefeller, and Al Capone. One story I read, and I thought this was interesting, is Livingston checked in at Al Capone's table and overcharged them by a thousand dollars for tea and coffee. When she returned to the table expecting something that would meet their reputation, the check was paid in full and the table was straightened out easy for cleanup. That night.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that that sounds like an Al Capone. For real type of thing.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree. That night, Livingstone made a small fortune, which she stalked away for a rainy day. That day would come a few weeks later when her club was raided again. Legend has it that she escaped arrest running through the streets in red silk pajamas before finally being caught and charged with Folstead Act violations. The country club was kept open after the raid while Livingston served a 30-day jail sentence in a New York City jail. When she was released, Livingston used the money that she had made for the country club and opened several speakeasies in Nevada, California, and Texas while also battling local and federal raids as she wins.

SPEAKER_00:

So I I I love how she's like being persecuted by the government. So what does she do? She expands.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, she just pays them off and she tries somewhere else.

SPEAKER_00:

Like hey hey, fine, whatever. You want to throw me in jail for a day or two? That's cool. I'm opening up like five more locations.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think that's the reason there's so many speakeasies, and it's impossible to tell how many there are, is because they would raid one, shut it down, and then one would open up the next day. It would just keep popping up. It was like whack-a-mole.

SPEAKER_00:

Ah, America.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. In 1933, Belle returned to New York where she was informed that her friend and one-time partner, Texas Gynan, collapsed backstage during a performance. Guynen had died during surgery from complications of ulcerative colitis. Belle helped prepare Gynan's funeral, even assisting with her friend's body. 12,000 people would attend her funeral in New York City and prohibition would end one month later.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02:

That yeah. Um, and I will say that I didn't add this, but Texas Gaynan had a um like a performance troupe. And right before she died, a few months before she died, they were scheduled to play in Paris, and Paris told them no. So she renamed her performance troupe Too Hot for Paris. It was great. I was like, she's got spunk, I like it.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh man. Was she African American or no?

SPEAKER_02:

No, she was white.

SPEAKER_00:

She was white? Really?

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Man. She's got coherenes, man. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

No, she is pretty cool. After Prohibition ended, Belle Livingston eventually settled in France where she died in 1957 at the age of 82. Her epitaph inscribed on her monument fittingly reads, This is the only stone I have left unturned. Great. These women love it.

SPEAKER_00:

I I love it. That that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. That's a pretty good story. That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00:

The only stone I've left unturned. That's fair enough. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, let's round it out here. So now that we've explored speakeasy's cocktails, the Harlem Renaissance, and a little bit of flapper action, I want you to go back to that speakeasy we visited in the beginning of this episode, where you greet where you were greeted by Texas Guidance, hello, sucker, and the smell of cigarettes. As the music winds down and the last cocktail glass is emptied, you step back out through the hidden door and into the cool night air. The laughter and jazz fades behind you. Alcohol and bootleggers gave us the ability to drink in secret like the speakeasy I described to you. In turn, speakeasies gave us finger foods, cocktails, flappers, and jazz. But alcohol and speakeasies also gave rise to something far more dangerous. Organized crime. As we learned in the last episode, behind every Jin Ricky and B snees was a supply chain run by bootleggers, rum rubbers, rum runners, and mob bosses. From the streets of New York to the alleys of Chicago, Prohibition didn't just create jazz clubs, but it also built underground empires. So, next time, for part four, we'll follow the money instead of following the alcohol. We'll meet the gangsters, the gunmen, and the empire builders who turned America's thirst for alcohol into a thirst for power. Because if the 1920s were the age of excess, as Fisherald told us, they were also the age of gangsters. And that's where we'll we'll meet for part four.

SPEAKER_00:

So to kind of put a flourish on this, my grandfather was a little boy in Chicago, and him and his dad went into Chicago for whatever business or whatever. And a cop came up to my grandfather and said, Hey, stay on the right side of the law. Like, don't, don't, don't, don't get in the bad side. That cop then went into a florist shop where him and eight other guys mowed down like a bunch of Al Capone's uh compatriots. And my grandfather stood outside listening to the gunfire while he was like eight, nine years old. And yeah, he he witnessed the St. Valentine's Day massacre.

SPEAKER_02:

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

That's that that's where we're going next, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, that's why I was like, we're gonna do a light episode today. Because you're gonna get some some some dark things.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yes. But then again, though, uh it it's one of those things where in American history, if you try to restrict something, people are always gonna push back. And we've seen that with like the cartels and and all that kind of stuff today, where if you try to restrict something to an extreme, it it just means that people are gonna militarize and armor up and they're they're gonna fight back. And I think that that's like the heart of the 1920s mob scene, which is crazy because they actually adhered to a very strict set of rules that people could be killed at any given time, but there had to be some rules behind it that superseded the law.

SPEAKER_02:

We'll get into it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, now now we're getting into my favorite part. Yep. Because like now the engineering comes into play. Where like, oh, law enforcement now has body armor. Well, now the the the mobs are now gonna up the caliber of the gun. Yeah, but then law enforcement ups their game, and then the mobs up their game, and it's like this cat and mouse thing that just goes back and forth.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. So that that'll be next next one in our finale of our prohibition series. We're at the end here, the home stretch.

SPEAKER_00:

So And here I'm talking about like the sun exploding.

SPEAKER_02:

That's cool. That's cool. I've been working on this since July, so don't yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Anyway, well my my my intention is to just go completely down a different rabbit hole and bring in some nuclear chemistry and talk about how the sun is gonna roast us all. Nice. And then I also want to look at the uh uh what is it, the uh deep water horizon incident. Okay, cool. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm sure I do. I'm just tired.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you may have been a little young for it, but that was like the uh the drilling rig uh that hit like 40,000 psi of pressure in the Gulf of Mexico and the whole thing just exploded.

SPEAKER_02:

Sweet.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's a good time.

SPEAKER_02:

That is a good time. Excellent. Well, things to look forward to.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, so yeah, no, uh, good stuff. Be sure to uh like and subscribe and tell people about the show. Uh we are actually growing again ever since our show got temporarily deleted. Um, yeah, no, we're we are uh we're we're back. Tell friends and family, grab their phones. Um, be sure to hit us up on Instagram. Be sure to hit us up on the daystomifier.com. Uh, I'm sure Kara is gonna get things updated there in a timely manner.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey man, once I finish this episode that I've been working on since July, I will get that updated.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, no, uh check us out on on the on the day simire.com. Um, there you'll find a lot of Kara's like stellar artwork and whatnot. I guess in the meantime, um don't join the mob. Don't uh kill lots of people.

SPEAKER_02:

Embrace your inner flower.

SPEAKER_00:

Stay a flapper.

SPEAKER_02:

Stay yeah, be a flapper. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Even if you were in Chucks, be a flapper.

SPEAKER_02:

That's how we do it. All right, guys. Keep it a hot mess. We will see you in the next one.

SPEAKER_00:

Alrighty. Take it easy.