Seriously Amazing Objects (2013–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Seeking Fortune - full transcript

Xavier: America is all about
seeking your fortune.

Man: Surprise!

Woman: If you're doing something
that crazy,

It can't just be for the money.

Xavier: The talented.

Woman: Whoa.

Xavier: The pioneers.

Girl: Ooh.

Xavier: The courageous.

Woman: [gasps] oh, my goodness.

Xavier: Some bet it all...



Peter:
That's an excellent guess!

Xavier: And won big.

Woman: Aah!

Xavier: This is the smithsonian.

And this...

And this...

And this.

A hundred million artifacts,
thousands of visitors a day.

And some lucky folks are
about to be surprised.

Girl: Yeah!

Xavier:
If they can catch our eye

Or show what they know.

Woman: We're not gonna get it.

Woman: That was seinfeld.



Xavier: Yeah, you got it.

They're going to see
some seriously amazing objects.

Woman: Oh, my gosh!

Xavier: I'm xavier carnegie,

And I work here
at the smithsonian institution,

Where we've got a museum
with two huge buildings

Devoted to flight.

Over 20 million people fly
over this city each year.

But less than 100 years ago

Even the idea of flying across
the ocean was ridiculed.

I want to give someone a chance

To see the object
that changed all that.

Maybe these guys
will be game.

Hi, guys!
How are you today?

Jamie and mary have ducked out
of work a little early.

And I'm looking
for a couple of folks

To take behind the scenes
at the museum.

You guys have
a couple of minutes?

Would you be interested
in seeing something like that?

Mary: I think that
sounds amazing.

Jamie: And if she's ok with it,
I'm ok with it.

Xavier: They seem ready
for an adventure.

Alright, come this way.

Mary: Ok.
Xavier: Come on, come on.

Bob: The aircraft we're here
to see today

Is probably one of our
most special ones.

Xavier:
Bob van der linden is curator

Of one of the most prized
objects in the collection...

And it came to the museum
at a bargain price.

Bob: We got it in '28
for a dollar.

Jamie: A dollar.

[laughter]

Bob: It's the spirit
of st. Louis.

Mary: Oh, my gosh!

Xavier:
Flown by charles lindbergh,

This was the very first plane

To complete a non-stop
solo flight across the atlantic.

Mary: You're not scared
of heights, right?

[laughs]

Xavier: Bob's taking
each of them up

To see the plane nose-to-nose.

Bob: Surprise!
Jamie: Yeah.

Mary: I can't believe it.

Bob: We're going to get
up close and personal.

Xavier: This is definitely
not on the regular tour.

Jamie: Unbelievable.

Xavier: From up here you get
a true sense of how small it is.

Jamie: So he had to squeeze
in that door?

Bob: That door,
he was 6-foot-2...

Jamie: Really?

Bob: He was 25 years old.

Jamie: He was 25
when he did this?

Bob: Yes. [laughs]

Jamie: Really?
Bob: Oh, yeah.

Bob: You couldn't have cast
a better actor, better person

For a movie.

You know he's tall, he's thin,
he's handsome.

Xavier:
Though a college dropout,

Lindbergh was a natural pilot,

Training with
the u.S. Army air service

And graduating at the top
of that class.

[whistles]

Mary: So he flew this
from new york to paris?

Bob: Mm-hmm. Non-stop.

Mary: Ok. Was it
a contest or--

Bob: It was a contest.

A french hotel owner,
who owned hotels in new york,

Put up a prize of $25,000.

Mary: Oh, wow.

Xavier: 9 teams were competing
for the prize,

And lindbergh was
the long shot--

The only single-engine plane
with a solo pilot

In the entire field.

Flight prep and
a bad night's sleep

Cost him much needed rest
before takeoff.

By the time he left new york,

He'd already been awake
for 24 hours.

His 33-and-a-half-hour flight
across the ocean

Would be a test of endurance.

Bob: Lindbergh said, "I don't
want a stable airplane."

Jamie: Doesn't want
a stable airplane?

Bob: He doesn't want
a stable airplane.

If he got tired and fell asleep,

A stable airplane
would probably kill him.

Jamie: Right. Yeah.

Bob: He'd fall asleep
and eventually

Just quietly go
into the atlantic.

Jamie: Yeah.

Bob: And he just would be
a footnote in aviation history.

Well, he did fall asleep
a couple of times.

When he fell asleep,
the airplane keeled over,

Slammed him around
in the airplane a bit,

Woke him up.

Xavier: Lindbergh made other
unconventional design choices.

To hold more fuel, he put
the main gas tanks up front,

Which eliminated a key feature
from the plane.

Bob: He deliberately did not
have a windscreen there.

Jamie: Why is that?

Bob: Because he needed fuel.

He said, fuel is life.

Jamie: Yeah.

Bob: If I have gas
and a reliable engine

I'll be able to fly and fly
and fly and fly and fly.

Xavier: On his landmark flight,
lindbergh relied

On just two small side windows
and a periscope to peek through.

Bob: So he's got 2 gas tanks
in front, three in the wing,

Held 451 gallons of gasoline.

And every hour he would close
one and open the other tank.

So he'd burn the fuel off evenly

To maintain
the weight and balance.

That's why the airplane
is built this way.

It's basically
a flying gas tank.

Xavier: A flying gas tank
with a very risky goal.

A competing team had set off
from paris two weeks earlier--

And disappeared.

But lindbergh was undeterred.

And on may 21, he made it.

[crowd cheering]

Bob: Flew around
the eiffel tower

And noticed that there was this
line of lights

Going northeast of the city.

Jamie: Yeah.

Bob: So he followed
the line of lights,

And that line went straight
to le bourget airport.

Jamie: Really.

Bob: What he didn't know
was those were people in cars...

Jamie: Oh, really.

Bob: Driving out to le bourget
to see him come in.

He lands, and immediately
over 100,000 people swarm him.

Jamie: Really?

Mary: Well, I do have
one question.

Why is the front of it gold?

Was that for,
just resistance or?

Bob: When we got the aircraft
in 1928, sometime after that,

The curators there decided they
wanted to preserve the markings.

Mary: Okay.

Bob: They were afraid they would
age over time and flake off.

So they put a coat, a clear coat
of varnish over it.

Mary: Oh!

Bob: 1928 clear coat.

It was clear for a while,

And then over time it aged.

It's a lovely honey gold color.

Mary: I mean, it's beautiful.

I thought it was supposed,

I thought it was
aesthetically pleasing.

Bob: But that's not how
it's supposed to look.

Mary: But that's the original
writing there?

Bob: That's all-original.
The whole airplane is original.

Mary: Oh!

Xavier: Made of cloth, steel
and wood, not gold,

The plane cost
about $10,000 to build.

Lindbergh made good
on the investment.

Bob: This is a check
for $25,000.

This is the orteig prize.

Many other very well-known
aviators tried.

Lindbergh, who was not
well known at the time,

Was the first to make it.

And this is the actual check.

Jamie: Hey, $25,000
is still good today.

That's a...

Mary: Oh, yeah.

Bob: Multiply that 10 or 12.

It's somewhere
between $250, $350,000.

Jamie: So his signature's
on the back of this still?

Bob: Yes. And it was cashed.

[laughter]

Mary: If you're doing
something that crazy,

It can't just be for the money.

Jamie: Yeah.

Bob: He saw it as a challenge.

Xavier: He took off
as an unknown

But landed as
an international celebrity.

Everywhere he went
he was lauded like a king.

Bob: What he did was focus
the world's attention

On the possibility
of air travel.

What he did for aviation
was huge.

Xavier: I've worked here
for eight years,

And I've never heard that story
about the nose turning gold.

Gold has reshaped
our country, though--

A rush, a fever--

Whatever you call it,

That idea of striking it rich
has been a deep vein.

Excuse me, sir.

I found rasheen contemplating
a symbol of the american west.

I noticed you checking out
the wagon here.

Rasheen: This wagon is enormous.

I've always been interested
in westward expansion.

Xavier: You know, if you enjoy
the westward expansion,

I got some stuff you might be
interested in seeing.

Rasheen: I would love
to see that.

Xavier: This is gonna be good.

I'm taking him backstage
into collection storage

To see the amazing object that
jumpstarted america's move west.

Peter: I've got some interesting
objects here to show you.

Rasheen: I'm excited to see
what's in the cabinet here.

Xavier: Curator peter liebhold
oversees thousands of artifacts

In the american history vault.

Rasheen:
I've never been in the inner
workings of the museum,

So this is really interesting
for me.

Peter: What I want to show you
is one of our priceless objects

That explains to an extent
why the nation goes completely

From the atlantic
to the pacific.

You want to take
a guess on why?

Rasheen: It's an object?
Peter: Yeah.

Rasheen: Something to do
with trains?

Peter: Ah, that's
an excellent guess.

Not the right answer, but, uh...
[laughing]

Have you ever heard
about the 49ers?

Rasheen: I've heard about
the 49ers.

Gold rush, yeah.

Peter: There you go.

This is the gold nugget
that was found in california,

It was January of 1848.

Rasheen: Mm-hmm.

Xavier: This single gold flake,
smaller than a fingernail,

Set in motion the largest
westward migration

In our nation's history.

Peter: You can see
it's not particularly big.

It doesn't look
very impressive, does it?

Rasheen: No.

Peter: It's shiny, so somebody
picked it up out of the water.

Rasheen: I wouldn't even know
that was gold.

[laughter]

Xavier: On January 24, 1848,
a glint of shiny metal

Caught the eye
of james marshall,

A foreman at sutter's saw mill
in california.

He brought it to his boss,
captain john sutter.

Peter: They dispatched
an officer

To send a sample of the gold
to the east

To show to the president

So they could really prove
the gold was there.

And so this flake was sent
to washington.

Xavier: The flake convinced
president james k. Polk

To formally declare
the discovery of gold,

And the rush was on...

Peter: This became the beacon.

This is what started
to attract people.

Xavier: 300,000 gold-seekers
from around the world

Dropped everything they knew
and headed for california,

All with the dream
of striking it rich.

Rasheen:
When you think about it,

It would take a lot for you

To leave everything you know
on the east coast

To go all the way to the other
side of the continent.

Xavier: Gold fueled
a great migration,

But everyday objects
put it into scale.

Peter: This is
the typical scale

That's used
by the western workers in...

It's the classic little balance.

You'd put weights on one side
and the gold on the other side.

Xavier: Another type of scale
was carried across the pacific

By chinese fortune-seekers.

Peter: It is quite,
quite different.

It has a balance fulcrum point,

And you can change
the weights on it.

Here you have it only one side
with the materials on it.

Xavier:
These small scales represent
a huge population shift.

By the mid 1850s one fifth
of the people in california

Were chinese immigrants--

And the state's population
had more than doubled.

Tens of thousands of these
gold rushers arrived by sea.

Peter: This is part of a,
it's actually a panorama

Of the san francisco harbor.

And the entire harbor
was just filled with ships

That were abandoned.

And all these sailors were
joining the gold rush as well.

And so the ships
would just sit there and rot.

Xavier: By the time these photos
were taken in 1853,

The wrecks had been
accumulating for years.

Peter: They took some apart
and used it for lumber

To, to build buildings.

Rasheen: Did they even
unload them?

Peter: Oh, they would
absolutely unload them.

But they wouldn't, they would
no longer have a crew

To ship 'em,
ship 'em back again.

Rasheen: I had never heard
that story before,

People just abandoning ships
in the harbor.

Xavier: Despite the hype,

Many 49ers never found
a single ounce,

Including john sutter.

His workers abandoned him--

His land and cattle
fell to ruin.

This gold flake didn't deliver
on its promise

Of riches for everyone,

But gold fever
did reshape america.

Money still talks,

And we have a lot of ways
to talk about it.

Woman: Bucks.
Woman: Dinero.

Xavier: Cash, dough.

Woman: Scratch.

Xavier: Buckaroos, jacksons.

Man: Gimme some clams, man!

Xavier: What's on the money also
says a lot about what we value.

But one american icon
may be on its way out.

Today the humble penny's fate
hangs in the balance.

Keep the penny or get rid of it?
What do you guys think?

Ben: Keep it.
Joe: I say get rid of it.

Xavier: Why? Why do you
want to get rid of it?

Joe: It's just another thing

To keep in a change jar
somewhere.

Ben: You don't ditch
your icons.

Xavier: These guys can't seem to
agree on the value of the penny.

So I'm gonna show them how money
can change a nation.

Karen: Hi.

Joe: Hello.
Ben: Hi.

Karen: I brought some really
special things to show you.

Xavier: Ben and joe
are literally sitting

Inside a treasure hoard--

The national
numismatic collection

Has more than a million
and a half pieces of currency,

Including the world's
priciest coin,

The 1933 gold double eagle.

Some of the collection
stretches back

To the very beginning
of the nation.

Karen: This is paper currency

From american
revolutionary times.

Xavier: This small piece
of paper tells several tales.

Although it was printed
in delaware in 1776,

It's not in dollars.

Karen: It's denominated
in 20 shillings.

So it's at the beginning
of the nation,

And we're trying to figure out
the monetary system,

But we're still using
the denominations

That were common in britain.

Xavier: In the midst of a war
to split off from England,

The colonies were still using
british terminology

On american money.

Karen: Part of what was going on
in 1776,

Especially with
paper currency,

Was how do you get people
to trust this?

This is a piece of paper.

Throughout history, from
ancient times to the present,

People have trusted metal more.

You know, it didn't represent
value, it actually had value.

Xavier: Without trust
in the currency,

There can be no real economy,

So it was essential
for the new nation.

Karen: And so they went
out of their way

To try to beef up public trust
in paper money.

They needed it to fight the war.

They needed it to help states
and colonies establish.

Xavier:
Each piece was hand signed,

And each contained a warning.

Karen:
"to counterfeit is death."

Joe: Interesting.
Ben: Yeah.

Karen: And basically it's
saying, don't mess with this.

Xavier: But the british did mess
with the fledgling economy,

Flooding the colonies
with counterfeits

To devalue continental dollars.

Once the war was won,
the states were united,

But there was
no single currency.

Nevertheless, it all had
something in common.

Karen: The rules of what gets
to go on american currency

From the time
of george washington was,

We're not a monarchy,

So we're not gonna put a king
on our money, no living ruler.

We're going to use
patriotic symbols,

And our most patriotic symbol
is that of liberty.

Xavier: Paper money
stayed local.

State-chartered banks issued
thousands of private notes.

The system seemed chaotic,
but somehow it worked...

Until civil war loomed.

Karen: In fact it was
abraham lincoln

Who actually just got
a letter from a citizen in 1861,

And the letter said, you know,
the country is falling apart,

Isn't there something
that you can do

To pull us back together again?

Xavier: For lincoln, the answer
was create a federal currency.

It helped unify
the divided north--

And made it easier
to pay for the war.

Over the next 60 years,
through economic ups and downs,

U.S. Currency retained
the full faith of the public.

[bell ringing]

Then in 1929 it all fell apart.

The stock market crashed,

We plunged into
the great depression,

And people began to panic.

On March 6, 1933,
to prevent a run on banks,

Newly elected president
franklin delano roosevelt

Shut down the entire
banking system for a week.

No one could withdraw any money.

But people still needed
to buy things.

So one town created
their own currency.

Karen: Clever people
on pismo beach, california,

Did something
really, really interesting.

They used clamshells,

Because that's what they had
laying around.

And in this case,

This guy named mr. Phillips
who ran a gas station

Decided to use the clamshells

And even give them
a denomination,

So check this out.

It's worth 50 cents, and if you
were gonna use the clamshell

For your 50 cents of free gas,
you signed it.

Ben: Oh, wow.
Joe: Wow.

Karen: And so everybody
who signed this shell

Was trusted to come back later
once they had cash

And bring their money
to mr. Phillips.

Ben: It was like
a line of credit.

Karen: Right. It was
a line of credit. Exactly.

Ben: Very cool.

And was that really a five-day
thing with these in particular,

Or did it go
much longer than that?

Karen: It really was
a five-day thing.

Xavier: But why clams?

Ben: When you were talking about
the type of clamshell,

Was that also intentional?

Like, only a certain type
of clamshell was being used,

Not just any shell?

Karen: Well, I think that
on pismo beach,

Because they had pismo clams...

Ben: Right.

Karen: They used their shells.

Ben: Gotcha. Okay.

Karen: They just were,
the beach was strewn with them.

Xavier: So many, pismo beach
was nicknamed

"clam capital of the world."

Like the symbols
on national currency,

The clams that kept
the pismo beach economy ticking

Reflected the identity
of the town.

Today, as we migrate
from coins and paper

To plastic and digital money,

We gain convenience but lose
unifying symbols of america.

Joe: I don't have change
in my pocket anymore.

I've moved
to a digital currency.

It was supposed
to invoke something,

It was supposed to make us
feel pride.

It makes me realize how much
I should appreciate it.

Xavier: Maybe the penny
is worth saving after all.

Just up highway 101
from pismo beach

Is silicon valley,
a 150-billion-clam heartland

Of american high tech.

Amy: Oh, my parents
definitely had that.

Xavier: It's amazing how quickly
computers have evolved.

Hey, guys, how you doing?

Amy: Hi.
Ben: Good.

Xavier: I have 3 important
events in computer history.

You have to tell me in what
order these events happened.

The first one I have here
is the txo computer at mit.

It ran a program where a mouse

Runs through a maze
to find martinis

And becomes
increasingly inebriated.

Here's another one.

A british electro-mechanical
machine called the bombe

Was used to decrypt
nazi military communications.

Last one.

Spacewar, the first
computerized video game,

Was created.

Amy: I got it.
Ben: Ok. You got it?

Amy: I'm ready. I got it.

Xavier: Yeah?
Amy: Yes, I got it.

Xavier: What order
did it happen in?

Amy: Martini.

The bombe.

Xavier: Ok.
Amy: And then the video game.

Ben: Ehh...
Xavier: You sure?

Amy: I feel good about that.

Xavier: Yeah?
Ben: I don't.

Xavier: Uh-oh.
Ben: I'm gonna change it.

Xavier: There's a little bit
of dissent here.

Ben: I think the decryption
took place first,

And then the martinis,
and then the video game.

Xavier: And then spacewar,
the video game.

Xavier: You're right.
That's the order.

Ben: Alright!

Xavier: Yeah, you got it.
Amy: Yeah.

Xavier: Now for their reward--

Turning back the pages
of time to 1947

And the dawn
of the computer era.

Ben: Whoa.
Amy: Oh, wow.

Peggy: This was a logbook.

This was at a time

When computers were still
sort of experimental devices,

So you were changing them
all the time.

Xavier:
This logged the performance

Of one of the most powerful
early computers-- the mark ii.

Built for the military,

It solved mathematical problems
in seconds.

Basically, it was a giant
programmable calculator.

The pages of its logbook reveal

Early computer engineers
dealt with a problem

That we're still kind of
dealing with today.

Peggy: One day
when the mark ii shut down,

They went inside and they found
that the reason it had stopped

Was that there was a moth

Trapped inside
one of the relays.

Ben: So it was an actual bug?

Peggy: They said, "first actual
case of bug being found."

[laughter]

Xavier: This next treasure,
circa 1964,

Is like something alice
would find in wonderland.

Peggy: These are a model
that a salesman from ibm

Would take around to sell
to potential clients.

And to give you a sense
of how big it was...

Ben: Is this one computer?

Peggy: This is the typewriter.

Ben: Wow. Huge.

Amy: And it would need
all of this just to function.

Peggy: It needed all of this.

This was
the central processing unit.

These were tape drives.

This was the printer,
where you printed out paper.

These were things
for memory storage.

Xavier: The ibm/360 was big.

And a big hit.

It sparked huge leaps forward
everywhere it was used...

Everything from financial
transactions between banks

To helping man land on the moon.

Amy: How big of a space
would you have needed

To accommodate all of that?

Peggy: A large room,
a very large room.

Xavier: You could furnish
a small house with it,

But it did do the job.

Peggy: It was
a remarkable machine.

It was extremely successful.

Xavier: Expandability
and excellent marketing

Made it the dominant mainframe.

Operating speeds were
in the billionths of a second.

Its price tag?

A customized
top-of-the-line machine

Could cost over $5 million...

And that was back in the 1960s.

Ben: So this all changed

When the computer chip
came out, right.

That's what sort of allowed them
to shrink from a room to...

Peggy: Well, they were
shrinking already.

And they started building what
were called mini computers,

Which only took up maybe two
of these cabinets that size.

Ben: Mini.

Peggy: Which was a lot smaller.

Xavier: In the decade
that followed,

Computers shrank down
to desktop size.

In the 1970s
the altair 8800 was unveiled.

It was dubbed
the first micro-computer.

And its ticker tape software

Was the debut product
created by this guy.

Bill gates
dropped out of harvard

To start microsoft in 1975.

Three years later, his company
would exceed a million in sales.

Innovation flourished...

And so did rivalries.

Enter visionary steve jobs
and upstart apple computer.

Today, apple is known
for sophisticated design

And user-friendly features,

But before it became
america's top brand,

Apple had its share of flops.

Peggy: The last thing I wanted
to show you was an apple newton.

Ben: Wow. I've never
seen one before.

It looks huge.

Amy: It's very thick.
Ben: Yeah.

Xavier: The apple newton--
introduced in 1993--

Was the forerunner
of the very devices

We are addicted to today.

Ben:
One of the reasons that newtons
were considered a failure,

It was just something
that people

Weren't ready to grasp yet.

Which is funny, 'cause literally

People grasp their iphones
and ipads every day.

Xavier: Now we have virtually
limitless information

At our fingertips.

We can carry our favorite music
in our pockets,

Chat with friends
around the world,

And watch our favorite shows
anytime, anywhere.

But it wasn't always that way.

Hey, guys.

I found lovie and laura
on their way

To the museum's
entertainment collection.

Do you guys have
a couple of minutes?

Would you like to come with me
to see some cool stuff?

Laura: Definitely.

Lovie: Definitely,
yeah, for sure.

Xavier: Alright, come this way.

Let's see what we can find.

They're game
for a slight detour.

Alright, you guys,
here's our elevator.

This is gonna take us
to where we need to go.

Laura: That is huge!

Lovie: That's a big elevator.

Xavier: I know, it is big.

Well, a lot of different
artifacts and things

Have to come on here.

I know it might seem
a little scary, but it's okay.

Laura: It's a bit scary.

Xavier: Like most of us,

Laura and lovie grew up
watching a lot of tv.

I'm taking them backstage
to see how it all started.

Laura: So are there artifacts
in these cabinets?

Xavier: Some of them
have artifacts.

Some of them are just paperwork.

Laura: That's really cool.

Xavier:
I'm going to take you guys
to see one of the curators.

Hal: Hey, good afternoon.

We have a goodie here.

And...What you think we got?

Lovie: I'm not sure.

Laura: It kind of looks
like a jukebox.

Lovie: Jukebox, yeah.

Hal: Actually what we've got
here is a television.

Laura: Whoa.
Lovie: Oh, my gosh.

Xavier: It's as big as a jukebox

Because it contains
a 25-inch-long cathode ray tube.

The picture appeared on the top
surface of the cabinet

And was reflected
into the mirror.

This rca trk 12 was one
of the first models ever sold.

Announcer:
1939, television is ready to
make its official public debut.

The setting could hardly be
more perfect,

The new york world's fair.

Xavier:
The trk 12's debut launched
nbc's scheduled programming

And an industry that would
transform the world.

Announcer: The ultimate triumph
in man's search for sight

Beyond the range
of the human eye.

Laura: How was it received
at the world fair?

Were people
really excited about it?

Hal: Oh, yeah, people were
looking at this

And going wow, this is cool.

This is the future.

Laura: On the dial here,
there's "television," "radio,"

And then it says,
is it "vic"..."vic"...

Hal: Victrola.

Laura: Victrola. What's that?

Hal: You could hook this
into a record player.

Laura: I'm really surprised
at how multi-tasking it was

Even, you know, so long ago.

The ipad mini still amazes me,
but at the time,

I can imagine that this
would have been

Just equally
as earth shattering.

Xavier: Skeptics
dismissed television.

Daryl zanuck, head of the
20th century fox movie studio,

Said people would get tired

Of staring at a plywood box
every night.

Boy, did he get it wrong.

Hal: Ah, there we go.

Lovie: Wow.

Laura: Is that advertising
from the time?

Hal: Yup, with the $600
initial cost.

Lovie: That's really cool.

How many were there at the time
that this was around?

Hal: There was a little less
than 2,000 of them made.

Lovie: I can't imagine there
were too many programs on then.

Hal: No, in fact they
do have the markings here.

You have 5 channels
to choose from.

Xavier: 5 channels

And only 15 hours a week
filled with broadcasting.

Those few hours grew
into more than an industry--

Television is part
of our shared culture...

Including one grumpy furball
loved by kids of all ages.

Carrie: Wow.

Katherine: Oh, my god.

Tabby: Ooh!

Xavier: Dwight bowers oversees
over 90,000 artifacts

In the entertainment collection.

Dwight: Come talk to oscar.

Christina: Wow. I feel
privileged to see him.

Katherine:
I'm a little bit in shock.

Dwight: Yes.

Would you like to live
in a trashcan?

Tabby: No.
Dwight: No.

Tabby: That would be
too stinky.

Dwight: Yes, it sure would,
wouldn't it?

Carrie: Is this the original?

Dwight: This is
oscar the grouch.

Yes, this is one
of the originals.

Carrie: Oh, cool.

Dwight: And he was created
in 1969 for sesame street.

Xavier: But that first year,
he looked a little different.

Gordon: Oscar, come on out.
Oscar: What?

Gordon: Come on out
and say hello to sally.

Oscar: Oh, go away.
Close my can, would ya?

Dwight: The first year
oscar was orange.

Carrie: Oh, I didn't know that.

Dwight: And he became green
in his second year on the show.

Carrie: Do you know why
they decided to switch?

Dwight: Oscar says he attracted
mold when he went on vacation.

Carrie: Ok, yeah.
His backups.

Tabby: He's very grouchy.

But he's sort of like a green
little bear or something.

Dwight: Yes. And he has
almost one eyebrow.

That's the funny thing
about him.

Tabby: Yes, 'cause it's
sort of like a heart shape.

Dwight: Yes.

Tabby: Thank you
for letting me see oscar.

Dwight: You're welcome.
You're welcome.

Oscar's glad to see you, too.

Tabby: Even he's sort of weird.

Dwight: He is sort of weird.

Xavier: Dwight has a few more
television treasures

For lovie and laura.

Dwight: We'll start with that,
and I'll ask for you to guess.

What do you think this might be?

Lovie: This right here,
it's a macbook.

Dwight: Yes, but from
what television show?

Lovie: [gasp] is it from...
Is it from "sex and the city"?

Dwight: It's from
"sex and the city."

This is carrie bradshaw's
laptop computer.

Laura: I didn't want to say it
in case it wasn't,

And then I was going to be
disappointed.

My, like, laptop password
is carrie bradshaw.

[laughter]

I probably shouldn't share that,
but yeah.

Lovie: Yeah, I used to
sneak episodes

Because it was kind of risque
to watch for us kids.

Dwight: Oh, yes, it was.

This is another utensil
of writing from television.

This is from
"murder, she wrote."

This was used by angela lansbury
and was given to us by angela.

Lovie: I've seen many episodes
of "murder, she wrote."

Xavier: Time for a pop quiz
on tv pop culture.

Are you guys ready?

Man: Sure.

Xavier:
In the finale of this show,

A character trying desperately

To get water out of his ears
while aboard a plane

Nearly causes the plane
to crash.

Don't know.

Woman: Ok, that sounds
crazy enough to be that show

About the people in new york
and the comedian.

Xavier: That show about
the people in new york--

Do you know what the name
of that show is?

Man: Oh, uh...

All: Seinfeld.

Dwight: This is
jerry seinfeld's puffy shirt.

Lovie: Oh, my god.

Dwight: And this is on
the famous episode

Where jerry seinfeld confessed,
"I don't want to be a pirate."

[laughter]

Xavier: Alright, guys,
here's another one for you.

A character, famous for wearing
women's clothing,

Marries his girlfriend in
a christian/buddhist ceremony.

Man: Oh, boy.

Xavier: Very famous show.

All: "m.A.S.H."

Dwight: This is alan alda's
hawkeye shirt from "m.A.S.H."

Laura: Oh, wow.

Dwight: And these are
the martini glasses

That he and trapper john drank
martinis out of in their tent.

This is klinger's coat.

Xavier: Despite cross-dressing
and attempting to eat a jeep,

Klinger served out
the entire korean war--

Which on tv lasted 11 years.

Lovie: Oh, wow.

Dwight: And we discover
that inside is a label,

And this coat
originally belonged

To '40s movie actress
betty grable.

And he just pulled it
off the rack.

Xavier: None of these
amazing objects would exist

Without this.

This guy has what we call
a face for radio.

Before television caught on,
radio was king.

And one songwriter lit up
the dial like no one else.

You know, this is
irving berlin's piano.

Melissa: That is--
I know, that's so cool.

Xavier: Yeah?
Melissa: I can't get over it.

Xavier: Irving berlin
was just 5 years old

When his family fled russia
and landed at ellis island.

A classic rags-to-riches story,

He became one of america's
greatest songwriters.

From "white christmas"
to "god bless america,"

He wrote the songs
generations of americans

Considered their own.

And during world war ii
he took his show on the road.

This piano toured
all over the world

At uso shows during the war.

Melissa: That's so cool.

I was interested because
my grandmother used to perform

For uso shows stateside.

Xavier: Are you serious?

Melissa:
Yeah, she was a little girl,

And she used to tap dance
and sing "pistol packin' mama."

Xavier: No way!

Melissa's family history
makes her a perfect choice

For a trip into the vault at the
smithsonian folkways collection.

She's going to explore
a little known aspect

Of irving berlin's legacy.

Jeff: So we have the vault here,

Which is where all the music
is kept in the smithsonian.

We have all these original 78s.

One of the things
I've been working on for years

Is woody guthrie stuff.

Xavier: Like berlin, guthrie
was born to make music.

He came of age
in the depression,

Writing songs
for the working man.

Through the 1930s and '40s

He criss-crossed the country
seeking his fortune.

And when he could, he'd hit
the recording studio.

Jeff: He recorded a lot of stuff
in new york city,

And the smithsonian got
his collection in 1987.

Melissa: Wow.

Xavier: Woody's most iconic song
was written as a reaction

To one of berlin's biggest hits.

Jeff:
These are all woody guthrie's
original recordings.

Melissa: So these are
original masters.

Jeff: These are
the original masters.

Melissa: Wow.

Jeff: And you go down
the whole wall here.

This one right here is actually
the first version ever recorded

Of "this land is your land"
in the studio by woody guthrie,

In March 1944.

Melissa: [laughs] oh, my god.

Jeff: Yep.
Melissa: Whoa!

Xavier: Here's where
irving berlin comes in--

In 1938 radio star
kate smith's version

Of his song "god bless america"
was playing everywhere.

Jeff: He's hearing the song
"god bless america"

Over and over
on jukeboxes and stuff,

And he's saying this song's
not talking

About the america I know,

The okies and all the people
I grew up with, the arkies,

And all the troubles
we went through in the '30s

With the depression.

♪ to the prairies ♪

♪ to the oceans ♪

Xavier: In guthrie's america,

People struggled
just to survive.

♪ this land is your land ♪

So he wrote his own
american anthem.

♪ from california ♪

Jeff: I actually thought
it might be kind of fun

To have a special guest come in

Who might be able to help us
talk about this a little bit.

Melissa: Really?

Jason: Hey, folks.

Jeff: Hey, jason, man.

Jason: How are you?
Good to meet you, too.

Jeff: Welcome to the folklife
section of the smithsonian.

Jason: Thank you,
this is exciting,

It's a beautiful place.

Xavier: Like guthrie,

Jason isbell came
from small town america

To become a critically acclaimed
songwriter and performer.

Jason loves music history--
and jeff has a tale to tell.

Woody's classic song
"this land is your land"

Was long rumored to have
missing verses lost to time.

Jeff: One was a verse
about standing in bread lines.

And another verse was talking
about a sign

That said "private property,"

But no one had ever
heard him sing it.

Xavier: Jeff has been
at folkways for 26 years,

But his biggest moment
of discovery

Was finding
this vanished treasure.

Jeff: So I was sitting here
back in the '90s

And I was digitizing
these discs.

I played it and it had one of
those, those famous verses in it

That he never supposedly
ever sung.

Melissa: Oh, wow.
Jason: Wow.

Jeff: And I was just kind of
floored, totally floored.

Xavier: Guthrie's missing verses
found after 50 years,

In the original recording
of the song.

Jeff: This one here is
the king daddy of 'em all.

This is his first time he ever
played "this land is your land."

Xavier: Turns out,
the campfire tune we all know

Started life as a protest song,

About the line between
have and have-not.

♪ there was
a big, high wall there ♪

Jeff: This is the verse.
Jason: This is it.

♪ that tried to stop me ♪

♪ the sign was painted,
said "private property" ♪

♪ but on the back side
it didn't say nothing ♪

♪ this land was made
for you and me ♪

♪ I roamed and rambled,
and follered my footsteps... ♪

Jason: Follered.
I love that one.

Jeff: Yeah.

Jason: He always says it like
that no matter what version.

Xavier: In a few short lines,
guthrie captured

Both the promise and frustration
of the america he knew.

Melissa: Do you play a song
the same way every time

Or do you play around with it?

Jason: It depends.

Like if I'm playing by myself,

I have the liberty
to do that, you know.

I guess that's part
of sort of the freedom

Of being a wandering
folk singer.

I found out, well,
if I sing this,

People are gonna pay a little
bit more attention to it

Than if I just say it to them.

You know, I think
that might have been

A lot of where woody
was coming from.

He was probably
just trying to talk to folks.

Melissa: Yeah.

♪...That ribbon of highway ♪

Melissa: It was so cool

Just to be in the presence
of that object

That's such a huge part
of american music history.

It's as if it had
an aura of its own.

It just was a really special
experience.

♪ this land was made
for you and me ♪

Xavier: Jason has invited
melissa to sound check

For a private performance.

♪ this land is your land ♪

♪ this land is my land ♪

♪ from california ♪

♪ to the new york... ♪

Melissa: The lyrics are still
so relevant,

But also to hear how music
can still stir a part of you

And it's just exciting to hear
that song in a new light.

♪ this land was made
for you and me ♪

♪ when the sun came shining ♪

♪ and I was strolling ♪

♪ and the wheat fields waving ♪

♪ and the dust clouds rolling ♪

♪ a voice was chanting ♪

♪ as the fog was lifting ♪

♪ this land was made
for you and me ♪

Xavier:
Woody guthrie has been called

The father of the protest song.

He spoke for those who had
no voice of their own.

Another protester--

You could call her the mother
of women's rights--

Spent her life demanding
a voice for women-- the vote.

This is a very simple game.

I'm gonna give you the question

And see if you can come up
with the answer,

And if you can, you win a prize.

Does that sound good?

Brian: Sounds great.
Holley: Perfect.

Xavier: Alright, here is
your question.

What crime did
susan b. Anthony commit?

Holley: Um...

Xavier: This is a tough one.

Brian: I would have to say,

Because she was an advocate
for women's suffrage,

That she was arrested
for voting maybe?

'cause it was illegal.

Xavier: Arrested for voting.

What do you think?

Holley: I'll go voting.

Xavier: Voting?
Holley: Sure.

Xavier: That's correct.

How'd you know that?

Are you a historian?

Brian: No.
Xavier: No?

So that means you guys
get a prize.

Brian: Ok.

Xavier: Do you want to know
what it is?

Holley: Yeah.
Brian: Yeah.

Xavier: Come with me this way.
Brian: Alright.

Xavier: Brian's actually
an attorney,

And holley is
a fashion journalist.

What curator
lisa kathleen graddy

Has to show them
is right up their ally.

Lisa kathleen:
I wanted to show you
what is considered to be

One of the smithsonian's
national treasures.

This is
susan b. Anthony's shawl.

Holley: Oh, my goodness.
Brian: Wow.

Lisa kathleen:
It's a rich color,

And it's a nice, heavy silk.

So it's that,
that understated elegance

That I think is typical
of anthony.

Xavier: When we think
of susan b. Anthony,

Most of us think
of a dollar coin...

But the crusader
for women's rights

Also knew how to make
a fashion statement.

And this shawl
was her trademark.

Lisa kathleen: There's
a folkloric story

That one of the ways
you can tell

That it's spring
in washington, d.C.,

Is that susan b. Anthony's
red shawl

Will once again be seen
in the halls of congress

As she lobbies congressmen

To pass a women's suffrage
amendment.

Xavier: Today, it's impossible
to imagine a time

When women couldn't vote.

But when susan b. Anthony
took up the cause,

It was against the law.

Lisa kathleen:
People sort of forget that it
hasn't been that long.

It's not a hundred years yet

That women have had
the right to vote.

Xavier: And it was
a hard-fought battle.

As holley and brian guessed,

Susan b. Anthony
was arrested for voting

In the 1872
presidential election.

It was national news.

She used the publicity
to push for suffrage.

Anthony met with plenty
of opposition.

Lisa kathleen:
She was burned in effigy,

She had an image of her
dragged through the streets.

She knew how to motivate people
positively and negatively.

Brian: Antagonize them,
I'm sure.

Lisa kathleen: Yes,
and a very determined lady.

Brian: You have to be.

Holley: It's almost like a cape,
like she's a masked crusader.

Lisa kathleen:
Kind of a superhero?

Holley: Yeah.

Lisa kathleen: Oh, I like that.
It's a super hero cape.

It is, in a way.

Xavier:
If the shawl was her cape,
then was this her weapon?

Lisa kathleen: This is a piece
that I love.

It's an ivory and rosewood
gavel,

And I love
the inscription on it.

"order is heaven's first law."

It apparently was actually used.

You can see by the cracks.

Brian: It looks to be, yes.

Lisa kathleen: That it gaveled
a few meetings to order, and...

Brian: Probably some
contentious discussion.

Xavier: Suffragists were the
first to picket the white house,

Staging protests against
president wilson in 1917.

Lisa kathleen: It was just
such this novel thing,

These women standing
in front of the white house,

And the president, actually he
was mildly amused by it.

He offered them coffee.

Xavier: The hospitality
didn't last for long.

They were eventually arrested
for obstructing traffic.

Women didn't win
the right to vote until 1920--

14 years after anthony's death.

But she left her cause
with confidence,

Saying "failure is impossible."

Holley: As a woman
who was kind of born

With all of these rights,

They almost seem just
kind of handed to me,

And it's really awakening
and very touching

To see the milestones
that have led to that.

Lisa kathleen: That there were
people before us

Who didn't have them
and who fought.

Brian: And as we see
on the news every day, I mean,

These gender issues,
gender rights

Are still at the forefront
today, they still continue.

Lisa kathleen: But then,
you know, you remember susan,

And "failure is impossible."

Xavier: Seeking your fortune

Doesn't have to have
anything to do with money.

For susan b. Anthony,

The ultimate goal
was rights for women.

But hundreds of years
before her time,

Some newcomers to this country

Simply wanted the right
to worship freely.

Missionaries jane and michael

Are on a road trip
across the united states.

But today they're going back
in time with curator larry bird

And a souvenir
from early immigrants

Seeking religious freedom.

Larry: It's a piece
of plymouth rock.

Jane: [gasps] oh, my goodness!

Xavier: Legend has it in 1620

Plymouth rock was the site
of the mayflower's landing,

Where pilgrims first stepped
into the new world.

Jane was a schoolteacher,
so she's taught this lesson.

Jane: Whenever thanksgiving time
would come around

I would always spend a lot
of time on the whole story

Of the pilgrims coming
to plymouth rock.

I would try to help
get them to understand

The amazing amount of courage
it took for people to leave

And come to a strange place
they'd never been before.

I thought it was pretty,
pretty awesome.

Xavier: The power of the rock
is in the idea it represents--

Entry point for some of the
earliest immigrants to america.

Larry: No, it's a fantastic
american symbol.

Michael: It points out
a point in history.

Larry: Right.

Michael: And I can imagine

My grandfather
and grandmother came over

From the ukraine in 1906.

Larry: I have something...

Xavier: Hold on, larry's got
a souvenir for every occasion.

Larry: This is
a little model of liberty.

It was made to raise money
to build the pedestal.

This was really the first little
reproducible model of liberty

That you could buy.

Jane: Wow.

Larry: And these were sold
through the newspapers

For a dollar a piece.

So when you got it,

You sort of figuratively
completed the construction

By putting liberty
on her pedestal.

Jane: That's pretty amazing.

Michael: It's history.

Larry: Not only did it
successfully raise more money

Than was necessary
to build the pedestal,

But it also acquainted people

With what the statue looked like
in three dimensions.

Xavier:
The real statue of liberty--
a gift to the u.S. From France--

Was finally dedicated in 1886

And has looked out
over new york harbor

As an icon of freedom
ever since.

She's been a beacon of hope
for immigrants,

Like michael's grandparents.

Jane: We've gone and visited
to ukraine

And the rest of the family.

It was not the same for them
as it's been for us.

Michael:
One of my grandfather's sisters
was actually sent to the gulag.

Of all the people
that were killed

During stalin's time.

Actually people
would escape the village,

And they would send them
back to the village to starve.

Jane: So it really made it
special for us

To realize how grateful,
you know,

That his ancestors
decided to come here

Instead of staying there.

Michael:
Yeah, we wouldn't have met.

Jane: Yeah, right.
That's true.

Took a lot of courage.

Xavier: The united states
is a land of opportunity

Where great risk can yield
great reward.

These seriously amazing objects
were actually worn...

Discovered...

Rasheen: I wouldn't have even
known that was gold.

Xavier: Piloted...

Mary: It's beautiful.

Xavier: And performed
by extraordinary americans

Seeking their fortunes.

It's impossible to put a value

On how they've impacted
all our lives.