Coffee With Jeff

Imagine a man who was a civil engineer, a sheriff’s deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, a cancer researcher, a teacher and a military ship doctor and surgeon. He acquired all these positions without ever graduating high school. He was known as the Great Imposter. Today I have the story of Ferdinand Waldo Demara on the 183 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: FERDINAND WALDO DEMARA, 60, AN IMPOSTOR IN VARIED FIELDS (nytimes.com) Ferdinand Waldo Demara – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) LIFE – Google Books (google.com) The Great Impostor: The Amazing Career of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, who Posed … – Robert Crichton (google.com) Fred Demara, the Great Imposter (headstuff.org) Brother, doctor, soldier, lies | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In the early 1930s, America was going through a tough time. It was a period called The Great Depression. There were other nations that were going through a similar situation – many of them seemed to solve their problem by installing a fascist government ruled by a dictator. There were some in America who thought a similar action in the United States was called for. Today I tell the story of the Plot to Seize the White House in 1934 on the 182 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Business Plot – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) The Fascist Plot to Overthrow FDR (FULL Documentary) (youtube.com) Bonus Army – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) World War Adjusted Compensation Act (wikipedia.org) The Plot To Seize The White House (wanttoknow.info) Major General Smedley Butler – The Warning (youtube.com) Smedley Butler & the “Business Plot,” Part I (libertarianism.org) 1934: The Plot Against America (harpers.org) Prescott Bush’s 1933 fascist coup attempt in the US – Business Coup stopped b

In the late 1970s, the team of Ilya and Alexander Salkind did an amazing thing, created the first Superhero film, Superman: The Movie. The film was a huge success. The franchise continued for another four films, each film being of worse quality than the last. It was a steady decline until the character was given up on in Hollywood for 17 years. Today I tell the story of the fall of the Superman Franchise in the 181 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Superman (1978 film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Superman the Movie: The Making of a Classic (youtube.com) Superman II – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Superman III – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (wikipedia.org) Supergirl (1984 film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Richard Donner had just directed The Omen when he was asked he would direct a Superman movie for one million dollars. He would then spend over two years of his life dealing with problems and frustrations that he couldn’t have imagined. Here is the story of Richard Donner, Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, and the making of Superman: The Movie. Show notes and links: Superman (1978 film) – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Alexander Salkind – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Superman: The Movie – Making Superman: Filming the Legend (youtube.com) Superman: The Movie – Taking Flight: The Development of Superman (youtube.com) Superman the Movie: The Making of a Classic (youtube.com) ‘Superman,’ The Inside Story: Director Richard Donner Remembers Meeting Stallone to Play the Lead, Working With Brando, and a Near-Fatal Knife Attack (hollywoodreporter.com) From The Archive: The Making Of Superman, Feature | Movies (empireonline.com) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

One day, a hotel owner in Virginia was given a small locked metal box for safekeeping by a man who has spent the winter at the inn. The man never returned. After several years had gone by, the hotel innkeeper decided it was time to see what was inside. To his surprise, it contained the clues to a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels. Just one problem; it was written in code! After 130 years, no one has been able to figure it out. I have the story of the Beale Papers on the 179th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: History’s Mysteries – Buried Treasure (History Channel Documentary) (youtube.com) Beale ciphers – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) The UnMuseum – The Beale Papers (unmuseum.org) The Quest to Break America’s Most Mysterious Code—And Find $60 Million in Buried Treasure (mentalfloss.com) Treasure by numbers | Science (theguardian.com) The Hart Papers (tripod.com) This link has no title (jstor.org) Brad Meltzer’s Decoded: Seeling Beale’s Treasure | History (youtube.com) ★

Imaging a world in which a new technology, a new profession, was sweeping the world. A young child develops a deep desire, a passion for this profession, but he is told, from his earliest years until an adult, that the new profession wasn’t for him. He was not capable handling it for the simple reason, the color of your skin. Today I tell the tale of Charles “Chief” Anderson, who overcame extreme racism to became one of the world most respected aviators on the 178th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Tuskegee Airmen Documentary – YouTube (youtube.com) Preserving legacy of Lower Merion’s ‘Chief’ Anderson: Father of black aviation | Mainlinetimes (mainlinemedianews.com) Charles Alfred Anderson, Sr. Biography at Black History Now (blackhistorynow.com) C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science – Betty Kaplan Gubert, Miriam Sawyer, Caroline M. Fannin, Caroline Fannin (google.com) Chief Anderson | PEOPLE

Apparently something went wrong last week with the publication of my episode of Burke and Hare. For those that listened to it and heard the wrong episode, I apologize. Here is the correct show. Thank you for your understanding. Imagine a world in which doctors would require the bodies of the recently dead to teach and learn about human anatomy. Some doctors needed bodies so badly they would never question where the bodies came from. Some enterprising young men made it their business to supply these doctors with corpses – and to keep up with demand, they didn’t wait for death to come naturally. This is the tale of Burke and Hare on the 176th … or 177th! … episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Burke and Hare murders – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Burke and Hare, grave robbers and murderers (historic-uk.com) Burke and Hare, The Men Who Murdered For Medical Science (curiosity.com) The History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist Times: A Fragment … – George Mac Gregor (google

Imagine a world in which doctors would require the bodies of the recently dead to teach and learn about human anatomy. Some doctors needed bodies so badly they would never question where the bodies came from. Some enterprising young men made it their business to supply these doctors with corpses – and to keep up with demand, they didn’t wait for death to come naturally. This is the tale of Burke and Hare on the 176th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Burke and Hare murders – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Burke and Hare, grave robbers and murderers (historic-uk.com) The History of Burke and Hare, by George Mac Gregor—A Project Gutenberg eBook (readingroo.ms) The History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist Times: A Fragment … – George Mac Gregor (google.com) The Worlds of Burke and Hare (burkeandhare.com) Burke and Hare, The Men Who Murdered For Medical Science (curiosity.com) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Imagine this, you are watching TV in the evening or late night. Maybe it is a movie starring Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn or a 1977 episode of Dr. Who, when suddenly something odd interrupts your viewing. Maybe it’s a message for a cable channel or a man in a mask getting spanked. Today, I have two true stories of broadcast signal intrusion, the Max Headroom and the HBO Captain Midnight Incident, on the 175th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Captain Midnight: ‘No regrets’ about jamming HBO back in ’86 (networkworld.com) The Story Of Captain Midnight (archive.org) Captain Midnight broadcast signal intrusion (wikipedia.org) 1986 Captain Midnight HBO Incident – Full Video (youtube.com) Weird Moments in TV History: The Max Headroom Broadcast Signal Intrusion Incident (mentalfloss.com) Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion (wikipedia.org) WGN Channel 9 – The Nine O’Clock News – “The 1st ‘Max Headroom’ Incident” (1987) (youtube.com) WTTW Chicago – The Max Headroom Piratin

Imagine this: You’ve been in a rock and roll band for two years. Days before you are due to record the first record, you are told, without much of an explanation, that you are being replaced. The band goes on to be the biggest sensation in the world and you end up working as a civil servant. I am speaking, of course, of Pete Best – the good looking drummer of The Beatles whose dismissal from the band is still being questioned today. I have his story on the 174th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Pete Best – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) The Casbah Coffee Club – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Pete Best & Mona Best Interview (youtube.com) The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles (goodreads.com) The Beatles: Made on Merseyside (2018) (imdb.com) Pete Best – The Beatles Bible (beatlesbible.com) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

It sounds like a story from film or television. A man and wife go out west during the gold rush and end up becoming the richest couple in the west. Another, much younger, beauty enters the picture and the rich old man divorces his wife for the pretty young thing. They live an extravagant lifestyle – and then they lose everything. This is the story of the Tabors who made fortune in silver in the late 1880. I have the story on the 173rd episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Colorado Experience: The Tabors – YouTube (youtube.com) Baby DoeTabor – YouTube (youtube.com) Horace Tabor – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Home Page of Baby Doe Tabor & the DoeHEADS (babydoe.org) Rags, Riches & Scandal – The Tabor Triangle – Legends of America (legendsofamerica.com) Baby Doe Tabor – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Augusta Tabor – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past – Laura Van Dusen (google.com) Silver queen, the fabulous story of Baby Doe Tabor –

Imagine a man who defied his parents, turning down the chance to become a doctor. Instead, he followed his dream and became a high wire performer, acrobat, strongman, entertainment promoter, inventor, as well as the first known white man to cross the Kalahari Desert on foot (and live to tell the tale). This is the tale of a man who had an amazing life; the tale of William Leonard Hunt, better known as The Great Farini – right here on the 172th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: The Canadians: The Great Farini (youtube.com) William Leonard Hunt – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) The Great Farini, Canada’s Most Fascinating Man (mentalfloss.com) Charles Blondin – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Rossa Matilda Richter – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Krao Farini – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) KRAO – The Missing Link (thehumanmarvels.com) History of Niagara Falls Daredevils (niagarafallsinfo.com) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Imagine you’re a podcaster, ready to record your latest episode. The microphone is hot and the computer is recording. You have pages of note in your hand. Then you hear it, from behind the computer monitor it slowly walks. A small black head peaks around the corner… It’s a cat named Amanda! You quickly realize that the recording will have to wait – the cat wants attention! You ask yourself, why are cats so strange? That is the question I ask on the 171st episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: The Ultimate Guide House Cats Documentary (youtube.com) A Brief History of House Cats | History (smithsonianmag.com) Cats in ancient Egypt – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) This link has no title (avma.org) Ultimate Cat Lady: Woman Shares Her Home With 1,100 Felines (youtube.com) The Wonderful World of Cats – HD Nature Wildlife Documentary (youtube.com) ITV The Story Of Cats 1 of 3 Wild at Heart (youtube.com) Cat – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A couple of friends, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, start a new literary movement and each one wrote a groundbreaking novel. A few years later, something they took so seriously becomes the fashion of the day, a joke to many. Today I have part two of the Beat Movement and the Beatniks on the 170th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: The Beats and the Beatniks (c-span.org) Beatnik – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) How The Beatnik Riot Helped Kick Off The ’60s : NPR (npr.org) SUNDAY 1961 NYC – YouTube (youtube.com) Beatniks in Life Magazine (1959) (imgur.com) The Deep, Dark Secret of the Banana! (youtu.be) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Shortly after world war two, three men got together and changed the literary world forever. They were a group of writers and free thinkers who rejected conventional society and the taboo of the day. They believed in writing without censorship. It began with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Today I have part one of the Beat Movement and the Beatniks. Show notes and links: Jack Kerouac – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation (1999) (imdb.com) Beat Generation – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Everything You Need to Know About The Beat Generation (cheatsheet.com) “This is the Beat Generation” by John Clellon Holmes (litkicks.com) Rebels: A Journey Underground: #2 – A New Kind of Bohemian (youtube.com) Jack Kerouac / The Beat Generation (youtube.com) JACK KEROUAC on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW with Steve Allen 1959 (youtube.com) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

There are stories in history that everyone knows to be true. Stories that are told over and over again that are assume are fact. But are they? Today, I look at three food stories and in each case, I thought I new the truth. Join me as I explore the shocking truth of the potato chip, the TV dinner, and the New England Lobster on the 168th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: TV dinner – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Invention and view of the original TV dinner (youtube.com) How 260 Tons of Thanksgiving Leftovers— Gave Birth to an Industry | History (smithsonianmag.com) Who “invented” the TV dinner? Everyday Mysteries:Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress) (loc.gov) 11 Ready-to-Digest Tidbits About TV Dinners (mentalfloss.com) The History of Lobster in America | Food: Now and Then | NowThis (youtube.com) A Taste of Lobster History (history.com) History of Lobster Fishing & Processing (parl.ns.ca) FACT CHECK: Potato Chip Origin (snopes.com) What you hear about lob

Just like the Terminator, but with less mayhem, Gordon is back with more crazy family stories. Who was his granddad at war with at the top of WW1? What was his dad doing in the South Pacific during World War 2 with all that pineapple juice? Tune in and find out! Show notes and links: Coffee With Jeff #158: Story Time with Chooch: pt. 1 (csicon.fm) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Jeff is on Christmas break, so it’s time for another benign takeover. This week, Gordon and Nancy take a walk down movie-making memory lane, theirs and other peoples’. It’s mostly Gordon’s mishaps with horses and weapons of limited destruction, but then that’s just typical. Show notes and links: Hollywood – Ep 11 : Trick of the Light (youtu.be) Way Down East (1920) (imdb.com) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Toys! Almost everyone loves toys. Toys can be fun, exciting, and even educational. Sometimes, however, manufacturers create toys that pose a risk to the kids they are intended for. Some of these toys can cause injury, others can result in death. With the holiday season upon us, I present six toys that had issues when it comes to child safety on the 165th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: Cabbage Patch Kids – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) CNN – Safety experts alarmed by chomping Cabbage Patch Kids (cnn.com) Cabbage Patch doll `eats’ girls’ hair (independent.co.uk) Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory (wikipedia.org) Alfred Carlton Gilbert – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) The 1950s Science Kit That Had Real Uranium (youtube.com) Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (tripod.com) Austin Magic Pistol – Vintage Space Toy (youtube.com) The Original Creepy Crawlers Machines Will Make You Wonder How Kids Survived The 60s (throwbacks.com) Creepy Crawlers – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Unite

Imagine being born rich enough to spend your life fulfilling your passions … Now imagine your passion was practical jokes. There was a man in the early 20th century who only seemed to want to make people – including himself – laugh. He was a jester who delighted in poking fun of people who are full of themselves. Today, I have the story of Horace de Vere Cole and the Dreadnought hoax on the 164th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff. Show notes and links: A Fool There Was – The New York Times (nytimes.com) Horace de Vere Cole, The Sultan of Pranks (youtube.com) Dreadnought hoax – the master piece of pranking (thevintagenews.com) Horace de Vere Cole – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) Explained: The Zanzibar Hoax – YouTube (youtube.com) Explained: The Dreadnought Hoax – YouTube (youtube.com) The Bloomsbury Group: A Collection of Memoirs and Commentary (google.com) The Time Virginia Woolf Wore Blackface (newyorker.com) Tales of English Eccentrics – Tony Grumley-Grennan (google.com) ★ Support this podcas