In another week of unexpected history, Theresa kicks things off with a story from Brazil. Meet Antonio Conselheiro, a man crushed by life who turns to following God. He wanders the back country of Brazil, preaching the Good News and fixing churches. He ends up building a community with recently freed Black people who have nowhere else to turn.
Because no good deed goes unpunished, farmers who lost their laborers raise an army, and history does its thing.
Angie, shocked by this tale, pivots sharply and takes us into the Gilded Age by telling us the story of Mamie Fish. This socialite surprised and delighted the upper crust with her antics. Come for her elaborate dinner parties. Stay for the monkey dressed as a prince.
This episode pairs well with:
Seneca Village: Andrew Williams
Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth
Transcript
Theresa: Hi, and thanks for tuning in to the Unhinged History Podcast. The podcast where two friends are going to compulsively research history stories that we found in memes that our husbands sent us in TikToks.
And then we are going to research compulsively the background behind them, tell each other the stories we’ve only recently learned, and we record it for your education. I’m host one, I’m Teresa, and that is host two. That is, I’m Angie.
And you’ve tuned in today, and we’re thankful that you’re here. Angie and I did a thing. You might have heard a commercial or something that we put together.
We now have a Patreon. So if you are like, you know what, commercials below, I’m over them. I started streaming services and pay extra to avoid all of them. You can do that here too.
Just a couple of bucks helps you cut through the noise and we’ll be uploading additional content for you as well there occasionally. Good times. It is great times. And then Angie told me right before we hit record that I go first. So I’ve got that going for me.
Angie: So good. I’m just going to tell you that when my hot pocket walks in, I will meet myself so I can eat it. You would. Okay. So my story idea comes from… You do not want me to meet myself? No, I do. Okay. Fine.
Theresa: Make it impossible to edit out. Yes, I want you to not eat, because when you’re eating a hot pocket and you’re trying to, it’s going to be hot. It’s going to be overly hot no matter how hot it’s supposed to be.
And you’re going, because you will not blow on it before you put it in your mouth. And the mess of the… Thank you for knowing me so well. Do what I can. Anyhow, this story was recommended by someone I met on TikTok.
Nope. By somebody I met on LinkedIn named Maya. Maya has a Brazilian background. And so she said that I needed to look up Antonio console…
Height. I’m probably saying of the Japanese accent, I can hear the Japanese accent in my brain. I’m so sorry. Did you say she was Brazilian? She is Brazilian. Okay. So this story hails from that region of the world. Yeah. So Antonio, cancel hero. Okay. All right. My sources, encyclopedia.com, Christian science monitor. This feels like a brand new one for me to go there.
Angie: And the… Yeah, I can say either one of us have ever used that one before.
Theresa: No. This feels new. The article is a poor man’s advocate by Jack Epstein. And genie.com had a very thorough background as well. Another new source for me. That’s awesome. Yeah. And obviously because this wasn’t in the U.S., I couldn’t go to my favorite park service even though I still love park service. We still tried. So Antonio Vincent Mendez Mezal was born in Santo Antonio de… There’s an X in this word and a Q.
Angie: She speaks Japanese.
Theresa: And neither of those letters are in Japanese. Deep in the Sierra backlands. Now his grandparents are vaikiros or cowboys. And apparently his infancy is marked with a bloody family feud with a powerful family, the arraujos causing many deaths in both families. So this sounds like an episode of Zaro. Now they kind of follow this really heartbreaking cycle of vengeance and honor that is… It feels part and parcel to many Western European stories of knighthood and chivalry and the whatnot. Okay. Now one record says that his mother dies in 1834 and then his mother remarried… Or his father remarried again.
Angie: I’m going to say if his mother remarried I have additional questions.
Theresa: You should have additional questions but that is not the case. Now when the father remarries Antonio and his two sisters suffer from daddy’s alcoholism and maltreatment by the stepmom. Now another version says that the first marriage of his dad ended disasterously when he deserted his wife after bludgeoning her so severely that she nearly died. This isn’t stepmom? No, no. So mom either died and the dad remarried. Oh, okay. Mom was either bludgeoned and dad took everybody and left. Wow. So either way this bodes well.
Angie: Yeah, this is great. This is great for a youth mental…
Theresa: Yeah. I mean just go on. Just the founding. This is just setting up the fairy tale, right? Now dad’s second wife is common law. Her name is Maria Maciel and she is the boy stepmother during the most formative years this kid has. Now they live in a village or no she is known in the village as Maria Chana and she is incredibly strict. She imposes religious discipline within her household and is quoted to saying that she needed out frequent punishment to her children and slaves.
Angie: Frequent punishment to her children and slaves as in the slaves are also their children? Negative.
Theresa: I believe two sets of people’s resided in the household. Children and also slaves. That makes sense. Now gradually Vincente or the dad’s fortune as a merchant they begin to like kind of fall off. The dad grows morose and soly and he’s frequently inebriated. Now in a cool twist, are you going to say something?
Angie: Yeah I was just thinking why is that always paired together?
Theresa: Because medicating with alcohol tends to be a depressant, depressant makes you more morose and soly so you keep this flywheel going.
Angie: I think that it is the stories we choose never result in dad grew more morose and further sad and entered into a world of poetry. That never happens for our stories.
Theresa: And dad discovered therapy. The end. Right? And broke the generational curses and brought his family. That’s just not what we’re going because it wouldn’t be unhinged history.
Angie: I was just going to say it wouldn’t end up on our broadcast as it did. No.
Theresa: Bless you though if it does. You end up on an episode of Oprah. Now facts. I need to come up with a new thing because that is a very dated reference now. So Antonio he goes to study with his grandfather and grandfather was a teacher.
So this seems to be well now. Antonio himself he’s pretty studious and he studies quite a bit of things. I might get into that in a little bit. Now for whatever reason it’s noted in the literature that he has a very tawny complexion and apparently it’s because he’s got part Indian ancestry. Even though his birth certificate listed as dark most of his chroniclers refer to as white. So there’s some interesting like racism that’s going to be so put a pin in that that’s going to pop up later. Okay so passing.
I wouldn’t say passing. I’m just I don’t I don’t understand that but there are there are blacks later on there are slaves in this period in this time period as well. So maybe it’s like well you’re not black. Right. Right. Okay. Okay. I mean maybe I don’t know like there’s so much about Brazilian history and culture and politics like I don’t know. There I’m here to learn.
Let’s go. Now he does have some very formal instruction that comes from both grandfather and father. Father wants to become a priest.
When he goes to be taught by his grandfather who is a professor he studies arithmetic geography Portuguese French and Latin. So get it. Right. Like again. Okay. This is the 1830s 1840s at this point.
Angie: This is giving them Brazilian James McDonald.
Theresa: Yep. And James McDonald being the first Choctaw lawyer previous episode if you’re interested. Now. Yes. I guess I should allow with that. Oh no you’re fine. You’re fine. This is why we work together. Right. Now some of his schoolmates they are doing pretty good. They proceed to move on from school and become police chiefs, newspaper men, lawyers like they are doing the things. Now the Mendez-Mesle clan they’re known in the community as being a good family. They are part of the conservative class of the time.
They may not be particularly wealthy but they have they are a good name to marry into kind of deal. Now. Right. We’re inspectable. Right.
Like they are just they may upper middle class so to speak. Okay. Okay. It’s 1855 when his dad dies and our man Antonio he ends up taking up the family business and this means he’s really got to work hard to get his sisters married.
Angie: Oh right because that’s part of the family business.
Theresa: Well I mean so it’s not part of the family business but it is part of like this is your responsibility as the patriarch. Yeah. And we also figure out that he files paperwork to back some outstanding loans with a mortgage so he has to mortgage the house to cover the loans from his dad’s improper business dealings.
Angie: I would have never thought that had been a thing in the 1800s but I mean obviously it was because you could buy a house. Like right. Anyway. Yeah.
Theresa: I mean yeah these are these are all the things. Now 1857 so two years later he marries a woman named Brasolina Laurentina Delima which is a name. Now this is his 15 year old cousin.
Angie: Sorry as opposed to what. It’s a name. Which is a name.
Theresa: Like first off her first name is Brasolina like the lady of Brazil like. Mmm.
Angie: Oh yeah. I mean like I was that I was just like okay now
Theresa: he begins working as a car or the car salesman salesman my brain put car in front don’t listen to me. He’s also working as a teacher and a lay counselor which kind of translates to poor man’s lawyer.
Angie: Okay. I would have thought it would have been something like with the with the church like a lay priest that sort of thing. Ah yeah. Not quite. I just learned something. Thanks.
Theresa: You’re for my next trick. Now he at around like 1861 he’s got about two kids and his wife cheats on him. It’s always the spouse. I mean you’re not going to keep like the neighbor is not going to sleep with somebody else and that’s not going to throw off your day. You know what I mean? Like of course it’s it has to that’s the definition. Right.
Angie: I was making the joke because every time it’s murder it’s always the spouse. Oh fair.
Theresa: But nobody murders here. That was just his parents. He might have broken that curse. Now disillusioned and depressed he kind of separates from his family and he retires to a farm working as a rural teacher and he’s devoting himself more and more to the Christian mysticism practices like family want me to be a priest I might as well start leading that direction.
Okay. So he moves again to a place called Santa Quiteria. So sorry for anybody who has an inkling of Portuguese who knows how badly I’m saying all of this. He has a third child named Joaquim a pre-deo and this is he has this with it with a local artist named Juana Imaginaria.
That’s a joke as opposed to I’m joking. Brindelia or whatever I mean. Just the fact that her last name kind of sounds like imagination is kind of cool to me.
Angie: I was thinking is he real when you said that?
Theresa: She just made up. Ed Edwards. I think he could have done better making up a code name there. John Johnson. Our man Antonio he’s good and restless and he starts to wander around the country. So from 1865 to 1869 and then he has like another jaunt from 1871 and moving on. Now here’s where the story kind of picks up now that we kind of see the seeds building.
Okay. He sells his house and he strikes off to wander the backlands. Now you need to understand what he looks like. Our dude is tall.
He’s thin. He’s got long black hair and a beard. He’s always dressed in his rough blue tunic. He’s got a straw hat. He’s got leather sandals. He’s carrying a black necklace with a wooden note. He’s carrying a necklace of the wooden cross. The color wasn’t set. And apparently his figure is impressive and reminds people of our man Jesus.
Angie: Okay. That’s what I said. See, it looked like Jesus.
Theresa: That’s okay. But I’ve never thought of Jesus running around in a blue tunic but apparently everyone’s like hey. Yeah, okay. It’s Jesus. Jesus wants to wear blue. He can wear blue. And this neck of the woods, he’s this. And he’s spending tons of time in these little backwards towns and he’s rebuilding dilapidated churches. He’s rebuilding cemetery walls like he is helping his community as he’s going through these different places. 1874, he starts to attract the attention of the authorities in the Catholic church because he is preaching to the oppressed and the poor peasants and these common folks of these small villages and farms.
Angie: Like while he’s repairing their fences and…
Theresa: I’m assuming not simultaneously. It’s not tink, tink, tink. And whoa, I say unto you, tink, tink, tink. I think it’s during lunch or maybe in the evenings. Okay.
Angie: I like the idea of doing it while working.
Theresa: Yeah, you know, it’s like very whistle while you work, seven dwarf style. Yeah. 1876, he gets arrested by the police and it’s under suspicion of being a wanted criminal and he ends up being identified, sent by ship to Fortauliza and he’s severely beaten, his hair and beard get cut and then he’s sent back for trial in his hometown. The local judge kind of looks at him and realizes there’s no actual criminal charges against him and so he releases them. Oh, that’s nice. Isn’t that beautiful?
Angie: You let him get beat up but now we’ve kind of looked into it and maybe he’s not in fact the guy we thought he was.
Theresa: I think maybe we knew he wasn’t the man we thought he was at first but like in for a penny in for a pound. Hmm.
Theresa: All right, what are you going to do? Maybe in this case in for a penny in for a penny in for a pounding. Okay. Yep. I’m glad I got the the gaffa out of you for that one. So he returns immediately back to where he was in Bahia and he starts his wandering and preaching all over again. He vows to construct 21 churches and then proceeds to do so in 12 cities in these back lands and he’s going through and building cemeteries and small dams. Like he’s he’s really just pouring into these impoverished communities. Good for him.
I like that. I mean, I was telling Mike the story. I told Mike where I thought the story was going and then I told Mike the recap of where the story went and there was a sharp deviation. All right then carry on.
I’ll shut up. 1877. There is a series of catastrophic droughts that began in the northeast and it would last two years. It kills over 300,000 peasants by hunger and thirst and really just wreaks havoc in this semi arid agrarian economy. Okay.
Many in villages are entirely abandoned and then there’s instances of cannibalism that break out. So we’re on a theme. I just want you to know that you may have inspired me.
Angie: Thank you. And also really that’s how I inspired you.
Theresa: You know, it’s you don’t get to choose how you inspire people with your life.
Angie: To be clear, I am not a cannibal. But anyhow, she is saying I inspired her based on my story of Johann DeWitt who was eaten by his own constituents. Thank you. I like tri-tip. Good day. Thank you for attending my TED Talk. Okay. Either way, look.
Theresa: But Antonio Canceljero, him and his followers, they’re doing what they can and they’re really trying to work out and reduce the suffering of the poor people around them. And as they do that, they start to amass more followers and admirers because this guy is acting like Christ. Like we’re literally called to do. I mean, from your lips to I won’t say God’s ears, but to everybody around us. Right.
Got it. Now, this kind of provides everybody with the sense that the world is really on the brink of ending and that the only salvation could come through religion. We’re strong incentives and this leads to a surge of religious fanaticism.
Angie: Wait. So they feel like the world is ending because this guy and his followers are acting like Christ and because they are acting like Christ and doing what Christ would have done. Okay.
Theresa: Maybe that’s the wrong lead in the catastrophic droughts. People are literally okay. And then you have somebody coming through to help and they’re like, you know what? It’s the end of the world as we know it. And so they’re like, Hey, I’m just going to follow you because I mean, the crops have failed. What else have I got to do?
Angie: That makes sense. Sorry. I my brain went straight from cannibalism to this man acting like Christ.
Theresa: I didn’t like to go through there. Nicely. I did not very kindly take you through that gate. I kind of smashed you into the wall and hope she just passed through. So he’s with this fanaticism building, right? His followers are kind of looking to him as a saint and a messiah.
Like they’re seeing some real positive attributes in him and they have not a lot of positivity in their world. Right. Okay. This leads to increase like his increasing criticism of the church because he’s doing all this work and he’s not seeing everybody else step up. Right.
Angie: So that’s a fair statement, I think.
Theresa: I think, you know what? Like work harder. Now, as this is happening, as he’s opening these small churches, the Archduke or nope, the Archbishop of Bahia in 1882 issues an order for bidding priests to allow him access to the flocks and characterizes him as an apostate and a madman.
Angie: I think I heard that wrong. We’ll give you access to our people, but we think you might be a little bit crazy.
Theresa: We’re forbidding you to access our people and we think you’re crazy.
Angie: Oh, I didn’t hear forbid. I heard give him. Sorry. Okay. That’s me.
Theresa: No, you’re good. You’re good. I mean, I’ll listen to it in the recap. Yeah. No, I omitted that word. Now, so he’s continuing to get this reputation as a religious counselor or apparently in Portuguese console hydro hero. Neither. Okay.
Okay. His wanderings taken through the back lands of Syria, per Nam Bukal, Cirque, and the here I’m wincing every time I say anything. And this is just at the peak of the drought region. Like, so this is the worst of the worst. He is going to the most impacted places. In 1887, he reaches the sea coast at Villa de Conde and he then turns back to the semi air interior. So he goes to the coast and he’s like, okay, I went to the beach.
Now let’s actually go back to where things have really suck. And he’s still wearing his blue tunic tied with a sash. His hat turned down for taking from the sun. He’s carrying a leather bag. He’s got an ink pen and paper and two prayer books. He is living a very austere lifestyle. Okay. Throughout this period of time, there’s reports of him living on alms and sleeping in the back rooms of houses or in barns, but always on the floor.
Okay. And every time he’s talking, he’s talking about the subjects that are really affecting these people’s lives. Taxes, debt, troublesome marriages. He knows all these things. Right.
And this really adds to this mythos of him being the counselor. That makes sense. So this is all building.
Yeah. Now, he has these nightly orations from these makeshift podiums in the public square. So not while he’s working, but, you know, his second shift starts and this is when he starts to do his preaching.
Right. And he is entrancing these listeners, even though he’s not a particularly forceful speaker. The sophisticated, they referred to him as a buffoon and they’re laughing at this weird mixture that he has of these dogmatic councils, these vulgarized precepts of Christian morality, Latinate phrases and prophecies. He’s just got this weird eclectic mix and they’re like, gross, weird.
Angie: But being like that, you know, yeah, like cringe. Right. You know, cringe. Yeah.
Theresa: But to the poor, the humble, he has this charismatic hold over him. And so people are following him from place to place.
Angie: Right. That makes sense. I mean, people have been following him the whole time. Why would they stop now?
Theresa: Well, and I think we’re just growing the numbers now. So, 1888, 1889, Brazil’s going through this and I have to say, I knew pretty much nothing about Brazilian history before this story. And I know only a smidgen now. They go through, Brazil as a whole goes through this revolutionary, far-fetching social, economic and political change. And this is probably the biggest that has happened since Europe hit them in the 1500s.
Angie: Okay. I am excited to see this. I have to say that I actually know exactly one thing about Brazil and that is carnival.
Theresa: That is literally all I knew and because of the cartoon Rio.
Angie: Oh, yeah. Also Rio. Yeah. Okay. Cool. So thank you for bringing my cartoon. Well, Rio the parrot. The cartoon. Yeah.
Theresa: I knew that. Okay. I just want to make sure that we’re being seen after thinking. Okay. So May 13th, 1888, slavery is abolished by the ruling emperor Don Pedro II. Okay. It’s a little late, but okay. Hell yeah. Yeah. It happened. Now this happened when Don Pedro, or this happened when an act was signed by his daughter, Princess Isabel. More than 5 million black people are freed overnight. They abandoned the farms and just swelled enormously the rural and urban ranks of the extremely poor inhabitants.
Angie: Right. Just overnight. No plans. Abolished slavery overnight and we did not plan well. That’s what I’m hearing. Exactly. Okay. So now tens of thousands of farmers are bankrupt. Agriculture just comes to a crashing halt. Yeah.
That makes sense. And there’s really bad results for the cash crops that like take a ton of labor like coffee, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane. These are the mainstays of the Brazilian economy.
Angie: And we’ve just released the workforce. And so now no one’s going to get fed and the entire country is going to collapse because again, we did not plan well. Yeah.
Theresa: We shouldn’t have been relying on this work to begin with. And now that we’ve become reliant on, we did not plan an exit strategy. Well done, guys. Okay. Change management is a thing.
Should have been around a lot longer than has been. So that happened on May 13th, November 15th of the following year. The emperor is deposed by military coup and a republic is proclaimed.
Angie: The same member that freed everyone has now been deposed. Well, I guess that makes sense. Everybody’s starving.
Theresa: They’re starving to death. And they blame the top. That does make sense. To be fair, he kind of did do this in a weird way. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. So this layers on the torn up country. Right.
Okay. So now the numbers on Antonio’s flocks just dramatically swell. He’s got more people under his wings. It’s estimated that 80% are former slaves. Wow. Okay. So, I mean, this is so I, you can see the starting to build.
Angie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re, you’re getting some popularity now.
Theresa: He’s also, and Tony is also considered that, or he can, Antonio considered that the monarchy was a gift from God and that the republic that has the separation of church and state is morally wrong. And would wreck the country would wreck family. This republic itself is an anti Christ. That’s our guy saying it. Our guy Antonio, he’s like he is staunch emperor like monarch. And so he starts stepping up his public criticism and he rallies social movement around these concepts.
Angie: Like this. I’m terrified, but I like this.
Theresa: Both of these feelings are good. I’m glad that you have enough foreshadowing to know that there’s going to be more angst that, that builds as a result of this, because this drums up fear and nervousness among farmers, priests and government. It’s 1893 and there is a skirmish, if you will, that occurs between his disciples and some troops that are sent from the coast to arrest him.
Angie: This is sounding so like Christ’s story.
Theresa: Hold that thought. Hold that thought. So he sets out for a remote abandoned cattle ranch. On the banks of the Vasobarra river in the state of the here. There is a hamlet of 500 or so much that roofed or wooden shanties are there. And he names this place. And his followers are basically like farmers, Indians, cowboys, farmer slaves. They brought furniture or the clothes on their backs and they construct 5000 mud stick dwellings. 5000. It goes from 500 to 5000 dwellings.
Angie: I heard the 500 and then I heard the 5000 and I was like, oh, an escalation.
Theresa: Okay. Suddenly. And so he’s protected here in this ring of mountains that surround this valley. And there’s friendly landowners in the region as well and also a couple of local priests. As many as some reports say 25,000 pilgrims, some say 30,000 either way, substantial amount of humans of all economic and racial groups take up residence here. And this becomes the second most populous urban center by 1895. Wow. Okay.
So this is this is a big deal. Now he Antonio Consojero’s theological vision kind of inverts the harsh and austere reality of the impoverished backlands. Here the weak are strengthened by their faith and they’re supposed to inherit their earth, which is the attitudes right there. Nature should be transformed that the reins are going to come and they’re going to really bring forth the earth’s bounty in this area.
And they’re praying for this this area can do those to be the new Jerusalem. Okay. Now as a community leader, he retains his personal aestheticism that he’s been living with this whole time and this humility that we’ve come to see from him this whole time. He’s telling others he’s dissuading them all to not call him a saint. He’s never assuming the powers of clergy like he is very aware of who he is and he is not the very typical cult leader.
Okay. Now he’s also borrowing from an Catholic apocalyptic apocalyptic apocalyptic apocalyptic apocalyptic missile that’s used widely during this 19th century. And his teachings never strayed from the traditional church chakran. So he is on the level. Okay. He is telling his disciples to live austerely to renounce luxury and basically just hang out and await the imminent because it’s imminent coming day of judgment.
Angie: Okay. Okay. So it’s going to rain. The earth is going to, the bounty is going to come and then judgment. Yep.
Theresa: Okay. Now he’s, he’s also going to be a little bit complicated here because he’s also a misogynist. And he, I don’t have a ton of detail about this because Hubs asked questions when I said what I’m about to say next. He avoided eye contact with women. Okay. I don’t know.
Angie: Is it because of the eyes or the key to the soul or whatever?
Theresa: I don’t, I don’t have any additional detail and I don’t know how those two relate, but those two statements were said back to back. Okay, let’s go. So even though that’s happening, sources say that he’s not a religious fanatic, that he’s really sticking to the common popular Catholicism, that even though it’s from the backlands where he is, it’s fairly cut off from church influence, but he’s really always emphasizing the presence of sin, the need for pen, or of penitence, and the role of, or the personal role of saints and other intermediaries.
Okay. So everything that I can find is like this man is pentose down saying the right things at the right times. Now, politically he’s opposed to the Republic. He’s all for our man, the exiled Emperor Pedro.
There’s a bunch of things that go on that I, my eyes glazed over and my notes don’t make sense because I, the eyes glazed over. Now, I got two enemies are accusing him of sedition and advocating for this violent restoration of the monarchy. And this is presumably because other people are violent monarchists, but we don’t really see that from him.
Okay. Now, there’s also opposition that he has and his community that’s led by the local landowners that are threatened by the loss of their traditionally docile labor force. The slaves of Uprising, they’ve all moved together to the second largest population. And we’re a little nervous that they might join their pitchforks and realize that we live in a nice big house. You should be nervous. Yeah.
Angie: Like, anyway, okay. I mean, I, the defense shuts up.
Theresa: The defense should. Now, more and more people continuing to come in and this swell of humans is causing fear and trouble in the region because many of the new residents, they’re maybe not so peaceful. There are reasons that always the case because things happen. People change like your group. Once you have a small loyal following, you’ve got more control over it as it grows.
It becomes more unwieldy. We see this happen when a video goes viral and we see things viral out of control. This is what we see. This is what he sees as well.
Yeah. Now, as this is happening, there is a word that is used that I don’t feel strong enough to say in a weird butcher accent, but it translates to hired armed men who worked for the farmers. So the CIA of the farmers come in basically.
Okay. And now there’s appeals to the government to really come in and repress and control this group because they’re, they’re playing chicken little and they’re afraid that these unruly pores are going to throw a revolution.
Angie: Say that like it’s throwing a barbecue.
Theresa: I mean, yeah, I mean, probably more akin to throw, they’re probably more likely to throw a barbecue. But I mean, the wealthier are upset about the pores being so numerous and nearby. Oh, it’s the case.
It is always the case. And so they’re fearing an invasion by who they call the console he does and there is a dispute with the console. He’s just seemed to have had a dispute with a local lumber merchant and it’s mayor. I’m assuming of the area appealed hysterically to the provincial government. Okay. So, all right, two Capuchin friars, they come out to canudos and they’re trying to calm the population.
As you do two people versus 30,000 as you do. Apparently these numbers don’t roll a high enough number on the die to be able to affect change. Then that charisma was down. Yeah. And one of them seems to have mistakenly accused Antonio console he though of trying to raise a monarchist addition. Apparently accusing the leader of this group of sedition doesn’t both well.
Chucking didn’t see that coming. So this ends poorly, but things amp up. Armies are brought in. And the mud walled Troy successfully defended itself against three military assaults, including 1500 troops that were brought in under command of Colonel Antonio Moreira Sarr Cesar. And Colonel Cesar, he is the nation’s most famous officer and he’s a man who is so ruthless, Bro is known as the Beheader.
Angie: Dang, what you gotta do to get a nickname like that. Yeah.
Theresa: So the Beheader rolls in with his men. He is shot and killed. Wow, that’s not where I saw that going. To be fair, that took a sharp departure from where I saw it going too.
But his Caesar’s death or Sarr’s death shocked the nation and President Prudente de Moras, he ordered 8,000 soldiers equipped with cannon dynamite machine guns to go to Canoes. Wow. Okay. So that escalated quickly.
And there is a heavy military siege that followed and Antonio Complicito, the man we know and love, he spends his time praying and fasting and he’s troubled by his continued trouble of death, hunger and the suffering of his followers. I would be too. And so he’s just been nothing if not consistent as far as I’m concerned. Yeah, I would agree. Due to his severe fasting, he dies September 22, 1897 at the age of 67.
Angie: I really did not see that coming.
Theresa: His death apparently is due probably to dysentery.
Angie: Oh, he shot himself to death.
Theresa: The death we wish for many that doesn’t come came to him. But he’s buried by the pious villagers and his death is the beginning of Canoes’s defeat, which eventually brings about the brutal death of more than 50% of the city’s inhabitants during the military operations. And there’s tons of atrocities that are committed by the army against this population. Shocking.
His body is disinterred, his head is severed, mounts on a pike and displayed at the head of the military parades in Salvador and other cities on the coast. So it takes a kind of tour. Oh, like Santa Ana’s leg. Yeah.
Angie: But not nearly as fun. No.
Theresa: Okay. Apparently, the two strongest peasant movements in modern Latin American history occurred in Canudos with Antonio Contojiro and then in Mexico with Emiliano Zapata. And this is said by Canudos’s Spanish-born priest, a man named Juan Antonio Lizalde. And he goes on to say, Brazil should do what Mexico did for Zapata. It owes him a monument. Yeah. Okay.
Angie: I’m going to tell you, I thought for sure because you said cannibalism earlier. I thought for sure they were going to be under siege so long that because he was this religious leader and because he was the exact opposite of the cult leader that I was thinking he was going to be, they were all going to be off when the military walked in so that he could keep him safe. I thought we were really going to take a very gnarly turn. I mean, the turn was gnarly but not the turn I thought we were going to take. Right.
Theresa: And so when I told HUD this story, his response was, huh. I was like, yeah, it did go a different direction. Like I read the overview was like, oh, I see where this is. I did not see where this is going. Yeah.
Angie: Decentary, I think this is the first time Decentary has been one of our deaths. I think you’re right.
Theresa: It happened off the Oregon Trail and that threw me for a loop. Yeah. Well. But that is the story of Antonio Concilado, Haithiro. I said his name different each time and I don’t think I’ve ever said it right.
Angie: Hey, well, you know what? I can say the river comes now.
Theresa: Anything you can do, I can do kind of.
Angie: It only took me 80 videos to figure it out. So here we go.
Theresa: Yeah. So enjoy that departure. Figure out how to do your about face on this one.
Angie: Yeah. There’s no, it is fully in an about face. I put like colored pencil down. So I don’t, I’m just going to go. Oh, I found a story for you that all vibes and the woman in the story did everything for the plot. Like everything. I thought you’d, I thought you would enjoy. I’m a palette cleanser today.
Theresa: I think little did you know that you were the palette cleanser we needed. Here I am.
Angie: My sources are two articles from town and country, both written by Jennifer, Jennifer Wright. Excuse me, released respectively July and August of 2025. The first one is called the Gilded Age. Who was the real Mamie Fish? And Gilded Age, the true story of how I’m not going to read all of this to you, but the true story of how Mamie Fish tricked Gilded Age society. There is, I’ve made this into a very bright color.
So I can’t actually read it. The Desmond Fish Public Library has an article and the Newport, there’s, there is another article from the Newport Daily News by Caitlin Emery Avina from August of 2021 called Newports Gilded Age. Mamie Fish was a fixture at Newport, Rhode Island, like high society. And then have you ever heard the podcast, The Gilded Gentlemen?
No. I’ve, I’ve had the pleasure of listening to a few of their episodes. So basically they take the Gilded Age as their area of like their theme. So this episode that I listened to, I believe it’s number 72. It features a woman called Ashley Atkinson who plays Mamie Fish on the HBO series Gilded Age and a author and historian called Keith Italian. It was actually really fun to listen to both of their takes on this one particular human because obviously one is currently playing her right now and the other is the, like is the expert. So hearing them talk about this one character was really fun. So I was glad I found that. So allow me to tell you the story of Mamie Fish.
Mamie Fish was born Marion Graves-Anthon in Staten Island on June 8th, 1853. So we’re kind of in the same time frame. Only my people, there’s no cannibals involved. That’s a few bad. I know I’m sorry.
Theresa: Pops was the fanfiction version of this could have it though.
Angie: Oh, yes, it could. Definitely. Her dad was William Henry Athlon, who he happens to be a lawyer and an assemblyman that’s representing the area of Staten Island. He also served in the Civil War. Mom is called Sarah Atwood Merritt. I believe that’s a pronounce her last name.
It’s M-E-E-R-T. So Merritt makes sense to me. She comes from a prosperous but not super socially prominent family, whereas dad can trace his family roots like he can go back pretty far. But all that to say, she has a good childhood, a decent life. That said, she has a crap education. She herself said she could barely read or write. Oh, so for being a young lady in a well-to-do family at that time, it seems like they could have done a better job on, I don’t know, getting her a tutor, but they didn’t. And then sadly, in 1875, dad dies and the family falls on hard times, right? Well, I’ve heard some conflicting stories here, but it seems to me, I think both things could be true. She’s married a year later to a gentleman called Stu Vesant Fish, who was of the old money, a proud law on American heritage. Stu Vesant Fish, yes.
Theresa: This sounds like an auto-generated name from Xbox.
Angie: Yeah, nope. Oh my God, I’m changing my gamer tag. Hope for everybody to see that. That’s awesome. Now, okay, one can’t suggest that Stu, that her and Stu’s marriage is basically it falls on her to marry well to save her family from ruin, like that old story, you know, but the other camp says that, which is the Desmond Fish Library, so I kind of have to go with that sort of makes sense to me, says this is basically like the marriage of high school sweethearts, like they’ve been together for a long time.
I think probably both are true, at least to some degree. And our guy Stu, he adores her, like regardless of why they marry, he is like head over heels, always has been, always will be with our girl, Mamie. So just a little blurb on our guy, Stu Vesant Fish, he is born into America and like the American Astoxie in 1851. He is the son of Hamilton Fish, none of these names sound real now, so thank you for that.
Theresa: But the Hamilton Fish kind of seems like it could be a real thing. Because that feels like a weird verb.
Angie: Or I think, sorry. So I will tell you why it’s Stu Vesant in just a few minutes, because I was also like, that is the weirdest name I’ve never heard of in my life. Okay, so his dad, Hamilton Fish, is one of the nation’s most distinguished secretaries of state. They’ve got ancestry that go all the way back to the Mayflower and Peter Stu Vesant, the Dutch founder of New York. And Fish basically seems destined for this life of prominence. Now, Stu Vesant is his maternal, like it’s his maternal line family name. So he gets it as his first name, so the name continues.
Theresa: Okay, so like in Anderson.
Angie: Right, right, right. Okay, so and when I read that, I was like, yeah, that makes so much more sense. Because I’m over here going, who wakes up in the morning goes Stu Vesant? I’m going to name it. Yeah, no kidding. And it now makes me wonder about everybody I’ve ever heard of called Stu, what your actual name was.
Theresa: Because you’re not going to own up. They’ll be like, just assume it’s Stuart.
Angie: Yeah, it’s Stuart. Okay, yeah. Our guy, Stu, he’s president of the Illinois Central Railroad from 1887 to 1906. He oversees its greatest expansion and he becomes this titan of American industry, but it’s his marriage to Mamie that like truly cements his place in like the golden age, or excuse me, the gilded age legend.
Fish tolerates high status society with like a patient indifference, but Mamie thrives as a Newport social queen. She is hosting extravagant parties at their colonial revival mansion called Crossways. She’s traveling in circles with the like of the Asters and the Vanderbilt. So there’s a little bit of context there. These are the people that she’s brunching with on the day to day, right?
Theresa: She’s rubbing elbows with old money. Yes.
Angie: So she even makes this joke that like her and Stu are like one of the least rich families in the area because she knows the Asters. But it’s like she says it with such wit that you can’t help love her because she knows her place in society, but also like you’re not going to stop her.
Here we go. So regardless, like I said of her education, which is absolute crap, she is incredibly smart and super quick-witted. Mamie is not known for her three-hour long rather boring dinner parties and kind of uptight personality that one would expect from like Caroline Aster. No, Mamie is here for vibes and plot only and she has an accomplice.
Oh, you go on for accomplice. Henry Lear was America’s most celebrated social entertainer during the Golden Age. He’s dubbed America’s court jester for his outrageous parties and his theatrical flair. He was born in Baltimore in 1869 and he has basically positioned himself as the successor to Ward McAllister who was like the gatekeeper of New York’s elite 400. So we’re like the knickerbockers and the industrial families of the area like or of the era.
So it’s kind of his job to like look after everyone, right? Lear becomes famous for staging these elaborate spectacles with Mamie. However, behind this like glittering, you know, facade that he’s put on in his life, he’s very, very gay. And reportedly was involved with fellow Newport socialite Charles Graynow. But that said, in 1901, he marries a wealthy heiress called Bessie Drixel Dahlgren. He confesses to her on their wedding night and this is heartbreaking to me, but he confesses to her on their wedding night that their marriage would remain unconsummated and loveless.
He told her quote, So I don’t have this in my notes, but he proposes to marry her after he introduces him, her to like all of his friends to ensure that like she enjoys his society and that she gets the blessing like he gets the blessing to marry her from them. Because this is 1901 in high society, you can’t just be out gay, right? Which is kind of devastating.
Theresa: And he couldn’t really clear into a lavender marriage beforehand because of the time period. Right.
Angie: For for all purposes, it seems like they work really well together. I when I was getting sources on this, I discovered that she actually has a book. And when I can get my hands on it, I’m going to read it. But they maintain this this charade of their love for 28 years. Like she gains his social connections and he gains her fortune.
So like it works out pretty well for the both of them, despite the fact that there’s not a whole lot of snuggling going on behind closed doors, if you know what I mean. Okay. So obviously, I think it’s pretty clear to stew what what her man, Mr. Lear is. But her and Lear, as in maybe they get into some antics and whether it’s a dinner at her house, or she is hosting elsewhere, she does some stuff. She like I said, she’s over the stuffy three hour dinners at the Aster’s. She would ensure that dinner, all of the courses were done within an hour, often leading her guests holding on to their plates when the staff came to take them.
If you don’t know, grab their plates back, which I think is hilarious. In lieu of three hour dinners, Jennifer Wright of Town and Country writes, mainly through vaudeville evenings to open her newly built New York home in 1900, she staged a theatrical called Little Puddle Big Fish. People entered the home to find a stage in posters declaring vaudeville tonight, but not tomorrow.
Beware of spectators and tickets purchased on the sidewalk of no avail. The play tells the story of a male gold digger of like the Yukon variety coming to New York and in doing so, it roasts every family in attendance. And wow, loved it. Like they had so much fun. Um, like one of Mamie’s greatest gifts was absolutely burning everyone in the most delightful way possible. Like if you want to roast it up, it was a real time she had the chance.
Absolute roast every time. At one point she she welcomes people to the dinner and she’s like, make yourself at home because Lord knows that’s where I want you. But like she invited you to dinner.
She is just here to just school everybody. If you weren’t invited to her party, it was considered a social slight. And if you were invited to her party, you’d be roasted when you got there.
But you loved it. There is this legendary dinner that her and Lear throw called the dog dinner, where upon finding out that women prefer dogs over men, they decide to throw an absolutely unhinged dinner party for Newport’s most bougie pets. The dogs and their owners show up in full glam. Mamie’s own pup was literally dripping in a $15,000 necklace. I did the math and I’m not entirely sure if my my mouth was right, but if it is, that would be $500K today on your dog.
Theresa: That is so much more than just a Louis Vuitton collar.
Angie: It’s a lot. The butlers at this dinner are in full formal wear and they serve the dogs a three course meal. You have stewed liver and rice, fricazi of bones and shredded dog biscuits. Meanwhile, the humans, you know, the dogs owners, they’re basically just there to keep their pets from jumping off the chairs. Guests are obsessed.
They called it the loveliest thing of the social season. The newspapers, they’re not so impressed. The Austin Daily Herald basically said, could there be any more anything more ridiculous than this dinner?
Theresa: But I think they’re saying that because they’re in Austin and they’re not in New York invited.
Angie: And they’re jealous, right? Because the way I see it from like today’s perspective, we’re spending six bucks on a Puppuccino and throwing birthday parties for pets and making Instagrams for cats.
Theresa: So like, she that Puppuccinos aren’t free.
Angie: They’re free where I’m at. But apparently we can also buy them. Mamie, I think she’s just ahead of her time. Like she is just having a good time and she sees where this is going to go. And you’re not going to stop her from buying a $15,000 necklace for her dog if she wants to.
So like good luck with that, I guess. In the middle of like a social row with one of the other ladies, she levels up hard. Mamie has this beef with someone called Megulette for whatever reason. Petty, I’m sure I’m not really clear where the beef is.
But one night, Mamie invites 200 people to dinner to celebrate Grand Duke of Bor- Grand Duke, Bor- of Russia. And like he’s visiting and this is so this is like a major flex, right? She invites May and like her whole crew except one guy, a guy named James D’Wolf cutting. And May reaches out and she’s like, um, you forgot someone. And Mamie was basically like, uh, no. And she doubles down that specifically cutting wasn’t invited.
I’m unclear why, but she is just not having him. Well, May claps back and says something to the effect of fine. Then none of us are coming, including your guest of honor. And I’m a little unclear of how she persuades the Grand Duke of Russia from not attending Mamie’s party. And she then decides to throw her own. So same night, conflicting parties, um, which May sees as obviously the ultimate power move, but Mamie’s already got 200 other guests showing up and no Grand Duke.
So instead of canceling, because you know, that’s what quitters do. She lets everyone arrive and just sort of vibes into chaos. She’s like doing her thing. And people keep asking where the Grand Duke is. Why hasn’t he, why hasn’t he entered? Who wants to come in? And Mamie finally announces that she has someone better.
She has the actual czar of Russia. The doors burst open. Everyone bows and curtsies to this elaborate figure in royal robes and then absolutely lose it when they realize it’s Lear and costume-froling everyone.
Theresa: It was going to be somebody like somebody was going to be, right?
Angie: This man is an absolute icon. And the party is one of the most talked about parties of the season. Like everybody had a blast. They adored the fact that they totally fell into this ruse and were like a hook line and sinker for it, which I’m thinking that’s kind of how you win the feud. Like problem solved, you might have had Grand Duke Boris, but we had the czar of Russia. It’s just Lear from Down Street, but whatever.
Theresa: Don’t let the truth interrupt a good story.
Angie: Exactly. And that’s pretty much her. On another occasion, Alva Belmont, who was formally, if I’m remembering this right, formally a Vanderbilt, confronts Mamie and she’s angry because she’d been hearing that Mamie had been telling everyone that Alva looked like a frog, to which Mamie replied, not a frog, a toad, my pet, a toad. She was like, oh my God, Teresa, I think I found your soul sister.
Theresa: I mean, yeah, I do, I am viving hard with this human.
Angie: So carry on, tell me more about my gray down. Right. As a quick aside, I mentioned this earlier, but her man’s do was so into her that once he heard her coughing at a dinner party and he asked if he could get her, you know, something for her throat and she quickly clapped back with, she would like that necklace. She saw it, Tiffany’s. It would be only a couple of days before she would spot it around town with that necklace.
Theresa: I love that. Well done. Right.
Angie: So this, believe it or not, was not what inspired me to tell you this story. This is what inspired me to tell you this story. It’s 1902 and Newport Society is absolutely losing it because a literal prince, Prince Del Drogo from Corsica is coming to town. And this is the time when America’s got like way more money than cents. And so they’re trying to marry their daughters off to European nobility, right?
Theresa: So you can have the money in the title. That was the hunt that was happening. Right.
Angie: Okay. So you can imagine all these like Dowager moms and all these, they’re dressing their daughters to the nine, they’re reminding them how to curtsy. They’re doing all the things.
Theresa: And they’re filling their bra with the sock drawer, trying to make them bosoms look higher. Yeah. Right.
Angie: They’re just hoping for an invite to Mamie’s dinner. And she sends out these invitations to like the most elite dinner party ever. Okay. Henry Lear, he is hyping everyone up. He is warning that the prince, he can be a bit wild and he definitely, he definitely shouldn’t drink. Meanwhile, this doesn’t stop anybody because they’re like, I got to practice my curtsy, right? Like I got to make sure my mascara is good. I got to be looking fabulous for this prince because that could be it. That could be my guy. I’m going to marry him. He’s titled and wealthy.
Here we go. So they all get to the party. They’re, you know, printing and doing all the things. Their feathers are out there looking fabulous.
And another rich friend of theirs from Chicago, a man called Joseph Wider walks in holding the prince by the hand because Prince Del Drago is literally a monkey named Jaco wearing a custom tuxedo. Yes. Yes.
Theresa: I know. They’re going to be that or the prince is going to be like five. Right. The room goes silent.
Angie: And then everybody looks over at Mamie and Lear and they are like bold over cackling, like having the time of their life. They basically plan this whole thing on, like on a yacht afternoon and Mamie like bullies the tailor into making a monkey a custom suit. Like I need you to pick me this suit by next Tuesday, that sort of thing. Like I need it right now.
And they pretty much don’t tell anybody else what the plan is. So the best part of this is after the initial shock, like wears off, everyone loves it. Jaco uses utensils quote like a gentleman of the old school. And then someone proceeds to give him alcohol despite all the warnings. And he proceeds to jump on the tables and swing from the chandelier and throw light bulbs at guests.
Oh, yeah. The partygoers are absolutely obsessed. They said this was the best night ever. Again, the newspaper is not real happy. They’re clutching their pearls hard and writing these like super dramatic editorials about how this is so embarrassing for America, to foreigners. The scandal because okay, the idea is right.
This is the society that represents America as a whole to European high society. And we must look the absolute fool, right? Now this news reaches as far as France where a random priest also named Henry Rear has to issue a statement clarifying that he has never dined with a monkey. He’s not that sort of fan because they assume he’s the leader that’s hosting the party, right? He’s absolutely not. He’s just some parish priest mind in his own business. Now, so basic just is Mammy’s like Mammy’s basically like, oh, so you’re all so thirsty for titles that you’ll curtsy to anything and proves their point like an absolute troll. And I am so here for her.
Theresa: This is what would happen if I won the lottery. I wouldn’t tell anybody, but there would be signs.
Angie: Exactly. Her bestie, Rear, his wife later comments, Jaco the chimps manners compared favorably with some princes I have met. Oh my God, I love it. Now in 1915, Edna Wolman Chase, she’s from Vogue. She has this crazy idea and it is what if we do a fashion show to raise money for French war orphans like this revolutionary concept, right? But there is a glitch in the system here because at this time, rich people are not about to show up at an event where regular people buy tickets and they are certainly not going to be caught mingling with their dressmakers. That would be absolutely scandalous, right?
Well, Edna, who’s no idiot, reaches out to Mammy Fish and who’s basically like bet and she throws her full support behind this. And this is what we now call New York Fashion Week. Wow.
Yeah. So the elite, they actually show up. Edna Chase later wrote that it was quote, a small shock, pleasant, but unexpected for high society to find themselves hanging out with their dressmakers and models. And high society, they said they felt quite daring about it, which makes me laugh so hard.
Theresa: They come on and look at me sitting side by side with the help.
Angie: What a rebel. Oh, Jacob, my goodness. But you know what? Like the rest of the new, like the rest of Newport society is gatekeeping like their lives depend on it. But Mammy, our girl, she is out here befriending people they wouldn’t even make eye contact. One of Mammy’s best friends was a comedian, a female Canadian named Mary Dressler. Ask me how they met. Please ask me how they met.
Theresa: Oh, gosh, I have no idea. So I’m going to have to just say how did they meet? Thank you.
Angie: Mary, excuse me, Marie literally hit Mammy over the head with a leak during a performance. And instead of being offended, Mammy was like, you’re hilarious. We’re friends now.
Theresa: And like, yeah, that is the kind of move I would I would be so cool with too. Right.
Angie: So she’s out here collecting like amazing friends, right? She actively fights for them. Edith Gould, who’s formerly Edith’s kingdom was married to this millionaire called George Gould, but gets completely frozen out of society because, oh my God, she used to be an actress. She had a job before marrying and she
Theresa: was a very naked, marital sort of very sort of thing.
Angie: Yes. But Mammy is looking at the situation like absolutely not. I am not going to let an interesting woman be excluded from society because she actually had a job and a personality once like, ah, no, I don’t think so. So she is she’s basically being super revolutionary for her time and like impressed with people who have done things with their lives and she finds them way more fun.
So she uses her social power to open doors for talented, fascinating people, including funding a young lady artist, a young lady’s artistic education. Like, okay, they may, Mammy is just casually chatting with this artist that she has hired to paint her portrait. And the conversation somehow turns to this talented young woman who really, really wants to pursue art school, but she can’t afford it. And two days later, Mammy literally bursts into the painter’s classroom in the middle of a lesion, like some kind of fairy godmother with all her money just falling out of her purse, says to the teacher, show me the student you’re telling me about, like she demands it. No appointment, no warning, just her walking in. She walks right up to the poor girl who is probably super freaked out at this point, looks her and says, I’m paying for your entire education, but here’s the deal under no circumstances are you allowed to give up on becoming an artist. Then she just leaves. No things attached, except don’t you quit. Like, our girl saw this potential and said, I’m investing in it K-bye. Phenomenal to me.
Theresa: I’m not saying that I should be independently wealthy like this, but I feel like I would be her. So feel free to put money into the account.
Angie: Like, right? I am not saying I’m a millionaire, but I was. And there would be the sign. So she basically sees it as her duty to keep everyone employed. It kind of reminds me of the whole like ordained by God thing that kings have, you know, in an interview she once stated that rich people had a duty to spend their money and entertain and keep the cooks, caterers, and household staff employed saying, quote, it is not an is not an unemployed butler a sad site as an unemployed agriculture labor. Like, we got to keep everybody employed. Otherwise, it’s so sad. I must throw another party.
Theresa: However, I mean, there’s there’s pros and cons to that, I feel like I think that that could just be an excuse to exploit. But I mean, if you’re paying everybody a livable wage, and you know, okay. Yeah.
Angie: Now the downside is our girl was against women’s suffrage saying, quote, a good husband is the best right of any woman. So there’s that.
Theresa: Yeah, there’s kind of that.
Theresa: Problematic things.
Angie: Yeah. Yeah, I can’t win them all. Mamie Fish passed away unexpectedly on May 25, 1915 at age 62. She was she had succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage in her bedroom at Glenclyth. She was laid to rest in St. Peter’s Churchyard in Garethon. Stu Vesad survived her by about eight years. He died on April 10, 1923 at the age of 73. He was interred beside his wife and their infant son, Livingston.
They would have four children together, three of which would reach adulthood. I’m just going to leave you with a quote. Society wants novel entertainment, Mrs. Stu Vesad and Fish explained, it is like a child. I try to give it Phillips.
And when it came to the wealthy, that meant you liven these people up. So that’s the story of Mamie Fish. I adore her. Me too. Oh, I have pictures. I have pictures.
Please and thank you. Allow me to share. Come on. I guess I have to do it this way. Okay. Sorry. My screen is not being very friendly. Perfect. Okay, here we go. So the the the moustachio, the gentleman is Stu Vesad.
Theresa: Okay. That is a very Sam Elliott stash that goes mid-Gel.
Angie: Yep. This is Mamie in her finery.
Theresa: Wow. That is a very, like that picture looks like it was done in one of those touristy saloon dress old-fashioned.
Angie: It really does. It really does. Okay. So this is her bestie, Henry Lear. This is his…
Theresa: Look on his face is like, could you be kidding me?
Angie: Absolutely not. This is also Mr. Lear living his very best life.
Theresa: That is an impressive drag queen. Yeah, he loved drag. I love it. I love it.
Angie: Like, I when I saw that there are cube pictures of him, I was like, oh my gosh, they’re such polar opposites. I love it. So yeah, that’s that’s Mamie Fish in her her crazy life. And when I learned of her, I was like, oh my god, Teresa, I found your great aunt. Especially when I got to the part that was no, darling, I said a toad, not a frog.
Theresa: I mean, you’re mistaken. Yeah. Like, I’m look, if I talk smack to your face or a behind your back, I will do it to your face.
Angie: Like, honestly, I’m going to give you the chance to defend your own honor.
Theresa: Right. I don’t want to, I’m not going to be a liar. Exactly. And if you two are not a liar, and you think I have the cahones to say it to your face, I am here for it. Rate, review, subscribe, um, join our Patreon and comment on the episode on what your favorite part was and who you think we should do next because we are here for all of that. Love it. And on that note, goodbye.
Theresa: Goodbye.
Unhinged History 
Leave a comment