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00:08I'm Mike Wolfe, and I've spent my life traveling the world chasing forgotten
00:13objects and the histories behind them. People everywhere are turning up
00:19artifacts every day, often by chance. And if you're lucky, some of these finds can
00:26be worth serious money. Tonight, on History's Greatest Picks. From the circus ring to the
00:37sports arena and even the silver screen. Items connected to history's greatest
00:43performers that steal the show, like Barnum & Bailey's parade wagon. Nobody loves the
00:49circus as much as Bartlett. This is the fine of a lifetime. The Sultan of Swat's
00:55legendary jersey. This could be the jersey he wore when he called his shot. And the
01:00sharpest shooter in the West. Her specialty was shooting a dime held by her husband
01:05between his finger and his thumb. So sit back and let me entertain you with the
01:11stories behind some of history's greatest picks.
01:24When it comes to America's greatest pastime, there's one great showman who staked his claim
01:30to be the Sultan of Swat. We're talking the one and only Babe Ruth, a guy so iconic he can
01:37sign a ball
01:38and turn it into $400,000. And when he raised two fingers, suddenly we're talking eight figures.
01:49It's 1990 and a sports memorabilia dealer is on his way to meet an elderly lady in the Tampa,
01:55St. Petersburg area of Florida.
01:57You know how this goes. 99 times out of 100, there's nothing there. But every once in a while,
02:04there's something special. And we don't tell you the stories of the ones that went bad.
02:09She ends up showing him this gray flannel baseball shirt.
02:13And across it, the two most important words in baseball history, New York.
02:19And the Steeler immediately recognizes it as a New York Yankees road jersey from around the 1920s or 1930s.
02:30Now, the New York Yankees very famously don't have names on the backs of their jerseys.
02:35But it did have a number.
02:37To anyone who knows anything about baseball, you don't even need the name on the back of the jersey
02:42to know who number three is.
02:46For a home run!
02:48This is Babe Ruth's road jersey.
02:53Babe Ruth at the time is the most famous baseball player on earth.
02:57He was the first home run star in baseball.
03:01So the obvious question is, how did this lady get a Babe Ruth jersey from the 1920s or 30s?
03:08She says, when Babe retired, he gave Dad this jersey as a present.
03:14But is it true?
03:16So the dealer knows what this woman has.
03:18And he buys the jersey off of this lady and then flips it to a private collector for $150,000.
03:25Which seems like a great deal.
03:27But it's absolutely not the end of this story.
03:30In 2005, the jersey appears at auction and something extraordinary happens.
03:35With the rise of the internet, sports collectibles have reached a global market.
03:41And the news of this jersey has spread like wildfire.
03:45This might not be a Babe Ruth jersey.
03:48Collectors start speculating.
03:50Is this Babe Ruth's called shot jersey?
04:01It's game three of the 1932 World Series between the Yankees and the Cubs.
04:06It's the top of the fifth inning and the score is tied at four.
04:09There's nobody on base.
04:12Babe Ruth steps to the plate.
04:14Babe Ruth, someone who can change the game with one swing.
04:20There's a lot of trash talking going on from the players, from the fans.
04:30On an 0-2 count, he takes two fingers.
04:33And this is something that is highly disputed.
04:36The pitcher says one thing.
04:37Babe Ruth said another.
04:38The fans said yet another thing.
04:40Now it's possible he could have been signaling the count, 0-2, two strikes.
04:45It's possible he could have been pointing to the pitcher who was throwing at him.
04:49He could have also been pointing to a fan that was jeering him from the stands.
04:53But the legend that has come out of this story is that he was pointing to center field,
05:00saying he was about to hit a home run before he did.
05:05He cracked it out of Wrigley Field.
05:09Thus the myth of the called shot.
05:12The Yankees go on to sweep that World Series.
05:16The myths were eagerly amplified by the Babe himself.
05:21I looked out at center field and I said,
05:22I'm going to hit the next pitch ball right past the flagpole.
05:27So this is the story that he told until the day he died.
05:34So in 2005, rumors are circulating that this could be the jersey he wore when he called his shot.
05:41Which means that when it's sold in 2005,
05:45its price tag is an astronomical 940 grand.
05:50But don't get too excited because this is only the beginning.
05:56After the jersey sells, state-of-the-art photo analysis
05:59allows people to compare photos of Babe Ruth in 1932 in the World Series in that jersey
06:06with the jersey that has been sold.
06:09Jerseys at this point in time are, in essence, handmade.
06:14Someone has to sew on the letters that say New York.
06:18So there's going to be irregularities.
06:20And that is a boon to anyone looking to authenticate a piece of 20th century history.
06:27In both the photo and the jersey on hand, the Y is in perfect alignment with the buttons.
06:34There's a notch on the N in New York.
06:38There's a slight bend in the bottom of the E in New.
06:42And there's a slight tilt in the middle peak of the W.
06:47There's even a stain below the E that some people think could have been from spilt tobacco juice.
06:53Babe Ruth was famously a tobacco chewer.
06:56When you start matching this jersey with a multitude of photos and newsreel footages
07:04from the 1932 World Series, it starts to build a consensus.
07:10Picture this.
07:12It's August 25th, 2024.
07:14And the jersey comes up for auction once more.
07:17This time, the opening bid is a staggering $14 million.
07:22After six hours of intense bidding, the hammer drops.
07:26And the jersey sold for an astonishing $24,120,000 to an anonymous buyer.
07:36What starts out as a gift to a golf buddy becomes the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever.
07:50Everyone's got a soft spot for the circus.
07:52The color, the chaos, the showmanship.
07:55But one guy, he loved it so much, he paid out a world record $28,800 for a banner.
08:02The Cavalcade of Wonders.
08:04Freaks past and present.
08:06More than 20 feet wide and painted by none other than Fred Johnson, the Picasso of circus art.
08:12It advertises the full cast of sideshow performers you'd expect to see in the heyday of the circus.
08:18But back in the day when the circus came to town, there was one thing way bigger than this that
08:24was sure to grab your attention.
08:29It's the 1940s, and this character Bartlett Palmer is poking around a scrapyard in Connecticut.
08:38What Bartlett discovers is a large wagon, it hasn't been used in a very long time, it's in rough condition,
08:45it doesn't even have wheels on it.
08:46Bartlett knows what this is.
08:48I mean, in his mind's eye, he can picture it.
08:50It's big, it's got these carvings, but it's also got color, and it just gives off this overwhelming sense of
08:58fun.
08:59What he's actually discovered is the Barnum & Bailey's Circus Wagon.
09:07Nobody loves the circus as much as Bartlett.
09:11This is the fine of a lifetime.
09:14So let's dial it back to 1903, a time when the three-ring circus was in its prime.
09:21The Barnum & Bailey Circus has just returned from a triumph of a world tour.
09:27To celebrate, they have this enormous parade, and they commission a wagon, a huge, beautiful, ornate centerpiece for the whole
09:36thing that they call the two hemispheres.
09:39This thing is massive.
09:40It's 28 feet long.
09:42It weighs 13,600 pounds.
09:46It's pulled by a team of 40 horses, four abreast.
09:49And it's driven by the circus big guy at over seven feet tall, the gentle giant Jack Posey.
09:58So just imagine the carving and the paintwork on this thing.
10:02It is exquisite.
10:03No expense is spared to create this.
10:06It's thought that this thing cost upwards of about $4,500, which at the time was enough money to buy
10:12you a good house.
10:14So picture this.
10:15You live in a little town in the Midwest, and you have been anticipating the arrival of the circus for
10:21months.
10:22And now, finally, that day has arrived.
10:28There's this grand parade down the main street.
10:31They've got bands playing.
10:33They've got acrobats.
10:34There are jugglers.
10:36There are lions and tigers.
10:38There are things the likes of which people have never seen in their lives.
10:45For more than 20 years, the circus wagon leads the way as an icon of American pop culture.
10:52But by the 1930s, times have changed, and the parade wagon is just too grand for our modern streets with
10:59all of our power lines and street lamps.
11:02So it actually becomes a little bit of a redundant, obsolete dinosaur, and he's no longer used.
11:10Most of these wagons have been, by this point, dismantled or broken up.
11:14But not this one.
11:16Not if Bartlett has anything to do with it.
11:18He gets his hands on that wagon, and he decides that he is going to restore it.
11:2470 years later, in 2016, the Barnum & Bailey Parade Wagon comes up for auction for the first time.
11:32Rescued from the graveyard and fully restored, it sells for an astonishing $250,000.
11:38The buyer?
11:39Just another guy who simply thinks the circus is the greatest show on earth.
11:48If a circus wagon is out of your price range, no problem.
11:52Grab some clown shoes instead.
11:54A real pair of Ringling Brothers originals will only set you back about a grand.
11:59Not all legendary footwear belongs in the big top.
12:03Next, we're leaving the circus for the court.
12:06I'm talking Michael Jordan.
12:16Michael Jordan enters the NBA as a rookie for the Chicago Bulls,
12:21and he is a phenomenon.
12:24Everyone is trying to get a piece of Jordan.
12:28They know he's going to be big, but they don't have an idea of how big this becomes.
12:34He is coming out of college as one of the most touted players ever to join the NBA draft.
12:40Nike gets an exclusive contract to be Michael Jordan's shoe provider.
12:48And they invent basically a whole new category, the personalized sneaker.
12:54So the Air Jordan 1 goes on the market with the goal of selling $3 million.
12:59By the end of the year, the brand has sold $126 million.
13:05It ends up becoming an iconic part of streetwear culture and hip-hop culture.
13:10The kids all go crazy for it.
13:12They're waiting in lines in order to buy the next shoe drop.
13:16Sneaker heads begin with Air Jordan 1.
13:19This is a runaway success.
13:21So much so that Nike endeavors to release a new model Jordan shoe every year since.
13:30So by 1991, the Air Jordan 6 comes out.
13:34But the Bulls and Michael Jordan have not won an NBA championship yet.
13:39The Bulls have been trying for 25 years.
13:43So when they finally reach the finals against Magic Johnson's Lakers, a PR executive for the Bulls, Tim Hallam, makes
13:51an unusual request.
13:53Hey, Mike, if you win the championship, can I get one of your shoes?
13:59The Bulls win and Jordan obliges.
14:03So he hands over to Tim Hallam a signed sneaker.
14:07His left shoe, a size 13 Air Jordan 6.
14:1392, the Bulls are in the finals again and they win again.
14:16And Michael Jordan is a superstitious sort.
14:19So what's he do?
14:21He presents Tim Hallam with his right shoe and Air Jordan 7.
14:26When Michael Jordan leaves the stadium after winning that second title, he's walking a little unevenly because he's walking with
14:33just one shoe.
14:34It's 1993.
14:35It's the year of the Air Jordan 8.
14:38And the Bulls pull off the unbelievable.
14:40They nail down three street NBA championships.
14:44And at this point, Jordan has already made the monumental announcement that he plans to retire from the game of
14:50basketball at his peak.
14:55It sends ripples across the world of sports.
14:58Tim Hallam gets another right shoe.
15:00And this time, Jordan inscribes it.
15:03One last game.
15:07It turns out it isn't his last time because only two years later, Michael Jordan will issue a two-word
15:15press release.
15:17I'm back.
15:18Jordan's coming back to the NBA.
15:21And he starts playing with the Bulls the very next day.
15:26In 1996, the Bulls win another championship with Michael Jordan back.
15:30And they also, in the regular season, won 72 games.
15:34At the time, it was a record.
15:35And Tim Hallam's going to get another shoe.
15:38This time, the Mark 11.
15:41Next year, 1997, the Bulls win again.
15:44And Hallam gets a Jordan 12.
15:48In 1998, the Bulls bring home another championship.
15:52Michael Jordan made an incredible steal and sunk a game-winning jumper in the final seconds
15:59to clinch the championship for Chicago.
16:02This moment is one of the most iconic in NBA history.
16:06Any basketball fan remembers this moment and remembers where they were when this shot was made.
16:11It's the sixth for Jordan, the sixth for head coach Phil Jackson.
16:15It's this dynasty run.
16:17And Tim Hallam ended up with the Jordan 14.
16:29It's not until 2022 that the existence of Tim Hallam's collection of six singular sneakers
16:35is known to the world.
16:37And sneakerheads go crazy for it.
16:41It's called the Dynasty Collection.
16:43And it goes on a world tour.
16:45Tokyo, Dubai, New York, Singapore.
16:49Sneaker culture obviously has taken on a life of its own in the decades since Michael Jordan
16:53signed that historic Nike deal.
16:56Not just the Jordan brand, but every player now has their own signature shoe.
17:01It's become a marker of their popularity.
17:04So now, not only is this a piece of fashion, but sneakers have become a really valuable investment
17:09asset.
17:10And it all began with Michael Jordan.
17:14Six Air Jordans, six championship wins, one global icon.
17:20When Sotheby's puts the Dynasty Collection on the block in 2024, it sells for 8 million bucks.
17:28Hard to believe when the original Air Jordans first went for $65.
17:40Some guns have a tremendous value because of the story attached to them, like Butch Cassidy's
17:46Colt revolver, which he turned over to a sheriff in exchange for amnesty.
17:50It's sold at auction in 2012 for $175,000.
17:55Other guns sell because they once belonged to a legendary lawman, like Wyatt Earp's .45 caliber
18:01Colt, the gun he carried in Tombstone and used at the shootout at the O.K. Corral.
18:06It was sold at auction in 2014 for $225,000.
18:11And then there's a gun that sells because it belonged to one of the greatest entertainers
18:16of the Wild West.
18:17This one's not a showman.
18:18It's a showwoman.
18:30It's November 10th, and there are newspaper reports of a car crash that just took place
18:36just north of Daytona, Florida.
18:40A Cadillac traveling at speed is struggling to overtake another car when the driver loses
18:46control and flips the Cadillac.
18:53A 62-year-old woman is trapped inside the car.
18:57Her hip and her right leg are crushed inside.
18:59Eventually, she was freed.
19:01A passing motorist helped get her out of the car, and she was taken to the nearest hospital
19:06in Daytona Beach.
19:07A local couple, Albert Mershian and his wife, read about the accident in a local paper.
19:12They pick some flowers from their garden and decide to pay her a visit.
19:15The lady spends the next couple of months recuperating, and during that time, she becomes
19:20friends with the Mershians.
19:22She eventually leaves the hospital, and they maintain their friendship.
19:25The guy then asks her to maybe allow them to purchase something or have something as
19:31sort of a memento.
19:32So she decides to sell them her gun for $150, which is sort of strange until you find out
19:42who she is.
19:46The gun has a silver shield on the stock comb with the letters A.O. engraved on it.
19:53And stamped in the wood of the stock is the name Oakley.
20:02At the end of the 19th century, Annie Oakley was probably the most famous woman in America,
20:08maybe even the world.
20:10Queen Victoria is celebrating her golden jubilee, 50 years on the throne.
20:14And as part of the celebrations, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show is performing in England for
20:19the very first time.
20:20The show is huge.
20:22It's pure spectacle from the Old West.
20:25The Brits absolutely eat this up.
20:28The show plays for nearly two years in London.
20:30People all over the world love Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
20:37It's got 500 performers, 180 horses, 18 buffalo.
20:43It's pure theater.
20:44So it's stagecoach robberies.
20:47It's bison hunts.
20:48It's capturing the spirit of the Wild West.
20:51It's capturing the spirit of the Wild West that kind of didn't really exist, but it's selling
20:55a product, and the product is theater.
20:58But the one star everybody comes to see is a sharpshooter named Annie Oakley.
21:05She's such an accomplished marksman that Buffalo Bill's Wild West show builds a lot of its
21:11popularity on her alone, even though she's small in stature.
21:15She's five feet tall.
21:17She's a hundred pounder.
21:18And that's why eventually Sitting Bull will give her the nickname Little Sure Shot.
21:22Her specialty was shooting a dime held by her husband between his finger and his thumb.
21:28She has the ability to shoot with pinpoint accuracy while riding a horse.
21:34She can even shoot over her shoulder.
21:36And she would do this by laying the rifle on her right shoulder, holding up a mirror that
21:41allowed her to achieve a sight picture, and then delivering the shot with accuracy.
21:48She's better than any man.
21:49In fact, she's so trusted as a sharpshooter that Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany agrees to let
21:54her shoot a cigarette as he holds it in his mouth.
22:01She does 300 shows in England at this time.
22:05And it was then that she was given this shotgun.
22:10This particular shotgun is Oakley's favorite.
22:14And she's depicted in photo after photo holding it.
22:17It's a 12-gauge double-barrel ejection shotgun made by William Cashmore, a very well-known
22:25and respected British gunmaker in Birmingham.
22:28The Oakley that's embossed in the wood of the stock, it comes from the relief die of the
22:33coins that she would use during her shooting demonstrations, which really adds a level of
22:39authenticity.
22:39This is not your average, ordinary 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun.
22:44This is something that's made for someone with a lot of money.
22:48She keeps her favorite gun for 35 years until she decides to sell it to the kind friends
22:54who helped her recover from the car accident.
22:57They keep it, and then they pass it on to their daughter.
23:01In 2016, the gun that was originally bought for $150 sells for $207,000, all because of a
23:09few flowers and a new friend.
23:18If we're talking showmanship, picture this.
23:21Five of the greatest entertainers ever, and all of them in one room, each one slick, stylish,
23:27turning swagger into an art form.
23:35In the back lot of the MGM studio in Hollywood, the most significant moment in Hollywood memorabilia
23:42is taking place.
23:43They're basically selling four decades of props, costumes, sets, you name it.
23:49Anything and everything from MGM on sale from The Wizard of Oz to Ben-Hur.
23:55There are 350,000 of them in total.
23:58I mean, the entire contents of seven different soundstages over 32 sessions of auction.
24:04This is what we're talking about.
24:06Unimaginable treasure trove of artifacts.
24:09There's been nothing like it before.
24:10There's nothing ever since.
24:11I mean, if you love Hollywood, you got to be there.
24:15It's literally the sale of the century.
24:20One of the thousands of people in attendance hoping to buy some memorabilia is Debbie Reynolds.
24:25She's already a Hollywood icon.
24:27She's a star of movies like Singing in the Rain and How the West Was Won.
24:31But she's not just a movie star.
24:33She's also a fan.
24:35She loves the movies and everything about them.
24:38So when she goes to this auction and sees what MGM has put up for sale, she's genuinely horrified.
24:45For Debbie Reynolds, this shouldn't be a Hollywood garage sale.
24:49You know, these are precious items to her.
24:51She believes these things should be in a museum.
24:54So Debbie spends the enormous amount of $600,000, that is literally all of her savings, just to rescue these
25:04precious items.
25:05One of the things she grabs is this black tuxedo.
25:09And inside, there's an MGM label in there, and it reads, P. Lawford.
25:15This tuxedo is the beginning of a decades-long quest for Debbie, which will last her the rest of her
25:21life.
25:21And to discover the origin of this quest, we've got to go back 15 years to the 1950s.
25:32In the 1950s, Las Vegas is undergoing this post-war boom.
25:36Nevada has legalized gambling.
25:39Bugsy Siegel has opened the doors of the Pink Flamingo.
25:42That's in 1946.
25:43So you've got money pouring into the region from organized crime.
25:47And the Las Vegas Strip is born.
25:52The real spark of Vegas, what makes it magical, is the glamour.
25:56And that glamour comes in the form of five guys in tuxedos, the Rat Pack.
26:02Frank Sinatra, we've got Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., English movie star Peter Lawford,
26:08and a comedian named Joey Bishop.
26:11So these guys, they kind of create the headliner idea in Vegas.
26:16But it's not just a song and dance routine.
26:18These guys have a special chemistry.
26:20They are the epitome of cool sophistication, this sort of offhanded wit between them.
26:25They just banter.
26:26They sing.
26:27And they do all of it wearing their trademark tuxedos.
26:31Those Rat Pack performers become huge stars.
26:34In fact, they even have a movie called Ocean's Eleven.
26:36And I don't mean the remake.
26:37I mean the original Ocean's Eleven.
26:40I mean, talk about a draw.
26:43I mean, marquee talent.
26:50Tourists flock in.
26:51People who never even heard of Vegas, they're showing up to see the Rat Pack.
26:55Everybody wants to be where it's happening,
26:58which turns out to be in the middle of the desert in Las Vegas.
27:01And it's not just tourists.
27:02The Rat Pack's legendary parties become a magnet for other celebrities.
27:07Got Marilyn Monroe showing up.
27:09A young senator named John F. Kennedy.
27:12And Debbie Reynolds.
27:14Remember, we're talking a young Debbie Reynolds.
27:17She's part of this crowd.
27:18She's part of the Hollywood glamour.
27:20So she's hanging out with them.
27:22She's backstage with them.
27:23She's partying with them.
27:24She's part of this scene.
27:25So when Debbie Reynolds buys that single tux at the MGM auction in 1970,
27:31she's not just buying a piece of celebrity memorabilia.
27:35For Debbie, it's a piece of history.
27:37Something that needs to be preserved.
27:39Debbie is a woman on a mission.
27:42She's got P. Lawford's tuxedo, Peter Lawford,
27:45but she wants the whole shebang.
27:47She wants the whole set.
27:48She's friends with the Rat Pack.
27:51So one by one, over time,
27:54she manages to convince each one of them to hand over a tuxedo.
27:58These weren't just off the rack.
27:59These were the real tuxes that were actually worn by these guys.
28:03Sammy Davis Jr.'s has moth holes.
28:07Sinatra's and Martin's have stains on them.
28:10There's makeup on Bishop's collar.
28:12And there are loose threads on Lawford's pants.
28:18By the 2000s,
28:19Debbie Reynolds' movie memorabilia collection has exploded.
28:23She has more than 4,000 items in this collection.
28:26She has everything from Audrey Hepburn's dress in My Fair Lady
28:29to the ruby slippers in Wizard of Oz.
28:33What she really wants to do is house all of these amazing artifacts
28:37in a collection, in a museum, that everyone can see.
28:41At one point, she even offers it to the Oscars Academy.
28:45And for whatever reason, they decline her offer.
28:53It's ironic that this collection that came about
28:56when Debbie Reynolds bought Peter Lawford's tux
28:59at the MGM auction in 1970
29:01ends up going up for auction 40 years later.
29:08When the five iconic tuxedos come up for sale,
29:12they cash out for $120,000.
29:15Stains, moth holes, cigarette burns, poker chips,
29:19and the occasional lucky strike included.
29:28It's not every day that a haircut makes front page news.
29:32But on a March morning in 1958,
29:35a barber's floor was about to be covered in gold.
29:42So it's March 25, 1958,
29:45and one of the inductees at Fort Chafee, Arkansas
29:49is getting his mandatory haircut.
29:52Now, the barber clips off these big, beautiful,
29:55bushy chunks of black hair,
29:57and normally that would just all go in the trash,
29:59but not today.
30:00As clumps of jet black hair are cut off
30:03and fall to the floor,
30:05they're swept up and put into plastic bags.
30:07It's been styled with hairspray, gel,
30:10and three kinds of hair wax.
30:14The barber shop is buzzing.
30:15All the press is here.
30:17You got cameras.
30:17You got TV.
30:19They all want to see the most famous haircut since Samson
30:23because this beautiful black hair belongs to Elvis Presley.
30:32Elvis Presley's hair is as much a part of his brand
30:35as his swiveling hips and curled lip.
30:39Presley had blonde hair back when he started,
30:42but then he dyed it jet black
30:45and styled it into what was called the pompadour.
30:48Before that, it's called a quiff,
30:50a ducktail, a jelly roll, or a duck's ass.
30:53But now, it would simply be called the Elvis cut.
30:57In decades past,
30:58men would have, you know, combed their hair,
31:01maybe used a little bit of product
31:02to keep it close to their head.
31:04But now, young men want to look like Elvis,
31:07and this haircut is revolutionary.
31:09Elvis' haircut was copied by millions.
31:13The whole world around,
31:15Japan, Europe, you name it.
31:18This became the signature style
31:20of greasers, hoodlums, and rockers.
31:24And it's not just young men.
31:26When word gets out that Elvis' hair
31:28has a date with an army barber's clippers,
31:31young women write letters to President Eisenhower
31:34asking him to pardon Elvis
31:36so he doesn't have to get his haircut.
31:38But the draft is the draft,
31:39and there's no fighting the barber's clippers.
31:43But what Elvis loses in terms of hair,
31:46the guy gains a thousand times in publicity.
31:50His manager, Colonel Tom Parker,
31:52knows that this is an opportunity,
31:54so he has invited 55 different members of the press
31:57to come witness this moment.
32:00This haircut becomes symbolic of his patriotism
32:04and his willingness to sacrifice for his country.
32:08This is a public relations triumph.
32:12Now, all that hair that's fallen on the ground
32:14in that barbershop has value.
32:16And so Colonel Tom Parker says,
32:18I'm going to give this to somebody,
32:19and he gives it to a guy named Gary Pepper.
32:21Gary Pepper is local to Memphis,
32:23and he runs a news clipping service.
32:26Basically, what that means is every morning,
32:27he scans the local papers and cuts out news articles
32:31that mention local businesses.
32:33And these companies pay Gary for his services.
32:35After a while, Gary starts noticing articles
32:37about this singer with an unusual name, Presley.
32:41Who is this?
32:41And so he finds out that Presley's mom,
32:45Mrs. Presley,
32:45collects newspaper clippings about her son.
32:48He starts collecting them
32:49and giving them to Elvis' mom.
32:51And there's one thing about Elvis,
32:52because if you're nice to his mom,
32:53he'll be nice to you.
32:54And this forms the basis
32:55of a lifelong friendship between the two men.
33:01It's Pepper who becomes the president
33:03of one of the first Elvis Presley fan clubs,
33:06the Elvis Tankers.
33:07When Elvis Presley is drafted,
33:09he goes into U.S. Army Armored Forces.
33:12And because of that,
33:13Gary Pepper's fan club is called the Tankers.
33:16Gary realizes that members of the Tankers
33:19would love to own a little piece of Elvis Presley.
33:23And so from time to time,
33:24he mails off a little clipping of Elvis' hair.
33:29But he keeps a clump of that hair for himself.
33:34Elvis buys him a house, buys him a car,
33:37and even employs his dad, Sterling Pepper,
33:39as a gate attendant at Graceland.
33:42And because Gary is disabled and has cerebral palsy,
33:45Elvis gets him a nurse, Nancy Pease Whitehead.
33:48By 1978, Gary's health is declining.
33:51And before he dies,
33:52he gives his entire collection of Elvis memorabilia,
33:55including a jumpsuit and a 1957 Chevy,
33:58and the hair to the nurse.
34:02Gary's nurse keeps the collection of Elvis memorabilia
34:05for the next three decades.
34:07In 2009, she puts her collection up for auction,
34:11and the hair sells for $18,300,
34:16which isn't a bad return on a haircut,
34:18which originally cost Elvis 65 cents.
34:30Every entertainer has got that one thing.
34:34Sometimes it's their voice,
34:36sometimes it's their presence,
34:37but every once in a while,
34:39it's the outfit that does the talking.
34:48Bob Mackie is fresh out of school.
34:50He's a rookie sketch artist and fashion designer,
34:53and he has got his first assignment in Hollywood.
34:56His boss is the Oscar-winning Hollywood designer,
35:01Jean-Louis,
35:02and he's been asked to make a dress for a special occasion.
35:05So he asks Bob to come up with the initial sketches.
35:09Now, Jean-Louis is French,
35:11and even though he's been in Hollywood since the 1940s,
35:13he still has this super thick accent.
35:15So Bob struggles to understand what he's saying to him,
35:19but he gets enough to finish the job.
35:22His brief is to create a dress that gives the impression
35:25that the woman's not wearing a dress,
35:28that she's totally naked.
35:30I mean, he's got to walk this very, very thin line.
35:33Tricky task, but they come up with a solution.
35:37The gown is a sleeveless column dress
35:39with a scoop neck and an open back with a small train.
35:44It's skin-colored with no underlining,
35:46so it gives the impression of being see-through,
35:49but it's covered in swirls of rhinestones
35:52and crystals sewn into it to protect modesty.
35:55Lots and lots of shiny rhinestones
35:58to sort of distract the eye.
35:59They'll sort of wrap around the dress,
36:01covering up the naughty bits.
36:04The result is a dress that takes center stage
36:07at perhaps the most famous
36:08and maybe even notorious birthday party ever held.
36:18So 15,000 people are packing in
36:21to Madison Square Garden.
36:22It's billed as a Democratic fundraiser,
36:25but everybody knows it's also JFK's 45th birthday.
36:31JFK is a star.
36:32I mean, he's on par with the biggest Hollywood celebrities,
36:35and the guest list proves it.
36:37You got Henry Fonda, Shirley MacLean, Ella Fitzgerald.
36:40Anybody who's anybody in New York at that time
36:42is showing up for this party.
36:43Plus, the one star who upstages all of them,
36:47including the birthday boy.
36:49Marilyn Monroe.
36:52The host of the evening emceeing everything
36:54is John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law,
36:57who is Peter Laufer, the English movie star.
37:00All night he has a running gag
37:02about Marilyn Monroe being late.
37:04Mr. President, Marilyn Monroe.
37:07He keeps pretending to introduce her,
37:09then he looks around confused when she's not around,
37:13and the audiences lap it up.
37:15Finally, she makes her entrance.
37:19She slinks up to the podium,
37:22and then she drops that white fur wrap
37:25to reveal the dress.
37:30And a gasp comes from the crowd.
37:35The chiffon dress matches her skin tone perfectly,
37:38and even though there's a zipper at the back,
37:40it's so form-fitting that Jean-Louis
37:43had to sew her into it.
37:45There's a story that Marilyn Monroe
37:46had actually told the event planners
37:48that she would dress discreetly,
37:50and when viewed under normal light,
37:52the dress did actually appear to be modest.
37:56But under the stage lights,
37:58that fabric of that dress just sort of melts away.
38:01I mean, the only hint that there's something there
38:04is this explosion of crystal.
38:07It actually makes her look like she's sparkling and naked.
38:12And then she sings it,
38:14this sexy, happy birthday,
38:16yet somehow breathless and innocent.
38:19Happy birthday to you.
38:25That moment absolutely encapsulates
38:28the character that is Marilyn Monroe.
38:30Happy birthday, Mr. President.
38:36That moment of Marilyn Monroe in that dress,
38:40in that setting, singing to that man,
38:42it was a moment frozen in time.
38:44The performance only lasts a minute,
38:46but between the breathy and sexy singing
38:49and that dress,
38:51it quickly becomes an iconic moment
38:53in both political and pop culture history.
38:56It also seems to confirm
38:57what everyone there is already thinking,
39:00that the president and Marilyn Monroe
39:03are having a secret affair.
39:07No one present that night
39:08knows for sure that they are,
39:10but there is one noticeable absence in the audience,
39:14and that is Kennedy's wife, Jackie.
39:17Rumors about Kennedy's roving eye
39:20have been swirling for years,
39:21and lately, all the gossip has been focused
39:25on the exact nature of Marilyn Monroe's relationship
39:28with the president.
39:31A birthday cake gets wheeled out,
39:33and JFK, cool as ever,
39:36makes a crack about how he can now retire from politics
39:39now that he's been sung happy birthday to
39:42in such a wholesome manner.
39:45And this is the last time that Marilyn Monroe
39:48and John F. Kennedy will ever see each other in person again.
39:53Just three months later,
39:56Marilyn Monroe dies of an overdose,
39:58and about a year later,
40:00John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
40:03As for the dress,
40:04it survives,
40:05and it is passed down through Marilyn's estate.
40:09Marilyn originally paid $12,000 for this dress in 1962,
40:13which would be the equivalent to around $128,000 in today's money.
40:19When it comes on the market in 2016,
40:22because of its iconic show-stopping status,
40:25it sells for a staggering $4.8 million.
40:29That's a world record for a dress.
40:32Crazy money.
40:37Which just goes to show,
40:39whether it's a dress,
40:40a gun,
40:42or a parade wagon,
40:45there's money to be made
40:47from the greatest entertainers of all time.
41:03That's a world record for a dress.
41:03That's a world record for a dress.
41:03That's a world record for a dress.
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