1 00:00:01,543 --> 00:00:03,754 [lighthearted music] 2 00:00:04,254 --> 00:00:06,006 - Do you remember when delivering pizza 3 00:00:06,006 --> 00:00:07,716 in 30 minutes or less 4 00:00:07,716 --> 00:00:10,844 was a dangerous way to make some dough? 5 00:00:10,844 --> 00:00:14,056 - If it's not delivered in 30 minutes, it's free? 6 00:00:14,056 --> 00:00:16,808 - People are rooting against the delivery guy. 7 00:00:16,808 --> 00:00:18,769 They want them to fail. 8 00:00:18,769 --> 00:00:21,146 - You were definitely like, "Let's try to order pizza 9 00:00:21,146 --> 00:00:24,525 maybe when it's icy or when there's a snowstorm." 10 00:00:24,525 --> 00:00:26,401 - Or when you could earn a nice living 11 00:00:26,401 --> 00:00:29,905 digging up the bodies of those no longer living. 12 00:00:29,905 --> 00:00:32,366 - They're transporting bodies in wheelbarrows, 13 00:00:32,366 --> 00:00:34,243 throwing them over their shoulder. 14 00:00:34,243 --> 00:00:36,411 They're putting 'em on horseback. 15 00:00:36,411 --> 00:00:41,083 - A well-preserved, recently dug up body would get you $700. 16 00:00:41,083 --> 00:00:44,586 That is a lot more than most people would make in a month. 17 00:00:44,586 --> 00:00:46,838 - Or when dam workers risked it all 18 00:00:46,838 --> 00:00:49,591 to make some damn good money. 19 00:00:49,591 --> 00:00:51,677 - They placed dynamite into that wall. 20 00:00:51,677 --> 00:00:54,763 They light the fuse and swing away, 21 00:00:54,763 --> 00:00:58,517 and do the process over and over all day for hours. 22 00:00:58,517 --> 00:01:00,978 - This used to be how American men were. 23 00:01:00,978 --> 00:01:03,689 Get me a rope, a plank, and pay me seven bucks, 24 00:01:03,689 --> 00:01:05,232 and I'll get that done for you. 25 00:01:05,232 --> 00:01:07,859 - These are the things we used to do, 26 00:01:07,859 --> 00:01:10,320 for fun, for money, 27 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:12,406 or maybe out of boredom, 28 00:01:12,406 --> 00:01:14,825 that we'll never see again. 29 00:01:14,825 --> 00:01:16,410 Were they dangerous? 30 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:17,744 Certainly. 31 00:01:17,744 --> 00:01:18,579 Deadly? 32 00:01:18,579 --> 00:01:19,746 Occasionally. 33 00:01:19,746 --> 00:01:22,374 But boy, wasn't it exciting? 34 00:01:22,374 --> 00:01:23,834 [dramatic music] 35 00:01:23,834 --> 00:01:26,712 [dramatic music] 36 00:01:29,089 --> 00:01:31,925 [dramatic music] 37 00:01:33,051 --> 00:01:35,262 Some say the ultimate way to get rich quick 38 00:01:35,262 --> 00:01:37,764 was the gold rush of the 1840s. 39 00:01:37,764 --> 00:01:41,435 But a century later, Americans were in a frenzy 40 00:01:41,435 --> 00:01:44,479 to get their hands on something else valuable, 41 00:01:44,479 --> 00:01:46,690 something that, it turns out, 42 00:01:46,690 --> 00:01:49,359 was a really bad thing to put your hands on. 43 00:01:50,861 --> 00:01:53,947 - In the late 1940s, there's this new resource 44 00:01:53,947 --> 00:01:55,782 that everyone is talking about. 45 00:01:55,782 --> 00:01:57,242 And it's just out there, 46 00:01:57,242 --> 00:01:59,453 in the American West, waiting to be discovered. 47 00:01:59,453 --> 00:02:01,580 If you can find it, you're gonna get rich quick. 48 00:02:01,580 --> 00:02:02,914 And what is it? 49 00:02:02,914 --> 00:02:04,082 It's uranium. 50 00:02:04,082 --> 00:02:06,043 [dramatic music] 51 00:02:06,043 --> 00:02:07,419 - Now the US government's been relying 52 00:02:07,419 --> 00:02:09,670 on imports of uranium from places like Canada 53 00:02:09,670 --> 00:02:11,214 and the Belgian Congo. 54 00:02:11,214 --> 00:02:13,884 But after the war, with an increase in nuclear testing, 55 00:02:13,884 --> 00:02:17,137 all of a sudden the US needs a lot more uranium, 56 00:02:17,137 --> 00:02:18,347 and they need it now. 57 00:02:19,806 --> 00:02:23,101 - So the federal government could build a big prospecting 58 00:02:23,101 --> 00:02:25,896 and mining operation, but they do something else. 59 00:02:25,896 --> 00:02:27,898 Instead, the Atomic Energy Commission 60 00:02:27,898 --> 00:02:29,900 basically says to the American people, 61 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:33,195 "Get outside and find us some uranium." 62 00:02:33,195 --> 00:02:36,323 - The Commission starts running ads in magazines, 63 00:02:36,323 --> 00:02:39,368 trying to say, "Hey, we will pay you good money 64 00:02:39,368 --> 00:02:42,204 if you go mine this ore for us." 65 00:02:42,204 --> 00:02:44,247 - [Jason] For every pound of uranium you find, 66 00:02:44,247 --> 00:02:46,458 the government's gonna pay you $3.50, 67 00:02:46,458 --> 00:02:48,710 or that's effectively $50 today. 68 00:02:48,710 --> 00:02:51,213 If you can find a whole deposit of uranium, 69 00:02:51,213 --> 00:02:56,218 there's a $10,000 bonus, equivalent to 150 grand today. 70 00:02:57,010 --> 00:02:59,054 So people are motivated. 71 00:02:59,054 --> 00:03:01,723 - Do you need a special permit or license to do this? 72 00:03:01,723 --> 00:03:02,766 No, you don't. 73 00:03:02,766 --> 00:03:04,226 But the government did say, 74 00:03:04,226 --> 00:03:08,021 "Hey, if you're looking, here's 350 million acres, 75 00:03:08,021 --> 00:03:11,483 basically a quarter of the size of the continental US, 76 00:03:11,483 --> 00:03:13,193 where you should go look for this stuff, 77 00:03:13,193 --> 00:03:14,986 'cause we're pretty sure it's here." 78 00:03:14,986 --> 00:03:17,656 - [Henry] It's an official government-backed treasure hunt, 79 00:03:17,656 --> 00:03:20,367 and Americans jump right in. 80 00:03:20,367 --> 00:03:22,536 - [Natalia] Prospecting is really grueling work, 81 00:03:22,536 --> 00:03:25,080 but some people make a fortune doing it. 82 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:26,957 There's this one man, Charles Steen, 83 00:03:26,957 --> 00:03:29,751 who lived in this very modest shack in Utah. 84 00:03:29,751 --> 00:03:33,713 In 1952, he stumbles upon one of the largest deposits ever. 85 00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:36,425 It's worth $6 billion today. 86 00:03:37,551 --> 00:03:41,847 - [Jason] By the 1950s, America has gone uranium crazy. 87 00:03:41,847 --> 00:03:44,724 Even comedic superstar Lucille Ball 88 00:03:44,724 --> 00:03:46,893 has an episode in one of her TV specials 89 00:03:46,893 --> 00:03:49,354 where she becomes a uranium prospector. 90 00:03:49,354 --> 00:03:50,272 - Honey! 91 00:03:50,272 --> 00:03:51,440 Honey, you did it! 92 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:52,274 - I knew it! 93 00:03:52,274 --> 00:03:53,191 - You did it! 94 00:03:53,191 --> 00:03:54,734 - I knew I'd find uranium! 95 00:03:54,734 --> 00:03:56,778 - The idea of prospecting uranium 96 00:03:56,778 --> 00:03:59,322 has become part of the pop culture. 97 00:04:00,449 --> 00:04:01,992 - [Rutledge] By the late '60s, 98 00:04:01,992 --> 00:04:04,578 people have brought the government so much uranium. 99 00:04:04,578 --> 00:04:08,498 It's actually almost 350 million pounds, 100 00:04:08,498 --> 00:04:12,169 which is twice the amount of steel weight 101 00:04:12,169 --> 00:04:14,129 that's in the Golden Gate Bridge. 102 00:04:14,129 --> 00:04:15,589 - [Jason] In exchange for this work, 103 00:04:15,589 --> 00:04:19,176 the government has paid out $3 billion to citizens, 104 00:04:19,176 --> 00:04:21,887 which is almost $35 billion in today's money. 105 00:04:21,887 --> 00:04:24,848 That is more than NASA's current annual budget. 106 00:04:26,183 --> 00:04:28,477 - [Dan] But there's this one minor difference between this 107 00:04:28,477 --> 00:04:32,314 and the gold rush a century earlier, or silver, or even oil. 108 00:04:32,314 --> 00:04:36,193 And that is that those things aren't radioactive. 109 00:04:36,193 --> 00:04:38,695 This stuff is very, very hazardous. 110 00:04:38,695 --> 00:04:40,781 And you've got all these people rushing out 111 00:04:40,781 --> 00:04:44,159 and handling it without any protection at all. 112 00:04:44,159 --> 00:04:46,620 - Today uranium is handled very differently. 113 00:04:46,620 --> 00:04:48,705 People are wearing, first of all, protective gear. 114 00:04:48,705 --> 00:04:50,040 They're wearing gloves, 115 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,042 they're wearing hazardous material suits. 116 00:04:52,042 --> 00:04:54,711 - But the '50s are like this time of blissful ignorance 117 00:04:54,711 --> 00:04:57,839 about radioactivity or any environmental hazard. 118 00:04:57,839 --> 00:04:59,841 There's even this atomic industry film 119 00:04:59,841 --> 00:05:02,803 where a guy is opening up a can of crushed uranium 120 00:05:02,803 --> 00:05:04,763 and then getting it all over his fingers 121 00:05:04,763 --> 00:05:07,098 like he's playing with sand at the beach. 122 00:05:07,098 --> 00:05:08,433 - [Jason] But not surprisingly, 123 00:05:08,433 --> 00:05:10,227 people working most closely with uranium, 124 00:05:10,227 --> 00:05:13,563 prospectors, truckers, miners, they start getting sick. 125 00:05:14,731 --> 00:05:16,775 - [Henry] As lung cancer and respiratory disease 126 00:05:16,775 --> 00:05:19,402 ripple through uranium mining towns, 127 00:05:19,402 --> 00:05:22,280 the evidence becomes impossible to ignore. 128 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:25,575 - [Jason] In 1974, the Atomic Energy Commission shuts down. 129 00:05:25,575 --> 00:05:27,702 And later, Congress institutes 130 00:05:27,702 --> 00:05:30,038 the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, 131 00:05:30,038 --> 00:05:32,666 providing billions for the people who got sick 132 00:05:32,666 --> 00:05:34,417 and their families. 133 00:05:34,417 --> 00:05:35,293 - [Rutledge] There are still people looking for 134 00:05:35,293 --> 00:05:36,878 uranium today. 135 00:05:36,878 --> 00:05:39,047 The big difference is the government is 136 00:05:39,047 --> 00:05:40,549 not encouraging it, 137 00:05:40,549 --> 00:05:42,717 nor are they incentivizing it. 138 00:05:42,717 --> 00:05:44,219 And hopefully those people 139 00:05:44,219 --> 00:05:46,721 are taking some amount of safety into account here. 140 00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:51,601 - Uranium hunters were encouraged to chase a fortune 141 00:05:51,601 --> 00:05:53,687 and paid a steep price. 142 00:05:53,687 --> 00:05:56,439 But decades earlier, there was another job 143 00:05:56,439 --> 00:05:58,692 that offered great upward mobility, 144 00:05:58,692 --> 00:06:00,360 straight up the side of a building. 145 00:06:01,653 --> 00:06:02,988 - [Martin] In the early 1900s, 146 00:06:02,988 --> 00:06:05,740 American cities are action-packed places. 147 00:06:05,740 --> 00:06:07,367 As a result of the development of concrete, 148 00:06:07,367 --> 00:06:09,202 we have skyscrapers. 149 00:06:09,202 --> 00:06:11,705 The cities are getting taller, they're getting bigger, 150 00:06:11,705 --> 00:06:14,875 they're thriving, and they're exciting. 151 00:06:14,875 --> 00:06:16,626 - Banks, hotels, businesses, 152 00:06:16,626 --> 00:06:19,045 they're all competing for the public's attention. 153 00:06:19,045 --> 00:06:21,506 And this gives rise to what we call ballyhoo, 154 00:06:21,506 --> 00:06:23,592 these great spectacular events 155 00:06:23,592 --> 00:06:25,260 that capture the public attention 156 00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:26,887 all to draw attention to the name 157 00:06:26,887 --> 00:06:28,763 on the front of the building. 158 00:06:28,763 --> 00:06:30,849 - So a new class of daredevils arises 159 00:06:30,849 --> 00:06:33,101 in order to bring attention to these businesses, 160 00:06:33,101 --> 00:06:36,438 by climbing up the side of buildings, for a fee, 161 00:06:36,438 --> 00:06:37,981 with no safety equipment. 162 00:06:37,981 --> 00:06:40,025 - [Brian] Sometimes these guys, by the way, 163 00:06:40,025 --> 00:06:41,735 they just dressed like they were going to the office. 164 00:06:41,735 --> 00:06:44,571 They would wear business shoes and a suit, 165 00:06:44,571 --> 00:06:45,739 so it looked like 166 00:06:45,739 --> 00:06:47,073 they were just crawling out of the building, 167 00:06:47,073 --> 00:06:48,575 which is actually a pretty good hook. 168 00:06:48,575 --> 00:06:51,077 - [Edward] Some of these climbers really understand 169 00:06:51,077 --> 00:06:54,581 showmanship, so they'll often do various dramatic poses as they 170 00:06:54,581 --> 00:06:57,042 climb, really milking the attention factor, 171 00:06:57,042 --> 00:06:58,877 getting the crowd completely into it. 172 00:06:58,877 --> 00:07:00,295 - [Lance] In general, if someone's doing something 173 00:07:00,295 --> 00:07:01,880 that looks to be crazy, 174 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:03,590 where you feel that pumping in your heart 175 00:07:03,590 --> 00:07:04,924 because you think it's dangerous, 176 00:07:04,924 --> 00:07:05,884 you're gonna stand and look. 177 00:07:05,884 --> 00:07:07,344 I would. 178 00:07:07,344 --> 00:07:08,678 - These climbers 179 00:07:08,678 --> 00:07:10,597 are eventually given the nickname human flies 180 00:07:10,597 --> 00:07:12,724 because of the way they seem to defy gravity 181 00:07:12,724 --> 00:07:14,643 while clutching to the outside of the building. 182 00:07:14,643 --> 00:07:17,479 - This starts out as a handful of, like, promotional stunts, 183 00:07:17,479 --> 00:07:19,356 but it starts to become a phenomenon 184 00:07:19,356 --> 00:07:21,858 that spreads from city to city. 185 00:07:21,858 --> 00:07:24,444 - These climbers find that not only are businesses 186 00:07:24,444 --> 00:07:25,862 eager to get it on it, 187 00:07:25,862 --> 00:07:28,531 but it's actually fairly easy to get city approval. 188 00:07:28,531 --> 00:07:30,075 - [Martin] If someone was climbing a building today, 189 00:07:30,075 --> 00:07:32,869 they would have a security perimeter around the site. 190 00:07:32,869 --> 00:07:35,205 Back then, that's not the case. 191 00:07:35,205 --> 00:07:36,623 The spectators are encouraged 192 00:07:36,623 --> 00:07:39,292 to gather around at the base of the building. 193 00:07:39,292 --> 00:07:41,127 - [Edward] The famous human fly was George Polley. 194 00:07:41,127 --> 00:07:42,712 And he was not only a great climber, 195 00:07:42,712 --> 00:07:45,006 but he also was a great showman. 196 00:07:45,006 --> 00:07:48,760 - [Brian] He would get halfway up and then pretend to fall. 197 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,595 And the crowd would [gasps]. 198 00:07:50,595 --> 00:07:52,931 And then he would just laugh and keep going. 199 00:07:52,931 --> 00:07:54,974 - [Lance] He climbs a building in Massachusetts. 200 00:07:54,974 --> 00:07:57,602 And it's so dangerous that some people can't watch it, 201 00:07:57,602 --> 00:07:58,812 they hide their eyes, 202 00:07:58,812 --> 00:08:00,397 'cause he's just hanging on by his fingertips. 203 00:08:00,397 --> 00:08:01,981 But when he makes it to the top, 204 00:08:01,981 --> 00:08:05,026 he rides his bicycle around the edge of the building 205 00:08:05,026 --> 00:08:06,069 as a finale. 206 00:08:06,069 --> 00:08:08,780 [dramatic music] 207 00:08:08,780 --> 00:08:10,115 - [Brian] This was a profession. 208 00:08:10,115 --> 00:08:12,200 They got paid like 200 bucks a climb, 209 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,577 which is what other people made in about a month. 210 00:08:14,577 --> 00:08:15,704 So a guy could literally be like, 211 00:08:15,704 --> 00:08:17,997 "Honey, I'll be back later," 212 00:08:17,997 --> 00:08:21,084 go to work, crawl up, catch 200 bucks. 213 00:08:21,084 --> 00:08:22,794 Living the high life. 214 00:08:22,794 --> 00:08:25,505 - [Henry] Crowds loved to watch these daredevils for hire 215 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:26,965 push their luck. 216 00:08:26,965 --> 00:08:30,218 But sometimes that luck runs out. 217 00:08:31,344 --> 00:08:34,139 - In 1923, a human fly named Harry Young 218 00:08:34,139 --> 00:08:38,017 climbs the 16-story Hotel Martinique in Manhattan 219 00:08:38,017 --> 00:08:41,187 for a hundred dollar fee in order to promote a movie. 220 00:08:41,187 --> 00:08:43,732 Throughout his climb, he pretends several times 221 00:08:43,732 --> 00:08:46,818 to slip his foot just to create dramatic effect 222 00:08:46,818 --> 00:08:48,403 and give the people a show. 223 00:08:48,403 --> 00:08:51,865 - [Henry] At the 11th floor, he does another foot slip, 224 00:08:51,865 --> 00:08:55,285 except this time it's not a gag. 225 00:08:55,285 --> 00:08:56,161 - [Kavitha] His foot actually slips and he falls 226 00:08:56,161 --> 00:08:58,288 off the building. 227 00:08:58,288 --> 00:09:00,081 He hits a part of the building's facade 228 00:09:00,081 --> 00:09:01,791 and then plummets down. 229 00:09:01,791 --> 00:09:04,919 The policemen has to force a bunch of women off the sidewalk 230 00:09:04,919 --> 00:09:06,671 to keep them from getting hit. 231 00:09:06,671 --> 00:09:09,549 Young is killed pretty much instantly. 232 00:09:09,549 --> 00:09:12,427 - [Henry] There are more fatal falls just like that one, 233 00:09:12,427 --> 00:09:15,138 and officials start putting their foot down. 234 00:09:15,138 --> 00:09:17,057 - [Lance] New York City becomes one of the first places 235 00:09:17,057 --> 00:09:18,058 to crack down. 236 00:09:18,058 --> 00:09:19,726 The police start denying permits. 237 00:09:19,726 --> 00:09:21,936 Then the Great Depression hits 238 00:09:21,936 --> 00:09:24,564 and advertising budgets dry up. 239 00:09:24,564 --> 00:09:27,358 And eventually the profession of human fly 240 00:09:27,358 --> 00:09:29,194 disappears forever. 241 00:09:29,194 --> 00:09:31,362 - [Martin] If somebody does an event like this today, 242 00:09:31,362 --> 00:09:32,781 it's under so much safety 243 00:09:32,781 --> 00:09:36,117 that it really doesn't feel raw and exciting 244 00:09:36,117 --> 00:09:39,496 the way that it must have felt to people a century ago. 245 00:09:39,496 --> 00:09:42,082 That's something that's gone the way of the dodo. 246 00:09:43,041 --> 00:09:45,418 - Everyone wants to get to the top. 247 00:09:45,418 --> 00:09:48,088 Human flies just took the direct route. 248 00:09:50,882 --> 00:09:52,509 - We've all seen signs on job sites 249 00:09:52,509 --> 00:09:54,803 that say "X days without an accident." 250 00:09:54,803 --> 00:09:58,556 Now imagine a job where they couldn't get past 19. 251 00:09:58,556 --> 00:10:01,643 And that's not 19 without an accident. 252 00:10:01,643 --> 00:10:04,187 I mean 19 without a death. 253 00:10:05,522 --> 00:10:07,982 - [Austin] In the early 1930s, the Colorado River 254 00:10:07,982 --> 00:10:10,652 is completely unpredictable. 255 00:10:10,652 --> 00:10:14,614 Some years, it's completely arid and crops fail. 256 00:10:14,614 --> 00:10:17,283 Other years, the snowfall is so intense 257 00:10:17,283 --> 00:10:20,036 it washes away entire harvests 258 00:10:20,036 --> 00:10:22,330 throughout Arizona and California 259 00:10:22,330 --> 00:10:24,082 and kills townspeople. 260 00:10:24,082 --> 00:10:26,000 - [Jason] The government decides to fix this problem 261 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:27,877 by going really big. 262 00:10:27,877 --> 00:10:29,629 They set out to construct 263 00:10:29,629 --> 00:10:33,925 a massive concrete wall 60 stories high. 264 00:10:33,925 --> 00:10:35,468 Not only that, 265 00:10:35,468 --> 00:10:36,886 they're gonna have this wall generate electricity, 266 00:10:36,886 --> 00:10:40,306 which will feed millions of homes in the southwest. 267 00:10:40,306 --> 00:10:43,268 - [Henry] This wall is the Hoover Dam. 268 00:10:43,268 --> 00:10:44,644 - Construction begins on the dam, 269 00:10:44,644 --> 00:10:47,397 and the working conditions are tough. 270 00:10:47,397 --> 00:10:49,524 People drown in the Colorado River, 271 00:10:49,524 --> 00:10:52,777 they're hit by moving trucks, objects fall on them. 272 00:10:52,777 --> 00:10:55,363 It's incredibly dangerous. 273 00:10:55,363 --> 00:10:57,574 - [Henry] But the most treacherous job of all 274 00:10:57,574 --> 00:11:01,494 is what's called a high scaler. 275 00:11:01,494 --> 00:11:02,829 - The high scaler's job 276 00:11:02,829 --> 00:11:05,665 is to clear the canyon walls of any loose rock 277 00:11:05,665 --> 00:11:09,586 so that the dam can be built onto smooth, stable bedrock. 278 00:11:09,586 --> 00:11:11,880 So that means loading yourself up with gear 279 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,674 and then climbing down the canyon walls. 280 00:11:14,674 --> 00:11:16,968 - [Henry] The only thing standing between these men 281 00:11:16,968 --> 00:11:20,847 and an 800 foot drop is a single rope 282 00:11:20,847 --> 00:11:22,974 and a whole lot of nerve. 283 00:11:22,974 --> 00:11:24,225 - [Hakeem] Once they're down, 284 00:11:24,225 --> 00:11:26,060 a jackhammer has to be lowered to them 285 00:11:26,060 --> 00:11:27,896 to clear away loose rocks, 286 00:11:27,896 --> 00:11:31,441 but they also have to drill holes into the wall. 287 00:11:31,441 --> 00:11:34,235 And then they place dynamite into that wall. 288 00:11:34,235 --> 00:11:37,739 They light the fuse and swing away at just the right time 289 00:11:37,739 --> 00:11:40,533 so that the dynamite can explode and they don't get hurt. 290 00:11:40,533 --> 00:11:42,160 And then they go and do the process 291 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,038 over and over all day for hours. 292 00:11:45,038 --> 00:11:46,956 - No safety, no anything. 293 00:11:46,956 --> 00:11:49,751 Like, this used to be how American men were. 294 00:11:49,751 --> 00:11:51,252 "You need to clip some of that? 295 00:11:51,252 --> 00:11:54,422 Yeah, get me a rope, a plank, and pay me seven bucks, 296 00:11:54,422 --> 00:11:55,548 and I'll get that done for you." 297 00:11:55,548 --> 00:11:57,884 Could you imagine that today? 298 00:11:57,884 --> 00:11:59,802 No way. 299 00:11:59,802 --> 00:12:02,055 - [Henry] But they're not just getting the job done, 300 00:12:02,055 --> 00:12:03,640 they're putting on a show. 301 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:05,767 [explosions booming] 302 00:12:05,767 --> 00:12:07,393 - Tourists drive from all over the place 303 00:12:07,393 --> 00:12:10,521 to watch these men who, at this size and distance, 304 00:12:10,521 --> 00:12:12,232 look like insects. 305 00:12:12,232 --> 00:12:15,318 Journalists marvel at the three-ring circus 306 00:12:15,318 --> 00:12:18,613 that is the Hoover Dam being built. 307 00:12:18,613 --> 00:12:20,531 - [Jason] They have little contests with each other. 308 00:12:20,531 --> 00:12:22,492 Some of them decide to push out from the wall 309 00:12:22,492 --> 00:12:24,118 as far as they can on their rope. 310 00:12:24,118 --> 00:12:26,204 They're daring each other to outdo one another. 311 00:12:26,204 --> 00:12:28,831 And the fact that safety foreman are few and far between 312 00:12:28,831 --> 00:12:32,001 means there's really no one there to tell them to stop. 313 00:12:32,001 --> 00:12:34,295 - [Don] But as construction moves along, 314 00:12:34,295 --> 00:12:38,466 the glamour of being a high scaler begins to fade. 315 00:12:38,466 --> 00:12:40,510 - [Hakeem] The work is nonstop. 316 00:12:40,510 --> 00:12:43,680 They work eight hours a day, seven days a week, 317 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:44,931 all year long. 318 00:12:44,931 --> 00:12:46,557 You're gonna get mentally tired, 319 00:12:46,557 --> 00:12:48,601 and that's gonna lead to errors. 320 00:12:48,601 --> 00:12:51,396 - [Don] Fatigue makes it easy to lose your wits, 321 00:12:51,396 --> 00:12:53,856 raising the chances that you won't anchor yourself properly, 322 00:12:53,856 --> 00:12:56,567 plummeting 800 feet to your death. 323 00:12:56,567 --> 00:12:58,653 Oh, and you can also get blown up by the dynamite 324 00:12:58,653 --> 00:13:00,321 if you aren't careful. 325 00:13:00,321 --> 00:13:02,657 - [Henry] By today's construction standards, 326 00:13:02,657 --> 00:13:06,202 the final death toll is stunning. 327 00:13:06,202 --> 00:13:09,914 - [Austin] 96 deaths are officially accounted for 328 00:13:09,914 --> 00:13:12,041 in the construction of the dam, 329 00:13:12,041 --> 00:13:15,545 but some experts think that's actually an under count. 330 00:13:15,545 --> 00:13:18,214 Regardless, it's a staggering amount of lives 331 00:13:18,214 --> 00:13:21,009 and amounts to about one death every 19 days. 332 00:13:22,427 --> 00:13:25,471 - [Brian] It's always easy to look back on times that have 333 00:13:25,471 --> 00:13:27,682 gone by and judge them from a modern perspective. 334 00:13:27,682 --> 00:13:29,309 And I think that's a mistake. 335 00:13:29,309 --> 00:13:33,021 The dam had to get built for America. 336 00:13:33,021 --> 00:13:34,439 They took pride in their work. 337 00:13:34,439 --> 00:13:36,316 They were taking pride in their country. 338 00:13:36,316 --> 00:13:39,944 There was a work ethic that just isn't really around today 339 00:13:39,944 --> 00:13:40,737 in the same way. 340 00:13:40,737 --> 00:13:43,197 [dramatic music] 341 00:13:43,197 --> 00:13:45,700 - It just goes to show that some careers 342 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:47,452 didn't come with a safety net. 343 00:13:47,452 --> 00:13:50,788 And in other jobs, you just had to go with the flow, 344 00:13:50,788 --> 00:13:54,751 even if that meant you were heading right toward the rapids. 345 00:13:56,210 --> 00:13:58,880 - [Edward] In the late 19th century, America is absolutely 346 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:00,048 exploding in every possible way, 347 00:14:00,048 --> 00:14:02,133 population-wise, industrialization. 348 00:14:02,133 --> 00:14:06,054 And all of those things lead to a huge demand for wood. 349 00:14:06,054 --> 00:14:07,388 And the biggest concentration of lumber 350 00:14:07,388 --> 00:14:08,848 is in the Upper Midwest, 351 00:14:08,848 --> 00:14:12,351 where there's just vast, seemingly inexhaustible forests. 352 00:14:13,603 --> 00:14:15,063 - [Henry] Of course cutting down the trees 353 00:14:15,063 --> 00:14:17,065 is only half the equation. 354 00:14:17,065 --> 00:14:18,775 There's still this small matter 355 00:14:18,775 --> 00:14:21,360 of moving them across the country. 356 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:22,653 - [Lance] Railroads haven't gotten there yet. 357 00:14:22,653 --> 00:14:23,905 They don't have roads. 358 00:14:23,905 --> 00:14:25,865 But rivers are a great path. 359 00:14:25,865 --> 00:14:28,201 Every winter crews cut down millions of trees, 360 00:14:28,201 --> 00:14:30,328 stack them along the sides of the rivers. 361 00:14:30,328 --> 00:14:32,288 In the spring, when the river opens up, 362 00:14:32,288 --> 00:14:33,664 they dump these logs into the river 363 00:14:33,664 --> 00:14:35,666 and just float them downstream. 364 00:14:35,666 --> 00:14:37,001 - [Henry] But this lumber 365 00:14:37,001 --> 00:14:38,628 can't be left to just float on its own. 366 00:14:38,628 --> 00:14:41,589 Even one stuck log can stop the flow, 367 00:14:41,589 --> 00:14:44,926 shutting down mills a hundred miles away. 368 00:14:44,926 --> 00:14:46,761 - That's where these log drivers come in, 369 00:14:46,761 --> 00:14:50,139 or, as they like to call themselves, river pigs. 370 00:14:51,390 --> 00:14:54,936 So these river pigs are basically like lumberjacks 371 00:14:54,936 --> 00:14:56,979 wearing spiked boots. 372 00:14:56,979 --> 00:14:59,190 They've got this big lever called a peavey. 373 00:14:59,190 --> 00:15:02,026 And the idea is that when they see logs stuck together, 374 00:15:02,026 --> 00:15:04,028 they'll jam it in there, they'll pry them apart, 375 00:15:04,028 --> 00:15:06,781 and they keep the logs moving going down the river, 376 00:15:06,781 --> 00:15:10,284 which also means they're going down the river. 377 00:15:10,284 --> 00:15:11,744 - [Kavitha] These guys have to be strong enough 378 00:15:11,744 --> 00:15:13,162 to actually handle the lumber, 379 00:15:13,162 --> 00:15:15,998 but they also have to be nimble and agile enough 380 00:15:15,998 --> 00:15:18,960 to balance on the logs and hop from log to log 381 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,379 as these logs are spinning in the water. 382 00:15:22,964 --> 00:15:25,716 - [Henry] River pigs are some of the highest paid men 383 00:15:25,716 --> 00:15:26,843 in the industry. 384 00:15:28,052 --> 00:15:30,680 - [Rutledge] The notoriety of the river pigs is for real. 385 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,099 I mean, people will come from miles and miles 386 00:15:33,099 --> 00:15:36,185 just to watch them do their job. 387 00:15:36,185 --> 00:15:39,313 - If I told you that there's a bunch of dudes 388 00:15:39,313 --> 00:15:42,567 who can ride logs down a river, 389 00:15:42,567 --> 00:15:45,653 I think even in the 21st century you kind of wanna watch. 390 00:15:45,653 --> 00:15:47,530 I wanna watch it right now. 391 00:15:47,530 --> 00:15:50,825 Some of them do headstands, they do somersaults, 392 00:15:50,825 --> 00:15:52,660 they jump from log to log. 393 00:15:52,660 --> 00:15:55,329 They're deeply, deeply badass. 394 00:15:55,329 --> 00:15:56,956 - [Rutledge] If you're a kid at this time, 395 00:15:56,956 --> 00:15:58,875 you know there's not Evel Knievel yet. 396 00:15:58,875 --> 00:16:01,252 These guys are daredevils. 397 00:16:01,252 --> 00:16:02,712 - [Henry] But rolling on the river 398 00:16:02,712 --> 00:16:05,047 is not all fortune and glory. 399 00:16:05,047 --> 00:16:06,632 - [Lance] It sounds exciting, but it's actually 400 00:16:06,632 --> 00:16:07,967 quite grueling. 401 00:16:07,967 --> 00:16:10,970 These log drives can last for weeks at a time. 402 00:16:10,970 --> 00:16:12,847 People are working maybe 16 hours a day. 403 00:16:12,847 --> 00:16:15,641 You know, the river doesn't stop, the logs don't stop. 404 00:16:15,641 --> 00:16:17,685 - [Kavitha] The living conditions are not great, 405 00:16:17,685 --> 00:16:20,813 even the kitchen floats downstream along with you. 406 00:16:20,813 --> 00:16:23,065 And everything is just wet all the time, 407 00:16:23,065 --> 00:16:26,402 so there's mold and vermin everywhere. 408 00:16:26,402 --> 00:16:27,570 - But that's nothing compared 409 00:16:27,570 --> 00:16:29,322 to the real risks these men are facing. 410 00:16:29,322 --> 00:16:31,824 They're running around on undulating logs all day. 411 00:16:31,824 --> 00:16:34,243 One false step and you can fall in. 412 00:16:34,243 --> 00:16:35,286 The logs are heavy. 413 00:16:35,286 --> 00:16:37,079 They can weigh up to 4,000 pounds. 414 00:16:37,079 --> 00:16:38,706 So you might get crushed between them 415 00:16:38,831 --> 00:16:41,959 or you might get trapped beneath them in the freezing water. 416 00:16:41,959 --> 00:16:44,170 - [Rutledge] There's a really high chance that if you go 417 00:16:44,170 --> 00:16:46,756 under, you might never be seen again. 418 00:16:46,756 --> 00:16:48,466 Now keep in mind this is pre-OSHA. 419 00:16:48,466 --> 00:16:49,884 Like, people don't know 420 00:16:49,884 --> 00:16:52,887 about workplace health standards at all. 421 00:16:52,887 --> 00:16:54,055 So it's really just like, 422 00:16:54,055 --> 00:16:55,598 "Oh, yeah, did John show up for lunch? 423 00:16:55,598 --> 00:16:56,641 I guess he's still alive. 424 00:16:56,641 --> 00:16:58,809 Cool, good job." 425 00:16:58,809 --> 00:16:59,936 Like, that was it. 426 00:17:01,479 --> 00:17:04,397 - [Henry] Eventually the end comes for river pigs, 427 00:17:04,397 --> 00:17:07,108 but not because it's too dangerous. 428 00:17:07,108 --> 00:17:09,194 - Road and automotive technology develops 429 00:17:09,194 --> 00:17:12,281 and trucks become the primary way to haul logs. 430 00:17:12,281 --> 00:17:14,867 And many of the old growth forest are cut down. 431 00:17:14,867 --> 00:17:16,117 - [Edward] With all these changes, 432 00:17:16,117 --> 00:17:17,994 the river pig as an occupation is gone, 433 00:17:17,994 --> 00:17:21,624 and with it, the heroism, the bravado, the risk taking, 434 00:17:21,624 --> 00:17:24,126 and the cool factor that was associated with them. 435 00:17:25,752 --> 00:17:28,047 - Sometimes if you wanna make a living, 436 00:17:28,047 --> 00:17:30,299 you gotta be willing to go in over your head. 437 00:17:33,052 --> 00:17:35,137 - Some jobs aren't for everyone, 438 00:17:35,137 --> 00:17:36,764 which you may know if you've ever worked a night shift. 439 00:17:36,764 --> 00:17:38,391 That was certainly true in the old days 440 00:17:38,391 --> 00:17:42,019 when one occupation gave the dead of night 441 00:17:42,019 --> 00:17:43,479 a whole new meaning. 442 00:17:44,981 --> 00:17:48,401 - [Natalia] By the early 1800s, medicine is really becoming a 443 00:17:48,401 --> 00:17:50,236 field in a more official sense. 444 00:17:50,236 --> 00:17:51,696 And some of the innovations 445 00:17:51,696 --> 00:17:53,239 that they come up with at that time 446 00:17:53,239 --> 00:17:54,740 are things we still use today. 447 00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:57,201 Take the stethoscope, anesthesia. 448 00:17:57,201 --> 00:17:59,161 - This explosion in medical research 449 00:17:59,161 --> 00:18:02,331 leads to more people enrolling in medical schools. 450 00:18:02,331 --> 00:18:03,874 Now, the medical schools 451 00:18:03,874 --> 00:18:07,003 can't provide effective instruction without cadavers. 452 00:18:07,003 --> 00:18:09,672 - At this period, life expectancy is up, 453 00:18:09,672 --> 00:18:11,507 executions are down. 454 00:18:11,507 --> 00:18:13,384 All of that means that there are fewer bodies 455 00:18:13,384 --> 00:18:15,386 available for study. 456 00:18:15,386 --> 00:18:18,556 - Medical schools turn to grave robbers, 457 00:18:18,556 --> 00:18:22,560 or the way cooler name, resurrection men. 458 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:24,854 - [Henry] Resurrection men work in crews 459 00:18:24,854 --> 00:18:27,732 with a simple business model: dig up bodies, 460 00:18:27,732 --> 00:18:31,068 sell them to medical schools, collect the cash. 461 00:18:31,068 --> 00:18:34,363 - [Austin] These crews are extremely professional. 462 00:18:34,363 --> 00:18:37,241 They're not just going and digging up corpses, 463 00:18:37,241 --> 00:18:40,536 they're getting the freshest bodies as quickly as possible. 464 00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:42,580 - But it's not like the old like Frankenstein 465 00:18:42,580 --> 00:18:43,664 where they were digging the bodies 466 00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:45,082 and there's a big pile of dirt. 467 00:18:45,082 --> 00:18:47,043 These guys wanted to be efficient. 468 00:18:47,043 --> 00:18:49,962 So what they did was they dug like a strip 469 00:18:49,962 --> 00:18:52,340 at the top of the grave six feet down, 470 00:18:52,340 --> 00:18:55,676 broke through to the coffin, put hooks under the armpits, 471 00:18:55,676 --> 00:18:58,220 and then hoisted them right up in the grave. 472 00:18:58,220 --> 00:19:00,139 I mean, they were in and out of that cemetery 473 00:19:00,139 --> 00:19:01,557 25 minutes tops. 474 00:19:01,557 --> 00:19:03,267 And then they would try to fill it in 475 00:19:03,267 --> 00:19:05,645 and even put the flowers back on 476 00:19:05,645 --> 00:19:07,772 so that nobody would catch 'em. 477 00:19:07,772 --> 00:19:09,106 - These grave robbers 478 00:19:09,106 --> 00:19:12,401 have to get these bodies from the grave site 479 00:19:12,401 --> 00:19:13,611 to the medical school, 480 00:19:13,611 --> 00:19:15,946 and they have all sorts of ways of doing that. 481 00:19:15,946 --> 00:19:17,990 They're transporting bodies in wheelbarrows. 482 00:19:17,990 --> 00:19:19,241 They're putting them in sacks 483 00:19:19,241 --> 00:19:21,077 and throwing them over their shoulder. 484 00:19:21,077 --> 00:19:23,537 They're putting 'em on horseback. 485 00:19:23,537 --> 00:19:25,623 - Sometimes they would just dress them up, 486 00:19:25,623 --> 00:19:27,208 put a big coat on 'em, put a hat on 'em, 487 00:19:27,208 --> 00:19:29,210 and put 'em next to him in a wagon, 488 00:19:29,210 --> 00:19:30,920 and just start clapping through the city. 489 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,255 And everybody just thinks, "Oh, his buddy's drunk." 490 00:19:33,255 --> 00:19:35,549 Meanwhile, he's traipsing around town with a corpse. 491 00:19:35,549 --> 00:19:37,218 It's like "Weekend at Bernie's." 492 00:19:38,260 --> 00:19:40,221 - [Natalia] This is a very lucrative business. 493 00:19:40,221 --> 00:19:43,641 A well-preserved, recently dug up body in 1800 494 00:19:43,641 --> 00:19:45,434 would get you $25. 495 00:19:45,434 --> 00:19:48,187 That's $700 in today's money. 496 00:19:48,187 --> 00:19:51,524 That is a lot more than most people would make in a month, 497 00:19:51,524 --> 00:19:52,900 certainly more than the guy 498 00:19:52,900 --> 00:19:54,944 who dug that grave to begin with. 499 00:19:54,944 --> 00:19:57,780 - [Henry] But while resurrection men are busy digging, 500 00:19:57,780 --> 00:20:02,868 grieving families decide to fight back with a little help. 501 00:20:03,536 --> 00:20:05,121 - Inventors realized 502 00:20:05,121 --> 00:20:07,123 that there's real possibility here for innovation. 503 00:20:07,123 --> 00:20:09,959 And so they invent some accessories, if you will, 504 00:20:09,959 --> 00:20:12,086 to make these graves more secure. 505 00:20:12,086 --> 00:20:14,380 And those are booby traps. 506 00:20:14,380 --> 00:20:17,299 - [Austin] One invented in the 1870s is called the 507 00:20:17,299 --> 00:20:19,468 coffin torpedo. 508 00:20:20,469 --> 00:20:21,679 It's actually just a loaded shotgun 509 00:20:21,679 --> 00:20:24,098 cradled around the deceased's arms 510 00:20:24,098 --> 00:20:29,311 that when the coffin lid opens, bam, goodbye, grave robber. 511 00:20:29,562 --> 00:20:31,897 - [Natalia] Other coffin booby traps are right in the soil, 512 00:20:31,897 --> 00:20:33,274 like almost a landmine. 513 00:20:33,274 --> 00:20:34,984 So if you dug too close to the body, 514 00:20:34,984 --> 00:20:36,986 they would explode and kill you too. 515 00:20:36,986 --> 00:20:38,237 - [Brian] I guess that's why resurrection men 516 00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:39,530 worked in teams. 517 00:20:39,655 --> 00:20:40,990 'Cause if somebody went down in the field, 518 00:20:40,990 --> 00:20:42,616 hey, that's an easy night of work. 519 00:20:43,868 --> 00:20:45,494 - [Henry] But the money is too good, 520 00:20:45,494 --> 00:20:48,414 so it doesn't stop until someone really snatches 521 00:20:48,414 --> 00:20:49,749 the wrong body. 522 00:20:50,499 --> 00:20:52,710 - In 1878 in Ohio, 523 00:20:52,710 --> 00:20:55,045 there's a congressman, John Scott Harrison, 524 00:20:55,045 --> 00:20:57,381 whose body is snatched from his grave. 525 00:20:57,381 --> 00:20:59,508 Not only is he a congressman, 526 00:20:59,508 --> 00:21:01,385 he is the son of former president 527 00:21:01,385 --> 00:21:02,928 William Henry Harrison, 528 00:21:02,928 --> 00:21:05,848 and the father of future president Benjamin Harrison. 529 00:21:05,848 --> 00:21:08,517 Now a very powerful family has fallen victim 530 00:21:08,517 --> 00:21:11,979 to the resurrection men and they're very angry about it. 531 00:21:11,979 --> 00:21:13,898 - [J Mack] Soon after, it becomes illegal, 532 00:21:13,898 --> 00:21:15,816 and now there are legal pipelines 533 00:21:15,816 --> 00:21:18,194 for obtaining cadavers, 534 00:21:18,194 --> 00:21:20,279 through unidentified bodies 535 00:21:20,279 --> 00:21:21,989 that they get from hospitals, 536 00:21:21,989 --> 00:21:24,867 prisons, and almshouses. 537 00:21:24,867 --> 00:21:26,202 - It's the end of an era, 538 00:21:26,202 --> 00:21:28,996 no more corpses riding shotgun 539 00:21:28,996 --> 00:21:30,915 on a horse and carriage through the streets, 540 00:21:30,915 --> 00:21:33,083 which is kind of something I'd actually like to see. 541 00:21:33,083 --> 00:21:35,252 No more "Weekend at Bernie's" shenanigans. 542 00:21:35,252 --> 00:21:38,214 Another promising trade just dries up. 543 00:21:39,507 --> 00:21:41,801 - Back then, the dead were just another way 544 00:21:41,801 --> 00:21:42,802 to make a living. 545 00:21:42,802 --> 00:21:44,720 But if you think that was unpleasant, 546 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:49,058 there was another 19th century job that truly stank. 547 00:21:50,476 --> 00:21:52,228 - [Don] In the late 1800s, 548 00:21:52,228 --> 00:21:54,480 American cities' populations are booming. 549 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,191 But a lot of people also means a lot of something 550 00:21:57,191 --> 00:22:00,528 that nobody wants to deal with, human waste. 551 00:22:01,946 --> 00:22:03,572 - [Adam] Most people that could not afford indoor plumbing 552 00:22:03,572 --> 00:22:06,075 used what we would call an outhouse. 553 00:22:06,075 --> 00:22:11,163 It's sort of a cabin with a wooden plank in it to be a seat, 554 00:22:11,163 --> 00:22:12,540 it's got a hole in it, 555 00:22:12,540 --> 00:22:14,875 and it goes to a pit called the privy. 556 00:22:14,875 --> 00:22:17,753 - How do cities deal with getting rid of all this waste? 557 00:22:17,753 --> 00:22:19,380 Well, they didn't use pipes. 558 00:22:19,380 --> 00:22:20,965 They used people. 559 00:22:20,965 --> 00:22:23,926 There is a job known as the night soil crew. 560 00:22:23,926 --> 00:22:25,845 At night, when everyone's asleep, 561 00:22:25,845 --> 00:22:28,514 the crew comes out with their carts and their dippers 562 00:22:28,514 --> 00:22:30,516 and they scoop out the human waste, 563 00:22:30,516 --> 00:22:32,434 so when everybody wakes up in the morning, 564 00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:35,312 they can start all over refilling the latrines. 565 00:22:35,312 --> 00:22:37,481 - [Henry] The job is vital for cities to function, 566 00:22:37,481 --> 00:22:40,401 but for the workers, it's the pits. 567 00:22:41,610 --> 00:22:45,656 - A professional would go to where the tank is 568 00:22:45,656 --> 00:22:50,119 and they would ladle the human waste 569 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:51,787 into a bucket. 570 00:22:51,787 --> 00:22:55,791 And then they would haul it away bucket by bucket. 571 00:22:55,791 --> 00:22:59,295 However, larger residences or tenement blocks 572 00:22:59,295 --> 00:23:04,133 might have a tank that was 20 feet deep, 573 00:23:04,133 --> 00:23:08,846 which means that a ladder would have to go into the tank. 574 00:23:08,846 --> 00:23:11,765 A human being would go down that ladder 575 00:23:11,765 --> 00:23:15,769 and haul up months and months of excrement 576 00:23:15,769 --> 00:23:18,439 one bucket at a time. 577 00:23:18,439 --> 00:23:19,690 - You know, the one bright spot 578 00:23:19,690 --> 00:23:21,817 is these guys got paid pretty well. 579 00:23:21,817 --> 00:23:23,527 They weren't the richest dudes. 580 00:23:23,527 --> 00:23:25,821 They would also get a bottle of gin, 581 00:23:25,821 --> 00:23:29,658 which they needed to be drunk to do the job. 582 00:23:29,658 --> 00:23:31,952 - [Henry] And down on the foul smelling muck, 583 00:23:31,952 --> 00:23:34,330 invisible dangers lurk. 584 00:23:34,330 --> 00:23:37,750 - [Hakeem] These privy vaults are deep and unventilated, 585 00:23:37,750 --> 00:23:41,086 and that means that the gases from the human waste build up. 586 00:23:41,086 --> 00:23:43,672 We're talking poisonous gases like methane, 587 00:23:43,672 --> 00:23:45,090 hydrogen sulfide. 588 00:23:45,090 --> 00:23:46,675 So if a human being is in there 589 00:23:46,675 --> 00:23:49,470 and these poisonous gases have displaced the oxygen, 590 00:23:49,470 --> 00:23:50,596 they could pass out. 591 00:23:50,596 --> 00:23:51,722 And what happens next? 592 00:23:51,722 --> 00:23:53,849 They fall into the waste and drown, 593 00:23:53,849 --> 00:23:55,517 in human waste. 594 00:23:55,517 --> 00:23:57,186 What a way to go. 595 00:23:57,186 --> 00:23:58,938 - But wait, it gets worse. 596 00:23:58,938 --> 00:24:02,816 Hazardous gases can also cause explosions in the pits. 597 00:24:02,816 --> 00:24:05,611 And there's this huge risk of disease and infection 598 00:24:05,611 --> 00:24:09,198 just from being around human waste all the time. 599 00:24:09,198 --> 00:24:12,910 - [Henry] Toxic gases, explosions, drowning in waste; 600 00:24:12,910 --> 00:24:15,913 eventually governments get the hint. 601 00:24:15,913 --> 00:24:17,831 - By the 1890s, New York and Brooklyn 602 00:24:17,831 --> 00:24:21,001 actually create a sewage system. 603 00:24:21,001 --> 00:24:22,294 There's like pipes in the ground. 604 00:24:22,294 --> 00:24:25,839 So there is finally a place for all of this, 605 00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:28,425 you know, prodigious poop to go. 606 00:24:29,635 --> 00:24:32,638 - [Adam] History flushes away the privy, the outhouse, 607 00:24:32,638 --> 00:24:35,683 and the livelihoods of the night soil workers. 608 00:24:35,683 --> 00:24:38,268 But we forever are grateful for their service, 609 00:24:38,268 --> 00:24:39,979 for their selflessness, 610 00:24:39,979 --> 00:24:42,856 and for truly answering the call of duty. 611 00:24:44,733 --> 00:24:48,737 - So indoor plumbing eventually put the night soil men 612 00:24:48,737 --> 00:24:50,197 out of business. 613 00:24:50,197 --> 00:24:52,950 I've gotta think it was partially a relief. 614 00:24:55,536 --> 00:24:57,329 - It has never been easier to keep up with current events. 615 00:24:57,329 --> 00:24:58,872 With a swipe of a finger, 616 00:24:58,872 --> 00:25:01,750 your phone brings you up on the latest. 617 00:25:01,750 --> 00:25:04,044 But there was a time when delivering the news 618 00:25:04,044 --> 00:25:06,714 was practically an extreme sport. 619 00:25:07,923 --> 00:25:11,260 - [Don] In the 1950s, every morning around 5:00 AM, 620 00:25:11,260 --> 00:25:13,637 you hear the whirr of a bicycle chain, 621 00:25:13,637 --> 00:25:14,930 and thump after thump 622 00:25:14,930 --> 00:25:18,100 as something lands on neighborhood porches. 623 00:25:18,100 --> 00:25:20,644 Moving from block to block is a kid with a bike 624 00:25:20,644 --> 00:25:22,104 and a bag of newspapers, 625 00:25:22,104 --> 00:25:24,481 a worker as common as any mailman, 626 00:25:26,191 --> 00:25:27,860 a paperboy. 627 00:25:27,860 --> 00:25:31,113 - [Henry] And even though it means waking up before dawn, 628 00:25:31,113 --> 00:25:35,367 in those days, it's a job lots of kids want. 629 00:25:35,367 --> 00:25:37,244 - [Brian] As a former paperboy, I have to tell you, 630 00:25:37,244 --> 00:25:38,829 there is something to being like, 631 00:25:38,829 --> 00:25:40,664 "Hey, man, I have responsibility. 632 00:25:40,664 --> 00:25:43,292 Like, I am a business person." 633 00:25:43,292 --> 00:25:46,420 - [Don] I was 10 years old when I started being a paperboy. 634 00:25:46,420 --> 00:25:49,173 And you're getting paid real money, 635 00:25:49,173 --> 00:25:51,759 usually between 3 and $7 a week, 636 00:25:51,759 --> 00:25:53,260 which doesn't sound like much, 637 00:25:53,385 --> 00:25:56,388 but in today's money, that's about 40 to a hundred dollars. 638 00:25:56,388 --> 00:25:58,140 That makes you the man. 639 00:25:59,558 --> 00:26:01,727 - [Brian] I was walking around like making it rain on people. 640 00:26:01,727 --> 00:26:02,978 "Hey, you want some pizza? 641 00:26:02,978 --> 00:26:03,812 I'm getting you some pizza. 642 00:26:03,812 --> 00:26:04,646 You want a comic book? 643 00:26:04,646 --> 00:26:06,106 I got it." 644 00:26:06,106 --> 00:26:07,357 You were the most popular kid in the neighborhood. 645 00:26:07,357 --> 00:26:09,276 - [Henry] Paperboy isn't just a job, 646 00:26:09,276 --> 00:26:11,487 it's an American institution. 647 00:26:11,487 --> 00:26:13,864 - [Martin] By 1950, a half a million American kids 648 00:26:13,864 --> 00:26:14,865 are running a paper route. 649 00:26:14,865 --> 00:26:17,576 By 1980, it's over a million. 650 00:26:17,576 --> 00:26:19,787 -[Don] The paperboy becomes iconic, 651 00:26:19,787 --> 00:26:22,831 becomes as American as baseball and apple pie. 652 00:26:22,831 --> 00:26:25,793 They're on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. 653 00:26:25,793 --> 00:26:27,753 They're on TV shows like "Leave It to Beaver." 654 00:26:27,753 --> 00:26:30,547 [dramatic music] 655 00:26:30,547 --> 00:26:33,926 - [Henry] But is the job as romantic as we remember? 656 00:26:35,135 --> 00:26:37,471 - I have memories of terrible weather conditions 657 00:26:37,471 --> 00:26:39,515 and going out in the winter, in the rain. 658 00:26:39,515 --> 00:26:40,724 And you had a responsibility 659 00:26:40,724 --> 00:26:43,477 to get this product to the customer. 660 00:26:43,477 --> 00:26:45,562 - [Brian] They're almost like the US Mail, 661 00:26:45,562 --> 00:26:47,773 rain, sleet, hail, those papers gotta get out, 662 00:26:47,773 --> 00:26:49,483 and you're in a bike, baby, 663 00:26:49,483 --> 00:26:52,486 with a 50-pound bag slung over your back, 664 00:26:52,486 --> 00:26:54,238 and you're in a snowstorm. 665 00:26:54,238 --> 00:26:56,365 And you know if you don't get it to Mrs. Crabapple's house, 666 00:26:56,365 --> 00:26:59,243 she's gonna scream at you the next time you're there. 667 00:26:59,243 --> 00:27:00,577 Not only do you have a weather, 668 00:27:00,577 --> 00:27:02,037 not only do you have a 50-pound bag, 669 00:27:02,037 --> 00:27:03,747 you also have people driving to work in the morning, 670 00:27:03,747 --> 00:27:06,208 bleary-eyed, not paying attention to the road. 671 00:27:07,626 --> 00:27:08,961 - [Don] Remember, there's not a lot of light in those days. 672 00:27:08,961 --> 00:27:10,629 It's kind of pitch black. 673 00:27:10,629 --> 00:27:13,757 A kid on a bike is hard for drivers to see. 674 00:27:13,757 --> 00:27:15,300 - [Edward] And these boys are not wearing helmets. 675 00:27:15,300 --> 00:27:17,678 There are no bicycle helmets for all intents and purposes. 676 00:27:17,678 --> 00:27:20,931 So you can get hit by a car and suffer tremendous injury. 677 00:27:22,140 --> 00:27:23,892 - So you get a lot of kids with broken bones, 678 00:27:23,892 --> 00:27:25,435 a lot of concussions, 679 00:27:25,435 --> 00:27:27,896 and the government classifies these workers 680 00:27:27,896 --> 00:27:30,190 as independent contractors. 681 00:27:30,190 --> 00:27:32,818 That's how they get around child labor laws. 682 00:27:32,818 --> 00:27:35,612 They're working every day with none of the protections 683 00:27:35,612 --> 00:27:38,198 that are afforded to working people. 684 00:27:38,198 --> 00:27:40,117 - [Henry] No helmet, no benefits, 685 00:27:40,117 --> 00:27:43,871 and often seemingly no end to the route. 686 00:27:45,247 --> 00:27:48,375 - [Don] Suburban sprawl is everywhere by the late 1960s. 687 00:27:48,375 --> 00:27:50,627 And a route that used to be just a few blocks 688 00:27:50,627 --> 00:27:53,797 suddenly covers miles of looping streets 689 00:27:53,797 --> 00:27:57,009 in these developments, sometimes even across highways. 690 00:27:57,009 --> 00:27:58,260 - [Edward] So no longer is it a 691 00:27:58,260 --> 00:28:00,596 45-minute job early in the morning, 692 00:28:00,596 --> 00:28:03,140 it's a much bigger job that is sort of outpacing 693 00:28:03,140 --> 00:28:05,726 what a typical paperboy might be able to do. 694 00:28:05,726 --> 00:28:08,604 - [Martin] The paperboy kind of falls by the wayside, 695 00:28:08,604 --> 00:28:12,232 to be replaced by an adult in an automobile. 696 00:28:12,232 --> 00:28:13,692 - [Brian] So we lost the paperboy. 697 00:28:13,692 --> 00:28:15,444 You lost the work ethic part of it. 698 00:28:15,444 --> 00:28:17,988 You lost the independence of a kid. 699 00:28:17,988 --> 00:28:20,240 What is better than being on your bike, 700 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,034 riding through, and your friends would come with you, 701 00:28:22,034 --> 00:28:23,619 and you deliver papers? 702 00:28:23,619 --> 00:28:25,454 I mean, you can't even get kids out of the house anymore, 703 00:28:25,454 --> 00:28:28,040 let alone on their own doing business. 704 00:28:29,583 --> 00:28:31,668 - The paper route proved a kid with a bike 705 00:28:31,668 --> 00:28:33,670 could make serious money, 706 00:28:33,670 --> 00:28:35,756 but what about the teenager with a car 707 00:28:35,756 --> 00:28:39,801 and a job that rewarded them for driving like a maniac? 708 00:28:39,801 --> 00:28:41,303 [dramatic music] 709 00:28:41,303 --> 00:28:42,804 - [Austin] In the 1960s, 710 00:28:42,804 --> 00:28:45,349 the idea of getting pizza delivered to your home 711 00:28:45,349 --> 00:28:49,394 is an alien concept to most of America. 712 00:28:49,394 --> 00:28:54,024 Pizza is looked at as a dine-in restaurant kind of food. 713 00:28:54,024 --> 00:28:57,110 - [Adam] In Michigan, a scrappy little pizza chain 714 00:28:57,110 --> 00:29:01,448 is born in the ashes of a restaurant called Dominic's, 715 00:29:01,448 --> 00:29:03,992 and it becomes Domino's. 716 00:29:03,992 --> 00:29:08,330 And in 1979, they create a delivery campaign 717 00:29:08,330 --> 00:29:10,499 that is nothing short of revolutionary. 718 00:29:10,499 --> 00:29:15,128 Your pizza will arrive in 30 minutes or it's free. 719 00:29:15,128 --> 00:29:16,546 - [Announcer] One call from you 720 00:29:16,546 --> 00:29:18,799 sets Domino's Pizza in motion. 721 00:29:18,799 --> 00:29:21,677 - As you can imagine, people went nuts. 722 00:29:21,677 --> 00:29:24,638 If it's not delivered in 30 minutes, it's free? 723 00:29:24,638 --> 00:29:28,100 Like, this was revolutionary. 724 00:29:28,100 --> 00:29:30,894 - [Jason] I remember when they came out with this guarantee, 725 00:29:30,894 --> 00:29:32,562 it was exciting. 726 00:29:32,562 --> 00:29:35,691 You're like, okay, you've ordered, and it is 6:05. 727 00:29:35,691 --> 00:29:37,484 And then if they show up at 6:20, 728 00:29:37,484 --> 00:29:40,696 you're like, "Oh, damn it, we have to pay for this." 729 00:29:40,696 --> 00:29:44,241 - [Henry] On the strength of the new campaign, sales soar, 730 00:29:44,241 --> 00:29:47,119 and Domino's grows rapidly in the '80s. 731 00:29:47,119 --> 00:29:49,538 But delivering everywhere in 30 minutes 732 00:29:49,538 --> 00:29:53,583 requires some outside-the-box driving. 733 00:29:53,583 --> 00:29:57,379 - Each store has to make and box the pizza in 10 minutes, 734 00:29:57,379 --> 00:30:00,716 leaving 20 minutes to get to your location. 735 00:30:00,716 --> 00:30:03,427 - And that's regardless of your address. 736 00:30:03,427 --> 00:30:07,431 You may be at the complete edge of the delivery zone. 737 00:30:07,431 --> 00:30:10,517 - Drivers, who are mostly teenagers and college kids, 738 00:30:10,517 --> 00:30:13,729 they're running red lights, speeding through intersections, 739 00:30:13,729 --> 00:30:16,231 driving in weather they should not be driving in, 740 00:30:16,231 --> 00:30:17,899 anything to make this delivery. 741 00:30:19,234 --> 00:30:21,987 - Some people are rooting against the delivery guy. 742 00:30:21,987 --> 00:30:24,239 They want them to fail. 743 00:30:24,239 --> 00:30:27,492 They deliberately give the driver wrong directions. 744 00:30:27,492 --> 00:30:30,203 They don't answer the door right away. 745 00:30:30,203 --> 00:30:32,122 - [Jason] If you had a Domino's in your area, 746 00:30:32,122 --> 00:30:34,332 you were definitely like, "Let's try to order a pizza 747 00:30:34,332 --> 00:30:37,419 maybe when it's icy or when there's a snowstorm." 748 00:30:37,419 --> 00:30:40,088 It's like trying to game out how you can make sure 749 00:30:40,088 --> 00:30:42,090 it was gonna take them 30 minutes. 750 00:30:42,090 --> 00:30:46,470 - Domino's does what it can to mitigate these hazards. 751 00:30:46,470 --> 00:30:50,098 The franchisee manual says, in all caps, 752 00:30:50,098 --> 00:30:52,100 fast delivery does not come 753 00:30:52,100 --> 00:30:54,144 from speeding or reckless driving. 754 00:30:55,395 --> 00:30:57,314 - [Nicole] I think back then, if I had been old enough, 755 00:30:57,314 --> 00:30:59,941 I would've been a Domino's delivery driver. 756 00:30:59,941 --> 00:31:01,485 I would've loved it. 757 00:31:01,485 --> 00:31:04,780 That would've just been another notch to the racing resume. 758 00:31:04,780 --> 00:31:07,908 - [Adam] If they can't meet that 30 minute window, 759 00:31:07,908 --> 00:31:10,577 that location has to eat the cost. 760 00:31:10,577 --> 00:31:13,246 In terms of a marketing ploy, it's brilliant. 761 00:31:13,246 --> 00:31:14,706 But in terms of running a business, 762 00:31:14,706 --> 00:31:17,292 it is a wildly unforgiving proposition. 763 00:31:18,835 --> 00:31:22,297 - [Austin] By 1989, there are over 20 delivery fatalities 764 00:31:22,297 --> 00:31:24,382 nationwide. 765 00:31:24,382 --> 00:31:28,470 And in St. Louis, a $79 million award 766 00:31:28,470 --> 00:31:30,764 is given to a woman who was injured 767 00:31:30,764 --> 00:31:32,891 by a driver running a red light. 768 00:31:34,226 --> 00:31:35,977 - So the company, they can't continue the policy. 769 00:31:35,977 --> 00:31:39,106 Founder Tom Monaghan, he calls a press conference 770 00:31:39,106 --> 00:31:42,109 and lets everyone know the 30-minute guarantee 771 00:31:42,109 --> 00:31:43,819 has come to an end. 772 00:31:43,819 --> 00:31:48,740 - [Adam] Now, today, globally, Domino's is still the dominant 773 00:31:48,740 --> 00:31:51,034 name when it comes to pizza delivery. 774 00:31:51,034 --> 00:31:54,496 It is still getting to you pretty quickly, 775 00:31:54,496 --> 00:31:56,039 but it's getting to you safely 776 00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:58,333 and it's keeping the public safe. 777 00:31:58,333 --> 00:32:00,043 - [Jason] But even though it got out of control, 778 00:32:00,043 --> 00:32:03,547 that 30-minute guarantee made pizza delivery 779 00:32:03,547 --> 00:32:05,048 like combat sport. 780 00:32:05,048 --> 00:32:06,216 It was exciting. 781 00:32:06,216 --> 00:32:08,426 Every time you ordered a pizza, 782 00:32:08,426 --> 00:32:10,428 something magical could happen. 783 00:32:12,097 --> 00:32:14,850 - So the next time you order delivery from an app, 784 00:32:14,850 --> 00:32:18,895 remember the trailblazing pizza drivers of the 1980s. 785 00:32:21,606 --> 00:32:23,775 - In the era of silent films, 786 00:32:23,775 --> 00:32:26,153 Hollywood knew that thrilling visuals were everything. 787 00:32:26,153 --> 00:32:28,363 But decades before CGI, 788 00:32:28,363 --> 00:32:31,283 the danger wasn't just part of the story, 789 00:32:31,283 --> 00:32:32,784 it was part of the job. 790 00:32:34,202 --> 00:32:37,038 - [Jason] In the 1920s, Americans have become obsessed 791 00:32:37,038 --> 00:32:38,456 with Hollywood movies. 792 00:32:38,456 --> 00:32:41,668 There are now 20,000 movie theaters in the country. 793 00:32:41,668 --> 00:32:44,546 That has doubled the amount of public high schools. 794 00:32:44,546 --> 00:32:45,964 - [Lance] The studios in Hollywood, they have one 795 00:32:45,964 --> 00:32:48,842 important job, and that is they have to feed that beast. 796 00:32:48,842 --> 00:32:50,594 They have to churn out movies. 797 00:32:50,594 --> 00:32:53,013 And to do that, they need actors. 798 00:32:54,306 --> 00:32:56,808 - [Henry] Aspiring actors flock to Los Angeles, 799 00:32:56,808 --> 00:32:59,269 and what they find is an industry 800 00:32:59,269 --> 00:33:02,898 that prizes spectacle above all else. 801 00:33:02,898 --> 00:33:05,192 - [Austin] This is the silent film era. 802 00:33:05,192 --> 00:33:07,235 There's no dialogue. 803 00:33:07,235 --> 00:33:11,489 So to draw an audience, films have to be larger than life. 804 00:33:11,489 --> 00:33:13,992 That means a lot of stunts. 805 00:33:13,992 --> 00:33:15,911 - [Jason] Today, before any action-packed scene happens, 806 00:33:15,911 --> 00:33:19,164 all these experts weigh in on how to make a scene safe. 807 00:33:19,164 --> 00:33:21,291 And typically there is a trained stunt man 808 00:33:21,291 --> 00:33:23,126 to step in for the actor to do it. 809 00:33:24,502 --> 00:33:27,088 - [Rutledge] Back then, movie makers really have to put actors 810 00:33:27,088 --> 00:33:28,924 in these real situations. 811 00:33:28,924 --> 00:33:32,052 They could be dangling from cliffs or in a fire, 812 00:33:32,052 --> 00:33:33,720 jumping from a train. 813 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,890 And there's no CGI at this time, so you can't fake anything. 814 00:33:36,890 --> 00:33:39,059 It is as dangerous as it gets. 815 00:33:39,059 --> 00:33:42,520 [train whistling] 816 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,232 - [Natalia] In the 1920s, safety standards effectively 817 00:33:45,232 --> 00:33:46,650 did not exist. 818 00:33:46,650 --> 00:33:48,485 Producers and directors are sort of making things up 819 00:33:48,485 --> 00:33:49,903 as they go along. 820 00:33:49,903 --> 00:33:51,404 - [Rutledge] They're just like, 821 00:33:51,404 --> 00:33:53,406 "No, someone's gotta jump off this moving horse. 822 00:33:53,406 --> 00:33:54,241 It's gonna be you." 823 00:33:54,241 --> 00:33:55,575 Plain and simple. 824 00:33:55,575 --> 00:33:57,994 [lighthearted music] 825 00:33:57,994 --> 00:33:59,621 - [Austin] In 1928, "Steamboat Bill Jr," 826 00:33:59,621 --> 00:34:01,998 one of the most iconic film scenes of all time, 827 00:34:01,998 --> 00:34:04,960 Buster Keaton stands in front of a two-story house 828 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,088 whose front is blown over by a cyclone, 829 00:34:08,088 --> 00:34:10,090 and it topples perfectly over, 830 00:34:10,090 --> 00:34:13,760 slotting him through an open window unscathed. 831 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,554 [dramatic music] 832 00:34:16,554 --> 00:34:18,974 But that was the real front of a building 833 00:34:18,974 --> 00:34:21,935 falling over the real Buster Keaton. 834 00:34:21,935 --> 00:34:24,603 - [Rutledge] No one had ever seen anything like it before. 835 00:34:24,603 --> 00:34:26,398 I mean, they only had one shot at it. 836 00:34:26,398 --> 00:34:27,315 And it worked. 837 00:34:28,565 --> 00:34:30,860 - [Henry] But playing fast and loose with stunts 838 00:34:30,860 --> 00:34:33,071 doesn't always have a Hollywood ending. 839 00:34:34,531 --> 00:34:37,158 - In 1925, during the filming of the movie "Ben-Hur," 840 00:34:37,158 --> 00:34:38,952 a wheel came off one of the chariots 841 00:34:38,952 --> 00:34:40,536 and the driver was killed. 842 00:34:41,788 --> 00:34:43,915 In 1928, during the filming of "Noah's Ark," 843 00:34:43,915 --> 00:34:47,043 600,000 gallons of water were released 844 00:34:47,043 --> 00:34:49,045 and three extras are drowned. 845 00:34:50,547 --> 00:34:54,217 - [Jason] Between 1925 and 1930, there are 10,000 incidents 846 00:34:54,217 --> 00:34:56,344 of people being injured on movie sets. 847 00:34:56,344 --> 00:34:58,805 There are actually 55 deaths. 848 00:34:58,805 --> 00:34:59,848 - [Rutledge] If there's an accident on a set, 849 00:34:59,848 --> 00:35:01,516 it's just like, 850 00:35:01,516 --> 00:35:03,268 "Okay, well, we're gonna need a different person to do that. 851 00:35:03,268 --> 00:35:04,769 Let's move on, all right?" 852 00:35:04,769 --> 00:35:06,605 The show must go on. 853 00:35:06,605 --> 00:35:08,315 - [Henry] Even after the silent era, 854 00:35:08,315 --> 00:35:10,525 Hollywood keeps playing with fire. 855 00:35:11,610 --> 00:35:13,778 - [Jason] In "The Wizard of Oz," 1939, 856 00:35:13,778 --> 00:35:15,155 Margaret Hamilton, 857 00:35:15,155 --> 00:35:16,740 who's playing the Wicked Witch of the West, 858 00:35:16,740 --> 00:35:18,283 she's got her famous line where she says, 859 00:35:18,283 --> 00:35:21,578 "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too." 860 00:35:23,079 --> 00:35:24,998 And then she's supposed to spin around in a puff of smoke, 861 00:35:24,998 --> 00:35:27,292 disappear, and then there's an explosion. 862 00:35:27,292 --> 00:35:29,502 The crew accidentally sets off the explosions 863 00:35:29,502 --> 00:35:31,046 before she's out of harm's way, 864 00:35:31,046 --> 00:35:33,715 and her costume catches on fire. 865 00:35:33,715 --> 00:35:38,762 - To make matters worse, her iconic green makeup is toxic. 866 00:35:39,888 --> 00:35:41,681 If it burns, it will melt to her skin. 867 00:35:41,681 --> 00:35:45,894 So crew members frantically try to, one, put out the flames, 868 00:35:45,894 --> 00:35:48,772 and two, scrub her of the makeup 869 00:35:48,772 --> 00:35:51,149 so she doesn't get further injured. 870 00:35:51,149 --> 00:35:54,903 She does survive, but walks away with third degree burns. 871 00:35:55,987 --> 00:35:57,489 - [Lance] Over the decades, 872 00:35:57,489 --> 00:36:00,909 Hollywood just starts to take safety more seriously. 873 00:36:00,909 --> 00:36:04,079 Accidents still occur, injuries, even some deaths, 874 00:36:04,079 --> 00:36:05,664 but they are far less common. 875 00:36:07,123 --> 00:36:09,626 - [Jason] Some of the scenes that Buster Keaton shot 876 00:36:09,626 --> 00:36:11,002 and some of these guys shot, 877 00:36:11,002 --> 00:36:14,255 a hundred years later, they're still amazing 878 00:36:14,255 --> 00:36:18,468 and captivating to watch because it's all real. 879 00:36:18,468 --> 00:36:21,596 [dramatic music] 880 00:36:21,596 --> 00:36:24,599 - I can tell you, every actor today 881 00:36:24,599 --> 00:36:27,185 owes something to those early pioneers. 882 00:36:27,185 --> 00:36:28,812 They filmed in black and white 883 00:36:28,812 --> 00:36:31,314 and they went home black and blue. 884 00:36:34,067 --> 00:36:36,277 - Did you know that there was a time 885 00:36:36,277 --> 00:36:37,779 when giving blood wasn't a donation, 886 00:36:37,779 --> 00:36:38,863 it was a paycheck. 887 00:36:38,863 --> 00:36:40,573 And while it sounded like easy money, 888 00:36:40,573 --> 00:36:42,450 it could take a lot out of you. 889 00:36:43,743 --> 00:36:45,995 - [Kavitha] Innovation often comes out of war. 890 00:36:45,995 --> 00:36:48,915 And during World War II, blood transfusions are used 891 00:36:48,915 --> 00:36:51,418 in a widespread way for the first time. 892 00:36:51,418 --> 00:36:53,044 After the war ends, 893 00:36:53,044 --> 00:36:55,672 blood transfusions then become a common medical procedure 894 00:36:55,672 --> 00:36:57,799 used on civilians. 895 00:36:57,799 --> 00:36:59,384 - [Dan] But here's the problem. 896 00:36:59,384 --> 00:37:02,470 Blood transfusions only work if somebody donates blood. 897 00:37:02,470 --> 00:37:03,888 And after the war ends, 898 00:37:03,888 --> 00:37:06,057 people are way less motivated to donate, 899 00:37:06,057 --> 00:37:08,059 and so there's just a lot less available. 900 00:37:08,059 --> 00:37:10,603 The supply is not meeting the demand. 901 00:37:10,603 --> 00:37:13,565 So the solution is simple, throw money at the problem. 902 00:37:14,774 --> 00:37:16,526 - [Don] Across the country, commercial blood banks 903 00:37:16,526 --> 00:37:20,655 and clinics open up, offering cash for a pint. 904 00:37:20,655 --> 00:37:24,033 A man might make a quick $5 just by rolling up his sleeve, 905 00:37:24,033 --> 00:37:25,618 maybe even 10. 906 00:37:25,618 --> 00:37:29,080 That's $145 in today's money for something that your body 907 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,416 just automatically keeps making. 908 00:37:31,416 --> 00:37:32,959 How easy is that? 909 00:37:32,959 --> 00:37:35,962 - And thus is born a new job 910 00:37:35,962 --> 00:37:38,882 called the professional blood donor. 911 00:37:40,216 --> 00:37:43,011 If I'm getting paid $150 for my blood, I would take it, 912 00:37:43,011 --> 00:37:44,596 you know what I mean? 913 00:37:44,596 --> 00:37:47,807 Like, I can see why people jumped on this bandwagon. 914 00:37:47,807 --> 00:37:49,726 - [Henry] And once the cash starts flowing, 915 00:37:49,726 --> 00:37:51,644 so does the blood. 916 00:37:51,644 --> 00:37:55,023 - [Don] There are some rules about how often you can donate, 917 00:37:55,023 --> 00:37:56,858 but donors try to slip under the radar 918 00:37:56,858 --> 00:37:59,611 by going to different clinics to keep the cash rolling in. 919 00:37:59,611 --> 00:38:01,237 And even when they get busted, 920 00:38:01,237 --> 00:38:03,406 some blood banks like to look the other way 921 00:38:03,406 --> 00:38:05,074 to keep the supply flowing. 922 00:38:05,074 --> 00:38:07,911 - There's some pro donors that end up going every week, 923 00:38:07,911 --> 00:38:10,455 sometimes even every few days, 924 00:38:10,455 --> 00:38:12,665 because in their mind it's like, what's the problem? 925 00:38:12,665 --> 00:38:14,375 My body's gonna make more. 926 00:38:15,376 --> 00:38:17,128 - Donating blood multiple times a week, 927 00:38:17,128 --> 00:38:19,923 it's terrible for your body. 928 00:38:19,923 --> 00:38:22,801 Modern guidelines say wait at least eight weeks 929 00:38:22,801 --> 00:38:25,053 in between blood donations. 930 00:38:25,053 --> 00:38:28,139 So if you're giving blood multiple times a week, 931 00:38:28,139 --> 00:38:29,641 even once a week, 932 00:38:29,641 --> 00:38:32,268 you can imagine you're like a video game character 933 00:38:32,268 --> 00:38:33,561 and your health meter 934 00:38:33,561 --> 00:38:36,731 just keeps running lower and lower and lower. 935 00:38:37,816 --> 00:38:39,859 - [Dan] Low blood supply means low iron, 936 00:38:39,859 --> 00:38:41,986 and that means constant fatigue. 937 00:38:41,986 --> 00:38:43,363 So you've got donors 938 00:38:43,363 --> 00:38:45,240 who are sometimes so weak that they're fainting 939 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:46,950 when they go to give more blood. 940 00:38:46,950 --> 00:38:49,828 But there's also some really weird symptoms that happen, 941 00:38:49,828 --> 00:38:51,746 like restless leg syndrome, 942 00:38:51,746 --> 00:38:56,835 or really brittle nails, or the urge to eat ice. 943 00:38:56,835 --> 00:38:58,586 Isn't that weird? 944 00:38:58,586 --> 00:39:01,756 - [J Mack] People with low iron have pica, 945 00:39:01,756 --> 00:39:06,094 and people with pica crave weird things like dirt. 946 00:39:06,094 --> 00:39:09,472 So they will end up going into their own backyards 947 00:39:09,472 --> 00:39:12,767 and just grabbing a handful of dirt and just eating it. 948 00:39:12,767 --> 00:39:16,813 And they know it's crazy, but their body is craving it. 949 00:39:16,813 --> 00:39:19,148 - [Dan] The other big issue is the lack of sterilization. 950 00:39:19,148 --> 00:39:21,609 I mean, today, we have disposable needles, 951 00:39:21,609 --> 00:39:23,403 disposable tubes, disposable bags. 952 00:39:23,403 --> 00:39:26,322 Anything associated with blood is like a one-time use. 953 00:39:26,322 --> 00:39:29,242 But in the '50s, a lot of the gear is getting reused. 954 00:39:29,242 --> 00:39:31,494 And so you've got glass, you've got rubber, 955 00:39:31,494 --> 00:39:34,539 and they get washed, but not always perfectly. 956 00:39:34,539 --> 00:39:35,915 And if it doesn't get properly sterilized, 957 00:39:35,915 --> 00:39:38,751 there's just this massive risk of infection. 958 00:39:38,751 --> 00:39:40,879 - [Henry] But at least the donors are cashing in 959 00:39:40,879 --> 00:39:43,047 on bleeding themselves dry. 960 00:39:43,047 --> 00:39:45,425 But what's in it for the blood recipients 961 00:39:45,425 --> 00:39:47,844 are some things they didn't sign up for. 962 00:39:47,844 --> 00:39:49,178 [dramatic music] 963 00:39:49,178 --> 00:39:51,931 - It's important to be able to screen this blood 964 00:39:51,931 --> 00:39:54,809 to make sure that you are not unintentionally giving 965 00:39:54,809 --> 00:39:58,187 a disease to the person who's already in a bad place 966 00:39:58,187 --> 00:39:59,898 and needs a blood transfusion. 967 00:39:59,898 --> 00:40:02,442 But the major problem is in the '50s and '60s, 968 00:40:02,442 --> 00:40:05,820 we can't test for a lot of these diseases. 969 00:40:05,820 --> 00:40:08,239 At this time, there's only one that we can test for, 970 00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:09,532 which is syphilis. 971 00:40:09,532 --> 00:40:10,909 So that's good. 972 00:40:10,909 --> 00:40:13,202 But what about all the other things? 973 00:40:13,202 --> 00:40:15,330 - [Dan] Doctors know there's risk of other diseases, 974 00:40:15,330 --> 00:40:17,707 like hepatitis, but they don't have tests for them. 975 00:40:17,707 --> 00:40:20,168 So all they can do is just ask the donor, 976 00:40:20,168 --> 00:40:21,878 "Hey, do you have hepatitis?" 977 00:40:21,878 --> 00:40:24,923 And hope that they know and tell you the truth. 978 00:40:24,923 --> 00:40:27,634 - They're not gonna say, "Yes, I have this thing. 979 00:40:27,634 --> 00:40:28,718 Don't take my blood. 980 00:40:28,718 --> 00:40:30,720 Don't give me money." 981 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:34,307 In the '50s and '60s, there's about a 17% chance 982 00:40:34,307 --> 00:40:36,643 that you will transmit hepatitis B 983 00:40:36,643 --> 00:40:38,853 to somebody who greatly needs that blood. 984 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,983 - [Henry] By the late 1960s, it's too hard to ignore 985 00:40:43,983 --> 00:40:46,527 that this blood trade is risky business, 986 00:40:46,527 --> 00:40:50,239 so they decide to stop the bleeding. 987 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,909 - The federal government steps up in 1972. 988 00:40:52,909 --> 00:40:55,495 The FDA puts much more restrictive regulations 989 00:40:55,495 --> 00:40:56,955 on blood banks. 990 00:40:56,955 --> 00:40:59,374 It mandates more thorough testing for disease. 991 00:40:59,374 --> 00:41:01,376 It limits the amount people can donate. 992 00:41:01,376 --> 00:41:04,963 Today, that's about every 56 days, about six times a year. 993 00:41:04,963 --> 00:41:08,216 And most importantly, a new government policy 994 00:41:08,216 --> 00:41:10,718 prohibits paying for whole blood. 995 00:41:10,718 --> 00:41:13,262 In other words, no more blood money. 996 00:41:14,847 --> 00:41:16,724 - Sure, the old ways to make a buck 997 00:41:16,724 --> 00:41:18,518 were a little unorthodox. 998 00:41:18,518 --> 00:41:21,062 Whether you were dangling off a skyscraper, 999 00:41:21,062 --> 00:41:23,314 riding logs through the rapids, 1000 00:41:23,314 --> 00:41:25,900 or draining your veins for cash, 1001 00:41:25,900 --> 00:41:27,819 the math was always the same. 1002 00:41:27,819 --> 00:41:30,405 The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. 1003 00:41:30,405 --> 00:41:33,408 And maybe that's what made our hazardous history 1004 00:41:33,408 --> 00:41:34,993 worth every penny. 1005 00:41:34,993 --> 00:41:37,870 [dramatic music]