Origins Vol. III

0:00Today's podcast will feature four stories that each are about how a single decision changed the lives of not only the people in these stories, but also the lives of millions of other people around the world as well. The audio from all four of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode. The links to the original YouTube videos are in the description. The first story you'll hear is called The$4 Crown, and it's about a shy kid who leaves a very lasting impression on a studio owner. The second story you'll hear is called Money on the Line, and it's about a man who takes a gamble to save his business.

0:36The third story you'll hear is called One Drink, Two Drink, and it's about a young man who gets kicked out of his prestigious position at his school's newspaper. And the fourth and final story you'll hear is called The Stripper's Advice, and it's about an aspiring actor who takes a leap of faith in Hollywood. it. But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do when we upload four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So if that's of interest to you, please sneak into the Follow Buttons house and dump out all their Mountain Dew and replace it with pickle juice.

1:14Okay, let's get into our first story called The$4 Crown.

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2:52But Sam didn't actually know who his next client would be or when they'd show up. Because Sam's recording studio was pretty unique. Because he was always on the hunt for new talent to sign, he had opened up his studio to anybody who wanted to come in at any time. All they had to do was show up, give him$4, and they could be recorded professionally. This did mean that a lot of times his clients were not very talented, but he felt like it gave him the biggest opportunity to cast the widest net to potentially find his next big star. So that day, Sam finished cleaning up the studio and resetting everything, and then Sam just sat down and waited, hoping that another client would come through the door.

3:32And eventually, another client did. This young kid, he was 18 years old, he came strolling inside, he had a guitar slung over his shoulder, Sam had never seen him before. And right away, he could tell the kid was pretty shy. And the guy came up to him and he just said, hey, you know, I work as a truck driver, but I love to sing. I love to play the guitar as a hobby. And I just wanted to come in here and, you know, record a couple of ballads for my mom. And so Sam, again, he took all kinds. He's like, absolutely. Give me$4 and we can record these ballads. And so the kid handed over$4 and he went into the booth.

4:03And Sam's like, all right, you're on. And Sam basically expected this kid to do what most other clients of his did, which was, you know, they'd begin playing and be sort of like not that good at their instrument and they'd sing off key. And, you know, Sam just kind of sitting there listening to this terrible music, just waiting for it to end. But with this kid, it was different. Once he began strumming his guitar and singing, it was like he totally broke out of his shell. I mean, he was, you know, at first glance, a very shy sort of reserved guy. But in the booth, he was electric. He was amazing.

4:32And so Sam sat there listening to this kid record his ballads and was just so blown away by how talented he was. And then when it was all done, you know, the kid said thank you. He took his recordings with him and he left. And then once he was gone, Sam just made a point to make a note about this kid that just said, good ballad singer, safe. Basically, remember this guy because I think he's going to be something special. About a year later, in 1954, Sam was back in his recording studio and he was working with another client. It was this band, and they were trying to record some songs. But as they were playing, they decided that they were really lacking another vocalist to round out the sound.

5:09And so they asked Sam, like, hey, do you know anybody? Sam's studio manager, who was in the room and overheard the request, immediately chimed in and said, hey, Sam, what about that 18-year-old ballad singer from last year? He was great. Maybe he could be the vocalist. And so Sam was like, yeah, I'll give him a call. So he called this young man, and he was like, yeah, I'll jump in there and record some vocals. That'd be great. So the young kid, you know, the truck driving, beautiful ballad singing kid, came back to the studio. He hopped in the booth with this band, and they began playing together, and they sounded terrible.

5:40Now, the young man was still very much a great singer. Like, Sam could clearly hear his voice cutting through all the noise, but it was like the kid and the band had no chemistry. I mean, they'd just met each other, so it's not that surprising. And the music that the band was trying to play just didn't really line up well with this kid's vocals, and so it just wasn't working. And so Sam clearly could see that. He couldn't really tell if the band or this kid could see that. And so he said, hey guys, for right now, just take a quick break. And so Sam ended the recording and the band and the kid, they left to go get a drink.

6:10And Sam left the booth and went into the control room, which is basically right next door, but does not have a line of sight into the booth. And he was just in there to sort of collect his thoughts and just kind of reset for a second. Then at some point, he hears the sound of music being played back in the booth, where he'd just come from. Except the music was different. It was really upbeat, it was fast, it was loud, and Sam could clearly hear the sound of that kid, the truck driver, the amazing ballad singer. He was just going to town, like he was singing at the top of his lungs, and it just really sounded like something was going on in there.

6:43And so Sam left the control room, ran into the booth, and he goes in there, and when he got in there, he saw the band and this kid just totally rocking out. It was like they suddenly had amazing chemistry. The kid, the truck driver, the amazing ballad singer, is jumping all over the booth. I mean, he's totally into the song. And the band very clearly was sort of following the kid's lead. They were basically playing music to match the kid's energy. And Sam is watching this and listening to this. And he's thinking, I have never heard music sound like this before. Like, this is a new type of music that I'm witnessing.

7:17I mean, it gave him goosebumps. He couldn't believe it. Like, this is a brand new thing. The sound was sort of a cross between blues and rock and roll. It was a little bit too fast for blues and too slow for rock and roll, but it was just, it was something really unique. And all Sam could think as he's watching this happen and as he's listening to this is the kid, the truck driver, the ballad singer. He's the star. It's so obvious. Like this is coming into being because of him. That's the person I've been looking for. That's the star that I've been trying to sign ever since I started this recording studio.

7:49And so that very night, Sam and this band helped the kid record his first ever single, which was called That's Alright. And once that song hit the airwaves, that kid did become a star, practically overnight. He catapulted into music fame that few ever achieve. He literally would become one of the most famous musicians to have ever lived. Sam's studio was called Sun Records, and it was located in Memphis, Tennessee. and the young kid, the truck driver who sang amazing ballads, was none other than Elvis Presley.

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10:00Our next story is called Money on the Line.

10:14One late night in the summer of 1974, a 30-year-old man named Fred stood inside of a loud casino in Las Vegas, feeling incredibly nervous. He knew what he was about to do was a horrible idea. In fact, he didn't even know if he had the guts to try it. Fred grabbed a huge wad of cash out of his pocket, and as he looked at it, he thought about the reason he was here. So Fred had actually flown to Las Vegas on a whim after a bad meeting with a group of investors. So Fred had founded this small company three years earlier, and he really needed a loan from these investors, but they had said no. Fred had actually already lost over$13 million to this point, and so the investor said, look, like your track record is not good enough, we're not giving you any more money.

10:54And this was a huge problem for Fred, because right now, in all of his company accounts, he had a total of$5 ,000. And at a minimum, he needed to pay his fuel bill for his company, which was$24 ,000, and that bill was due soon. so he didn't have enough money to cover it. And besides the fuel bill, he also didn't have any money to make payroll. So basically, Fred did not have any more money. And if he didn't find a way to find more money, he would have to file for bankruptcy, shut his business down, and lay off all of his employees. And so Fred really couldn't think of a worse fate here. He totally believed in this company.

11:30I mean, this was his baby. He'd invested all of his inheritance into it. But now, it was about to collapse. Unless he got really, really lucky. All around him in the casino, Fred could see gamblers hunched over slot machines and over poker tables and blackjack tables, and some people looked elated, like they were having the time of their lives. And many other people looked like they were maybe having the worst time of their lives and were on the brink of tears. Fred didn't know if he'd be celebrating or sobbing by the end of this night. All he knew is he was out of options here. He could either do nothing and just kind of accept his fate, that his business was doomed and would have to be shut down.

12:05Or he could do what he was doing tonight, which was to basically take what little cash he had and put it on a game of chance, basically gamble the money he had in hopes of winning enough money to keep his business going a little bit longer. And so after taking a calming breath, Fred began walking over to a blackjack table because someone had told him that of all the games he could play in a Las Vegas casino, the game with the best odds was blackjack. Fred chose a table with an open seat. He exchanged all his cash for chips while he prayed that he was making the right choice here. Then Fred began to play.

12:37For the first few hands, Fred was pretty cautious, only placing small bets. But he won all those small bets, and it kind of emboldened him. And so he began placing larger bets, and he began winning those bets too. And in fact, it got to the point where he was winning so consistently that a crowd of strangers had formed behind the table just to watch Fred. But Fred wasn't even aware of the crowd behind him. He was so focused on every single hand. I mean, for him, this was like his life he was gambling with. And eventually, he got to a place where he had like a mountain of chips in front of him, and he was gambling huge sums of it all at once.

13:12And then eventually, when he had this big mountain of chips in front of him, Fred decided this was it. He was going to double down and go all in. And so he puts all these chips out, and he waits. And eventually, the dealer flips over their cards. And as soon as they did, the crowd around Fred, who he hadn't even noticed to this point, erupted in cheers. because Fred had just won. And when the dealer pushed all the chips back over to him and he got to count how much money he had, he realized he had started with$5 ,000, but now had$27 ,000. He had gambled and won. $27 ,000 was just enough to pay that fuel bill and keep his company running a little bit longer.

13:50So basically exactly what Fred had hoped for had happened. And then during this extra time that Fred had basically won himself, he was able to secure$11 million in investor funding, which was enough money to finally scale up this small business into the behemoth that we know it as today. Fred went from being a guy betting his last chips at a casino to now being a multi-billionaire. Fred's full name is Fred Smith, and that little company that he scaled up on a gamble was FedEx.

14:26Our next story is called One Drink, Two Drink.

14:39One night in 1925, a 21-year-old college student named Ted was inside of his dorm room at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, surrounded by his friends. Ted and his friends had gotten their hands on a bottle of gin. And so tonight, they were just sitting around, drinking this gin, and having a great time. Now, Ted and his friends knew this was not allowed. I mean, literally they knew this was illegal. It didn't matter that they were 21 years old. At the time, in the United States, in 1925, the country was in the middle of prohibition, which meant no one was allowed to possess or consume alcohol.

15:09It was actually illegal. But Ted specifically was willing to take that risk because tonight he wanted to celebrate. Ted was a senior in college and was getting ready to graduate with honors. And also, he had recently been named the editor-in-chief of Dartmouth's humor magazine called Jack-O-Lantern. This was a big deal for Ted. I mean, he had aspirations of graduating and becoming a professional writer and publisher, and it just felt like everything was falling into place, you know, getting this job as editor-in-chief. It was a huge accomplishment. So Ted took a swig from the bottle and passed it around the circle, and before long, he and his friends were all pretty drunk and having a great time, laughing and joking and telling stories.

15:46It was a lot of fun. But at some point, they heard a knock on their door. Right away, Ted and his friends went silent, you know, remembering that, oh my God, are we in trouble now? You know, Ted said, no, it's fine. I'm sure it's just, you know, more friends coming to stop by and hang out with us. And so Ted, he gets up, he goes to the door and, you know, his heart's racing a little bit because he doesn't know who's there. He opens the door and it's not friends. It's two police officers. And so Ted and his friends all got busted for drinking alcohol. However, fortunately for them, the police did not press charges.

16:15And so nobody went to jail. And also the school, Dartmouth, decided not to expel Ted or any of his friends. However, they were dealt some pretty severe punishments. Specifically, Dartmouth stripped Ted of all of his academic honors and extracurriculars, which meant he was no longer the editor-in-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern magazine. In fact, he was told by the school that not only was he no longer the editor-in-chief, but he couldn't even submit to put anything in writing into that magazine. He was totally banned. Ted was heartbroken, less so about the academic honors and much more so about being, you know, cut off from the Jack-o'-lantern magazine.

16:51He really had attached a lot of value to being the editor-in-chief. He felt like things were going in the direction of him graduating and becoming this professional writer, and so this was sort of a devastating blow. Ted considered fighting with Dartmouth to try to reinstate himself with the magazine, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew that was going nowhere. They were not going to change their mind. However, Ted was not quite ready to just totally give up on this magazine. He knew this magazine did accept submissions from the public. And so he thought, okay, well, I'm not allowed to submit anything to this magazine, but maybe if I come up with a different name, a pen name, then I can submit my work.

17:27They won't know it's me and maybe I can get something published. And so that's exactly what Ted began doing. And the new editor in chief of this magazine had no idea this pen name was actually Ted. And so when they received the work from the pseudonym, they thought it was some new person they had never heard of. And they were so wowed by the work. They're like, this is great. and they began publishing all of Ted's work, not realizing it was his. And for Ted, oddly enough, this became in some ways more satisfying than when he was writing under his own name. He kind of liked this pen name, kind of, you know, fit the vibe of his writing.

18:00And so he just continued up with this ruse for the rest of the time he was at Dartmouth, and then after he graduated, he just continued to write under this pen name. Throughout the rest of his life, Ted would write and illustrate over 60 books all under this pen name, a name he came up with basically just because he got caught drinking in the dorm in college. These books would entertain and inspire generations of people, and in fact, he would even win a Pulitzer Prize for his contribution to American literature and education. Ted's full name was Theodore Geisel, but I'm sure you know him much better by his pen name, which is Dr.

18:34Seuss.

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19:21Create your first Monday agent in minutes at monday.com. The next and final story of today's episode is called The Stripper's Advice.

19:38In the spring of 1986, a 22-year-old man named Will walked across the campus of the University of Missouri. Will was just a few months away from graduating from that university with a bachelor's degree in journalism. But recently, he was starting to feel like he actually didn't want to be a journalist after all. He didn't have any real passion for journalism. However, he did have passion for Hollywood movies. Will had lived in Missouri his whole life, and now he was, you know, going to college in Missouri as well, so he was pretty sheltered, hadn't really gone anywhere. So for him, movies had sort of been like this magical portal into a different world.

20:14You know, Hollywood would show him all these amazing places and people, and so that was his escape. He loved Hollywood movies. And so with Will's senior year coming to a close in just a few months with, you know, real life right there on the horizon, Will sort of had this big revelation that he simply didn't want to be a journalist. And in fact, what he was going to do is just drop out of college, literally weeks away from his degree, and move to California, to Hollywood, to actually pursue being an actor in Hollywood movies. But despite Will's incredible enthusiasm and naivete. When he got to Los Angeles, you know, to Hollywood, he realized that he was not the only young person with this big dream.

20:58There were loads of aspiring actors and actresses who loved Hollywood and wanted to break in that were here basically competing for all the same roles in all the same films. Now, this didn't deter Will. I mean, he wasn't totally shocked. Of course, people wanted to be big movie stars and come out here and try their hand. And so he went out and auditioned constantly. He didn't care what movie it was. He wanted to be in one, but he just was not getting the work. Nobody was picking him up. He was auditioning and being rejected over and over and over again. And Will was okay with that. He figured, okay, I'll get better and eventually get cast for something.

21:34But the problem was his finances. It was expensive to live in Los Angeles, and there really weren't all that many jobs available. I mean, during the day, Will really wanted to focus on just auditioning constantly, and so the only work he could reasonably take was sort of side gigs that he could work late at night or early in the morning. Except, again, there's so many people trying to do what Will is doing, you know, aspiring actors and actresses, that basically all the side gigs in LA were sort of already taken. And so the only ones that were available to Will were like the bottom of the barrel side gigs, the ones nobody wanted.