Podcast Episode 268: The Great Impostor

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Ferdinand Demara earned his reputation as the Great Impostor: For over 22 years he criss-crossed the country, posing as everything from an auditor to a zoologist and stealing a succession of identities to fool his employers. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll review Demara’s motivation, morality, and techniques — and the charismatic spell he seemed to cast over others.

We’ll also make Big Ben strike 13 and puzzle over a movie watcher’s cat.

Intro:

In 1825, Thomas Steele proposed enclosing Isaac Newton’s residence in a pyramid surmounted by a stone globe.

In 1923 Arthur Guiterman found a rhyme for wasp.

Sources for our feature on Ferdinand Demara:

Robert Crichton, The Great Impostor, 1959.

Robert Crichton, The Rascal and the Road, 1961.

Frank E. Hagan, Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior, 2008.

Joe McCarthy, “The Master Imposter: An Incredible Tale,” Life, Jan. 28, 1952.

Susan Goldenberg, “Unmasked,” Canada’s History 91:1 (February/March 2011), 31-36.

Ray Cavanaugh, “Brother, Doctor, Soldier, Lies,” National Catholic Reporter 51:20 (July 17, 2015), 16.

David Goldman, “The Great Impostor,” Biography 4:8 (August 2000), 24.

“Ferdinand Waldo Demara, 60, An Impostor in Varied Fields,” Associated Press, June 9, 1982.

Tim Holmes, “Ferdinand Waldo Demara: One of the Greatest Imposters the World Has Ever Seen,” Independent, Aug. 29, 2019.

Kevin Loria, “The True Story of a Con Artist Who Conducted Surgeries, Ran a Prison, Taught College, and More,” Business Insider, Feb. 20, 2016.

“Americana: Ferdinand the Bull Thrower,” Time, Feb. 25, 1957.

Samuel Thurston, “Champion Rascal,” New York Times, July 26, 1959.

“Top 10 Imposters,” Time, May 26, 2009.

“‘The Great Imposter’ Reportedly a Cleric,” Associated Press, Jan. 8, 1970.

Thomas M. Pryor, “Universal to Film ‘Great Impostor’; Career of Ferdinand Demara Jr. Will Be Traced — Lilli Palmer’s Pact Extended,” New York Times, March 12, 1959.

John Schwartz, “Ideas & Trends; James Gatz, Please Call Your Office,” New York Times, March 11, 2001.

Eric Pace, “Notes on People,” New York Times, April 6, 1978.

“Fake Surgeon a Success; Canada to Oust American Who Served Navy in Korea,” New York Times, Nov. 21, 1951.

“Navy Drops Bogus Surgeon,” New York Times, Jan. 30, 1952.

“Schoolmaster a Fraud; ‘Surgeon’ During Korea War Is Unmasked in Maine,” New York Times, Feb. 15, 1957.

Samuel T. Williamson, “Life Is a Masquerade,” New York Times, Dec. 3, 1961.

Glen Hallick, “Local Veteran Reflects on Service in the Korean War,” Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times [Manitoba], July 25, 2013, 14.

Glenn R. Lisle, “Waldo Demara Was a Daring Imposter,” Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 20, 2006, A15.

“The Original ‘Impostor’,” Newsday, Oct. 13, 1996, A.41.

“Korean War Veteran Wells Met the Great Imposter,” Scarborough [Ontario] Mirror, Nov. 12, 2012, 1.

Marty Gervais, “My Town,” Windsor [Ontario] Star, May 31, 2003, A5.

Darren Mcdonald, “The Great Imposter,” Chilliwack [B.C.] Times, Nov. 11, 2005, B2.

John F. Morrison, “‘The Great Imposter’: Jack Doe of All Trades,” Philadelphia Daily News, March 30, 1983, 22.

Pat MacAdam, “The Great Impostor’s Last Victim,” Ottawa Citizen, April 11, 1999, A3.

John Affleck, “Bold Look Into Minds of Conmen,” Gold Coast [Southport, Queensland] Bulletin, June 18, 2016, 55.

Glen Hallick, “Stan Davis Reflects on His Service in the Korean War,” Interlake Spectator, July 25, 2013, 12.

“From Our Pages: 1951,” Kingston [Ontario] Whig, Dec. 27, 1999, 54.

Darrel Bristow-Bovey, “The Man With 50 Lives,” [Johannesburg] Times, Nov. 3, 2017.

When Demara appeared on You Bet Your Life in 1959, Groucho Marx called him “the most intelligent and charming and likable crook I’ve ever met”:

Listener mail:

“Hear Big Ben on the Radio Before You Hear It in Real Life,” Londonist, Sept. 26, 2014.

John O’Ceallaigh, “40 Amazing Facts About Big Ben – As Its Clock Takes on a New Colour,” Telegraph, March 22, 2019.

“The Great Bell – Big Ben,” parliament.uk (accessed Oct. 5, 2019).

Wikipedia, “Big Ben” (accessed Oct. 5, 2019).

“How to Make Big Ben Strike Thirteen?”, Secrets of the Universe, BBC, Nov. 1, 2010.

Wikipedia, “Big Ben Strikes Again” (accessed Oct. 3, 2019).

Jets Hunt, GPS Puzzles and the Sherlock Holmes Mystery: GPS (Global Positioning System) vs. Sherlock Holmes, 2010.

This week’s lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listeners Neil De Carteret and Nala.

You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss.

Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet — you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we’ve set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website.

Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.

If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

| Crime · Podcast · Society

Equal Opportunity

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Antebellum social theorist George Fitzhugh argued that slavery should be extended to whites. “It is a libel on white men to say they are unfit for slavery,” he wrote. “Catch them young, train, domesticate, and civilize them, and they would make as faithful and valuable servants as those indentured servants which our colonial ancestors bought in such large numbers from England.”

He thought that capitalism inevitably creates social inequality, and that those whom it oppresses can best be helped by subjugating them. “The whole war against slavery, has grown out of the hatred of the white to the black,” he wrote. “Nobody ever proposed to abolish white slavery, or the white slave trade. … Nobody ever proposed to abolish any other than negro slavery, and if we could buy Yankees for house-servants, and confine the negroes to field work, all this abolition strife would cease.”

| Society

Personal

TO THE PATRIOTIC UNMARRIED LADIES. — I am a soldier, just returned from the wars. Have lost a leg, but expect to get a cork one; have a useless arm, but will be called brave for it; was once good-looking, but am now scarred all over. If any patriotic young lady will marry me, why fall in line! The applicant must be moderately handsome, have an excellent education, play on the piano and sing; and a competency will not be objectionable. One with these requirements would, doubtless, secure my affections. Address Capt. F.A.B., MERCURY Office.

— New York Sunday Mercury, Nov. 9, 1862

| Society

Lightning Rod Fashion

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In 1778, shortly after Benjamin Franklin introduced the lightning rod, Paris saw a fad for umbrellas and hats that made use of the new technology. A chain ran from the accessory down to the ground and would (in principle) carry the electricity from a lightning strike harmlessly into the ground.

I can’t find any record that such a strike ever happened. Lightning rods didn’t become popular in the United States, even to protect structures, until the 19th century.

(Thanks, Jon.)

| Oddities · Science & Math · Society

Eavesdropping

In 1907, two boys in Alameda, Calif., used homemade wireless sets to intercept messages sent from Navy ships to “boudoirs ashore”:

Miss Brown, Oakland — Can’t meet you to-night. No shore leave. Be good in the meantime.

Mrs. Blank, Alameda — Will see you sure to-morrow night. Didn’t like to take too many chances yesterday. We must be discreet.

[from an officer to a woman on Mare Island:] Honestly, could not show last night. Am arranging so I can see you oftener. Will take you to dinner Wednesday afternoon.

A married woman on Mare Island wrote to another woman’s husband, an officer, “All lovely. I’m sure you are mistaken. Call again. Your P.L.”

“Debutantes, it appears, use the wireless system of the navy to relieve their irksome task of correspondence, for there are many fond messages in the book from evidently ingenuous girls to midshipmen and other young officers,” reported the San Francisco Examiner. “At least a third of the messages belong to the class that can not be regarded in any light but confidential without inverting all accepted canons of discretion.”

| Society · Technology

Podcast Episode 264: Jack Renton and the Saltwater People

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In 1868, Scottish sailor Jack Renton found himself the captive of a native people in the Solomon Islands, but through luck and skill he rose to become a respected warrior among them. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll tell the story of Renton’s life among the saltwater people and his return to the Western world.

We’ll also catch some more speeders and puzzle over a regrettable book.

See full show notes …

| History · Podcast · Society

Podcast Episode 263: Memories of Proust

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Confined in a Soviet prison camp in 1941, Polish painter Józef Czapski chose a unique way to cope: He lectured to the other prisoners on Marcel Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe Czapski’s ambitious project and the surprising importance of literature to the prisoners of oppressive regimes.

We’ll also race some lemons and puzzle over a woman’s birthdays.

See full show notes …

| History · Literature · Podcast · Society

Motivation

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Rev. A. B. Fuller, of Boston, very energetically opposed the idea that a teacher should not aid a pupil. Otherwise they might as well not have a teacher. The first assistance should be to inspire an interest in the study pursued, so that it shall be loved. He thought some subjects, as presented by teachers and authors, were so dry that no one could be interested in them, and no one scarcely could have patience to go through with the text-books used. He referred to a book which was studied while he was at Cambridge as an illustration. On its fly leaf some student had written —

If there should be another flood,
To this book for refuge fly;
For if all else should be o’erwhelmed,
This book would still be dry.

— The Massachusetts Teacher and Journal of Home and School Education, 1857

| Society