Episode #37: 1930 Timeline Twist & The Tragic Life of Carl Panzram

8/7/2024: On today’s episode, Valerie’s 1930 Timeline Twist covers Harry Matthews’ delightful Sky Projector AND his “dangerous” death ray, the inspiration and family scandal connected to famed Grant Wood painting American Gothic, Valerie indulges her love of Art Deco architecture, and we learn the 1930 Watkins Cookbook recipe for Macaroni Loaf - we hear it’s better with bacon! We discuss the history of the Snickers Bar, and reveal the magical secrets of Popular Science’s Spiritphone. Next, Amy Jo tells the devastating life story of serial killer Carl Panzram. It’s a story that truly illustrates how a killer is made, including an abusive and violent childhood, his dangerous life on the rails, multiple stints in an Are You New? style list of jails and prisons across the globe, his many, many escapes, and how he might have FINALLY found an ounce of peace at the end of his life, even writing his own memoir before his execution.

Cover Photo: Mug shot of Carl Panzram

1. Miss Amy Johnson (Later Mrs. J.A.Mollison), who made a solo flight to Australia in May 1930 Approximate date of photograph: 1930.

2. English inventor Harry Grindell Matthews (1880-1941).

3. Betty Boop

4. Poster depicting a soldier wearing a steel helmet. All Quiet on the Western Front.

5. Grant Wood - American Gothic

6. Chicago Board of Trade Building in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

7. Ann Basinger and her daughter Kim Basinger, 1972.

8. Woody Harrelson in Zombieland

9. Panzram, under the alias "Jefferson Davis" at Montana State Prison, c. 1913.

10. Oregon State Penitentiary in 1892.

11. Richard Donner (center, blue shirt) with actors Joe Pantoliano (Francis Fratelli), Jeff Cohen (Chunk), Lupe Ontiveros (Rosalita), Ke Huy Quan (Data), Robert Davi (Jake Fratelli), and Corey Feldman (Mouth) at a 2010 celebration of The Goonies’ 25th anniversary. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

12. Article about Carl Panzram

13. United States Penitentiary Leavenworth

14. Henry Lesser, the prison guard who gave Panzram the pencil and paper on which he wrote his autobiography.

15. Panzram's last cell at Leavenworth, nearest the window. The place where Panzram wrote his story.

16. Newspaper article about Carl Panzram.

Sources/Photo Sources

Intro Sources:

https://nacc.stanford.edu/home/history-timelines/stanford-mascot-timeline

Timeline Twist Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Molchanov

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiosonde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_German_federal_election 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Grindell_Matthews 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_in_animation 

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/5418/betty-boop-made-her-debut-1930/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_in_film 

https://culturezvous.com/en/hidden-meanings-american-gothic-grant-wood-analysis/#:~:text=When%20the%20artist%20saw%20an,architectural%20style%20of%20this%20house. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Board_of_Trade_Building#Architecture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(mythology)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1754080342/watkins-cookbook-vintage-1930?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=vintage+recipes+1930&ref=sr_gallery-1-4&pro=1&sts=1&content_source=aa3a7250c4f41961467bcf12e45eaeebce458e92%253A1754080342&organic_search_click=1 

https://www.newspapers.com/article/drumheller-review-recipe-economy-meat-p/125252339/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Products_introduced_in_1930 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breck_Shampoo 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shaver 

https://www.candydistrict.com/blogs/sweet-talk-blog/top-10-candies-from-the-1930s 

https://www.popsci.com/diy/spiritphone-magic-trick-explained/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1929

Timeline Twist Photo Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breck_Shampoo#/media/File:Kim_Basinger_and_her_Mom,_Ann_Basinger_for_Breck_Shampoo,_1972.jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson#/media/File:Amy_Johnson_(Our_Generation,_1938).jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Grindell_Matthews#/media/File:Harry_Grindell_Matthews_1924.jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Car_Blues#/media/File:Bosko_Box_Car_Blues.png 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1930_film)#/media/File:All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1930_film)_poster.jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic#/media/File:Grant_Wood_-_American_Gothic_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Board_of_Trade_Building#/media/File:Chicago_Board_Of_Trade_Building.jpg

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/5418/betty-boop-made-her-debut-1930/

The Tragic Life of Carl Panzram Sources:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38199370-carl-panzram

https://arcadia-astrology.com/en/astrodb/carl-panzram

https://www.amazon.com/Panzram-Butchering-Humanity-Carl-Autobiography-ebook/dp/B08H2KH757

https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/panzram-carl.htm

https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/history/panzram1/2.html

https://www.historydefined.net/carl-panzram/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/carl-panzram

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22593-mastoidectomy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvyz2TsdWso

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhcYl8AGbQ

https://thecrimewire.com/true-crime/carlpanzram

https://thecrimewire.com/true-crime/carlpanzram

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram

https://www.historydefined.net/carl-panzram/

https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/panzram-carl-photos.htm

The Tragic Life of Carl Panzram Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram#/media/File:Carl_Panzram_AKA_Jeff_Davis.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram#/media/File:Carl_Panzram.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram#/media/File:MCF-Red_Wing.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram#/media/File:CB1OMP.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram#/media/File:Oregon_State_Penitentiary_1892.jpeg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram#/media/File:Leavenworth-prison.jpg

https://www.polygon.com/movies/22565675/richard-donner-obituary-dies-rip-the-goonies-superman

https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/panzram-carl-photos.htm