We’re idealists here at This Was A Thing, and what’s more idealistic than the American Dream? And if there’s one person who personifies that embodies that dream to a tee, it’s this week’s subject. A man who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, as well as by the wheelchair handles of his much older spouse, and who went to extraordinary lengths to secure his legacy: becoming one of the most notorious gold-diggers in modern history.

Rob teaches Ray and Daniel all about the unconventional marriage between Mr. Mark Harris and Colonel Martha “Maggie” Raye; Mr. Harris’s history of dabbling in everything from cosmetology to producing for Eddie Fisher; Martha’s risqué adventures with ThWAT-favorite Skip E. Lowe; Howard Stearn’s role in elevating Mark Harris’s status and notoriety; the denture cleaner that we should all be using; Martha’s rocky relationship with her daughter; and what ultimately happened to this unconventional marriage that captured the attention of the public and the tabloids.

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TEAM

Ray Hebel

Robert W. Schneider

Mark Schroeder

Billy Recce

Daniel Schwartzberg

Gabe Crawford

Natalie DeSavia

ARTICLESEPISODE CLIPS

Mark Harris’ Many Failed Projects

Martha Raye - Pig Foot Pete (Keep ’Em Flying, 1941)

Martha Raye Receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: 1969 Oscars

Martha Raye–Polident Commercial, 1982 TV

Mark Harris–1993 Tv Interview, Husband of Martha Raye

Mark Harris Compilation Part 1

Howard Stern Interviews Mark Harris 90s

Skip, Grace Robbins, Birthday 88, Barbara McNair, Mamie Van Doren, Mark Harris

Mark Harris Dear President Clinton debut

Mark Harris, Linda Hopkins, Barbara McNair singing

1994 - the Death of Martha Raye

Howard Stern: Mark Harris Exits Closet to Discuss His F*g Hag Martha Raye’s Assassination (1994)

Mark Harris - Tasty Travels

Mark Harris - Elizabeth Taylor (2004)

Mark Harris’ Post 9 11 Patriotic song

Mark Harris - I’m a Gay Papa

ADDITIONAL MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS

“Happy Bee”

• Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

• Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Additional Sound Effects from Final Cut Pro, iLife, and Logic Pro