In the early part of the 20th century, adoption was almost unheard of. However; one woman came in and changed all of that. Her name was Georgia Tann, and she did her best to provide children to those who wanted them, as long as a profit was involved – and she would get the children any way she could, by lying or by kidnapping. She was a bad woman who took babies from the poor, so she could sell them to the rich.

Today I have the depressing story of Georgia Tann on the 186th episode of Coffee With Jeff.

Show notes and links:

• A Story of Stolen Babies (nchgs.org)
• Georgia Tann – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
• The Hollywood Baby Snatcher: The sinister story of the woman who stole children and sold them to the stars (dailymail.co.uk)
• How Georgia Tann Stole And Sold 5,000 Babies In The Black Market (allthatsinteresting.com)
• The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption by Barbara Bisantz Raymond (goodreads.com)

In the late 19th, century a new industry began; filmmaking. In the beginning, it was open to anyone – man or woman – who wanted to try. That would change once big money got involved, and some would be pushed aside and forgotten about.

Are you ready to hear the story of a remarkable woman named Alice Guy Blaché who helped create the art of film and how Hollywood and history left her behind?

Today I repeat the story of Alice Guy Blaché on the 185th episode of Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links:

Imagine a burning home, flames dancing out every window. A man walking by hears a scream for help from a young child coming from inside. Without much of a thought, he runs inside in an attempt to rescue the youngster. Why would he do that? Why – evolutionarily speaking – would anyone risk his or her life or save a stranger.

One man thought he figured out why and he didn’t like what he discovered, so he gave up everything to prove himself wrong.

Today I have the story of George Price on the 184th episode of Coffee of Jeff.

Show notes and links:

• George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness (youtube.com)
• TEDxTalpiot – Oren Harman – The Evolution of Altruism (youtube.com)
• George Price: The altruistic man who died trying to prove selflessness doesn’t exist (independent.co.uk)
• The Group: On George Price (thenation.com)
• (PDF) The Birth of the First Evolutionary Stable Strategy | Oren Harman (academia.edu)
• The Man Who Gave Himself Away (nautil.us)
• (PDF) Helical Biography: The Case of Altruism and George Price | Oren Harman (academia.edu)
• George R. Price – Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
• Why Do Human Beings Do Good Things? The Puzzle of Altruism (psychologytoday.com)

Imagine a man who was a civil engineer, a sheriff’s deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, a cancer researcher, a teacher and a military ship doctor and surgeon. He acquired all these positions without ever graduating high school.

He was known as the Great Imposter. Today I have the story of Ferdinand Waldo Demara on the 183 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links:

In the early 1930s, America was going through a tough time. It was a period called The Great Depression.

There were other nations that were going through a similar situation – many of them seemed to solve their problem by installing a fascist government ruled by a dictator. There were some in America who thought a similar action in the United States was called for.

Today I tell the story of the Plot to Seize the White House in 1934 on the 182 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links:

In the late 1970s, the team of Ilya and Alexander Salkind did an amazing thing, created the first Superhero film, Superman: The Movie. The film was a huge success. The franchise continued for another four films, each film being of worse quality than the last. It was a steady decline until the character was given up on in Hollywood for 17 years.

Today I tell the story of the fall of the Superman Franchise in the 181 episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links:

Richard Donner had just directed The Omen when he was asked he would direct a Superman movie for one million dollars. He would then spend over two years of his life dealing with problems and frustrations that he couldn’t have imagined.

Here is the story of Richard Donner, Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, and the making of Superman: The Movie.

Show notes and links:

One day, a hotel owner in Virginia was given a small locked metal box for safekeeping by a man who has spent the winter at the inn. The man never returned.

After several years had gone by, the hotel innkeeper decided it was time to see what was inside. To his surprise, it contained the clues to a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels. Just one problem; it was written in code! After 130 years, no one has been able to figure it out.

I have the story of the Beale Papers on the 179th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links:

Imaging a world in which a new technology, a new profession, was sweeping the world. A young child develops a deep desire, a passion for this profession, but he is told, from his earliest years until an adult, that the new profession wasn’t for him. He was not capable handling it for the simple reason, the color of your skin.

Today I tell the tale of Charles “Chief” Anderson, who overcame extreme racism to became one of the world most respected aviators on the 178th episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links:

Apparently something went wrong last week with the publication of my episode of Burke and Hare. For those that listened to it and heard the wrong episode, I apologize. Here is the correct show. Thank you for your understanding.

Imagine a world in which doctors would require the bodies of the recently dead to teach and learn about human anatomy. Some doctors needed bodies so badly they would never question where the bodies came from. Some enterprising young men made it their business to supply these doctors with corpses – and to keep up with demand, they didn’t wait for death to come naturally.

This is the tale of Burke and Hare on the 176th … or 177th! … episode of Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff.

Show notes and links: