Thank you all that have listened to Coffee with Jeff over the years. My new podcast is called Celluloid Days. It is similar to CWJ but will focus on films and filmmaking. I hope you will join me. Again, I want to thank everyone who listened to this show over the eight years I've been doing it. It was a lot of fun!
A machine was created in the early 1960s, that for a few coins, could create a toy right before a child’s eyes. They were coin-operated machines that would mold out of plastic, things like little dinosaurs, dolphins, alligators, NASA’s Space Lab, a space capsule, and even presidential busts. It was called Mold-A-Rama, created by a man who originally wanted nothing more than a replacement for a Christmas decoration. On this show, I have the story of the Mold-a-Rama, as well as vending machines and pinball.
There once was a man who was part of a secret government experiment that involved mind-altering drugs. He wrote two classic novels before he was thirty. But of all the things he did, he said the thing he was most proud of was a bus. He took a group of friends across the country and back. They were known as the Merry Pranksters, and they went on a quest to freak out American and introduce it to LSD, Today I have the story of the amazing Ken Kesey.
Two stories in today’s episode. My main story is the brutal murder of 28-year-old Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed in New York City on her way home from work. It is a murder remembered 60 years later because of a factually incorrect newspaper article. The second story is of the 1974 attempted kidnapping of Princess Ann outside Buckingham Palace by a man named Ian Ball.
There once was a man who, in the early 19th century, spent the last 19 years of his life living in a cave-like a hermit, only contacting other humans when it was only necessary. The man had given up on the world due to personal tragedy. It was a strange, almost too weird to be true story tale. An unmarried woman convicted of murdering her own children and the brother who fought to prove her innocence. This is the story of The Pennsylvania Hermit!
There once was a talented 4-year-old that became a star in the movies. He could sing and act and looked cute as a button. But as he grew into adulthood, he has issues with relationships, authorities, and drugs. The story is about Scotty Becket, who started on the Our Gang shorts and went onto play a character named Winky before….
In this episode, I have three stories of incredible women. Story one is about Susanna M. Salter, the first Mayor in the USA, the second, Helen Hulick, a lady who defied a court order for her own ideals, and the third, Juliane Koepcke’s amazing story of survival. I hope you enjoy it!
There once was a man who was strained on a deserted island for a long, long, time. Every day his beard grew longer, and his clothes deteriorated. His only friends were the goats and cats that shared who he sang and danced to. He lived alone with his thoughts for four and a half years, every day watching the sea looking for rescue. The year was 1704 and one man would be left by a privateering ship and, for over four years would learn to be a better person, Today I have the story of Scottish sailor and castaway Alexander Selkirk.
There once was a man who became The King of Western Swing. He was a fiddle player with his own band who was starring in movies, had his own radio and television shows, had a beautiful young wife and three children. But he also had a dark side. He drank and was known to have angry outbursts. In 1961, his demons got the best of him and it resulted in a tragedy. It was murder! Today I bring you the dark story of a fiddle player named Spade Cooley.
There is a small nation about 7 and a half miles off the coast of England that has survived for more than 50 years. It has a normal population of around 2, about sometimes as many as 50 have lived there. This is the story of an unrecognized country on a World War Two anti-aircraft platform off the coast of Suffolk, England. It was created by an ex-pirate radio owner. Today I bring you episode 226, the astonishing story of the Principality of Sealand.