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Hi, I m David Farrier in New Zealand are accidentally marooned in America and I want to figure out what makes this country tick Now a while back we did a whole episode about bears and how the shaggy hairy creatures help shape the experience of the American outdoors What we re talking about is a relationship The bear is a thing that you can get your literally you can get your hands on
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it can get its claws on you.
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But we re also talking about nature as an agent in our lives.
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In that episode, we briefly touched on the cultural icon that is Smokey Bear, an educational mascot who s turned into the longest-running PSA in American history.
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Somehow, a cartoon that existed outside of Disney ended up being one of the world s most recognizable fictional characters.
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Only you can prevent wildfires.
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And America takes the image of Smokey seriously.
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His image is protected by US federal law.
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Pirate Smokey.
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Deface Smokey.
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Sell Smokey.
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And who knows what could happen to you.
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I wanted to learn more about how this bear got so big.
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Who made Smokey?
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What s Smokey doing?
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And why do millions of Americans care about a bear that s not even real?
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So, grab your shovel, ripped jeans and weirdly muscular torso and prepare to prevent some forest fires, because this is the Smokey Bear episode.
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You re saying Smokey Bear, not Smokey the Bear.
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We ve already had a debate before we even started this because it s Smokey the Bear versus Smokey Bear?
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Yeah, I always thought it was Smokey the Bear.
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It s Smokey Bear.
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Are you sure?
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There s never been a that.
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I think, colloquially, we inserted it because it sounds better.
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Smokey the Bear.
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Is this like the Mandela effect?
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It s Smokey Bear.
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In order to maintain the correct rhythm, the writers added a the between Smokey and Bear.
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Yeah, I get into this, because it s the song.
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Yeah, so there s a song that I m going to play in the documentary, and to make that song sound good, Smokey the Bear.
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But officially, on the website, all the official channels, Smokey Bear.
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Wow.
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It would be like calling you Monica the Padman, you know?
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Would you like to be called Monica the Padman?
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I don t hate it.
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Monica the.
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It sounds very important.
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It could be a rebrand.
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It could.
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Maybe when I m 40.
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I m gonna call you Monica.
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What s your relationship with Smokey Bear?
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Was he part of your childhood?
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Was he a joke?
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Was he everywhere?
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I have to be honest, he s very, yeah, he s minimal.
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He doesn t play a big role in my childhood or life.
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I definitely heard of him and knew of him, Smokey the Bear, and knew it had to do with like, what is the timeline?
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When did the come into play?
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When did the song happen?
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The song happened in 52, so it s a long time.
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Yeah, it s been forever.
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My whole life was The.
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I think we can call him Smokey the Bear.
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Okay.
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There s a whole Reddit thread about this, that even in a movie in the 80s, they said Smokey the Bear says you can prevent forest fires.
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It sounds so much better.
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They should change it.
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I m gonna get onto them.
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Well, the reason is because it doesn t actually make sense.
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It s not that his last name is Bear.
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It s not Mr. Bear.
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Exactly.
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He just is a bear.
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He is a bear.
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He s named Smokey.
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You re completely right.
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It makes no... Smokey Bear sounds like something they d say in New Zealand wrong.
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Rob, was he an icon for you growing up?
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Yeah, yeah, I know a lot.
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We ve had things in school about him and we watched the videos because maybe we re in a more wooded area.
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It was more prominent.
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Well, no, there s lots of trees in Georgia.
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I mean, we need him here.
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I mean, walking around because I walk up Griffith Park all the time and there s a smoky bear cut out of him.
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What?
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And it s like, don t light a fire.
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So this is maybe like Bader Meinhof.
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Now I m going to start seeing him everywhere.
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No, he is though.
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He s everywhere.
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If you start looking around for Smokey, he s always in the woods.
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He s always around and I ve seen a lot of him.
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Does he have a monopoly on fire safety?
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Yeah, he does.
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In America.
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And we get into that, he is the longest running PSA in American history.
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Yeah, he is kind of fascinating.
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I m trying to think about other icons that we have.
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In New Zealand, I ve talked about Harold the Giraffe.
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He s like an icon for health, sort of health care and sort of education.
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Right.
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We ve got this dairy called Foursquare, and that s got this iconic man, we know him.
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Icons are such a funny thing.
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They are.
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These characters just are so... Ubiquitous.
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Yeah, they just get into your brain.
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Well, we ve talked about a lot of the serial mascots.
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Tony the Tiger.
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Wasn t there a D.A.R.E.
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dog?
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Oh, we had D.A.R.E., but I don t remember- Was it the drug program?
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Oh, there was a dog, but I don t remember his name or anything.
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McGruff?
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Oh, really?
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We had that D.A.R.E.
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anti-drug program in New Zealand.
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I don t remember it coming with a dog.
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I wonder, were they for profit, D.A.R.E.?
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I m curious.
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Do you think, in the back of your mind, it was a bit, some sort of scam going on?
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A little bit.
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No, it s a non-profit.
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It s a non-profit.
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Oh, okay, okay, okay.
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But it s still part of the war on drugs.
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You always hear about, yeah, it was, yeah, it definitely had that behind it.
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Yeah.
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So this is one of these episodes where I recorded this when I was recording the Roswell episode.
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Okay.
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Cause I had a dad in Roswell and then I was like, I ve got to record another flightless bird.
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And I did some Googling and my friend Jess was like, the Smoky Bear Museum is near here.
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Wow.
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And so this is where this episode came from.
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So this is part one of the Smoky Bear documentary where we learn a little bit about the the and the bear and some other exciting things.
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Now, young fella, you ve been having a lot of fun around here today, haven t you?
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Camping in the great outdoors?
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This is probably the most confusing Flightless Bird episode I ve ever made, because when you re dealing with something so iconic, so legendary, it s hard to know what s real and what s just legend.
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I m going to sing a song about someone who lives in the forest all the time.
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Like, is it Smokey Bear or Smokey The Bear?
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In the iconic Eddie Arnold song from 1952, it s definitely Smokey The Bear, which is what I d thought it was.
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And now for my song.
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It s called Smokey The Bear.
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With a ranger s hat and shovel and a pair of dungarees
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You will find him in the forest always sniffing at the breeze.
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People stop and pay attention when he tells them to beware, cause everybody knows that he s the fire-preventing bear.
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Smokey the Bear, Smokey the Bear, growling and a growling and a sniff in the air.
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But apparently, Eddie got it wrong.
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They added the THE so it would fit the rhythm of the song better.
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Officially, it s just Smokey Bear.
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And at its most simple, Smokey Bear is just a big ad campaign.
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A campaign to stop fire.
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An ad campaign that wasn t even meant to involve a bear.
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When Bambi came out in 1942, the US Forest Service had just started its campaign to stop forest fires, and they wanted Bambi as their symbol.
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Walt Disney said, yes, we ll lend you Bambi, but only for a year.
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So when the year was up, the Forest Service needed a brand new icon.
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And so Harry Rosal, who worked for the fire service, sketched out Smokey, a brown bear who hated fires.
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There have been modifications and changes to Harry s idea, but since 1944, cartoon Smokey has been the face of wildlife prevention in America.
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Which is why I got very confused when someone told me that Smokey was a real bear who was buried in a grave in New Mexico.
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How could a cartoon be buried?
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Yet again, America had me bamboozled.
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Do you get a lot of bears around here in this particular area?
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Yeah, North American black bear.
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And not so much here in the town, but up in the mountains, definitely.
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If you go to Wui Do, so it s not too far, they get elk, wild horses still in town and occasional black bears.
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I d arrived in the tiny town of Capitan in New Mexico.
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It was in the middle of nowhere.
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Albuquerque was about three hours north, and the Mexican border was three hours south.
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I d come in search of Smokey s alleged gravesite, and had met up with a park ranger called Max.
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Being American, you kind of know about Smokey.
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But a lot of people around the world know about Smokey, so he s a really popular icon.
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In fact, that s one of the reasons I became a park ranger, was because of Smokey, and I found myself here after so many years.
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Max has brought me to the Smoky Bear Historical Park here in Capitan.
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He s wearing jeans and a buttoned up New Mexico Forestry Division shirt.
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What sort of people do you get coming through?
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All sorts.
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You guys from New Zealand and we got people from Thailand that came earlier this summer.
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But all sorts.
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Mostly in the summertime we get more of the crowds.
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Capitan is a tiny town.
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It covers about 3 square miles and less than 1500 people live here.
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famous for Smokey Bear.
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Because it turns out while Smokey started as a cartoon, and what sounds like some kind of crazy magic, he ended up being a real bear too.
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Max tells me that back in 1950, a tiny bear cub was rescued from a fire here in the Capitan Mountains, and that cub was brought to the attention of the US Forest Service s PR people.
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Here was not only a real bear, but a cute cub.
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And not just a cute cub, a cute cub that had been rescued from an out-of-control fire.
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The Forest Service had found their secret weapon, their ultimate symbol.
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What was it about this particular bear that sort of drew you into this world of, I guess, conservation and nature?
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I guess just his story, being a cub and surviving such a horrific fire.
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And he s such a cute, cuddly bear, so you get behind that story.
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And then him with his ranger, iconic ranger hat.
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I always wanted to have a ranger hat like that with the National Park Service.
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I noticed Max is wearing a hat today, but it s just an ordinary cap, not Smokey s round ranger hat.
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Apparently working as a ranger at the Smokey Museum doesn t get you Smokey s iconic hat after all.
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We don t have the cool cap like the park service does, but I m still a park ranger.
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He takes me inside to the museum, which is basically a large log cabin.
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It s charming, and the history of Smoky is up on the walls all around us.
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I was surprised to find out that Smoky Bear was a real bear.
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I had no idea about this.
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Yes.
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Yes, in fact, he was found just 15 miles from the museum up in the Capitan Mountains in 1950.
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Ray Bell, the game warden that took care of him, of course, he knew the ad campaign of Smokey first.
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So he s like, oh, we got a perfectly good bear to become the living symbol.
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We found him in a fire, so let s name him Smokey.
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He went to the U.S.
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Forest Service, who had the rights to Smokey.
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A bear cub that had survived a forest fire?
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It was like all of the US Forest Service s Christmases had come at once.
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This bear cub was both a symbol of the horrors of wildfire and a symbol of hope and survival.
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Max introduces me to his colleague, a huge Smokey fan.
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I m Wendy, and I tell the people about Smokey.
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During World War II, back in 1944, the campaign started, and they tried different cartoon characters, like Bambi and stuff, and they didn t fit that.
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So when they found Smokey, they thought he would be the perfect icon and the living symbol for the fire prevention, since he was in a fire.
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on the Capitan Mountains, and it burned over about 17,000 acres.
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But he was a lucky bear.
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Yeah, he climbed a tree, and all four of his paws were burned, even on his backside.
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The adult animals know how to get away from a fire, so the mom left Smokey to his own devices, and then the fire crews found him clinging to a tree.
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Ray Bell, a ranger from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, heard about the cub and took him in, before taking him direct to the Forest Service with the idea of the bear being some kind of mascot.
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The Forest Service were keen.
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And that s when the Ad Council came in, taking the story and spinning it into legend.
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The Ad Council s this other very American thing, starting its life as pure American propaganda.
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Back in the 40s it was called the Wartime Advertising Council, existing purely to drum up support for the war effort in World War II.
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They made ads to get Americans to enlist in the army and buy war bonds.
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How did they come to work on the Smokey campaign?
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Well, during World War II there was this big fear about an invading Japanese army setting parts of America on fire, using missiles launched from submarines, or by sending fiery balloons up into American airspace, so-called balloon bombs.
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So the wartime Advertising Council had to alert Americans to this danger, coming up with slogans like, Forest fires aid the enemy, and our carelessness, their secret weapon.
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More recently, the Ed Council recognised that parts of their campaign were pretty racist, stoking paranoia of non-white Americans and foreigners, and illustrating Japanese people in pretty disparaging ways.
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But yeah, scared of Japanese fires, the Ad Council ended up repping this bear cub and attaching him to the existing Smokey Bear campaign.
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And their message of keeping an eye out for fires has become the longest-running PSA in America s history.
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Smokey is now a giant blow-up bear in the annual Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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And it seems nearly every time Smokey has a birthday, America really puts in an effort to do something special.
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Hello Smokey Bear and happy birthday.
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I m Joe Acaba, Expedition 32 flight engineer on the International Space Station.
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It is your 68th birthday and what a journey it has been.
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In 2012, NASA took a Smokey Bear toy into space and wished him happy birthday.
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Thank you for all you do.
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I wish you all the best in your next 68 years of public service.
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An astronaut holds the doll and lets it float in front of him in zero gravity as he thanks various American institutions responsible for the spare.
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It s sort of surreal in how specific he is.
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And I would like to take this opportunity to recognize that you are managed by the U.S.
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Forest Service in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the Ad Council, an organization that improves change and improves lives.
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And back here on Earth, in the museum, the legend lives on.
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He lived to be 26.
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Average age of a North American black bear is from 20 to 25 years old.
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So he lived past that 26.
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And he actually got to retire as a federal employee before he died.
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And what does that mean?
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That s like an official thing that the state puts on him?
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Since he was a fire prevention bear for the U.S.
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Forest Service, he was basically a federal employee in Washington, D.C., in the zoo.
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So then when he got old enough, they retired him and he actually got like a pension and everything.
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Smokey spent most of his life at the National Zoo in Washington, 26 years of it.
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Despite the fact that bears can t read, he got 13,000 letters a month and was visited by millions.
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I m not sure a zoo is the best life for a bear, but it s probably better than being burned alive after your mother abandons you.
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Smokey mostly ate bluefish and trout, and he loved peanut butter.
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And then when he passed, they moved him from Washington back to his hometown to be buried.
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That s how he is in our backyard right now, buried.
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Smokey, dead and buried.
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One could only dream of getting this sort of treatment in death.
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Most of us have forgotten after about a week, this bear lives on.
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He is more famous than the president was back then.
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He had his own zip code.
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And he got more letters than the president did.
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I checked, and they weren t bullshitting.
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The dead bear zip code is 20252.
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The only Americans to have their own private zip code, the current president, and Smokey.
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Smokey Bear.
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Just another very normal American story.
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So did you have any idea about any of this?
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That s incredible, I did not.
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Yeah, they really, they take Smokey so seriously here.
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Yeah.
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Own zip code along with the current president.
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And also just things like that NASA video is so unusual to watch because it s like a NASA astronaut up there with a little Smokey Bear toy giving this speech almost like there s a gun to his head where he s name dropping all the people involved in the creation of Smokey.
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And then I went on to the Smokey Bear website
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Because it s so ingrained in America s culture and because it s such a big touchstone, there s so many rules about how you can use his image and what you can use him for, and there s instructions on if you ve got a smoky bear outfit, how to wear it properly, if you re a park ranger, how to talk about him.
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He s almost treated like this religious icon or something.
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Wow.
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I had no idea about so much of this.
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It started off as a sad story.
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Well, yeah, the fact that his mum just bailed.
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Abandoned!
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And left the cub up a tree, his little paws burnt.
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Oh, burnt!
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I mean, it s really great they rescued him.
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That s a great thing, but yeah, incredibly sad.
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I mean, how do you feel if your mum just left you up a tree to burn?
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I would be mad at her.
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Horrific.
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I always panic about what I ll do with a friend if there s a dangerous situation, if I ll be a hero or panic and run off.
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If we were walking up Griffith Park, Monica, you and I, and a forest fire was moving in, and you climbed a little tree to get off the ground, and I just ran.
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I worry that I would do that.
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I think you would.
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It s like, I am down deep, sort of a coward.
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I know this because there s ever been threats of violence kind of around my friends.
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I noticed myself starting to freeze.
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So I m worried I m in that mode.
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Yes.
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And I wouldn t be very protective.
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So I think I would be potentially like Smokey the Bear s mum.
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My friend Anthony, shout out, the same Anthony from Synced.
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We went to Cannes together in college, Cannes Film Festival, as a study abroad.
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And he s gonna be very mad that I am telling this story, because it s one of his biggest regrets.
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And he listens to this.
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And he does listen to this.
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He doesn t listen to Synced.
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It s the only show he doesn t listen to.
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This is a point of contention.
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Yeah, big point of contention.
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So we were at this fancy hotel.
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until we re all like a bunch of celebrities stay.
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And our director is like, after the premieres and stuff, you can go to the hotels and walk around and see who you see.
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Oh, bump into some people.
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Exactly.
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So him and I went up the elevator, we just like went as high up as we could go, like highest level.
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And there was no, you know, often.
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That s a good technique.
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Yeah, just see what you see.
2
SPEAKER_00
You need a swipe usually to get up there, don t you?
2
SPEAKER_02
Exactly, but no swipe.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh my God, on the loose.
2
SPEAKER_02
we stepped out and we re just walking down the hall and then there are two security guards and okay like who cares anthony
2
SPEAKER_02
He full on panics.
2
SPEAKER_00
He knew he had done a crime by going to this level of the hotel.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes and starts sprinting.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh he runs.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah he starts running and then I start running because.
2
SPEAKER_00
Wait what was the his mentality was he was worried he was on the wrong floor?
2
SPEAKER_02
We have to call him.
2
SPEAKER_00
This is so interesting.
2
SPEAKER_00
I understand the mindset if you re feeling like you re not meant to be somewhere.
2
SPEAKER_02
Right, but why run like that?
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean now he wouldn t, we were in college, but still we were both like kind of running down the stairs and he pushed me out of the way and then kept running and ran outside.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, this is incredible.
2
SPEAKER_01
You didn t just run to the elevator and go back down?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, then we d have to wait at the elevator.
2
SPEAKER_02
The whole point is to get out of there.
2
SPEAKER_00
No, I mean, I feel I m worried I am that person in times of stress.
2
SPEAKER_02
I kind of do get that vibe from you.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, talk a big game, but when it comes to the crunch, I m pushing you aside.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m leaving you up that tree.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay, let s call him.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s his birthday.
2
SPEAKER_01
Groundhog s Day, Andy and Elizabeth s anniversary, and Anthony s birthday.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that s a lot.
2
SPEAKER_02
Lots of phone calls today.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m happy Groundhog s Day.
2
SPEAKER_01
Are you recording again?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes!
2
SPEAKER_01
No.
2
SPEAKER_02
But we re recording Flightless Bird, a show you like and listen to.
2
SPEAKER_01
Was I just such a fan favorite?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, exactly.
2
SPEAKER_02
Also, happy birthday.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you so much.
2
SPEAKER_02
And happy Groundhog s Day.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t hear anyone else wishing me happy birthday.
2
SPEAKER_01
Happy birthday.
2
SPEAKER_01
Happy birthday.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you guys.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s so kind.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_02
You re going to love what I m about to ask you about today.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, God.
2
SPEAKER_02
What was actually happening in your brain when you ran from the security guards and pushed me down the stairs?
2
SPEAKER_02
I just need to know because the reason we re talking about this is David is essentially saying he thinks he would do that too.
2
SPEAKER_01
David, I don t think we ve ever met.
2
SPEAKER_01
You would definitely do that, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
I know.
2
SPEAKER_02
I get that vibe as well.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so we re trying to get to the bottom of what s happening in the brain.
2
SPEAKER_02
So the security people would have just said, like, you guys can t be up here.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I said, OK, like, why the run?
2
SPEAKER_01
Um, I don t know what you re talking about, but hypothetically, if I did, it would be because I m about to get in trouble.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s all it was.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was like, we are breaking a rule, which we weren t even really breaking any rules.
2
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_01
But yes, I think for me, it s just like, do not get in trouble.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you relate to that a lot, David?
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_00
I get anxious about things and I go to worst case scenario.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes, exactly.
2
SPEAKER_02
But then you create the worst case scenario.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, all the time.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I remember even on that trip, I don t know how it came up, but someone said, we re talking about how we see ourselves or something.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was like, in my head, I m a person silent in the back corner of the room and no one notices.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then a friend was like, that is not what s happening.
2
SPEAKER_02
You take up so much space.
2
SPEAKER_00
Can we talk about the Monica push?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, let s talk about it.
2
SPEAKER_02
What are your questions?
2
SPEAKER_00
Just you kind of seeing Monica there and giving her a little shove out of the way.
2
SPEAKER_01
I do not want this.
2
SPEAKER_01
Listen, listen, listen, listen.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was more just like, keep going, Monica.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re not going fast enough.
2
SPEAKER_01
You gotta keep going.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s some nice revisionist history for you.
2
SPEAKER_01
I did write it all down somewhere.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t know where it is, but I wrote down the account.
2
SPEAKER_02
You did, that day, like it fresh?
2
SPEAKER_00
Diaried it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I kept like a blog or something.
2
SPEAKER_01
That while I was gone.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, my God.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, Anthony is now the father of three.
2
SPEAKER_02
He s grown up.
2
SPEAKER_02
He s not pushing people down.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m a good person now, people.
2
SPEAKER_02
He s a pretty good person.
2
SPEAKER_02
He s not a feminist, but he it is his birthday.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I really don t know how I became a character in all of this.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m going to stop answering your calls.
2
SPEAKER_02
Because you re not someone who stands in the corner.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s just the truth.
2
SPEAKER_02
All right.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, thanks for chatting.
2
SPEAKER_01
Shout out to my sister-in-law, Lisa.
2
SPEAKER_01
She loves Flightless Bird.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, great.
2
SPEAKER_02
Shout out.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_02
All right.
2
SPEAKER_01
Good luck, everyone.
2
SPEAKER_00
Bye.
2
SPEAKER_00
Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird.
2
SPEAKER_00
We ll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
2
SPEAKER_00
Flightless Bird is sponsored by BetterHelp.
2
SPEAKER_00
Now, we were talking about this before, Monica.
2
SPEAKER_00
We re both incredibly busy.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s too much going on.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I sometimes do fantasize, if I had an extra hour in the day, what would I do?
2
SPEAKER_00
And I would say go to a movie, but that s not long enough.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s not a good use of the hour.
2
SPEAKER_00
You re going to be annoyed because you have to walk out of that movie halfway through.
2
SPEAKER_02
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_00
So the question is, if you had that hour, what would you use it for?
2
SPEAKER_00
And the best way, I think, to squeeze that special thing into your schedule is to know what s important to you and make it a priority.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you can see where I m going with this.
2
SPEAKER_00
Better health.
2
SPEAKER_00
It fits into that hour schedule.
2
SPEAKER_00
I have been talking a lot, actually, about boundaries with my therapists, which apparently everyone knows about except me.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I m learning about that.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re hard.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re really hard because we re people pleasers, but we also need to protect our own brains and hearts.
2
SPEAKER_00
So boundaries is my current therapy topic.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, we love therapy over here and we really think there s no downside to it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And BetterHelp is such an easy way because it s online.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s flexible to do your schedule.
2
SPEAKER_02
You can switch therapists if one isn t right for you, which is common.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s always my panic.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s like, oh, I m going to get locked into this thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
You can change if you need to.
2
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_00
So learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp.
2
SPEAKER_00
Visit BetterHelp.com slash Bird today to get 10% off your first month.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Bird.
2
SPEAKER_00
This episode of Flightless Bird is brought to you by Booking.com.
2
SPEAKER_00
Booking dot yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Booking.com offers so many possibilities across the U.S.
2
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for all the travelers you want to be.
2
SPEAKER_02
Traveling s fun.
2
SPEAKER_02
I m feeling antsy for some travel.
2
SPEAKER_00
It hits you, doesn t it?
2
SPEAKER_00
And travel represents different things to different people.
2
SPEAKER_00
Some people can go far, some people... But even just traveling to a different state is amazing.
2
SPEAKER_02
You get to do that for this show all the time.
2
SPEAKER_00
I feel incredibly lucky and you want booking to be easy and Booking.com gives you that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, from relaxing beach resorts to remote cabins, so many places you can go.
2
SPEAKER_02
And on Booking.com, you can be wherever you want to.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m going to South by Southwest for the first time.
2
SPEAKER_00
And actually all the official accommodation is crazy and gone.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I m actually going to try Booking.com to do this because I need to find something and I need help with that stuff.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like my brain isn t great.
2
SPEAKER_00
I need a website that makes it easy and simple and logistics.
2
SPEAKER_00
So Booking.com will help me for that.
2
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This spring, check out Booking.com for your ideal hotel or vacation home, no matter where you go in the US.
2
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Book whoever you want to be on Booking.com.
2
SPEAKER_02
Booking.yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Did you used to have a thing when you re a student in America where you d call up the radio station and get them to dedicate a song to someone?
2
SPEAKER_00
Was that a thing?
2
SPEAKER_02
I m trying to think of, was it a real thing or was it just a rumor that you did that?
2
SPEAKER_00
Because in New Zealand when I was maybe 15-ish, there was a real phase in my year where you would call up, I don t know, like the 8 p.m.
2
SPEAKER_00
radio show, like, can you dedicate Mr. Boombastic to Ali or something from David?
2
SPEAKER_00
I did a couple of times, but I remember being on the call and sweating, so nervous.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because I get so many requests that yours don t always go through, but every night I d call you.
2
SPEAKER_00
But one time it went through, and I just remember it was probably the most excited I ve ever been in my life.
2
SPEAKER_00
And also scared.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you were.
2
SPEAKER_00
What if Ellie hears that?
2
SPEAKER_00
What does that mean?
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh my God, she s heard it now.
2
SPEAKER_00
What s it going to be like at school tomorrow?
2
SPEAKER_00
Is she going to want to go out with me now?
2
SPEAKER_00
What s going to happen?
2
SPEAKER_00
I did go out with her for a day.
2
SPEAKER_02
After that?
2
SPEAKER_00
And then she dumped me for Paul Hartley.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was a good day though.
2
SPEAKER_00
What song?
2
SPEAKER_00
We didn t talk to each other on that day.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was just an agreement that we were going out.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Maybe I was a bit younger.
2
SPEAKER_00
I was probably 17.
2
SPEAKER_00
No, I think it was maybe like 13-ish or something.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay, but what song did you request?
2
SPEAKER_02
Mr. Bombastic?
2
SPEAKER_02
Mr. Bombastic.
2
SPEAKER_00
What is that?
2
SPEAKER_00
Shaggy.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you know this song.
2
SPEAKER_02
I know Shaggy, but do I know Mr. Bombastic?
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay, just very quickly.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, we gotta hear it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_00
Rest in peace, Shaggy.
2
SPEAKER_02
He died?
2
SPEAKER_00
He died, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Recently?
2
SPEAKER_00
Um, fairly recently.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh no, that is sad.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, he didn t.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, he s not dead?
2
SPEAKER_00
No.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh my-
3
SPEAKER_04
What?
3
SPEAKER_04
He s still alive?
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, he s not dead.
3
SPEAKER_04
I ve got to get him for the show.
3
SPEAKER_04
I thought he was dead.
3
SPEAKER_01
Why d you think that?
3
SPEAKER_01
I m so happy.
3
SPEAKER_01
He s still alive.
3
SPEAKER_01
Are you sure, Rob?
3
SPEAKER_02
No, there s an article.
3
SPEAKER_02
Here s an article, Shaggy.
3
SPEAKER_02
I m not dead.
3
SPEAKER_01
It was a rumor?
3
SPEAKER_01
I guess.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it must have been.
3
SPEAKER_02
Okay, I m not the only one.
3
SPEAKER_04
He s not dead.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wait, this is crazy.
3
SPEAKER_01
This is a great day for me.
3
SPEAKER_02
Imagine one of your heroes, you thought he s dead, he s alive.
3
SPEAKER_02
This one says he died like two days ago.
3
SPEAKER_02
But this is one article.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh, wait.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wait, what is this?
3
SPEAKER_02
And it s not listed anywhere else.
3
SPEAKER_04
No, you cannot do this.
3
SPEAKER_01
Hold on.
3
SPEAKER_02
About 11 a.m.
3
SPEAKER_02
Eastern time on Wednesday.
3
SPEAKER_02
You can t take me on this rollercoaster.
3
SPEAKER_02
January 31st, our beloved singer Shaggy passed away.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wait, are you kidding?
3
SPEAKER_02
No way, this is... I don t think this is real, though.
3
SPEAKER_04
no on wikipedia it doesn t say death day or anything so maybe he s one of these people there are constant rumors it s just one of those names where there s constant rumors that they re passed away jeff goldblum gets this they ll be like jeff s fallen off a cliff in iceland or something
3
SPEAKER_01
What a weird life where everyone s just saying you died all the time.
3
SPEAKER_01
God.
3
SPEAKER_02
He s got an Instagram account.
3
SPEAKER_01
He s 55.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay, so he s not dead.
3
SPEAKER_04
No.
3
SPEAKER_04
I don t think so.
3
SPEAKER_04
I ve hated this.
3
SPEAKER_02
This is very stressful.
3
SPEAKER_01
What a ride.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, he posted stories today.
3
SPEAKER_02
At the Grammys.
3
SPEAKER_01
At the Grammys.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh my God, what in the fuck?
3
SPEAKER_01
This is deframed.
3
SPEAKER_04
Okay, this is Mr. Blombastic.
3
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_02
This was so big in New Zealand.
3
SPEAKER_04
Nothing, Monica?
3
SPEAKER_01
It s not really ringing a bell.
3
SPEAKER_02
I know this song.
3
SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_04
This was, look, I can only talk to New Zealand.
3
SPEAKER_04
This was so big.
3
SPEAKER_04
And so to get that dedicated to Ali was such a big achievement.
3
SPEAKER_04
I was on the edge, it would have been like 97.
3
SPEAKER_04
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_02
He s on tour in Australia right now.
3
SPEAKER_01
I thought he was at the Grammys.
3
SPEAKER_01
What are you saying?
3
SPEAKER_03
The information flowing in is hectic today.
3
SPEAKER_02
There s photos of him and some Grammy stuff.
3
SPEAKER_02
He s also playing Melbourne tonight, 18 hours ago.
3
SPEAKER_02
I love this.
3
SPEAKER_02
I can t remember, why are we talking about this?
3
SPEAKER_02
Radio dedications.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, radio dedications.
3
SPEAKER_01
Radio dedications.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, so actually I would have assumed that you would have been too nervous to do something like that.
3
SPEAKER_01
I was nervous.
3
SPEAKER_01
But you did it, so maybe you wouldn t push someone down the stairs or run if there s a fire for Shaggy.
3
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
3
SPEAKER_01
For Shaggy, for Smokey Bear.
3
SPEAKER_01
Shaggy s on fire is the new headline.
3
SPEAKER_04
Yeah, thanks, Monica.
3
SPEAKER_04
Honestly, I like to think, like we all would, that I d react in a brave way to a situation, but I just always suspect that I am a bit of a coward.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wait, this is actually so Sim.
3
SPEAKER_01
So I was sleeping last night, and I was half, I think I was sleeping, or half asleep or something.
3
SPEAKER_03
Okay, you should be clear on that.
3
SPEAKER_01
I know, but my sleep s weird.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s important to the story.
3
SPEAKER_04
I know, but- Can we establish if you re asleep or awake?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, I don t know.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s a chance I was sort of half waking up from sleep.
3
SPEAKER_01
I have weird sleep, hence my seizures.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so I heard a car and it sounded like a big screeching and it sounded like a crash.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I thought, oh no, I should go see.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s the middle of the night.
3
SPEAKER_04
Someone might need my help.
3
SPEAKER_04
There s a car on fire maybe.
3
SPEAKER_04
Maybe I can drag someone out.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I was just like, what just happened?
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I just sat there for so long thinking, what do I do?
3
SPEAKER_01
You were sitting?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, I was laying still with my eyes closed.
3
SPEAKER_01
I was wondering, what s my responsibility in this life?
3
SPEAKER_01
It got deep because it s the middle of the night and I m a small girl in pajamas.
3
SPEAKER_04
At what point are you required to leap into action?
3
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I don t know what it was.
3
SPEAKER_01
Of course, if I see something going on, yes, I ll call 911.
3
SPEAKER_01
But I then was like, I don t think I should go out in the middle of the night and go be up by myself dealing with this.
3
SPEAKER_01
But then I thought, well, should I just call 911 and say, I think I heard
3
SPEAKER_01
A crash?
3
SPEAKER_01
But what if I didn t?
3
SPEAKER_04
You don t want to be driving in to record this podcast.
3
SPEAKER_04
You turn on the radio.
3
SPEAKER_04
They say a family of five burned to death last night.
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh, David.
3
SPEAKER_04
Because no one called the police.
3
SPEAKER_04
Help.
3
SPEAKER_04
No one called the police.
3
SPEAKER_04
No one did anything.
3
SPEAKER_04
That hasn t happened, by the way, Monica.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s okay.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I have a thing, and this is maybe a bit weird.
3
SPEAKER_01
Stop.
3
SPEAKER_01
Also fire fires actually people would call more fast like maybe not Yes, cuz if a car drove by and saw fire you d call but if you didn t know people were sleeping and didn t wake up
3
SPEAKER_04
I have a thing, and this is maybe specific to me, and my brain can be annoying sometimes, I have a fear when I m walking past a car and I see a car seat, my brain always imagines there s a baby in there, there ll be a blanket in there, and there are always cars that have been parked.
3
SPEAKER_04
And so often, if you see me, and I walk a lot,
3
SPEAKER_04
And so often, you ll see me sometimes stopped by a car, staring in, and I ve gone back to check that someone hasn t left a baby in there.
3
SPEAKER_04
I have this fear, just like you said, of suddenly hearing a report, a baby was left.
3
SPEAKER_04
Because in New Zealand, there was a string of this happening.
3
SPEAKER_04
People, you know, you forget your child s in the car.
3
SPEAKER_04
This has happened.
3
SPEAKER_04
So ever since I ve read those stories, I m always worried.
3
SPEAKER_04
So I m often, I ll walk past a car, and if you re watching me, I ll turn around and go back and look in to check if there s a baby in there.
3
SPEAKER_04
But then one time I did it in LA and someone sort of yelled at me because they thought I was casing out the car to steal.
3
SPEAKER_04
And I was like trying to explain, I m checking there s not a baby in there.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I sounded weird as fuck.
3
SPEAKER_02
What would you do if there was?
3
SPEAKER_02
Would you break the window?
3
SPEAKER_04
I d break the window.
3
SPEAKER_04
With a baby, I d break one of the window.
3
SPEAKER_04
I think I d break a window nearby so we wouldn t want the glass to go on the baby.
3
SPEAKER_04
Immediately?
3
SPEAKER_04
What if they re just like,
3
SPEAKER_04
Oh God.
3
SPEAKER_04
Oh no.
3
SPEAKER_04
That s a really good question.
3
SPEAKER_04
No, I wouldn t.
3
SPEAKER_04
And this would go back to my, how would I actually react in a situation?
3
SPEAKER_04
I think I d wait.
3
SPEAKER_04
I d see if the baby looked stressed out or sweaty.
3
SPEAKER_04
Mind you babies, you can t tell, can you?
3
SPEAKER_04
Because they re manipulative.
3
SPEAKER_04
Maybe sleeping too.
3
SPEAKER_04
Sleeping or dead.
3
SPEAKER_01
Hard to tell, you know?
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh God, this got so dark.
3
SPEAKER_04
No, I would argue you can t leave a baby in a car seat ever.
3
SPEAKER_01
You re not supposed to ever.
3
SPEAKER_04
You re never supposed to.
3
SPEAKER_04
So I think if you ve done that, and I have walked by, David Farrier s walked by and has smashed all your windows, I think that s just something you have to deal with.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you re just going to hold the baby?
3
SPEAKER_04
I d keep an eye on the baby, because then it looks like I m stealing the baby.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you stole the baby.
3
SPEAKER_04
Right.
3
SPEAKER_01
I think what you would do, you just call 911 always.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s no reason to take action.
3
SPEAKER_04
Unless the baby s super stressed.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, yes.
3
SPEAKER_01
If something bad is happening, of course.
3
SPEAKER_01
But if you maybe, I think I would just stand there for like five full minutes or six minutes.
3
SPEAKER_01
And if no one is coming back, then I call 911 and I say like, there s a baby in this car.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve been standing and no adult has been in sight for five to 10 minutes.
3
SPEAKER_01
Can you please come?
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_02
Maybe check if it s unlocked before you break the window.
3
SPEAKER_01
Don t break, just call the police.
3
SPEAKER_01
That s a good idea.
3
SPEAKER_04
Luckily for me, there s never been a baby.
3
SPEAKER_04
I look in there and it s just an empty car seat with like a blanket or something in there.
3
SPEAKER_03
Right.
3
SPEAKER_04
But that s my fear.
3
SPEAKER_04
Like you had that fear last night.
3
SPEAKER_04
Was it a crash?
3
SPEAKER_04
I m always like, is there a baby in that car?
3
SPEAKER_04
And ever since that idea has been in my head, I ve never been able to undo it.
3
SPEAKER_04
And it s almost like a compulsion I have now.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s really interesting.
3
SPEAKER_04
I m always checking for babies anywhere I am.
3
SPEAKER_04
I m looking for babies.
3
SPEAKER_04
I m looking right here now.
3
SPEAKER_04
Is there a baby?
3
SPEAKER_04
Someone s left.
3
SPEAKER_01
I can t see any.
3
SPEAKER_04
Anyway, it s just me.
3
SPEAKER_04
We forget our things.
3
SPEAKER_01
We do, we do.
3
SPEAKER_01
But would you have gone out in the middle of the night if you thought you heard a crash?
3
SPEAKER_04
No, I d go back to sleep.
3
SPEAKER_01
You would.
3
SPEAKER_04
I think I would.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s disorientating as well, because you re half out of it, you know?
3
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_04
It depends how big the bang was.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and it didn t sound that loud.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I heard other cars driving by, so I thought, okay, there s other people in the world who would see it.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_04
and hope that it would do something, that we re actually out near it.
3
SPEAKER_01
I know, but I know that s a bad way to be, to just be like, other people will handle it.
3
SPEAKER_04
But then you get into that whole bystander effect, and all those people driving by are like, one of those other people will do something about it.
3
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_04
Being human, it s tricky.
3
SPEAKER_04
What would Smokey Bear do?
3
SPEAKER_04
That s the question.
3
SPEAKER_01
If it was on fire, Smokey Bear would be upset.
3
SPEAKER_04
If there was a fire involved, he would be there immediately.
3
SPEAKER_04
No fire, he doesn t give a fuck.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s fire prevention.
3
SPEAKER_02
I don t think he has a fire extinguisher.
3
SPEAKER_01
That s what I m saying, he d be upset.
3
SPEAKER_02
Once it started, he doesn t care.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, he doesn t know what to do.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, he got burned up, so he should run the other way.
3
SPEAKER_03
He has trauma as a reaction and just gets triggered.
3
SPEAKER_03
Mama.
3
SPEAKER_03
Here s part two of our deep dive into Smokey.
3
SPEAKER_04
What do you think it is about this bear that has captured not only America s kind of imagination, but the world?
3
SPEAKER_04
I mean, from New Zealand, I knew about Smokey the bear.
3
SPEAKER_03
Probably his heartfelt story of surviving a fire and becoming this icon that was already in place, and then he became the living symbol of it.
4
SPEAKER_03
So it just all fell into place, I think, and made him a legend.
4
SPEAKER_01
Are there any other icons in this part of the country that would come close to Smokey?
4
SPEAKER_01
Billy the Kid.
4
SPEAKER_01
He just said Billy the Kid, aka Henry McCarty, aka William H. Bonney, an American outlaw from the Old West who killed about 21 men before he himself was killed in 1881, aged 21.
4
SPEAKER_01
William H. Bonney.
4
SPEAKER_01
He killed 21 men.
4
SPEAKER_02
And he was just a kid.
4
SPEAKER_02
Billy the Kid.
4
SPEAKER_01
Billy the Kid s appeared in countless films and books since, and he s the other American legend in these parts.
4
SPEAKER_01
But not the biggest legend, apparently.
4
SPEAKER_03
If you go down 380, about 15 miles from here, that s where he escaped from this great escape, Billy the Kid.
4
SPEAKER_03
So yeah, he s a New Mexico legend too, but he s from New York.
4
SPEAKER_03
So Smokey s actually a native New Mexican, so he surpasses Billy the Kid.
4
SPEAKER_03
He s the most famous native New Mexican.
4
SPEAKER_01
He didn t survive for long after escaping, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
Or did he get away for a while?
4
SPEAKER_03
He did get away for a while, but then Pat Garrett caught up to him and shot him.
4
SPEAKER_03
And he did die at a young age, I think around 21.
4
SPEAKER_03
So Smokey lived longer than Billy the Kid, 26, and Billy, 21.
4
SPEAKER_01
I guess the main difference was that America wanted Billy the Kid dead, while they desperately wanted to keep Smokey alive.
4
SPEAKER_01
His adopted family treated the bear like royalty.
4
SPEAKER_01
Ranger Raybell, his wife and kids, had their own name for Smokey.
4
SPEAKER_00
Smokey s nickname was Hotfoot Teddy.
4
SPEAKER_01
Was he a friendly bear?
4
SPEAKER_01
Was he violent?
4
SPEAKER_01
What was the deal?
4
SPEAKER_01
Would he eat you if you got too close?
4
SPEAKER_00
He really liked
4
SPEAKER_03
Judy Bell.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s Judy Bell.
4
SPEAKER_00
Judy Bell is Ray Bell s daughter.
4
SPEAKER_00
He liked Judy and her mother better than he did the guys because they bandaged him and stuff and so he didn t like them and he would always run and bite them and stuff and take off and then he would play with their dog.
4
SPEAKER_03
He was a wild animal.
4
SPEAKER_03
I mean, he would be dangerous as an adult, but as a little cub, you know, he got along with the ladies of the household and their pets.
4
SPEAKER_01
I go and poke around the museum.
4
SPEAKER_01
There s a collection of posters and clippings and photos from ad campaigns.
4
SPEAKER_01
I noticed some photos of the smoky hot air balloon, which had a headline making crash back in 2004.
4
SPEAKER_01
But he can t imagine what s about to happen.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s smoky out there.
4
SPEAKER_03
Oh, he hit the tower.
4
SPEAKER_01
Footage on YouTube shows the hot air balloon getting snagged on a radio tower.
4
SPEAKER_01
The kids and pilots stuck hundreds of meters in the air, a bit like smoking up his tree.
4
SPEAKER_01
Everyone on the ground s worried they ll just get electrocuted up there.
4
SPEAKER_01
Time s running out.
4
SPEAKER_00
The basket s weight is causing the balloon to tear even more.
4
SPEAKER_01
At any second, the three riders could come crashing down 600 feet to the ground.
4
SPEAKER_01
Eventually, the three of them end up climbing out of the basket and down the tower.
4
SPEAKER_01
It takes them two hours.
4
SPEAKER_01
The balloon died that day.
4
SPEAKER_01
But Smokey, he lived on.
4
SPEAKER_01
Invincible.
4
SPEAKER_01
There are now so many iterations of Smokey.
4
SPEAKER_01
There s a bear for everyone.
4
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes he looks sort of pathetic and small.
4
SPEAKER_01
Other places he looks sort of beat up.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then there s the cut, muscly, slightly sexual Smokey.
4
SPEAKER_01
Jeans, belts, bear chest.
4
SPEAKER_01
In a little cabinet, Wendy shows me what appear to be hundreds of Smokey bear artifacts.
4
SPEAKER_00
There s Ray Bell s filled binoculars.
4
SPEAKER_00
We finally got those in here.
4
SPEAKER_01
Do you have a favorite Smoky Bear item?
4
SPEAKER_01
I do.
4
SPEAKER_01
Like if there was this horrible thing to say, but if there was a fire here, what would you rescue?
4
SPEAKER_00
I would rescue these little booties.
4
SPEAKER_00
The little house slippers.
4
SPEAKER_01
Little smoky booties.
4
SPEAKER_01
This place has everything.
4
SPEAKER_01
So many things I d forgotten why I d come here in the first place.
4
SPEAKER_01
To visit Smoky Bear s grave.
4
SPEAKER_01
To pay tribute to America s greatest bear.
4
SPEAKER_03
You should go out on our gardens and that s where Smokey is buried if you want to see his burial site.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s not a very long trail.
4
SPEAKER_03
He had a coffin.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yes, he had a coffin.
4
SPEAKER_00
There s a big boulder out back that has the plaque on it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, people drive by and they re like, oh, we didn t realize you were here and we didn t realize Smokey was a real bear.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m like, yes, he was a real bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
I was the same.
4
SPEAKER_01
I m one of those idiots that didn t even know that he was real.
4
SPEAKER_00
We don t call you guys idiots.
4
SPEAKER_00
So.
4
SPEAKER_01
Very kind.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so this idiot goes out the back, onto a little path that leads to a very important grave.
4
SPEAKER_01
So it s quite a long walk to the grave, but I can see an American flag flying, so that seems very appropriate for this American icon.
4
SPEAKER_01
Turns out that was just the resting place of the smoky bear hot air balloon.
4
SPEAKER_01
I guess this is the build-up to the real bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
And as I walk on, I see it.
4
SPEAKER_01
This has got to be it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Smoky Bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
And there s a carving out of wood of Smoky, little Smoky Bear, clinging to a tree.
4
SPEAKER_01
This is the resting place of the first living Smoky Bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
In 1950, when Smoky was a tiny cub, wildfire burnt his forest home.
4
SPEAKER_01
After 25 years, he was replaced by another orphaned black bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, he s replaced.
4
SPEAKER_01
Let s replace him with another bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
Smoky Bear, replaced.
4
SPEAKER_01
As we all are at some point, I suppose.
4
SPEAKER_01
And here s his final resting place.
4
SPEAKER_01
While he was alive, they d tried to get Smokey to procreate with another bear, Goldie Bear, but no dice.
4
SPEAKER_01
Maybe he was still too traumatized from the fire.
4
SPEAKER_01
Instead, they gave Smokey an orphan cub, a fake son, and that ended up being the next Smokey.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so it goes on.
4
SPEAKER_01
Smokey Bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
The perfect American commercial.
4
SPEAKER_01
The longest-running PSA birthed from World War II.
4
SPEAKER_01
The bear that outlived Billy the Kid and became known to hundreds of millions of people all over America.
4
SPEAKER_01
All over the planet.
4
SPEAKER_01
A cartoon who came to life to remind Americans that fire can be very bad.
4
SPEAKER_01
And we, like Smokey, should try and avoid being burnt to death.
4
SPEAKER_01
Or burning anything else to death, for that matter.
4
SPEAKER_01
Any parting words to the world about Smokey Bear?
4
SPEAKER_01
Any other fun facts, messages you d like to get out there into the world?
4
SPEAKER_03
Just come to Capitan, New Mexico and visit the park and you can pay your respects to Smokey at his burial site.
4
SPEAKER_01
I love those two because they genuinely were so pumped about the bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s very sweet.
4
SPEAKER_01
It is a sweet story.
4
SPEAKER_01
And there are lots of surprises in there.
4
SPEAKER_01
Like the fact they tried to breed him, but he wasn t having it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Didn t care.
4
SPEAKER_02
I like that.
4
SPEAKER_02
He s like, I don t consent.
4
SPEAKER_02
Don t force me.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t force me to marry Goldie Bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s not the bear for me.
4
SPEAKER_02
He didn t want an arranged marriage.
4
SPEAKER_01
And he didn t care about his legacy enough.
4
SPEAKER_01
Didn t care about the legacy at all.
4
SPEAKER_01
No ego.
4
SPEAKER_01
Also, I do, the imagery, just from a graphic perspective, the imagery of Smokey changes so much.
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, maybe that s where bear culture came from in the gay world, because he s in ripped tight jeans.
4
SPEAKER_01
He s got a bulge.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wait, you think Smokey is the...
4
SPEAKER_01
I think he might be the origin of that particular part of gay culture, because he s got his big bear chest, or whoever designed that version of Smokey was definitely referencing gay culture, because he s clearly just a ripped gay bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s kind of amazing.
4
SPEAKER_01
And in other places he looks more meek, in other places he s more of a cartoon character.
4
SPEAKER_01
The imagery is just so specific and fascinating to me.
4
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
Plus, he was a real bear that you can go and visit his gravesite.
4
SPEAKER_02
That, I will say, I also didn t know.
4
SPEAKER_02
I thought he was sort of just a character.
4
SPEAKER_01
He was a little bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
He was a little guy.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, little burnt little paws.
4
SPEAKER_01
Mom left him behind.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow, what an American story.
4
SPEAKER_02
Never had children.
4
SPEAKER_01
Has his own zip code.
4
SPEAKER_02
I love that for him.
4
SPEAKER_02
This was really fun.
4
SPEAKER_02
It was kind of heavy on the death
4
SPEAKER_01
Lot of death.
4
SPEAKER_01
But I mean, that s the thing, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
That s part of life.
4
SPEAKER_01
And also fire.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s why we need to watch out for fire.
4
SPEAKER_01
As an American, watch out when you re lighting those fires out there in the forest.
4
SPEAKER_01
What would Smokey do?
4
SPEAKER_02
I left a candle on recently.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s the thing I have a phobia of leaving the house, is the candle thing.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then when it came true, that does not help.
4
SPEAKER_01
How many candles do you burn in your house at once?
4
SPEAKER_01
Do you have a few going at once?
4
SPEAKER_02
No, I normally just do one, sometimes two, depending on if I ve made a chicken or a bolognese and the whole house, it smells like food.
4
SPEAKER_01
Do you have a scented candle or do you burn some sort of oil or something?
4
SPEAKER_02
No, I d have candles.
4
SPEAKER_02
I don t do oils or incense.
4
SPEAKER_01
What flavor?
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I have so many kinds.
4
SPEAKER_02
I love candles.
4
SPEAKER_02
I love a nice candle.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s a good present for a Monica the Padman.
4
SPEAKER_02
It is.
4
SPEAKER_02
Well, this is fun.
4
SPEAKER_02
Thank you for teaching us about Smoky Bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, of course.
4
SPEAKER_01
If you re ever in New Mexico, look up the Smoky Museum.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s a really cute town.
4
SPEAKER_01
The rangers there are so kind and they re so lovely.
4
SPEAKER_01
And they re just there to educate you about Smoky, but also just educating you about bears in the wild and how we need to protect them.
4
SPEAKER_01
So big fan.
4
SPEAKER_02
All right.
4
SPEAKER_02
Well, like two or 3% more American.
4
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
4
SPEAKER_01
I think you too.
4
SPEAKER_01
I think we both became more American in understanding Smoky.
4
SPEAKER_01
Smoky Bear.
4
SPEAKER_02
Smoky Bear.
4
SPEAKER_01
Never smokey that beer.
4
SPEAKER_02
Bye!