Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck and guests. Who's here. It's j E. R. I Jerry, our producer, and this is short stuff. I'm glad you spelled that because no one ever spells it right. I My brain wanted so bad to go to j E l l Oh. Yeah, and I had to stop myself. I think if you go back and listen, there's a half of a pause there, and that's me stopping myself from spelling jello instead. I'll bet you did. We know each other so well? Can we talk about Forest Lawn Cemetery? Oh? Well, well, you've probably never been there. I have not, have you? I have? Uh? I used to live not too far from there in Eagle Rock. Uh. It is a it's called Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, kind of situated between Pasadena and downtown l A. Which ended up being a good thing back when it was first. What would you do install it? Yeah? They installed the cemetery. I guess you build things. And he established? Yeah, established, that's the word. But it was established by Dr Hubert Eaton about three acres worth in nineteen seventeen. Big thanks to Kate Morrigan of how stuff works with this one. But Hubert Eaton had it was a bit of a visionary and that he was just sort of known as and is still known as the Builder, this very revered figure for doing something quite different with his cemetery. Yeah, he was like one part Gomez Adams in one part Walt Disney. That's what I'm gonna that's what I'm gonna put him mask. But there's a plaque there called um with the title the Builder's Dream and the Builder's Creed Creed, and he says that um, he this is supposed to be a great park, devoid of misshape and monuments and other signs of earthly death, but filled with towering trees, sweeping lawns, splashing fountains, beautiful statutory and memorial architecture. And it's signed the Builder and apparently still today that's what they referred to Dr Eaton as at the cemetery. But he achieved his vision. Um. This was all established at a time, Chuck. When you know, people have been making cemeteries in the United States for hundreds of years by this time, and there was like a certain way that you made them, and Dr Hubert Eaton happened to be at this place in southern California at a time where it was starting to come alive, and it was a place where you could reinvent yourself. And he used that opportunity to reinvent cemeteries with Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Yeah, and it was a time in southern California and Los Angeles where, uh, well a couple of things on that he he wanted it to be a place where people could go and see art and feel like they've sort of had a cultural, uh culturally enriching experience because at the time, you know, doing what they called the Grand Tour. If you had a lot of money and a lot of time, you could fly to Europe and see all the art of the world. But for people that didn't have a lot of time and money, and this was again nineteen seventeen, he wanted to give people a little bit of taste of that in southern Cali and the place where he ended up getting this land, like I said, between Pasadena and downtown. It was um not a booming metropolis at the time, but it ended up being in a very great spot in Glendale because you know, it's l a in the Southland. A lot of people ended up living right there. Yeah. So um, yeah, and he really nailed. But he was trying to do, which was make a place where you you didn't come to more and death, you came to celebrate life. Yeah, you wanted to attract people that come and and you know, be among the graves and this memorial. But but be thinking about how great it is to be alive, and what better way to do that than with replicas of Michelangelo's art. That's right? Uh, should we take a break and come back and talk a little bit more about the art and such? Yes, all right, so you mentioned replicas of Michelangelo. There were are certainly replicas of art there. There's also a lot of original art. There's a full on museum. Um. The largest religious painting in the United States and the largest painting in the Western United States period. It's called the Crucifixion from jan Stika. Yeah. He was a Polish artist and get this, He created this painting, got it over to the US for some exposition or another, and um, it was too big, they did. They didn't have a place to put it, and he didn't have the money to chip it back home. So he had to leave it behind in the United States, went back and died in poland never saw his painting again. Yeah. A hundred and wide by tall, and it's you know, it very simply depicts the I guess the pre crucifixion when it looks like Jesus's cross is still on the ground, the other ones are in the ground and things are just getting started. Yeah, it's a huge like landscape, like there's all sorts of stuff going on. Yeah, but Forrest Lawn acquired it and gave it the proper respect. It actually built a building around it too. How is it specifically so you gotta do No, one's gotta aloft that big? Definitely not. That's a giant painting. I saw a picture of it and there's a couple of people standing in front of it and they just look like ants. Yeah, it's it's very large. Um. I guess we should talk a little bit because it is l A and there are some very famous Angelina is buried there. Um. And I would like to follow this up with the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It's it's another sort of their l A has two great cemeteries, and that's the other one. But they do fun stuff like movie Nights. Yeah, I saw that in um Beneath the Silver Lake. Oh, I think I saw that that's featured in Beneath the Silver Lake? Was that what was going? I'm pretty sure the one with Andrew Garfield. Yeah, Underneath the Silver Lake? I think on top of Silver Lake. A few of the notable people buried there are no less than Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Cable, sure, who else? How about Bogey and Bacall both hit me with another? How about that old sweet crooner Nat King Cole? Oh you got any other crooners up your sleeve? I wouldn't crude. Michael Jackson is there? I think he croon? Did he crun? Yeah? I want to rock with you. I'll buy that. But here's the deal. Apparently, if you go to Forest Lawn, uh and I have been there, but I didn't spend a lot of time there. I think I was. I think I was on a job shooting a stupid TV commercial or something. But you have to and of course these days with the Internet, Internet you can find out where everyone is buried. But it's not one of those places that where you show up and do a ghost tour or they say here's your brochure where you can go see all the famous folks that are buried here. Which is that's good, that's tasteful, like there, that's not the point of it. Yeah, you know, Creed So I mentioned how Hubert Eaten was half Walt Disney, and he's very frequently compared to Walt Disney because of some of the design of Forest Lawn. UM. There's a lot of tutor Um architecture. UM. There's little difference burial sections that have their own name and kind of like vibe going on Inspiration Slope, Whispering Pines, Dawn of Tomorrow Um. There's one called baby Land for infant burials, there's one called Slumberland for children, and oh my gosh. Yeah, and then I guess the rest of it is just called You shouldn't feel as bad about these graves. Yeah, these ones are fine. We have a cemetery very close to our house that we walked through a lot on our walks, and I love just sort of reading the headstones as I walk by, and uh, you know, you'll come across a grave that's two ft long and you're just like, oh god, you can't even look like it'll just say infant. Sometimes not even a name. Yeah, I mean this one had a name, but I don't know. It's always interesting the women always outlived the men. It seems like, uh, quite a few like World War two veterans out there. But it's uh. I enjoy cemeteries and but I've never liked, you know, romped and partied in cemeteries like some people do in college, you know, can't always like to read the headstones and get a little bit of a story. Sometimes I saw some writers say I don't remember who it was, but they advised if you want to come up with names, go to a cemetery, because you'll end up coming up with like Kirkwood mcgilla cutty if you just try to use your imagination. But if you go to a cemetery, you're gonna find like actual people's names that you can use, you know. Yeah, especially these days when everyone's like I want my baby. This sounds like they're from the eighteen tens. It's so weird. Uh. So eaton going back to the Disney thing. Uh, Walt Disney is buried there in fact, and you mentioned all of the sort of similarities with Disney, and they are there are people out there that said it's like the Disney World or Disneyland of cemeteries, and Forest Lawn is very quick to point out, no, no, no, we were here first, and we like to say that Disneyland is the amusement park of the Forest Lawns. It's they turned it on its head. Um. There's something one more thing about Michelangelo's work. There was like, I think a seventeen foot reproduction of David, a very famous statue. Uh. And it has actually toppled several times over the years, and they've had to remake it every time. Most recently it toppled under its own weight and I'm not sure if they've replaced it yet or not. To someone standing there and then just a giant three ft penis comes at them. Yeah, clocked him, knocked him right out. Uh. And it made like this a sound that went dong. Alright, I think we've desecrated this episode. Wait, hold on, there's one more thing. Ronald Reagan married his first wife, Jane Wyman, at Forest Lawn Cemetery. It's true. People do get married there. There's a like a legit church. Yeah, sixty thousand people have been married there, one fifth of the number of people who are interred there have been married there. I got married there. Did you really know? You didn't? I get married at by the poolhouse of my brother's neighborhood. That's what I thought. Yeah, okay, you almost got me there. For a second though, I'm I'm gonna start telling people that, Okay, why not? You got anything else? I got nothing else? All right? Everybody's short stuff is out. Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck and guests. Who's here. It's j E. R. I Jerry, our producer, and this is short stuff. I'm glad you spelled that because no one ever spells it right. I My brain wanted so bad to go to j E l l Oh. Yeah, and I had to stop myself. I think if you go back and listen, there's a half of a pause there, and that's me stopping myself from spelling jello instead. I'll bet you did. We know each other so well? Can we talk about Forest Lawn Cemetery? Oh? Well, well, you've probably never been there. I have not, have you? I have? Uh? I used to live not too far from there in Eagle Rock. Uh. It is a it's called Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, kind of situated between Pasadena and downtown l A. Which ended up being a good thing back when it was first. What would you do install it? Yeah? They installed the cemetery. I guess you build things. And he established? Yeah, established, that's the word. But it was established by Dr Hubert Eaton about three acres worth in nineteen seventeen. Big thanks to Kate Morrigan of how stuff works with this one. But Hubert Eaton had it was a bit of a visionary and that he was just sort of known as and is still known as the Builder, this very revered figure for doing something quite different with his cemetery. Yeah, he was like one part Gomez Adams in one part Walt Disney. That's what I'm gonna that's what I'm gonna put him mask. But there's a plaque there called um with the title the Builder's Dream and the Builder's Creed Creed, and he says that um, he this is supposed to be a great park, devoid of misshape and monuments and other signs of earthly death, but filled with towering trees, sweeping lawns, splashing fountains, beautiful statutory and memorial architecture. And it's signed the Builder and apparently still today that's what they referred to Dr Eaton as at the cemetery. But he achieved his vision. Um. This was all established at a time, Chuck. When you know, people have been making cemeteries in the United States for hundreds of years by this time, and there was like a certain way that you made them, and Dr Hubert Eaton happened to be at this place in southern California at a time where it was starting to come alive, and it was a place where you could reinvent yourself. And he used that opportunity to reinvent cemeteries with Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Yeah, and it was a time in southern California and Los Angeles where, uh, well a couple of things on that he he wanted it to be a place where people could go and see art and feel like they've sort of had a cultural, uh culturally enriching experience because at the time, you know, doing what they called the Grand Tour. If you had a lot of money and a lot of time, you could fly to Europe and see all the art of the world. But for people that didn't have a lot of time and money, and this was again nineteen seventeen, he wanted to give people a little bit of taste of that in southern Cali and the place where he ended up getting this land, like I said, between Pasadena and downtown. It was um not a booming metropolis at the time, but it ended up being in a very great spot in Glendale because you know, it's l a in the Southland. A lot of people ended up living right there. Yeah. So um, yeah, and he really nailed. But he was trying to do, which was make a place where you you didn't come to more and death, you came to celebrate life. Yeah, you wanted to attract people that come and and you know, be among the graves and this memorial. But but be thinking about how great it is to be alive, and what better way to do that than with replicas of Michelangelo's art. That's right? Uh, should we take a break and come back and talk a little bit more about the art and such? Yes, all right, so you mentioned replicas of Michelangelo. There were are certainly replicas of art there. There's also a lot of original art. There's a full on museum. Um. The largest religious painting in the United States and the largest painting in the Western United States period. It's called the Crucifixion from jan Stika. Yeah. He was a Polish artist and get this, He created this painting, got it over to the US for some exposition or another, and um, it was too big, they did. They didn't have a place to put it, and he didn't have the money to chip it back home. So he had to leave it behind in the United States, went back and died in poland never saw his painting again. Yeah. A hundred and wide by tall, and it's you know, it very simply depicts the I guess the pre crucifixion when it looks like Jesus's cross is still on the ground, the other ones are in the ground and things are just getting started. Yeah, it's a huge like landscape, like there's all sorts of stuff going on. Yeah, but Forrest Lawn acquired it and gave it the proper respect. It actually built a building around it too. How is it specifically so you gotta do No, one's gotta aloft that big? Definitely not. That's a giant painting. I saw a picture of it and there's a couple of people standing in front of it and they just look like ants. Yeah, it's it's very large. Um. I guess we should talk a little bit because it is l A and there are some very famous Angelina is buried there. Um. And I would like to follow this up with the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It's it's another sort of their l A has two great cemeteries, and that's the other one. But they do fun stuff like movie Nights. Yeah, I saw that in um Beneath the Silver Lake. Oh, I think I saw that that's featured in Beneath the Silver Lake? Was that what was going? I'm pretty sure the one with Andrew Garfield. Yeah, Underneath the Silver Lake? I think on top of Silver Lake. A few of the notable people buried there are no less than Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Cable, sure, who else? How about Bogey and Bacall both hit me with another? How about that old sweet crooner Nat King Cole? Oh you got any other crooners up your sleeve? I wouldn't crude. Michael Jackson is there? I think he croon? Did he crun? Yeah? I want to rock with you. I'll buy that. But here's the deal. Apparently, if you go to Forest Lawn, uh and I have been there, but I didn't spend a lot of time there. I think I was. I think I was on a job shooting a stupid TV commercial or something. But you have to and of course these days with the Internet, Internet you can find out where everyone is buried. But it's not one of those places that where you show up and do a ghost tour or they say here's your brochure where you can go see all the famous folks that are buried here. Which is that's good, that's tasteful, like there, that's not the point of it. Yeah, you know, Creed So I mentioned how Hubert Eaten was half Walt Disney, and he's very frequently compared to Walt Disney because of some of the design of Forest Lawn. UM. There's a lot of tutor Um architecture. UM. There's little difference burial sections that have their own name and kind of like vibe going on Inspiration Slope, Whispering Pines, Dawn of Tomorrow Um. There's one called baby Land for infant burials, there's one called Slumberland for children, and oh my gosh. Yeah, and then I guess the rest of it is just called You shouldn't feel as bad about these graves. Yeah, these ones are fine. We have a cemetery very close to our house that we walked through a lot on our walks, and I love just sort of reading the headstones as I walk by, and uh, you know, you'll come across a grave that's two ft long and you're just like, oh god, you can't even look like it'll just say infant. Sometimes not even a name. Yeah, I mean this one had a name, but I don't know. It's always interesting the women always outlived the men. It seems like, uh, quite a few like World War two veterans out there. But it's uh. I enjoy cemeteries and but I've never liked, you know, romped and partied in cemeteries like some people do in college, you know, can't always like to read the headstones and get a little bit of a story. Sometimes I saw some writers say I don't remember who it was, but they advised if you want to come up with names, go to a cemetery, because you'll end up coming up with like Kirkwood mcgilla cutty if you just try to use your imagination. But if you go to a cemetery, you're gonna find like actual people's names that you can use, you know. Yeah, especially these days when everyone's like I want my baby. This sounds like they're from the eighteen tens. It's so weird. Uh. So eaton going back to the Disney thing. Uh, Walt Disney is buried there in fact, and you mentioned all of the sort of similarities with Disney, and they are there are people out there that said it's like the Disney World or Disneyland of cemeteries, and Forest Lawn is very quick to point out, no, no, no, we were here first, and we like to say that Disneyland is the amusement park of the Forest Lawns. It's they turned it on its head. Um. There's something one more thing about Michelangelo's work. There was like, I think a seventeen foot reproduction of David, a very famous statue. Uh. And it has actually toppled several times over the years, and they've had to remake it every time. Most recently it toppled under its own weight and I'm not sure if they've replaced it yet or not. To someone standing there and then just a giant three ft penis comes at them. Yeah, clocked him, knocked him right out. Uh. And it made like this a sound that went dong. Alright, I think we've desecrated this episode. Wait, hold on, there's one more thing. Ronald Reagan married his first wife, Jane Wyman, at Forest Lawn Cemetery. It's true. People do get married there. There's a like a legit church. Yeah, sixty thousand people have been married there, one fifth of the number of people who are interred there have been married there. I got married there. Did you really know? You didn't? I get married at by the poolhouse of my brother's neighborhood. That's what I thought. Yeah, okay, you almost got me there. For a second though, I'm I'm gonna start telling people that, Okay, why not? You got anything else? I got nothing else? All right? Everybody's short stuff is out. Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.