Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: SINA

Episode Date: December 1, 2021

In the 1950s a group dedicated to clothing animals out of a sense or morality gained momentum. “A nude horse is a rude horse!” was their battle cry. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, and welcome to short stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and this is short stuff.

And as I say, sometimes giddy up, but in this case, it'd be giddy up you horse with pants on. That was smooth as sandpaper. Oh, that hurts, Chuck. This is pretty good. You dug this one up, The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals. Sina, that's right. Which is kind of like the finest example of the stodgy kind of morality that was characteristic of the 1950s. This is the apex of that. That's right. It was a group of people that got together and said, you know what we can't have anymore in our society? Are these naked animals walking around showing their disgusting parts? We need to put clothing on animals on anything over four inches tall or six inches long. Our children are at stake. Get the clothes. Yes, they were offended by naked animals,

this group, and they wanted to clothe animals. That was their purpose. That was their drive. And at first, it was a very little known group. But then in May of 1959, the president of Sina, G. Clifford Prute, Jr. appeared on The Today Show, basically explaining what Sina was all about and calling for all animals to be clothed. And he said a lot of weird things, not just in this interview, but in multiple interviews that came over the following years, where he said things like, zoos were peep shows for kids. One of his favorite phrases was, a nude horse is a rude horse. And basically called for support and membership. And after that Today Show appearance in 1959, membership swelled like almost overnight. Yes, believe it or not, there were more than 50,000

people in the United States that said, I agree, we need to get clothing on all animals. Here's some money. There was a woman in Santa Barbara, California, who sent a $40,000 check in the 1950s. This was about $350,000 today to help fund clothing for animals. And they basically said, all right, get involved, get your community involved, issue Sina summonses to your neighbors. If you see them walking their dog without pants on, you need to give them a summons. They picketed the White House. They sent letters to President Kennedy that said, you need to get pants on your horses, sir. Cover all horses private parts. Yeah, cover those horse penises. And it was kind of see that one. Yeah. Sure. Have you seen, have you seen,

what's it called? I think you should leave. What is that? How do I know that? I can't remember the guy's name. He's hilarious. He's like best friends with Andy Sandberg. It's Tim something. Sounds really familiar. Anyway, it's on Netflix and they had this one kind of fake ad and it was for a ranch where they bred horses to have very, very small penises so that men don't have to be ashamed of their own penis size when they ride these horses around this dude ranch. Oh, I know that guy, Tim Robinson. Yes, yes, exactly. I have not seen that though. It's wonderful. But I am seeing now that A.D. Bryant's husband Connor O'Malley is on their Connor. Listen to stuff you should know at one point and he is one of the great weirdo comedians

ever. Yeah, it's like a magnet for weirdo comedians this show is. That's pretty funny. So Americans are getting involved. Like I said, they're petitioning the president, they're picketing the White House and then it culminates in 18, I'm sorry, in 1962. Feels like it should be 1862 when G. Clifford Prute appears with none other than Walter Cronkite, most trusted news person in the country. And he was interviewed on CBS News at prime time. He sang the scene as Anthem called Wings of Decency with the ukulele and it was a very, very big deal and sort of the apex of this movement. Can we sing the Wings of Decency Sina Anthem? You can. Hi on the Wings of Sina, we fight for the future now. Let's clothe every pet and animal whether

dog, cat, horse or cow. G. Clifford Prute, our president, he works for you and me. So clothe all your pets and join the march for worldwide decency. So he's playing this on a ukulele on CBS News with Walter Cronkite interviewing him. G. Clifford Prute Jr. is the president of Sina. That's right. And there was a guy who is operating the camera for CBS News that says, hey, wait a minute, that guy looks awfully familiar. Doesn't he, Chuck? That's right. And perhaps here's where we should take our break, right? That's right. Agreed. If you want to know, then you're in luck. Just listen up to Josh and Chuck. Stuff you should know.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough or you're at the end of the road. Okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. This I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yeah, we know that Michael and a different hot, sexy teen crush boy band are each week to guide you through life step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids relationships life in general can get

messy. You may be thinking this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen. So we'll never ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikular. And to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some

friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, major league baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop. But just when I thought I had to handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world came crashing down. Situation doesn't look good. There is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology? It changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we're back. Cameraman at CBS News sits up and says, wait a minute, I recognize that guy. And what did he say? He said, that's no G Clifford Prute. That man's name is Buck Henry. And in the future,

he's going to be a very famous screenwriter and actor for comedy. That's right. There was no G Clifford Prute. There was no society for indecency to naked animals. Well, technically there was. Well, technically there was. But it was just a big put on. It was just a big joke. Yeah, there's a guy named Alan Abel who would go on to become one of America's most famous and prolific and successful hoaxers. And I think like he's got half a dozen short stuffs coming down the pike himself. He was just that prolific. But this was the first time America was introduced to Alan Abel and they had been had that for four years. I saw in some places six years, Buck Henry kept up this, this ruse at the behest of Alan Abel

and went on Cronkite, went on the Today Show, went on tons of national interview shows and earnestly professed a need for animals to be clothed. So he must not have been known by face at all at that point. Hardly. Buck Henry? Yeah. No, his career is just starting out. It's astounding that he was ever recognized at all. And even when he was, it was a good three years into the hoax. To that cameraman was deep on the independent comedy circuit. I think exactly. That's how I take it for sure. That's pretty great. So yeah, it was all a hoax. He, you know, as is many times with hoaxes like this, there is a statement being made. And the statement here was Abel was really turned off by the moral, the moral majority of the United States in the 1950s and how put off

they would be about everything. And he said maybe a good way to take the pee out of this thing would be to become one of them. And he said he was inspired by something he saw in Texas in the 1950s. He was driving on a highway and saw like traffic was stopped and everyone was kind of standing around. And when he got out, he saw that traffic had stopped because two cows were having sex in the middle of the highway. And he said he just saw the looks on these people's faces. Some of them were clearly disgusted. Some of them couldn't even bear to look at it and cover their eyes. One woman was angry. And he was just like, what is going on? These cows, they don't know morality. They're just doing what cows do. And these Americans are so stuffy that they're

literally upset about this. Right. They're offended by this. Yeah. So he at first tried out some low hanging fruit and he wrote a letter to the editor of the Saturday evening post, you know, professing for the first time, Sina and its goals and aims as a joke. And he got a rejection letter, but the tone of the rejection letter kind of spurred him to keep going. The editor, you know, wrote indignantly that he really disagreed with this and he thought it was a terrible idea. And Allen Abel realized that this guy had failed to take it as a joke, that he thought it was real. And he's like, well, who else can I fool? Let's see where else we can take this. And he went to his friend Buck Henry and said, hey, no one knows what you look like

yet or who you are. Well, you pose as G Clifford Prute, the president of Sina. And this was right up Buck Henry's alley. He said, oh yeah. And they kept this up for four to six years, Chuck, not secretly, not quietly, as loudly and nationally as they possibly could. They kept this hoax going. Yeah, I get the feeling this was had more legs than he ever dreamed it would. Yes. And just decided as any great sort of Andy Kaufman, like comedian, like to keep rolling with it once once it's going, if everyone is fooled. And even after it was exposed in 1964 by Time Magazine, people like Walter Cronkite was still really mad. He felt he'd been made a fool of obviously. It's important to point out that he did not take any of this money. He wasn't

grifting people. So that 40 grand, that check was never cashed or anything. Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah, like people would be angry. There's listeners right now, they're like, wait a minute, this guy stole all this money. Right. And he was a comedian. Right. So that never happened, thankfully. No, but the thing that was most astounding was that they accidentally inadvertently created a moral movement to clothe animals. Those 50,000 people that joined Sina were earnest. Like they were passionately supportive of clothing animals because it was indecent to have naked animals running around. A joke became reality. And that is about the best you could possibly hope for from a hoax. That's a cultural criticism. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of clothing

on animals at all. I'm not either. Leave the animals alone, everybody. Like if your dog needs a sweater in the winter or something, that's okay to me. But like these people that dress up their animals and take pictures, I don't know. I feel it's not very respectful. Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, we dress Momo, but it's just for warmth. Yeah, that's different. Like I said, if your dog needs a sweater or a thunder buddy, which is what we call the thundercoats, the vests. What about thunder cats? I don't know anything about thunder cats. You don't know the thunder cats that cartoon from the 80s? I've heard of it, but it was a little after my time. Oh, I could see that, but it was directly in my wheelhouse and that is one of the all-time greats. All right.

So obviously, since we started talking about thunder cats, that signals that this episode of short stuff is over, right? That's right. Before we go, Chuck, I want to say thank you very much to Zachary Crockett and Priceonomics, the Museum of Hoaxes, and Ripley's Believe It or Not, Believe It or Not, for being sources about this. So keep an ear out for Alan Abel short stuffs in the future because he's got plenty more coming. In the meantime, everybody, short stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.