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Revisionist History podcast with Malcolm Gladwell | E3/S3: A Polite Word for Liar -Memory Part 1

A Polite Word for Liar (Memory Part 1) with Malcolm Gladwell

Episode 3| Season 3| Revisionist History
Length: 40 mins | Released: May 31, 2018

Larry Adler: Wait, wait. I always flatter myself I think I'm going to be able to play it that fast and I actually can't. So take it from your introduction again, after the three chords, a little slower.

Malcolm Gladwell: If you ever want to treat yourself to something wonderful, type in the name Adler and the word harmonica on YouTube. This is from an Australian program called Four Corners from 1961. There are a hundred videos like this.

Female Speaker: Do people take you seriously with this instrument?

Larry Adler: What a nasty question. I do. Do I take myself seriously or is itÔøΩ

Female Speaker: Well, you take yourself seriously, but do others?

Larry Adler: Well, if Vaughn Williams writes for the mouth organ, he's not doing this for a joke.

Malcolm Gladwell: My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood.

This is the first of two episodes about memory; about the myths we hold about it and the games our memories play. This one is about an argument between two old friends over what supposedly happened or did not happen during a raid on a house supposedly full of Nazis in July 1945. Or maybe April of 1946. I have no idea.

Dorothy Horowitz: This is an interview with Larry Adler by Dorothy Horowitz on February 5, 1986, and Larry Adler is the virtuoso hand organ player. Is that correct title?

Larry Adler: Did you say hand organ?

Dorothy Horowitz: Mouth Organ.

Larry Adler: Because the hand organ is what you grind for monkeys to collect money.

Dorothy Horowitz: Right you are.

Malcolm Gladwell: By the time Larry Adler sat down to tell his life story to a historian with the American Jewish Committee, his reputation was well-known.

To see the full transcript, go here.

Transcripts for the entire Season 1ÔøΩ ÔøΩ3 podcasts of Revisionist History are available here.

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