Part 1 of 2
Scams, Schemes & Scoundrels
by A&E
(Highlighting Han Van Meegeren's life and art forgeries, many of which had been confiscated as Nazi loot. Also featuring the stories of Victor Lustig, Soapy Smith, and Media Prankster Joey Scaggs.)
Hosted by skeptic James Randi
1998
Transcript
0:00
the Eiffel Tower up for sale hard to believe but master swindler Victor
0:06
Lustig convinced his mark that it was a medical marvel was dr. Athens box of
0:12
remedy for the sick or only designed to enrich the scoundrel who created it
0:17
these works of art bearing the signature of Dutch master Yule had us Vermeer
0:22
today hanging museums as master works of deception do you believe everything you
0:30
see on the news how about a nationally reported story about a computer that determines the guilt or innocence of
0:36
suspected criminals host James Randi professional skeptic and a bunker of
0:43
frauds takes us through the conception the setup and the payoff of these
0:49
remarkable scams we've all heard that anything too good to be true probably is
0:55
but the charm and ingenuity of a great con artist can make us believe that maybe just this once
1:02
fortune has swung in our favor how does the scam artist do it what principles of
1:07
human nature play into the scoundrels hand and when it's all done are we any wiser or just poorer from seasoned
1:14
swindlers like the globe-trotting Victor Lustig and boomtown hustlers like soapy Smith to the vengeful genius of painter
1:21
Han Van Meegeren and modern day media hoaxster Joey Skaggs the scam and the scoundrel have remained remarkably
1:27
unchanged through the centuries I am James Randi and in this special
1:33
presentation we'll look at the inner workings of some of history's most outrageous scams and the competence men
1:40
behind them now most cons follow a very simple set
1:45
of rules the first rule is that the con artist always wins
1:53
[Music]
2:17
[Applause] few men have earned the title among
2:24
criminals of King Kong Victor listing was one of them an aristocrat of the
2:29
underworld he was known to his peers as count listing the caper that immortalized him as one of the greatest
2:36
confidence artists in history occurred in Paris where he lined up a scheme to
2:42
sell something that weighed 11,000 tons and didn't belong to him it's been said
2:50
that every society gets the crooks it deserves in a world where wealth and prestige are admired the Khan disguises
2:57
himself accordingly often playing the role of an aristocrat or high government official in times of change and social
3:04
upheaval the Khan enjoys a greater freedom to masquerade across the boundaries of class and wealth the
3:11
successful con artist is always a kind of mirror for the time and place in which he operates
3:17
[Music] and there couldn't have been a riper
3:23
time and place for Victor Lustig than Paris 1925 after World War one the youth
3:31
of France was happy to be alive and sought to create a new social order with more freedom and greater opportunity
3:37
expatriates of all kinds descended in droves upon the City of Light a new
3:45
class of entrepreneur emerged made wealthy by the rebuilding of Europe it
3:51
was a city filled with effervescent excess here amidst the creative fervor the nouveau riche mingled with old money
3:59
and exiled from prohibition America and Bolshevik Russia converged in what
4:04
seemed to be one big party Paris was ripe for change and anything
4:10
seemed possible a perfect place for Victor listing to pull off a swindle of a lifetime as a young man Lustig left
4:19
his birthplace in Eastern Europe and by the time he was 20 years old had already proven his talent as a first-rate
4:26
grifter his gift for languages and his easy charm served him well in his partnership with the infamous cardsharp
4:33
Nicky Arnstein together they worked the big ocean liners which sailed between
4:39
Paris and New York ships which were always rife with gullible and wealthy marks when he left Arnstein listing had
4:47
a booty of $35,000 and he headed for Paris
4:56
by now an experienced confidence trickster he will gracefully in society all we stylish always in control and
5:03
more importantly always looking for the next opportunity to work a scam it came
5:09
to him one spring day through an intriguing article in the local newspaper which provided the counts
5:15
cunning mind with enough material for a caper of truly monumental proportions
5:20
according to The Daily Press the Eiffel Tower was in a terrible state of disrepair and estimates on its upkeep
5:27
were astronomically high the price of a new coat of paint alone could reach into the hundreds of thousands of francs
5:33
listings inventive mind went to work which would happen if the city decided
5:39
it could no longer afford the tower would they dare tear down this glorious spire what an enormous and controversial
5:46
job that would be who would do it there would have to be a contract he supposed and where there's a contract there's
5:53
usually a bid listings scheme was taking
5:59
shape always the chameleon listing would transform himself into a high government
6:05
official his disguise would have to be flawless every detail perfect
6:12
he hired a forger to create counterfeit government stationery and sent six of
6:18
Paris leading scrap metal dealers authentic-looking invitations to attend a very secret
6:24
meeting sole secret it couldn't be held at City Hall listing chose a grand
6:32
setting delay is trap the Magnificent Hotel pre-owned on the plastic Accord was an exclusive meeting place for
6:39
diplomats dignitaries and royalty one could hardly under which doors without feeling a certain sense of heightened
6:46
expectation even perhaps a bit of self-importance all six scrap metal
6:51
dealers responded to listings invitation and attended the meeting each one put at ease by the presence of his successful
6:57
colleagues and by the time the count had introduced himself as a deputy director general of the Ministry of posts and
7:04
Telegraph's well they were convinced that they were all going to be part of something very significant and perhaps
7:12
profitable [Music]
7:17
he told the dealers that they had each been hand-picked for their flawless reputation as honorable business men
7:25
then in a hushed voice lifting explained that due to the exorbitant cost of its
7:30
upkeep the city had no choice but to tear down the Eiffel Tower the men were shocked listing pressed on
7:37
because of the certainty of public outcry over this matter the news could not be revealed until all the plans were
7:44
in place he explained that he would have the duty of selecting the man to carry out the demolition the idea that the
7:54
Eiffel Tower was gonna be sold for scrap again wasn't all that goofy it was with
8:00
some serious need of repairs you look at upon it today as this this thing which
8:06
you know Paris wouldn't be Paris without it but back then it wasn't quite as famous no doubt there are many people
8:14
who would have preferred it come down they could not yet see it as a permanent feature of the Parisian landscape
8:20
necessarily it didn't look like any of the most well known monuments of the city like the Opera House or any of the
8:27
Gothic cathedrals and churches it looked more like a machine and as a machine it
8:32
had the look of quickness that's what it felt so again
8:44
from the meeting listing risked all six men into a limousine for a special tour
8:50
of the tower it was a calculated move understanding human nature as he did the
8:55
Stig wanted to dangle the prize before their eyes gentlemen the tower was never
9:02
meant to be permanent as you know it was built for the 1889 exposition with a 20-year concession to mr. Eiffel in 1909
9:10
it was to have been taken down and reassembled somewhere else this of course didn't happen unlike our
9:17
city's other monuments the tower is made of 15,000 prefabricated parts which can
9:24
be assembled and disassembled think of the uses collectible and
9:31
otherwise to which these highly ornamented parts could be put and imagine their value
9:36
[Music] Theoden also gave the count the chance
9:43
to observe the men individually and pick which would be his mark the victim he
9:49
would cut from the herd he had a set of
9:54
rules that in order to sort of get people to trust you one thing is you you
9:59
listen very patiently to people you don't look bored you don't express
10:07
controversial opinions until the mark
10:12
tells you what his opinion is and of course you agree with you know let's you know naturally you do not try to pull
10:21
personal information out of the mark even if you want it and really sincerely
10:29
need it don't try to pull it out because people are gonna tell you just let it
10:34
ride let him talk he's gonna tell you what you want to know you don't brag
10:40
about yourself you brag about yourself people don't trust you you have to exude the authority it has to look right once they were back on the
10:47
ground listing ask the gentleman to submit their bids by the next day and he reminded them that they were in
10:54
possession of a state secret
10:59
the next morning bids from all six dealers arrived but listing had already made his choice the dubious honor would
11:06
go to the socially insecure and very ambitious Andre apostle list to get
11:11
easily picked up on his desire to join the business elite of Paris
11:18
if Lustig was the perfect con artist for the times Hasan was the perfect mark he
11:24
was from the new class of wealthy entrepreneurs who had made a fortune after the war and he had plenty to prove
11:30
the old boy network had shot him out of Parisian high society and pasal wanted
11:36
him what better way than to win the Eiffel towered contract I can imagine
11:43
that a provincial scrap metal dealer would see this as the means to really make his fortune it was really a
11:49
attractive prize for someone like that perhaps the grandeur of the deception
11:55
was the keyword success the tower of course itself was always a grand object
12:02
always subject to very exalted kinds of attentions whether by artists or by
12:08
planners they made people think globally and maybe people think big and certainly may press something big as well five
12:15
lucky scrap metal dealers had narrowly escaped listings traffic with possum in
12:20
his net listing was one step closer to a small fortune but he was also at risk
12:26
impersonating a Deputy Minister larceny listed knew that if he were caught and
12:32
stood in front of a French judge his cheeky scam would be severely punished
12:37
listings fares were justified in fact Paul's wife had become suspicious she
12:43
questioned her husband why was the meeting not held at the ministry did Andre know this official why was the
12:50
city's plan being enacted with such aced now at this point Lucic realized that
12:55
all paths all had to do was make a few discreet inquiries and the game was finished so what did he do quit run oh
13:03
no not as long as there was some chance of saving this game he showed his true
13:08
mettle as a genuine confidence artist he not only had proven he was clever he was now about to show that he had
13:15
nerves of steel well before then he's a risk-taker I mean you know you're out there scamming people and you don't know hey
13:22
well they've got maybe they'll find you up here they put you in jail he didn't go to jail a couple of times maybe they'll shoot you I mean he was a card
13:28
shark for a while you know he times somebody catches you with the wrong cards bang that's it he seemed to
13:34
enjoy that kind of danger that kind of risk [Music]
13:40
listed knew he had to act he set out to meet his mark that evening back at the
13:45
hotel this time in private there he confessed or is so it seemed
13:53
Monsieur Plus aw I'm sorry we have to meet like this but it's important we understand each other I am a government
13:59
official I'm expected to live in a certain style so as to maintain the dignity of friends I must dress well and
14:05
entertain on a lavish scheme I don't have to tell you that I make only a pittance my life is precarious when a
14:12
premier Falls my job is on the line and so it is that in the letting of government contracts I maintain my
14:19
security it is customary for the official in charge to receive
14:25
a commission parcel was relieved finally he understood this officials
14:31
mysterious behaviors listed wanted a bribe quoi saw smugly reached inside his
14:38
jacket and removed his wallet when
14:43
Lustig asked him on top of a blank cheque for also for a bribe for himself
14:48
as a poor government official for a song took this as proof that lipstick was in fact a bonafide government official he
14:54
was used to the idea of bribery as part of the everyday business of government and provided these two checks you know
15:01
he posed as a government official that he posed as a corrupt government official you give me you know you grease
15:08
my palm and I'm gonna give you the inside track on that and all of a sudden here in the mind of this somewhat greedy
15:15
probably not terribly bright but hey you know maybe not so very different from
15:21
the rest of us the scrap dealer came the idea that aha
15:26
now I understand I understand the secrecy I understand you you're a you're
15:32
a crook you're the kind of crook I I'm used to dealing with well he was that he was a crook of course but he was a very
15:38
very different kind of crook you see in
15:44
Poisson listing had discovered the perfect partner the mark who wants to believe the con works one because the
15:54
conman is good but secondly because you know we go we meet in more than halfway
15:59
in a lot of these cases there's more than a little larceny in the heart of
16:04
the of the of the person who is being caught
16:09
listing was endangered fossil would call the Ministry and then very likely the
16:15
police listening hopped a train to Vienna with a suitcase full of fossils money he checked into one of the city's
16:21
best hotels and watched the papers for news of the scam but nothing appeared
16:27
apparently plus all was too embarrassed to tell anyone that he'd been had assault was left calling the city on the
16:35
phone to saying when should I show up to help take down the tower and we can
16:42
imagine that the the ministry was rather amused by the foibles of the unfortunate
16:47
victim six months later
16:53
listing was back in Paris taking advantage of the fact that possum had felt too humiliated to report the scam
16:59
the Stig made his way back to the hotel preowned he reasoned that a possum
17:04
hadn't told the police he certainly would not have told his competitors [Music]
17:14
he worked his racket all over again this time with a different set of scrap dealers and remarkably enough he sold
17:21
that Eiffel Tower a second time the entrepreneurial spirit is crucial to the
17:26
lesson of the tower whether it be Eiffel as the enlightened entrepreneur who through his dynamic
17:32
understanding of the possibilities of Technology build something useful and also profitable so taps into the same
17:41
spirit hoping that he too can be part of this great story and enlisting I don't
17:48
know if we can call him an entrepreneur we certainly can call him someone who understood those desires and capitalized
17:54
on them very very well now would you look at the Eiffel Tower what do you see do you see a magnificent monument to the
18:01
spirit of the city or do you see the opportunity perhaps to make a few fast francs I think listing saw both
18:18
much of Victor listings genius lay in his ability to understand the psychology
18:23
of his mark and anticipate their next move after Paris Lustig returned to the
18:31
US where he pulled off dozens of scams he was finally arrested for counterfeiting and sent to Alcatraz for
18:38
the time of his death in 1947 Lewis takes career had become legendary when the clerk filling out his death
18:44
certificate came to the box marked occupation he paused then wrote salesman
18:50
thus paying a final tribute to the crafty count who sold the Eiffel Tower not once but twice that's right the
19:18
McGregor rejuvenated it reverses the aging process in its time this worthless
19:24
device relieved a lot of people of their money and today can be found here in the
19:30
Museum of questionable medical devices in Minneapolis Minnesota the final resting place we hope of hundreds of
19:37
quack devices that promised miracles but delivered nothing this helmet for
19:43
example promised to cure baldness by means of vacuum let's see
19:53
[Music]
20:01
I guess you have to leave it on a little bit longer but no other apparatus here
20:08
compares with the creations of dr. Albert Abrams of San Francisco a brilliant diagnostician whose inventions
20:14
cured tens of thousands of people of deadly diseases or did they in the early
20:21
nineteen hundreds came technical wonders never seen before powered flight
20:27
electricity moving pictures for these inventions science or miracles the line
20:35
between the two had never seen so blurred if the new technologies were
20:40
astonishing and their effects their explanations were even more mysterious to the general public
20:46
Freud's unconscious postures germ theory and Madame Curie's discovery of
20:53
radioactivity all demanded that people believed in the invisible reputations
21:00
were made and industrial empires were built on these new discoveries at a time
21:07
when science was really developing and technology was beginning to explode would have been ready-made for somebody
21:12
to exploit the weak and the vulnerable and if you've got some sort of a device
21:18
that sounds mystical but you have the credentials of a medical doctor and then I put you in a pretty good position to
21:24
control other people from an early age Albert Abrams seemed destined for greatness
21:29
he was born in San Francisco in 1863 and received a medical degree from the
21:34
University of Heidelberg while he was still in his team [Music] he became chief pathologist at the
21:42
Cooper Medical Institute which was to become the Stanford Medical School
21:48
Abraham's was a doctors doctor his diagnostic skills were sought-after by
21:53
other established physicians and he published hundreds of articles in leading medical journals his patients
21:59
came from the elite of San Francisco society Abrams who moved along the Bay Area smart set insisted that his letter
22:07
had lists all his titles and all of his degrees [Music] he was a charismatic person quite a
22:15
handsome well-dressed individual he had a lot of social graces and he managed to
22:21
move in the right society and he seems to have been very convincing he seemed
22:28
to be a consummate manipulator and and that's really the the recipe for success
22:33
as a con artist to kind of know what makes people tick even perhaps better than they know themselves but
22:39
conventional honors however great were not enough for Albert Abraham's in a letter he wrote my goal is to become a
22:46
prophet among men a wise man who will have both wealth and power in 1912 he
22:54
announced that contrary to all that had been taught before electrons not individual cells were the basis of life
23:03
the doctor called his new theory of disease er a electronic reactions of
23:10
errors and unveiled a powerful new machine called the dynamize er it was
23:15
the latest in medical technology with this new invention Abram claimed he
23:20
could diagnose any known disease from a single drop of blood
23:26
now this invention was remarkably similar to another invention a real one called
23:31
wireless or radio and dr. Albert Abrams was able to see but radio was going to
23:37
change the way that people could communicate right across the world and he was among the first to exploit the
23:43
similarity between his so-called invention and real science the current
23:49
mystique surrounding electricity and radio waves provided the perfect environment for Abrams to sell his new
23:55
diagnostic theory to the public
24:09
if a simple box plugged into a wall and captured voice and music from the airwaves
24:14
it seemed that similar electric boxes could do just about anything though
24:30
people might not fully understand how it worked they were ready to accept another exciting example of new technology into
24:37
their homes Abram seems to have had this wonderful innate grasp of the psychology
24:45
of his patients his devices had beautiful cabinets just like the radios
24:52
that people had at home and so they tread this very fine line on the one
24:57
hand they were homey and reassuring enough that people would be willing to
25:02
submit to them they weren't these sort of frightening dr. Frankenstein like devices on the other hand they were
25:09
still high-tech circa 1920 and that already raised people's hopes and made
25:16
them think that there really was something to these wonderful gadgets well he was offering a very comforting
25:23
idea a comforting product there were patients out there who were going to demand it because it seemed
25:29
state-of-the-art it was high tech for its era and and they were going to demand it from their conventional
25:35
practitioners even if those practitioners themselves might have been a bit dubious about it with Abrams solid
25:42
reputation behind it by 1918 the dynamize er was becoming a national
25:47
sensation but Abrams could see that greater opportunities lay ahead while the diagnosis is made only once
25:54
an illness can require many treatments a machine that could cure disease would
26:00
keep patients returning again and again Abrams soon unveiled a second device
26:06
[Music] feel civilized it used the readings from
26:12
the dynamize er to cure the diagnosed illness after the dials were precisely set electrons would be beamed into the
26:19
patient's body and shattered the destructive electronic vibrations of the disease [Music]
26:27
the crux of dr. Abrams technology has really summed up in these two devices the dynamize ER and the asila clast you
26:36
took the sample of blood ran a magnet over to polarize it but the blood sample
26:41
in the dynamize ER but the lid on this would measure the vibration rate of that blood sample and send it to these
26:48
vasilich last dr. Abrams often had his
26:54
chauffeur our valet stand on a metal plate and by tapping this healthy persons abdomen he was able to diagnose
27:02
the patient's illness [Music] these are bearish blood samples sent to
27:09
dr. Abrams in 1920 along with letters from physicians and so forth and healers
27:14
he put those blood samples in his machine was able to diagnose that most
27:20
of them at 4 to 5 ohms of resistance designating that they had syphilis
27:26
cancer and diabetes [Music] hayburn's bolstered that the treatment
27:33
was painless that had eliminated the need for drugs and surgery and that for
27:38
an additional five dollars it could be done over the phone how preposterous you
27:44
say it's important to understand that the medical field at that time was not
27:50
quite what we think of medicine as being today after all during even much of just
27:56
the previous century the man who buried you the man who treated you and the man who cut your hair were probably all the
28:02
same professional medicine was part of the healing arts it had only recently
28:08
started to become something that people would think of as a science with no laws
28:15
regulating the manufacturer of medical devices it was a heyday for quackery of
28:20
every kind phrenology the measuring of bumps on people's heads became a popular
28:26
diagnostic tool and doctors claimed that anything from tuberculosis to the mumps
28:33
could be remedied by a dose of one of the hundreds of patent medicines on the market most of which consisted of a
28:41
mixture of corn syrup and morphine well
28:48
I think it was a famous Canadian physician Sir William Osler who to until about the turn of the century the
28:55
chances that that any average person going to his or her doctor would come away a better rather than worse was only
29:02
about 50/50 by 1920 Abrams electrotherapy felt was booming tens of
29:09
thousands of people sought the painless treatments doctors and alternative healers from around the country flocked
29:15
to his San Francisco clinic where for $200 a piece they too could learn to
29:20
detect the mysterious electronic reactions finally Abrams was receiving
29:26
the acclaim he felt was rightfully his he was also raking in a fortune for two
29:31
hundred and fifty dollars down and five dollars a week a great deal of money for that time his students were allowed to
29:38
lease one of the 4,000 authorized Abrams machines being churned out by a local
29:43
factory there was only one condition the machines could not be opened Abrams
29:48
insisted that this could damage the delicately tuned mechanism the Abrams
29:54
reluctance to let other people look at his little black boxes and so on makes sense from a number of perspectives one
30:01
is maybe there's nothing there and he knows that so why expose it I mean I'm putting on such a good show and
30:06
people are excited about it I'm doing all right as it is so why take a chance and the other possibility is that he may
30:13
actually have sincerely believed that he was on to something and that he wanted to protect it he had proprietary
30:19
interest in it it's almost like a patent in his own mind during his heyday Abrams
30:26
was called upon by laypeople and even the courts for expert testimony in a
30:31
high-profile paternity case he claimed he could identify the father by analyzing the vibrations in his blood
30:38
using his wonderful machines Abrams claimed his machines could do far more
30:44
than merely diagnose illness they could also determine your religion your inclination for romance and whether or
30:51
not you like to bet on the ponies by 1921 over 3,500 medical doctors
30:58
practiced Abrams electrotherapy dozens of clinical reports were published by ER
31:04
a doctors they documented the successful treatment of patients non-surgical non-pharmaceutical cures for uterine
31:11
cancer tuberculosis and syphilis these
31:16
doctors made between 1,000 to 2,000 dollars a week using Abrams leased boxes
31:23
conventional doctors were becoming more and more incensed aside from their unwillingness to believe Abrams
31:29
outrageous claims they had their own reasons for wanting to discredit him thousands of their patients defected to
31:36
medical practitioners using radion ik treatments for the traditional position a new Abrams machine in town and an
31:44
empty waiting room and a vastly reduced income
31:49
then in 1923 came a chilling case report from a leading medical journal a man in
31:55
his 70s was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic as having inoperable cancer of the
32:00
stomach after receiving a series of electrotherapy treatments from an Abrams practitioner he was told by the
32:07
practitioner that his cancer was gone and that he was completely cured a month
32:12
later he was dead Abrams increasingly grandiose claims were about to put him on a collision
32:19
course with the American Medical Association in this world there are many
32:24
different sorts of scoundrels someone who take your money but dr. Abrams was of a higher or perhaps lower order you
32:32
see the states in his scam turned out to be human lives was Abrams a true
32:39
visionary or just a quack preying on the hopes of the desperately ill a nationwide battle raged between AMA
32:46
establishment physicians and Abrams defenders the issue could only be
32:51
resolved by a scientifically respected neutral party so many people had been
33:00
writing to Scientific American saying this wonderful Abrams technique is the
33:05
scientific discovery of the new century surely you'll be learning and writing more about this that it caught the
33:12
editor's attention naturally would be a terrific subject for any kind of scientific investigation there were two
33:19
though these charges by people in the medical community that the whole thing was a fraud that it couldn't possibly
33:25
work the Scientific American put together a team of people to study the Abrams
33:32
technique a senior Abrams practitioner known for purposes of the study as dr. X
33:39
was chosen to conduct the first test six vials containing unknown germ cultures
33:45
were delivered to his laboratory he was to correctly identify the contents of each one the Scientific American
33:52
committee looked on as dr. X carried out the elaborate procedure in accordance
33:57
with Abrams technique a healthy young man wired to the dynamize ER stood on two metal plates facing west under dim
34:05
light when the doctor announced his results they were completely consistent in one respect they were all wrong dr.
34:14
X's results from this trial were spectacularly unsuccessful he managed to get all six vials completely wrong
34:22
naturally he was trying to figure out what had gone wrong so he then asked to
34:27
examine the vials and he said oh well there's the problem he pointed to the fact that the vials had each been
34:33
labeled and that the labels had red on them well red he said was a color that
34:39
was full of all kinds of electrical vibrations that set up bad reactions in
34:44
the dynamize errs Diagnostics so of course it couldn't possibly be accurate so they started over
34:50
they took off all the old labels they put on new plain white labels they gave the specimens back to dr. X and again he
34:58
managed to get every one completely wrong letters poured in vehemently
35:05
protesting the investigation on the one hand you had some people who felt
35:11
vindicated by these results who said they'd always thought it was probably a fraud you had on the other hand the
35:17
people who were strong believers in the Abrams technique and many of them started off by saying why are you
35:24
subjecting this wonderful wonderful procedure to any kind of scientific scrutiny after all aren't there
35:30
thousands of people walking around who've been cured by this already undaunted the Scientific American
35:36
committee continued its investigation Abrams offered to demonstrate his machines for them at his San Francisco
35:43
laboratory but the committee insisted on carrying out the investigation on their own terms but he wouldn't really submit
35:51
he never refused to participate in the studies but he would always beg off
35:58
submitting to some kind of real blind trial of the work as a result the
36:04
technique was never demonstrated by its inventor to any scientifically
36:12
satisfactory degree Abrams struck back at his critics in the pages of ER a
36:19
publications he accused them of scientific ignorance and of merely wanting to protect their own turf if he
36:28
was attacked by the medical profession or the scientific profession I suppose he could easily fall back on the
36:34
argument that he now is the victim and that this big amorphous Association American Medical Association and the
36:40
establishment are really after him and poor little me I'm just the victim and many of his followers would probably
36:47
accept that the struggle between Abrams and the AMA was about to reach a climax
36:52
in 1922 an AMA dr. anonymously sent a
36:57
blood sample to Abrams Clinic for diagnosis and the analysis came back
37:03
this patient had seemed had malaria diabetes and cancer and another disease
37:09
that most of Abrams patients seemed to have syphilis then came the jarring revelation to
37:16
Abrams at least you see it turned out that his patient actually was living a very moral life and was quite healthy
37:23
his patient was a rock rooster other
37:32
Abrams practitioners began getting into legal hot water in another sting operation an ER a doctor confidently
37:39
diagnosed a patient with some very human diseases once again the patient turned
37:44
out to be a member of the poultry family the star witness at the trial from mail
37:50
fraud in Jonesboro Arkansas was to be dr. Abrams himself and then an
37:57
unbelievable turn of events on the eve of the trial Abrams died apparently none
38:03
of his wonderful devices was able to cure him of pneumonia dr. Albert Abrams
38:08
dead at age 62 a healer unable to heal himself I think that between the
38:15
satisfaction that gave him in a humanitarian sense and the very real reward he was getting in terms of the
38:21
money that was rolling in it was an irresistible force for him the man left
38:27
an estate valued between I think two and five million dollars an extraordinary
38:33
sum of money for somebody who was basically just hitching up sick people to radios Abrams had always insisted
38:43
that his machines never be opened now that he was gone the AMA publicly opened
38:48
one a lot of the charlatans had the idea
38:53
that if you sealed the Machine put a clamp on it wires that no one would look
38:59
into it and discover his mysterious secret the secret was that it was a hodgepodge of meaningless dials wires
39:06
and lights that would expose him as a charlatan the Scientific American team
39:12
finally concluded that the Abrams technique was a complete fraud that in
39:19
fact dr. Abrams didn't know enough about electricity to be able to wire up a
39:24
doorbell that the dynamize er was probably nothing much more than just a
39:30
black box full of wires that you couldn't possibly get a real cure out of
39:35
the asila class and their basic position was that the entire field of the abrams technique
39:41
wasn't even fit for scientific study we would have hoped that Abraham's ideas would have died when he died but
39:48
unfortunately it was so successful financially that over 44 other manufacturers made similar devices and
39:55
even today we have people who are making machines patterned after his goofy ideas
40:01
selling him on the market in the 1990s dr. Abrams and his disciples treated
40:09
thousands of patients there are no records of how many people they cured or killed the dynamiters and the asila
40:17
clasts machines that once gave hope to so many and made the doctor himself a millionaire are now displayed as medical
40:24
oddities dr. Abrams obituary in the Journal of
40:30
the American Medical Association granted him the title Dean of all 20th
40:35
century charlatans while he and his machines may not have diagnosed physical illness he seemed exceptionally adept at
40:42
detecting one human infirmity gullibility when the promise being offered his life itself
40:49
people pay dearly the paintings of
40:54
Johannes Vermeer each one of priceless masterpiece and yet Vermeer died in total obscurity in 1675 of his life's
41:02
work fewer than 40 paintings are known to exist until this century he remained
41:08
virtually unknown today he's considered a genius praised by the art establishment as the great master of
41:14
Delft blockbuster exhibitions of his paintings tour the world images from his
41:21
rare originals are reproduced in a wide variety of forms from postcards to wine bottles to t-shirts the people buying
41:28
these souvenirs know they're buying mirror copies but what if they didn't
41:34
during the Second World War a series of never-before-seen Vermeer's was
41:39
discovered and sold for an unprecedented fifty million dollars and if it weren't
41:46
for a bizarre twist of fate no one would ever have known that they were forged it was the biggest scam in art history 1945
41:56
a special unit of Allied soldiers comprised of expert art historians made an extraordinary discovery
42:07
an assault mine in Austria they found a treasure trove of art stolen by the Nazis
42:12
these were Europe's greatest masterpieces pillaged during the war by the invading German army amongst the
42:19
booty was the collection of Nazi Field Marshal Hermann Goering the Dutch of
42:24
heart expert was shocked to notice that one of the paintings was a sign for a mirror he knew the Masters work and he had
42:31
never seen this painting before an investigation was immediately begun to determine the origin of such a rare and
42:38
priceless treasure it was then discovered that unlike the other paintings which had been looted this one
42:43
had been purchased recently from Holland that a Dutch citizen would sell a national treasure to a Nazi was caused
42:51
for outrage and suspicions of collaboration the paper trail led
42:57
through several intermediaries to this apartment in noise Spiegel strata in Amsterdam owned by the painter Han Van
43:04
Meegeren while most people of Europe had suffered a great deal in the devastation of the war von Negron lived very well
43:10
while other starved there was always lots of food and wine on his table he owned this property and fifty others
43:17
including two nightclubs one morning late in May 1945 two uniformed Dutch
43:24
police officers showed up at his door and they treated with some respect because he was a very wealthy man and
43:30
they said you know look we're not interested in how much was paid or
43:36
anything else we just want to know where this canvas came from and to immigrant
43:41
couldn't own so they came back and arrested him with being a collaborator
43:48
which could have meant the death penalty the culprit was in fact guilty but of a
43:54
far more imaginative crime who was Hanban Migra and how did he come to possess an undiscovered bear mirror the
44:03
painter Van Meegeren was born in Holland in 1889 his artistic talent was clear
44:08
from the start and he a badly pursued his dream of painting Dutch masters his own father despised
44:15
his sons artistic inclinations and in violent outbursts frequently destroyed
44:20
his artworks but fund me grant ultimately found a mentor a painter who taught the traditional methods of 17th
44:26
century painting while the art world hailed the new brilliance of Picasso and Matisse Van Meegeren steeped himself in
44:34
the style of another era though his
44:40
technical virtuosity won some praise by age 29 Van Negron's career had peaked
44:45
his work was panned or ignored by Holland's art critics who branded it derivative and out-of-date these merely
44:56
works done in the old style are examples of Van Lear ins failure to meet the expectations of the critics it also
45:03
didn't help his career that he refused to bribe the critics a common practice that bought many of his contemporaries
45:09
glowing reviews he recognized that in
45:15
the art world the nod of a few experts could make the difference between a worthless piece of canvas and a
45:21
million-dollar masterpiece I had been so belittled by the critics that I could no
45:28
longer exhibit my work I was systematically and maliciously damaged by those who don't know the first thing
45:34
about painting that migrants hatred of
45:39
the Dutch art critics gave rise to a scheme for revenge he decided to create a masterpiece that
45:45
they simply could not ignore him now his pension for using outdated painting
45:51
techniques which had diminished him in the eyes of those same critics could be used as ammunition against them that me
45:58
brron may have fancied himself as a master painter but he had all the instincts of a master con man but he did
46:08
have this belief that the press and the critics and the experts and the art eaters we're all venal could be bribed
46:16
and who ignorant didn't know their facts and it was really originally to show up
46:24
this incompetence and venality of the press and the media and the experts that he decided to paint
46:31
a Vermeer which would then be authenticated and he would then say I painted it this proves that you're fools
46:39
and I'm a great artist there was one very established critic who Van Meegeren
46:45
particularly despised and who he thought would make an easy mark dr. Abraham
46:51
bridges had a theory about the early work and training of Vermeer how happy
46:56
and thrilled he would be to stumble upon an earlier mirror which would bolster his theory abram brainiest the highly
47:03
regarded and respected art historian had a theory that well familiar maybe he was
47:10
in in Italy travelled there maybe maybe he has seen works by Caravaggio or other
47:15
baroque painters and maybe he has made also religious paintings and maybe these
47:23
religious paintings look like this a little sober a little Protestant a
47:28
little like this and that and in a way you can say that that affirmation used this theory by brady's as a kind of how
47:37
to make an early for mere painting the paint of fake Vermeer was a formidable
47:43
challenge not only would it have to be stylistically brilliant it would have to look three centuries old but Van
47:50
Meegeren was fuelled by the passion of revenge he found a 17th century campus and with pumice salt and water
47:57
stripped off the original paint he experimented with two chemicals
48:03
phenol and formaldehyde to create a synthetic aging process which would accomplish three centuries of paint
48:10
hardening in three hours he was the first forger who had this
48:16
idea to create a painting with a with a synthetic medium and why would he do
48:24
this because he had experience he had read a lot of book books how they
48:29
discovered forgeries and it it appeared to him that it was absolutely necessary
48:35
to come up with something different obsessed with detail he used the same
48:40
pigments per media even hand grinding ultramarine from lapis lazuli and blue
48:46
from indigo he used a badger hair brush with four barrel saviors and he would
48:54
take his pigment with the medium in it but then mix mix that through with the phenol and formaldehyde and then apply
49:02
it to the cameras he then baked the painting just as you would bake a cake to get the desired crackling in the
49:09
finish he went through one more step he would roll the painting over a drum I
49:16
mean just I'm simplifying it a little bit that would open up also cracks you
49:21
know they were coming from below would open up the new paint layer and then in
49:29
order to make them more visible he would then later wash over the whole surface with a black ink
49:36
[Music] he then had a picture the below
49:42
seventeenth-century canvas paid with 17th century pigments and the media had
49:49
all evaporated and the paint was perfectly hard five
49:56
years after his original research had begun Van Meegeren finished the painting he called it Christ at Emmaus he felt it
50:04
was a great painting something he'd always dreamed of producing but by signing it with Vermeer's monogram he
50:10
handed credit for his masterpiece over to another would it now withstand the
50:15
scrutiny of the hated critics Van Meegeren presented the painting to dr.
50:22
bridges who enthusiastically endorsed the work it was taken to Paris it was
50:28
seen by a number of potential buyers including the representative of Lord
50:34
Devine in Paris who wasn't fooled by it and sent a cable which I've seen saying
50:41
picture rotten fake didn't want him to have anything to do with it about
50:47
davines men were exceptions despite the skepticism of the Parisian critics the
50:53
painting was endorsed by Holland's art establishment it was given the place of honor in the boyens Museum and crowds
50:59
came in unprecedented numbers to see it and to acclaim what Britt iasts had said was the greatest fair mirror of
51:07
immigrant himself used to say that he went along as an ordinary member of the public to see this great Vermeer and the
51:15
hairy raped off says it couldn't get too close to it and he walked up and had
51:22
this moment of enormous pride of seeing his picture in pride faced the Bauman's and leant forward to examine it closely
51:31
and see the crackle crackling was still alright and so on and was moved back by
51:37
an attendant there too close to his cameras engage engaged in his canvas but
51:43
he he was just a member of the public looking at a great new painting
51:48
this film made in 1952 captures radius's excitement
51:55
at this moment the disciples have recognized Christ risen from the dead and seated before one the disciple on
52:03
the Left shows his silent adoration mingled with astonishment in no other
52:09
picture by the great master of Dilip do we find such sentiment such a profound understanding of the Bible story van
52:17
Negron had done it he'd painted as well as a great master he'd fooled the art critics including dr. Brady's Holland's
52:24
leading expert on very mirror instead of coming forward at this moment in exposing them to savor his great revenge
52:30
he found that he'd been caught up in the momentum of his own scam the moment came
52:36
to expose the fake but Van Meegeren stalled for a simple reason money when he sold the emmaus he served
52:44
it for in today's money 2.2 million dollars and suddenly he was
52:51
wealthy Van Meegeren went to Paris and frolicked in the city's famous clubs he
52:58
still intended to reveal his forgery but in the meantime he indulged himself with cabaret dancers wine even morphine he
53:06
was literally intoxicated with his newfound wealth exposing the forgery seemed less and less appealing Van
53:13
Meegeren had spent the money he'd made from the sale and realized that he could only continue to live well by turning
53:19
out more forgeries he could have sold anything after the amount honest it was
53:24
the de Christ at Emmaus it was radius was positive the museum
53:32
the Rembrandt's society the museum directors in Berlin in London everybody
53:38
accepted it immediately as a famille so why not go on it was one big illusion
53:45
Trading and illusions living the highlife in Amsterdam was too seductive
53:50
for Van Meegeren to resist he was transformed into a professional forger
53:55
between 1938 and 1945 he painted and sold six for bogus fare mirrors
54:03
[Music] the chaos of the Second World War
54:09
provided the perfect camouflage provide Migron to put his paintings on the market his people attempted to flee the
54:16
devastation of the war important private art collections were being sold on the black market with no questions asked masterpieces
54:24
were changing hands without the usual documentation and Van Meegeren claimed to have found one of his Vermeer's in a
54:30
farmhouse in Italy there was no way for checking of course it was strange to
54:36
have suddenly five or six for me in a few years time but in those war days it
54:42
was possible all these canvases had to be kept secret they couldn't be
54:48
exhibited the Nazis would get to know about them and they would be looted they
54:55
weren't examined the paintings carefully they were never x-rayed they'll never chemically analyzed the
55:02
canvas was never carefully examined the very vague stories he told by their
55:08
provenance we're completely accepted no one ever asked for additional detail were made
55:15
any attempt to trace where this painting had been for for 300 years the Last
55:20
Supper painting that was sold in 1942 1.6 million guilders and was by then the
55:27
most expensive painting in the world even from burning and who had a huge collection he had to sell 20 paintings
55:35
including Tintoretto and der and 18 other paintings to get this for me a
55:41
painting so you can imagine that when he heard at the end that this painting was
55:47
a forgery it was a drama the last of an migrants forgeries was Christ with the
55:53
adulteress after he sold it it changed hands several times finally catching the eye
55:59
of Nazi chieftain Hermann Goering who paid the equivalent of millions of dollars for it though the fact was not
56:06
known to Van Meegeren this was the painting discovered by the Allied soldiers in the Salt Mine in Austria
56:12
when officials traced the painting back to Van Meegeren he was vague about his involvement with it he was thrown in
56:18
jail and charged with treason well they took him to jail and they grilled him
56:24
they interviewed him very aggressively
56:29
for several days and after three or four days he broke down and said you're fools
56:38
I I didn't sell a great national treasure to the Nazis I painted it
56:44
myself and I also painted the Vermeer in Dobermans Museum the Vermeer in the Rijksmuseum and the piece then assumed
56:53
that he'd invented this fantastic story in order to escape the more serious
56:59
charge of collaboration and said well mr. Van Meegeren if you painted that if
57:06
you painted that this bit is yourself you could certainly make her an exact copy of it and then Megan said I can do
57:15
far better than that I wouldn't make a copy of a painting but I'll paint a new forgery the police were astonished but
57:23
they gave their prisoner a chance to prove his innocence Van Meegeren was locked into his studio
57:29
under armed guard and under those very difficult conditions he began to literally paint for his life for he knew
57:35
that if he failed he faced execution over the next three weeks in the
57:43
presence of police witnesses he created a new forgery which was the young Christ
57:49
teaching in the temple the creation of this painting captured
57:54
worldwide press attention on Van Meegeren emerged as a national folk hero the underdog who had made buffoons out
58:01
of all the experts the new painting
58:07
indeed stood up to scrutiny the charge of collaboration was now changed to one of forgery
58:15
and a poll before the trial Van Meegeren was voted the second most popular man in Holland after the Prime Minister on
58:24
October 29th 1947 that League reigns trial began right here ironically this
58:30
defendant wanted nothing so much as to be found guilty because you see that would prove that he was a genius here we
58:39
have that formation and it was here I am and during his day seen in the courts
58:45
film crews from all over the world his wife was there and it was his Triomphe
58:50
though in poor health at age 58 he was determined to appear debonair he was not
58:57
about to squander this moment in the limelight [Music]
59:06
the people who were giving evidence against him we're the experts and critics who'd been duped by his work few
59:14
wanted to give evidence because doing so was to admit their own incompetence and
59:19
stupidity a commission was set up to examine the paintings in a laboratory
59:26
knew that his paintings and that's very important he knew that his pictures were going to be subjected eventually to
59:33
x-rays it's very interesting he anticipated that and so he used all
59:40
paintings as was done before but in a different way 17th century painters often painted over
59:47
old canvases and this in fact had made Van migrants forgeries seen authentic
59:52
but now he could use this very point to prove that he was the forger he told the
59:58
Commission exactly what images laid beneath the paintings something that only he as the forger could have known
1:00:06
the painting Christ with the adulteress was x-rayed the radiograph of the framed
1:00:12
part showed a battle scene likewise the x-ray of the washing of the
1:00:17
feet revealed a horse and it's rider exactly as Van Meegeren had predicted
1:00:23
for me here and after the trial after they also proved that his paintings were
1:00:29
that there were faults then he said in the future it will not be possible at
1:00:35
all to make any forgeries that passed these tests the Commission unanimously
1:00:42
declared all of Van migrants Vermeer's to be fake after only two days Van
1:00:50
Meegeren was found guilty on the charge of forging signatures he was sentenced to two years imprisonment but migrants
1:00:59
downfall dead in a very real sense - a triumph for his revelations put the entire art establishment on trials the
1:01:07
con artist was convicted of forgery the marks were convicted of arrogance and incompetence because of his failing
1:01:15
health Van Meegeren didn't go to prison shortly after the trial he was admitted
1:01:20
to the valerian clinic he died of a heart attack on December 29th 1947
1:01:28
[Music] run Negron once wrote I want to see my
1:01:35
paintings and great museums if not as a reputable Peter than as a forger his
1:01:41
wish came true today his forgery is not only hang in galleries they're considered the most successful fakes of
1:01:48
the 20th century I personally regard his painting just very very ugly but and it
1:01:56
for me is it's so strange that the the big art historians the big names from
1:02:02
from those days that they regarded these paintings really as for me as or Peter dogs or whatever it's it's incredible
1:02:13
again I say it's easy to be wise after the event but I think there's also
1:02:19
something second or third rate about his forgeries but of course would I have said that in 1936 would I have said it
1:02:26
in 1942 when they were generally thought to be Vermeer's in hindsight you see you
1:02:35
can almost recognize any forgery because the people who did not see right away
1:02:40
that for me her and had done these works they were of the same period 10 20 30 40
1:02:49
50 years later this becomes more and more obvious but whether they would
1:02:58
still be on share the pride of the museum's collection can only be
1:03:03
speculative I didn't think bear Migron was a great painter he was a great
1:03:10
chemist and a great psychologist and a great technician all these qualities
1:03:19
were necessary for him to succeed as a forger if truth is beauty is beauty
1:03:25
necessarily true in one migraineurs case the illusion was more powerful than the
1:03:30
truth his lie earned this odd vengeful scoundrel a place in history not only
1:03:37
because of who he scammed but because his scam was on masterpiece
1:03:42