The Dumbest Mobster Ever Tried To Steal Ruby Slippers

The Dumbest Mobster Ever Tried To Steal Ruby Slippers

Author: iHeartPodcasts October 9, 2025 Duration: 40:23

There are few pieces of film history more iconic than Dorothy's magic ruby slippers from 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Yet, at first, the studio had no idea how valuable these would become. The multiple pairs of slippers languished in obscurity until costume department worker named Kent Warner launched a mission to save them. Yet the story doesn't stop there: as Ben, Noel and Max learn in today's episode, one of history's dumbest mobsters actually stole the shoes... because he mistakenly believed they were covered in actual rubies.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Ridiculous History
Podcast Episodes
CLASSIC: The Weird Life of George Washington, Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:37
Returning special guest Christopher Hassiotis joins the guys today for a round-robin discussion of the very weird life of George Washington, first President of the United States. (As you may have guessed from the title,…
Folks, We're Doing A Clip Show: Leftovers, 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:25
Hey there, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. Ben, Noel and Max here: as we travel to hang with our friends and family, we like to do a little thing at the end of the year where we explore various tangents and trivia…
Was 536 Really the Worst Year in History? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:42
Welcome to the end of the year, fellow Ridiculous Historians! As Ben, Noel and Max look back on the events of 2025, they discovered historians do, in fact, have one year singled out as "the worst year in human history."…
CLASSIC: Clara, The World's Most Famous Rhinoceros [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:28
For centuries most people in Europe thought of rhinos as another form of mythical creature, like unicorns or griffins. However, this all changed when an enterprising sea captain brought a young, orphaned rhino named Clar…
Christmas Traditions Are So Incredibly Weird! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:55
What's the strangest Christmas tradition you practice? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max ring in the end of the year with an exploration of Christmas celebrations across the world -- and speculate on inventing a few…
The Grim Christmas Folklore of Johnny Ace, with Jake Brennan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:10
While the career of rhythm-and-blues vocalist Johnny Ace was short, he left a huge mark on the music world. Up until Christmas Day of 1954, Ace seemed set to reach genuine crossover success in pop music -- until, that is…
CLASSIC: How the Monopoly Board Game Became a World War II Escape Kit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:35
Ben, Noel and Max return with this week's Classic episode! Monopoly is a pretty divisive game, and people tend to either love it or hate it. However, for hundreds of Allied POWs captured during World War II, Monopoly bec…
The Deliciously Ridiculous History of Fruitcakes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:19
Let's be honest. If you live in the United States, you probably think fruitcake is ridiculous. It's like the MRE of Christmas, passed around from one family to the next. But what makes it so resilient? How, out of all th…
CLASSIC: Idiomatic For The People, Part I [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:05
Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we use on a daily basis, with little to no understanding of what they orig…