- This is a Greaser's hair from the 1950s.
- (narrator) Sometimes, however, even a normally reliable
head of hair fails to rise to the occasion.
And in emergencies like this when it just isn't long enough,
a switch of false hair is thrust into the breach.
- Oh, no. What in the James Dean?
- Did they say false hair? - No!
That's not even the same color. - (narrator) To the customer,
it's a mark of distinction. To other folk,
it looks like an elephant's trunk... - Ooh.
- (narrator) ...which is just what it is called.
- An elephant's trunk. That's right.
That's different. - "Acrobats balance
on top of the Empire State Building, 1934."
Yeah, y'all can keep that in the past.
That's some Nerve [censored]. You ever seen that movie?
- Why? That's really cool.
That's a really cool picture, but like, bro.
- There's something like a solid number of people
who die per year from falling while taking a selfie.
- Wow. You know what? Okay. So, I always see people
doing things like this, but I guess it's just strange
to imagine them doing this in the '30s.
- Nigerian design student, one-time actor,
wearing his costume from the now cla-- (gasps)
He was Alien?! (blows raspberry) Well, what do you mean
lost in history? - That is cool, but also seven foot--
Jesus Christ. Mans is a whole NBA player.
- Used a lot of condoms in this costume...
- (React) Really? - ...to get the sort of like--
especially the little alien tongue effect.
- And just the fact that it's one-time actor.
So, he just-- he played one of the most classic movies
as the main character essentially, I think, and then just dipped.
- That's really beautiful actually. Like, it's creepy,
but that's really beautifully made. - "Frida Kahlo dressed
as a boy, 1924." Good for her.
You know what? I love this. - I feel like people
are just becoming comfortable dressing how they feel now.
So, to do it literally almost 100 years before is crazy.
- It's wild. To be photographed like that too,
I think that's what impresses me. This isn't just her doing this
in her home, you know? This is her being photographed
and with her family and with friends and out in public like this.
- That must have been controversial and scary for her probably.
- "German Soldiers React to Footage of Concentration Camps, 1945."
Ugh. Yeah.
- Yeah, I mean, a lot of them didn't know.
I know word got around. - That's why a ton of German soldiers
after the war was actually-- not released,
but they weren't charged. - No one looks at all
like they're on board with this. - (React) Yeah.
- That's awful. - The realization that how many
of the German soldiers that were out there
knew what was going on in those concentration camps, right?
- It's a difficult image to look at and analyze,
but I'm really glad that it exists.
- Dorothy Counts, the first Black girl
to attend an all-white school in the United States,
being teased and taunted by her white male peers
at Charlottes Harry Harding High School, 1957.
I've seen this. It activates whatever in your stomach
makes you just feel rage. - I would love to have
the people who are in these pictures
who may be alive today to look at it and be asked about it.
And like... - That must've been rough,
real rough. - And I wonder if anyone
who's in that picture looks at that and is ashamed
of their behavior. - "Children for sale in Chicago, 1948.
Some parents sold their children due to poverty."
I've seen pictures similar to this. They are selling their children.
- I don't know if I've seen this particular picture,
but I have seen pictures of that. And you can look at the mom.
She doesn't want her picture taken. She's just ashamed.
- You know, I hope things got better for them,
'cause things certainly are-- I'm not even sure they're aware
of how bad it was. - They're selling their kids
because they're poor. That just feels like not the right way
to go about things. - And it's humiliating too.
It's not just sad to have to sell your children.
But to make a transaction with your children
is a really tricky thing. - If you truly care
about people's liberty, you know, then let people do
mostly what they want as long as it's not harming anyone.
And that's the case with this, where this has-- this physically
does nothing to you. - I don't see why.
Someone's just running. - Damn.
So, she just went in and was like, "I'm just-- y'all are letting me in."
It cracks me up that women can go through childbirth
and then go to work, but they're too delicate
to go for a run. (laughs) - (React laughs)
- It's kind of scary to think what world our grandparents lived in
and what world our parents were born into.
- Let's go! I need to learn some of this!
- "Get a dog and walk it." Honestly, that works for everybody.
- You know, it's funny. I feel like it's the opposite now.
I feel like if you're a guy on Tinder and you're single,
having a dog in your picture is a great way to meet women.
- "Read the obituaries to find eligible widowers"?!
I thought that's how you just found apartments.
- "Nine, sit on a park bench and feed the pigeons." (laughs)
Yeah. All my girlfriends have told me that's how they found their men.
- "Forget discretion every once in a while"?
What does that-- "carry a hatbox"?
"Wear a band-aid"? "People always ask what happened"?
- "Go to all reunions of your high school or college class.
There may be widowers there." Okay. This is the only one
that I can agree! They're lonely and they need people!
And they need somewhere to put their money into.
- Stumble when you walk into a room that he's in. (laughs)
I already do that, so... why don't I have a husband?
I don't understand. - "24, don't be afraid
to associate with more attractive girls.
They may have some leftovers." (laughs silently)
- (React laughs)
No wonder all the girls were hanging around me.
- "Don't whine. Girls who whine stay
on the vine." (laughs) That's my new Instagram bio.
- "I find comfort knowing that more than 140 years ago,
people were taking silly pictures of their pets" in 1875.
I love that. That's great. I wonder how long that dog
had to sit there for. - That dog had to be really still.
- He's just smoking a little pipe. He's just got an old--
he can have a little tobacco as a treat.
- No matter how good or horrible we are as people, we love our dogs.
"In the late 1800s in South Africa, Jack the baboon was bought
by James Wide, a railway signalman who had lost both his legs
while jumping between railcars." Jack, be nimble. Jack, be quick.
(wheezes) "Jack soon began to operate
the railway full-time and was eventually given a salary.
He worked for nine years on the job until the end of his life.
He never once made a mistake." What?! Baboons are terrifying, though.
How do you just befriend a baboon?
- What kind of salary was this banan-- was this baboon given?
What what does a baboon wanna buy with money? (laughs)
- What a good boy! I'm gonna cry. That's beautiful.
- [Censored] yeah! Way to go, Jack!
Next time someone goes, "Well, a monkey could do your job,"
well, probably could! (laughs) - Oh my god. Way to-- hold on.
Is that Mr. My Husband, Ryan Gosling himself?
- (chuckles) Ryan Gosling got the moves at like eight years old.
- Yes. I love that formation. Okay! - Look at those MC Hammer pants!
Uh-huh! Oh, Ryan! My, my!
- Taking a moment to look back
at sometimes the not even that distant past
is really nice and important, I think, to just sort of remember
what our foundation is because I think it gives
a lot of insight into how we are today.
- "Read the obituaries to find eligible widowers"?!
Jesus Christ. These are rough.
- "Don't tell him about your allergies."
(laughs) Oh my god. "Lobster?"
(sniffles) "Mm-hmm. Yeah, shellfish should be fine.
Totally." - You would think we know
who the alien was in Alien, but this is my first time
hearing about this ever.