Zippers

Episode notes

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer Dan Hopper (Ranker, The New Yorker) and actor/comedian Benny Wayne Sully (‘NDND’ on YouTube, ‘My First Native American Boyfriend’ short) for a look at why zippers are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.

LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:

• Dan Hopper on Twitter
• Dan Hopper’s Twitter account for Pittsburgh sports
• Dan Hopper’s page at Ranker.com
• Dan Hopper’s writing for The New Yorker
• Benny Wayne Sully on Twitter
• Benny Wayne Sully co-stars in the Off-Broadway play Peerless this fall in New York City! Here’s a link for tickets and more info.
• “My First Native American Boyfriend” (IMDb)
• ‘NDND’ YouTube channel
• Benny Wayne Sully’s website

RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

• native-land.ca
• U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
• The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (Smithsonian)
• Mapping Manahatta: 10 Lenape sites in New York City (6sqft)

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• Zipper: An Exploration In Novelty by Robert Friedel — this book is incredible and is the core source for this episode. It’s also source of photos embedded below. Update: Dr. Friedel is now a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland.
• The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers, and the Man Who Made the Most Notorious Album Art of 1971 (Vanity Fair)
• The Cover Uncovered: The artistic masterpiece that is The Rolling Stones album ‘Sticky Fingers’ (Far Out Magazine)
• The Shepard & Armstrong Spacesuits: 8 Fun Facts (Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum)
• How WWI Made the Zipper a Success (JStor Daily)
• How Kurobe, Japan, Became the Zipper Capital of the World (Atlas Obscura)

Diagrams from Whitcomb L. Judson’s 1893 patent for a “clasp locker or unlocker for shoes”:

Portrait photo of Gideon Sundback and Elvira Aronson: