Dean Owen explains how the Peabody Hotel in Memphis started marching live mallards through its lobby in 1931, a tradition that attracted famous guests like Marilyn Monroe and Johnny Cash.
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High end hotel that goes back to the early 1900s called the Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee. Well, in 1931, the hotel manager drank a little bit too much, and you could use live mallards as decoys. Duck hunt. So he'd been out on the river duck hunting. So he brings his ducks back to the hotel and leaves them in the fountain. And then probably a little bit too much Jack Daniels. But the next morning, he realized what he's done, and in a panic, he runs downstairs thinking he's probably going to get fired. And he's about to, and he goes, wait a minute, wait. I'm experimenting. I think I could sell more drinks if I have ducks. And the owner's hotel said him, if you don't sell more drinks, you're fired. So they had this huge production set. Every morning they go up on the roof where the duck pen is, and they herd the ducks down to the elevator and then downstairs and then into the fountain. And then every night they do the same thing in reverse. And all these famous people have done this. It's. It's like a big deal, you know, Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan, you know, just all these huge names. I'd never heard of it.
