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You may know that he was also a successful dramatic actor, but what most people don't realize is that he was one role away from becoming an action star. Sinatra's acting career began all the way back in the nineteen forties, but in nineteen sixty eight he was looking to challenge himself to see if he could get outside of his wheelhouse. Up to this point, Sinatra tended to play characters that were kind of already in his DNA. He was a singer, so he played singers. He had a lot of friends

in the mob, so he played mobsters. He played a lot of criminals, But could he play a character on the other side of the law. His new film, The Detective would give him that chance. The Detective was based on a novel by author Roderick Thorpe. It follows Detective Joe Leland, a tired working class man exposed to heinous

crime after heinous crime. He doesn't like to listen to orders from his incompetent superiors, and his marriage is disintegrating as he gets pulled in deeper and deeper by his work. It was the perfect role for Sinatra. It allowed him to showcase his signature grumpy persona while in a mature, nuanced package. The film portrayed police work in a much more realistic way than most films, and even discussed some at the time taboo subjects homosexuality and sexual violence. The

Detective was a critical and commercial hit. Seeing the wild success of his novel being adapted for film, Thorpe was eager to write a sequel so that it, too could be turned into a movie. His second Joe Leland's story, Nothing Last Forever, turned the drama up to eleven. It took Joe across the country from New York to visit his estranged daughter at her office in downtown La While there, criminals attacked the office and Joe is forced to use his skills as a detective to stop them. He manages

to succeed, but not before his daughter is killed. It was a well received sequel and producers were excited to turn it into a film. The only problem was that by the time they were ready to make the movie in nineteen eighty seven, Sinatra was seventy two years old. No way could he reprise the role in such an action heavy sequel. And the part that really stunk for the producers was that Sinatra's contract from the Detective stipulated that they had to offer him the role for any sequels.

So they approached him, hands likely shaking as they gave him the script, secretly hoping that he would turn it down. And Sinatra read the script with his usual grim expression, not giving any indication if he liked it or not, And then once he was finished, he looked back over to the waiting producers and told them that this was probably a little more than he could handle at this

point in his life, so he declined the role. I can imagine the producers jumping for joy as soon as Sinatra left their office, and what followed was an intense casting call to find just the right successor to Sinatra. All the great action stars of the time were called up too, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Gibson, Burt Reynolds, but in the end all of them turned down the role as well. Ultimately, the producers had to go with a newer, younger actor

who was more popular on television than film. They rewrote the script to be a little less dark and a little more funny too. For example, the detective was now trying to save his wife instead of his daughter, and he was successful in the end. Also, the criminals weren't out for revenge, they just wanted money. And finally, the character of Joe Leland had his name changed to reflect that this was not really the same guy from the movie from twenty years before. And I'm happy to say

that it worked. When it was released in nineteen eighty eight, the film became an instant hit and is considered today to be one of the greatest action movies of all time, a film that should have starred Frank Sinatra but instead starred Bruce Willis die Hard. As Winter rolls in, I've found myself thinking of the emotions and feelings we associate with the season. The winter months are a time of joy, of celebration, Christmas, New Year's, winter revels, yule Tide carols,

and warm fires. You get the idea, breaks from the drudgery of work to spend time with family, friends, and our communities. These things are universally beloved, even if you don't describe to any particular holiday. But that's not all the winter is made of. After all, we only light a cozy fire in order to stave off the biting, bitter cold, and many cultural traditions associate the cold with

ghost stories just as much as jolly El's. And you've probably heard of Crampus, the goat like creature that follows Saint Nicholas around in German Christmas stories. But he's merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Christmas Boogeyman. You see. German folklore is full of so called childhood nightmare figures. These are the monsters that you tell your children about in order to scare them into doing their chores or going to bed on time, but some of

them come for adults too. In Central Europe, one of the most well known of these beans is Frauperkta an old crone who cares very much about the cleanliness of your house and whether you've done all your weaving for the season. It's said that if your house isn't clean, she will come in with a pair of scissors, slit your belly open and fill it with rocks. She also disembowls lazy children upon occasion as well. Those who observe her traditions make sure to leave out an offering dumplings

in some regions, or porridge and herring. Other regions say that you must leave an egg on your roof as a tribute. Why on the roof, while some say that frau Perkta flies through the air on the darkest night of the year, the winter solstice, and behind her is a caravan of spirits. In some traditions these are the spirits of unbaptized children, and others they are a parade

of monstrous crompus like creatures called perktin. And she flies by writing on a distaff, a wool spinning tool that looks very much like a broom enough so that her image might call to mind that classical image of a witch on a broomstick. But Frau. Perkta is not a witch. She's a result of something that we would call syncretism and assimilation. Perkta was originally something more resembling a goddess

or a folk deity. Her tradition can actually be traced all the way back to the Norse goddess Friga, and she was the goddess of in between spaces who guided the spirits of the dead to the afterlife. In these older stories, it said that she taught people how to weave flax into linen. But when Christianity started taking over the region, it went to work relegating the creatures of

folklore to secondary roles that fit into Christian worship. Crampus, for instance, became Santa's helper, and Perkta became a figure who haunted people not on the Winter solstice, but on January sixth, the twelfth day of Christmas. But that day still holds its own special name for those who prefer to celebrate it the old way. Perkdinag. Like many classic pre Christian gods or goddesses, Perkta has a sort of

duality to her. She is a creepy old woman who may punish you for disobedience, but she is also wise and elderly. She leads a train of ghosts through the sky in the dark of night, but she also guides those spirits that are lost to a final resting place. And as the nights grow longer and the days grow shorter, she makes you focus on the hearth and home, ensuring all is ready not just for her, but for your family as well. This duality makes her perfectly suited for

the winter months. It also makes her resistant to the ways that Christian influence tried to demonize her, and to this day, many Alpine communities still dress as Frauperkta in holiday festivals and pay tribute to her just as enthusiastically as they do to Saint Nicholas. Some figures from folklore stand the test of time, and some survive by adapting to a strange new world. So as the nights get colder this month, keep an eye on the dark sky above,

and maybe keep an egg on your roof. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me, Aaron Mankey in partnership with Houstuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.