Hello and welcome to Something's Off with Andrew Heaton. I'm your host Andrew Heaton.

I love Broadway musicals and in particular I love 1776.

It's a fun jaunty show that's approximately like if Gilbert and Sullivan were trying to explain the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Although there's a few things the musical leaves out, here's one.

In Philadelphia, in 1776, between licensed and unlicensed taverns,

there were ten times as many places to drink per citizen as there are now.

Meanwhile, up in New York, back then there were enough bars that every denizen of the

city could drink simultaneously.

Perhaps because during the Revolutionary War,

the average American drank an estimated 6.6 gallons of absolute alcohol every year. That's 5.8 shots of 80 proof liquor per day for every

adult, which in that era is 15 years old. Let me repeat that. Everyone in the country was

drinking upwards of six shots of Southern comfort or the equivalent when we

kicked out the stuffy old Brits in 1776 in that

great play 1776 starring Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World or in the newer

version Brent Spiner who played data on Star Trek.

There's a brief reference to prostitutes.

Benjamin Franklin clearly excited, but it doesn't quite convey the sexual liberty environment you would have stepped into if you'd visited

one of those taverns.

The grandson of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, married a prostitute and seemed

to get along just fine in high society.

Guess how many women were prosecuted in Philadelphia in 1760s and 1770s for prostitution.

Yes, you got that number in your head?

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