Category: Podcast

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Podcast #76: Ester Krumbachová

In this episode, Rachel Pronger of the Invisible Women film collective brings us the story of iconoclastic Czech film multi-talent Ester Krumbachová. Ester was a screen writer, costume and stage designer, author, and film director. Her work was quirky, colorful, and political, lashing out at patriarchy and authoritarianism. She had a defining influence on Czech New Wave cinema, collaborating on more than twenty movies from the early 1960s on, including the delightful Daisies and the perplexing Murdering the Devil. Her involvement in the satire A Report on the Party and Guests meant she was blacklisted from working in film by the Czechoslovakian communist party during much of the 1980s. She worked under pseudonyms, painted and made jewelry, returning to the film industry in the 1990s.

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to set the scene.

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can find the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

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Podcast #75: Shirley Chisholm

In this episode, we’re live at PodFest Berlin! DLS co-founders Katy Derbyshire and Florian Duijsens do the introducing, while DLSP Producer Susan Stone tells us about the amazing life of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress (in 1968). Four years later, Shirley was the first Black person and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. She was known for her hard work on behalf of equal rights, introducing legislation that helped women and children, workers and the poor. Additionally, she was called the “best dressed woman on Capitol Hill” for her sharp style. Shirley’s legendary campaign slogan was “Unbought and unbossed,” and she kept the philosophy throughout her long political career. Shirley never wanted to be remembered as the “first” this or that, but as someone who fought for change and blazed a path for those like her in politics. Her legacy is undeniable. 

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

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Podcast #74: Wilma Rudolph

In this episode we run off to New York to get a post-Olympic sports fix! Writer and editor Sheila Enright who is both a former track and field runner and co-host of Dead Ladies NYC brings us the story of American gold medallist Wilma Rudolph.

Born into a family of 22 children in segregated Tennessee,  Wilma Rudolph was diagnosed with polio at a young age and told she would never walk again. But her mother told her she would, and young Wilma decided not only would she walk, she would run! A skilled sprinter, she qualified for her first Olympics at the age of 16, bringing home a bronze medal as part of the relay team. She decided to go further, faster, and at the 1960 Olympics she set records and won 3 gold medals, being dubbed “The Fastest Woman on Earth.” 

During and after her athletic career, Wilma Rudolph used her celebrity to further important causes, from desegregation to sports education for children.  

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

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Podcast #73: Therese Giehse

In this episode of our podcast, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire brings us the story of  Therese Giehse, a German actor, pacifist and exile known for founding an anti-Nazi cabaret (which, really, we could all get behind these days). Therese had artistic and other adventures with her lover Erika Mann (daughter of Thomas Mann), was photographed by Annemarie Schwarzenbach, and embodied several of Bertolt Brecht’s best-known characters on stage. She also acted in movies with Vivien Leigh and previous DLS star Romy Schneider.

Born in Munich in 1898, she went against her liberal Jewish family’s expectations to train as an actor, cast as older characters even as a young woman. The Pfeffermühle cabaret started up in 1933, swiftly moving to Zürich to escape the Nazis. With Erika and Klaus Mann, Giehse toured the political show around Europe, never mentioning any names but using parables and storytelling to rip the piss out of Hitler and his henchmen. 

Therese returned to Zürich in 1937, where she joined the outstanding cast at the Schauspielhaus theatre, many of them also emigrants like her. During the war, she performed in the premiere staging of Brecht’s anti-war play Mother Courage, defining the title role in what some directors have called the greatest play of the 20th century. 

She went on working with Brecht and other key playwrights and directors after 1945, in Munich, Zürich and East Berlin. Therese Giehse maintained her pacifist stance throughout her life, criticizing the Vietnam War at public events. She died in 1975 and is buried with her sister in Zürich.

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

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Podcast #72: Miriam Rothschild

In this episode, DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens introduces us to Dame Miriam Rothschild, a British zoologist, entomologist, and botanist. Coming from a wealthy family (yes, those Rothschilds) with an active interest in nature, she started collecting ladybirds and caterpillars and taking a tame quail to bed with her at the age of four. During a stint of WWII codebreaking at Bletchley Park, she pressured the British government to take in more Jewish refugees, providing housing for 49 children in her own (stately) home. She then became a leading authority on fleas, with sidelines in other parasites, butterflies, and meadow restoration.

DLS co-host Katy Derbyshire joins producer Susan Stone to kick off the fun.

If you are in New York, you can see a Dead Ladies Show July 17 and September 25 at the KGB Bar’s Red Room. Find out more from them on Instagram @deadladiesnyc or join up for their newsletter if you like here.

Don’t forget we have a Patreon! This month, Florian is there telling Susan all about another Rothschild — Pannonica, Miriam’s sister, who was named for a moth, and known as the Jazz Baroness for her patronage of and friendships with musical greats including Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. You can join up for as little as $2 or 2 euros a month and enjoy our full archive of special features, and our eternal gratitude. Here’s the link!

We’d also be grateful if you follow us on social media @deadladiesshow where we share pictures and info about all of the wonderful Dead Ladies we’ve covered so far. You can also drop us a line via info@deadladiesshow.com

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

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Podcast #71: Patricia Highsmith

In this episode, we take a jaunt to New York to find out about the talented and difficult Patricia Highsmith. You might know one of her most notorious characters, Tom Ripley, from your Netflix queue (the new series Ripley) or via one of the many films based on what might be Highsmith’s best-known novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Highsmith wrote several books that redefined the concept of the thriller, as well as one of the few stories to give a lesbian couple a happy ending. 

That novel, The Price of Salt, was adapted into the 2015 film Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.  It was inspired by one of Highsmith’s many obsessive relationships (or in this case, just an obsession) with women. Long a closeted lesbian, Highsmith was engaged to a man (as required by 1950s societal mores) yet aggressively seduced lady after lady. 

She also wrote obsessively, was highly ambitious, and kept thousands of pages of diaries written in various languages to avoid spilling her secrets (they have been translated since her death in 1995). She was misanthropic and bigoted, and even her friends considered her unpleasant to be around, but her psychological thrillers have remained classics, partly for how they provide insight into the mind of the criminal. 

The talk by writer and educator Hannah Meyer comes courtesy of our friends at Dead Ladies Show NYC. DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens was there for the event in NYC, and he joins producer/host Susan Stone to help introduce the episode.

Find Dead Ladies NYC on Instagram: @deadladiesnyc and follow Hannah Meyer @hannahrenee_m

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

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Podcast #70: Phoolan Devi

*** NOTE: This episode’s Dead Lady had a very challenging existence, particularly when she was younger, and her story is marked by multiple incidents of violence and sexual abuse. Please use caution when listening ***

In this episode, we join forces with the Ms Informed podcast to bring you the story of Phoolan Devi.

Known as India’s “Bandit Queen,” Phoolan Devi overcame a life of poverty, illiteracy, and abuse, first as a child bride, and later enduring after being kidnapped by bandits and rising to lead the gang. She eventually became a politician, campaigning for women’s causes and the poor. Even today, Phoolan is a symbol for the anger, vengeance and injustice against women in India, as well as an inspiration for the lower classes.

Madhvi Ramani and Rina Grob told her story at a recent live DLS show in Berlin. You can read the transcript here.

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins host/producer Susan Stone to introduce this episode.

Discover the Ms Informed podcast wherever you like to listen, and here. As mentioned, Katy and Susan have done an interview with them which will appear on Ms Informed Episode 165. You can also follow them on Instagram.

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

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Podcast #69: Sister Mary Ignatius Davies

In this episode, we bring you…the woman known as the “Mother Theresa of Reggae!

Sister Mary Ignatius, a white Jamaican Catholic nun dedicated her life to the Alpha Boys’ School in Kingston, where she taught football, cricket, boxing, table tennis and dominoes – but most importantly, music. A lover of jazz and blues, she inspired hundreds of “wayward boys” to become professional musicians, including future Skatalites Tommy McCook and Don Drummond, trombonist Rico Rodriguez and the conductor Leslie Thompson. Without Sister Mary Ignatius, who died at the age of 81 in 2003, we might never have had reggae.

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire tells the story of the woman known to her young charges as “Sister Iggy.” And she joins host/producer Susan Stone to introduce this episode, the first of Season Seven of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast, and to wish you all a happy International Women’s Day on March 8th!

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts.And you can download our transcript, prepared by Susan Stone, here.

If you’re in New York by any chance, put Tuesday, March 19 in your diary for Dead Ladies Show NYC. More details here!

Show notes:

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Podcast #68: June Tarpé Mills

In this episode, the last of Season Six, we bring you a show live from PodFest Berlin! DLS-ers Susan Stone and Katy Derbyshire joined the city’s fine and friendly podcasters at the yearly event in front of a small but perfectly formed audience.

From that event, producer Susan brings us the fascinating story of June Tarpé Mills, a comics pioneer and the first woman to create a female superhero, Miss Fury. The alter ego of socialite Marla Drake, Miss Fury wore a cursed black leopard skin and travelled the world fighting evil (mostly Nazis). She was sexy and smart, and a global hit from 1941–1951, during which she appeared in 100 newspapers, millions of comic books, and on the side of several US bombers. Then she, like her creator, largely disappeared. Decades after her death in obscurity, Mills is finally getting the recognition she deserves, from a headstone for her unmarked grave to induction into the Comic Industry Hall of Fame.

We mentioned our wonderful friend Andy Horn, who introduced us to Tarpé Mills. Read more about Andy here.

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

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Podcast #67: Amrita Sher-Gil

In this episode, we hear once again from our friends at Dead Ladies NYC.  Nafisa Ferdous presents Amrita Sher-Gil, a queer, feminist, Hungarian-Indian artist, writer, and art critic who left a profound impact on art despite her untimely death. Sher-Gil was an incredibly charismatic non-conformist whose work reframed discussions on art and feminism, orientalism, and colonialism, while merging European technique and classical Indian aesthetics into something new.  DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce the story. 

Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan Stone, here.

Show notes:

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