Episode 82 - Caroline of Brunswick
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
In this episode, we hear a bit of our lovely 10th anniversary show in Berlin, and DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire gives us the rundown on Caroline of Brunswick, who was officially Queen of the United Kingdom and Hanover for three whole weeks before she died in 1821, long-estranged from her horrible husband, her cousin King George IV. They had separated shortly after the birth of their only child, and Caroline’s access to her daughter was restricted. She later moved to Italy, celebrated the right to bare arms, and lived with a handsome secretary, prompting huge amounts of gossip and...
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Episode 81 - May Ziadeh
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
In this episode, we hop over to New York to encounter our Dead Lady of the hour, May Ziadeh, a Lebanese-Palestinian poet, writer, translator, and feminist, whose work explored themes of love, identity, and the liberation of women. Books were her beloved companions throughout her life, and proved more steadfast than people. May began writing at an early age, started an important literary salon, and had moments of fame, but is perhaps better known for the years of isolation and tragedy that marked her life. She deserves more. May wrote in her diary: “After my death, I hope that someone...
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Episode 80 - Dorothy Thompson
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
In this episode of our podcast, DLS co-host Florian Duijsens tells us about journalist, writer, and witness to history Dorothy Thompson. As a foreign correspondent in Germany, she was among the first to caution against the growing tides of fascism, warning urgently against the Nazis and Hitler. Unfortunately, the world didn’t listen. Dorothy continued to speak out throughout her life, and during her career peak, was read and heard on the radio by millions. Her personal life at times also made the news — she was married to Pulitzer Prize-winning author and...
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Episode 79 - Boudica
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
We’re back with Season Eight of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast! In this episode, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire brings us the story of Boudica, an ancient British queen who fought the Romans. Though she led her Iceni tribe in a rebellion, the Romans prevailed, but wrote a fair bit about her in the history books. In her afterlife, Boudica became a mascot for the suffragettes but also co-opted as a symbol for all things British; also, Enya wrote a song about her. DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer/host Susan Stone to set the stage. Get more info on Boudica in...
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Episode 78 - Paula Fox
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
It’s our last episode of Season Seven, and our last episode of 2024, which means it’s Rotkäppchen time! Join us as we toast to Dead Ladies with German fizzy wine, and hear the story of another fabulous woman. DLS cofounders Katy Derbyshire and Florian Duijsens join the party as we get ready to hear the story of writer Paula Fox. As Florian explains, this talented author’s personal plot twists and turns include a stint as foreign correspondent, receiving a baby alligator in the mail, writing award-winning children’s books and a novel adapted for a film starring Shirley MacLaine,...
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Episode 77 - Anna Göldi
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
In this episode of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast, we hear a story that feels sadly relevant—a miscarriage of justice. Anna Göldi was the last woman to be legally executed after being accused of witchcraft in Switzerland, in 1782; just seven years before the French Revolution, and a century after witch trials were rampant in Europe (as well as infamously in Salem, Massachusetts). Anna came from a poor family, and worked as a maid in various households, but she was also an independent and freethinking woman. In 1781 she was looking after a young girl who allegedly began spitting up...
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Episode 76 - Ester Krumbachová
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
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...
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Episode 75 — Shirley Chisholm
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
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 one of the “best...
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Episode 74 - Wilma Rudolph
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
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...
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Episode 73 - Therese Giehse
Dead Ladies Show Podcast
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...
info_outlineIn 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 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.
See photos and get links on our episode page: https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/05/16/podcast-71-patricia-highsmith/
Find Dead Ladies NYC on Instagram: @deadladiesnyc and follow Hannah Meyer @hannahrenee_m
Read Hannah’s essay about Patricia Highsmith and obsession on LitHub here: https://lithub.com/on-patricia-highsmith-and-the-horror-and-revelation-of-obsession/
Subscribe to the NYC newsletter here: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=publication_embed&utm_medium=web
In New York? Get tickets to the NYC May 22nd show here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dead-ladies-show-nyc-no-28-tickets-888406576987?aff=oddtdtcreator
In Berlin? Get tickets for our May 16th show: https://literatur-berlin.tickettoaster.de/produkte/3303-tickets-the-dead-ladies-show-36-lettretage-in-der-veteranenstr-berlin-am-16-05-2024
If you’re a Patreon member, you already got an early preview of this episode! Not a member? Join up at https://www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast
Thanks to Molly O'Laughlin Kemper, Sheila Enright, Christopher Neil, and Lori Schwartz, general manager of the KGB Bar Red Room.
Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
Drop us a line [email protected] or find us on social media @deadladiesshow
Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.
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The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history.
The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire.
The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.