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 dressed women 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.

Find out more about Shirley on our episode notes here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/09/19/podcast-75-shirley-chisholm/

Follow us on social media @deadladiesshow to keep up-to-date on all things DLS

You can check out our Patreon and support us here: https://www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

Save the date for our next Berlin show, November 30th at Lettrétage. More information to follow!

Get tickets for DLS NYC’s next event on September 25th here: https://tinyurl.com/DLSNYCSept25 and find Dead Ladies NYC on Instagram here: @deadladiesnyc

Thanks to PodFest Berlin’s Dan Stern, Eman Khallouf, and Grace Hamdam, as well as Ben Currey from House of Color.

Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

Drop us a line info@deadladiesshow.com

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

****

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.

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.

Find out more about Wilma Rudolph on our episode notes here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/08/16/podcast-74-wilma-rudolph/

Hear our episode about Dutch gold medal runner Fanny Blankers-Koen here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2017/10/26/podcast-2-fanny-blankers-koen/

Follow us on social media @deadladiesshow to keep up-to-date on all things DLS

And find Dead Ladies NYC on Instagram here: @deadladiesnyc

You can check out our Patreon and support us here: https://www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

Our upcoming show September 14th at 4pm at PodFest Berlin will have tickets available soon. Find out more about the event here: https://www.podfestberlin.com/

Get tickets for DLS NYC’s next event on September 25th here: https://tinyurl.com/DLSNYCSept25

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 info@deadladiesshow.com or find us on social media @deadladiesshow

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

****

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.

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.

For more on Therese Giehse, please visit our episode notes at

https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/07/19/podcast-73-therese-giehse

Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

Check out our Patreon here: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

****

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.

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.

For pictures of Dame Miriam and some of her many natural obsessions, hop (like a flea) on over to https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/06/15/podcast-72-miriam-rothschild. You can also flock like a starling to our newsletter to find out when our next live show will be by clicking this link: https://deadladiesshowberlin.beehiiv.com/

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: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com/

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: https://www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

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

Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon. Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

****

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.

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 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 info@deadladiesshow.com or find us on social media @deadladiesshow

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.

****

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.

https://tinyurl.com/DLSMarch27

We're working on our next season, which starts in March! So, in this bonus show, we're sharing a guest episode from the podcast Her Half of History. 

Her Half of History covers women’s history in short episodes that fit into a series, like Women Who Seized Power, Women Who Escaped Slavery, and Women in Espionage. Host Lori Davis also likes to delve into the lives of ordinary women by covering topics including the history of housework, the history of getting married, and the history of girlhood.

In this episode, Lori tells the story of Ellen Craft, an enslaved woman who made a daring escape in a surprising…fashion. 

You can find more about Lori's show at herhalfofhistory.com 

The Dead Ladies Show Podcast will be back very very soon, as we kick off Season Seven of our show. If you can’t wait, find us at instagram on @deadladiesshow or come see what we’re up to in our Patreon exclusive Dead Lady Book Club, which you can find over at Patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

Thanks for listening!