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 [email protected]

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 [email protected] 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.

 

*** IMPORTANT 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.    DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins host/producer Susan Stone to introduce this episode.   Find our more about Phoolan Devi’s amazing story on our episode page: https://deadladiesshow.com/podcast/2024/04/11/podcast-70-phoolan-devi   Discover the Ms Informed podcast wherever you like to listen, and here: https://pod.link/1509211076   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: https://www.instagram.com/the_ms_informed/   Mentioned by Madhvi and Rina:   The Mann Deshi Foundation, a woman-founded charity that set up the first rural bank for women in India and helps women and girls in rural areas: https://manndeshifoundation.org/   Daughters of Destiny on Netflix, which follows five girls from the Dalit class, who enter Shanti Bhavan, a school that educates the poorest children in India so that they are given a chance in life and help their communities: https://www.netflix.com/title/80092926   The book The Furies: Three Women and their Fight for Justice by journalist and writer Elizabeth Flock: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-furies-elizabeth-flock   Their sources:    I, Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India's Bandit Queen, by Phoolan Devi India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi, by Mala Sen Arundhati Roy on Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen   If you are interested in attending the upcoming Dead Ladies Show at the Droste Festival in Muenster, get more details on the event here: https://www.burg-huelshoff.de/en/programm/projekte/droste-festival-2024   And if you’d like to come see us in Berlin May 16th, buy tickets here: https://literatur-berlin.tickettoaster.de/produkte/3303-tickets-the-dead-ladies-show-36-lettretage-in-der-veteranenstr-berlin-am-16-05-2024 and consider subscribing to our newsletter to receive updates: https://deadladiesshowberlin.beehiiv.com/   Fans of the New York show can get their newsletter here: https://deadladiesshow.substack.com   Want to see the CBS News feature about us? You can find it linked to on our about page https://deadladiesshow.com/about/ and pinned on our Instagram feed https://www.instagram.com/deadladiesshow    Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.    Don’t forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast   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.   ****   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.  

 

Welcome to Season Seven!   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 Leslie Thompson, the first black conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. 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!   Go see some fun images of Sister Mary Ignatius Davies and explore our delightful info links on our episode page: deadladiesshow.com/podcast/2024/03/08/podcast-69-sister-mary-ignatius   Definitely give a listen to the internet radio site for the Alpha Boys School here: https://www.alphaboysschoolradio.com/   Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.   Don’t forget, we have a Patreon! Thanks to all of our current supporters! Please consider supporting our transcripts project and our ongoing work: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast   You can see us in Berlin on March 27th. Tickets here: 

https://tinyurl.com/DLSMarch27

  If you're in New York, you can go to a show March 19th. Tix: https://tinyurl.com/DLSNYCMarch19   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.   ****   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.

 

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! 

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. 

 

You’ll definitely want to check out Miss Fury and June Tarpé Mills’ other works, and you can find some great examples, plus images of the lovely June herself over on our website at https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/10/22/podcast-68-june-tarpe-mills/

 

We mentioned our wonderful friend Andy Horn, who introduced us to Tarpé Mills. Read more about Andy here: https://tinyurl.com/AndrewHorn

 

One last note — If you’d like to support us and get a bit of Dead Lady content before we come back with season seven, please check out our page patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast where we have loads of exclusive content including interviews and book reviews, and even entire Dead Ladies Show presentations that you’ll get to hear before (almost) anyone else. Thanks to everyone who already supports us there, including our new friend Rita Durant! 

 

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

 

You can browse our TeePublic shop at this link: https://www.teepublic.com/user/dead-ladies-show

 

We are on Instagram and Twitter @deadladiesshow and on BlueSky @deadladiesshow.bsky.social

 

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back soon with a new season full of fabulous Dead Ladies!

 

****

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 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. 

If you’d like to see some of Amrita’s works while you listen to the episode, hop over to our website: deadladiesshow.com/2023/09/14/podcast-67-amrita-sher-gil

Our presenter Nafisa Ferdous is a talented illustrator who often draws Dead Ladies! Find her art here: https://www.nafisaferdous.com/  and here: https://www.instagram.com/__petni/

You can follow Dead Ladies NYC on Instagram @deadladiesnyc and get tickets to their upcoming show on September 27 here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dead-ladies-show-nyc-no-25-tickets-711181933307?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Dead Ladies Show Podcast will be recording live at PodFest Berlin October 14th! Get your tickets and find out more about the festival here: https://www.podfestberlin.com/event-details/dead-ladies-show-Oct2023-special

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

And browse our TeePublic shop at this link: https://www.teepublic.com/user/dead-ladies-show

We are on Instagram and Twitter @deadladiesshow and on BlueSky @deadladiesshow.bsky.social

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 encounter the show’s very first featured geographer.  UK-born Doreen Massey was a pioneer in her field. She challenged existing ideas about space, place and power, was compassionate, politically active, and hopeful.  

She worked in academia and as a public intellectual, including at British early-morning TV fans’ beloved Open University – teaching students who didn’t have access to a traditional university education – and also in Nicaragua, Venezuela and South Africa. That work focused on economic geography and the geography of gender, and she spoke eloquently about place or space as “a pincushion of a million stories”. Her list of publications vies in length with her honors and awards – including a pretty impressive total of six honorary degrees. 

Our talk is presented by Agata Lisiak, a professor of Migration Studies at Bard College Berlin, and a DLS regular, who has previously talked about Marie Curie and Rosa Luxemburg. 

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce the episode, and talk a bit about the Open University, an important place for Doreen Massey and many others. 

You can find Agata’s podcast series on Doreen Massey, Spatial Delight, where ever you like to listen, and also here, where there are additional features: https://thesociologicalreview.org/podcasts/spatial-delight/

Photos and clips of Massey can also be found on our podcast episode page here: 

https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/08/17/podcast-66-doreen-massey

To get tickets for our upcoming PodFest Berlin event in October just click here: https://www.podfestberlin.com/event-details/dead-ladies-show-Oct2023-special

Sign up for the Dead Ladies Show newsletter here: https://tinyletter.com/deadladiesshow  and find us on social media @deadladiesshow and @deadladiesshow.bsky.social

For DLS NYC info and tickets, sign up to their newsletter here: https://tinyletter.com/DeadLadiesShowNYC or follow them on Instagram @deadladiesnyc

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

Find our Patreon page here:  www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast

The TeePublic shop for DLS logo treats is here: https://www.teepublic.com/user/dead-ladies-show

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 bring you the story of an actress whose off-screen life was as dramatic and tragic as many of the characters she portrayed. Born in Vienna in 1938, Romy Schneider was said to have the star power of Greta Garbo or Marilyn Monroe. 

She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Sissi, aka Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who she embodied in four films (some of which are still shown at holiday time every year in countries from the Netherlands to China). But though she strove to move past this very nationalistic role to play more realistic and naturalistic characters, to her chagrin she was remembered by some her whole life as “Sissi.”

A great beauty and talent, Romy was much beloved by the public for her performances, yet hounded by the press over her personal life.  Our story comes from DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens, a writer, translator and educator, and devotee of tragic glamour. 

Our other DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce things, and comment on the crossover with our last episode, which featured another German-speaking screen icon, the problematic Hildegard Knef.  

For more on Romy Schneider, please visit our episode notes at: 

https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/07/13/podcast-65-romy-schneider/

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

And browse our TeePublic shop at this link: https://www.teepublic.com/user/dead-ladies-show

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with another 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.