The Boston Sisters welcome back SHARON D. JOHNSON, script and story consultant for MASTERPIECE and SANDITON. In part 1 of a 2-part conversation, we focus on the themes of Marriage, Love, and Friendship between new and familiar characters over the past 3 seasons of the series based on Jane Austen’s unfinished novel written a few months before her death in 1817. SANDITON is the story of independent-minded women making their way in a world where a woman’s social and economic status centers on making a good match in marriage. The series is available on PBS MASTERPIECE.

TRANSCRIPT LINK

0:08 - Podcast Opening; 1:27 Sanditon Part 1 Intro; 1:58 SHARON D. JOHNSON Intro; 2:22 SANDITON Season 1 Synopsis; 3:49 SANDITON Season 2 Synopsis; 4:53 SANDITON Season 3 Preview; 7:09 Emotions of Coming to the End of SANDITON; 11:18 Love and Myth Busting in SANDITON 3; 17:47 Charlotte and Ralph Starling; 21:38 Tom and Mary Parker or Displacement, People and Profit in SANDITON; 29:46 Podcast generic BREAK; 30:45 Charlotte and Georgiana's Friendship; 35:11 Edward Denham's Conversion; 42:35 What Would Jane Austen Say About SANDITON?; 47:34 Preview for SANDITON Part 2 with Sharon D. Johnson; 48:21 Where to Watch SANDITON; 48:40 How to Like, Share, Subscribe to the podcast

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In Episode 31 our conversation about VIKINGS VALHALLA continues with NAHIR OTAÑO GRACIA, a medieval scholar whose “Global North Atlantic” extends the Viking story from the North Sea to the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean, and the tip of North Africa. We talk about how the Vikings’s travels and encounters changed their culture and destinies as seen in VIKINGS: VALHALLA.

Nahir Otaño Gracia, is Assistant Professor of English at the University of New Mexico and a Member of the Institute for Advanced Studies located in Princeton, NJ (IAS). Her theoretical frameworks include Critical Race Studies, Translation Theory and Practice, and the Global North Atlantic—extending the North Atlantic to include the Iberian Peninsula and Africa. She has published several articles on literatures written in Middle English, Old Castilian, Old Catalan, Old Irish, and Old Norse-Icelandic, and they have appeared in journals such as "Arthuriana," "Comitatus," "Enarratio," "English Language Notes," and "Viator." Her essay, “Towards a Decentered Global North Atlantic,” won the 2022 Medieval Academy of America Article Prize in Critical Race Studies.

0:08 - Intro to Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters ((generic open); 1:20 - VIKINGS: VALHALLA Seasons 1 & 2 Recap; 2:47 - Nahir Otaño Gracia & Her Journey to Medieval Scholarship (Medieval Studies); 5:28 - Mapping the Global North Atlantic; 8:36 - Recovering Medieval History -- Not Just White and Male; 12:37 - Port Cities and Cultural Encounters; 17:26 - Shield Maidens, Scholars and Queens (Medieval Womanhood)

22:37 - Break

23:08- Religious Conflicts in the Middle Ages; 32:01 - Mariam, Muslim Scholar in Vikings: Valhalla; 35:17 - Middle Ages: A Time of Possibility

38:24 LIGHTNING ROUND Questions

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Ep. 30 gives you a “watchers guide” to Viking dramas available for streaming starting with VIKINGS: VALHALLA now in its second season on Netflix. Alex Chisnall, host of the popular business podcast Screw It Just Do It, is our guest and guide. We met Alex via the Clubhouse social media app where he gave podcasters like us the incentive, courage, and a road map to just do it and launch Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters. Alex, who is close to Viking history in the UK and shares our enthusiasm for history, got us curious about VIKINGS: VALHALLA, and other Viking-themed dramas (see below) currently available on streaming services.

Alex Chisnall started his audio career with BBC Radio in the 1990s before deciding to travel the world working for Virgin Atlantic Airlines. He founded his podcast agency, Podpreneur, after the success of his own podcast literally changed his life. Alex Chisnall's podcast Screw It Just Do It is a #1 rated business show downloaded in over 180+ countries from the UK to Uganda. (Recorded 2/20/23)

EP. 30 TRANSCRIPT

Set over a thousand years ago in the early 11th century, VIKINGS: VALHALLA chronicles the exploits of some of the most famous Vikings from history — the legendary explorer Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), his courageous warrior sister Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), and the ambitious Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter). Season Two begins after the tragic fall of Kattegat; an event that has shattered the main characters’ dreams and altered their destinies. Finding themselves suddenly fugitives in Scandinavia Leif , Harald, and Freydis are forced to test their ambitions and courage in worlds beyond the fjords of Kattegat. VIKINGS: VALHALLA is a sequel to the HIstory Channel’s VIKINGS series helmed by Michael Hirst. Created by Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive), VIKINGS: VALHALLA is set 100 years later towards the end of the Viking era 1066.

Ep. 30 Time stamps 

1:22 Vikings: Valhalla synopsis; 2:27: Alex Chisnall, podpreneur and Vikings enthusiast; 3:51 Vikings in UK History; 6:34 King Canute in VIKINGS: VALHALLA and the Real King Cnut the Great; 11:13 Leadership styles of Viking and Saxon Monarchs; 15:19 Leif Erikson; 18:55 Watchers Guide to Vikings Series: Where to Begin ; 23:17 Lightning Round Questions; 28:15 Where to Watch Vikings Dramas; 29:15  Episode 31 Preview (VIKINGS: VALHALLA continues) with Nahir Ortaño Gracia; 29:47 Closing and Credits

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In Ep, 29 we talk about the Baz Luhrmann film ELVIS with GAYLE WALD, George Washington University professor of American Studies and author of Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Our conversation extends to Black musicians and music traditions that shaped Elvis Presley’s music and how that aspect of Elvis’s story is dramatized in this 2022 biopic.

Wald's Rosetta Tharpe biography has been adapted into a musical, "Shout Sister Shout!," with book by Cheryl L. West, premiering at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC in March 2023. You can purchase Wald's "Shout, Sister, Shout!..." book from the podcast's affiliate bookstore on bookshop.org. This conversation was recorded 2/13/23.

Episode 29 Transcript (link)

TIME STAMPS

0:08 Historical Drama...generic open

1:17 Introduction to ELVIS podcast

1:54: ELVIS, the movie, synopsis

3:11 Austin Butler's performance

3:46 Gayle Wald introduction

7:30 Family, Race, and Music in ELVIS

9:30 Memphis and Nashville Music Hubs (Gospel, Blues, Rock-and-Roll, Country)

12:07 Black Music Traditions in ELVIS

16:23 BB King and Elvis Presley's relationship

20:45 Sister Rosetta Tharpe

26:09 Gospel Music and Social Commentary

31:01 BREAK

31:38 Little Richard -- Pushing Gender Boundaries

34:19 Elvis Presley Smashing Conventions (Austin Butler)

37:31 Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker: Popular Music and Commerce

40:52 Elvis and the Black Community

46:14 Black Music Today: Impacts of Gospel, Blues, Rock-and-Roll

47:58 Lightning Round Questions 

53:20 Ep. 29 Outro

54:34 Historical Drama generic Outro

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Episode 28 features a conversation with CARLA L. PETERSON, author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City.” Professor Peterson’s book served as a resource for the creation of the characters, story, and the Black community in HBO’s THE GILDED AGE.

Part detective tale, part social and cultural narrative, "Black Gotham" is Carla Peterson's riveting account of her quest to reconstruct the lives of her nineteenth-century ancestors. As she shares their stories and those of their friends, neighbors, and business associates, she illuminates the greater history of African-American elites in New York City. (Source: Yale University Press)

Carla L. Peterson is professor emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a specialist in nineteenth-century African American literary and cultural studies. In addition to "Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City" (published in 2011) she has published numerous essays and a second book "Doers of the Word: African-American Women Speakers and Writers in the North, 1830-1880" (1995). Carla Peterson is currently at work on a new project, "Urbanity and Taste: The Making of African American Modernity in Antebellum New York and Philadelphia."

Recorded 1/13/23

Download the transcript for Ep. 28 from this link.

TIMESTAMPS

0:08 Podcast Generic Open

1:21 Introduction to Black Gotham and The Gilded Age Conversation

3:55 Carla Peterson Introduction

5:07 Black Family History

12:42 Historical Resources and Detective Work

22:00 New York's Black Cosmopolitans

29:42 Southern Slave Economy and Northern White Wealth

38:26 Break

29:03 The Scott Family in HBO's "The Gilded Age"

44:11 Peggy and Arthur Scott: Class, Gender, and Generational Conflict

47:41 Who Has Taste? Black Education, Peggy Scott and Agnes van Rhijn

54:41 Lightning Round: Conversation with Ancestors, Thomas Downing, Interracial Stories, and Stories of the Black Elite

1:06:07 Stay Connected with Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters

1:07 Boilerplate Closing

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Episode 27 features a conversation with BEN VANSTONE, showrunner and writer for ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, about the making of the series currently in its 3rd season on the PBS drama series MASTERPIECE.

ALL CREATURES GREAT & SMALL is the recent adaptation of the books written by veterinarian James Alfred Wight (who wrote under the pen name James Herriot) about a trio of veterinarian surgeons in the Yorkshire Dales in the late 1930s. The series features Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot, Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon, Anna Madeley as Mrs. Hall, Callum Woodhouse as Tristan Farnon, and Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson.

Ep. 27 Transcript

TIME STAMPS

0:08 Generic Open

0:46 Introduction to Episode

1:09 Ben Vanstone Introduction

2:07 Synopsis: “All Creatures Great and Small” series

6:24 Finding Diverse and Inclusive Community in Yorkshire Dales

7:11 The Chapman Family: Anne, Bert and Tom Chapman

9:55 The Pandhi Family: Florence, George and Joyce Pandhi

12:14 On Location

15:56 Agrarian Setting as Character and Story

17:55 Reflections on World War 2

21:04 Deaf Volunteers in Auxiliary Women's Service

23:33 Podcast generic break

24:23 Writing for Animals

27:21 Recasting Mrs. Pumphrey after the passing of Diana Rigg

28:51 Stories of love and its complications in the series

32:17 Country life, yesterday and today, ideal and reality

35:35 Lightning Round: Time Travel to the Dinosaur Age; Time Capsule

39:06 Where to Watch All Creatures Great and Small

40:09 Generic Close

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In episode 26 Michon and Taquiena look back on the highlights and a-ha’s of the first year of “Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters.”  Included are historical dramas The Boston Sisters look forward to watching and talking about in 2023. There will be more opportunities for you to join live conversations with The Boston Sisters, and other historical drama activities when you sign up for the podcast mailing list.

TIMESTAMPS

0:58 Generic Intro + Episode 26 Synopsis

3:21 Year One Impacts and A-ha's

5:25 Summer Book Club highlights, MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS and the House of Dior

10:16 The CROWN Season 5 Chat-up highlights

16:28 "BELLE By Request" and listener/subscriber recommendations for podcasts

19:08 Untold Histories: MR. SUNSHINE, BRIDGERTON 2, and THE WOMAN KING

23:33 How Story Matters

24:33 Looking Ahead to 2023

29:24 Subscriber Benefits

30:56 Closing

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In episode 25 The Boston Sisters feature Amma Asante’s feature film BELLE by listener request from JOANNE FORT, an attorney living in Atlanta, Georgia. Joanne shares why she wanted the podcast to feature BELLE. We invited London-based figurative painter GLORY SAMJOLLY, to talk about the film and the story behind the portrait of the real-life Dido Elizabeth Belle (with her cousin Elizabeth). As founder of the social media platform Black Aristocrat Art, Glory brings her insights on depictions of Black women and men of the aristocracy in historical European art.

BELLE is based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a mixed-race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) and an enslaved African woman who is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson) in 18th century England. Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet her status prevents her from receiving the benefits of noble social standing. Note: BELLE was released in the UK in 2013; in the U.S. in 2014.

TIMESTAMPS 

1:19 Intro to BELLE by Request

1:56 Belle Film Synopsis

3:11 Listener Joanne Fort - what makes Belle special

5:34 Glory Samjolly, Black Aristocrat Art

6:44 Glory's introduction to Dido Elizabeth Belle film and portrait

9:16 Black presence in European portraiture

13:40 Interpreting Belle's portrait

20:03 Joanne Fort's Turban Question for Glory Samjolly

21:32 Exoticizing the Black Image in European Portraiture

29:06 Break

30:00 Interpreting the Mysteries of Black Portraiture

37:15 Learning Black History in the UK

41:23 Glory's Dream: A Black Aristocrat Portrait Gallery

45:10 Special Commission: Painting A History Globe

49:15 Art to Change the Psychology of Black History

52:02 Lightning Round: Bourgeoisie fashion in 18th Century France, Headphones, Paint Brush, Turpentine

57:05 Where to Find Amma Asante's “Belle” (2014) Film

58:05 Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters Contact Info

Note: BELLE was released in the UK in 2013, and in the U.S. in 2014.

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The Boston Sisters talk with REV. DR. TERASA COOLEY, author of "Transforming Conflict," about leadership portrayals of Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Princess Diana in the NETFLIX drama series THE CROWN now in its 5th season.THE CROWN is a fictional drama inspired by real events during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II (1926 - 2022) in the last half of the 20th century. The series is created by Peter Morgan based on his play, "The Audience." Morgan also wrote the screenplay for THE QUEEN directed by Stephen Frears.

Ep. 24 TIME STAMPS

0:08  (boilerplate) Podcast Open

1:45 Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley Intro

2:21 The Crown Recap Seasons 1 - 4

4:38 The Crown Season 5 Description

6:10 American Fascination with British Aristocracy

7:16 Duty and Adaptive Leadership

11:05 The Queen, PM Thatcher and Princess Diana

17:17. Symbolic Leadership

22:19 Change, Loss, and Leading

23:15 Commonwealth as Family

27:01 Foxtrot Diplomacy

30:28 Break

31:58 Transforming Conflict

35:23 Cooking for the Cabinet

38:47 Class Conflict and Parlor Games

47:17 Celebrity and Leadership

51:17 Why We Deify and Demonize Leaders

53:34 Lightning Round: World War I, Winston Churchill, Time Capsule

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Orchard House (in Concord, MA) is most notable as the home where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set her iconic novel Little Women in 1868. In this podcast we talk with JAN TURNQUIST, executive director of Orchard House where visitors can go back in time to the world of the Alcott family as well as Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March. Recreations of Orchard House can be seen in recent adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women the 2017 BBC PBS MASTERPIECE limited series, directed by Vanessa Caswill, and the 2019 film directed by Greta Gerwig.

1:18 - Jan Turnquist, Executive Director of Orchard House (bio)

3:41 - Orchard House History

7:45 - Discovering "Little Women"

8:57 - Enduring Appeal of "Little Women"

13:50 - The Alcotts and The March Family

15:19 - Civil War Backdrop of "Little Women"

17:00 - "Little Women" Adaptations (Page to Screen)

18:22 - Recreating New England in Ireland (BBC/PBS 2017)

22:08 - Recreating Orchard House and Concord MA (Greta Gerwig 2019)

26:03 - Fidelity to Novel vs Retaining the Heart of the Story

29:48 - Podcast Break

30:20 - Revolution, Literary Movement & Transcendentalists in Concord MA

36:27 - Louisa May Alcott's Feminism

37:19 - What is an American?

38:13 - International Appeal of Little Women

40:48 - Quintessential American

41:09 - Abba May "Marmee" Alcott -- Pragmatic and Progressive Parent

45:53 - Reenacting Louisa May Alcott (Jan Turnquist)

51:23 - Sharing Orchard House

52:26 - Orchard House Legacy and Impact

58:09 - Lightning Round

1:06 - Wrap Up

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