70 episodes

The Dead Ladies Show presents the stories of amazing women from history told live on stage in Berlin and beyond. Inspiring, irreverent, and entertaining! @deadladiesshow on Instagram and Twitter. Facebook: thedeadladiesshow.

Dead Ladies Show Podcast Dead Ladies Show Podcast

    • History
    • 4.8 • 36 Ratings

The Dead Ladies Show presents the stories of amazing women from history told live on stage in Berlin and beyond. Inspiring, irreverent, and entertaining! @deadladiesshow on Instagram and Twitter. Facebook: thedeadladiesshow.

    Amrita Sher-Gil

    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. 
    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.

     

    • 21 min
    Doreen Massey

    Doreen Massey

    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.

    • 28 min
    Romy Schneider

    Romy Schneider

    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.
     
     

    • 32 min
    Hildegard Knef

    Hildegard Knef

     
    In this episode, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire has the story of a deutsche Diva — an iconic German actress and singer and best-selling author known for her glamour and scandal, her smoky voice and sweeping false eyelashes. Hildegard Knef was also an unreliable narrator and a serial fabulator who was alternately loved and hated in her homeland.
     
    Producer/host Susan Stone is joined by other DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens to introduce our featured Dead Lady.
     
    To see Hildegard in all her eye-lashed glory, and hear some of her vocal stylings, visit our show notes: https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/06/15/podcast-64-hildegard-knef
     
    Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
     
    Want to suggest a Dead Lady for us?  Drop us a line to info@deadladiesshow.com or tell us on social media @deadladiesshow
     
    You can find our DLS logo merch at Teepublic here: http://tee.pub/lic/43ac26BhRl8
     
    And our Patreon is here: https://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.

    • 31 min
    Djuna Barnes

    Djuna Barnes

    In this episode, translator Laura Radosh introduces us to the fascinating and troubled writer Djuna Barnes.  The journalist, novelist, and artist mixed with everyone from James Joyce to Peggy Guggenheim, and was at the center of Bohemian life in 1920s New York and Paris, though perhaps not quite as much as she would like. Best known (if at all) for her modernist novel “Nightwood,” Djuna once called herself  ''the most famous unknown in the world.'' 
    DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens joins producer/host Susan Stone to muse about Djuna and her circle of modernist Dead Ladies. 
    Find out more about Djuna and her work, and see her polka-dot portrait here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/05/11/podcast-63-djuna-barnes
    Djuna Barnes intersects with a great number of our previously presented Dead Ladies, including:
    photographer Berenice Abbott (who took the above mentioned portrait): https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/01/20/podcast-59-berenice-abbott/
    and 
    dadaist Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven: https://deadladiesshow.com/2021/10/16/podcast-47-elsa-von-freytag-loringhoven/
    Here’s the documentary Laura cited where you can see Natalie Barney’s Parisian home and garden with its Temple of Friendship: https://youtu.be/ihzoLrUkNoc
    The documentary we mentioned is “Paris Was a Woman” by Greta Schiller 
    https://jezebelproductions.org/paris-was-a-woman/
    And Will Self’s radio segment on “Nightwood” can be found here: https://youtu.be/5cy3-uOTTfE
    Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.
    Want to suggest a Dead Lady for us?  Drop us a line to info@deadladiesshow.com or tell us on social media @deadladiesshow
    If you’d like to get advance tickets for our May show in Berlin they are here:
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dead-ladies-show-34-tickets-632679640837
    DLS NYC tickets can be purchased here: 
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dead-ladies-show-nyc-no-23-tickets-628717840987
    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.
    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

    • 33 min
    Leonor Fini

    Leonor Fini

    Our story for this episode comes from our friends at the Dead Ladies Show NYC, which is organized and hosted by Molly O’Laughlin Kemper with Sheila Enright.  Photographer, professional eccentric and guinea pig lover JR Pepper tells the tale of artist Leonor Fini, a glamorous, passionate iconoclast (and cat lover) with a brilliant creative mind who was fiercely independent — at a time when women were allowed to be muses, not painters.
    Fini is often called a Surrealist, but she didn’t consider herself one of their group due to their misogynistic attitudes, which included viewing women as either a childlike muse or femme fatale. Her paintings utilized the female gaze, and often featured catlike and other creatures inspired by Fini’s own appearance, accompanied by languid men. Leonor Fini’s life was as rule-breaking as her art; she had many lovers, and spent much of her life living in a happy throuple — along with about 20 cats. 
    DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce this episode’s featured Dead Lady. 
    For more on Leonor Fini, please visit our episode notes at: 
    https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/04/13/podcast-62-leonor-fini/
    For DLS NYC info and tickets, sign up to their newsletter here: https://tinyletter.com/DeadLadiesShowNYC
    or follow them on Instagram @deadladiesnyc
    Find JR Pepper on Instagram @girlduality 
    and listen to her talk about Mae West here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2022/08/17/podcast-56-mae-west/
    Our episode on surrealist Leonora Carrington is here: https://deadladiesshow.com/2018/01/25/podcast-5-leonora-carrington/
    Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
    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.
    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
    If you prefer to make a one-time donation, here’s the link: paypal.me/dlspodcast
     

    • 24 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
36 Ratings

36 Ratings

twomoonmusic ,

Love it ❤️

Just listened to the episode on the astounding Emily Hahn, which coincidentally I am reading her novel, Miss Jill in Shanghai. This was such a great biographical summary that I couldn’t help but share it.

likeacharm ,

Literate and Entertaining

Endearingly earnest and learned women tell stories of major and minor historical characters, often names that ring a bell but who we don't really know. Grimké sisters, abolitionists? Oh yes, now I know about their courageous, independent lives. It's bracing, this podcast.

Fabled Collective ,

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my new favorite podcasts! The episodes are well-researched and presented. I feel like I learn a lot in such a short amount of time.

Top Podcasts In History

Wondery
Goalhanger Podcasts
Wondery
Aaron Mahnke and Grim & Mild
Sarah Marshall
Audioboom Studios

You Might Also Like

Immediate Media
History Hit
Queens Podcast
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
Goalhanger Podcasts
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker