Did That Really Happen?

Did That Really Happen?
  • 4.2 (18)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

The movie podcast for history nerds. In every episode, historians Jamie and Sofia talk about a different historical film and take a deep dive into the parts that did and didn't really happen. In each episode, we try to answer the big questions: Is this good history? Is this a good movie? And are those the same thing? To get in touch, send us an email at DidThatReallyHappenPod@gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ReallyHappenPod. You can also support the show by visiting Patreon.com/DidThatReallyHappen Our theme music is "Allon Gay Gay", performed by Jon Sayles.

  1. FEB 2

    Hedda

    This week we're traveling back to the 1950s with Hedda! Join us as we learn about pretty little things, 1950s fashion, sparklers, women working as professors, and more! Sources: "Celebrating the Legacy of England's First Female Professor," King's College, available at https://www.kcl.ac.uk/celebrating-legacy-of-englands-first-female-professor "Gender Breakdown for Teachers in History," Making History, available at https://archives.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/statistics/gender.html Peter West, "Five Lessons on Bringing Truth Back to Politics from Britain's First Female Philosophy Professor," The Conversation, available at https://theconversation.com/five-lessons-on-bringing-truth-back-to-politics-from-britains-first-female-philosophy-professor-164191 https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/reinventing-hedda-nia-dacosta-tessa-thompson-and-nina-hoss-redefine-the-ibsen-classic-for-a-new-era/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_(2025_film) Google Ngram: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22pretty+little+thing%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3 Ellen Glasgow, The Romantic Comedians, (1926), 38. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Romantic_Comedians/c6FAAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22pretty%20little%20thing%22&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover  Martin Holt, Out of Bondage (1905), 80. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Out_of_Bondage/IvBEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22pretty%20little%20thing%22&pg=PA80&printsec=frontcover  James Stephens, Light for Little Lanterns, (1886), 5. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Light_for_little_lanterns_a_series_of_mi/nZO4d4Up9ggC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22pretty%20little%20thing%22&pg=PA5&printsec=frontcover  https://www.directsparklers.com/inspiration/the-history-of-sparklers/ https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/technology-you-asked-general-science/how-do-sparklers-work http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/11/98/e-cyclopedia/207791.stm https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1993/07/04/the-sparkling-history-of-a-fireworks-favorite/ https://www.si.edu/object/archives/sova-nmah-ac-0533 See "Custodial History" and "Provenance" Ogata Gekko 尾形月耕, Lighting Sparklers Over River, painting, 1891. https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_S2003.8.1699/  Image of Vintage Dress Pattern: https://thevintagepatternshop.com/shop/vintage-sewing-patterns/1950s-sewing-patterns/dresses-all-types-1950s-sewing-patterns/1950s-vintage-sewing-pattern-b34-halterneck-dress-bolero-r381/ Hedda For Your Consideration Flipbook: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/950039259/4-5/ Vintage Dancer, 10 1950s Dress Styles: https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-dress-styles/

    44 min

  2. JAN 19

    The Book of Clarence

    This week we're traveling back to first-century Jerusalem with The Book of Clarence! Join us as we learn about Mary Magdalene, Barabbas, Biblical sick burns, and more! Sources: Martínez-Cruz, B., Mendizabal, I., Harmant, C. et al. Origins, admixture and founder lineages in European Roma. Eur J Hum Genet 24, 937–943 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2015.201 Gresham D, Morar B, Underhill PA, Passarino G, Lin AA, Wise C, Angelicheva D, Calafell F, Oefner PJ, Shen P, Tournev I, de Pablo R, Kuĉinskas V, Perez-Lezaun A, Marushiakova E, Popov V, Kalaydjieva L. Origins and divergence of the Roma (gypsies). Am J Hum Genet. 2001 Dec;69(6):1314-31. doi: 10.1086/324681. Epub 2001 Nov 9. PMID: 11704928; PMCID: PMC1235543. James Carroll, "Who Was Mary Magdalene?" Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-mary-magdalene-119565482/   Cornelis Bennema, "Mary Magdalene: Recognizing the Shepherd's Voice," Encountering Jesus (2014). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9m0t70.27  Meggan Watterson, Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven't Tried Yet (audiobook).  Y'all Translation Bible, https://www.bible.com/bible/4108/JHN.20.YALL  NIV Study Bible Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_book_of_clarence_2024  Robert Daniels, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-book-of-clarence-film-review-2024  Alissa Wilkinson, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/movies/the-book-of-clarence-review.html  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-book-of-clarence-review-lakeith-stanfield-1235780399/

    58 min

  3. JAN 6

    Akira

    It's a new year, so it's time for our New Year's tradition of taking a look at movies that tried to predict the future. This year, we're traveling to the year 2019 with Akira! Join us as we learn about the Tokyo Olympics, biker gangs, technical schools, riots, and more! Sources: 2020 Host City Election Announcement: https://www.olympics.com/ioc/2020-host-city-election Image of the Stadium: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1087204/olympic-stadium-for-tokyo-2020-completed' January 2019 image, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kokuritsu_Kasumigaoka_Rikujo_Kyogijo-23a.jpg Education Senmon Gakko: Japanese Vocational Education. Available at https://cordmagazine.com/education/education-senmon-gakko-japanese-vocational-education/ A Complete Guide to Senmon Gakkou in Japan: https://studyinjapan.org/a-complete-guide-to-senmon-gakkou-in-japan/ Rikkyo University Institute of Peace and Community Studies, "Local Responses to Prime Minister Abe's Attack on Article Nine and the Constitution," translated by Saito Yuriko,The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol. 14, issue 3, no. 5 (2016).  David Slater, Robin O'Day, Satsuki Uno, Love Kindstrand and Chiharu Takano, "SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy): Research Note on Contemporary Youth Politics in Japan," The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 37, No. 1, September 14, 2015. Obe Mitsuro, "World News: Students Protest Japan Military Shift," The Wall Street Journal (2015).  Simon Denyer, "Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka speaks out for Black Lives Matter, faces backlash: Protests in Japan have reignited a debate over racism and policing. Osaka has also won support for speaking out," Washington Post (June 8, 2020).  Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida, "In Japan, the Message of Anti-Racism Protests Fails to Hit Home," New York Times (July 1, 2020).  Anna Fifield, "Fierce opponent of U.S. military bases in Okinawa detained for three months: A protest leader's continued detention without trial has triggered accusations that Japanese authorities are trying to silence him." Washington Post (2017).  "1969: Student Protestors Paralyze Tokyo in Anti-War Demonstrations," New York Times (reprinted October 22, 2019) Alastair Gale, "Japan Pushes Ahead with Antiterrorism Bill; Government says legislation is needed as part of counterterrorism preparations for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo," Wall Street Journal (May 23, 2017).  Mariko Tamura, "Flower Demo: Fighting Sexual Violence in Japan," https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/16387  Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(1988_film) Tom Usher, "How Akira has Influenced All of Your Favorite Film, TV, and Music," Vice, available at https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-akira-has-influenced-modern-culture/ https://akira.fandom.com/wiki/Akira_(anime) https://www.yokogaomag.com/editorial/bosozoku-biker-gangs-of-japan https://medium.com/@essie.angelica/the-rise-and-fall-of-japans-notorious-motorcycle-gang-ee31464c2406 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251017/p2a/00m/0na/053000c https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/30-years-akira-teenage-kicks-anime-style  Christopher Gerteis, "Cold War Warriors," in Mobilizing Japanese Youth: The Cold War and the Making of the Sixties Generation (Cornell University Press, 2021), 100-120.

    47 min

  4. 12/15/2025

    Frankenstein (2025)

    This week we're traveling back to the 19th century with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein! Join us as we learn about syphilis, big-ass blunderbusses, the Evelyn Tables, Arctic expeditions, and more! Sources: An account of divers schemes of arteries and veins, dissected from adult human bodies, and given to the repository of the Royal Society by John Evelyn, Esq; F. R. S. To which are subjoyn'd a description of the extremities of those vessels, and the manner the blood is seen, by the microscope, to pass from the arteries to the veins in quadrupeds when living: with some chirurgical observations, and figures after the life, by William Cowper, F. R. S. Richard K Aspin, "John Evelyn's Tables of Veins and Arteries: An Undiscovered Letter," Medical History 39 (1995) Photos: Hunterian Museum, Evelyn Tables: https://hunterianmuseum.org/whats-on/hunterian-museum-displays/surgery-and-anatomy-from-ancient-times-to-the-1700s-room-1 Erling Kagge, "Arctic Rush: Inside the 19th-Century Craze to Reach the North Pole," Literary Hub (2025), https://lithub.com/arctic-rush-inside-the-19th-century-craze-to-reach-the-north-pole/  https://guides.loc.gov/polar-exploration/timeline Javier Cacho, "Arctic Obsession Drove Explorers to Seek the North Pole," National Geographic (2020), https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/expedition-to-the-north-pole  Roald Amundsen, "Expedition to the North Magnetic Pole," (1902), http://www.jstor.org/stable/1775167  Myths of the Blunderbuss https://americanrevolutioninstitute.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/46F42011-5A24-4754-86A9-630691208800   https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_469432  Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(2025_film)  Pop Culture Happy Hour, 'Frankenstein' https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5600702  https://youtu.be/qIXsN-Z3UBE?si=bTQ3GigvOIWAO3_u Film School, "How Guillermo del Toro Made Frankenstein," https://youtu.be/tThIpKCXfJI?si=vKel6PTL08Z1Y_lI The History of Syphilis, Part II: Treatment, Cures, and Legislation. Science Museum. Available at https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/history-syphilis-part-two-treatments-cures-and-legislation' Szu Shen Wong, "Syphilis and the Use of Mercury," Pharmaceutical Journal, available at https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/opinion/syphilis-and-the-use-of-mercury Jeffrey Weeks, Sex, Politics, and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800, Third Edition

    58 min

  5. 11/24/2025

    The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

    This week we're traveling back to a full century of American history with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman! Join us as we learn about naming of enslaved people, "paddy rollers", Black communities in East Texas, and more! Sources: Sparks, Elmer E, and Celia Black. Interview with Celia Black, Tyler, Texas. Tyler, Texas, November , 10, 1974. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1975009_afs17476/. Sparks, Elmer E, and Charlie Smith. Interview with Charlie Smith, Bartow, Florida. Bartow, Florida, None , 3, 1975. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1975023_afs17510/. Jennifer Davis, "A Voice from the South: Dr. Anna Julia Cooper," LOC, available at https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2025/02/a-voice-from-the-south-dr-anna-julia-cooper/ Sean Coughlan, "Last Survivor of Transatlantic Slave Trade Discovered," BBC, available at https://www.bbc.com/news/education-52010859 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Miss_Jane_Pittman_(film) Creating the Emmy-Winning Old Age Makeup for The Autobiography of Miss Jane PIttman, available at https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/creating-the-emmy-winning-makeup-for-the-autobiography-of-miss-jane-pittman Interview with Thomas Moore on Producing Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, available at https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/autobiography-of-miss-jane-pittman-the?chapter=9&clip=68703 African-American Cowboys with their Mounts Saddled Up, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.9862669  Ronald Wendell II, MA Thesis, https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/92b088d1-1108-4044-8219-c7a03d5f87e5/content  Scott L. Matthews, "Documenting SNCC and the Rural South: Danny Lyon and the Cultural Politics of Civil Rights Movement Photography" https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469646473_matthews.8  Keith Rice, "The Civil Rights Movement and Steiner-Lobman Polly Brand Work Clothes," 2 September 2022, https://bradleycenterliberated.substack.com/p/denim-and-civil-rights  Sally E. Hadden, "Slave Patrols," https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469616742_ely.57  Lisa Cook, John Parman, and Trevon Logan, "The Antebellum Roots of Distinctively Black Names," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 55, 1 (2021) Recall Their Names: The Personal Identity of Enslaved South Carolinians, Charleston Time Machine, available at https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/recall-their-names-personal-identity-enslaved-south-carolinians Laura Alvarez Lopez, "Who Named Slaves and Their Children? Names and Naming Practices Among Enslaved Africans Brought to the Americas and Their Descendants With a Focus on Brazil," Journal of African Cultural Studies 27, 2 (2015)

    1h 2m

  6. 11/11/2025

    Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

    This week we're traveling back to 18th-century France with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer! Join us as we learn about tanneries, the town of Grasse, infanticide, perfumers' guilds, and more! Sources: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer-2007 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/perfume_the_story_of_a_murderer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume:_The_Story_of_a_Murderer_%28film%29 A.O. Scott, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/movies/27perf.html  Tracey Rizzo (2004) Between dishonor and death: infanticides in the causes célèbres of eighteenth-century France, Women's History Review, 13:1, 5-22, DOI: 10.1080/09612020400200380 Arhoune, Ilham@, Impact of Chemicals and Working Conditions on Tannery Workers' Health and Recommendations for Improving the Situation. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5347318 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5347318 "     1. Rabbani G, Billah B, Giri A, et al. Factors Associated With Health Complaints Among Leather Tannery Workers in Bangladesh. Workplace Health & Safety. 2020;69(1):22-31. doi:10.1177/2165079920936222   " https://montecristomagazine.com/beauty/medieval-tannery-town-french-riviera-became-perfume-capital-world#gsc.tab=0 https://www.tfcg.ca/old-occupation-tanner Kirsten James, The Science of Scent and Business of Perfume in Paris and London, 1650-1815, PhD thesis, University of Toronto (2019).  Eleanor Beardsley, "Sick Of Tanneries' Stench Centuries Ago, A French Town Began Making Perfume. It Stuck." NPR, available at https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039393853/sick-of-tanneries-stench-centuries-ago-a-french-town-began-making-perfume-it-stu Luxus Magazine, Grasse: World Capital of Perfume: https://magazine.luxus-plus.com/en/brief-history-of-luxury-grasse-world-capital-of-perfume/

    54 min

  7. 10/27/2025

    Walker

    This week we're going back to a weird, weird version of 19th-century Nicaragua with Walker! Join us as we learn about William Walker's ill-fated efforts in Sonora, the Filibuster War, the El Nicaraguense newspaper, and more!  Sources: Monty Python's Flying Circus Sketch: "Sam Peckinpah's 'Salad Days'": https://youtu.be/XL54pji1nfA?si=o0UbrhVH1ewe3p3J Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_(film) Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walker Roger Ebert's Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/walker-1987 Craig J Clark, "Alex Cox Says Goodbye--and Good Riddance--To Hollywood," Crooked Marquee, available at https://crookedmarquee.com/alex-cox-says-goodbye-and-good-riddance-to-hollywood/ Rufus Kay Wyllys, "William Walker's Invasion Of Sonora, 1854" Arizona Historical Review, http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623744  Rufus Kay Wyllys, "The Republic of Lower California, 1853-1854," Pacific Historical Review 2:2 (1933): 194-213. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3633829  Robert G. Cleland, "Bandini's Account of William Walker's Invasion of Lower California," Huntington Library Quarterly 7:2 (1944): 153-66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3815990  The Sierra citizen. (Downieville, CA), Feb. 11 1854. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86058097/1854-02-11/ed-1/. The Nevada journal. (Nevada City, CA), Apr. 14 1854. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84026884/1854-04-14/ed-1/ Joseph Bilby, "Through Hades with his Hat Off: The strange career of A.J. Morrison," Military Images 11:5 (1990): 14-15. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44032253  Walter Johnson, "The Grey-Eyed Man of Destiny," in River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom (Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 2013). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvjsf5q7.17  Michel Gobat, Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in Central America (Harvard University Press, 2018). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv24w64hk.7  Issue of El Nicaraguense from 3/12/1856, UT Austin Archives: available at https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utblac:c81aa1b7-44bd-444c-b097-de95dd810392 Issues of El Nicaraguense, Volume 1: https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/nicaragua/El_Nicaraguense-Aug-Nov-1856.pdf James Carson Jamison, With Walker in Nicaragua. First Battle of Rivas excerpt available at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=GYpnAAAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA28&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en

    51 min

  8. 10/13/2025

    Freaky Tales

    This week we're traveling back to 1987 Oakland with Freaky Tales! Join us as we learn about punk v. skinhead battles, Sleepy Floyd, Operation Ivy, and more! Sources: Southern Poverty Law Center, Timeline of the Racist Skinhead Movement: https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/timeline-racist-skinhead-movement/ Christopher Phelps, "Skinheads: The New Nazism," Marxists.org: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/10048.html Steve Knopper, "Nazi Punks F**k Off: How Black Flag, Bad Brains, and More Took Back Their Scene from White Supremacists," https://www.gq.com/story/punks-and-nazis-oral-history Gabe Meline, "The Realy Life Freaky Tales Behind Freaky Tales," available at https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973907/freaky-tales-true-stories-pedro-pascal-too-short-924-gilman-oakland Singh SP. Sakshi and Dhyana: the origin of mindfulness-based therapies. BJPsych Bull. 2023 Apr;47(2):94-97. doi: 10.1192/bjb.2022.39. PMID: 35796539; PMCID: PMC10063990. Ngram: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=mindfulness&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3 Jessie Sun, "Mindfulness in Context: A Historical Discourse Analysis," available at https://jessiesun.me/publication/sun-2014/sun-2014.pdf Aaron Carnes, In Defense of Ska, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/operation-ivy-energy-in-defense-of-ska-book-aaron-carnes-1162048/  https://cmagazine.org/2018/03/22/924-gilman/ https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/rancid-rice-the-rudiments-bumblescrump-the-aborted?photo=392323  https://www.924gilman.org/about   https://eastbayexpress.com/twenty-five-years-of-924-gilman-1/  https://eastbaypunk.com/about/ https://www.kqed.org/arts/11333286/green-day-dookie-924-gilman Liam O'Donoghue, https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/berkeley-nazi-brawl-bay-area-movie-freaky-tales-20250563.php  RT: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freaky_tales  Christy Lemire, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/freaky-tales-pedro-pascal-movie-review-2025 The Hollywood Reporter, https://youtu.be/DhgFbs2QPbo?si=sLuHMtMzF3xh_Ket  CBS Mornings, https://youtu.be/BRYTyYOLQEk?si=9k8aWh0GNErBWvJg  https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973907/freaky-tales-true-stories-pedro-pascal-too-short-924-gilman-oakland https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3703/sleepy-floyd  https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3703/type/nba/seasontype/3

    50 min
See All (100)

4.2
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

The movie podcast for history nerds. In every episode, historians Jamie and Sofia talk about a different historical film and take a deep dive into the parts that did and didn't really happen. In each episode, we try to answer the big questions: Is this good history? Is this a good movie? And are those the same thing? To get in touch, send us an email at DidThatReallyHappenPod@gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ReallyHappenPod. You can also support the show by visiting Patreon.com/DidThatReallyHappen Our theme music is "Allon Gay Gay", performed by Jon Sayles.

Information

You Might Also Like