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.

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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.

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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.

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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! 

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!

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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.