Shownotes: Season Three Introduction

Welcome back!

At the end of last season ( not that long ago, mere weeks) we never wrapped things up in a nice neat little package. Sorry about that! One of us had family to visit in New England, and the other needed to breathe for a bit without posting deadlines looming. Plus she had a castle to build.

Beckett's requested gift from New England: Coffee Syrup, the official drink of Rhode Island

How one of us has been using the hiatus.

But we got back together in the House of Wood the other day and caught up with our lives. We also finalized plans for the ten full length episodes of Season Three, and left ample room for minicasts sprinkled throughout.

We are VERY excited! We discuss some upcoming plans on this podcast, as well as sharing some stories that happened behind the scenes.

On to Season Three!

We can’t tell you who made the Season Three list, but we can remind you that, as promised, we will begin with a series on the Tudors! Also, as voted upon in our Guaranteed Content Poll, we will discuss the Romanovs at some point during the season.  As for the rest of the ladies- keep an eye out for clues that appear here and on all of our social media pages (facebook, twitter, and googleplus) shortly before we post episodes on this website, Itunes, and now, Stitcher!

You are just going to have to trust us, Season Three will be fun and we are thrilled to have you along for the ride!

Thank you (again and again and again) for listening!

Beckett and Susan

The Music Show – Shownotes

The only history that we look at in this episode is the history of the music we have chosen for Seasons 1 & 2! During each episode we try to pair music with the woman that we are discussing. Sometimes we shoot for a mood, a period tone, a literal reference… and sometimes, we pick a piece of music just because it makes us smile.

If you have never listened to the podcasts all the way through to the very end of the last musical selection, you may want to go back. We have been known to tuck outtakes in there!

For this podcast we have chosen some of the music that listeners liked the best from the past year, and hope you enjoy it as well!

Playlist:
1. “Cookin’ at Home” by Rick Fink and his Gas House Gorillas
From Episode 15 : 1950s Housewives

2. “Black Coffee” by Stefanie
FROM: Episode 18 : Ella Fitzgerald

3. “Daughters of History” by Morning Spy
From : Episode 09 : Gilded Age Heiresses

4. “Under Paris Skies” by Phoebe Legere
From Minicast: Sophie Blanchard

5. “Cool Kids” by Natalie Walker
From Episode 8 : The Mrs Astor

6. “Worth The Fight” by Marie Hines
From Episode 16 : Mary Wollstonecraft

7. “The Killer in Me’ by Amy Speace
From Episode 5 : Lizzie Borden

8: “Most Popular Girl in the World” by Ari Shine
From Episode 11 : Queen Victoria

9. “Keep on the Path” by Mystery Body
From Minicast : Red Riding Hood

10: “Straighten Up and Fly Right” by Jerry Costanzo
From Episode 18 : Ella Fitzgerald

11. “It Was Meant to Be” by Clayton
From Episode 19: Madame de Pompadour

12. “Pillsbury Cookie Dough” by Paul and Storm
From Minicast : Betty Crocker

Please visit musicalley.com to buy songs or to read more about the featured artists.

(And if you’re getting married, wouldn’t “It was Meant To Be” be the BEST first-dance song? )

Episode 20A: Sophie Blanchard

Our subject for this minicast is a woman who let her adventurous life soar! High above France, Sophie Blanchard was the first female professional balloonist and given the title “Aeronaut of the Official Festivals” by Napoleon Bonaparte during his reign.

Sophie Blanchard

Born March 25, 1778, Marie Madeleine-Sophie Armant was, by the few accounts of her, a nervous, petite and unremarkable woman…that is until her marriage to Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Blanchard, a professional balloonist was looking for a new gimmick and found it in his wife. We speculate as to what type of conversation it would take to get a woman like this into a balloon basket, but up she went, the first woman to take to the skies in this new -fangled, and dangerous, contraption. She as the first woman balloon pilot as well as the first professional female balloonist.

Hold on tight, Sophie!

We discuss early ballooning, what type of antics the competition of the Blanchards were up to, and exactly how scary these flights must have been during this time. In 1809 Jean-Pierre died in a ballooning accident and Sophie took over his business.

For as brave and daring as her husband was, he left his business in a financial pickle. Sophie did her best to cut corners and created some new ballooning stunts which she performed all over Europe, sometimes, to disastrous results. We cover those in the podcast, of course. But none were more disastrous than her last flight over the Tivoli Gardens in Paris in 1819. And by “last flight” yeah, we mean last anything. Sophie perished at the age of 41 doing the one thing that she had excelled in before any other woman.

A daylight ascension – 1810

The last show, 1819.

TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
We discuss an indie, animated documentary about Sophie that is in production. Here is a link to the site about this project. We have not seen it, have not contributed, were not asked to talk about it but are very excited about the premise so we link you up here!
Interested in finding out a little bit more about the history of ballooning?

And we know you like books! Here is one you might enjoy!

 

The Little Balloonist, by Linda Donn