Latest Historicaldramas Podcast Episodes
Society of the Snow
Did That Really Happen? - April 22, 2024 09:46 - 1 hour*NOTE: Due to a technical mishap, we had some problems with Jamie's audio on this one. We apologize for the sound quality issues. Content Warning: This episode features discussion of cannibalism and other disturbing content. This week we're traveling back to 1970s Uruguay with Society of the...
El Conde
Did That Really Happen? - March 10, 2024 10:49 - 48 minutesToday we're traveling to early 2000s Chile (but also 18th century France, and some other times, too) with vampire-themed political satire El Conde! Join us as we learn about Lucia Hiriart, Augusto Pinochet's shady money dealings, that time he got arrested in London, and more! Sources: John B...
Killers of the Flower Moon
Did That Really Happen? - February 26, 2024 15:05 - 1 hourThis week we're traveling back to the 1920s with Killers of the Flower Moon! Join us as we learn about William "King" Hale, Mollie Burkhardt, FBI Agent Tom White, and more! Sources: David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. Doubleday, 2017 https:...
Rustin
Did That Really Happen? - February 12, 2024 10:17 - 1 hourWe're back with 2024's first episode on Rustin! Join us as we learn about the speeches delivered at the March on Washington, Strom Thurmond's attacks on Bayard Rustin, Dr. Anna Hedgeman, the Bonus Army, and more! Sources: Emma Rothberg, "Anna Arnold Hedgeman," National Women's History Museum...
Escape from New York
Did That Really Happen? - December 31, 2023 07:34 - 49 minutesFor our final episode of the year, we're changing things up with Escape from New York! Join us as we explore how well this 1981 film predicted the year 1997, with discussions of island prisons, crime rates, Telex technology, and more! Sources: Tim Wadsworth, "Is Immigration Responsible for t...
Love and Friendship
Did That Really Happen? - December 11, 2023 10:36 - 45 minutesThis week we're going back to the 1790s with Love and Friendship! Join us as we learn about marriage practices, loyalists in Britain, "bad air", influenza, and more! Sources: RB Outhwaite, "Age at Marriage in England From the Late Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century," Transactions of the R...
Dance of the 41
Did That Really Happen? - November 27, 2023 10:17 - 55 minutesThis week we're traveling to turn-of-the-century Mexico with the Dance of the 41! Join us as we learn about opinion polling, Amada Diaz, euphemisms for homosexuality, and more! Sources: Tom W. Smith, "The First Straw? A Study of the Origins of Election Polls," Public Opinion Quarterly 54 (19...
The Man From UNCLE
Did That Really Happen? - November 06, 2023 11:08 - 47 minutesThis week we're going back to 1960s Europe with The Man From UNCLE! Join us as we learn about black market weapons, kidnapped scientists, amphibious cars, CIA recruitment, and more! Sources: "Nazis and Axis Collaborators Were Used to Further US Anti-Communist Objectives in Europe; Some Immig...
Interview with the Vampire (2022)
Did That Really Happen? - October 23, 2023 10:42 - 40 minutes*Note: We decided to delay our planned episode for this week, so instead we are releasing one of the bonus episodes from our Patreon feed. Sources: Pamela D Arcineaux, "The Storyville Madam Who Challenged Jim Crow, and Won," The Historic New Orleans Collection, available at https://www.hnoc...
Centurion
Did That Really Happen? - October 10, 2023 18:41 - 1 hourThis week we're going back to the Roman Empire with Centurion! Join us as we learn about the Picts, Roman armor, the 9th Legion, and more! Sources: Michael Squire, Embodied Ambiguities on the Prima Porta Augusta. Art History 36, 2 (2013) "Muscle Cuirass". Australian National University. Ava...
The Ghost and the Darkness
Did That Really Happen? - September 25, 2023 08:34 - 1 hourThis week we're going back to 1890s Kenya with The Ghost and the Darkness! Join us as we learn all about Colonel John Patterson, the Kenya-Uganda Railway, the ivory trade, burial practices, and more! Sources: Ahmed al-Dawoody, Respect for the Dead Under Islamic Law: Considerations for Humani...
The Lighthouse
Did That Really Happen? - September 11, 2023 09:21 - 50 minutesThis week we're traveling back to 1890s New England with The Lighthouse! Join us as we try to figure out what the heck is going on in this movie, and along the way learn about seagull myths, how lighthouses work, New England dialects, Davy Jones, and more! Sources: "Seagulls," A Dictionary o...
Hail Caesar!
Did That Really Happen? - August 28, 2023 09:15 - 1 hourThis week we're traveling back to 1950s Hollywood with Hail Caesar! Join us as we learn about the Writers Guild, stars going on arranged dates, the phrase "cut the mustard", how stars concealed unplanned pregnancies, and more! Sources: Jeffrey Schwartz, Tab Hunter Confidential. Allan Glaser ...
The Harder They Fall
Did That Really Happen? - August 14, 2023 08:38 - 54 minutesNOTE: Due to technical difficulties, this episode contains some lost audio. This week we're traveling back to the 19th century with The Harder They Fall! Join us as we learn about the real-life figures behind the characters of this film, including Stagecoach Mary, Cherokee Bill, and more! So...
Boogie Nights
Did That Really Happen? - July 24, 2023 09:28 - 56 minutesToday we're traveling back to the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s with Boogie Nights! Join us as we learn all about the impact of VHS on the porn industry, adult film awards, the history of the San Fernando Valley, and more! Sources: Timothy Buzzell, "Demographic Characteristics of Persons ...
Milk
Did That Really Happen? - July 03, 2023 09:37 - 1 hourThis week we're traveling back to the 1970s with our 100th Episode Spectacular!!! Join us as we learn about activists Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg, Prop 6, and the Coors Boycott, before we look back on our favorite segments from past episodes. Sources: Footage of 1978 Board of Supervisor...
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Did That Really Happen? - June 19, 2023 09:34 - 52 minutesThis week we're going back to 1920s Chicago with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom! Join us as we learn about The Defender, some NSFW slang, recording contracts, Ma Rainey's love life, and more! Sources: Katherine A. Bitner, "The Role of the Chicago Defender in the Great Migration of 1916-1918," Negr...
Mississippi Burning
Did That Really Happen? - June 05, 2023 14:15 - 1 hourThis week we travel back to 1960s Mississippi with Mississippi Burning! Join us as we learn about the epic tale of the integration of Ole Miss, murderous Klansmen, civil rights activist training, and more! Sources: "James Meredith at Ole Miss" https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/ole...
Boston Strangler
Did That Really Happen? - May 22, 2023 23:45 - 59 minutesThis week we're going back to the 1960s with Boston Strangler! Join us as we learn about the Boston PD's bad advice to women, raids on queer communities, the death of Albert DeSalvo, and more! Sources: James H. Hammond, "Boston 'Strangler' Flees Hospital; Women Are Told to Lock Doors," The W...
Persepolis
Did That Really Happen? - May 08, 2023 13:45 - 1 hourThis week we're traveling back to 1970s Iran with Persepolis! Join us as we learn about Qajar princes, the role of the CIA in the Shah's regime, banned music in 1970s Iran, the Iran-Iraq War, and more! Sources: Afshar v. Department of State (1983). Case text available at https://casetext.com/...
The Big Short
Did That Really Happen? - April 24, 2023 09:19 - 55 minutesThis week we're going back to 2007 with The Big Short! Join us as we learn about bespoke tranche opportunities, various hedge fund guys, Sofia's predictions for what Millennial side hustles will look like when none of us are retired in 50 years, and more! Sources: Jack Schwager, Hedge Fund M...
A League of Their Own (2022)
Did That Really Happen? - April 10, 2023 09:57 - 49 minutesNOTE: This episode was originally posted as a Patreon-only bonus episode. This week we're talking about the first season of A League of Their Own! Join us as we learn about censored letters in WWII, the code of conduct for the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, and more! Sourc...
The Woman King
Did That Really Happen? - March 27, 2023 08:24 - 1 hourToday we're traveling back to the 1820s and the Kingdom of Dahomey with The Woman King! Join us as we learn about cowrie shells, Agojie weapons, the 1820s slave trade, King Ghezo, and more! Sources: Wendy Ide, "The Woman King review - a thunderously cinematic good time," The Observer (1 Oct ...
Radioactive
Did That Really Happen? - March 13, 2023 09:20 - 59 minutesThis week we're jumping into the history of science with Marie Curie biopic Radioactive! Join us as we learn about petite Curies, famous medium Eusapia Palladino, whether or not Marie Curie was truly afraid of hospitals, her scandalous affair, and more! Sources: Charles L. Dana, et al. "Repo...
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Did That Really Happen? - February 27, 2023 11:05 - 1 hourThis week we're going back to the Old West with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs! Join us as we learn about dry counties, whether or not birds can count, bank robbery, the Chautauqua, and more! Sources: A.V. "Why America Still Has 'Dry Counties'," The Economist, available at https://www.economist...
The Wonder
Did That Really Happen? - February 13, 2023 10:24 - 1 hourThis week we're going back to 1860s Ireland with The Wonder! Join us as we learn about anorexia mirabilis, turf, Victorian hair tokens, and more! *Content Warning: This episode features discussion of eating disorders and sexual abuse. Sources: Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast:...
RRR
Did That Really Happen? - January 23, 2023 10:33 - 1 hourWe're back with our first episode of 2023, and we're talking about RRR! Join us as we learn about the Gymkhana Club, riot gear, Lala Lajpat Rai, flogging in the British Raj, and more! Sources: Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, Volume 281 (6 July 1883): https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1883...
Barb Wire
Did That Really Happen? - December 19, 2022 10:46 - 1 hourFor our final episode of 2022, we're mixing things up! Instead of depictions of the past, we're turning our attention to depictions of the future with 1996's Barb Wire! Join us as we get into what this movie got right and wrong about the dystopian year of 2017 with discussions of moving to Canad...
Dark Waters
Did That Really Happen? - December 05, 2022 10:06 - 59 minutesThis week we're going back to 1990s West Virginia with Dark Waters! Join us as we learn about forever chemicals, the EPA, DuPont's court settlements, and more! Sources: Sharon Lerner, "The Teflon Toxin: DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception," The Intercept, 11 August 2015 Mariah Blake, "Welc...
Zodiac
Did That Really Happen? - November 21, 2022 10:07 - 53 minutesThis week we're traveling back to the 1960s and 70s with David Fincher's Zodiac! Join us as we learn about ciphers, Melvin Belli's role in the case, Detective Dave Toschi, "I Am Not Paul Avery" buttons, and more! Sources: Melvin Belli Letter: https://www.zodiacciphers.com/melvin-belli-letter...