We have our first podcast encounter with the famous teenage sleuth in 1938’s Nancy Drew…Detective. We discuss the literary origins and evolution of the character, how the film took liberties in order to fit into 1930s Hollywood, how annoying it is that practically nobody listens to women, and the surprisingly equal relationship between Nancy and her dad. Katy shares Wikipedia facts, Carrie resents Nancy’s perfection, Maddy hates the Mid-Atlantic accent, and Mack tells a truly terrible joke. We get into the logistics of carrier pigeons, have multiple tangents about medical history, argue about amateur photo developing, and try to decide if emotional manipulation is okay if you’re a victim of a patriarchal system. We also discuss 1980s diet culture, weird military tactics, Shrek, and 19th century lithotomy. Give it a listen!
TW: Animal cruelty, disturbing medical history
Corrections: Katy was wrong about the year of the US military’s “gay bomb”; it was proposed in the 1990s, not the 1940s, and never went past the proposal stage.
Show Links:
- Nancy Drew…Detective Synopsis on TCM
- The Incredible Carrier Pigeons of WWI – Imperial War Museum
- The Almost Perfect World War II Plot To Bomb Japan With Bats – Atlas Obscura
- Wiki Article on the Proposed “Gay Bomb” from the 1990s, BBC Article
- Bugs of War: How Insects Have Been Weaponized Throughout History – History.com
- X-Ray Shoe Fittings Blogpost, Curator Interview – National Museums Scotland
- Official Site – St Bartholomew’s Hospital Museum
- History of American Nursing Uniforms from AmericanNursingHistory.org
- Stones and Obstructions – Urology on Collect Medical Antiques (illustrations warning!)
- The Lithotomy: A Sordid History – International Museum of Surgical Science
- Chainsaws Invented for Childbirth – Popular Science
- Symphysiotomy: How The Chainsaw Was Originally Invented To Deliver Babies – All Thats Interesting
Mostly Murder (But Sometimes Not) Podcast 