Lou Branchaud
History Lessons for MisanthropesEpisodes
Episodes of History Lessons for Misanthropes
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In this episode we discuss the 1940s Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr. Born in Austria, she got her start in Germany cinema before fleeing ro the US during the war to escape her marriage. As well as an extensive filmography, Hedy was an inventor w
In this episode we discuss the life of Mary Ann Shadd, a teacher, activist, and journalist in the mid-1800s. She was a freeborn black woman who was exposed to the abolitionist movement from a young age, which inspired her to spend her life figh
The last episode of 2022! In this bawdy and often silly episode, we discuss the life of 19th century entertainer, Joseph Pujol, better known as le Petomane. Joseph's skill was that he had a masterful contron of his GI system, and could pass gas
In this episode, we look at the life and troubled career of Maila Nurmi, who created the Vampira character in 1954. Before creating her iconic glamour ghoul, Maila had a hard time breaking into show business both in Hollywood and Broadway. She
In this episode we discuss a possession in New France, when a young women named Barbe Hallay was tormented by demons. This is a story of colonization in the 17th century, a land that is trying to keep it's colonial population Catholic in the fa
This is the second part of the story of Kenneth Anger. The episode begins after Kenneth parts ways with Bobby Beausoleil, and decided to leave San Francisco. His time in England was spent wooing rock stars and socialites, and establishing hims
In this first part of a 2-part series, we discuss the early life of Kenneth Anger. Born in Santa Monica, California in 1927, Kenneth was a queer film-maker who idolized Aleister Crowley. He was at the cutting edge of counter-culture, capturing
In this episode, Lou discusses the life, achievements (both good and bad) of German chemist Fritz Haber. Fritz Haber is a Nobel Laureate who devised a method to extract nitrogen from the air into a form that would be used in farming, feeding b
In this episode we discuss the Affair of the Poisons, a brief period in late 17th century Paris where some of the top courtiers got a little bit murder-y. It's a fascinating look at how laws are different for the wealthy and beautiful, and how
This episode begins with sharing news about the end of a long fought border dispute between Canada and Denmark, known as the Whiskey War. The main subject of the episode is the work of Magnus Hirschfeld, the German doctor who established the f
In this episode we discuss the life of a reclusive artist and occultist, Austin Osman Spare. In his youth he was branded as a wunderkind, and had great expectations for a wildly successfuly career. Despite his natural talents, he resisted succe
We're just letting you know that we'll be moving to a once-a-month format for a while. We overestiamted our personal bandwith. Thanks for understanding!
In this episode we discuss the early life of Evelyn Nesbit, who, at the turn of the 20th century became the first "it" girl, a celebrity famous solely for modeling. This fame won her the affections of many wealthy men, two of whom would become
Episode 2 of our two part series about Edgar Allan Poe! In the final years of the author's life he becomes embroiled in scandals, and futher proves himself the king of self-sabatoge, before mysteriously dying. We review some of the hyptheses re
In our triumphant return after a brief hiatus, we begin with a story from Lou's Dino Hour, before launching into the early life of Edgar Allan Poe, a life that was beset with tragedy, depression, and self-sabotage. Despite Mildred's life-long l
This will be our last episode until April so we decided to do a topic that keeps coming up in conversation. James Cook is famous for mapping a large portion of the South Pacific and for being the first European to visit New Zealand and Australi
In this episode, we discuss the life of the Swedish artist and mystic, Hilma af Klint. She has been a relatively unknown artist for the past century despite experimenting with abstraction several years before Kandinsky. Her work was completed w
In this bonus episode, we are joined by Dr. Sarah Bendall, author of "Shaping Femininity: Foundation Garments, the Body, and Women in Early Modern England". She graciously joined us from Australia to discuss her research, some highlights of her
In this episode we discuss the career of possibly the most famous astrologist in all of history, Michel de Nostradame, aka Nostradamus. Join us as we discover how his Jewish family converted to Christianity in the 15th century, his attempt at b
In this episode we discuss the life, art, and cultural impact of Tom of Finland. Born Touko Laaksonen in a small Finnish town outside of Turku, Tom saw success and global fame as the creator of homoerotic art, that was inspired by 20th century
Rockets are fun - Lou. This is part 2 of the Jack Parsons story. We begin with his early years as a disciple of Aleister Crowley, and his continued success in the development of rockets. Until heartache compelled him to try to invoke Babalon (W
This episode is part 1 of a two part series about scientist and occultist, Jack Parsons. This episode focuses on his early life, and how his love of science fiction books fed into his love of rockets, eventually becoming his career. Albeit a c
In this episode, we begin with a news story about archaeologists finding evidence of clothing from 120,000 years ago. We then get into the episode topic, wherein two actors, American Edwin Forrest and British William Macready, engaged in an ab
In this episode we start with a news story that re-writes the history of pre-historic Asia. Getting into the episode topic, Mildred tells Lou about the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the First Indian War of Independence. Basically a large portio
Move over Jeopardy, there's a new quiz in town! It's a Lou Quiz episode! We've got a couple news stories before diving into Lou's big fun trivia game of questions and answers. Mildred does better this time than the New Years edition, but share
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