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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. From the world of Jane Austen comes Britbox's new original drama, the Other Bennet Sister. It's a fresh spin around the ballroom for one of Jane Austen's most unassuming characters, Mary Bennet, the seemingly unremarkable middle sister in Pride and Prejudice. While the Bennet sisters are admired for their distinct qualities, Mary was the one sister who stood on the sidelines, awkward, anxious and overlooked. But in BritBox's new drama, Mary is finally brought into focus. Thoughtful and perceptive, she navigates a world that rewards charm over intellect and where independence comes at a cost. It's the story of what happens when someone long overlooked at last begins to see herself clear clearly. And now her greatest chapter is yet to come. Don't miss the Other Bennet Sister. Streaming May 6th only on BritBox. Watch with a free trial at BritBox.com I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
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It's the rage bait.
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It feels like it's trying to divide people.
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We got clear facts. Maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
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Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Menke. Listener discretion advised. In 1895, the French forensic pathologist, Dr. Henri Leludique published his first work, Notes and Observations on Forensic Medicine, Offenses Against Morality. If that sounds fairly dull, please stay with me, listener, because I promise you, this episode is anything but. It's the final section of the book that we're interested in today, a section that the doctor actually did not write himself, which consists of the entire text of a unique autobiography that the doctor had an autobiography Entitled Secret Confessions of a Parisian, Legludique claimed the Autobiography's author was one of his patients from his time as a prison doctor, and he had chosen to include the autobiography quote for documentary purposes in order to enable readers to understand the writer's state of mind. End quote. Many of Legludique's patients when he was a prison doctor had been convicted for sexual violence, but this particular prisoner had instead been booked as an army deserter and petty thief. The autobiography then was included not as a study of a devious criminal mind, but to quote the doctor to trace the origin and evolution of the author's sexual inversion. The Autobiography begins in the Beautiful year of 1860. There lived in Paris a woman whom all gilded and gallant Paris knew. This woman, who happens to be the humble author herself, went by many names, but in the byline of the autobiography she narrows it down to Arthur W. And the Countess. Throughout this episode I will refer to our subject mostly as the Countess and as Pauline, another name she used, as those were the names she used most commonly. Pauline presents her life story in the vein of many 19th century Bildungsromans. She takes the reader from her early experiences as a young boy wishing to wear the dresses her mother made to her courtship with the nobleman who introduced her to the life of a female courtesan. We then follow her as she becomes Pauline and the Countess, working as a performer in Parisian clubs frequented by the queer community as she gets drafted into the army and ultimately is sentenced to years in a men's prison for for abandoning her post. Confessions of a Parisian was largely inspired by Rousseau's Confessions and it offers the reader a similar look into the author's psyche. Pauline's insight is often funny, often joyous and often heartbreaking. Sinner, degenerate and corrupt are oft used self descriptors. These ideas echo the common societal view of homosexuality and other non traditional sexual and gender identities as immoral vices. Her work was ultimately published, after all, as a documentation of mental illness. At the same time, Confessions also offers an intimate, vibrant look into the lives of members of Paris's queer community to during a time where they were regarded as little more than case studies by social scientists and deviants by larger society. On top of being a talented performer and writer, Pauline was a very competent illustrator and her drawings of different members of her community were included in Confession's publication. As I mentioned in one of our earlier episodes on the 19th century writer and nobleman Marc de Montefaud, discussing the gender and sexuality of historical figures through our Modern understanding is a very complex task. The Parisian queer community at the time had their own language and system of identification, and this is how the Countess best understood and described herself. In her words, she was a fille or mignon, both of these terms applying to multiple identities. The latter term, for example, originated from Henri III's fashionable young male favorites, but eventually evolved to apply to a broader queer identity. In Pauline's writing, we see mignon mean a homosexual man, a cross dressing man, and a transgender woman. The Countess seems to have identified at times with all of those descriptors. She was happiest, however, when society saw her as a woman. She proudly reflected, I, who had so desired to be a girl, had triumphed over natural law. I'm Dana Schwartz and this is Noble Blood. The Countess opens her autobiography in the time and place I described earlier. 1860, Paris, at the height of her local fame. She was around 22 or 23 at the time and had begun performing six years earlier. Though the book is an autobiography, the prologue is written in three third person and introduces us to our heroine. Speaking of the third person, this is a good time to acknowledge that there is very little secondary scholarship on the life of the Countess. Our main source of information about her life is the woman herself. Certain details and events have almost certainly been embellished or glossed over. Dates and ages don't always match up. She writes. At one point, time doesn't matter, nor does space. In this sect of those who deny their sex, I was an example of that. Pauline is, however, a fairly balanced narrator, and seeing as she did not know whether or not the work would be published in the end, there was likely little reason to self censor. In fact, I would argue that reading it, her writing comes across as brutally honest. She describes herself in a measured, if flamboyant tone. As a young adult, she had, quote, literary tastes. She read a lot, she drew passively, and she sang agreeably. Her face lent itself marvelously to makeup, like the face of all of those whose physiognomy is large, full and marked by strong features. While she considered her face beautiful to average, she thought her hands ugly and her figure too thin. When it came to her character writing in the third person, she was good despite her cold air, sensitive, despite her reputation of insensitivity, a little romantic, generous to a fault. She also described frequent bouts of depression. She had, quote, a melancholic air, a tinge of sadness, which, despite her efforts, changed the expression on her face from laughter to sorrow. In an instant it appeared as suddenly as a lightning bolt in the summer, in the middle of her gayest hours. Pun ironically not intended. While the Countess's life drastically changed after her childhood, we see her goodness, her sensitivity, and sometimes her sadness in her earliest years. Pauline says she was born in 1839, though that would make her 20 or 21 in 1860. Her parents were working class and, in her words, decent folks, in all senses of the word. Her father was a coachman turned steward, raised and educated by his first master. Pauline notes, interestingly that he belonged to a now extinct class of servants who were treated as family by those they worked for. She concludes that her father had only one great flaw, a weak character compounded by excessive vanity. I inherited these two traits almost in their entirety. Her mother was a seamstress and, according to her, an angel. The image Pauline holds of her mother even years after her mother's death is nothing short of seraphic. The two were incredibly close from her earliest years. Pauline much preferred to spend time with her mother, who, rather than play with other children. While her mother would sew young, Pauline would read romance books she found stored away in the home. Quote, My eyes would often fill with tears, forcing me to stop reading. My dear mother would also cry, and we dry our tears with exchanges of kisses. Her mother would say, my dear little boy, you have a good heart. The Countess described the first part of her life as one long musical poem. Her mother loved singing, and the pair sang together every day. These golden hours developed a powerful taste for singers and concerts. In me. I specifically mean female singers because my frivolous nature was seduced by the brilliance of their appearance. Her mother often took her to shows at cafe concerts, which were popular, accessible alternatives to cabarets. Pauline drank them all in with my ears and my eyes wide open and dreamed of one day being on stage. Many of her mother's clients were actresses in the theater, and they liked to spoil Pauline with gifts of candies and books. She reflected, those experiences didn't leave me indifferent. The sight of these women, decorated like holy shrines and perfumed like sachets, filled me with all possible joys. She remembers running her fingers over the lace of their dresses and playing with their jewels while she'd sit in their laps. Her most prominent memory is of a blue satin dress with gold spangles. A theater owner had sent the dress over to have her mother make a copy, and Pauline became fixated by the dress on the mannequin. She wrote, that blue satin gown had obsessed me ever since it had been brought in. I looked at it, I touched It. I took it off the mannequin and I managed to put it on myself, even though it was too big for my little body. She knew the tricks of the trade from her mother and her clients and pinned the dress at the front so that she could walk in it. She then picked up her mother's fan and began to show off for herself in the mirror. Absorbed in her fantasy, she didn't hear the delighted giggles of her mother and her assistants. Having returned to the studio. When her mother asked what she was doing all dressed up, Pauline replied with a little embarrassment, mama, I'm playing diva. Her mother smiled and simply replied, that's nice, but you must take off Madame Dee's gown, you might damage it. Pauline's father also simply laughed at the anecdote. He did not enforce masculinity on his young son. While Pauline loved women's dresses and accessories, from a young age she would burst into tears at the sight of boys shorts, refusing to wear them unless they were decorated with embroidery and lace. Pauline believed both the innate tendencies of her character, her shyness and sensitivity, and the chance of her mother's profession to developed in her love of beauty and style that would later degenerate into a frenzy and cause the disorders and missteps that mark my life. End quote. Despite that perspective, she cherished that time. She wrote, my whole childhood was spent in an atmosphere of graciousness, delicacy and lovely faces. And neither the passage of time, nor misfortune, nor the cruel disappointments of life, nor the long hours of imprisonment can ever tarnish that glorious memory. As an adolescent, she was sent to a boys boarding school very close to her home. Her first sexual experiences happened there. Masturbating with older male peers, namely one boy called Charles, Pauline recalls. She didn't think much of the evil she had committed, only the desire to do it More. She wrote, having indulged in pleasure, I had drunk deeply from the source of those predilections that make a man prostitute himself. Not by circumstance, no. By starting out with a boy four years older than myself, I was destined always to play the woman's role, the role of the mignon, that distinct separate type among all men with similar passions. It was during her time at boarding school that Pauline began to realize she would never be like her peers. She wrote, people have often said that morally I am not like other men. I can only add that I'm different physically as well, and, and this difference has caused me pain. It is the rapidly growing ulcer that has engulfed all my happy moments and the poison that has corrupted my life from the time that I became a man. This sadness, which is so powerful in my life, is the real cause of the enjoyment that I had in concealing my sex beneath a woman's exterior. End quote. It is an evocative early description of what we today would recognize as gender dysphoria. The Countess tells the reader that she still sees Charles sometimes and declares that by seducing her, he had broken down the barrier that my shyness would have raised against the desires that the sight of me kindled in the mind of the Marquis de X. The original Marquis de X was her father's employer, and we do not know his identity beyond the mysterious moniker. Marquis X died when Pauline was just an adolescent, and then his son inherited his title. This new younger marquis, whom Pauline refers to as M, began to come to her family home, often maintaining a friendly relationship with her father. When Pauline was a young teen, M began to court her. He was, in her words, a tall, handsome man of 26. With her parents permission, he would take Pauline for rides in his coach, where he would praise her beauty and tell her, if you wished, dear, you could be happier than a king's son son, and you could have all the lovely things that you want so much. He laid out his wishes plainly for her. He would take care of her, generously giving her as much money as she needed each month, and she in turn, would provide him pleasure. Pauline was, according to her, thrilled by the splendors. Everything he had told me seemed so special. That was, with my regret, dissolving into my desire. I was eager to latch onto this man who said that he loved me like a friend and like a lover. The marquis also charmed her into sharing her secrets. I'd tell him everything about my wild dreams and the frustrations that I felt at not being a woman since I was so ill suited for being a man. He replied, you are so unlike a man that it would be very easy to change you into a charming lady. M told Pauline's parents that he would take her in to further her education. That was one word for it, she quips to the reader. Pauline's mother was hesitant at first, distraught to part with her dear child. But M persuaded her that Pauline could pursue her talent for art with his connections and opportunities. Perhaps by 21st century standards, we might identify M's tactics as grooming. Instead of enrolling Pauline in art school, Em took her to meet a courtesan, Paula, who styled Pauline into a courtesan herself. Paula acquired her dresses, found her an apartment nearby and gave her lessons on how to work, walk and talk the part of a courtesan. Paula was very influential to young Pauline. It was she, not coincidentally, who offered the name Pauline. As Pauline's first chosen name, the name was in full, Madame Pauline de Florenge. This woman who quickly became my friend and confidante, was my first true platonic love, she wrote. With her, I experienced the charm of exquisite and intimate friendship. After Paula's lessons, M. Took Pauline out in society as a woman for the first time. At the popular restaurant in Madrid. He introduced her to his noble friends and their own kept women. She wrote, it took some nerve, and in spite of my confidence, I. The confidence I had in my luxurious wardrobe. I could feel myself blanching under my pancake makeup and my heart was thumping. To Pauline's delight, everyone was cordial and she saw the women paying close attention to the details of her fashionable outfit. After recounting this day, we get one of the most arresting passages of the autobiography. The Countess reflected years later, there's one thing in my life that made me so happy that it alone banished all my regrets and my sorrows, at least temporarily. It was the realization of my most bizarre dream of seeming to be something that I was not. The desire to dress as a woman, to be accepted in the eyes of the world as an elegant lady, pleased me so much that when I was able to do it, it took the sharp edge off my regrets. She continued, with a great deal of patience and effort, I had succeeded in resembling the finest being in all creation. I was a woman. And when people talked about me, they referred to me as the lovely, the charming Pauline. With that I was able to forget my feeble body and enjoy hours and hours of an enchanting illusion. Her euphoria jumps off the page. It's especially remarkable when you remember she was writing this in 1874. Her relationship with M. Wasn't always as joyous. While she claimed to have accepted his offer without a second thought, she was conflicted over the nature of their relationship and the nature of her role as a mistress. Sweet words from M. Would placate her doubts. She explained, since I had so often envied women when I was reading, I was able to forget when listening to this seducer that I was nothing more than a plaything for a debauched man whose affection for me was. Would last only as long as I could please him. The source of much of the Countess's shame around her gender and sexual identity was, it seems, inextricably intertwined with the grief she felt about her profession and position in the world. She declared, every kind of prostitution is a moral degradation, a dishonorable situation, so that in order to live happily, you must not even recognize it. Because she could not live as a woman until she had become a courtesan, one became forever associated with the other in her mind. It's tragic, and Pauline was certainly not the only queer person of the time to feel similarly around. Three years into their arrangement, M grew distant. He eventually ended things, leaving her a letter enclosed with some money. Pauline claimed she was 16 or 17 at the time, and she worried about what would happen to her now. She could not return to her parents because they would ask too many questions she couldn't or didn't want to answer. She also admitted she had no desire to return to the straight and narrow, as she called it, after time in the vibrant circles of Parisian society. And so she made her debut in the cafe concerts. She used the parting money the Marquis had left her to buy exquisite stage costumes and considered herself a passable singer. This is the time in which she became truly immersed in in the Parisian queer community, for they were her fellow performers and audience members. One group was known as the tribids, a term allegedly coined from the Greek verb to rub, which had long been used to describe women who had sex with other women. In Pauline's words, these women came usually in pairs and were charming priestesses of that enormous cult that worshipped at Sappho's altar. They belonged to that strange sect, that incomprehensible love from which men are excluded. They were, as Pauline described them, women who loved women and dressed like men. She analyzed such a woman so comfortable dressed as a man, usually has a masculine personality and masculine taste. Like Mignon. As described earlier, tribid also applied to a broader queer identity. Pauline's illustration of one tribed friend, Bea, is included in the autobiography she wrote. The despair that Bea felt at the age of 15 was the same one that I felt. So she adopted men's clothing and looked ravishing in them. Even men were fooled and women went wild over her. Another part of the audience was made up of mincing perfumed young men fitted out with the finest gloves, makeup and professionally curled hair. A group sometimes known as fille. An illustration of a fille and good friend of the Countess Le Charles is also featured in the book. Within this, in their group, all of these terms applied to one born as a man who either identified as a cross dressing man or as a woman. Specific terms were also seemingly Associated with sex work, Pauline was also engaging in sex work as a performer, taking audience members on as clients after the shows, as the other fee performers did. She also found two more protectors following M's departure, but neither lasted as long as her original affair. The group she worked with had a tradition of baptizing new members of their circle. One night, drinking champagne, a fellow feed adorned Pauline with a new name. On behalf of all these young ladies, as well as our dear sisters who are assembled here. Here, I, Auguste D, now baptize Arthur W. The Countess. The Countess noted how seriously everyone took the ceremony for the Tribads and the Mignon's who were there. This was a well known and powerful act for me. I thought that it was just a joke. But when D, taking his seat, again added, my lovely, I dubbed you the Countess and I swear that this name will remove all traces of your real one. He was only too accurate. She found genuine friendship and community. She commented on the solidarity between Trebaid and Fil, writing that Troubades were deeply sympathetic toward Fil and Mignon, since, like them, they have an unnatural love. They're indulgent and have a soft sense spot for the young men whom they call their sisters. And that feeling is genuinely reciprocated. In her early 20s, now years into her career, the newly named Countess rekindled her relationship with her mother. Her father had died and she wanted to bring her mother as much joy as possible. It was around this time as well that she was required to participate in the conscription lottery, drawing the number 180. She was in the reserves and eventually deployed. Not only was the Countess afraid to join the regiment, being an army man meant living as a man again. The Countess eventually was given leave to visit a fictional uncle, and she was able to see her beloved Paris again. Returning to her mother's home, Pauline threw herself into her arms, weeping that she could not return to the regiment. Her plan to desert was simple. Arthur could not be found. If only the Countess existed. She told her mother that she was quite comfortable as a woman, and rather than just playing the part when she performed, she would become one forever. Her mother, whose dearest wish had been to have a daughter, was pleased with the idea. The Countess told her that she would return the next day, transformed. When the police were sent to find the lost soldier, the Countess mother told them she hadn't seen him. The soldier in question was naturally standing in the very same room. The Countess returned to the theater and for years continued living life as before. In 1860, after a brief illness. The Countess's beloved mother died, falling into a depression. Pauline lost much of the desire and energy to dress up and perform. She stole from the home of her mother's former employer to pay off her debts and was later caught and identified as the missing soldier. She was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. As she wrote in her autobiography, at the beginning of September 1861, I arrived chained to another inmate at the central prison. The Countess claimed that less than two hours after her arrival, all of the inmates had learned her life story. Naturally, she claims, she gained many admirers. According to her, those who had had unnatural sexual urges outside of prison would have more so inside, and those who had never experienced those thoughts would adopt them easily. So my arrival stirred up many thoughts and unleashed many desires. She eventually accepted the proposal of a particularly devoted admirer she calls R. In the autobiography. This man had saved up quite a bit in prison and promised the Countess everything she might want. His feelings for her became eventually obsessive. He could not sleep. He followed her everywhere and was prone to fits of jealousy. Eventually, she says, she became fed up and told him she didn't want to see him again. By her count, the relationship lasted four years and five months. She tells the reader, I have sketched this story in one page, but I could have spent 20 on it because there were so many strange incidents involved. R was eventually released and begged the Countess to request transferring prisons out of his fear that she would form a relationship with another inmate there. She knew the request was ridiculous, but felt guilty over how things ended between them and and felt she owed him for all of the money he had given her. She did request a transfer, and the request was eventually approved and she was moved to another prison. She arrived 12 days later in March of 1866. At intake, she was led to the baths. There, a handsome man tossed her a towel, saying, take this kid. This tall, handsome man was. Was the stockroom clerk. His number was 598. He had served as the bugler for the first rifleman, and as the Countess wrote, he was to become more than a brother to me. His name was Gustav Engel. It was love at first sight for the Countess, at least. She asked her fellow inmates about Gustave, but all they told her was he had a reputation and that she was wasting her time. She believed they were jealous, as they wanted to court her themselves. The Countess lamented her new position in the prison's dirty shoemaking workshop. But luck shined upon her when Engel was demoted from his position as a Stockroom clerk to fellow shoemaker. She recounted, I decided then and there to give him as many extra rations as possible. I had almost 250 francs saved so I could pay for them. At this point, all my thoughts of frugality and greed were banished. This new love, though shameful, had cleansed me. She included a note with the rations asking for the man's name in his reply. She learned it for the first time, and he told her, I want to thank you with all my heart, but you shouldn't deprive yourself because of me. His reply did nothing to deter her. She wrote, from that day on, I understood the meaning of the word to love. Oh, how well. I knew then that I had never been in love before because I had never experienced such overwhelming intoxication, such a stirring in my heart. She looked forward to her exercise period in the yard because she knew she'd see him there and he might smile at her, maybe even talk to her. The man was her light in a dark place. She forgot that she was in prison when thinking of him. Their relationship lasted over four years, although it's unclear whether they were ever exclusive lovers. Still, there was certainly mutual intimacy. She wrote, our earthly happiness is a friendship or a love without limits, where shared feelings merge completely. And I had never felt this sort of mutual affection before, at least not to the extent that I had yearned for it. Eventually, after a quarrel over the Countess's jealousy, Engel wrote a letter to her saying he never wanted to see her again. Distraught, she got herself placed in solitary confinement to get over him. Still, the night before Angle was released, the Countess found a way to see him. She recalled, he squeezed my hand, told me that he'd never forget me. On that day, he gave me his badge with the number that was used instead of a name and that each inmate wore on his sleeve. This simple number, 598, spoke volumes to me and was precious to me because my friend had touched it every day. Then the Countess tells the Reader simply, On July 22, 1871, I was released. Those are the final words of her autobiography. It is quite the anticlimactic ending to such a dramatic life story, but it is the ending we have. The Countess never published further writing, and her life following her release from prison is undocumented. We can imagine, even hope, that maybe she returned to her life as a performer, her life as a woman, back to her beloved community in Paris. But we cannot know for sure. Despite its abrupt ending, Confessions is a magnificent work. It is one of the earliest surviving queer autobiographies in French and provides incredible insight into into the life of not only a large community, but a fascinating individual. She who had realized her dream and in her words, had triumphed over natural law. That's the story of Pauline or the Countess, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about where you can see her work. From the world of Jane Austen comes BritBox's new original drama, the Other Bennet Sister. It's a fresh spin around the ballroom for one of Jane Austen's most unassuming characters, Mary Bennet, the seemingly unremarkable middle sister in Pride and Prejudice. While the Bennet sisters are admired for their distinct qualities, Mary was the one sister who stood on the sidelines, awkward, anxious and overlooked. But in BritBox's new drama, Mary is finally brought into focus. Thoughtful and perceptive, she navigates a world that rewards charm over intellect and where independence comes at a cost. It's the story of what happens when someone long overlooked at last begins to see herself clearly. And now her greatest chapter is yet to come. Don't miss the Other Bennet Sister streaming May 6 only on BritBox. Watch with a free trial at BritBox.com when summer rolls around, I always think about my closet. It makes me just want to get rid of all the unnecessary things and just have quality great pieces that I can reach for again and again. I'm not someone who is so good at fashion. I just need a few pieces that work with everything and that's really why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high quality essentials like breathable linen, the soft organic cotton washable silk, and it's without the luxury markup so it's this rare balance where everything feels elevated but it's all still easy. 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from My favorite Murder.
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We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
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Want the full story? Take a listen.
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Hetty. She starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him?
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I mean, I watch the Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him. But incredible innovator, right?
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She says he's a, quote, very strange man. But they do get along really well.
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Give us examples.
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I know they do get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of, like, what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamarr and Billie Jean King.
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Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
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Goodbye for today's epilogue. Instead of an extra anecdote, I'd like to point listeners towards the Noble Blood Instagram and Patreon, where where we've uploaded the Countess's illustrations included in her autobiography, Confessions of a Parisian. While she considered her artistic talent only passable, her drawings really are quite good and portray the fashions of a subculture that were not otherwise well documented. There's illustrations of B of La, Charles the Fee and a person called La Belle, drawings of her lover, Gustave the Rifleman, and of course, a self portrait of the Countess at her dressing table putting on her makeup. We spent so much time in this story telling the Countess's story in her own words that it feels right to show you her story by her own hand as well. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Erin Manke. Nobleblood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Writers for Noble Blood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffe, Natasha Lasky, and me, Dana Schwartz. The show is Edited and produced by Jesse Funk and Nomes Griffin with supervising producer Rima Il Kayali and executive producers Erin Menke, Trevor Young and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from my favorite Murder.
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We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inv.
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Want the full story? Take a listen.
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She starts dating Howard Hughes and in fact she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamarr and Billie Jean King.
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Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
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Goodbye.
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Released June 23, 2026 | Hosted by Dana Schwartz
In this captivating episode, Dana Schwartz unearths the life of the enigmatic “Countess,” also known as Pauline and by the pseudonym Arthur W.: a 19th-century Parisian performer, courtesan, and one of the earliest known trans autobiographers. Through the lens of her vivid, confessional memoir—published within a French forensic textbook in 1895—Schwartz explores the Countess's journey through gender, love, joy, heartbreak, and survival in a world that deemed her identity deviant. The episode immerses listeners in the diverse queer subcultures of belle époque Paris while grappling with the tragic and triumphant elements of the Countess’s life.
“Many of Legludique's patients when he was a prison doctor had been convicted for sexual violence, but this particular prisoner…had instead been booked as an army deserter and petty thief...” (03:20)
“I, who had so desired to be a girl, had triumphed over natural law.” — Pauline, as quoted by Dana Schwartz (09:25)
“Mama, I’m playing diva.” (19:23)
"People have often said that morally I am not like other men. I can only add that I'm different physically as well...It is the rapidly growing ulcer that has engulfed all my happy moments and the poison that has corrupted my life from the time that I became a man. This sadness...is the real cause of the enjoyment that I had in concealing my sex beneath a woman's exterior." (24:26)
“If you wished, dear, you could be happier than a king’s son…and have all the lovely things you want so much.” — Marquis de X (28:55)
“The desire to dress as a woman, to be accepted in the eyes of the world as an elegant lady, pleased me so much that when I was able to do it, it took the sharp edge off my regrets...With that I was able to forget my feeble body and enjoy hours and hours of an enchanting illusion." (34:41)
“[The tribads] belonged to that strange sect, that incomprehensible love from which men are excluded… they have an unnatural love. They’re indulgent and have a soft… spot for the young men whom they call their sisters. And that feeling is genuinely reciprocated.” (40:16)
“From that day on, I understood the meaning of the word to love…Oh, how well. I knew then that I had never been in love before…” (53:15)
“On July 22, 1871, I was released.” (58:02)
“Despite its abrupt ending, Confessions is a magnificent work. It is one of the earliest surviving queer autobiographies in French and provides incredible insight into the life of not only a large community, but a fascinating individual. She who had realized her dream and in her words, had triumphed over natural law.” (01:01:40)
On Gender & Euphoria:
“There’s one thing in my life that made me so happy…It was the realization of my most bizarre dream of seeming to be something that I was not…When people talked about me, they referred to me as the lovely, the charming Pauline…” (36:56)
On Community:
“She found genuine friendship and community. She commented on the solidarity between tribad and fille…That feeling is genuinely reciprocated.” (40:54)
On love in hardship:
“From that day on, I understood the meaning of the word to love. Oh, how well. I knew then that I had never been in love before because I had never experienced such overwhelming intoxication, such a stirring in my heart.” (53:15)
On Family Acceptance:
“Her mother, whose dearest wish had been to have a daughter, was pleased with the idea…” (45:52)
Visuals & Further Reading:
Dana Schwartz notes in the episode’s epilogue that the Countess’s original illustrations—depicting herself, her lovers, and her community—are available for viewing on the Noble Blood Instagram and Patreon.
“…her drawings really are quite good and portray the fashions of a subculture that were not otherwise well documented. There's illustrations of B, of La Charles the Fee…Gustave the Rifleman, and…a self portrait of the Countess at her dressing table putting on her makeup.” (01:02:25)
This immersive exploration honors both the heartbreak and resilience of the Countess, capturing what remains perhaps the truest triumph: “She, who had realized her dream and, in her words, had triumphed over natural law.”
For anyone interested in queer history, the labyrinth of gender and identity, or simply a beautifully recounted slice of Parisian demimonde, this episode of Noble Blood is essential listening.