Charlotte Cushman - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 42

Charlotte Cushman

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 42

Charlotte Cushman was the greatest American actress of the 19th century. So why isn’t she a household name?

In this episode we talk about:

• Cushman’s professional career arc
• The ways in which 19th century attitudes toward romance and sex affected reception of Cushman’s performances
• The phenomenon of Romantic Friendship between women, and how it wasn’t necessarily as sexless or as respectable as we’re sometimes led to believe
• A chronology of Cushman’s many female romantic partners
• Cushman’s social circle of women intellectuals and artists at her “retirement” home in Rome
• A discussion of how Cushman’s careful management and curation of her public image, particularly with respect to her lovers, calls into question some of the popular assumptions about Romantic Friendship and Boston Marriages
• Why the world desperately needs a TV mini-series about Cushman’s life and social circle

This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here:

• Charlotte Cushman

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Twitter: @heatherosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)