35.2 The Secret Files of Nellie Bly: "The Eleventh Day"

Fireside Mystery Theatre

Drama, Arts, Fiction, Performing Arts

4.5 • 626 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2018

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many of you may know the famous story by Nellie Bly, "Ten Days in a Mad-House," her groundbreaking exposé of the insane asylum on Blackwell's Island… But do you really?

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"The Eleventh Day" is the second of four installments from **The Secret Files of Nellie Bly**. Recorded live at The Slipper Room on March 25th, 2018.

Featured in this episode:
David Linton as Arthur Brisbane
Ali Silva as Nellie Bly
Alain Laforest as Joseph Pulitzer and The Police Officer
Mary Murphy as The Matron and The Girl
Eirik Davey-Gislason as The Doctor and The Guard
Kacie Laforest as The Patient

Musical performance:
“Frankie and Johnny” is a traditional arrangement
performed by Martina DaSilva accompanied by Nico Sleator

Radio play by Courtenay Gillean Cholovich
Directed by Holly Payne-Strange

Musical score improvised by Steve Blanco
Sound Effects Designer and Engineer: Greg Russ
Technical Director at The Slipper Room: Johnny Goddard
Production Coordinator: Brontis Shane Orengo
Theme music by Jason Graves

Post-production audio by Ali Silva
Podcast production by Ali Silva & Daniel Graves

Produced by Gustavo Rodriguez, Ali Silva, Daniel Graves, & Rebecca Graves for Fireside Mystery Productions

Copyright 2018 Fireside Mystery Productions

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Madness, insanity, or some might call it, hysteria.
0:11.6	Derived from the Greek word for uterus, the hysterical state was believed by many for
0:16.4	too many years to be a woman's disease of the mind caused by her own unfortunate femininity.
0:24.2	And while it might be treated, a woman could never be cured of her naturally weaker constitution.
0:30.5	So often, imprisonment was seen as the only recourse. Such was the case at the women's insane asylum
0:37.4	on Blackwell's Island, now known as
0:39.3	Roosevelt Island. To be sent there meant to never escape, to never return to the life one once
0:46.2	knew. Except, of course, for the relentless Nellie Bly, whose journey into the madhouse threatened
0:53.2	her own sanity. But it was all for the
0:56.7	sake of the story. The 11th day was recorded live at the Slipper Room on March 25th, 2018. It was part of
1:04.1	our show, The Secret Files of Nellie Bly. My friend Nellie often talked to me about her collection of secret files that she kept among her papers,
1:15.6	papers that contained many stories that her publishers would not or could not print.
1:21.6	I would still love to see these papers with my own eyes, but after her death, much was mishandled by her surviving
1:28.8	and constantly bickering relatives. Those papers could very well be lost forever. Fortunately,
1:36.0	she shared with me a considerable number of these clandestine anecdotes in our own letters and on
1:41.7	occasion when we gossiped over dinner and cocktails.
1:45.9	Tonight, I shall take certain items of Miss Bligh's,
1:49.8	news articles written by her that are very much a matter of public record,
1:53.9	and shall add some additional insights based on knowledge I receive from Nellie Bligh herself where necessary.
2:02.6	But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. It's easy, I'm afraid, when it comes to Nellie.
2:07.6	So much to say and never quite sure where to start.
2:10.6	It surely made my job as her editor, problematic at best, though it was certainly never dull. She'd come to New York City from
	...

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