meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Noble Blood

Very Special Episodes: How a High-End Doll Shop Became a Hotbed for Espionage

Noble Blood

iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild

Society & Culture, History

4.813.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Velvalee Dickinson ran a doll shop on Madison Avenue that catered to wealthy collectors. But in one of the strangest espionage cases of World War II, Dickinson's clients had no idea she was using correspondence about doll orders to transmit coded U.S. military intelligence to the Japanese.

*

On the Very Special Episodes podcast, Dana Schwartz tells one incredible story each week. Follow her down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Subscribe to VSE wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true crime podcast, Murder on the Tooth Path,

0:05.3

I'm taking it back to 1964 to the cold case of artist Mary Pinch O'Meyer.

0:11.5

She had been shot twice in the head and in the back.

0:14.8

It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man.

0:20.0

I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression.

0:24.4

John F. Kennedy.

0:26.3

Listen to Murder on the Toothpath with Soledat O'Brien on the Iheart Radio app,

0:31.2

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

0:38.8

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarky,

0:44.0

hosts of criminalia as they uncover curious cases from the past.

0:48.1

The legend of the highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady

0:52.6

Catherine Ferrer's, known as the Wicked Lady,

0:55.4

who terrorized England in the mid-1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death.

1:01.8

Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia.

1:07.3

Listen to Criminalia on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:17.0

After a crime, you read the headlines, but do you know the story?

1:23.3

At the time that I called a place he knew I had called him and left the house with a firearm

1:27.0

and was texting me that he was going to use it.

1:30.3

I'm Hannah Smith and I'm Pasha Eaton.

1:33.3

We host The Knife, a podcast from the Exactly Right network that cuts to the heart of the story.

1:38.9

Through in-depth interviews and candid conversations, we'll bring you firsthand accounts of people

1:44.0

living through the ripple effects

...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 21 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.