Jane Austen & Lucille Ball

her early writing. Oh that's not who I'm referencing. This outfit is an homage to our other historical figure for this episode, I'm in this fancy dress because we're having a Lucille ball b What is it too ostentatious? Get it? Because we're also talking about Jane Austen. Okay, yeah, okay, I get all that, But why do you also have on a skeleton costume? Oh? The costume shop at a two for one discount, and you know I can't turn down a deal. Oh boy, Eric, please play the theme song.

What do you think you know about the grains from this story? The game is on to get some energy and buckle it up in your brain because signed to play podcast, because it's time flavor Who Live from tongvaland or so called so Cow Los Angeles, Welcome to Who Was, the history quiz show that gives contestants the chance to win mega prizes and podcast glory. I'm b the announcer who will prap fall directly into your heart. And here's your host, a fan of the silver screen, but a

star of the cell phone screen. It's Elliott Kaylin. Thank you be, and welcome everyone to the Who Was Podcast. The show it's like Jeopardy, only with surprise guests, silly games, and more puns than our strictly necessary. Our contestants were sent Who Was books about two great figures from history. Now they're here to show off their knowledge in the hopes of winning fantastic prizes, prizes prize twins. Today we're talking about the writer Jane Austen and the comedic actress

Lucille Ball. But first, let's meet our contestant. All right, First up, we have Charlie. Charlie, please introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Charlie, and I love to ski. Oh what kind of skiing? Downhill or cross country or uphill or uphill? Oh a downhill skier. I like to do a lot of different turn Oh, okay, cool. Now have you ever jumped out of a helicopter? And gone downhill skiing. Unfortunately I have not, but that is on my bucket. Oh nice, that would be amazing. I find skiing so scary.

I'm very impressed that you're able to do it. And the idea of jumping out of a helicopter, you know what, that might be so scary that it goes all the way back around, it becomes not scary again. I don't know. What do you think? I don't know. I guess I'll have to wait to find us. Yeah, all right, well you can report back to us in the near future. Thank you, Charlie. And here today we also have Kylie. Kylie, please introduce yourself. Hi. My name is Kylie, and I

really like volleyball. Oh wow, okay, now volleyball is okay. So Elliott is scared of skiing. I am scared of volleyball. So I'm glad that each of you has a sport that you do that terrifies one of us. Just anytime we had to do volleyball in Jim class, it would always hurt my wrists so much. How do you how do you get through that? It's just like, after a while, your wrist just become numb. You can feel it far okay, great,

great advice for anything in life. You do it lot enough, you become numbs you know, you stop, you stop feeling feelings and you can just get through the volleyball game with no worries whatsoever. Well, thank you both so much for joining us and taking time out of your very active athletic schedule. And thank you to Eric, our musician, for providing that lovely live Meet the Contestants music, as well as all the music you'll hear on the show today. So that's who is Now Let's find out who was

Jane Austen with four fast facts FOS. Jane Austen was born in Stepenton, England, in seventeen seventy five. Jane wrote six best selling novels. Her work has been adapted to dozens of movies and TV shows. She was the first female writer to appear on British Money Prospects. Jane Austen's books were based on the types of situations she encountered in her middle class British life. And I'm wondering for our contestants, if you had to write a book loosely

based on your life, what would the title be? M I wish everybody could see the pondering poses. Those are some good thinking faces. Those are good solid thinking faces, I guess for like, for me, the title of my book would be a B movie. Oh that's cool. Yeah, that's good. And I think probably that the title of the book about my life would be called please Stop Talking, because I get that a lot from people. People tell me that people always say people are just always saying

it to me. So, Kylie, what do you think would what would be the title of the book based on your life? Probably like the every Day Adventures with Kylie? Ooh nice. I think that would make a really good TV show as well. Yeah, I love that phrase. Everyday adventures. Charlie, what about you? Will be the title of your book? I don't know. It's kind of hard because all the good ones are kind of taken. Yeah, all the good titles are taking great expectations Dick the Bible. But I

bet we can come up with something. Uh yeah, I don't know. Maybe i'd name it something around like woods Fellow took for maybe like Charlie's Woodsy Adventures or Charlie's Woods. Oh oh that's like that. It's almost like walden Pond. Charlie's Woods yeah, yeah, I'll never forget that summer at Charlie's Woods, and then it's a flashback to those magical days. Those those are great titles. Thank you both. I would definitely read both of those books, and I expect to

please start writing them soon. And now it's time to move on to our first game. Hashtag history, hashtag history, hashtagy hashtag history, hashtag thank you Eric. In this game, we will read to a hashtag Jane would have used during her life if there was social media at the time, and you will tell us what it's about. Charlie Europe First, Okay, all the money in the world couldn't buy my love

hashtag all the single ladies. Was Jane referring to the fact that she a made each of her protagonists perform a solo dance at the climax of her story, or B that she never got married, or c that she only ever drank single servings of tea. B she never got married. That's right. The answer is B. Jane Austen was proposed to but chose to Tremaine single because she believed in marrying for love and not for money, and certainly not for likes on Instagram. But that's largely because

social media hadn't been invented yet. If they had at the time, who knows, maybe she should have got married for likes on Instagram. Okay, the next question is for Kylie. I guess learning isn't the only thing that's contagious here. Hashtag going viral was Jane talking about a coming down with typhoid fever when she was in school b being very good at science or see One of her most beloved characters is named Lady Violet Rawl, whose nickname is

viral A. I think that's right. The answer is a Jane and her sister of Cassandra, caught typhoid fever and had to leave the school they were attending. Jane didn't like the schools. This might not have been the worst thing. But disclaimer for everyone listening at home, we do not recommend catching typhoid as a way to get out of school. There are easier ways to get out of school, like do really good at it, then you graduate you don't have to go to school anymore. Back to you, Charlie

for the next question. My latest book, Northanger Abbey, may look a little familiar. Hashtag throwback Thursday. Skeptical emoji winky face emoji was Jane talking about A the novel being historical science fiction that took place centuries before it was written. B the book is all about Jane's childhood or see While it was the first book she sold, it was one of the last to be published. Is the answer C.

That's right. The is C. The man who bought her first book refused to publish it, and it wasn't until she made enough money from her other novels that she could afford to buy it back. And the final question is for you, Kylie. On my nineteenth birthday, Daddy brought me something to help me hashtag rise and grind hashtag blessed. Did Jane receive a paper and ink? B a small desk? See both of those things or d neither. He thought she was a terrible writer and should go and become

a nun. A she received paper and ink. I think we can give you half credit for that. The answer is see both of those things. Jane's father thought she was talented enough to be able to make a living as a writer, a profession very few women were able to perform at that time. But whether you're a writer or a nun successfully comes down to maintaining good habits. Get it, habit, habits, get it. Charlie does not get It's okay if you know, it's okay if you don't.

And that's the end of hashtag history. Hashtag hashtag. That was a great round. I wish you had laughed at my joke, but it's okay. It's like I said. The title of my book is stop talking, please, and thank you for playing the game with us. Now let's go to producer James very small disk for the scores. Well, it's very tight. Charlie has two points, Kylie right behind with one and one half. Thank you, Jane. It's a

close game. Those scores are very close, but it's still anyone's game, and we'll get right back to it after this short break. Eric, could you please play us some music that could go with a polite comedy of manners if you would, it's a farce. Welcome back to the Who Was Podcast. Today we're learning all about who was Jane Austen and who was Lucille Ball And now back to your host, Elliott Kalin. Thank you be. Our current scores stand at Charlie the Skier the two points and

Kylie the volleyballer with one and a half thas. We're engaging in a real battle of wits about two witty ladies. So let's get to it by finding out more about Lucille Ball with four fast facts fool fast facts. Lucille Ball was born in nineteen eleven in Jamestown, New York, and died in nineteen eighty nine. Her TV show I Love Lucy was the highest rated show in the country. She was the first woman to run a major production company. Lucy's career in TV and movies spanned more than fifty

five years. Fools facts. So let's move on to our next game and learn even more about Lucille Ball. This is a game we call true or false or false? Is false? Is it false? Or is it true? Is it true that it was false? Or that it was true? Or true? True or false? For this game, Bill read a statement. You will then let us know if that statement is true or false. And since this is our second round, each question is worth two points. Kylie, You're

rope first. All right? True or false? Lucille Ball was a star as soon as she decided she wanted to be an actress. False, that's right. That is false? When she started her teachers told her she didn't have any talent. They said she would never be an actress, but instead she ended up being one of the most popular performers of all times. So take that, teachers. This next question is for you, Charlie. All right, Charlie. Lucille became known for her physical comedy, which she learned in part from

silent film star Buster Keaton. Is that true or false? True? That is true? Buster Keaton and Lucy became big friends at MGM Studios in nineteen forties. Buster was passed his big starring days, but showed the up and coming Lucille how to use props to create short, funny skits, a skill she would perfect on the Isle of Lucy Show.

The two even appeared on screen together in nineteen sixty five in a tribute to another physical comedian, Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy Fame Back to you, Kylie, all right, Keylie, this question is for you. When Lucy became pregnant with her second child, studio executives were excited to include it in the storyline of I Love Lucy. Is that true or false? True? No, One'm sorry, the answer is false.

Lucy had to convince the studio executives to allow her character to be pregnant over a total of seven episodes. It was the first pregnancy in real time to be shown on television. Even after CBS agreed they wouldn't let the characters say Lucy was the word pregnant, and they made them say expecting instead. This last question is for you, Charlie, all right. In nineteen eighty four, the Museum of Broadcasting honored Lucy as the Princess of Comedy. Is this true

or false? It true? I'm sorry it was false. She was honored as the Queen of Television. At a ceremony for her, then President Ronald Reagan reminded the crowd that more people tuned in to watch the episode of her show where her son, little Ricky was born, then watched the inauguration of President Dwight Eisenhower. Take that, CBS executives, and that's the end of the round. True. True, true.

That was a suspenseful game. And we'll be expecting some scores from Jane right after this short break, Eric, can you please play us some early television music? No speaking, Hey, who was hers? I want to make a shout out to your own favorite person history, famous or unfamous. Do you think your sour no recipe is better than ours? Would you like to tell us your craziest dream? What I'm trying to say is we want to hear from you, so send us an email or voice memo at the

Who Was Podcast at gmail dot com. Ter Welcome back to the Who Was Podcast. Today we're learning all about who was Jane Austen and who was Lucille Ball with our fantastically entertaining contestants. And now here's your host, Elliott Kaylin. Thank you be and now let's go to producer Jane for the current scores. Oh it's so close. Kylie has three and a half points, while Charlie has around four. Not a round four, a round number four, it's a

whole number four. Thank you for specifying, Jane. We really appreciate it. Jane, I had a question. Are you and Jane Austen related? You're both named Jane, Yes, yes, Oh wow, you heard it here first, folks, a descendant of the original And wait, do you hear that laughter? It sounds like we have two guests visiting us in the studio. Please welcome Jane Austen and Lucille ball. Helloo, and let's not forget to take a moment to shout out the app that brought you here? The who was app? Who was? You?

Wanted to be the best op? Wait? Do you two already know each other? We do run in the same circles. Yes, running in circles seems like an exhausting waste of time. See isn't she utterly riotous? This studio reminds me of my time recording my radio show. I assume this is one of the most popular programs in the country. We don't have to get into the numbers. Thank you most kindly for letting me join you today. Of course, you're one of the greatest writers in British literature. Ah, but

I almost wasn't. The man who promised to publish my first book never did anything with it, and it took years before I actually became a published author. That guy didn't know what he had. Your publisher sounds like the studio executives I had to deal with all the time I had to work to convince them to let me make my show. Did they make you pay for everything

up front like they did for two of my novels? No, that would have been a little harder with TV, but they did say they didn't want my husband Dessi to play my husband on TV because of his accent. So we did skins around the country to convince them and it worked. Oh skits, I love skits. My family would put on the Little Place to entertain ourselves. That was some of my first writing. I was inspired by the silly ways people would act when they were trying to

be proper. It's like Buster Keaton always says, being silly is the best. Say you and I should write a skit together, sometimes charming. We'll set it at a party, and we didn't get and write it, so we got to dress up in maid disguises to get it. Oh and then something unexpected happens near the refreshment. The kitchen keeps sending out food and we're running out of table space,

so we gotta keep eating everything to make room. Or perhaps someone misplaces a glove and I trip and fall on it, store all the food off the table, and then we got to clean it up because they think we're made. I love it. We'll call it ball Hall. Oh no notes, let's go write it up. Goodbye bye,

Thank you, Lucille and Jane. Jane Austen brought up funny situations that happen when people try and fail to be very fond Sye, is there a time when something silly happened at a time you were supposed to be serious? And Charlie, has that ever happened to you that you've needed to be serious instaid something silly happened. It's happened to me, I'm pretty sure quite a few times over the years, especially during a test, sometimes I just bust

out laughing We're supposed to be quiet. That used to happen to me a lot when I was young, and my teachers would be like, hey, you have to go see the principle. And I would say, but this is laughter, the most joyous sound in the world. And they would say, we're trying to please stop because they stop talking. Please, yeah, and send me the principle. But what about you, Kylie, has that ever happened to you that you've were supposed

to be serious and said you couldn't help doing something silly? Uh? Yeah, it happens all the time in math class. What is it about school it makes people want to be silly? Interesting? Well, what is it specifically about math class where it's supposed to be very serious but it just makes you want to laugh. Yeah. It So it's like my math class is super small, and I've known the people for like a bunch of years. So when I'm trying to be serious or they're trying to be serious, like we just

burst out on laughter or something like that. And how does your teacher handle it? Is your teacher like Okay, that's pretty funny, or is your teacher like stop laughing. These are numbers, let's show them respect. It depends like if we're actually trying to learn something top and that stuff, but if like we're just like goofing around and stuff, then like she'll be fine with that. I was gonna say it was like I like this this. You know. It sounds like a teacher who knows that they've got

to get some stuff done but also allows for some silliness. Yeah, I like a teacher that allows some goofiness a math class. That sounds great. Well, thank you both for sharing your real life, everyday adventures of being silly at serious times. Now it's time for another serious thing. They will also get kind of silly. It's our last game and it's called converge of greatness. In this multiple choice game, we'll explore how Jane Austen and Lucille Ball connect, overlap, or converge.

Choose the best answer for each question. And because we're dealing with three times the history in this one, because it's Lucille Ball and Jane Austen and Lucia Ball and Jane Austen together, each question were worth three points. It's really because it's the third round. Three points. Okay, The first question goes to Charlie B. Take it away, all right, Charlie. Both Lucille Ball and Jane Austen excelled in fields that were historically and overwhelmingly male. During their lives. There were

so few women who were writers. When Jane Austen published her first book, they listed the author as a some person be this guy or see a lady, see a lady. That's right, the answer is see a lady, not even this lady or that lady. It wasn't until the release of her later books that she was credited by name as the author. You just know, at the time, some random english woman was walking around tell people, Hey, you see that book. I'm a lady, me a lady and

it wasn't really Jane Austen. It was somebody else's taking credit. All right, makes me so mad. The next question is for you, Kylie. All right, Kylie. It took Lucille and Jane a long time to achieve the success they're known for. How long did it take for Lucille Ball to earn her first movie role after she started acting? Was it A six months, B seven years or C thirty five years? I want to say, you're exactly right. The answer is

B seven years. And even after her first film role, it was another eighteen years before she was starring in her own television show. Lucy played small roles in a lot of films and appears on screen next legends like Fred Astaire, Katherine Hepburn, and Red Skelton. Now it's back to you, Charlie for the next question. All right, Charlie.

Both Jane and Lucille moved away from their hometowns. Lucille moved to New York to pursue acting, while Jane moved to bath because A. It had lovely tubs and everything smelt nice. B. She won a contest for a free house there or See because her parents decided to move there and as a single woman, she was not allowed

to live alone. See that's right. The answer is c. Because young women rely on their families for money and a place to live, she had no choice but to move with their parents to a city she did not like. That's right, kids, just like you. Jane Austen did not like baths. And the final question of the game is for you, Kylie, all right, Kylie. Despite working in entertainment,

Jane and Lucille both interacted with the government. The Prince of Wales asked Jane to dedicate her book Emma to him, and in nineteen fifty three, Lucille Ball was called to testify in front of what organization after being accused of being a communist? Was it A the House Unamerican Activities Committee, b the Communist Party or see the Actually I don't love Lucy, I just like her a lot club. I'm sorry. The answer is A the House on American Activities Committee.

It was a group concerned that communists were sneaking their ideas into entertainment and influencing audiences. Lucille met privately with the group and was cleared of any wrongdoing. The only thing she was influencing people to do was laugh and that marked the end of Converge of Greatness. Those were some tough questions, but that means it's almost the end of the show when we wait for producer Jane to

tally the points. I'd love to hear some more from our contestants, Charlie, Kylie, what's something that you were surprised to learn about Jane Austen and Lucille Ball. Kylie, let's start with you. Is there anything that really stuck out at you or you read it and you were like, what about either of our two historic figures? Probably that Jane Austen that she didn't for her actual name and the books because of ir Jane Austen. Then I would happily put my name looks to get famous, but she didn't,

so that it was a different time back then. Right back then, people didn't necessarily want to be famous, whereas now I feel like everybody wants to be famous all the time. Charlie, was there anything that surprised you were stuck out at you about Lucille Ball or Jane Austen. I was surprised at how Lucille Ball was actually a blonde and her hair was dyed because you think of her as having this bright red hair, right, yeah, yeah, because she was never she never pretended that she was

like a natural redhead. I always thought that was interesting when she was always like it's from a bottle, like she was never shy about it. Yeah, but it does make me wonder how many people have their real hair color and how many are just lying to us through the medium of hair color. You know what, I'm okay with that, I say, lie away, I don't know. I think I'm gonna start a house hair color activities. Yeah, unnatural hair colors. Well, well I'll work on it and

you will see what the name should be. Well, thank you both for those very interesting answers. We really appreciate it. And now it's time for the big moment. Jane, could you please tell us our winner? I sure can. It was an incredibly close competition, but Charlie wins with ten quarts a hard fought game. Congratulations Charlie, Kylie, we did a great job. Those were some tough questions and everyone tried their best and that's the best thing. Charlie, you

have ten seconds for shoutouts. Go aboard. Who do you want to thank? Thank my whole family, especially my Dad, because he's the one who got me on the show. That's great. Out thank you to him, our winner and their library of choice. We were receiving a selection of Who Was books, and I'm going to give my own shout out to intern Zach, to Jane, Eric Knis n B and a big thank you to both of our contestants who played a fantastic game. They should both be very proud of how they did. Thanks to you at

home for listening. Next week, join us again as we find out who Was two other fascinating folks from history. Until then, this is Elliott the Smallest Screen Star Kaylan saying We're history. Good Bye, everybody. Thank you. Got a question for any of our famous figures, Send us a voice memo at the Who Was Podcast at gmail dot com. It might just end up on the show. The Who Was Podcast is produced by Radio Point, iHeartMedia and Penguin Workshop and is based on the best selling who h

Q series published by Penguin. This show was hosted by Elliott Kaylan with co host Megan O'Neill as b who was also starring Jane Baker as Producer, Jane, Eric Shackney as Eric. Megan O'Neil as Jane Austen and Kennis Mowgli as Lucille Ball. Executive producers are Richard Person, Alex Fotch, Elliott Kaylin, Megan O'Neill, Daniel Powell, and Houston Snider. The executive producer for Penglin Workshop is Francesco Sadida. Executive producer

for iHeartMedia is Lindsay Hoff. Written by Elliott Kaylan, Megan o'neio, o'kenney, Smogli and Jane Baker. Produced by Bernie Kaminsky and Taylor Kawalski. Talent loucer is Jane Baker. Theme song and music composed and performed by Eric Shackney, Edited and mixed by Bree Mattan and Kate Moldenhower. Recorded by Joanna Samuels. Special thanks to Zack Timson, Charlotte DeAnda and Michael Lewis Howard. Sound services provided by Great City Post Whose podcast Because It's Donabos