Bad Elizabeth co-hosts Kathy Egan-Taylor and Gideon Evans look into the life of Queen Isabella of Castile, known to many as Queen Isabel of Spain. And, yes, "Isabel/Isabella" is a legit variation of the name Elizabeth.

The show is as much fun as you can have while also discussing some very dark subjects including The Spanish Inquisition, Torture, and Colonization. If you don't laugh you cry, right?

Kathy and Gideon talk about how Isabel and her husband Ferdinand had an equal partnership in ruling the land that would become Spain. And we are joined by special guest, writer, actress, and expert podcaster Julie Klausner. Julie weighs in on Isabella, and advises us on the rules of podcasting with an equal co-host (apparently we are allowed to cut one another off - it just means we're excited).

We also talk to Julie about her amazing career. Along with hosting the podcasts How was Your Week? and Double Threat (with Tom Sharpling) she also created, wrote and produced the very funny Hulu series Difficult People. We also discuss Julie's love of musical theater, which culminated with her work on the Broadway send-up Schmigadoon. Apparently there was a third season of the Apple TV series that was written, but never filmed. Learn all about Julie's plan to "Free Schmigadoon Season 3" in her interview.

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Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack

Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

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SOURCES:

Isabella of Castile

Europe's First Great Queen

Giles Tremlett

https://a.co/d/06E9hrh2

Isabella of Castile part one

The History Chicks

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/isabella-of-castile-part-1/id415983183?i=1000446257098

Isabella of Castile part two

The History Chicks

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/isabella-of-castile-part-2/id415983183?i=1000447312094

How Was Your Week? with Julie Klausner

https://www.patreon.com/cw/HowWasYourWeek

Double Threat with Julie Klausner and Tom Scharpling

https://www.patreon.com/cw/DoubleThreatPod

Schmigadoon!

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/schmigadoon/umc.cmc.1tqmf2znhr4oui4vo69ircyui?ctx_brand=tvs.sbd.4000

Difficult People

https://www.hulu.com/series/d865868f-0a63-4595-b48d-d651e7f67f7b

This week on Bad Elizabeth we double the intrigue and mystery with a sensational story about twin sisters accused of murder.

In 1992, Betty Wilson and her twin sister Peggy Lowe were both put on trial for murder, accused of plotting to kill Peggy's opthalmologist husband Dr. Jack Wilson, who was found in a puddle of blood on the landing in his house, with an aluminum bat next to his body.

This case was front-page news in Alabama, where the crime was committed, and became a sensation nationally as well, even becoming the Made-For-TV movie Separated by Murder, starring Sharon Gless - of Cagney & Lacey fame - playing both twins.

The case has twists and turns galore. One suspect was an alcoholic swinger, who referred to her husband a "shitbag," and the other was a choir teacher at church who was married to a minister. The story also involves a particularly inept, extremely addled hitman. Were both sisters involved in the plot? Was only one of them? Or did the hitman commit the crime on his own. Both twins were charged with the same crime, yet they had two separate trials. Only one went to jail.

After Kathy and Gideon dig through the details of the case, they welcome Emmy-winning actress Sharon Gless who talks about the challenges of playing twins in the Made-for-TV movie, her on-screen kiss with Rosie O'Donnell in Queer as Folk, and how her producer husband Barney Rosenzweig saved Cagney & Lacey from being pulled off the air. Gless also tells the story behind the famous McCarthy Chopped Salad at the Polo Lounge, named after her powerful lawyer, polo-loving Grandfather.

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Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack

Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

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This episode is a little different, we have a theme going on here - Bank Robberies. We will feature not one, but two Elizabeths from different historical periods, with bank robberies in common.

Part One is about a Gilded Age con woman named Elizabeth Bigley, but she used many different names and personas in order to accomplish some pretty impressive scams. Many scammers take money from regular folk, but Bigley set her sights on tougher targets like Lawyers and Bank Presidents. Bigley's biggest scam was pretending she was the illegitimate daughter of Steel magnate and extremely rich guy, Andrew Carnegie.

If you hate banks and extremely rich people, you will love Elizabeth Bigley, a/k/a Cassie Chadwick, a/k/a Madame Lydia DeVere, a/k/a Madame Marie LaRose.

Part Two of this episode involves a bank robbery and an Elizabeth, but she didn't commit the crime, she inspired it. In 1973, John Wojtowicz, a Viet Nam veteran, attempted to rob a Chase bank in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The robbery went completely off the rails, and turned into a hostage stand-off that lasted hours and became a mass media event. The reason Wojtowicz robbed the bank - he needed the money to pay for his lover's gender reassignment surgery. His lover, Ernest Aron, later became Elizabeth Debbie Eden.

If this story sounds familiar, that's because it was later turned into the blockbuster film "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, and Chris Sarandon. Sarandon - who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Al Pacino's love interest - joins Kathy & Gideon as our special guest.

Sarandon tells us what advice director Sidney Lumet gave to him that helped portray this unprecedented - at the time - character for a mainstream film. We also talk to Sarandon about some of his other amazing roles and film experiences, including working with the late Rob Reiner making "The Princess Bride." Sarandon has played so many great roles including the lead of the beloved vampire film "Fright Night," and voicing the character of Jack Skellington for the Tim Burton holiday classic, "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

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Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack

Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

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SOURCES:

The Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age by Annie Reed

https://a.co/d/0hzudhMF

The High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance by Abbot Kahler

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-high-priestess-of-fraudulent-finance-45/

Dog Day Afternoon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B000GOXGO2/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

The Dog (documentary)

https://youtu.be/npe6yTYmTiM?si=nSD4vfIdhxQQd9jA

The Princess Bride

https://youtu.be/JtVRCmWm2lA?si=kdEwlvha6acPqZ5d

Fright Night

https://youtu.be/JtVRCmWm2lA?si=kdEwlvha6acPqZ5d

Nightmare Before Christmas

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/

Jump cut - Real Dog Day hero tells his story

https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC15folder/RealDogDay.html

The Center - Liz Eden Papers

https://archives.gaycenter.org/repositories/2/resources/18