Noble Blood - The Queen of Romance

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

Over her lifetime, Dame Barbara Cartland would write over 700 books that would sell more than 750 MILLION copies worldwide. Though her books were primarily aimed and read by women, Cartland's messages were strickingly regressive, with an ephasis on purity that seems strange to modern readers of romance novels. As her step-granddaughter Diana Spencer would one day discover, some fairy tales don't align with reality.Support Noble Blood:— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon— Noble Blood merch— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school.

Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to Soccer moms on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. The year 1808, the setting, Regency England. There we meet a man called Sir Giles Staverly, a gambling addict who attempted to win back all he had. by betting his daughter Serena's hand in marriage and betting her 80,000 pound trust fund. But he lost once again and unable to face his daughter, he instigated and lost a duel on purpose, ultimately killing himself. This left Serena's fate in the hands of the man her father lost to, Lord Justin Vulcan, who she'd been told was simply the worst sort of rake. She swore she could never fall in love with a man like Lord Vulcan,

but after he invited her to come live at his estate, Mandrake, the two come to form an unlikely bond. But they also had to contend with Justin's scheming mother, highwaymen, gamblers, and smugglers before the two of them. them could admit their feelings. In case you haven't realized, that is, of course, all a work of fiction, a historical romance written long before any of the Bridgerton's stepped into their semi-anachronistic shoes. Published in 1949, a hazard of hearts was just one of over 700 works published by Dame Barbara Cartland, otherwise known as the Queen of Romance.

Her work earned her many fans of all ages, including a young Diana Spencer, who would eventually become both the Princess of Wales and Barbara's own step-granddaughter. Despite not being born with a title, Barbara would run in noble circles her entire life, including her connections to her dearest friend, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip's uncle, and other men of high birth that she would allege were the potential true fathers of her daughter. To this day, Barbara continues to hold her spot as the fifth most translated author worldwide, thanks to the success of novels like A Hazard of Hearts, as well as The Cruel Count, the Angel and the Rake, and my personal favorite title, The Marquise Who Hated Women,

all featuring fantastically illustrated covers that are, as best as I can describe them, buttoned up bodice rippers, more on the purity later, though. Some of those novels were even adapted into films, A hazard of hearts was made for television in 1987, featuring a fresh-faced Helena Bonham Carter in one of her first major roles as the unlucky ingenue Serena. A print ad for the film read, quote, He captured her body with force.

He freed her soul with passion. That is, more often than not, a general theme in Barbara's novels. An innocent girl is caught up in a dastardly scheme, but she ultimately makes a good man out of a not-so-good one. Barbara certainly did not invent the tropes of the romance novel, but it's not a stretch to say she defined them for an era. Still, we can't say her extensive collection is exclusively one note. Heroines also include a professional figure skater,

a, quote, lovely young gang leader, and a Scottish spy in the French court watching over a young Mary Stewart, which should delight any of our listeners over on Patreon who have been listening to our recap of the television show, Rain. As time went on and Barbara continued to produce more and more books every year, she became a British cultural figure, frequently showing up in print and print, and on television to discuss her thoughts on love and morality in an extensive and iconic pink wardrobe. Barbara may have been the Queen of Romance, but as we will learn from her once fan, Diana, fairy tale stories, especially when they involve nobles, don't always follow a simple plot structure. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.

Gwen Robbins' authorized biography of Barbara Cartland begins by making something very clear. Quote, firstly, she is a direct descendant of the oldest Saxon family in existence. And quote, Barbara's mother's ancestor was apparently Thomas Descovenhole, the High Sheriff of Devonshire, 32 years before the Norman conquest. From him, you can trace the family lineage directly to Mary. Hamilton Scoble, aka Polly, Barbara's mother. The family faced major upheaval shortly after Barbara was born in 1901. Her paternal grandparents, the Cartlands, had been suddenly bankrupted when their bank,

surprise, called in immediate payment on a 25,000-pound loan that Barbara's grandfather, James, had taken out. That very weekend, Barbara's parents left young Barbara to go visit the distraught grandparents, inviting them to come stay with the young family. The elder Cartland refused to leave their home, and James told his daughter-in-law that he would see her on Monday. On Sunday morning, James Cartland shot himself. His death left his debt to his son, Barbara's father, Bertie.

Polly and Bertie's home, Beaubrook, had been verbally given to them by James, but as the title deeds were not in their name, the bank said the house was to be surrendered to pay the overdue loan. The house was put up for sale, along with nearly all of the belongings in it. Poor I may be, but common I am not, Barbara's mother Polly declared, while her husband and his mother were said to be. incapacitated by the circumstances. Polly found a new home for the family to rent on their 300 pound a year income. Bertie, a former officer of the British Army, naturally did not work, as would be completely unbefitting of a gentleman of the age, and so that money came from allowances from their respective families. For 40 pounds a year, they moved into a country home in Worcestershire, fit with six bedrooms, a tennis court, stables, and four acres of overgrown gardens. That was where Barbara grew up, and those gardens were where she first invented new worlds.

Quote, I never drive through Worcestershire in the spring without the memory of our garden, like a pink and white fairyland. She would reflect as an adult. She recalls listening to the trees and hearing the fairies moving about in side, and she was sure that she saw wings among the flowers. Her first experience with literature was with the novels she could find in her father's study, mainly Dickens, and her mother then began to nurture Barbara's love of stories by reading her fantasy books. Upon her mother's death years later, Barbara would find amongst the piles of paper her mother had kept

the very first short story she had ever written at five and a half years old. But sudden bankruptcy wouldn't be the only upheaval in young Barbara's life. When it became obvious in 1914 that the country was to go to war with Germany, Bertie was called up to serve. As he was stationed in different parts of England, the family moved around to stay with friends near him. In 1917, Bertie was killed in action. Polly was now a widow and a single mother to three children, Barbara and her two younger brothers. Barbara recalls that her mother adopted a stricter sense of discipline during that time,

but it was always clear that she did everything out of love. Polly had also been something of a surrogate mother to her husband, who needed motivation and guidance throughout his adult life, and she was determined that her own children would be self-sufficient. Barbara would later reflect, quote, "'Mummy lit a flame in all three of us that was to burn brighter year by year. She made us believe in ourselves and our capabilities. She made us see that anything was possible if we really wanted it and worked hard in us. Shortly after her father's death, Barbara turned 18 and left school. During her school years, her love of storytelling only grew. She discovered the romance novels of Ethel M. Dell,

Berta Ruck, and Eleanor Glynn, who was notably quite the scandalous writer of her time. It was actually Dell's influence in particular that would have the greatest impact on Barbara's career. Barbara's biographer writes, Barbara really believed all heroes should be tall, silent men, seething with burning passions, but passions so controlled that one was not aware of them until they broke down under an overwhelming love. Her leading ladies, on the other hand, should be, quote, soft, sweet, easily frightened, yet longing to be dominated by a strong and masculine man. Barbara was a so-called plain child, so much so that apparently other mothers pitied Polly,

but by this time she had blossomed into something of a classic leading lady herself. Barbara received her first proposal the summer after school on holiday with her family on the Isle of White. He was a colonel over 40 years old with a red handlebar mustache. Barbara wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Rushing to her mother to ask for help, Polly told her daughter, You must learn to look after yourself. It's harsh advice, but falls in line with Polly's desire to instill self-sufficiency and tenacity within her daughter. Still, when another elderly married this time man tried to make advances on Barbara that same summer,

he was met with Polly's fury. This clown, in turn, asked out Polly instead. When asked if any of her suitors that summer attempted to kiss her, Barbara responded, certainly not. We were not mauled in those days. Our innocence protected us. I was quite determined that the only man who would ever be allowed to kiss me on the lips was the one I would marry. Barbara would have plenty more marriage candidate to consider when she moved to London with the family after that summer break. She had a small budget for clothes provided by her mother, and she began to experiment with fashionable makeup and hair of the time, all in service of her coming out in society. And Barbara was a hit. Courting in 1920s, London, mainly consisted of dinner and dancing,

but it was improper for a man and woman to dine alone together. So the woman would have dinner at home while the man dined at his social club before picking up his date. Later, once the dancing was done, a taxi would be called. The driver would stop for a coffee at the green-painted stand at the corner of Hyde Park while the young couple sat in the back seat. This was all a dance of its own. The cab drivers would all sit together and chat and play cards,

while the couples in their back seats scored some convenient alone time. Barbara often sat in these back seats, remembering the, quote, delicious feeling of anticipation. But mind out of the gutter, what she was anticipating was a potential proposal, or just to see if her date would attempt a kiss. In the backseat of one of those cabs, Barbara did accept a proposal from a gentleman named Dick Usher, a young officer. Polly, her mother, had advised her to wait a month to announce the engagement in The Times, and it was a good thing she did because Barbara had a question for her mother. How does one have a baby, she asked? It had been nagging at her and it was never taught. at the girls' schools she attended. Barbara had thought it had something to do with a man

kissing a woman's neck because one of the novels she read contained the line, quote, He kissed her neck passionately and she knew what he meant. When Barbara's mother told her how things actually worked, Barbara was so horrified that she broke off the engagement. Barbara would go on to say that throughout her life, she never enjoyed being touched or kissed, unless it was by someone she really loved. Two nights after she broke the news to Dick, they ran into each other at a party, and, feeling sorry for him, Barbara agreed to talk. They took a taxi to the stall at Hyde Park, where Dick proceeded to take out a revolver, and he declared, unless you marry me, I will shoot myself.

This was, believe it or not, Barbara's second incident with a loaded gun in her young life, after another army officer had attempted to flirt with her by showing off his weapon and nearly shooting her after incorrectly believing the gun had no bullets left. And to be clear, I promise these are not innuendos. Barbara was able to talk Dick down far enough that he got tired and agreed to take Barbara home, where she rushed through the front door and up to her mother's bedroom. Dick later wrote a letter to Polly, describing his agony. If only I weren't cursed with such a big, big love, it might be easier,

but you know that I just worship Barbara with my whole heart and soul and body that to lose her is worse than a million times the torture of the damned. life was certainly providing Barbara with plenty of material for her future career. In 1920, Barbara declared to her family one morning over breakfast that she was going to write a novel. They laughed. You'll never finish it, they said. She started right away. Once she had a few chapters completed, she showed them to her mother Polly, who offered both criticism and compliments. Polly asked a writer friend over for lunch, where she in turn asked Barbara to read her draft out loud. A personal nightmare for many writers,

especially a writer just starting out, but it was apparently a breeze for Barbara. It's very good, the writer told her, finish it. Barbara spent three months doing just that, Where many writers also struggle to find their voice, Barbara had internalized her beloved romance novels and knew exactly what she wanted to say and how to say it. Their eyes met, reads one of the closing lines of that first novel. Each was conscious of the flame of love and desire within the other. Explanations, words were unnecessary. Barbara called the book Jigsaw and dedicated it to podcast. It cost seven shillings and sixpence, and it became a minor sensation almost immediately. Jigsaw tells the story of the innocent but enchanting Mona, who ends up in a love triangle

with a sensible, strong-willed duke and a dark and handsome stranger. Mona ultimately chooses the Duke, as goodness prevails over temptation. This is a good moment to talk about the trope. of Barbara's writing. In her own words, quote, there are two mees. One is the impatient, rather aggressive crusader, sometimes overpowersing with a tendency to fight violently for what I believe is right. And the other image I have of myself is sweet, soft, gentle understanding, perceptive and very feminine, longing to be protected by a strong masculine man. It is a kind of idealistic mental and spiritual virginity, which I have given my heroines, and which I have always had

myself." End quote. Mona, or Barbara, has an angel and a devil, so to speak, on her shoulder in jigsaw, the strong but silent Duke, Peter, and the exciting but dangerous Alec. It brings to mind the Madonna whore complex, which sees women. as either saintly or degenerate, never in between. Barbara's heroines are always pure madonnas, who seek stability with Peters, and they must reject their inner whore, who is driving them toward an aleck.

Or sometimes the heroine is so saintly that the leading man will overcome his degeneracy in order to devote himself to her. This episode isn't a book report, But these themes, especially with regards to the way she frames and portrays women and female desire, I think is important when we think about how much Barbara has stated that her heroines represent herself and her morals. Back to Jigsaw's success. Now a minor celebrity, Barbara was becoming even more popular in the London social scene than she had already been.

Her dance card was always full and she was always full. present in the gossip columns of magazines like Tadler and other newspapers. At the same time, Barbara had already been secretly writing four gossip columns, gathering tips from her society circles, and she would continue that secret career for years. Can someone say Lady Whistledown? These social circles contained various lords and ladies, earls and countesses, and a young Winston Churchill who Barbara struck up a friendship with. Barbara would get further inspiration for her leading men when she met the Duke of Sutherland. He, like most men Barbara encountered, also fell in love with her, but there was the issue of his

already having a wife, and his advances were rejected. When Barbara did decide to marry, it was Proposal Number 50. Alexander George McCorkidale was not one of Barbara's brooding dukes. Rather, he was a British Army officer from Scotland and heir to a printing fortune. He was, however, said to have looked the part of a Cartland hero, dark-haired, strong, and, yes, of course, brooding. The couple were married on April 23, 1927. For the wedding, Barbara wore the first tool dress that society had seen since World War I,

made by the English designer extraordinaire Norman Hartnell, but designed by Barbara herself. Years later, Barbara would write an article on honeymoons for the evening news, and although she describes a fictitious young bride in the article, there was truth to her own experience. Quote, she, the fictional bride, dreamed of a strong silent caveman, a man of deeds but a few words, a man who underneath a deep reserve

was passionate, commanding, conquering. Finally, she thought she had found that in her husband. She mistook inertia for reserve, lack of interest for silent strength, and inexperience for hidden passion. she was miserably disappointed. Barbara's marriage would last only five years, but it brought the couple a baby girl,

Rain McCorkidale, in September of 1929. Barbara's mother-in-law implored her to give up her career and stop writing her, quote, immoral novels, but she had no intention of doing that. Not only did Barbara continue her literary career as a mother, but she took on new ventures, including advocating for better public health awareness after her daughter, Rain,

inexplicably fell nearly fatally ill. And Barbara also became interested in aviation advancements. Particularly, she was interested in recent innovations in gliding, and she worked with two inventors to deliver the first airmail cross-country via glider. When the project was complete, it was, of course, christened the Barbara Cartland Glider. Her experiment proved to be essential to further designs

and had an impact on the airmail system during the Second World War, so much so that in 1984, she was awarded the U.S. Bishop Wright's Air Industry Award. While Barbara continued to explore her new career ventures and interests, she faced difficulties at home. In the early 1930s, while her husband was away, Barbara came across a series of love letters in another woman's handwriting.

Instead of confronting her husband directly, the next morning she took her findings straight to his parents. Upon returning from his trip, her husband went straight to their home and refused all requests to see or speak to his wife. The social circles Barbara had once been the darling of were now beginning to shun her as a divorcee. The Matrimonial Causes Act that allowed for either spouse to petition for divorce on the basis of adultery

had only just been adopted in 1923, a decade earlier, and the upper echelons of British society were never the ones to quickly adopt progressive mindsets. The Countess of Pembroke forbade Barbara from helping her arrange a charity ball, which was ironic, considering the Earl of Pembroke had just run away with another woman and was, at the moment, begging his wife for a divorce. It should also be noted, though, Barbara may not have been entirely faithful during the marriage either. This claim must be taken with a grain of salt, as it was reported in the Daily Mail posthumously, as a conversation that happened off the record,

but she allegedly told a journalist that she had a number of lovers who could even potentially have been Rain's real father, including her prototypical hero, the Duke of Sutherland, and Prince George, the Duke of Kent. Barbara would go on to have two more children, both sons, with a second husband, her ex's cousin Hugh McCorkidale. They had been friends, and he became something of a rock for Barbara during the years following the divorce.

Darling, I am getting older, reads a letter from Hugh to his future wife. Yet you, the loveliest creature God ever made, loves me and wants to marry me. It's so wonderful I can't believe it's true. The couple would have 27 years together before Hugh passed. due to a heart condition, but he would be the great love of Barbara's life. The couple were married in 1936, by which point Barbara had begun to publish around two novels a year. Throughout all of those events I discussed and all of the events I will discuss, it is safe to say that Barbara was writing through them.

Barbara would continue to publish throughout the 1940s, but once again, she was forced to live through a world war, and once again she would lose family in the fighting. This time, both of her brothers died in Dunkirk. As daily life in London got more perilous, Barbara and her children left for Canada at the invitation of a friend. But Barbara soon decided she had made a mistake and that she and her family should return to England, where her husband, Hugh, had remained. She wanted to help however they could. She would become the Chief Lady welfare officer to the services in Bedfordshire, which often meant improving the lives of local women. Some of her aid came in the form of getting the servicewomen better material for their clothing, helping them feel more beautiful, and some of it came in the form of helping local pregnant women or women going through divorces.

As the only female welfare officer, she was in a unique position to understand. problems that were often overlooked by men. By all accounts, she was excellent at her job, but it seems like an odd fit when you consider that Barbara publicly stated numerous times that she did not care for women in general and had very few women friends in her life. As the war ended, Barbara became even more devoted to her writing, finishing her 30th novel and resuming her journalistic career. In 1948, inspired by her daughter's first extravagant wedding, Barbara responded to a request from a woman's magazine that implored her to write a historical romance.

That book would be hazard of hearts, and it would change the course of Barbara's career. Until that point, her stories had been modern, but the more she researched, the more she discovered her love of history. It also didn't hurt that one of Barbara's primary values, a woman being a virgin, had been even more valuable in the days of yore. In 1950, Barbara and her family moved to Camfield Place, a country estate built by Edmund Potter, grandfather of Beatrix Potter. Its gardens actually gave birth to Peter Rabbit, just as the gardens of Barbara's childhood home had been the original sort of, source of her imagination. That same year, Barbara faced a plagiarism allegation from one of her original inspirations, Georgette Heyer. Hayer alleged that Hazard of Hearts replicated character

names and plot points from a number of her novels, but the case never went to court, so we'll never know exactly what went down. Over the next decade, Barbara would continue to produce an astonishing number of novels. And by the 60s, there was a devoted market of British women eagerly awaiting every publication. By the early 70s, Barbara had sold 50 million books. As the decade went on, she would produce, on average, two books a month. Her afternoons consisted of dictating her writing to her secretaries. She could average 7,000 words in a session. which usually lasted a few hours. Her secretaries were not permitted to sneeze or cough

while Barbara dictated from the couch, with a hot water bottle at her feet and her dog cuddled next to her. This would be her routine for the rest of her life. In 1976, Barbara's daughter, Rain, married Earl Spencer, the father of Diana. However, when Rain fell for the Earl, she was already married with four children. It's like one of your books, she apparently told her mother,

I am wildly in love and there's nothing anyone can do about it. 16-year-old Diana had grown up a fan of her new step-grandmother's novels, and one of the princess's biographies claims that Cartland used to send her advanced copies even before they became family. There's a really great picture of a, young Diana reading one Cartland novel while two other books sit on her lap, and we can only imagine she's dreaming about her own romance one day with a Duke or an Earl or even a prince. Rain, as Princess Diana scholars might know, was hated by Diana and often referred to by Diana

and her siblings as acid rain. Their relationship was incredibly strained for most of her most of her life, although they would mend things shortly before Diana's tragic death. Even before Diana became family, Barbara had another royal connection, a long, intimate friendship with Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip's uncle, who even helped her write one of her romances, Love at the Helm, by providing her information from his naval background. Barbara did not attend the eventual royal wedding between Diana and Charles, but she insists it was not a snub that she instead gave up her seat so that her son Ian could go instead. Still, Barbara would only gain more tabloid attention from her association with the princess

at a time when her books were already becoming more popular than ever. After all, what was Diana but a Cartland character come to life? A young woman swept away by a romance with a prince. The 1960s saw censorship being lifted that allowed for racier material to now be published, but a boom of pornography meant that for many the pendulum of taste would swing the other way, and publishers saw a major market for Barbara's virginal heroines. The debate between erotica and romance was best exemplified in a 1987 TV appearance from Barbara, where she appeared alongside the novelist Jackie Collins, whose hit book The Stud,

exemplified for Cartland, everything wrong with romance. It's evil, really, Barbara began. What? Collins asks. The books you write, quite frankly, Collins replies that she doesn't believe there's anything, evil about writing about sex, something so natural, but Barbara is having none of it. Don't you think it has helped perverts, she asks, and worries about the book's influence on children. The YouTuber ContraPoint in her video on Twilight actually discusses that debate, describing it as, quote, surreal to watch a, quote, 80-year-old woman in clown drag,

lecture an audience about sexual purity. Since this is an audio medium, I leave it to you to watch the debate for yourself and decide if that description is apt. Barbara's crusades in her older age didn't just stop at bashing what she saw as immoral erotica. She campaigned for purity for women, promoting religious morality, as well as writing an article where she expressed her work, that books published by gay man's press could, quote, easily pollute children's minds. In response, the gay times wrote, quote, given the garbage that Cartland turns out, I would think that GMP are quite happy to be in a different league.

Yautch! There's a quote from Cartland that's in Robin's biography that reveals a sad truth. Cartland says, Marriage is the best investment that was ever invented for women. It's a security against their old age, against them being deserted after losing their looks and becoming unattractive. To throw away all that when you are young and foolish is very reckless, end quote. Even as the sexual revolution and the Equal Rights Amendment began to gain traction,

Barbara held on to the security of tradition and shamed the women who did not. It's incredible in a way that a woman who would sell millions of copies of books with a sizable income would still see the greatest security in her old age as still being wanted or tolerated by a man. While the world was progressing in a way

that frankly horrified her, Barbara could always write about a past she believed was exemplary. In the 90s, Barbara published her 565th book, breaking the record for the greatest number of books ever written by British authors. By then in her 90s, Barbara was still churning out novels. And in 1991, apparently after years of complaining that she never received even a, quote, Measly MBE, she was made a dame for her contribution to literature and for her work in the community and with charities. In 2000, at the age of 98, Barbara died in her sleep in her home.

Her official website states that over her career, she wrote 723 novels. She also left behind a series of 160 unpublished novels, which were later published by her son Ian as the Barbara Cartland Pink Collection. Barbara believed in reincarnation and was not afraid of death. Quote, I've had a wonderful life with ups and downs, tears and laughter, but so much kindness,

so much happiness, so much love, she told her biographer. How could all that be lost? How could the effort, the striving, the sacrifices be wasted? I believe my faith will make it all come true tomorrow. It's a very romantic thought. That's the story of the particular British icon, Dame Barbara Cartland.

But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear one important story, I believe, about one of her most important hobbies. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, you know from Stepbrothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and The Big Money Players Network. It's Will Farrell. Woo-woo, whoo-woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever.

I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come, look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah.

He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. And he goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're, banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be.

Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, you know from Step. Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. Woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day. And I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings.

I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat.

Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I could not end this episode without telling you about album of love songs, Barbara's record with the Royal Phil Harmonic. Her singing is, let's say, interesting, but the real gems of the album are the spoken word tracks, where she waxes poetic about all things love.

It is really the kind of thing you just have to go listen to on your own. I could give you my thoughts, or I could read you a YouTube comment from noted critic Lizzie Allen 2284. Quote, OMG, it doesn't get any camper than this. Could not have said it better myself. Noble Blood is a production of IHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Menke. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana. with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Courtney Sender, Julia Melani, and Armand Kasam. The show is edited and produced by Noami Griffin and Rima Il Kali,

with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet.

Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate

our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to Soccer moms on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

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