My Lady Waited, excerpt from episode 8

This clip is an excerpt from episode 8 of My Lady Waited.

There were three things that mid-century Australian broadcasters knew tended to appeal to female listeners: women-centred stories, historical dramas and horror radio. My Lady Waited, launched on Melbourne’s 3DB-LK in 1951, is a fascinating amalgam of all three.

This unique series recounts the lives of famous women throughout world history, with an ethereal twist: the women portrayed in these episodes were depicted as spirits returned from the realm of the dead to share their stories with the living. From British queens, to Byzantine empresses, to French courtesans who denied the existence of God, My Lady Waited featured historical female figures renowned for their intelligence, wit and ambition.

While the show could be seen as a feminist endeavour, it was not necessarily a categorical one. Supernatural plot elements were often deployed to qualify these women’s successes, casting their rise to power as a result of occult dealings with dark forces. Radio advertisements for My Lady Waited featured its female leads under the direction of male producers and accompanied by young children – perhaps an attempt to reign in the more socially progressive facets of the series. These efforts do not temper the rarity of a program that showcased the accomplishments of the great women of history, and how their 'fragrant ghosts haunt the gardens of the past'.

Notes by Jo Palazuelos-Krukowski