The Penny Dreadful Story Show: A Late Regency/Early Victorian Weekly Feast of Crammers and Moonshine

PART 3 OF 3 PARTS ... IN WHICH we finish our exploration of a fascinating little guidebook for all aspiring Swell Coves, from 1840. It’s titled “Hints to Men-About-Town,” and was written by an anonymous knight of the lancet and bleeding-cup who identifies himself only as “The Old Medical Student.”

THIS EPISODE is crammed with 185-year-old tips on how to prevent the many social, emotional, and especially medical issues that can...

IN WHICH —

0:07:30: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 50:

• Johanna Oakley is forced to take her brave but not overly smart cousin Big Ben the Beefeater into her confidence — to tell him she is dressing in boys’ clothes to spy on the barbershop where, she thinks, Mark Ingestrie was murdered. Now, what do you think Big Ben will do with this information? Why, go check it out by getting Sweeney Todd to shave him, of course. Will he survive such a foo...

PART 2 OF 3 PARTS ... IN WHICH we continue to explore a fascinating little guidebook for all aspiring Swell Coves, from 1840. It’s titled “Hints to Men-About-Town,” and was written by an anonymous knight of the lancet and bleeding-cup who identifies himself only as “The Old Medical Student.”

Not all of this is good medical advice, I'm sorry to say. There have been a few updates to the basic book of physic in the 185 years since thi...

FIVE NEW FLASH-CANT WORDS AND PHRASES —

• "On the Mace"
• "Angelics"
• "Misstopper"
• "Bone" and "Bank the swag"
• "Arch doxies, ack pirates, pigmen, rum quod culls, laced women and flowers of society"

Plus a chapter each from our five vintage Penny Dreadfuls!

0:04:20: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 49 —

• Poor barber’s apprentice Tobias Ragg remains in a state of temporary insanity. But ...

IN WHICH we explore a fascinating little guidebook for all aspiring Swell Coves, from 1840. It’s titled “Hints to Men-About-Town,” and was written by an anonymous knight of the goosefeather who identifies himself only as “The Old Medical Student.”

It's a series of three, starting with this episode. In it, we'll learn how to gracefully recover from the visible effects of getting involved in a drunken riot, or a street brawl, or mayb...

A THIEVES' SONG TRANSLATED —

• The beak looked big, and shook his head, heigh-ho the beak!

• He wished those family coves were dead, that honest folk might get their bread; heigh-ho the beak!
• The family cove, he grinned a grin, heigh-ho the cove!
• He said 'to prig I think no sin, for sure a Romany must have tin'; heigh-ho the cove!

Plus a chapter each from our five vintage Penny Dreadfuls!

0:04:30: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 48 —

• ...

FIVE NEW FLASH-CANT WORDS AND PHRASES —

• "Autem bawler"
• "Cat's meat shop"
• "Bulldogs"
• "Cross-crib"
• "Hoister mots, high tobers, and Moabites"

Plus a chapter each from our five vintage Penny Dreadfuls!

0:04:30: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 47 —

• Johanna Oakley’s mother is on a rampage, trying to persuade her to consent to marry Pastor Lupin. Luckily, Big Ben the beefeater stops by with...

*stands for "A Fate Worse Than Death." We'll be seeing a lot of this!

FIVE NEW FLASH-CANT WORDS AND PHRASES —

• "Lawful Blanket"
• "Gunpowder"
• "Timber merchant"
• "Swill Tub"
• "Philistines"

Plus a chapter each from our five vintage Penny Dreadfuls!

0:05:00: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 46 —

• The ostler from a hotel across the way arrives just in time to save Hector, the dog, from...

FIVE NEW FLASH-CANT WORDS AND PHRASES —

• "Academician"
• "Tog and kicks"
• "Shooting the cat"
• "Jobber knot"
• "Knife it"

Plus a chapter each from our five vintage Penny Dreadfuls!

0:04:10: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 45 —

• Major Bounce steps into Sweeney Todd’s shop and asks to have his mustache shaved off ... will Sweeney Todd “polish him off,” do you think? We’ll see.

0:18:00: BLACK BESS (Dick Turpin) Ch. 7 —

• Highwayman Dick Turpin is...

FIVE NEW FLASH-CANT WORDS AND PHRASES —

• "Glim"
• "Bolt the moon"
• "Nubbing"
• "Flat-catchers"
• "The holy land"

Plus a chapter each from our five vintage Penny Dreadfuls!

0:03:45: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 44 —

• Mrs. Lovett, disappointed at learning the truth about her new beau, Major Bounce, plots to avenge her wounded pride by getting him made into pies ...

0:20:00: BLACK BESS (D...

Join Professor Flash, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John. for a 90-minute spree through the story papers of old London! Grab a flicker of blue ruin, unload your stumps, and let's go!

0:03:45: DREADFUL-DOSSIERS REPORT —

• A 10-minute briefing on how The Barber of Fleet-street; or, The String of Pearls (feat. Sweeney Todd) came to be.

0:14:00: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 43 —

• We open on Mr. Todd getting a letter from Mr. Fogg, lying to him t...

FIRST — in Flash Academy, we'll learn what blowing the gab, drawing a cork, cat lap, "as right as a trivet," and Captain Flasham meant, in highwaymen's slang.

THEN — we hit five different story papers from the Golden Age of Penny Dreadfuls in old London!

IN SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 41-42 (starts at :06 mins.)—

• Sir Richard Blunt and Mr. Crotchet find some very singular things in Sweeney Todd’s house, including what Crotchet proclaims “the...

A mid-week catch-up to get the numbers right means we've got Chapter 3 of our three newest Dreadfuls coming your way!

• IN BLACK BESS; OR, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD: Dick Turpin foils the woodman's treachery, then discovers a sinister secret beneath the floor of his strange forest hut ...
• IN SPRING-HEEL'D JACK, THE TERROR OF LONDON: Jack turns the tables on his two pursuers and leaves them stuck in a field without their tr...

FIRST — in Flash Academy, we'll learn what high pads, glims flashy, high flyer, drawing a long bow, and hopping the twig meant, in highwaymens' slang.

THEN — we plunder five different story papers!

In Sweeney Todd Ch. 39 and 40 —

• Sir Richard Blunt rents an attic room in the building next to Sweeney Todd’s house from the owner, a henpecked shoemaker. Sir Richard and Crotchet slip in through an attic window and make some ra...

INTRODUCING our NEW FORMAT!

FIRST — in Flash Academy, we'll learn what Paddington Fair Day, Darby's Fair, Barking Irons, and Cherry-Coloured Prads meant, in highwaymens' slang.

THEN — we plunder five different story papers!

In Sweeney Todd, Ch. 37 and 38 —

• We meet Major Bounce, the "swaggering companion" and Mrs. Lovett's beau ideal — who, unfortunately, has lost her favour and seems destined to end up in...

BIG DOINGS! This week, in addition to plundering Sweeney Todd, we're adding Varney the Vampyre to the show. Next week, we'll add Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road and Spring-Heel'd Jack, the Terror of London and The Black Band; or, The Mysteries of Midnight to the line-up. We can't wait!

FIRST we'll learn what "bursters," "Mrs. Jones's counting-house," "Knights of the Hod," ...

IN WHICH we learn what "a flash of lightning," "a noggen of red tape," "hot flannel," "blackstrap," and "heavy wet" meant in 1830 ...

THEN — Tobias just barely escapes from the wrath of Fogg and Watson by hiding in the room of a fellow inmate, another sane person – a girl who’s been put here so her inheritance can be stolen. Tobias and the girl make a play for escape, but the rope br...