An Old Timey Podcast

An Old Timey Podcast

History class just got hilariously inappropriate. Kristin Caruso, co-host of the true crime comedy podcast, Let’s Go To Court (16M+ downloads), and Norman Caruso, creator of the Gaming Historian YouTube channel (1M+ subscribers), team up to deliver a history podcast that is well researched, wide-ranging, and deeply silly. In other words, this is a podcast for intellectuals. Intellectuals who make fart jokes.

Episodes

53: Is JCPenney the Best Department Store? (Part 1)

May 7, 2025 • 82 mins
Normie C starts this series with a bold claim: That JCPenney is the best department store ever. This raises a lot of questions. Questions like… Really? Has Norm been to other department stores? Also, really??

In Part 1, Norm loads us up with all the context we’ll ever need about James Cash Penney Jr. A poor farm boy from Missouri, Penney would eventually create a chain of department stores with more than 2,000 locatio...
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52: The Creator of Mother's Day Tried to Destroy it

April 30, 2025 • 94 mins
Mother’s Day. When Anna Jarvis founded the holiday, she envisioned it as a day for everyone to honor and thank their mothers. She worked tirelessly to promote the holiday. She hoped it would be celebrated around the globe.

But after a few years, Anna noticed that Mother’s Day was becoming… commercialized. Anna was incensed. She went to war against florists, greeting card makers and anyone else who might make a profit...
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51: America Can’t Figure Out Daylight Saving Time (Part 2)

April 23, 2025 • 95 mins
In his final episode on Daylight Saving Time, Norm tells us that America has flip flopped on Daylight Saving Time for decades. We love it! We hate it! We implement it; we rescind it. Will the battle ever end? Probably not! Will Norm survive the disease known as the flu? We sure hope so!

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Austermuhle, Martin. “A History Of D...
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50: Hello, Sunshine: Why We Have Daylight Saving Time (Part 1)

April 16, 2025 • 83 mins
“OMG, the sun is up! Shouldn’t you be awake, doing productive things?” … that’s essentially what Benjamin Franklin shouted when he advocated to change the hours of human activity to take advantage of daylight.

That idea later evolved into Daylight Saving Time. Since its inception, Daylight Saving Time has had its fans and critics. In this series, Norm refers to the critics as Sun Cynics. The fans? Sun Sluts. Where wi...
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49: Cleveland’s Chaotic 10-Cent Beer Night

April 9, 2025 • 84 mins
In the summer of 1974, the Cleveland Indians had a big problem. Hardly anyone showed up for their games. It was embarrassing! So, the team’s management brainstormed ways to get butts in seats. Ultimately, they opted to host a handful of 10-cent beer nights. They hoped that the cheap beer would draw people to the stadium.

The good news? The plan worked! The bad news? It was pandemonium!

Remember, kids, histor...
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48: The Great Cobra Scare of 1953

April 2, 2025 • 76 mins
In the year of our Lord 1953, the city of Springfield, Missouri, had a terrible problem. Deadly cobras kept popping up in people’s yards! What were cobras doing in Missouri? They weren’t native to the area. Who the hell had rolled out the welcome mat??  

For the local police, the sudden presence of cobras wasn’t nearly as mysterious as it sounded. A local store, the Mowrer Animal Company, sold all kinds of exotic anim...
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47: DP Dupes Us!

March 26, 2025 • 112 mins
In this *very special* episode of an Old Timey Podcast, we got DP’d.

Ahem. By that, we mean that Kristin’s dad (aka DP) took over. He renamed the podcast. He accused Norm of having a dirty mind. Worst of all, he tricked us. (On our own podcast! In our own home! Is nothing sacred??)

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, DP pulled from:
“Small Town, Big Con” episode of ...
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46: Robert Smalls: An American Hero (Part 5)

March 19, 2025 • 105 mins
The final chapter of Robert Smalls’ life was eventful, and, at times, frustrating. He gained and lost government appointments. He won and lost political races. He weathered attacks on his character and attacks on his constituents. Through it all, he used his intelligence and agility to battle a system that tried – and failed – to take him down.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, ...
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45: Robert Smalls Battles Bribery Charges (Part 4)

March 12, 2025 • 106 mins
Brace yourselves. This episode is chock-full of post-reconstruction politics. Boy, is it grim! And also a little… relevant? (Ew!)

As South Carolina politics turned on its head, Robert Smalls emerged as one of the few Republican politicians still able to hold his seat. Unfortunately, Smalls’ influence and popularity put a target on his back. Soon, his political opponents ensured that he was charged with bribery. The tr...
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44: Robert Smalls Fights For Equality (Part 3)

March 5, 2025 • 99 mins
After the American Civil War, Robert Smalls navigated the complicated waters of Reconstruction. Black people struggled for basic rights against the White planter class, who refused to accept the end of slavery.

In this difficult time, Robert Smalls rose to the occasion and became a leader in his community. He fought for public education, equality, suffrage, and protection against violent terrorist groups. But accusat...
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43: Robert Smalls Fights the Confederacy! (Part 2)

February 26, 2025 • 101 mins
In part two of our series on Robert Smalls, Robert proves that his ballsy escape from slavery was just part of his story. In this episode, Robert builds wealth, becomes the Captain of a Union ship, and helps persuade the government to allow Black soldiers to enlist in the Union Army.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Lineberry, Cate. Be Free or Die: The A...
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42: The Daring Escape of Robert Smalls (Part 1)

February 19, 2025 • 104 mins
As an enslaved man, Robert Smalls had one goal – to attain freedom for himself and his family. The odds were against him. He’d hoped to buy his wife and children from their enslaver, but saving that amount of money might take a lifetime. Then, when Robert’s home state of South Carolina seceded from the Union, freedom seemed even more out of reach. But then Robert got an idea. It would be bold. It would be dangerous. It would a...
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41: The Gay Jesus Movie Hoax

February 12, 2025 • 76 mins
T’was an OUTRAGE! An Illinois-based company was working on a film about Jesus Christ. The problem? The film would portray Jesus as a drunk bank robber, a “swinging homosexual,” and a big fan of Hitler. Oh, and he’d also be depicted as having an affair with Mary Magdalene.

… wouldn’t the affair with Mary Magdalene make him bisexual, you ask? DON’T ASK QUESTIONS. In fact, don’t bother fact checking any of this! This is...
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40: Nell Donnelly Reed Conquers All (Part 3)

February 5, 2025 • 117 mins
In the final episode of this series, we hear how it all shakes out. The trials end. The messy love square between the Donnellys and Reeds implodes. Kansas City Mafia boss Johnny Lazia meets his maker. The Donnelly Garment Company thrives, then dies. Through it all, Nell Donnelly Reed rises to untold prominence, but still manages to keep her secrets.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this epis...
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39: The Mafia Rescues Nell Donnelly (Part 2)

January 29, 2025 • 116 mins
James A. Reed was in federal court, about to argue his case, when a call came in from Kansas City. Nell Donnelly had been kidnapped. James panicked. To James, Nell was so much more than a celebrated fashion designer. She was his neighbor. She was his secret lover. She was the mother of his child. He’d do anything to save her – including threatening the head of the Kansas City mafia.

Remember, kids, history hoes always...
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38: The Kidnapping of Nell Donnelly (Part 1)

January 22, 2025 • 116 mins
It was 6 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1931. Legendary fashion designer Nell Donnelly was headed home from work. Her chauffeur, George Blair, drove Nell’s lime green Lincoln through the streets of downtown Kansas City. When they arrived at her palatial home, George noticed a vehicle blocking the driveway. Two unfamiliar men stood on either side of it. George slammed on the brakes.

In seconds, one of the ...
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37: Stealing the Mona Lisa

January 15, 2025 • 126 mins
Back in 1911, the Mona Lisa didn’t get a lot of attention. Art critics considered it an excellent example of a painting from the renaissance era, but the general public wasn’t nearly so enamored.

That changed in August of that year, when someone plucked it off the wall of the Louvre, busted it out of its glass box and frame, and took off with it.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For th...
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36: The Murder in Room 1046

January 8, 2025 • 110 mins
When a dark haired man showed up at the Hotel President one January afternoon in 1935, the hotel staff couldn’t help but take note. He showed up without luggage. He seemed nervous. He said his name was Roland T. Owen and that he was from Los Angeles, but he spoke with a southern accent.

At one point, the hotel maid overheard him speak on the phone with a man named Don. She spotted a note he’d written to a man named D...
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35: Pocahontas Ends a War (Part 5)

December 18, 2024 • 115 mins
In this final episode of our series on Pocahontas, we see Pocahontas navigate life as a kidnapped young woman. She gets a marriage proposal. She ushers in an era of peace for her people. She gives birth. She’s taken to England. At one point, she tells off that douchelord, John Smith.

Her life story presents challenges for historians, not just because Native American oral history conflicts with English sources, but be...
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34: Pocahontas Gets Kidnapped! (Part 4)

December 11, 2024 • 106 mins
In this episode, tensions rise and true crime abounds. And, like an old timey episode of Dateline, it starts off peachy keen! Pocahontas married a warrior. She had a child. She lived what seemed to be a happy, normal life. But being the favorite daughter of Chief Wahunsenaca put a target on her back. It wasn’t long before English settlers decided to kidnap her.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! F...
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