Author: Mark

417: Over the Rainbow

Mark Podcast
Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.

Blues records sold well in the 1920s, and the most prominent blues singers were women.

In the 1930s, teenaged Judy Garland became a film star, most memorably in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“St. Louis Blues.”
Composed in 1914 by W.C. Handy. Public domain.

“You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want to Do It.)”
Composed in 1913 by James V. Monaco, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy. Public domain.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

416: The Iron Gut of Europe

Mark Podcast
President Roosevelt awards General Mark Clark the Distinguished Service Cross in Sicily, December 13, 1943.

The Allies invaded the Italian mainland with the blessing of the Italian government and the expectation the Germans would withdraw from the Italian Peninsula.

Instead, the Germans retained control over most of Italy, holding the Allies to a small part of the southern end of the country.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Violin Concerto in F major “Autumn.”
Composed in 1723 by Antonio Vivaldi. Public domain.
Performed by John Harrison and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

415: Would They Obey You Any More Readily?

Mark Podcast
Vehicles and equipment abandoned by the Germans as they evacuated the Korsun Pocket.

The Red Army continued to apply pressure to the German Army along the southern part of the front throughout the winter and spring of 1944, denying the Germans any opportunity to dig in and stabilize the line.

Adolf Hitler blamed Germany’s deteriorating military position on disloyalty by the senior commanders of the Wehrmacht.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Lohengrin
Composed in 1848 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

414: The Teheran Conference

Mark Podcast
Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill, seated in front of the Soviet embassy in Teheran during the conference.

In November 1943, the three principal Allied leaders met together for the first time.

In a friendly and informal series of meetings, they agreed on a strategy to defeat the Axis and shape the postwar world.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Scheherazade
Composed in 1888 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

413: Frankly, My Dear

Mark Podcast
Dust jacket cover of first edition of Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), created in 1924 in a three-way merger of film companies, quickly became the industry leader in Hollywood, in no small part because of its gifted chief of production, Irving G. Thalberg.

The success of Gone with the Wind, the highest-grossing film of the era, distributed by MGM, epitomizes the stature of the studio.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“I Wanna Go Back to Dixie.”
Composed in 1953 by Thomas Andrew Lehrer. Public domain.
Performed by the composer. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

412: Hero to Zero

Mark Podcast
Japanese “Zero” fighter plane captured and studied by the Americans. Note the US roundel on the wing.

In the early months of the Pacific war, the Japanese quickly seized control over a large expanse of the Western Pacific and East Asia. Their remarkable fighter plane, the “Zero,” played an important role in these successes.

But although the Zero was the best fighter plane in the world when it was first introduced in 1940, by 1943, Allied aircraft technology was catching up, and Allied pilots were gaining experience in fighting against it.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 9 in E minor.
Composed in 1893 by Antonín Dvořák. Public domain.
Performed by the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Schubert, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

411: From the Top

Mark Podcast
Italian General Giuseppe Castellano shakes hands with US General Dwight Eisenhower after signing the Italian armistice agreement.

Continuing from the previous episode, we look at important events in August-September 1943.

The most notable of these was the surrender of Italy. Italians hoped this meant the war would be over, at least for them, but the Wehrmacht had other ideas.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Overture to La Forza del Destino.
Composed in 1861 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

410: Stranded on Plum Pudding Island

Mark Podcast
Lt. Kennedy at the helm of PT-109.

The period of July-August 1943 saw major developments on the Eastern Front, in the Mediterranean, and in the Pacific.

US Navy patrol boat PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer. Its commander, the son of financier Joseph Kennedy, rescued the survivors and became a war hero.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 7 in A Major (piano transcription.)
Composed in 1813 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by Luis Sarro and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

409: Famous Players in Famous Plays

Mark Podcast
The original Paramount Pictures logo from 1914. At that time, it was a film distribution company.

Paramount Pictures was the second biggest Hollywood film studio of the period.

The company was notable for its business practices. It signed some of the biggest stars of the time, owned its own theaters, and was big enough to insist on demanding terms from other theaters that wanted to show its films.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Rondo alla turca
Composed in 1784 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Public domain.
Performed by Markus Staab and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

408: The Great Retreat

Mark Podcast
Red Army soldiers building rafts for crossing the Dnieper River. The sign reads “On to Kiev!”

The Red Army of 1943 was very different from the Red Army of 1941. It was far more mobile, for one thing.

Following their victory over the German Army in the Battle of Kursk, the Germans retreated westward. But the Red Army just kept coming.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Overture to Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman).
Composed in 1843 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.