Book Talk at Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art Forum, Saturday January 24, 2pm
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Author Archive
Irrepressible now available in audio
For you and all your friends who love to listen, Henrietta as narrated by Christina Delaine is perfection. Add a little Jelly Roll or Ma Rainey and you’ll be totally set up.
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Ed Kosner praises Irrepressible
“Emily Bingham’s painstaking reconstruction of Henrietta’s story shows that she was a pioneer of sorts—a poignant case of a life unspooled before the world was ready for her odd grace.”
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New York Times Sunday Styles on Irrepressible
Liesl Schillinger on Henrietta Bingham and her wildly mesmerizing world.
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“Jazz Age heartbreaker who broke all the rules”–Washington Post Salutes Irrepressible
“Against the disapproving silence of her family, Bingham sets a bouquet of lovers’ odes…”
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Garden and Gun Daily Shot: “The Wild Southern Belle You’ve Never Heard of … Til Now”
Every family has its secrets—a recipe or fishing spot, perhaps. But for the storied Bingham family, of Louisville, Kentucky, the secrets could fill volumes…
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Filling in the Bloomsbury Puzzle: Biographer Anne Chisolm praises Irrepressible
“The Binghams appear like Tennessee Williams characters, their lives ravaged by alcohol, secrets, and sudden death.”
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Dallas Morning News praises Irrepressible
“With a revolving celebrity cast, Irrepressible takes place against a tapestry of the 20th century from 1901 to 1968. We invade the privacy of a glamorous, illustrious clan with enough tragedy, turmoil and feuding for a prime-time TV series. And though Henrietta never genuflected to convention, we feel the cold, numbing fear of discovery in […]
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The Daily Beast on Henrietta, Secret Lothario of the Jazz Age
Had Fitzgerald met Henrietta Bingham “she would have inspired a Jazz Age anti-heroine more beguiling than Daisy Buchanan and Nicole Diver combined.”
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Irrepressible excerpt published in New York Times Live
The southern belle who took London by storm 100 years ago, Henrietta Bingham grappled with issues — from sexuality to personal agency — as relevant to young women today as they were nearly a century ago…
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A Bloomsbury Tea (2010)
“A Bloomsbury Tea: Connecting Smith, Sexuality, Class and Bloomsbury.” Historian Emily Bingham will discuss the cultural, intellectual, and sexual intersections between Henrietta Bingham (who came to Smith in 1920), her English professor, Mina Kirstein Curtiss (Smith 1918), and members of the Bloomsbury Group during the 1920s. The presentation will be followed by a discussion led […]
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“Let’s Fly Away” (1930) by Cole Porter
Lee Wiley here sings the hit from Cole Porter’s 1930 Musical, The New Yorkers, starring Henrietta’s lover, Hope Williams as a New York socialite in love with a bootlegger. Hope flew away with Henrietta to her Wyoming ranch in the summer of 1932.
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Whistler’s Jug Band, “Folding Bed” (c 1930)
Henrietta patronized many of the famous jug bands of Louisville, but she must have particularly admired Buford Threlkeld, also known as “Whistler.” Seen here on the guitar, he was known for playing the nose whistle and performed a private all-night set for Henrietta and John Houseman in 1925. A rare video captures Whistler’s Jug Band […]
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“Prove It On Me Blues” (1928) by Ma Rainey
Rainey was the first black woman to record a blues record and sang openly about her bisexuality. The jug adds a Louisville touch to this recording.
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