The story of how strawberries went from small forage item to one of the world’s most popular fruits – though they're technically not a true fruit – involves lots of crossbreeding experimentation, as you might expect, but also a bit of spy craft.

Research:

• “A Transatlantic Tango: The Story of the Strawberry. Royal Horticultural Society. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/features/history-of-the-strawberry#:~:text=It%20is%20hard%20to%20believe,back%20on%20fortifications%20near%20Concepci%C3%B3n.
• Allen, Mike. “The 18th-Century Spy Who Gave Us Big Strawberries.” Atlas Obscura. Nov. 16, 2017. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/big-strawberries-spy-chile-france
• Barnes, Monica. “Frezier, Amédée François (1682-1773).” American Museum of Natural History. January 2008. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280567727_Frezier_Amedee_Francois_1682-1773
• Darrow, George M. “The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology.” New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1966. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/strawberryhistor00darr/mode/1up
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "strawberry". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Jun. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/plant/strawberry
• Folta, K.M., Barbey, C.R. “The strawberry genome: a complicated past and promising future.” Hortic Res 6, 97 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-019-0181-z
• Grubinger, Vern. “History of the Strawberry.” University of Vermont. June 2012. https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/strawberryhistory.html
• Hancock, J.F. “Strawberries.” Oxford University Press. 2000.
• Petruzzello, Melissa. "list of plants in the family Rosaceae". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Mar. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-plants-in-the-family-Rosaceae-2001612
• Sevilla, Elisa, and Ana Sevilla. “STRAWBERRY.” New World Objects of Knowledge: A Cabinet of Curiosities, edited by Mark Thurner and Juan Pimentel, University of London Press, 2021, pp. 207–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1vbd275.34
• “Strawberry Facts.” University of Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center. https://gcrec.ifas.ufl.edu/fruit-crops/strawberries/strawberry-facts/
• Sytsma, Kenneth J.. "Rosaceae". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/plant/Rosaceae

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Dorothy Arzner wasn’t the first female film director in the U.S., but she was really the only one working in the studio system during most of the period that’s known as the Hollywood Golden Age. Her short career was still incredibly prolific.

Research:

• "Dorothy Arzner." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 2022. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631009688/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=19d5d3af. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
• Bryant, Sara. “Dorothy Arzner’s Talkies: Gender, Technologies of Voice, and the Modernist Sensorium.” Modern Fiction Studies , Summer 2013, Vol. 59, No. 2, Women's Fiction, New Modernist Studies, and Feminism (Summer 2013) Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26287651
• Casella, Donna R. “What Women Want: The Complex World of Dorothy Arzner and Her Cinematic Women.” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media , SPRING & FALL 2009, Vol. 50, No. 1/2 (SPRING & FALL 2009). https://www.jstor.org/stable/41552560
• Chuba, Kirsten. “Francis Coppola Helps Paramount Dedicate Building to Pioneer Director Dorothy Arzner.” Variety. https://variety.com/2018/film/news/dorothy-arzner-paramount-building-francis-coppola-1202715056/
• D’Alessandro, Anthony. “Francis Ford Coppola & Paramount Dedicate Studio Building To Trailblazing Female Filmmaker Dorothy Arzner.” Deadline. 3/1/2018. https://deadline.com/2018/03/francis-ford-coppola-paramount-dorothy-arzner-jim-gianopulos-1202307320/
• Field, Allyson Nadia. “Dorothy Arzner.” Women Film Pioneers Project. https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-dorothy-arzner/
• Geller, Theresa L. “Arzner, Dorothy.” Senses of Cinema. 5/2003. https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/arzner/
• Kuperberg, Julia & Clara. “Dorothy Arzner, Pioneer, Queer, Feminist.” Wichita Films. 2022.
• Lane, Christina. "Directed by Dorothy Arzner." Velvet Light Trap, fall 1996, pp. 68+. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A90190315/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=04146780. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
• Levy, Carly. “Dorothy Arzner: The Only Female Director of the Golden Age.” Video Librarian. 4/21/2023. https://videolibrarian.com/articles/essays/dorothy-arzner-a-golden-age-era-female-director/
• Lewis, Maria. “Dorothy Arzner: mother of invention.” ACMI. https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/dorothy-arzner-mother-invention/
• Lugowski, David M. “Queering the (New) Deal: Lesbian and Gay Representation and the Depression-Era Cultural Politics of Hollywood's Production Code.” Cinema Journal , Winter, 1999, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Winter, 1999). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1225622
• Madsen, Axel. “The Sewing Circle : Hollywood's greatest secret : female stars who loved other women.” London : Robson. 1996.
• Mayer, So. “Dorothy Arzner: Queen of Hollywood.” BFI. 3/7/2015. https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/dorothy-arzner-queen-hollywood
• Norden, Martin F. “Exploring the work of Dorothy Arzner as a film-making teacher in southern California.” Film Education Journal. 2022. https://doi.org/10.14324/FEJ.05.2.01
• Norden, Martin F., editor. “Dorothy Arzner: Interviews.” University Press of Mississippi. 2024.
• Tangcay, Jazz. “Women Were Better Represented in Hollywood During the Silent Film Era, AFI Study Reports (EXCLUSIVE).” 1/6/2023. https://variety.com/2023/film/news/women-hollywood-silent-film-era-american-film-institute-afi-1235480998/
• Tatna, Meher. “Forgotten Hollywood: Dorothy Arzner.” Golden Globes. 2/16/2022. https://goldenglobes.com/articles/forgotten-hollywood-dorothy-arzner-articles-forgotten-hollywood-dorothy-arzner/
• Tietjen, Jill S. and Barbara Bridges. “How Women Were Pushed Out of Hollywood—and Fought Their Way Back In.” Excerpt from "Hollywood: Her Story" The Helm. 4/22/2021. https://thehelm.co/hollywood-herstory-book/

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This 2017 episode covers the early days of Hollywood, and its reputation for debauchery. When a high-profile director was murdered, it added to that image, and revealed that Taylor, like so many in Hollywood, had lots of secrets.

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