In our Halloween episode Milena and Megan get spooky with 1950s monster movie special effects artist Milicent Patrick & prolific serial killer/chemist Giulia Tofana









Milicent Patrick







Happy Halloween everyone! Sure, here in America the scariest holiday is right around the corner – Election Day – instead of facing that nightmare of a reality we’re getting spooky. Today we’re covering a forgotten woman of Hollywood’s Movie Monster history, animator, illustrator, actress, and special effects artist Milicent Patrick.



While sexism plays heavily in her career, we cover what it took to make a monster (hint: over 170,000$), how to get hired as a makeup artist at Universal and how bad bosses get what’s coming to them.



Selected Works



Milicent sketching creature designs, shown with Bud Westmore







Image of the 1954 Gil-man, aka the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Milicent contributed to the creature design and custom paintwork for the mask



1955 photo of Milicent sketching Kirk Douglas while on set of ‘Man Without a Star’



In addition to her makeup effects and acting, Milicent also provide illustration works. Above, samples from The Westmore Beauty Book Milicent illustrated





* Creature from the Black Lagoon Movie – Film that Milicent worked primarily on during her career as a special effects artist * Hearst Castle – Ridiculously American mansion commissioned by publishing tycoon William Hearst and designed by America’s first woman architect Julia Morgan* CalArts – Where Milicent attended school, when it was still Chouinard Art Institute. After school went on to become one of Disney’s first women animators * Bud Westmore – Head of Universal’s make up department for over 20 years, hired Milicent. By all accounts major butthole of a boss



Wanna Know More?



Check out:



* The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara* The Fantastic Mystery of Milicent Patrick by Vincent Di Fate







Giulia Tofana



1903 painting The Love Potion by Evelyn De Morgan. No records of what Giulia looked like have survived



It’s Rome, 1640. You’re a upper-class woman with piece-of-shit husband.

Today best friends Milena and Megan cover Nobel prize winning American geneticist Barbara McClintock & French-American painter, sculptor, and performance artist Niki de Saint Phalle









Barbara McClintock







Barbara’s mother worried about her daughter. Natural to any parent, she fretted over the choices her child wanted to make. And natural to any parent she felt her child was not making the best decisions – after all, her child wanted to go an Ivy League school. Barbara’s life choices led to something much worse – winning a Nobel Prize for her discoveries in mobile genetic elements.



Today Milena covers how Barbara was led astray and spent a life dedicated to understanding the genetic components that we’re comprised of. We talk the importance of having family support, challenges of balancing motherhood and the importance of going with your gut. Oh, and how corn can actually be kinda cool.







Niki de Saint Phalle



Get yourself a woman who can do both



Italian princes, nervous breakdowns, Jane Fonda and .22 rifles. There are times Megan finishes researching an artist and wonders, how did I get here? That’s the case with French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle. This sculptor/painter/performance artist ties all of those things together in her career that spanned over 50 years. While today gives us mostly feel-good vibes, Niki did face challenges in her early years.



Today we cover how those challenges impacted her studio practice, art world sexism in the 1960s and the personal costs of pursuing your dreams. Let’s be honest, if you never try – a little part of you will always hate yourself.



Selected Works



Early 1956 work completed while Niki was institutionalized for a nervous breakdown



1960’s piece The Bride on Horseback, one of many assembled artworks Niki was making early on. These gritty, critical pieces were part of the European New Realism movement



Image of Niki performing a Tir (shoot) performance painting. This series from the early 1960’s launched Niki’s career into international acclaim



Installation view of She – a cathedral. For the three months it was on view in 1966 over 80,000 came to see it at the the Modern Museum in Stockholm, Sweden



Into the 70’s Niki’s work shifted themes – above are pieces from her Nanas series of dynamic, colorful







Image of Niki’s sculpture garden, completed over ten years with the help of her partner, local craftspeople and an Italian aristocrats





* Gaudi – Spanish architect best known for his flowing, organic forms. After visiting his public park Niki was inspired to create her own sculpture garden * Brancusi – Romanian born sculptor who was a leading artist in the Parisian & international art scene, first to establish an art studio in the Impasse Rosin ...