Unveiling the Legends: Dolls of the 60s & 70s

“For rising of the women
Means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler,
Ten that toil where one reposes,
But the sharing of life's glories,
Bread and roses, bread and roses.”
Mimi Fariña spent most of her life living in someone else’s shadow. First, she was the kid sister of folk music’s Mother Mary, Joan Baez. Then, she was one half of a duo with her husband Richard Fariña; a mysterious and handsome writer cut down in his prime. Mimi refused to let these larger-than-life figures dictate her story. She found her own voice and her life’s work, establishing her nonprofit Bread & Roses to bring music to isolated communities in the San Fransisco Bay Area, and found her purpose in tragedy.
Plus, the Dolls Pod gives…hot takes on classic literature and film? Emma and Abby talk about the difficulties of adapting “Wuthering Heights,” and Emma loves a slow film but declares “Gone With The Wind” is an hour too long. Do you agree?
“Mimi Fariña: Beyond the Baez Name” is available wherever you stream your podcasts 🌹
(Episode begins at 5:40)
Bread & Roses official website: https://www.breadandroses.org (https://www.breadandroses.org/)
Sources used for this episode:
David Hajdu, “Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina” (2001)
Joan Baez, “And A Voice To Sing With” (1986)
Elijah Wald, “Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties” (2015)
Suze Rotolo, “A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties” (2008)
Patrick Morrow, “Mimi Fariña Interview” Popular Music and Society vol. 2, no. 1, 1972. Reprinted by Mimiandrichardfarina.com
“Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation” (dir. Laura Archibald, 2012)
“Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” (dir. Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle, and Karen O’Connor, 2023)
“The Ballad of Mimi Fariña: A biography of the great guitarist, singer, songwriter & humanitarian” Mimiandrichardfarina.com
Songs used in this episode:
Kate Bush - “Wuthering Heights” (1978)
Pete Seeger - “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” (1955)
Joan Baez and Mimi Fariña - “Catch The Wind” (1967)
Joan Baez - “Silver Dagger” (1960)
Richard Fariña and Eric Von Schmidt - “You Can Always Tell” (1963)
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez - “Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind” (Live at the Philharmonic Hall) [1964]
Joan Baez - “Birmingham Sunday” (1964)
Mimi and Richard Fariña - “Pack Up Your Sorrows” (1965)
Mimi and Richard Fariña - “House Un-American Blues Activity Dream” (Live at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival)
Mimi and Richard Fariña - “Miles” (1966)
Mimi and Richard Fariña - “Bold Marauder” (Live on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest) [1966]
The Doors - “Been Down So Long” (1971)
Mimi Fariña - “Flowers In The Afternoon” (1967)
Blood, Sweat & Tears - “Meagan’s Gypsy Eyes” (1968)
Joan Baez - “Sweet Sir Galahad” (1969)
Joan Baez and Mimi Fariña - “Morning, Morning” (Live at the 1968 Newport Folk Festival)
Mimi Fariña and Tom Jans - “In the Quiet Morning” (1972)
Judy Collins - “Bread and Roses” (1976)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!

This week’s Doll is a whole lot more than a name squished into a clickbait slop article. She met Mick Jagger several years into her own storied career; which brought her from the UC Berkeley campus to playing Dionne in the West End production of Hair, then gracing the pages of fashion magazines and performing at Isle of Wight. She’s a novelist and memoirist, activist, actress in TV and film, and a stage 3 cancer survivor. What can’t Marsha Hunt do?
Plus, Emma gives an update on her home renovations, and Abby shares her experience at the MCA’s Yoko Ono retrospective and her day with friends of Cynthia Plaster Caster.
“Marsha Hunt: The Story of a Survivor” is available wherever you stream your podcasts.
(Episode starts at 7:00)
Sources used for this episode:
Marsha Hunt, “Real Life: The Story of a Survivor” (1988)
Marsha Hunt, “Undefeated” (2005)
Songs used in this episode:
John Mayall - “Brown Sugar” (1967)
Marsha Hunt - “I Walk on Gilded Splinters” (1969)
Renn Woods - “Aquarius” (From the film soundtrack of “Hair”) [1979]
The Rolling Stones - “Brown Sugar” (1971)
Marsha Hunt - “Oh No, Not The Beast Day” (1973)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram to see clips and photos mentioned in this episode!

“She was a beautiful person, loving and warm...She was down-to-earth, she loved to laugh, and everyone loved her.” - Marvin Gaye, on fellow Motown star and original Supreme Florence Ballard
This week, the Dolls Pod presents the true story behind the Tony-winning musical “Dreamgirls,” and the very real woman that was its muse. Both Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson won Academy awards for their portrayals of Effie White, based on the fiery founder of the Supremes. Florence Ballard sang on 16 of their top 40 hits, and 9 of their number ones. But she did not have the happy ending Effie gets in “Dreamgirls.” She’s often called “the Lost Supreme,” as she was virtually erased from the group’s history. But as this episode will show you, Flo Ballard was anything but “just a backup singer.” She was brave in the face of hardship and a true trailblazer; the soul of Motown’s first girl group. “Florence Ballard: The Real Effie White” is available wherever you stream your podcasts 🎤
(Episode starts at 4:50)
Sources used for this episode:
Peter Benjaminson, “The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard” (2009)
Nelson George, “Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound” (2007 ed.)
Randall Wilson, “Forever Faithful: A Study of Florence Ballard and the Supremes” (1987)
Mary Wilson, “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme” (1986)
Maxine Ballard Jenkins, “The True Story of Florence Ballard” (2007)
“Unsung” season 2 episode 4, “Florence Ballard” (6/28/2009)
“Mary Wilson Gets Emotional Remembering Florence Ballard” via SiriusXM on YouTube, 9/24/2019
Songs used in this episode:
Jennifer Hudson - “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” (From the soundtrack of “Dreamgirls”) [2006]
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers - “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” (1956)
Ray Charles - “The Right Time” (1958)
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - “Shop Around” (1960)
The Primettes - “Tears of Sorrow” (1961)
The Supremes - “Buttered Popcorn” (1962)
The Marvelettes - “Please Mr. Postman” (1961)
The Contours - “Do You Love Me” (1962)
Mary Wells - “You Beat Me To The Punch” (1962)
The Supremes - “When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes” (1963)
The Supremes - “Where Did Our Love Go?” (1964)
The Supremes - “Baby Love” (1964)
The Beatles - “Money (That’s What I Want)” (1964)
The Supremes - “Stop! In The Name of Love” (1965)
The Supremes - “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (1966)
Vanilla Fudge - “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (1967)
The Supremes - “Ain’t That Good News” (1965)
The Supremes - “People” (1967)
Scott McKenzie - “San Fransisco” (1967)
Florence Ballard - “It Doesn’t Matter How I Say It” (1968)
Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Jennifer Holliday - “Dreamgirls” (From the original Broadway cast recording of “Dreamgirls”) (1982)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram to see clips and photos from this episode!

We have a very special guest for our season 3 premiere! Thanks to Emma, we got to chat with “Jennifer Juniper: A Journey Beyond The Muse” author Jenny Boyd about her time as a model in swinging London, San Fransisco during the Summer of Love, with the Beatles in India, and on the road with Fleetwood Mac at the height of their fame. We also got to talk about her earning her doctorate, exploring the creative process in her thesis “Musicians in Tune”/“Icons of Rock,” her work in the addiction recovery field, and an exciting new project. It’s well and truly a journey beyond being a muse. Thank you Jenny for joining us this week!
Plus, Emma gives a life update on her growing family and how she found her midcentury dream home! “Jennifer Juniper: An Interview with Jenny Boyd” is available now wherever you stream your podcasts 💐
Jenny’s website: www.thejennyboyd.com
Sources used for this episode:
Jenny Boyd, “Jennifer Juniper: A Journey Beyond The Muse” (2020)
Jim Farber, “‘It’s not what you think’: Behind the star-studded life of a rock star’s wife” The Guardian, 3/30/2020
Songs used in this episode:
Donovan - “Jennifer Juniper” (1968)
Fleetwood Mac - “Purple Dancer” (1971)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!

“I think that love will never die. Once you know somebody, you can never unknow that person. And knowing is loving. So you never can get out of love.”
The Dolls Pod Beatle Girl miniseries concludes! Part two of our “Oh Yoko!” episode focuses on her music, activism, and of course, we tell the ballad of Yoko and John.
Also: car seats and nurseries and baby names, oh my! Emma is settling into her last few weeks before baby arrives. Join us for the emotional season two finale of the Dolls Podcast, available wherever you stream your podcasts ☁️
Sources used for this episode:
David Sheff, “Yoko” (2025)
Jann Wenner, “Lennon Remembers” (2000)
David Sheff, “The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono” (edited by G. Barry Golson, 1981)
Cynthia Lennon, “John” (2005)
May Pang with Henry Edwards, “Loving John” (1983)
The Beatles, “Anthology” (2000)
Alan Clayson, Barb Jungr, and Robb Johnson, “Woman: The Incredible Life of Yoko Ono” (2004)
J. Hoberman, “Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde - Primal Happenings, Underground Moves, Radical Pop” (2025)
Elvis Mitchell, “Yoko Ono” Interview Magazine, 11/26/2013
Lisa Carver, “Yoko Ono: A Reconsideration” The New York Times, 10/19/2012
“One To One: John & Yoko” (dir. Kevin MacDonald and Sam Rice-Edwards, 2025)
“Classic Albums: John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band” (dir. Matthew Longfellow, 2008)
(Episode starts at 7:08)
Songs used in this episode:
Yoko Ono - “Yes, I’m A Witch” (2007)
Plastic Ono Band - “Give Peace A Chance” (1969)
Yoko Ono - “Don’t Worry Kyoko” (1969)
John Lennon - “Mother” (1970)
John Lennon - “Imagine” (1971)
“Glee End Credits Theme” (2009)
Yoko Ono - “Approximately Infinite Universe” (1973)
John Lennon - “Beautiful Boy” (1980)
John Lennon - “Just Like Starting Over” (1980)
Yoko Ono - “Talking To The Universe” (1995)
Fiona Apple - “I Want You To Love Me” (2020)
Yoko Ono, Kim Gordon & Thurston Moore - “Mirror Mirror” (2012)
Death Cab For Cutie - “Waiting For The Sunrise” (Yoko Ono Cover) [2022]
John Lennon - “Oh Yoko!” (1971)
With samples from Monday Night Football, 12/8/1980, and Yoko’s Grammys acceptance speech, 2/24/1982
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!