She swapped corsets for cavalry boots and almost got hanged for it.
Performed by Constance Smith, Pauline Cushman-Fryer tells us how she became a Union Spy, was almost hanged, was granted the rank of Major by Abraham Lincoln, and died lonely in San Francisco from an overdose of opium.
Acting
Constance Smith channels Pauline's nerve and her ghosts simultaneously.
Direction
Ondricka packs a lifetime into 300 seconds without rushing.
Director
Allyce Ondricka
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pauline was actually discovered hiding Union battle plans in her shoes — classic spy-novel stuff, but real.
Her 1865 lecture tour made her briefly famous, yet she's barely a footnote now — this doc attempts correction.
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