Latest Episodes
The Lynch Family: Boxing Helena & Lost Highway (Erotic 90’s, Part 17)
September 26, 2023
- 1:17:14
One of the most notorious – and least seen – erotic narrative films of the 90s, Boxing Helena was the misbegotten passion project of...
Crash and David Cronenberg (Erotic 90’s, Part 16)
September 19, 2023
- 1:23:10
One of the only high-profile NC-17 releases post-Showgirls, David Cronenberg’s Crash was the kind of dark adult art film that the rating...
“Lesbian Chic”: Bound and Anne Heche in Wild Side (Erotic 90’s, Part 15)
September 12, 2023
- 1:10:02
At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the anxiety that...
About The Show
You Must Remember This is a storytelling podcast exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. It’s the brainchild and passion project of Karina Longworth (founder of Cinematical.com, former film critic for LA Weekly), who writes, narrates, records and edits each episode. It is a heavily-researched work of creative nonfiction: navigating through conflicting reports, mythology, and institutionalized spin, Karina tries to sort out what really happened behind the films, stars and scandals of the 20th century.
More Episodes
The Lynch Family: Boxing Helena & Lost Highway (Erotic 90’s, Part 17)
September 26, 2023
- 1:17:14
One of the most notorious – and least seen – erotic narrative films of the 90s, Boxing Helena was the misbegotten passion project of...
Crash and David Cronenberg (Erotic 90’s, Part 16)
September 19, 2023
- 1:23:10
One of the only high-profile NC-17 releases post-Showgirls, David Cronenberg’s Crash was the kind of dark adult art film that the rating...
“Lesbian Chic”: Bound and Anne Heche in Wild Side (Erotic 90’s, Part 15)
September 12, 2023
- 1:10:02
At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the anxiety that...
Introducing: Glitter & Might
August 25, 2023
- 03:36
In Glitter & Might, a new series exploring the intersection of show business and politics, bestselling author Shawn Levy unpacks the...
Showgirls, Jade, and the fall of Joe Eszterhas. (Erotic 90’s, Part 14)
June 27, 2023
- 1:32:29
Joe Eszterhas’s tenure as the hottest screenwriter in town ended with two notorious 1995 flops: the NC-17 rated Showgirls (directed,...
The Last Seduction, Disclosure, & Fear of the Female Boss (Erotic 90’s, Part 13)
June 20, 2023
- 1:11:49
The 90s were obsessed with what magazine writer Tad Friend would describe as “do me feminism” – and the attendant fear that men could be...
Sliver and Sharon Stone as Superstar (Erotic 90’s, Part 12)
June 13, 2023
- 1:16:12
Sharon Stone and Joe Eszterhas’s post-Basic Instinct reunion film was one of the most troubled productions of the 90s. A post-Hitchcock...
Indecent Proposal (Erotic 90’s, Part 11)
June 6, 2023
- 1:26:48
Are men okay? Several films from 1993 answered that question with a resounding no. One of the highest grossing movies of its year,...
Sex, Erotica and Body of Evidence (Erotic 90’s, Part 10)
May 30, 2023
- 1:24:10
In the early 90s, Madonna was the biggest pop star in the world, and she used – and in the minds of some, squandered – her star capital...
Red Shoe Diaries and sex on TV in the 90s. (Erotic 90’s, Part 9)
May 23, 2023
- 1:05:16
While the MPAA’s confusing and hypocritical ratings decisions were leaving filmmakers flummoxed in the early 90s, cable TV was opening...
90s Lolitas, volume 1: Drew Barrymore, Amy Fisher and Alicia Silverstone (Erotic 90’s, Part 8)
May 16, 2023
- 1:23:11
Culture in the 90s was obsessed with the sex lives of teenagers. This is a theme we will come back to several times throughout the...
Murphy Brown, Dan Quayle and Damage (Erotic 90’s, Part 7)
May 9, 2023
- 1:22:06
In the early 90s, one of the biggest scripted shows on TV was Murphy Brown, starring 40-something Candice Bergen as a product of the 60s...
Basic Instinct (Erotic 90’s, Part 6)
May 2, 2023
- 1:23:54
One of the biggest hits of 1992, Basic Instinct was sold as Michael Douglas’s return to Fatal Attraction territory, but its success owed...
The Blanks From Hell: Fatal Attraction’s Children (Erotic 90’s, Part 5)
April 25, 2023
- 1:08:05
In the five years after the release of Fatal Attraction, Hollywood scrambled to make one movie after another about homes and workplaces...
Thelma & Louise (Erotic 90’s, Part 4)
April 18, 2023
- 1:09:53
One of the most controversial movies of the 1990s, Thelma & Louise pushed every hot button of the new decade: date rape, sexual...
Introducing This Little Light with Flea
April 13, 2023
- 02:19
Hosted by Flea, founding member and bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, This Little Light is a podcast about falling in love with...
“The actress everybody wants to fuck”: Theresa Russell and Sondra Locke (Erotic 90’s, Part 3)
April 11, 2023
- 1:23:52
An enigmatic sex symbol dating back to the 70s, Theresa Russell made a play for Hollywood stardom in the late 80s and early 90s, making...
Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy and Julia Roberts in the early 90s (Erotic 90’s, Part 2)
April 4, 2023
- 1:08:50
The first blockbuster about sex of the 90s, Pretty Woman both reinvigorated Richard Gere’s career, and turned Julia Roberts into the...
Prologue: Porn, Feminism & the folly of NC-17 (Erotic 90’s, Part 1)
March 28, 2023
- 1:24:44
Erotic 80s began with a prologue about the short lived heyday of the X rating, pornography, and feminism. Erotic 90s begins with a...
1989: sex, lies and videotape: Rob Lowe and James Spader (Erotic 80s Part 12)
June 21, 2022
- 1:38:35
American independent film is launched into the mainstream by Steven Soderbergh’s sex, lies and videotape, starring James Spader as an...
1988: Kevin Costner, Sean Young, No Way Out & Bull Durham (Erotic 80s Part 11)
June 14, 2022
- 1:19:22
The 1988 baseball blockbuster Bull Durham confirms Kevin Costner as the ultimate squeaky-clean, all-American heartthrob, building on a...
1987: Fatal Attraction and Dirty Dancing (Erotic 80s Part 10)
June 7, 2022
- 1:18:25
The erotic thriller goes commercially mainstream with Fatal Attraction, a film which starts a national conversation about whether or not...
1986: 9 ½ Weeks, Mickey Rourke & Zalman King (Erotic 80s Part 9)
May 31, 2022
- 1:17:31
Billed as the hottest Hollywood film since Last Tango, 9 ½ Weeks was considered to have missed the mark by everyone who made it –...
1985: Fear Sex. Jagged Edge & AIDS (Erotic 80s Part 8)
May 24, 2022
- 59:01
Just as the AIDS-related death of Rock Hudson was finally forcing straight people – and Hollywood – to acknowledge that epidemic, a film...
1984: "Vioporn," Body Double and Crimes of Passion (Erotic 80s Part 7)
May 17, 2022
- 1:13:18
In a time of bombastic blockbusters (and Reagan’s re-election), two auteurs defy the norms by releases violent films about sexual...
1983: MTV Aesthetics, Flashdance and Risky Business (Erotic 80s Part 6)
May 10, 2022
- 1:11:16
While the music video was still in its infancy as a cultural phenomenon, two films were released that were accused of aping the “MTV...
1982: Teen Sexploitation, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's and The Blue Lagoon (Erotic 80s Part 5)
May 3, 2022
- 58:58
1982 saw the release of three hit high school-set comedies about sex: Porky’s, The Last American Virgin and Fast Times at Ridgemont...
1981: Neonoir, Body Heat and Postman Always Rings Twice (Erotic 80s Part 4)
April 26, 2022
- 1:09:19
The New Hollywood directors of the late 1960s and 70s were the first generation of Hollywood filmmakers to grow up studying Hollywood...
1980: Richard Gere and American Gigolo (Erotic 80s Part 3)
April 19, 2022
- 1:03:26
One of the most aesthetically influential movies of the ‘80s, Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo sets a template for much of what we’re...
1979: Bo Derek and 10 (Erotic 80s Part 2)
April 12, 2022
- 1:10:31
The sleeper hit of late 1979 was Blake Edwards’s sex farce 10, a comedic vivisection of a male midlife crisis, which turned 23 year-old...
Porno Chic and The Brief Heyday of X Ratings (Erotic 80s Part 1)
April 5, 2022
- 1:04:48
In 1968, the Production Code gave way to the ratings system, and the brief legitimacy of the X-rated movie. Today we’ll focus on two...
Sammy and Dino Episode 9: Is That All There Is?
December 21, 2021
- 1:11:17
Desperate to be seen as cool and not a relic of an earlier age in 70s America, Sammy gets into porn and drugs. A Rat Pack reunion gives...
Sammy and Dino Episode 8: Generation Gap
December 14, 2021
- 1:17:17
In the mid-1960s, 47 year-old Dean Martin proves he's still got it by knocking the Beatles off the top of the pop charts, and by...
Sammy and Dino Episode 7: Yes I Can
December 7, 2021
- 1:02:53
Released in 1965, Sammy Davis Jr.'s autobiography became an instant classic, one of the most dynamic celebrity memoirs ever published...
Sammy and Dino Episode 6: The Rat Pack
November 30, 2021
- 58:50
In the early 40s, both Dean and Sammy idolized Frank Sinatra. 20 years later, they became Sinatra’s cohorts in the Rat Pack, and,...
Sammy and Dino Episode 5: A Serious Man
November 23, 2021
- 48:34
After the breakup of Martin and Lewis, Dino has to figure out how to stand on his own as a solo act. He ends up developing an on-stage...
Sammy and Dino Episode 4: Mr. Wonderful
November 16, 2021
- 46:37
Sammy tests the power of his new celebrity, on Broadway and in Hollywood, where he stars in the most controversial movie musical with an...
Sammy and Dino Episode 3: Nothing But a Dollar Sign
November 9, 2021
- 54:09
In the first half of the 1950s, Martin and Lewis mint money as movie stars--and find unique ways to make their access to gangsters...
Sammy and Dino Episode 2: Martin and Lewis, Sammy and Mickey and Frank
November 2, 2021
- 57:37
Dean Martin meets and begins collaborating with Jerry Lewis. Martin and Lewis — an Italian and a Jew — become the most successful...
Sammy and Dino Episode 1: The Hustle
October 26, 2021
- 59:49
Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin would become icons for how immigrants and people of color could access the American Dream in the 20th...
Introducing Love is a Crime
August 17, 2021
- 03:17
When Hollywood mogul Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) shot an agent he suspected was having an affair with his actress wife, Joan Bennett (Zooey...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Queens Are Dead, Episode 9)
June 29, 2021
- 1:02:20
The Hollywood studio system begins to crumble, and Louella and Hedda decline and fall, too. But just as a new generation of filmmakers...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Interracial Panic and Confidential, Episode 8)
June 22, 2021
- 1:00:20
Appalled by rock n’ roll and its racial and sexual implications, Hedda and Louella find themselves in further danger of obsolescence...
Presenting: No Place Like Home
June 17, 2021
- 04:23
Do you remember the first time you watched The Wizard of Oz? Those famous red ruby slippers are some of the most iconic objects in...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Sex and Shame in the 1950s, Episode 7)
June 15, 2021
- 49:43
The 1950s were a decade of massive contradictions in terms of national and cultural attitudes towards sex. As Louella Parsons struggled...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Witch Hunt, Episode 6)
June 8, 2021
- 45:35
During an era in which Hollywood and Washington are shakily aligned in the witch hunting of actual and reputed socialists, Louella...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Queer, Female Film Producer You’ve Never Heard Of, Episode 5)
June 1, 2021
- 45:49
Louella’s daughter, Harriet Parsons, became a groundbreaking female film producer at a moment in history in which virtually all...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (War! Episode 4)
May 25, 2021
- 49:28
World War II begins to reveal the gulf between Louella’s conservative but essentially business-minded politics, and Hedda Hopper’s...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Feud, Episode 3)
May 18, 2021
- 50:36
In 1938, washed-up actress Hedda Hopper is installed as a movie gossip columnist with the express purpose of puncturing the success of...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The First Lady, Episode 2)
May 11, 2021
- 53:31
In 1923, Louella Parsons signed a contract with William Randolph Hearst for nationwide syndication of the first major Hollywood gossip...
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper (Small Town Girl, Episode 1)
May 4, 2021
- 54:50
Both Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper worked for papers created by charismatic barons whose publications were nakedly corrupt, totally...
"Competition is idiots." Sneak Preview of David Fincher's MANK
October 19, 2020
- 06:16
You Must Remember This presents an exclusive first listen of the audio trailer for Mank, a David Fincher film about the screenwriter of...
How Did It End? (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 10)
July 28, 2020
- 1:09:13
Polly Platt’s unfinished memoir ends abruptly in 1995. What were the remaining 16 years of her life like? Using interviews with those...
Bottle Rocket, I'll Do Anything and Polly Platt in '90s Hollywood (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 9)
July 21, 2020
- 1:06:42
Polly Platt's collaboration with James L. Brooks hits choppy waters with I’ll Do Anything, which at one point was a musical with songs...
Women of the 80’s (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 8)
July 14, 2020
- 1:08:58
In the mid-to-late 80s, Polly Platt worked on a number of films that defined and reflected that decade’s ideas about female power. With...
Terms of Endearment (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 7)
July 7, 2020
- 53:33
Polly’s third marriage falls apart, and she enters more than one destructive affair. During these tumultuous times, Polly establishes a...
Pretty Baby and a Playmate Murder (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 6)
June 30, 2020
- 56:52
In an attempt to save her family, Polly transitions to screenwriting and producing, basing the prostitution drama Pretty Baby, starring...
A Star is Born (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 5)
June 23, 2020
- 56:28
When Polly begins her own on-set affair, the double standard of what men can get away with in Hollywood versus what was expected for...
Orson Welles, What’s Up Doc, Paper Moon (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 4)
June 16, 2020
- 1:02:16
In the aftermath of The Last Picture Show — and the collapse of her second marriage — Polly finds an unlikely ally, and a new job, in...
Last Picture Show Love Triangle (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 3)
June 9, 2020
- 55:53
At Polly’s urging, Peter decides to direct an adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s novel The Last Picture Show. Though credited only as the...
Peter Bogdanovich and the Woman Behind the Auteur (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 2)
June 3, 2020
- 1:03:54
After the death of her first husband and creative partner, Polly moves to New York, where she swiftly meets and falls in love with Peter...
“It wasn’t sexism, then” (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 1)
May 26, 2020
- 1:04:48
We’ll begin with a look at how Polly Platt’s legacy was appraised when she died in 2011. Then we’ll go back in time to tell Polly’s...
Sneak Peek: Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 1
May 19, 2020
- 22:10
Excited for the new season? We can hardly wait to share the untold story of Polly Platt, the secret weapon behind some of the most...
Season Trailer: Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman
May 5, 2020
- 01:03
Polly Platt -- producer, writer and Oscar-nominated production designer -- lived an epic Hollywood life. And yet, if you know Platt’s...
159: Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston and Hollywood’s Misogynoir Problem (Make Me Over, Episode 8)
March 10, 2020
- 37:06
In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win Miss America. In 1984, a few weeks from the end of her reign, she was...
158: The Hemingway Curse? Mariel and Margaux (Make Me Over, Episode 7)
March 3, 2020
- 44:17
A close look at the parallel lives of Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, sisters born with a world-famous last name that stood for both...
157: Cass Elliot, Carnie Wilson and Fat-Shaming in Rock and Pop (Make Me Over, Episode 6)
February 25, 2020
- 43:35
Cass Elliot didn’t die eating a ham sandwich. But the lasting power of that urban legend speaks to a far darker story. Elliot possessed...
156: Esther Williams and the Birth of Waterproof Makeup (Make Me Over, Episode 5)
February 18, 2020
- 41:30
Esther Williams single-handedly helped popularize the pastime of swimming — first as the star swimmer of the San Francisco production of...
155: Passing for White: Merle Oberon (Make Me Over, Episode 4)
February 11, 2020
- 44:51
In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in...
154: Marie Dressler, the First Female Star to Conquer Hollywood’s Ageism (Make Me Over, Episode 3)
February 4, 2020
- 43:08
In 1933, the biggest female star in American movies wasn’t a sex symbol like Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow or Marlene Dietrich. It was Marie...
153: Hollywood’s First Weight Loss Guru: Madame Sylvia (Make Me Over, Episode 2)
January 28, 2020
- 38:42
Glamorous and shrewd, Sylvia of Hollywood became the movie industry’s first weight-loss guru during the end of the silent era. An...
152: Hollywood’s First Weight Loss Surgery: Molly O’Day (Make Me Over, Episode 1)
January 21, 2020
- 34:12
At the age of 18, actress Molly O’Day’s career showed great promise — the only thing holding her back was a bit of pubescent pudge. When...
Sneak Peek: Make Me Over
January 14, 2020
- 01:08
In this companion series to You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth will introduce eight stories about Hollywood’s intersection with...
151: Splash Mountain (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 6)
November 26, 2019
- 48:50
After two more successful theatrical releases, in 1980 and 1986, Disney decided to put Song of the South in the “Disney Vault” and never...
150: Blaxploitation and the White Backlash (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 5)
November 19, 2019
- 47:51
Song of the South’s most successful re-release came in 1972 at a time when Hollywood was dealing with race by making two very different...
149: White Allies and the Blacklist: Maurice Rapf (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 4)
November 12, 2019
- 47:34
Concerned that his movie about a former slave devoting his life to a white child’s emotional needs might be perceived as racist, Walt...
148: “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” Minstrels in Hollywood and The Oscars (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 3)
November 5, 2019
- 50:17
Song of the South’s most famous element is “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” a song written for the movie but reminiscent of a racist standard...
147: Hattie McDaniel (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 2)
October 29, 2019
- 56:14
Song of the South co-stars Hattie McDaniel, the first black performer to win an Oscar (for her supporting role as “Mammy” in Gone with...
146: Disney’s Most Controversial Film (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 1)
October 22, 2019
- 56:26
Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library... except for "Song of the South," a 1946...
Sneak Peek: Six Degrees of "Song of the South"
October 16, 2019
- 02:54
This season, we explore the most controversial film in the history of Disney Animation. With the launch of Disney Plus, the company's...
145: Ramon Novarro (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 19)
January 29, 2019
- 51:16
Ramon Novarro was a Mexican actor and singer whose stardom at MGM in the 1920s and 30s was not impeded by his offscreen life as a gay...
144: The Trials of Confidential Magazine: Maureen O'Hara (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 18)
January 22, 2019
- 34:37
In part two of our two-parter on the demise of the biggest and most pernicious tabloid of the 1950s, we’ll explore what happened after...
143: The Trials of Confidential Magazine: Dorothy Dandridge (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 17)
January 15, 2019
- 45:17
Over two episodes, we will explore Hollywood Babylon’s coverage of Confidential Magazine and the two celebrities who testified against...
142: Bugsy Siegel (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 16)
January 8, 2019
- 37:39
Jewish gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel is frequently credited with corrupting Hollywood’s unions and “inventing” Las Vegas. Siegel did...
141: Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, and the “sewing circle” (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 15)
December 25, 2018
- 43:01
The bisexuality of Marlene Dietrich was not exactly a secret in 1930s Hollywood -- in fact, her ambiguous sexuality was part of her...
140: Lupe Velez (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 14)
December 18, 2018
- 47:51
Mexican actress Lupe Velez was the victim of one of Anger’s cruelest invented stories. His fabrication of her manner of death lays bare...
139: Mary Astor's Diary (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 13)
December 11, 2018
- 52:09
In 1936, actress Mary Astor (who had not yet made her most famous film, The Maltese Falcon) and her husband went to court to fight for...
138: Mae West (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 12)
December 4, 2018
- 51:43
Mae West was the biggest new star in Hollywood in 1933, thanks to two hit films she co-wrote and starred in as a sexually implicit,...
137: Gina Lollobrigida (The Seduced, Episode 6)
November 20, 2018
- 40:42
This Italian pin-up, along with Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, was emblematic of a brand of post-war European sexuality that America...
136: Yvonne De Carlo
November 13, 2018
- 42:15
The future Lily Munster became a star when producer Walter Wanger cast her in Salome, Where She Danced (1945). A curvaceous brunette in...
135: Linda Darnell (The Seduced, Episode 4)
November 6, 2018
- 43:59
A stunning brunette sex symbol married to cinematographer Pev Marley, Darnell thought her affair with Howard Hughes would result in...
134: Ann Dvorak (The Seduced, Episode 3)
October 30, 2018
- 46:40
The child of a silent film actress, Dvorak was so determined to be a star that at first, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Her big...
133: The Bacchanal of 1920s Hollywood, via Frederica Sagor Maas (The Seduced Episode 2)
October 23, 2018
- 37:32
Seduction begins at an MGM sponsored orgy at the Ambassador Hotel, as told through the eyes of one of the attendees, a young female...
Rupert Hughes's Women (The Seduced, Episode 1)
October 16, 2018
- 46:44
In the new book Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood, Karina Longworth explores the lives and careers of over a...
Clara Bow (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 11)
September 11, 2018
- 1:00:01
We’ll close this half of our Hollywood Babylon season with one of that book’s most famously distorted stories: the tale of “It” Girl...
Rudolph Valentino (Fake News: Fact-Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 10)
September 4, 2018
- 56:09
Rudolph Valentino was Hollywood’s first “latin lover.” His shocking death at the age of 31 was attributed to side effects from an...
Thomas Ince and the Hearst "Coverup" (Fake News: Fact-Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 9)
August 28, 2018
- 42:19
Thomas Ince was one of early Hollywood’s most pioneering producers—in fact, some credit him for popularizing “producer” as a job title...
Peggy Hopkins Joyce and Charlie Chaplin (Fake News: Fact-Checking Hollywood Babylon, Episode 8)
August 21, 2018
- 1:01:05
The Kim Kardashian of her day, Peggy Hopkins Joyce was famous for being rich and famous—and for her marriages and involvements with rich...
Will Hays and "Pre-Code" Hollywood (Fake News: Fact-Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 7)
August 14, 2018
- 49:43
Who was Will Hays, and how did he come to put his name on the censorship “Code” that would shape the content of movies more than any...
Wallace Reid (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 6)
August 7, 2018
- 57:56
According to Hollywood Babylon, actor Wallace Reid—a morphine addict who died in an asylum at the age of 31—was the first sacrificial...
Mabel Normand (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 5)
July 31, 2018
- 45:43
A frequent co-star of Roscoe Arbuckle’s, Mabel Normand was the definitive female screen comedienne of her generation. But it wasn’t her...
William Desmond Taylor (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 4)
July 24, 2018
- 43:50
The killing of director William Desmond Taylor was the third in a trifecta of scandals which, over the course of about a year and a...
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 3)
July 17, 2018
- 1:09:22
At a boozy party over Labor Day weekend 1921, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, silent Hollywood’s superstar plus-size comedian, followed...
Olive Thomas (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 2)
July 10, 2018
- 48:12
The first Hollywood scandal to attract international attention was the death-by-poison of Olive Thomas, the twenty-five-year old star of...
D.W. Griffith, the Gish Sisters and the origin of "Hollywood Babylon" (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 1)
July 3, 2018
- 51:43
This season will interrogate Kenneth Anger’s controversial and influential gossip collection, Hollywood Babylon. Is this cult classic a...
120: Boris and Roger Corman (Bela & Boris Part 6)
November 21, 2017
- 47:30
Where Bela Lugosi lived his last decade in sad obscurity, Boris Karloff worked until the very end of his life, even as his body began to...
119: Bela and Ed Wood (Bela & Boris Part 5)
November 14, 2017
- 41:55
Forgotten by Hollywood, struggling with morphine addiction and a dependency on alcohol, at the end of his life Bela Lugosi was welcomed...
118: Bela vs. Boris (Bela & Boris Part 4)
November 7, 2017
- 54:37
Lugosi and Karloff, the two stars made by Universal’s monster movies, made eight films together. Today we’ll dive deep into some of...
117: Boris and the Monsters (Bela & Boris Part 3)
October 31, 2017
- 54:55
After twenty years as a journeyman actor/laborer, Boris Karloff became an instant superstar as the Monster in Frankenstein (1931). Today...
116: Bela and the Vampires (Bela & Boris Part 2)
October 24, 2017
- 1:02:39
With Dracula (1931), Bela Lugosi instantly became the first horror star of sound cinema. It’s not easy being a trailblazer, and Bela...
115: Where the Monsters Came From (Bela & Boris Part 1)
October 17, 2017
- 36:02
Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff were two middle-aged, foreign, struggling actors who became huge stars thanks to Dracula and Frankenstein,...
114: The Last of Jean/Jane Works Out (Jean & Jane Part 9)
August 22, 2017
- 51:48
Jean Seberg, now plagued with mental illness and alcoholism, comes to a tragic end in Paris. Jane Fonda reinvents herself, once again,...
113: Coming Home (Jean & Jane Part 8)
August 15, 2017
- 1:03:18
Jean buries her child in Iowa, and then returns to Paris in a fragile mental state. Increasingly plagued by both justifiable paranoia...
112: Hanoi Jane & The FBI vs. Jean Seberg’s Baby (Jean & Jane Part 7)
August 8, 2017
- 1:06:25
After shooting a film with a much-changed Jean-Luc Godard, Jane Fonda travels to Vietnam, where she naively participates in a stunt that...
111: Jean and Jane Become Public Enemies (Jean & Jane Part 6)
August 1, 2017
- 1:02:32
On the heels of making her biggest Hollywood movies in years, Jean Seberg becomes involved with two black radicals, one a cousin of...
110: Jane vs "Barbarella" (Jean & Jane Part 5)
July 25, 2017
- 50:18
Having coaxed Jane into participating in an open marriage, Vadim began casting her in films as a male fantasy of female sexual...
109: Jean vs "Lilith" (Jean & Jane Part 4)
July 18, 2017
- 50:09
Having left her husband to be the mistress of writer/diplomat Romain Gary, Jean secretly gave birth to a son, and then made the movie...
108: Jean and Jane in Paris (Jean & Jane Part 3)
July 11, 2017
- 49:33
With her Hollywood career already something of a disappointment, Jean Seberg took a chance on a French film critic turned first-time...
107: Jean and Otto Preminger/Jane in New York (Jean & Jane Part 2)
July 4, 2017
- 54:39
Jean Seberg made her first two films, Saint Joan and Bonjour Tristesse, for director Otto Preminger, a tyrannical svengali character...
106: Hollywood Royalty/Middle-American Martyr (Jean & Jane Part 1)
June 27, 2017
- 41:28
Introducing our new series, “Jean and Jane,” exploring the parallel lives of Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg, two white American actresses...
105: Dorothy Stratten (Dead Blondes Part 13)
April 25, 2017
- 44:47
Our Dead Blondes season concludes with the story of Dorothy Stratten. Coaxed into nude modeling by Paul Snider, her sleazy...
104: Barbara Loden (Dead Blondes Part 12)
April 18, 2017
- 43:25
Barbara Loden won a Tony Award for playing a character based on Marilyn Monroe in Arthur Miller’s After the Fall. Like Marilyn, Barbara...
103: Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11)
April 11, 2017
- 49:10
The quintessential “Hitchcock blonde,” Grace Kelly had an apparently charmed life. Her movies were mostly hits, her performances were...
102: Barbara Payton (Dead Blondes Part 10)
April 4, 2017
- 44:17
In our Joan Crawford series, we talked about Barbara Payton as the young, troubled third wife of Crawford’s ex Franchot Tone, whose...
101: Jayne Mansfield (Dead Blondes Part 9)
March 28, 2017
- 41:23
More famous today for her gruesome car crash death than for any of the movies she made while alive, Jayne Mansfield was in some sense...
100: Marilyn Monroe: The End (Dead Blondes Part 8)
March 21, 2017
- 45:58
How did a star whose persona seemed to be all about childlike joy and eternally vibrant sexuality die, single and childless, at the age...
99: Marilyn Monroe: The Persona (Dead Blondes Part 7)
March 14, 2017
- 40:52
How did Marilyn Monroe become the most iconic blonde of the 1950s, if not the century? Today we will trace how her image was created and...
98: Marilyn Monroe: The Beginning (Dead Blondes Part 6)
March 7, 2017
- 44:15
Today we begin the first of three episodes on the most iconic dead blonde of them all, Marilyn Monroe. We’ll start be revisiting our...
97: Carole Landis (Dead Blondes Part 5)
February 28, 2017
- 46:26
Carole Landis was a gifted comedienne, a decent singer, and - once she dyed her natural brown hair blonde - perhaps the most luminous...
96: Veronica Lake (Dead Blondes Part 4)
February 21, 2017
- 46:60
Veronica Lake had the most famous hairdo of the 1940s, if not the twentieth century. Her star turn in Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s...
95: Jean Harlow Flashback (Dead Blondes Part 3)
February 14, 2017
- 42:40
Jean Harlow was the top blonde of the 1930s, and even though she didn’t survive the decade - she died in 1937 at the age of 26 - she’d...
94: Thelma Todd (Dead Blondes Part 2)
February 7, 2017
- 43:17
Thelma Todd - a curvaceous white-blonde who predated Jean Harlow - was a sparkling comedienne who began in the silent era and flourished...
93: Peg Entwistle (Dead Blondes Part 1)
January 31, 2017
- 45:04
This season we’re going to explore the stories of 11 blonde actresses who died unusual, untimely or otherwise notable deaths - deaths...
92: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Mommie Dearest
September 13, 2016
- 58:51
The year after Joan Crawford died, her estranged, adopted daughter Christina published a tell-all, accusing her late mother of having...
91: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Bette Davis, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," and Crawford’s last years
September 6, 2016
- 42:20
Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has done more to define later generation’s ideas about who Crawford was than perhaps...
90: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: The Middle Years (Mildred Pierce to Johnny Guitar)
August 30, 2016
- 47:49
Joan Crawford struggled through what she called her “middle years,” the period during her 40s before she remade herself from aging,...
89: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Barbara Payton
August 23, 2016
- 45:10
By the mid-1930s, Joan Crawford was very, very famous, and negotiating both an affair with Clark Gable (her most frequent co-star and...
88: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. / Our Dancing Daughters to Grand Hotel
August 16, 2016
- 39:29
Joan Crawford’s early years in Hollywood were like - well, a pre-code Joan Crawford movie: a highly ambitious beauty of low birth does...
87: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks / Lucille LeSueur Goes to Hollywood
August 9, 2016
- 40:03
In order to understand Joan Crawford’s rise to fame, we have to talk about what Joan - born Lucille LeSueur, and called “Billie Cassin”...
86: The Blacklist Part 16: Kirk Douglas, Dalton Trumbo, and Otto Preminger (Breaking the Blacklist, Part 2)
June 21, 2016
- 51:52
How did the Blacklist come to an end? If you ask Kirk Douglas, the end began with his hiring of Dalton Trumbo to write Spartacus -- or,...
85: The Blacklist Part 15: Frank Sinatra and Albert Maltz (Breaking The Blacklist, Part 1)
June 14, 2016
- 40:02
In the first of two episodes about major stars attempting to end the Blacklist, we’ll look at Frank Sinatra’s efforts to hire Hollywood...
Blacklist Flashback: Frank Sinatra through 1945
June 7, 2016
- 35:02
Before our episode on Frank Sinatra’s attempt to end the blacklist, we’re going to flashback to an episode from April 2015, on Sinatra’s...
84: The Blacklist Part 14: After the Fall: Arthur Miller
May 31, 2016
- 50:44
Arthur Miller considered Elia Kazan a close friend and collaborator, but when Kazan named names to HUAC, Miller broke with him and wrote...
83: The Blacklist Part 13: On the Waterfront: Elia Kazan
May 24, 2016
- 47:36
Elia Kazan introduced audiences to Warren Beatty, James Dean and Marlon Brando. His films of the 1950s -- including A Streetcar Named...
82: The Blacklist Part 12: Stormy Weather: Lena Horne + Paul Robeson
May 17, 2016
- 42:52
Horne's last years at MGM overlapped with the first HUAC hearings. Horne, an outspoken proponent of equal rights, who from the beginning...
Blacklist Flashback: Lena Horne During WWII
May 10, 2016
- 1:04:54
Stunning singer/actress Lena Horne was the first black performer to be given the full glamour girl star-making treatment. But as the...
81: The Blacklist Part 11: Born Yesterday: Judy Holliday
May 3, 2016
- 43:28
Judy Holliday won an Oscar for her first starring film role, and of her eight major film roles between 1950 and 1960, four were in films...
80: The Blacklist Part 10: Salt of the Earth: Howard Hughes + Paul Jarrico
April 26, 2016
- 52:34
Today we explore one of the more troubling aspects of Howard Hughes’ legacy: the firm hand he played in enforcing the blacklisting of...
Blacklist Flashback: Howard Hughes + Jane Russell
April 19, 2016
- 48:39
In advance of next week’s episode dealing with Howard Hughes’ role in the blacklist, we revisit our October 2014 episode on Hughes’...
79: The Blacklist Part 9: She: Richard Nixon + Helen Gahagan Douglas
April 12, 2016
- 48:39
The wife of actor Melvyn Douglas (Ninotchka, Being There), Helen Gahagan Douglas transformed herself from a Broadway and opera star into...
78: The Blacklist Part 8: Storm Warning: Ronald Reagan, the FBI and HUAC
April 5, 2016
- 33:17
The post-war Communist witch hunt had a big impact on Ronald Reagan’s evolution from movie actor to politician, and from Democrat to...
77: The Blacklist Part 7: Monsieur Verdoux: Charlie Chaplin's Road to Hollywood Exile
March 29, 2016
- 36:56
Picking up where last week’s episode left off, we’ll catch up with Chaplin’s post-The Great Dictator activism, talk about Chaplin’s...
Blacklist Flashback: Charlie Chaplin During World War II
March 22, 2016
- 43:07
In 1922, Charlie Chaplin was one of the most beloved men in the world. In 1952, after over a decade of being publicly shamed, he was...
76: The Blacklist Part 6: He Ran All The Way: John Garfield
March 15, 2016
- 45:16
John Garfield was Brando before Brando -- a Method-style actor who repped the New York working class while becoming a major sex symbol...
75: The Blacklist Part 5: The Strange Love of Barbara Stanwyck: Robert Taylor
March 8, 2016
- 45:32
Barbara Stanwyck’s first marriage helped to inspire A Star is Born. Her second marriage, to heartthrob Robert Taylor, didn’t make sense...
74: The Blacklist Part 4: The African Queen: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn and John Huston
March 1, 2016
- 47:16
In the late 1940s, as the country was moving to the right and there was pressure on Hollywood to do the same, Katharine Hepburn,...
Blacklist Flashback: Bogey Before Bacall
February 23, 2016
- 40:09
Humphrey Bogart was Warner Brothers' most valuable star in 1947, when he, his wife Lauren Bacall, his future African Queen co-star...
73: The Blacklist Part 3: Dorothy Parker
February 16, 2016
- 49:28
The New Yorker columnist, poet and celebrated Algonquin Roundtable wit spent years in Hollywood, working as a screenwriter in...
72: The Blacklist Part 2: Crossfire – The Trials of the Hollywood Ten
February 9, 2016
- 54:52
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed dozens of Hollywood workers to come to Washington and testify to the...
71: The Blacklist Part 1: The Prehistory of the Blacklist
February 2, 2016
- 48:37
This episode will trace the roots of both communism and anti-communism in Hollywood, through the Depression, union struggles and...
70: MGM Stories Part 15: Mayer’s Downfall
December 22, 2015
- 47:34
In the 1940s, Louis B. Mayer was the highest paid man in America, one of the first celebrity CEOs and the figurehead of what for most...
69: MGM Stories Part 14: Elizabeth Taylor, The MGM Years
December 15, 2015
- 43:15
Elizabeth Taylor grew up on the MGM lot, spending 18 years as what she referred to as “MGM chattel.” The last four years of that 18 year...
68: MGM Stories Part 13: Gloria Grahame
December 8, 2015
- 41:47
Gloria Grahame arrived in Hollywood in 1944, after Louis B. Mayer personally plucked her from the New York stage, and changed her name....
67: MGM Stories Part 12: Lana Turner
December 1, 2015
- 43:23
The legendary "Sweater Girl" was one of MGM’s prized contract players, the epitome of the mid-century sex goddess on-screen and an...
66: MGM Stories Part 11: David O. Selznick Part Two: Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker
November 24, 2015
- 43:28
In 1941, Selznick signed a young actress named Phylis, who was then married to actor Robert Walker. Selznick renamed Phylis “Jennifer...
65: MGM Stories Part 10: David O. Selznick Part One: The Mayers and Gone With the Wind
November 17, 2015
- 30:05
In 1930, after putting in time at MGM and RKO, Paramount executive David O. Selznick married Irene Mayer, the daughter of L.B. Mayer....
64: MGM Stories Part 9: Spencer Tracy
November 10, 2015
- 40:22
When Spencer Tracy signed with MGM, he was a character actor better known for his problem drinking (and very public extramarital affair...
63: MGM Stories Part 8: Eddie Mannix
November 3, 2015
- 40:03
In the new Hollywood satire from the Coen Brothers, Josh Brolin plays a studio "fixer" named Eddie Mannix. The real Eddie Mannix was a...
62: MGM Stories Part 7: MGM's children: Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
October 27, 2015
- 40:57
After Irving Thalberg’s death in 1936, Louis B. Mayer doubled down on "family entertainment" at MGM. To support this new wave of...
61: MGM Stories Part 6: Jean Harlow
October 20, 2015
- 41:31
As part of the publicity campaign for his film Hell’s Angels, Howard Hughes made Jean Harlow a star, branding her “The Platinum Blonde.”...
60: MGM Stories Part 5: William Haines and Hollywood’s First Openly Gay Marriage
October 13, 2015
- 37:10
The rare silent star who made a relatively smooth transition to sound films, William “Billy” Haines was one of the top box office stars...
59: MGM Stories Part 4: John Gilbert and Greta Garbo
October 6, 2015
- 35:50
Rising romantic lead John Gilbert signed with MGM in 1924 and the next year he starred in King Vidor’s The Big Parade, the studio’s...
58: MGM Stories Part 3: Buster Keaton’s Biggest Mistake
September 29, 2015
- 42:50
In 1928, silent comedy star Buster Keaton made what he would later call “the worst mistake of my career”: against the advice of fellow...
57: MGM Stories Part 2: Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, and Citizen Kane
September 22, 2015
- 36:09
Marion Davies is enshrined in memory as the gorgeous but questionably talented mistress of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst --...
56: MGM Stories Part 1: Louis B. Mayer vs. Irving Thalberg
September 15, 2015
- 39:01
This season we're going to tell 15 stories about different people who worked at the same movie studio over the course of five decades,...
55: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 12: The Manson Family on Trial
August 11, 2015
- 52:08
The trials of the Manson family became a kind of public theater which a number of current and future filmmakers found themselves caught...
54: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 11: Death Valley ’69
August 4, 2015
- 43:58
After the murders, Manson moved his family to the depths of the California desert. There, even before they were finally apprehended by...
53: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 10: Roman Polanski After Sharon Tate
July 28, 2015
- 41:22
Roman Polanski was in London the night his pregnant wife was murdered in their home. He returned to Los Angeles, devastated, to find...
52: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 9: August 8-10, 1969
July 21, 2015
- 47:30
Over the course of a single weekend, half a dozen hippies massacred seven people. This episode includes disturbing details about very...
51: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 8: Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski
July 14, 2015
- 29:55
While trying to launch her own acting career, Sharon Tate fell in love with, and eventually married, Roman Polanski, the hotshot Polish...
50: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 7: Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring
July 7, 2015
- 30:41
In the first of two episodes about the Manson Family’s most famous victim, we’ll trace actress Sharon Tate’s early years, her romance...
49: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 6: Kenneth Anger and Bobby Beausoleil
June 30, 2015
- 47:10
The first person to go to jail for a Charles Manson-associated murder was Bobby Beausoleil, a charismatic would-be rock star who had put...
48: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 5: Doris Day and Terry Melcher
June 23, 2015
- 43:15
Charles Manson became convinced his best chance at rock stardom was impressing Terry Melcher, a record executive who had made stars out...
47: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 4: Spahn Ranch and the Beatles’ White Album
June 16, 2015
- 38:59
After wearing out his welcome at Dennis Wilson’s house, Manson moves his family to Spahn Ranch, a dilapidated Western movie set where...
46: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 3: The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, and Charles Manson, Songwriter
June 9, 2015
- 45:33
In this episode we’ll talk about Charlie Manson’s arrival in Los Angeles, discuss Dennis Wilson’s life and the role he played in...
45: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 2: How Manson Found His Family
June 2, 2015
- 34:48
Today we're tracing Charles Manson's life from his birth to a teenage con artist, through multiple stints in reform schools and prisons,...
44: Charles Manson’s Hollywood, Part 1: What We Talk About When We Talk About The Manson Murders
May 26, 2015
- 35:44
This season, You Must Remember This will explore the murders committed in the summer of 1969 by followers of Charles Manson. Today,...
43: Star Wars Episode XVI: Van Johnson
April 28, 2015
- 42:06
Van Johnson was MGM’s big, all-American heartthrob during World War II, an one of the most reliably bankable stars in Hollywood, on and...
42: Star Wars Episode XV: Why John Wayne Didn’t Sign Up
April 21, 2015
- 33:53
No actor on movie screens in the 1940s embodied American patriotism and unpretentious masculinity better than John Wayne. But Wayne...
41: Star Wars Episode XIV: Frank Sinatra Through 1945
April 14, 2015
- 29:51
Frank Sinatra's rise to fame coincided almost exactly with the run up to and fighting of World War II. Unlike so many young men, famous...
40: The You Must Remember This One Year Anniversary Ask Us Anything Show
April 7, 2015
- 44:19
You Must Remember This turns one year old this month, and to celebrate, Karina takes questions from listeners. Topics range from book...
39: Star Wars Episode XIII: Walt Disney
March 31, 2015
- 43:20
Walt Disney changed Hollywood and brought millions of children and adults boundless joy. And yet, Disney’s legacy is marred by the...
38: Star Wars Episode XII: Bob Hope vs. Bing Crosby
March 24, 2015
- 42:54
Bob Hope is remembered as the 20th century celebrity most devoted to entertaining the troops. Bing Crosby, Hope’s partner on seven Road...
37: Star Wars Episode XI: Charlie Chaplin
March 17, 2015
- 37:07
Charlie Chaplin’s most successful (and controversial) film was The Great Dictator, a vicious satire of Adolf Hitler. We’ll explore the...
36: Star Wars Episode X: Errol Flynn
March 10, 2015
- 42:60
Errol Flynn arrived in Hollywood in 1934 and almost immediately became a massive star, his swashbuckler-persona propelling many of the...
35: Star Wars Episode IX: Olivia de Havilland and John Huston, with Special Guest Rian Johnson
March 3, 2015
- 39:57
She was the raven-haired beauty whose lily white persona was forged by supporting roles in Gone With the Wind and several Errol Flynn...
34: Star Wars Episode VIII: How Norma Jeane Became Marilyn Monroe
February 24, 2015
- 42:40
Today’s episode tells the secret, forgotten, and highly disputed story of the making of Marilyn Monroe, arguably the most potent...
33: Star Wars Episode VII: Lena Horne
February 17, 2015
- 59:45
Stunning singer/actress Lena Horne was the first black performer to be given the full glamour girl star-making treatment. But as the...
32: Star Wars Episode VI: Marlene Dietrich
February 10, 2015
- 35:37
One of the most glamorous stars of the 1930s -- and also one of the first androgynous sex symbols -- Marlene Dietrich was a German...
31: Star Wars Episode V: Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles
February 3, 2015
- 42:53
The Citizen Kane boy wonder's second wife was the former Margarita Cansino -- a dancer-turned-actress whose Hispanic heritage Hollywood...
30: Star Wars Episode IV: Gene Tierney (Or: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 5)
January 27, 2015
- 37:41
The luminous star of a number of key film noirs and melodramas of the 1940s, Gene Tierney's personal life was highly dramatic and...
29: Star Wars Episode III: Hedy Lamarr
January 20, 2015
- 38:54
Hedy Lamarr was a pioneer in more ways than one, including, but not limited to, scandalous movie sex scenes, radio control technology,...
28: Star Wars Episode II: Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
January 13, 2015
- 41:26
The queen of screwball comedies married the king of Hollywood in 1939, but Lombard's 1942 death in a plane crash on the way home from a...
27: Star Wars Episode I: Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen
January 5, 2015
- 46:26
In the first installment of 'Star Wars' (about the experiences of stars during wartime, not Chewbacca or Mos Eisley), Karina Longworth...
26: Tales of Celebrity Drunkenness, 2014
December 23, 2014
- 39:37
In our first annual end-of-year clip show, we'll listen to some of the booziest excerpts from the 25 episodes of You Must Remember This...
25: The Short Lives of Bruce and Brandon Lee
December 16, 2014
- 31:04
In this episode, we’ll explore what really happened to Bruce and Brandon Lee, and discuss how an extraordinarily talented artist went...
24: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part Two: Mia & Dory
December 9, 2014
- 36:48
Part Two of Mia Farrow in the 1960s traces Mia’s flight to India, studying transcendental meditation with the Beatles, the movies Secret...
23: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part One: Mia & Frank
November 17, 2014
- 36:38
Before Mia Farrow was an outspoken activist, devoted mother to 14 children, and the famously jilted partner of Woody Allen, she was … a...
22: Audrey Hepburn: Sex, Style, and Sabrina
November 11, 2014
- 35:42
Audrey Hepburn was the first glamorous actress whose style seemed to be to dress for herself, and not to appeal to men. Today we’re...
21: The Birth of Barbra Streisand’s A Star is Born
November 4, 2014
- 38:18
There have been four Hollywood films made under the name and/or with the basic story of A Star is Born. The most reviled version is the...
20: LIZ <3 MONTY
October 28, 2014
- 35:23
Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift were best friends and co-stars in three films. This episode tracks Taylor's relationship with the...
19: Raquel Welch, From Pin-up to Pariah
October 21, 2014
- 33:04
Raquel Welch, a former cocktail waitress and divorced mother of two, found herself in the odd position of being an old-fashioned sex...
18: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 4: Jane Russell
October 14, 2014
- 41:32
Our long-running series on the women in the life of the infamous aviator/filmmaker continues with a look at Hughes’ professional and...
17: Theda Bara, Hollywood’s First Sex Symbol
October 7, 2014
- 36:03
Theda Bara might be the most significant celebrity pioneer whose movies you’ve never seen. She was the movie industry’s first sex...
16: Marlon Brando 1971-1973
September 29, 2014
- 40:32
This is the story of how, with two movies shot in 1971, Marlon Brando turned his career around, spent his regained celebrity capital on...
15: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part Two
September 23, 2014
- 40:09
In the concluding chapter of a two-part episode about Madonna and movies, we talk about her mutually beneficial professional and...
14: Bacall, After Bogart
September 16, 2014
- 32:09
When Humphrey Bogart died, Lauren Bacall was just 32 years old. This is the story of how Bacall spent the remaining 57 years of her...
13: Bogart, Before Bacall
September 9, 2014
- 33:21
A look at how Humphrey Bogart became Bogey, tracing his journey from blue blood beginnings through years of undistinguished work and...
12: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part One
September 2, 2014
- 35:11
Over the course of two episodes, we will explore the high-cinephile period of Madonna's life and work, roughly bracketed by her...
11: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes: Katharine Hepburn, 1938
July 25, 2014
- 27:01
A crossover episode, uniting our two ongoing series, The Many Loves of Howard Hughes and Follies of 1938, focusing on Hughes’...
10: Follies of 1938, Chapter 2: Kay Francis, Pretty Poison
July 18, 2014
- 33:36
In May 1938, the Independent Theater Owners Association published a full-page paid editorial in The Hollywood Reporter, branding a...
9: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Part 2: The Many Loves of Ida Lupino
July 10, 2014
- 34:50
In this second installment of our ongoing series, The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, we explore the life, loves and work of Ida Lupino....
8: Follies of 1938, Part 1: Hollywood’s Greatest Year
July 2, 2014
- 18:01
This micro-episode sets up a topic we’ll be exploring throughout the summer: the films, stars and scandals of 1938. By midway through...
7: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 1
June 24, 2014
- 36:39
The first episode of a multi-part series on the Hollywood romances of Howard Hughes traces Hughes’ arranged marriage at age 18 to...
6: Isabella Rossellini in the 1990s
June 17, 2014
- 32:36
Today we celebrate the 62nd birthday of actress/model/filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. She was born into Hollywood scandal: her mother,...
5: The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Judy Garland
June 9, 2014
- 37:10
Today we’re commemorating the life and career of Judy Garland, who died 45 years ago this month. Signed to a studio contract at the age...
4: (The Printing of) the Legend of Frances Farmer
May 27, 2014
- 31:46
During the last year of his life, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was obsessed with Frances Farmer, an actress from his hometown of Seattle who...
3: Happy 110th Birthday, Val Lewton
May 7, 2014
- 35:54
A Very Special Halloween Episode! The writer-producer Val Lewton produced and ghost-wrote 11 films in just three years as head of the...
2: Frank Sinatra in Outer Space
April 16, 2014
- 29:31
Welcome to the second episode of You Must Remember This, the podcast devoted to exploring the secret and or/forgotten histories of...