You Must Remember This
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.
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.
All
Progress
Duration
Release Date
Introducing Love is a Crime
When Hollywood mogul Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) shot an agent he suspected was having an affair with his actress wife, Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) — one of the key femme fatales of 1940s film noir — Bennett was the one who paid a public price for her husband’s crimes. Joan and Walter’s granddaughter/filmmaker Vanessa Hope, and film historian/podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This), tell the untold story of the Bennett/Wanger romance and professional partnership — a film noir played out in real life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
17 Aug 2021
04 MINS
04:46
17 Aug 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Queens Are Dead, Episode 9)
The Hollywood studio system begins to crumble, and Louella and Hedda decline and fall, too. But just as a new generation of filmmakers rises from the ashes and reinvents the movie business, so too does gossip find new life in a new look. We’ll end our season by talking about a woman who was the antithesis of Louella and Hedda -- liberal, Jewish, sexually forward, and so unwilling to play the industry’s games that she may have ensured the death of the gossip columnist as star. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
29 Jun 2021
1 HR 07 MINS
1:07:49
29 Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Interracial Panic and Confidential, Episode 8)
Appalled by rock n’ roll and its racial and sexual implications, Hedda and Louella find themselves in further danger of obsolescence when the gossip game is turned upside down by CONFIDENTIAL Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
22 Jun 2021
1 HR 05 MINS
1:05:05
22 Jun 2021
Presenting: No Place Like Home
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 Hollywood history that still bring back nostalgic memories every time they’re seen. They became a rare collector’s item worth millions. In the summer of 2005, a pair was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the small town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. In No Place Like Home, C13Originals, a Cadence13 Studio, teams up with journalist Ariel Ramchandani and editor Seyward Darby for this documentary podcast to investigate a heist that dives into small town suspicions between local cops and the FBI, the fraught relationship between Grand Rapids and its most famous daughter, Judy Garland, and brings listeners inside the peculiar world of Hollywood memorabilia and the market for lost and stolen art. Although the shoes were eventually recovered, there are more questions left than answers. Who stole the shoes and where were they hiding for more than 13 years? No Place Like Home is available now on all podcast platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
17 Jun 2021
05 MINS
05:53
17 Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Sex and Shame in the 1950s, Episode 7)
The 1950s were a decade of massive contradictions in terms of national and cultural attitudes towards sex. As Louella Parsons struggled to keep up with these rapid changes -- and to compete with her bolder, bitchier rival Hedda Hopper -- she reflected and steered the sexual panic through her coverage of two stories: Rita Hayworth’s marriage to a Muslim prince, and Ingrid Bergman’s “illegitimate” pregnancy. Plus: the emergence of Sheilah Graham, the international woman of mystery who would eventually beat the gossip girls at their own game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
15 Jun 2021
55 MINS
55:13
15 Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (Witch Hunt, Episode 6)
During an era in which Hollywood and Washington are shakily aligned in the witch hunting of actual and reputed socialists, Louella struggles to maintain her position as cheerleader for the status quo, while Hedda grabs a torch and tries to burn it all down, using celebrity gossip to further the racist, xenophobic interests of the FBI. There’s also a new competitor in town, who at once subversively spoke to and for Hollywood’s gay community, while also deflecting attention from his own sexuality by attacking others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
08 Jun 2021
51 MINS
51:05
08 Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Queer, Female Film Producer You’ve Never Heard O...
Louella’s daughter, Harriet Parsons, became a groundbreaking female film producer at a moment in history in which virtually all mainstream filmmakers were male. She was also a lesbian, at a time when being openly gay was unacceptable in Hollywood -- and, in much of America, illegal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
01 Jun 2021
51 MINS
51:19
01 Jun 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (War! Episode 4)
World War II begins to reveal the gulf between Louella’s conservative but essentially business-minded politics, and Hedda Hopper’s virulent right-wing fervor. These differences — and the glee with which Hopper would destroy lives to shore up political power and further her ideology — come through loud and clear in the stories of two controversies: the casting of Gone with the Wind, and the paternity trial of Charlie Chaplin. Meanwhile, Louella shows her devotion to Hearst by using her power to cripple Citizen Kane. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
25 May 2021
54 MINS
54:57
25 May 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The Feud, Episode 3)
In 1938, washed-up actress Hedda Hopper is installed as a movie gossip columnist with the express purpose of puncturing the success of Louella and Hearst. But Hedda quickly establishes a voice of her own, revolutionary for its insistence on making movie gossip political. Once friends, Louella and Hedda become bitter rivals, egged on in their feud by a third party who sees Hedda as an ally in right-wing conservatism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
18 May 2021
56 MINS
56:05
18 May 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons And Hedda Hopper (The First Lady, Episode 2)
In 1923, Louella Parsons signed a contract with William Randolph Hearst for nationwide syndication of the first major Hollywood gossip column. Parsons quickly built a brand based on protecting (and whitewashing) Hollywood’s interests, as well as Hearst’s, relentlessly promoting — and spying on — Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
11 May 2021
59 MINS
59:01
11 May 2021
Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper (Small Town Girl, Episode 1)
Both Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper worked for papers created by charismatic barons whose publications were nakedly corrupt, totally biased -- and absolutely mainstream. Once we get a feel for this media climate, we’ll trace Louella’s early years of struggle and reinvention on the road to her pioneering bylines, and, finally, her role in canonizing The Birth of a Nation -- the most viciously racist Hollywood blockbuster of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
04 May 2021
1 HR 00 MINS
1:00:20
04 May 2021
"Competition is idiots." Sneak Preview of David Fincher's MANK
You Must Remember This presents an exclusive first listen of the audio trailer for Mank, a David Fincher film about the screenwriter of Citizen Kane, coming to Netflix on December 4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
19 Oct 2020
06 MINS
06:16
19 Oct 2020
How Did It End? (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 10)
Polly Platt’s unfinished memoir ends abruptly in 1995. What were the remaining 16 years of her life like? Using interviews with those who knew her, we’ll explore how her career in Hollywood came to an end, and the tragic circumstances of her death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
28 Jul 2020
1 HR 13 MINS
1:13:43
28 Jul 2020
Bottle Rocket, I'll Do Anything and Polly Platt in '90s Hollywood (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman,...
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 by Prince, but became one of the most notoriously misbegotten productions of the 1990s. Polly recaptures her indie roots by shepherding the directorial debut of Wes Anderson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
21 Jul 2020
1 HR 11 MINS
1:11:12
21 Jul 2020
Women of the 80’s (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 8)
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 an Oscar nomination under her belt, Polly starts trying in earnest to direct. She ends her career as a production designer with The Witches of Eastwick, a star-studded special-effects extravaganza. Inspired by Polly, Brooks creates the character played by Holly Hunter in Broadcast News, infusing the film with Polly’s single-minded professional determination. Riding high on having guided Brooks through two consecutive, blockbuster Oscar nominees, Polly becomes a production executive at Brooks's Gracie Films, where she produces Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
14 Jul 2020
1 HR 13 MINS
1:13:28
14 Jul 2020
Terms of Endearment (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 7)
Polly’s third marriage falls apart, and she enters more than one destructive affair. During these tumultuous times, Polly establishes a new collaboration with a male writer-director, James L. Brooks, and together the two turn another Larry McMurtry novel into a classic film: Terms of Endearment. Once again, while working on this film about a combative mother-daughter relationship, Polly finds that art and life are intertwined. Polly’s own story starts showing up in other people’s movies, including Irreconcilable Differences -- starring Ryan O’Neal as a version of Peter Bogdanovich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
07 Jul 2020
58 MINS
58:03
07 Jul 2020
Pretty Baby and a Playmate Murder (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 6)
In an attempt to save her family, Polly transitions to screenwriting and producing, basing the prostitution drama Pretty Baby, starring a pre-teen Brooke Shields, on her own daughter. Polly finds herself increasingly overcome by alcoholism, while dealing with Shields’s own alcoholic mother. Polly’s already-difficult relationship with her two daughters is made much more complicated by the murder of Peter’s girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten, and Bogdanovich’s subsequent emotional collapse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
30 Jun 2020
1 HR 01 MINS
1:01:22
30 Jun 2020
A Star is Born (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 5)
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 women would push her to a breaking point. With collaborating with her ex-husband no longer an option, Platt starts attempting to rebuild her career, designing classics such as A Star is Born and Bad News Bears, while also navigating predatory men in power in post-sexual revolution Hollywood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
23 Jun 2020
1 HR 00 MINS
1:00:58
23 Jun 2020
Orson Welles, What’s Up Doc, Paper Moon (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 4)
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 Orson Welles. Anxious to build on her career momentum (and become the first female film art director accepted into her union), Polly agrees to work on Peter’s next two films, What’s Up Doc and Paper Moon – two massive hits which make Peter one of the most famous directors of the decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
16 Jun 2020
1 HR 06 MINS
1:06:46
16 Jun 2020
Last Picture Show Love Triangle (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 3)
At Polly’s urging, Peter decides to direct an adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s novel The Last Picture Show. Though credited only as the film’s “designer,” Polly is involved in every creative decision, including casting — and it’s with his pregnant-again wife’s enthusiasm that Bogdanovich casts 20-year-old model Cybill Shepherd as the film’s femme fatale. Though Polly believed she and Peter were “deliriously happy,” Bogdanovich and Shepherd fall in love on the set of the movie, and Polly has to make a decision: to save face and avoid personal humiliation by walking away from the production, or stay and fight for the creative baby that she feels ownership over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
09 Jun 2020
1 HR 00 MINS
1:00:23
09 Jun 2020
Peter Bogdanovich and the Woman Behind the Auteur (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 2)
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 Bogdanovich. Together Polly and Peter build a life around the obsessive consumption of Hollywood movies, with Polly acting as Peter’s Jill-of-all-trades support system as he first ingratiates himself with the previous two generations of Hollywood auteurs as a critic/historian, and then makes his way into making his own films. Together, Polly and Peter write and produce Targets, Bogdanovich’s first credited feature, and also collaborate on a documentary about the great director John Ford. By the time Polly gives birth to their first daughter, she believes she and Peter are an indivisible, equal creative partnership — regardless of how credit is distributed in Hollywood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
03 Jun 2020
1 HR 08 MINS
1:08:24
03 Jun 2020
“It wasn’t sexism, then” (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 1)
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 story from the start, beginning with her Revolutionary Road-esque childhood in Europe and America as the neglected daughter of two alcoholics; to her years studying scenic design in environments in which women weren’t welcome; the secret pregnancy that halted her formal education, and the early marriage that took her West and cemented her desire to tell stories through design. Throughout, we’ll talk about how Platt’s experiences, as the product of an American military family of the 1950s—and the daughter of a mother who had been forced to abandon a career for motherhood––shaped her view of gender roles and relations, and her idea of what it meant to be the wife of a important man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
26 May 2020
1 HR 09 MINS
1:09:18
26 May 2020
Sneak Peek: Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 1
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 highly acclaimed films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. This audio journey will feature interviews and intimate details about her trailblazing legacy and heartbreaking private life, including excerpts from her own unpublished memoirs dealing with her creative collaborations and relationship with her second husband, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. The new season premieres May 26. For now, please enjoy a taste of what's to come in this extended preview of episode 1. Actress Maggie Siff is featured as the voice of Polly Platt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
19 May 2020
23 MINS
23:40
19 May 2020
Season Trailer: Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman
Polly Platt -- producer, writer and Oscar-nominated production designer -- lived an epic Hollywood life. And yet, if you know Platt’s name today, it’s probably because in 1970 her husband and creative collaborator Peter Bogdanovich had an affair with Cybill Shepherd while shooting the film that launched their careers, The Last Picture Show. But Platt was much more than a jilted wife: she was the secret, often invisible-to-the-public weapon behind some of the best films of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Drawing on Platt’s unpublished memoir, as well as ample interviews and archival research, The Invisible Woman will tell Polly Platt’s incredible story from her perspective, for the first time. New episodes will begin releasing May 26. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
05 May 2020
02 MINS
02:33
05 May 2020
159: Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston and Hollywood’s Misogynoir Problem (Make Me Over, Episode 8)
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 forced to step down when she found out Penthouse was going to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their magazine. Williams went on to have a successful singing career and star in movies, but her career trajectory tells more than the story of a black beauty icon who overcame obstacles to make it in Hollywood. It's a story that echoes the legacies of racism, colorism, tokenism and misogynoir (the misogyny experienced specifically by black women) in 20th century Hollywood and how, as a result, black women — from Williams to Whitney Houston — have had to display exceptional talent to make the case that their images are worth circulating and celebrating as beautiful. This episode was written and performed by Cassie da Costa, an entertainment writer for The Daily Beast. She lives in Ojai, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
10 Mar 2020
41 MINS
41:35
10 Mar 2020
158: The Hemingway Curse? Mariel and Margaux (Make Me Over, Episode 7)
A close look at the parallel lives of Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, sisters born with a world-famous last name that stood for both genius and self-destruction. Both rose to fame in the 1970s, Margaux as a supermodel and Mariel as an actress, and then both struggled with various demons. But while Margaux followed her grandfather's fate, Mariel confronted the family's dark legacy and reinvented herself as a mental health and wellness advocate. This episode was written and performed by Michael Schulman, a writer at The New Yorker and the author of "Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep," a New York Times bestseller. His work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Times and other publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
03 Mar 2020
48 MINS
48:47
03 Mar 2020
157: Cass Elliot, Carnie Wilson and Fat-Shaming in Rock and Pop (Make Me Over, Episode 6)
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 one of the most influential voices of the 1960s. However, while her big break with The Mamas and The Papas and meteoric career changed the LA music scene forever, it also entrapped Elliot in a cycle of fat-shaming, sending her spiraling into catastrophic weight-loss regimens. In this episode, we’ll talk about the music industry’s complicated relationship with weight, how crash dieting likely led to the untimely death of this music legend, and the true legacy of Elliot in pop culture. This episode was written and performed by Lexi Pandell, a writer from Oakland, California. Her work has been published by The Atlantic, the New York Times, WIRED, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Playboy and many others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
25 Feb 2020
48 MINS
48:05
25 Feb 2020
156: Esther Williams and the Birth of Waterproof Makeup (Make Me Over, Episode 5)
Esther Williams single-handedly helped popularize the pastime of swimming — first as the star swimmer of the San Francisco production of Billy Rose's Aquacade, and then as the star of Hollywood films like Bathing Beauties and Million Dollar Mermaid. Williams’s stardom — and the necessity to maintain her image as a grinning glamour girl, even while submerged underwater — led to the creation of several waterproof products and swimwear innovations, from waterproof foundation and eyeliner to bathing cap couture. Despite two decades of sustained celebrity and brand power, Williams eventually struggled to maintain the pristine bathing beauty facade. She lost her MGM contract in the 1960s and had to pay millions to the studio in damages. On her way down, she slapped her name on swimming pools and exercise videos, stumbled through four unhappy marriages and started to experiment with LSD for her depression. Drawing on previously untapped resources, Rachel Syme will tell the story of Williams' rise and fall, and the innovations in aqua-beauty she inspired, while also analyzing why we want to be waterproof, why we want to be so invulnerable to the elements and why putting swimming on-screen led to pressures for women to look put-together, even when sopping wet. This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme, a writer, reporter and cultural critic living in New York City. She writes a regular column for The New Yorker on fashion and beauty. She is also a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair and Esquire. She often writes about the complex intersection between fame, glamour, beauty and feminism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
18 Feb 2020
46 MINS
46:00
18 Feb 2020
155: Passing for White: Merle Oberon (Make Me Over, Episode 4)
In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in then-segregated Hollywood -- except that nobody in Hollywood knew Oberon was biracial. Born in Bombay into abject poverty in 1911, Oberon's fate seemed sealed in her racist colonial society. But a series of events, lies, men and an obsession with controlling her own image -- even if it meant bleaching her own skin -- changed Oberon's path forever. This episode was written and performed by Halley Bondy, a writer and journalist whose work has appeared on NBC, The Outline, Eater NY, Paste Magazine, Scary Mommy, Bustle, Vice and more. She's an author of five young adult books plus a handful of plays and is a writer / producer for the podcast "Masters of Scale." She lives in Brooklyn with husband / cheerleader Tim and her amazing toddler Robin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
11 Feb 2020
49 MINS
49:21
11 Feb 2020