1950s

“It wasn’t sexism, then” (Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman, Episode 1) / May 25, 2020 by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

As an Oscar-nominated production designer, screenwriter, producer and executive who put her stamp on some of the greatest and most loved films of the 1970s and 80s – including Paper Moon, Bad News Bears, Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, The Witches of Eastwick and more—Polly Platt had a major impact on the careers of Barbra Streisand, Tatum O’Neal, Garry Marshall, Cameron Crowe and Wes Anderson. She also lived an epic Hollywood life off-screen; her personal life was the stuff of a Great American Novel, full of romances, heartbreak, alcoholism and the challenges of adapting to cataclysmic cultural change as an independent, professional woman – and single mom. And yet, despite all of this, if you know Polly 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 made both Bogdanovich and Shepherd major stars of their era, 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 most loved American “auteur” films (many of them comedies, directed by men) of the last decades of the 20th century.

Drawing on Platt’s unpublished memoir (which remained unfinished when she died in 2011), as well as ample interviews and archival research, The Invisible Woman will tell Polly Platt’s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. A trailblazer in jobs rarely held by women in Hollywood to that point, Polly Platt’s story helps us understand the obstacles preventing gender equality behind the scenes in Hollywood — in the 1970s through the 1990s, and in the present day -- and allows us to contemplate what it was like to be a woman in Hollywood during a time when the feminist movement may have been remaking American society to some extent, but failed to make major inroads in the movie industry.

Today, 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 an important man.

Polly Platt and her family, c. 1940's | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

SHOW NOTES:

Sources specific to this episode:

This season is based in large part on Polly Platt's unpublished memoir, It Was Worth It, excerpted with the permission of Sashy Bodganovich.

This episode includes excerpts from interviews with: Barbara Boyle, Rachel Abramowitz, Sashy Bogdanovich, Antonia Bogdanovich, Alison Anders, Penney Finkelman Cox and Jules Fisher.

Here is a full list of sources referenced on this season.

Polly Platt and her family with a Nazi airplane | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

Snowmen - Kai Engel
Play Smart - Franck Sarkissian
Out of the Skies, Under the Earth - Chris Zabriskie
Cylander Six - Chris Zabriskie
Triad March - Jack Shaindlin
After Work - Neuromancer
Will Be War Soon - T. Kosta
Ruins and Desolation - Bruno Pierre, Emmanuel Alexiu
Strain Therapy - Massimo Catalano, Remigio Ducros
Sunset Finale - Jody Jenkins
Faster Does It - Kevin MacLeod
Memories of Vienna - Various Composers
Watch Me Now - David Thomas Connolly
Hazy Nights - Charlotte Glasson, Peter Ludlam, Hans Hummer
Land on the Golden Gate - Chris Zabriskie
A Dog with an Umbrella - Paul-Marie Jacques Bernard Barbier
The Call of the Sea - John Paul Labno
Tooth Fairy - Various Composers
Sunset - Kai Engel
Laser Disc - Chris Zabriskie
Undercover Vampire Policeman - Chris Zabriskie
Pangs of Fear - Various Composers
Dark Tavern - Walt Adams
Peaceful Piano - Neuromancer
What You’re Made Of - Gary Combs

Young Polly | Photo courtesy of Antonia Bogdanovich

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.

Featuring special guest Maggie Siff as the voice of Polly Platt.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media, transcription and additional research: Brendan Whalen.

Transcription and additional research: Kristen Sales and Wiley Wiggins

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Edited by Brendan Byrnes.

Technical Support: Brendan Byrnes and Jared O'Connell.

Executive Producers: Chris Bannon and Josephine Martorana.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Esther Williams and the Birth of Waterproof Makeup (Make Me Over, Episode 5) / February 17, 2020 by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

Esther Williams single-handedly helped to popularize the past time 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 taking 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 extra 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. who 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.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources specific to this episode:

The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography by Esther Williams

Synchronized Swimming: An American History by Dawn Payson Bean

The Billy Rose Aquacade collection at the NYPL Performing Arts Library

“Tale of A Mermaid: Swimming Regimen Still Suits Esther Williams at 75,” July 23, 1997, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

“Secret Sources” by Alexandra Penney, October 23, 1977, The New York Times

“Beauty, Making a Splash” by Linda Wells, June 4, 1989, The New York Times

“Eleanor Holm Whalen, 30's Swimming Champion” obituary, February 2, 2004, The New York Times

“Esther Williams, Swimming Champion Who Became a Movie Star, Dies at 91” June 6, 2013, The New York Times

“The Aquacade of Queens,” by Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York

Esther Williams and Tom and Jerry in Dangerous When Wet (1953) — Esther Williams and Tom and Jerry in *Dangerous When Wet* (1953)

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:

Better Late Than Never - Laurence Holloway
Hollywood Forever - Jean Claudric
Make Believe You're A Hero - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
How About Mine - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
Two Latin Lovers - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
Can't Get You Out Of My Mind - John Harry Cacavas, Hal David
Kitsch Comedy - Peter Jeffries
Wrong Track - Philippe Jacques Marie Hersant
Love Pain - Bruno Raymond Bertoli
Tragical Destiny - Bruno Raymond Bertoli
Escape In The Dark - Jean Claudric
Meet The Host - Max Harris
Johnny Ubiquitous - Trevor Duncan
A Life Of Memories - Jean Claudric

Esther Williams applying her makeup c. 1956

Credits:

Make Me Over is a special presentation of You Must Remember This. It was created and directed by Karina Longworth, who also edited the scripts.

This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme.

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Producer: Tomeka Weatherspoon.

Editor: Jared O'Connell.

Audio engineers: Jared O'Connell, Andrea Kristins and Brendan Burns.

Supervising Producer: Josephine Martorana.

Executive Producer: Chris Bannon.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks and Aaron Nestor.

YMRT #20: LIZ <3 MONTY / October 28, 2014 by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift were best friends and co-stars in three films. The first, A Place in the Sun, is an undisputed classic which captures both stars at the peak of their talents and physical beauty. The shoot of the second, Raintree County, was interrupted by a horrible car accident in which Clift’s face was disfigured. This episode tracks Taylor’s relationship with the troubled Clift, from their first, studio-setup date through his untimely death — the result of what some have called “Hollywood’s slowest suicide.”

Show Notes!

Almost all biographical writing on Montgomery Clift seems to be indebted to Patricia Bosworth’s 1978 doorstop Montgomery Clift, which is the source of most of the quotes in this episode. Unfortunately, the countless Elizabeth Taylor biographies are mostly redundant, and the more recent they are, the more they seem to recycle old stories without new information or insight. My current favorite book about Taylor is Furious Love, by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, which tracks her relationship with Richard Burton, and thus was only useful for a small portion of this podcast. In researching this episode I consultedHow to Be a Movie Star by William J. Mann, Who’s Afraid of Elizabeth Taylor by Brenda Maddox, and Elizabeth Taylor: An Informal Memoir by Elizabeth Taylor, Bring in the Peacocks, or Memoirs of a Hollywood Producer by Hank Moonjean, and Who the Hell’s In It by Peter Bogdanovich.

There are pictures of Clift and Taylor on the sets of both A Place in the Sun (including the contact sheet featuring the photo at the top of this post) and Raintree County in my book, Hollywood Frame by Frame.

Special thanks to Kent Kincannon, who played Montgomery Clift.

At the end of this episode, there’s an excerpt from the Clash song “The Right Profile.” I don’t know much about the writing of the song, although I’ve read it was inspired by Bosworth’s biography, and the song essentially summarizes the book. For awhile, Julie Delpy was planning to direct a biopic about Strummer named after the song, although that looks like it has fallen apart. I’ve thought about doing an episode about Joe Strummer and/in Hollywood at some point in the future, but my sense from doing a small amount of research is that it might be a difficult subject, and that I would need to find an expert to help. Anyone know anyone?